Cacturne's training plan.
It still centered on the Ingrain move, the Water Absorb ability, and the Growth move.
However, at this stage, Ethan also assigned it a new task: to use those moves to try to perceive life energy.
Both the Ingrain move and the Water Absorb ability possessed in themselves the capacity to restore one's own body, and within that there was already a method of using life energy.
And the Growth move was even more special: it involved a change in life form, so it could be considered a more advanced form of life-energy manipulation, containing within itself the mystery of life transformation.
Currently, the maximum size Cacturne could reach using the Growth move was five meters. And perhaps mastery of life energy was the key to breaking that limit.
...
Slowking's training plan.
In reality, Ethan did not intervene too much.
With Slowking's intelligence, it could organize its own training by itself.
Moreover, after receiving guidance from President Beckett, it seemed to have become very interested in research.
For that reason, Slowking also became one of the members of Ethan's life-energy project.
Slowking's intelligence was so high that it could perform that role perfectly, and furthermore, from the perspective of a Pokémon, perhaps it could offer very valuable ideas.
...
Shuckle's training plan.
For a Pokémon whose function was purely utilitarian, Shuckle's task was only one: making Pokéblocks.
After previously creating special attack Pokéblocks, Shuckle was now trying to make mental-energy Pokéblocks.
If it managed to do so, perhaps it could use that method to increase its own mental energy.
And thus, come to understand the training of three Psychic-type moves: Power Split, Guard Split, and Power Trick.
After hearing about those three moves and the combat-oriented raising plan Ethan had for it, Shuckle was also filled with motivation.
In addition, Shuckle had another mission: to continue producing life-energy Pokéblocks.
Within the research on life energy that would officially begin in the laboratory, those Pokéblocks would probably be an excellent starting point.
...
Meltan's training plan.
Now it mainly centered on the Substitute move.
Thanks to its peculiar body structure, Meltan's Substitute move was different from that of other Pokémon.
In most Pokémon, the clone from the Substitute move is basically an energy entity, as happened with Litwick's clone.
But Meltan's clone worked through a kind of division.
And those divided clones were much more real than a simple energy body, almost as if they were new life forms.
Using those clones to launch the Electromagnetic Cannon in its place was one of the applications Meltan already gave to the Substitute move.
However, in Ethan's vision, the perfect way to use that move was to fuse all of Meltan's clones through its magnetism ability, thus creating something similar to Litwick's Demonic Fire Shadow.
In addition, Meltan could continue increasing its power by absorbing Meltan nuts, and that had also caused some ideas to arise in Ethan's mind.
Perhaps, if Meltan managed to absorb enough Meltan nuts and reached a certain power limit, then it could complete its final evolution and transform into the true Mythical Pokémon, Melmetal.
But Meltan nuts were too rare. Although Ethan had already relied on his current status to ask the Pokémon Researchers Guild, Ironvale City Pokémon University, and other major groups and contacts to help him gather them, there was still no news.
For that reason, he wondered whether it might be possible to use magnets or other objects as substitutes: have Meltan absorb them, then use the Substitute move to materialize copies equivalent to Meltan nuts, and, through the fusion of those clones, achieve a momentary explosion of power that would push its energy past the limit in an instant and thus complete its evolution.
It could be said that Ethan's hypothesis was extremely bold. But from an energy perspective, it did seem like a feasible method, because Meltan's clones resembled life forms and, in theory, were not so different from Meltan nuts.
Naturally, all of that was still in the speculation stage. Whether it would work or not, only practice could prove. And before that, Meltan still needed to complete the training of the Substitute move.
...
Vibrava's training plan.
At that moment, Vibrava's most powerful ability was the sand dragon condensed through the Levitate ability.
Nevertheless, the flaw of that sand dragon was also very evident: its method of attack was too simple.
For that reason, Ethan was considering whether it would be possible to apply moves directly onto the sand dragon to make its attacks much more flexible.
And, in that regard, the first thing that came to his mind was Dragon-type moves.
The Dragon-type moves Vibrava can master, such as Dragon Tail and Dragon Rush, can combine perfectly with the sand dragon.
In addition, right now Vibrava possesses a treasure like the Dragon Pearl, so the training of Dragon-type moves had already been incorporated into its program.
It was to be expected that, when Dragon-type moves and the sand dragon managed to fuse perfectly, the power of the sand dragon would increase even further.
Apart from that, Ground-type moves, Flying-type moves, and its vibrational ability also remained key development points. In the future, those moves would also gradually be integrated into the sand dragon.
If one day it managed to fuse all its abilities into one and open its own path, then Vibrava's future achievements would be absolutely limitless.
(End of chapter)