Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the morning of the fourth day, Ethan Black left the university's Secret Kingdom alone, accompanied only by his Cacnea.
"From now on, it'll just be you and me," he said, holding Cacnea's Poké Ball, smiling as he rode in a car heading toward the outskirts of Ironvale City. "Let's work hard together. I hope you can evolve into Cacturne before we return."
This sudden departure from the Secret Kingdom had two reasons. On one hand, the Bug-Catching Contest was about to begin, and Ethan Black wanted to go check it out. After all, if he managed to get a good placement, he could obtain not only a Bug-type Pokémon but also generous prizes and rewards.
On the other hand, he wanted to take the opportunity to train Cacnea on his own. Inside the Secret Kingdom, he could only perform special training, but Ethan Black believed that only real battles helped Pokémon grow faster.
Of course, to cooperate with Professor Harris's sandstorm experiment, Sandslash and Shellder stayed behind in the Secret Kingdom. Ethan Black made that decision after discussing it with both Pokémon.
At first, he had thought about bringing Shellder along, but after a medical check-up, Professor Harris discovered it still had some health problems. So he promised to help treat it as compensation for having used its Overcoat ability in his research.
Ethan Black gladly agreed after talking it over with Shellder, though he didn't plan to be away for long. At most half a month, after which he would return to the university to participate in the annual exam.
Now that he had officially enrolled at the Pokémon University of Ironvale City, the annual evaluation was mandatory.
Moreover, if he managed to get a good grade, he would receive quite generous rewards. It was said that the first place winner could choose any item from the university's treasure vault. Ethan Black had long desired that prize. The Pokémon University of Ironvale City was one of the best in the entire league, and its collection of items couldn't possibly be small.
On top of that, the other five members of the university team would also be selected in that exam. Those future teammates (and possible rivals) deserved all his attention.
"Hahaha! So you're also coming to the catching contest?" Several trainers dressed like bug catchers were chatting inside the car. "Have you already decided which Bug-type Pokémon you want to catch?"
"I think Scyther is awesome! It's definitely the coolest of all Bug-types."
"Totally! I love Scyther too. If I get the chance, I'll definitely catch one!"
Ethan Black smiled as he listened to their conversation.
"Scyther, huh? If I get the chance, I'd like one too. And if I evolve it into Scizor, that'd be incredible!"
Scizor, a Bug/Steel-type Pokémon, fit perfectly into his sandstorm-centered team.
The main advantage of Scizor over Scyther was its type change from Bug/Flying to Bug/Steel, making it far more durable. It only had a quadruple weakness to Fire-type moves, but aside from that, it was very solid.
In addition, Scizor excelled with its outstanding physical attack. Combining its ability Technician with the move Bullet Punch, it was an absolute beast in battle.
Bullet Punch: strikes the opponent with a punch as fast and hard as a bullet. This move has high priority. It has a base power of 40.
Technician: increases the power of moves with base power of 60 or less by 50%.
This combination made Bullet Punch devastating in Scizor's hands. And if you added Swords Dance to the mix, the combo could sweep through everything.
On top of that, its appearance was spectacular. And as if that weren't enough, Scizor could also Mega Evolve, which made it even more appealing—especially to trainers who valued style. Ethan Black was among them.
"Just for its looks... I definitely want to catch one!"
However, there was a problem. To evolve Scyther into Scizor, you needed an item: the Metal Coat.
This item, aside from allowing that evolution, also increased the power of Steel-type moves by 20%. That made it extremely valuable, especially among Steel-type specialists. In many cases, it was practically an invaluable treasure.
So obtaining a Metal Coat could be even harder than obtaining a King's Rock.
"Looks like Scizor isn't something I can rush, either," Ethan Black muttered with slight frustration. "Whether it's King's Rock, Metal Coat, or other rare items, getting them through conventional means is very difficult."
"Maybe only by exploring the Secret Kingdoms can I obtain items like that..."
He sighed and rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on.
"Scyther?" a cold voice cut in.
A stern-looking young man approached, throwing cold water on the bug catchers' lively discussion.
"Do you really think you'll be able to catch one?" he continued. "Pokémon as rare as Scyther have surely already been captured by the park staff themselves. There's no way they'd leave them available for you."
Silence. That hit hard.
"Well... maybe one of them slipped away," a boy said, his face red with embarrassment.
"Heh."
The cold young man only responded with a sarcastic laugh.
"Ugh, looks like finding a Scyther really will be difficult..." sighed one of the trainers. "Maybe it's better to aim for Pineco."
Ethan Black thought the same for a moment. It was unlikely the park would be so generous as to leave Scyther roaming free. But if he managed to catch a Pineco and evolve it into Forretress, that would also be a great addition.
Just like Scizor, Forretress was also a Bug/Steel-type, with excellent resistances.
Of course, Forretress's training strategy was somewhat limited: it usually only excelled as a hazard setter with moves like Toxic Spikes, Spikes, and Stealth Rock.
Ethan Black had considered using Sandslash as a hazard specialist, but in this world, the difficulty of learning moves was much higher than expected, so that plan had been put on hold.
However, Forretress naturally learned Toxic Spikes, which would save him a lot of trouble.
That said, from what he remembered, Pineco was very prone to self-destructing even with the slightest hit, making it an extremely dangerous Pokémon.
If it was really like the Pokédex described, Pineco might be considered a high-risk Pokémon and would likely be banned from the catching park.
(End of chapter)