Another fifteen days passed like this.
It was now already mid-April.
With June approaching, the World Championship was about to begin.
This time, the host country was the Federal League.
"The Federal League... seems to have Pokémon species quite similar to those of the Unova region?"
While making the preparations before the competition, Ethan also researched information about the tournament.
The Federal League was located on another continent, separated from the Daleron League by the Pacific Ocean, and it was a League that valued freedom very highly.
"The Statue of Liberty... If I have time, I could do some sightseeing in the Federal League. Besides, it seems that as a gesture of friendship, the Federal League usually gives some representative Pokémon to the participants of the World Championship from each country."
Ethan reflected to himself.
Although he now had very high standards, if he encountered a Pokémon he truly liked, he wouldn't mind starting to raise it from scratch.
After briefly reviewing the records of the Pokémon Researchers' Guild regarding the Federal League, Ethan already had a general idea.
Unfortunately, although communications within each country were very advanced, communications between countries were still quite backward.
There was not even an interconnected international internet network, so Ethan could not research his opponents online.
Of course, he did not need to worry too much about that.
The organizers of the World Championship would surely take care of preparing all the intelligence information.
A few more days passed like this.
On one of those days, before receiving the assembly signal from the World Championship team, Ethan received a notification from the Pokémon University of Ironvale City.
Office of the principal of the Pokémon University of Ironvale City.
"Ethan, you've arrived."
The principal looked at him with a smile.
For him, this transfer student who had joined halfway through was truly a source of pride.
Especially after Ethan won the tournament for the World Championship qualification.
When he heard the news, even he, as principal, had been stunned for quite a long time.
The champion of the World Championship qualification tournament!
Due to the special nature of the tournament, Pokémon Universities, great families, traditional inheritances...
In other words, all trainers under the age of 22 from the entire Daleron League participated.
Winning under those circumstances meant that Ethan was practically the strongest trainer under the age of 22.
And Ethan was only 20 years old!
At just twenty years old, he defeated the best students of the great traditions, something that had never happened in the history of the World Championship qualification tournament.
Moreover, it was already known that this edition of the tournament had been one of the strongest in history.
Among the participants was Adrian Vane, who had reached the Quasi-Elite level, something extremely rare among competitors.
But even so, Ethan won with an overwhelming victory.
That talent and power were simply terrifying.
When the students of the entire university heard the news, the whole campus erupted with excitement.
Ethan's reputation at the Pokémon University of Ironvale City had reached its peak, comparable to that of Captain Daniel Harper and other members of the university team who had won numerous honors.
After all, from the initial Pokémon slot tournament, to sweeping the Pokémon University of Duskwell City in the inter-university exchange tournament, to winning the World Championship qualification tournament...
Ethan had constantly achieved results and brought numerous honors to the Pokémon University of Ironvale City.
His name already deserved to be recorded in the history of the university.
This time, among the World Championship qualifiers:
The Daleron Imperial Pokémon University had Lucien Foster.
The Pokémon University of Duskwell City had Damian Frost.
And the Pokémon University of Ironvale City had two: Ethan Black and Lucas Silver.
Clearly, in this qualification tournament, the Pokémon University of Ironvale City obtained two slots, and moreover Ethan was the champion, overshadowing all the other universities.
But the most important thing was something else.
Thanks to this, the Pokémon University of Ironvale City obtained a slot to participate in the World Pokémon University Exchange.
This event is held once a year and rotates among different Leagues. Each League only has one slot.
Normally, those who participate are the strongest universities of each League.
In the past, when the Daleron League participated, it was usually the Daleron Imperial Pokémon University.
The Pokémon University of Duskwell City had also participated twice.
But this was the first time the Pokémon University of Ironvale City obtained this opportunity.
From a certain point of view, this meant that the Pokémon University of Ironvale City was the strongest university of the Daleron League in this generation.
That was why the principal looked at Ethan in such a special way.
He knew that all of this had been possible thanks to Ethan, who had brought the university into the elite.
"So, the principal wants me to lead the exchange team, together with the younger students of the university, to participate in this event at the Harvard Pokémon University in the Federal League?"
Ethan thought for a moment before replying.
The World Pokémon University Exchange would be held in May, while the Pokémon World Championship would be in mid-June.
Moreover, both events would take place in the Federal League, so the time and location matched perfectly.
In fact, watching the World Championship was also part of the exchange activities.
In addition, since it was the first time the Pokémon University of Ironvale City participated, the principal wanted Ethan to personally supervise to avoid any problems.
"Exactly. That is the decision the university made after discussing it. We also know that this may affect your training time, so the university will compensate with resources." The principal nodded and explained.
Originally, the university wanted Ethan and Lucas to lead the team.
But when they visited the Silver family, they learned that Lucas was in secret training, so Ethan would have to lead the team alone.
"My training is already almost finished."
Ethan reflected while recalling the progress of his Pokémon.
Lately his training focused on consolidating the results obtained, so they only needed progressive training.
His Pokémon trained every day, so they could continue training even during the exchange.
However, the compensation resources mentioned by the principal did spark his interest.
"Does the principal mean... that as long as I propose it, the university will try to fulfill it?" Ethan asked with some doubt.
That benefit seemed quite good.
"Exactly, but as we said, we will do our best," the principal replied.
After all, Ethan had contributed enormously to the university.
As long as his request was not excessive, they could consider it.
"In that case, I would like all the university's materials about Pokémon Doctors."
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he made his request.
He wanted that information to research life energy.
The study of life energy would be one of the central points of his research and training in the future.
Therefore, when he had been at the headquarters of the Pokémon Researchers' Guild, he had already reviewed all the documents related to life energy.
Now that the principal was offering resources, he had no intention of missing the opportunity.
Although in terms of books and archives the university could not compare with the guild, in the field of Pokémon breeding it had its own advantages.
Within the Pokémon University of Ironvale City there was a specialty for Pokémon Doctors, where professors taught how to become a doctor and how to raise healing-type Pokémon.
Therefore, the university had a complete training system for Pokémon Doctors, in addition to numerous methods for raising healing Pokémon.
The principal remained silent for a moment before asking:
"Do you want to become a Pokémon Doctor?"
Ethan was a very typical academic-type trainer.
But the principal was somewhat confused.
After all, Pokémon healing knowledge was a completely independent system, on the same level as the trainer system and the Pokémon Researcher system.
In fact, becoming a qualified Pokémon Doctor was much more difficult than becoming a good trainer.
And now Ethan was already a top-level trainer and a top-level Pokémon Researcher.
And yet he also wanted to become a Pokémon Doctor?
(End of chapter)