Medicham is a Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution. After Mega Evolving, four floating appendages shaped like arms appear around it. These are physical manifestations of "qi" materialized through its powerful mental energy. The stronger Mega Medicham's mind is, the more realistic and flexible those arms become.
According to Ethan's hypothesis, Mega Medicham's ability to materialize qi through mental energy was directly related to its special method of using the move Calm Mind.
After all, there are Pokémon with greater mental power than Mega Medicham, yet only it can materialize qi.
The third step Ethan envisioned was precisely to develop that ability to convert mental energy into a tangible manifestation.
By copying the move Meditate with the move Copycat, obtaining the ability Pure Power through the move Skill Swap, and combining it with the move Calm Mind, Lucario would practically become an alternative version of Medicham. Perhaps it could even replicate the abilities of Mega Medicham.
In addition to those three abilities derived from the move Calm Mind, Ethan was also paying attention to two other abilities of Medicham: the ability to merge with nature and conceal its presence, and the ability to predict the opponent's movements using mental energy.
Interestingly, thanks to its aura power, Lucario also potentially possessed those two abilities. These constituted the fourth and fifth steps of his training.
Since its time as Riolu, Lucario has been able to perceive an energy called aura, which it uses to communicate with its companions and to observe the emotions of humans and Pokémon, as well as the state of nature.
As for perceiving emotions through aura, it had already done so outstandingly since its Riolu stage. That was how it developed its aura power.
Because of this, Ethan wondered: if it managed to learn Medicham's ability to merge with nature, could it further strengthen the power of aura?
It was very possible.
Moreover, perhaps Lucario could combine aura power with the state of merging with nature and thus obtain the ability to control natural forces.
Earthquakes, volcanoes, weather... all of that can be considered the power of nature. If Lucario were to master them, it would be an extremely powerful ability, perhaps even comparable to the authority of a legendary Pokémon.
As for the ability to predict the opponent's movements through mental energy, although it was not as impressive as merging with nature, it could also help develop aura power.
Among all the functions of aura, there are two particularly notable ones: telepathy and heart reading.
Medicham's ability to anticipate actions with mental energy could help develop those two aura functions.
Moreover, Ethan remembered that the Pokédex mentioned that Medicham can also perceive aura. That was the basis for the fourth and fifth steps of the Calm Mind plan.
If Lucario managed to complete all five steps of the Calm Mind method, perhaps it could truly become a being comparable to a legendary Pokémon. And that wasn't even considering that Lucario could already Mega Evolve.
Of course, all of this was only Ethan's speculation. Whether Lucario could achieve it or not was completely uncertain. But at least in theory, everything seemed viable.
At the very least, the ability to increase mental energy in the first stage of the Calm Mind move was undoubtedly real. Just achieving that alone would already fulfill Ethan's objective.
After all, the current purpose of strengthening Lucario's mental energy was to help complete Mega Evolution.
...
Soon, at Ethan's request, Medicham used the move Meditate.
Immediately, it adopted a meditation posture, floating in the air and enveloped in a blue glow.
Lucario activated the move Copycat and directly copied the move Meditate.
Its figure sat cross-legged, surrounded by a faint blue light. However, it failed to levitate like Medicham; clearly it had not yet mastered the move.
Just as President Beckett had previously indicated, Medicham stopped its posture and began guiding Lucario in yoga techniques.
"As expected of the president's Medicham," Ethan smiled. "Not only is it strong, it's also excellent at teaching."
Like a true yoga instructor, Medicham patiently guided Lucario in its training.
But practice was not something that could be achieved in a single day. Ethan was not worried and let Lucario learn calmly.
Thus, the training plan for all of his Pokémon was completely organized, and each followed their own formal path of cultivation.
During that time, Ethan also maintained deep exchanges with several Pokémon Professors from the guild, further refining the training methods.
...
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, more than fifteen days went by.
That day, Meltan, who had been asleep, finally woke up.
"Meltan, how do you feel?"
Ethan looked in astonishment at Meltan in front of him, who now measured more than one meter in height.
As he remembered, Melmetal was barely over two meters tall; now Meltan already reached approximately half of its height.
As for weight, without using magnetic levitation, the current Meltan was incredibly heavy.
"Zzzt!"
Upon hearing Ethan, Meltan emitted a cheerful sound, indicating that it felt very good.
Then its eyes spun mischievously and its body began to ripple.
One... two... three...
In an instant, Meltan condensed nine duplicates.
These duplicates gathered together and began to play among themselves, each vividly realistic.
"Nine duplicates of Meltan...?"
"Wait... could this have something to do with the nine Meltan nuts it absorbed?"
Ethan's eyes widened slightly as he thought about that possibility. It was very likely.
Each Meltan nut would represent one duplicate. That was why each copy looked so authentic.
"It seems Meltan has a new technique to develop. Before, when it transformed into a flying sword, it could be considered sword flight... now, with nine in one, perhaps it could form a sword formation."
A playful smile appeared in Ethan's eyes.
Besides the sword formation, Meltan's new height and weight also opened many other possibilities.
For example, its close combat. With hundreds of kilograms behind each punch, the power would be terrifying.
Thinking about it, Ethan let the Meltan play and took out his notebook to begin planning.
Perhaps...
Could some rubber man serve as a training model for Meltan?
...
During this period, the other Pokémon also improved enormously.
Lucario successfully completed the training of the move Meditate.
And, combined with the move Meditate, the special method of the move Calm Mind entered a stable stage.
President Beckett came once to check on it and was equally surprised by Ethan's ingenious ideas.
Moreover, after some time of training, Lucario discovered that its physical condition had indeed improved a little.
Although the improvement was slight, thanks to its aura power it could clearly perceive it.
Even so, that was already a great joy for both Ethan and Lucario.
As long as it continued practicing the special method of the move Calm Mind consistently, Lucario's physical condition could gradually return to normal levels.
(End of chapter)