That night, the two held a deep exchange.
Everything went quite smoothly. Ethan obtained the training methods for the moves Brick Break, Poison Jab, and Thunder Punch.
As for the training method of the move Dragon Rush, Ethan did not mention it, much less would the other party mention it on his own initiative.
There was a certain tacit understanding between the two of them. Each kept some things, and at the same time handed over something they considered of equivalent value.
After obtaining what he wanted, the two said goodbye.
Ethan returned to his resting place and directly released Garchomp, immediately beginning training.
Since before this Garchomp had already built a good foundation in slashes, learning became much easier.
And as Garchomp began the special training of the move Brick Break, its understanding of slashes also deepened considerably.
...
Several days later, Ethan left the Battle Chateau.
Although now he was already a Marquis and was not far from the training mission of becoming a Duke, for the time being he had no intention of continuing to challenge without pause.
Originally, he had come to the Battle Chateau to train Garchomp's slashes.
Now that goal had already been accomplished, so Garchomp's training there could come to a pause.
What Garchomp had to do next was calm down and train.
When Garchomp completely mastered those techniques, he planned to return to continue with the next challenges.
At the same time, by then perhaps Garchomp could truly possess Elite-level strength. That way, he would also have a bit more confidence when challenging a Duke.
"Now it's time to go see the Carbink Secret Kingdom."
Ethan once again took out the map and began planning his route.
After determining the approximate path, he released Flygon and flew directly toward his destination.
...
"The entrance to the Carbink Secret Kingdom is this expensive?"
Standing in front of the Secret Kingdom entrance, Ethan looked at the ticket in his hand and shook his head.
"Of course it is."
"After all, the Carbink Secret Kingdom is a place where diamonds might be found."
"As long as you can find a single diamond, you'll become rich. What does an entrance ticket matter?"
A person lining up beside Ethan heard his words and answered with a smile.
From his expectant appearance, it was evident that he was a fortune seeker going after diamonds.
"Diamonds, huh. Certainly."
Ethan nodded and did not continue the conversation.
As the line advanced, it soon became Ethan's turn.
Accompanied by a flash of light, he crossed the Secret Kingdom passage and entered its interior.
"In this place, the Carbink are protected."
"You fortune seekers, don't try to take advantage of the Carbink."
After the group entered the Secret Kingdom, the administrator of the place reminded them again.
Everyone nodded. In addition, inside the Secret Kingdom, releasing Pokémon was also not allowed.
"Pokémon can't be released?"
"That really is somewhat troublesome."
Ethan frowned. If he did not release Melmetal, how was he going to find the fault passages of the Secret Kingdom?
"It seems I must first find a fault in the Secret Kingdom. As long as I leave this Secret Kingdom, they won't be able to control me anymore."
Ethan thought silently. He directly chose a path and advanced toward the fault of the Secret Kingdom.
Upon reaching the fault, he found a cracked and open land.
According to his experience, if it was not a Secret Kingdom formed by the complete fracture of the land, then that was where a Secret Kingdom passage was most likely to exist.
And the facts were indeed so. After Ethan released Melmetal, it sensed the fault passage of the Secret Kingdom there.
Without the slightest hesitation, a Secret Kingdom passage opened, and Ethan stepped directly into it.
Beep, beep, beep.
At the same time, after Ethan released his Pokémon, the administrator of the Carbink Secret Kingdom also detected Melmetal's special energy wave.
But in merely the blink of an eye, that energy wave disappeared, leaving the Secret Kingdom administrator full of doubts.
Returning to Ethan's side, after crossing the Secret Kingdom passage, he arrived once again in another Secret Kingdom.
Looking around, everything was full of strange and rugged rocks. In addition, in the distance, there was an extensive mountain range.
"Come out, Slowking, Lucario, Litwick."
Standing beside Melmetal, Ethan released three other Pokémon.
Upon arriving in a new Secret Kingdom, he planned to first rely on the detection abilities of those three Pokémon to explore that place.
"Yadon!"
Slowking seemed to have not gone out traveling in a long time.
At that moment, it observed the surroundings, though no one knew what it was thinking.
On the other side, Litwick's figure directly merged with the ground, intending to go explore on its own.
Lucario, for its part, naturally used the power of aura.
Lastly, Melmetal deployed its spatial magnetic field ability to sense the Secret Kingdom passages existing in that place.
Although Ethan had asked several Pokémon to begin exploring that Secret Kingdom, he also knew that the possibility of so easily finding the Diamond Kingdom was still very small.
"Luucaarr!"
At that moment, Lucario suddenly opened its eyes.
Immediately, through their mental connection, an image appeared in Ethan's mind.
"It's a Carbink."
Ethan's eyes shone.
Although he did not know exactly where it was, at least that proved that this place was also a Carbink Secret Kingdom.
"Slowking, take me there."
Hearing Ethan's words, Slowking nodded.
A blue glow appeared in its eyes, and in an instant, it transformed into a mass of blue light that enveloped Ethan and all the Pokémon.
In the next moment, Ethan and his Pokémon disappeared from the spot.
Through the move Teleport, Slowking directly locked onto the coordinates determined by Lucario and brought Ethan there.
It was a cave.
A Carbink was excavating stones at that moment, as if searching for something.
Suddenly, a blue light shone in the cave, and Carbink was badly startled.
"Sure enough, it's a Carbink."
Seeing it, Ethan smiled.
The lower part of Carbink had stones that contained diamonds; in the center it had a crown of fur, and on its head, blue eyes and rhombus-shaped ears.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Seeing Ethan, Carbink was immediately frightened.
In the first instant, Carbink used the move Dig, and its figure suddenly disappeared.
Seeing this scene, Ethan did not have Lucario or the others stop it.
This time, in searching for Carbink, his original intention was not to capture it, but to have Carbink show him the way to find its nest.
When Carbink escaped just now, Slowking had already placed a psychic coordinate. Now Carbink's location was completely locked on.
At the same time, Lucario's aura also remained in a state of vigilance, detecting the environment where Carbink was located.
In addition, Litwick, using at that moment the special capabilities of Ghost-type Pokémon, was also continuously following it from close by.
(End of chapter)