"Slowking, did you find anything?"
After leaving the Zubat cave, Ethan asked Slowking.
"Yadon?"
Slowking raised its head in confusion, looking completely lost.
"Did you really forget?"
"Shellder, help Slowking remember."
Ethan scratched his head in mild frustration; Slowking's memory truly was terrible. Although it remembered everything well in battle, new and interesting ideas slipped from its mind almost instantly.
Seeing this, Shellder immediately activated its mental communication ability to help Slowking recall.
Ding dong.
Seeing Slowking's brightened expression, Ethan even felt as though he had heard a "ding dong."
"As long as you remembered, it's fine."
"Now let's go see the Golbat."
Ethan let out a sigh of relief and, accompanied by all his Pokémon, headed toward the Golbat cave.
Since each Pokémon has differences before and after evolution, Professor Ackerman had also separated the Zubat from the Golbat.
Compared to Zubat, the most obvious change in Golbat is that its mouth becomes enormous, taking up almost its entire body, and after evolving it gains eyes.
Ethan arrived at the Golbat cave and repeated the same procedure: he first used fresh blood to earn the Golbat's favor, then let Slowking gather information from them.
After finishing the feeding, Ethan began searching for Crobat.
According to the records, there was a Crobat in this Secret Kingdom, but its speed was so high and it only came out at night, making it extremely difficult to spot—even for Professor Ackerman.
Ethan searched everywhere, even asked Slowking to use telekinesis to detect it, but they did not find a single trace of Crobat.
Seeing this, Ethan had no choice but to continue with the rest of the feeding tasks.
This time, Ethan's main goal was to understand the species' ultrasonic detection ability; as for the other skills of his Pokémon, for now he didn't plan for Vibrava to learn anything else.
When he returned to the Vibrava research site, Ethan explained everything that had happened. Hearing that he hadn't found Crobat, neither Professor Ackerman nor the researchers looked surprised; it was clear that even they had seen it very few times.
"Hmm... Doesn't Crobat evolve through friendship?"
"Then why don't Professor Ackerman and the others seem close to that Crobat?"
Ethan was full of doubts. According to them, that Crobat had suddenly evolved one day.
In fact, after publishing the article A New Path for Pokémon Evolution, Ethan had studied the topic of friendship-based evolution in detail.
Of course, Pokémon researchers had never considered the factor of affection; they simply believed that some Pokémon evolved slowly due to individual differences.
Without enough evidence, Ethan had no way to correct them, so he could only leave the topic alone for now.
Back to the question: if that Crobat didn't belong to anyone, how did it evolve in the wild?
Not just Crobat—many Pokémon that require friendship to evolve can also be found in nature, which puzzled Ethan greatly.
"I guess I'll look for it again tomorrow. As the final evolution stage of Zubat, its ultrasonic detection ability is incredibly valuable as a reference," Ethan thought to himself.
As night fell, Vibrava finished its day of research and returned to Ethan.
"So, Vibrava? Did you make any progress?"
Upon hearing the question, Vibrava rose into the air; then it flapped its wings hard, and a visible ultrasonic wave suddenly burst out, shattering a rock in front of them.
"Is that Sonic Boom? Its power increased that much?"
Ethan's eyes lit up. Seeking out Professor Ackerman, an expert in sound, to teach Vibrava had been the perfect decision.
The use of sound waves is like singing: different tones produce different sounds and effects, and rhythm is essential.
Clearly, under Professor Ackerman's guidance, Vibrava had found that rhythm, greatly boosting the power of Sonic Boom.
"Vibrava, are you tired?"
Ethan let it land in front of him and gently massaged its wings.
"Viiibbrra!"
Vibrava quickly shook its head, full of energy.
"Then come with me. I'll take you to the Zubat so you can learn how to use ultrasonic detection."
Smiling, Ethan let Vibrava cling to him as they flew toward the Zubat cave.
Upon arrival, Ethan released Slowking and asked it to use telekinesis to call the Zubat.
Shortly after, a group of Zubat flew out of the cave and perched on the nearby branches, looking at Ethan.
"Yadon!"
Slowking began speaking, pointing at Vibrava as it communicated with the Zubat.
Hearing this, one of the Zubat flew down and landed in front of Vibrava.
The two began to communicate, but from Vibrava's completely baffled expression, it was clear it didn't understand what Zubat was saying.
This was one of the flaws of Pokémon: intelligence and comprehension. And also one of the strengths of humans, which is why trainers exist.
Fortunately, Slowking's understanding was even greater than that of humans, and it took on the role of intermediary, translating for Vibrava.
Additionally, with Shellder's reminders, Slowking clearly conveyed its ideas to Vibrava, who nodded repeatedly.
"Looks like they managed to communicate."
"My Slowking really is smarter than other Slowking."
Ethan smiled with pride; it truly saved him a lot of work.
While Vibrava began learning ultrasonic detection techniques, Ethan released Sandslash and Cacturne to continue training the move Sandstorm.
In a weather-based team, quickly activating the weather move is always the most important thing. Moreover, in battle, the opponent will clearly target the weather setter, so a Pokémon in charge of weather must be able to activate the move instantly.
(End of chapter)