"I'll be counting on you for a while, Gengar."
After President Beckett left, Ethan extended his hand toward the Gengar in front of him with a smile.
"Kekeke!"
Gengar nodded at Ethan with a somewhat serious expression, looking like a trained soldier.
After greeting Ethan, Gengar's figure flickered and sank directly into the shadow, disappearing without a trace.
Even though it wasn't the first time he'd seen it, Ethan couldn't help being amazed again. He turned his head, repeatedly examining his own shadow. If he hadn't seen Gengar enter it with his own eyes, it would be hard to imagine that such a strange lifeform was hiding inside his shadow.
"Alright, I've resolved the last concern. What I have to do now is train the few Pokémon I have left."
"Once I get Sandslash, Slowking, and Cacturne back, my team will finally be complete."
Ethan thought with satisfaction. Since always—maybe because he had too many Pokémon—he had felt that whenever he trained them, his efforts were always insufficient.
Now things were different: with the help of the Pokémon Researchers Guild to take care of his other Pokémon, he finally had the energy to focus on training the remaining ones.
"First, I'll exchange my points for training resources."
With a plan in mind, Ethan stored all his Pokémon in their Poké Balls and headed to the resource exchange area.
During this time, the series of articles he had published continued generating points for him, so he now had a pretty considerable amount.
Upon arriving, Ethan walked right past the food and supplement section and, as always, went first to the item section to see if he could find any bargains.
"A new year... looks like there are plenty of new treasures." He looked at the reorganized shelves and thought to himself.
After browsing for quite a while, he really did find many new items, even some he had never seen before.
Evidently, the items that appear in the games and anime are only part of the real Pokémon world; behind them lie many hidden stories that neither the games nor the anime reveal.
"Wait... this item is... a Mega Stone?!"
While examining the items, Ethan suddenly noticed a sphere with reddish-purple patterns placed alone on a shelf. His heart skipped a beat.
"No doubt, it's a Mega Stone... but I don't know which Pokémon it belongs to."
After carefully observing it again, he confirmed his suspicion. Then he began mentally reviewing which Pokémon had those colors after mega evolving.
He thought for a moment, but ended up scratching his head in frustration; he couldn't identify which Mega Stone it was.
The only thing certain was that it wasn't Lucario's, Charizard's, or Absol's.
Shaking his head lightly, he stopped worrying about that and checked the point cost. He planned to take it and figure it out later.
But when he saw the exchange conditions, he froze.
The label said: "Not exchangeable. Only Pokémon Professors may request to study it."
"Only Pokémon Professors can request it?"
Ethan narrowed his eyes. Apparently, not even the Pokémon Researchers Guild knew its origin or function, and despite so many years of research, they had achieved nothing.
But clearly, they hadn't given up on studying it, which was why such a restriction existed.
"What a problem... I'm still far from the level of a Pokémon Professor."
"If I request it... maybe they could be more flexible?"
Ethan began considering the possibility of asking for the right to study it.
"Better not... it would be too suspicious. I can't even justify why I want to study it."
"Besides, I don't even have the corresponding Pokémon to mega evolve, so it wouldn't be useful to me right now anyway."
After thinking it over, Ethan shook his head and discarded the idea.
"But purple and red..."
"Wait... if it's a mega evolution with purple and red, wouldn't Mega Gengar fit?"
"No, no... Gengar's body is purple, yes, but a dark purple. This Mega Stone has a light purple."
"Gengar... wait, Gengar!"
Suddenly, Ethan seemed to realize something and sharply looked at his own shadow.
"Everything I do... is Gengar seeing it?"
"And if the League sent such a Gengar to protect me... isn't it also a way to monitor me?"
"A nearly Quasi-Elite-level Gengar... just for protection... I don't think I'm worthy of that much effort."
"Of course—just like in the Advanced-level exam: Ghost-type Pokémon protect and monitor at the same time. It's a common method used by the League..."
Ethan slowly closed his eyes, frowning. Even if he wasn't sure whether his suspicion was correct, it was a fact that Gengar saw everything he did.
"No matter whether it's intentional or not... I'll have to be more careful. After all, I have many secrets."
"Though I might also be overthinking..."
"For now, the important thing is to increase my strength. Once I'm strong enough, I won't need protection."
He then finished his walk without looking back at the Mega Stone. After checking all the items on the shelf, he chose one that increased mental strength and another that boosted fire-type energy.
They were single-use items for Riolu and Charmeleon, respectively. During this period, those were precisely the two Pokémon he wanted to focus on, so with enough resources, they would progress much faster.
After exchanging for both items, Ethan converted all his remaining points into Pokémon food and supplements. Then he left the exchange area; what came next was absorbing the resources and increasing his strength.
(End of chapter)