Blue skies and white clouds; in the air, a group of Pokémon flew about, dancing freely.
"I didn't expect that, aside from Charizard, your Vibrava's flying ability would also be so strong."
Andrea looked at the Pokémon chasing each other in the sky, admiration evident on her face.
"Yes, my Vibrava has an innate talent for flying at great heights. Moreover, when combined with the Levitate ability it already possesses, even though it isn't a Flying-type Pokémon, its flying capability is not inferior at all."
Ethan smiled faintly. Watching Vibrava grow stronger step by step under his care—what could be more gratifying than that?
"Levitate, huh? And your training method is truly very unique; I've learned a great deal."
Gym Leader Andrea spoke sincerely, wearing a smile of someone who had gained a lot.
"The flying techniques of your Pokémon have also taught me a great deal."
"Although my Pokémon have very strong innate advantages, when it comes to flying techniques, they still fall a bit short."
"Now, thanks to the spiral flight, rotational flight, and inverted flight training you taught me, I can clearly feel that they've grown much stronger."
Ethan also spoke from the heart. During that week, the two had exchanged knowledge in a very friendly manner, and both had gained a great deal from it.
"Your Charizard and your Vibrava are truly very strong. At their current level, they should already be qualified to participate in the Sky Festival."
Gym Leader Andrea laughed softly and gave both Pokémon an extremely high evaluation.
"Sky Festival? What's that?"
A puzzled expression appeared on Ethan's face.
"It's nothing—just a festival held within my family."
Gym Leader Andrea covered her mouth and shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to explain further.
Ethan felt intrigued. Was there really a Sky Festival in the Pokémon world?
The sky?
After thinking for a moment, he decided not to ask further. Changing the topic, he said, "Leader Andrea, I've heard that you're very interested in the civilization of the Pokémon world. I happen to have here a copy of some Pokémon-script texts transcribed from a Secret Kingdom. Would you like to take a look?"
"Pokémon script?"
Gym Leader Andrea's eyes lit up. She took the notebook Ethan handed her and began to examine it.
"This Pokémon script seems extremely ancient. This character should represent the shape of a rock, but it's a bit different from the 'rock' character that has already been translated in the current Pokémon world."
She seemed to have some knowledge of Pokémon script and pointed at one of the characters in the notebook.
"Ancient Pokémon script!"
Upon hearing her words, Ethan's eyes lit up.
Previously, at the Ancient Ruins Research Laboratory in Nova City, Professor Brands had also said that it was ancient Pokémon script.
Now it seemed clear that behind Leader Andrea was someone who had already deciphered Pokémon script. Those inherited prayer phrases and corresponding movements had indeed come from the Fortree City Gym.
"Ethan, if you don't mind, could I make a copy?"
"If I take it back to my family, some of my elders who specialize in exploring Pokémon civilization might know something about it."
Gym Leader Andrea spoke with visible excitement.
"There's no problem at all."
Ethan agreed without hesitation.
He had already handed that Pokémon-script notebook to both the Pokémon Researchers' Guild and the Ancient Ruins Research Institute, so it didn't matter if Leader Andrea also had a copy.
Moreover, only he knew the exact location of the Secret Kingdom related to Regirock, so he wasn't worried that others would get ahead of him and find it, even if they deciphered the texts.
Lastly, Ethan also knew that even if those texts were deciphered, the method to open the stone gate was found, and the legendary Pokémon Regirock was seen, it would be extremely unlikely for someone to capture it alone.
Therefore, the best option was to seek a collaborator and use the information about Regirock to obtain sufficient benefits for himself.
Of course, all of this was merely among the options he had considered; the final course of action would depend on circumstances, as no one could predict what would happen next.
After successfully copying the Pokémon texts, Gym Leader Andrea was visibly excited. She immediately contacted her family, intending to decipher the contents of the Pokémon script as soon as possible.
...
Time passed quickly, and more than a week went by once again.
On the prairies near Gullhaven City, Ethan was conducting special training with his Pokémon.
After half a month of flight training, Charizard's aerial capability had improved once more.
Sitting firmly on Charizard's back, Ethan almost no longer felt the strong headwind.
This was naturally because Charizard's control over the wind had improved, allowing it to block air resistance in advance during flight.
"Viiibbrraa!"
Behind Charizard, Vibrava was tied with a rope. With its wings fully extended, its figure glided smoothly. Compared to Charizard, it seemed almost motionless, thus demonstrating its outstanding ability to control the wind.
"Vibrava's wind control ability is basically fully trained now. Its Ground-type moves have also been consolidated during this time, and sound-based moves have been practiced regularly."
Ethan reflected. Vibrava had to train eight different aspects: training Ground-type and Dragon-type moves, developing the Levitate ability, developing its vibration capability, practicing sound-based moves, developing the ultrasonic capability generated by the vibration of its wings, controlling its innate and powerful wind-manipulation ability, and learning Flying-type moves.
At this moment, the current training tasks for Ground-type moves and wind control could be considered complete. As for the development of the Levitate ability, vibration capability, and ultrasonic capability during wing vibration, Vibrava's training had reached a bottleneck.
Regarding the training of special bodily abilities and innate abilities, Ethan also did not have particularly good methods for the time being, so he could only put them on hold temporarily.
"Flying-type moves, Dragon-type moves, and sound-based moves..."
Ethan murmured, already having made a decision in his heart.
That was to focus primarily on training Flying-type moves, supplement it with sound-based move training, and leave Dragon-type move training for after Vibrava evolved.
Although Trapinch's affinity with the Dragon type was not very strong, Vibrava had evolved in Dragon Valley. Under the constant influence of the dense Dragon-type energy in that environment, its affinity with the Dragon type had improved significantly.
And if, when Vibrava evolved into Flygon, it was provided with perfect evolution conditions, then its affinity with the Dragon type should increase even further. At that point, training Dragon-type moves would yield twice the results with half the effort.
(End of chapter)