The competition for the World Championship slots came to an end.
Because it was an internal tournament of the Daleron League, the process of the battles was not made public.
However, on the day when the final results of the qualification competition were announced, it immediately drew the attention of all parties.
And when they saw that the champion of this edition was none other than Ethan Black, everyone who had been following the event was completely shocked!
...
After the tournament ended, Ethan also left the capital.
However, he did not immediately return to the headquarters of the Pokémon Researchers' Guild. Instead, he followed Lucas to once again return to the Silver family.
Naturally, this time he had come to exchange the Lucario evolution method and also to retrieve the Lucario Mega Stone from the Silver family's treasury.
The Silver family was located in Luminary City, one of the most economically developed cities in the Daleron League.
It was March, the height of spring, and everything conveyed a feeling of vitality and rebirth.
As they approached the Silver family residence, Ethan clearly felt the Poké Ball at his waist begin to shake.
"Did you feel it too, Lucario?"
"Now I've come back... bringing you back already transformed."
Ethan gently stroked Lucario's Poké Ball and smiled faintly.
Lucas, who was leading the way in front, also noticed his gesture, and his mood became somewhat complicated.
At that moment, the battle he had fought against Jorge Holt inevitably appeared in his mind.
At the beginning of the fight, the two had been evenly matched. However, when Jorge's ace, Zorua, entered the field, relying on its powerful illusion ability, Lucas's Pokémon began to fall rapidly.
In that situation, he sent out his own ace, Metagross, intending to resist through its powerful mental strength.
Originally, he had thought that his Metagross would be able to break free from the illusion. After all, Ethan's Lucario had managed to do it as well.
But reality slapped him in the face.
Against the illusion of Zoroark, which had already reached the Quasi-Elite level, Metagross had practically no resistance.
Only then did he truly understand the terrifying strength of Zoroark's illusions. And not only him—the others were also left stunned.
The fact that they had previously seen Lucario break free so easily had made everyone completely underestimate the power of Zoroark's illusion.
In the end, although Metagross managed to break free with great difficulty, facing a Zoroark in peak condition, it quickly fell.
Ever since that battle against Jorge, Lucas's view of Lucario had completely changed.
That Riolu, which once had flaws and which no one thought highly of... had now unexpectedly become powerful.
But why?
Why was that Lucario so strong?
How had Ethan managed to develop it to that level?
...
At that moment, it wasn't only Lucas who was curious; the other members of the Silver family were as well.
Inside the Silver family's meeting hall, a meeting was currently being held.
"Could it be that Ethan's Lucario has truly mastered the power of aura?"
The question caused everyone present to shudder.
At that moment, they remembered what Lucas had told them.
Ethan's Lucario—when it was still a Riolu—had already been able to perform the move Aura Sphere!
Through their research into the move Aura Sphere, the Silver family had long discovered that it contained an extremely strange special energy. Through their exchanges with Lucario, they had learned that this energy was something called the power of aura.
Now they suspected that the reason Lucario had been able to break free from Zorua's illusion might have been an application of that very aura power.
After all, although Lucario's mental strength was powerful, it was clearly inferior to Lucas's Metagross. Under those circumstances, the fact that Lucario could instantly break the illusion led them to suspect that it possessed another ability capable of countering illusions.
It should be known that even a trace of aura power could already become an attack of enormous power. If someone completely mastered the power of aura... how strong would it be?
According to multiple studies, the power of aura might even be superior to Psychic Power. Therefore, breaking illusions would be entirely possible.
"Could an innately powerful mental strength help control the power of aura?"
At that moment, another elder spoke, causing the others' eyes to light up.
The only special characteristic of Ethan's Riolu had been that it possessed extraordinarily strong mental power from birth.
In fact, the Silver family had also researched that condition and even tried to specifically cultivate its mental strength.
But the facts proved that, as a Fighting-type Pokémon, Riolu had extremely low efficiency in mental training—far inferior to the typical physical training of other Riolu.
Because of this, they eventually abandoned the training of that Riolu with strong mental power but poor physical condition.
In reality, Ethan had also discovered this problem while raising it. Without mastering the move Calm Mind, Riolu's mental training efficiency was indeed very low. Even President Beckett, an expert in Psychic-type Pokémon, had only managed to slightly improve the situation.
Later, Ethan discovered that emotional energy could help Riolu train its aura power, and the situation improved somewhat.
Of course, this only applied during Riolu's stage.
When Riolu evolved into Lucario, its potential in Special Attack was fully released.
With the Inner Focus ability and mastery of the move Calm Mind, the growth rate of its mental strength was no longer inferior to that of any Psychic-type Pokémon. This even left President Beckett astonished for a long time.
Now, under the combined influence of powerful mental strength and aura power, Lucario's potential in Special Attack was no longer inferior to—and might even surpass—that of the vast majority of Psychic-type Pokémon.
"An innately powerful mental strength... That's indeed very possible. According to research, the move Aura Sphere also receives a Special Attack bonus. From that perspective, strong mental power may indeed help in mastering aura power."
The head of the Silver family also spoke. Using powerful mental strength to master aura power was a very feasible idea.
Moreover, according to some battle details Lucas had revealed, Lucario's Special Attack capability was not inferior to its close-combat abilities. In fact, by strengthening Aura Sphere through mental power, a Special-Attack-oriented Lucario might even be stronger.
But how should Lucario's mental strength be cultivated?
Lucario was already an extremely rare Pokémon, and its training methods were even rarer.
Without enough test subjects, the Silver family had no choice but to train its physical condition in the traditional way.
And now, Ethan seemed to possess a method that allowed Lucario to master a terrifying mental strength, which was extremely tempting to the Silver family.
(End of Chapter)