Boom!
At that instant, a dazzling white light suddenly erupted in the center of the valley.
Not even the golden world created by the electromagnetic field could eclipse the radiance of that light!
Within the white light, an enormous fused silhouette could vaguely be seen stirring little by little, transforming into a completely new form.
Zzt, zzt, zzt.
Meltan's evolution had still not ended.
It could be seen that, as it evolved, the electromagnetic waves in the valley began to go out of control.
The terrifying electromagnetic storm was directly suppressed in that instant. While Meltan's Magnet Pull ability had not yet completely disappeared, all the electromagnetic waves were attracted toward it and absorbed without pause, to the point that the white evolutionary light itself began to be dyed golden.
"Meltan has begun to evolve!"
"After devouring so many resources, and also evolving inside a special magnetic field...!"
"What kind of being will it become after evolving?"
While recording the energy changes on the ground, Professor Reynolds and Professor Harris looked toward the center with great expectation.
"My God, this energy fluctuation has already surpassed the Quasi-Elite level!"
"And it's still increasing, Meltan's strength is still growing!"
Suddenly, Professor Reynolds began to exclaim, looking at the device in front of her with a completely incredulous expression.
That was the Elite level! Countless trainers spent their entire lives without ever reaching even the edge of it.
And yet, the Meltan before their eyes had crossed it solely through evolution, leaping over a barrier that countless trainers could not cross.
"It has finally evolved. The Mythical Pokémon... Melmetal!"
Naturally, Ethan also heard Professor Reynolds's exclamation, and a smile slowly appeared on his lips.
Before evolving, Meltan had already counted among the strongest within the Quasi-Elite level.
Now, after evolving into Melmetal, it could finally be considered a true Mythical Pokémon. Its breakthrough into the Elite level was completely logical.
Boom!
At that instant, the golden light of evolution began to dissipate.
And then an enormous figure appeared floating in the air, wrapped in electric arcs.
After evolving into Melmetal, its body was still made of liquid metal, but both its hardness and elasticity had increased enormously.
In addition, the golden nut on its head had become two. And on its arms, six large nuts as black as wrought iron had appeared, while its feet also rested on black metal nuts. Its arms, wielding enormous nuts, displayed truly terrifying strength.
"Congratulations, Melmetal."
Looking at Melmetal, floating in the air and surrounded by electric arcs all over its body, Ethan smiled.
"Zzzt!"
Melmetal was also very happy. It smiled and opened its arms, wanting to hug Ethan. But just as it took a step in the air, the electric arcs on its body flickered strangely.
And then, Melmetal suddenly fell from the sky, crashing with a rumble into the ground and raising a cloud of dust.
"Well, it seems that, although it can still float thanks to electromagnetic power... losing the Magnet Pull ability does affect it to a certain extent."
Seeing Melmetal's figure falling from the air, Ethan smiled slightly.
At least for now, Melmetal's evolution plan had been a perfect success.
It had devoured an enormous amount of Steel-type resources and transformed them into electric life energy, thus creating a multitude of living clones.
Then, through fusion, it pushed its own power to the extreme, breaking through its old shell and completing the final evolution.
In addition, having absorbed the force of the electromagnetic storm, it could clearly be seen that Melmetal's mastery over electromagnetic power had once again taken an enormous leap.
And, added to that, within Melmetal's own body there already existed terrifying currents that represented life itself. Without a doubt, electromagnetic power could perfectly compensate for the loss of the Magnet Pull ability.
"So it's called Melmetal?"
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm facing the Steel Pillar, Registeel?"
Professor Reynolds observed Melmetal from top to bottom.
Although she had never seen a Pokémon like Melmetal, she could not shake off that feeling.
Could it be that Melmetal was also a Legendary Pokémon?
But... did Legendary Pokémon have evolved forms?
Surely not, right?
After all, the strongest thing about Legendary Pokémon was precisely the extremely high level of life they were born with.
And Melmetal's initial form, Meltan, was not at all a Pokémon with an especially high life level.
"It seems Melmetal's body is undoubtedly hiding some great secret."
An intense excitement appeared in Professor Reynolds's eyes. Perhaps the answer could be discovered in future research.
"Ah, Melmetal."
Ethan gave one of the large nuts on Melmetal's body a friendly pat and smiled.
"Now that Melmetal has already evolved, let's go back."
Professor Harris, while putting away the instruments that had been used to observe Melmetal's evolution, also smiled.
And at the same time, his eyes remained fixed on Melmetal, filled with curiosity.
"Professor, I think we'll still have to stay here for a while. Melmetal has just evolved, and I need it to use the electromagnetic waves of this place to get used to its new body."
Ethan reflected for a moment before speaking. Although the electromagnetic storm had already dissipated, the valley was still brimming with powerful electromagnetic waves.
"All right, this place really is beneficial for Melmetal's training. Then we'll go back first to organize all the data from Melmetal's evolution."
Professor Reynolds, reviewing the information from her instruments, nodded toward Ethan.
Very soon, the two professors left, leaving Ethan with all his Pokémon.
Seeing that Melmetal had successfully evolved, the Pokémon guarding the different corners approached one after another.
They all congratulated Melmetal, although behind their congratulations, a certain seriousness could also be noticed on their faces.
Evidently, they could also feel the terrifying aura emanating from Melmetal, and understood that it had now already taken a step toward a completely different level.
"Melmetal is a Mythical Pokémon. There's nothing strange about it possessing this kind of power."
"Don't worry. You will also be able to catch up to Melmetal someday. There are many ways to determine battle power, and you can also achieve a complete breakthrough."
Ethan spoke to reassure the rest of his Pokémon, and they nodded, with increasingly determined expressions in their eyes.
"Melmetal, show us your current abilities."
Looking at Melmetal, Ethan spoke with a smile. The other Pokémon also showed great expectation.
"Zzzt!"
Melmetal nodded.
Then, electric arcs ran across its entire body, and its figure began to slowly rise.
Boom!
But it had barely managed to float a little before it heavily collapsed back to the ground.
Melmetal stood up and, somewhat embarrassed, scratched its head. That was its first ability, electromagnetic power, although it still did not control it well.
Next, Melmetal extended one hand and formed a metallic sphere coursing with electricity. Then it launched it with a sudden motion.
That attack was precisely the Electromagnetic Cannon. However, now that Melmetal possessed such terrifying physical strength, the power of the Electromagnetic Cannon had reached a completely new level.
In addition, the ability it had just used to form that metallic sphere was not the Substitute move at all, but the innate faculty of the Melmetal species: the ability to create steel.
That was precisely the power it possessed as a Mythical Pokémon!
(End of chapter)