After the competition ended, with the live broadcast and the news reports...
The name Ethan Black once again resounded throughout the entire League!
This was already the second time that Ethan had revealed a new evolutionary form of a Pokémon to the public.
And this time, the Cross Cup could practically be compared to a League-level event, so the level of attention it received was easy to imagine.
After the tournament, Ethan also accepted interviews from reporters and clearly presented the information related to Magmortar.
When the speculation that Magmortar was the evolved form of Magmar was confirmed, almost all Fire-type trainers went crazy!
Moreover, as information about Magmortar continued to spread, people also began to dig up data about this Pokémon from before its evolution.
Indeed, in this battle, Magmortar's performance had been simply outstanding. Although it ultimately lost by a narrow margin to the Magmar that used Thunderflame Dragon Mode, almost no one thought that Magmortar had truly lost.
After all, that Thunderflame Dragon Mode was the technique by which Champion Leo's Magmar had become famous! For Magmortar to force it into a draw by relying only on Explosive Punch was clear proof of its tremendous power.
At the same time, the principles behind Champion Leo's Explosive Step and Magmortar's Explosive Punch were also made public. Coupled with Champion Leo's commentary during the match, these two techniques practically became Magmortar's signature abilities.
Furthermore, Champion Leo explicitly stated that Magmortar had an innate advantage when it came to learning Explosive Step and Explosive Punch, which made countless people begin to feel deeply envious.
It was easy to imagine that if their Magmar could evolve into Magmortar and master Explosive Step and Explosive Punch, their strength would undoubtedly undergo a qualitative leap!
At the same time, as people continued to dig deeper into information about Magmortar, details about Ethan, the discoverer of this new evolutionary form, were once again brought to light.
The Strongest Rookie King, Advanced-level Trainer, Advanced-level Pokémon Researcher, Proponent of "A New Direction in Pokémon Evolution," Leader in the field of Pokémon evolution research...
The information uncovered about Ethan truly left everyone dumbfounded, and among these details there was one that filled everyone's eyes with disbelief.
Because this Ethan Black turned out to be...
A civilian!
A civilian who had reached this point relying solely on his own efforts was incredibly inspiring!
In an instant, Ethan became the idol of countless civilians!
...
Solaris City, Cross Cup stadium.
Naira Cross had also seen the information about Ethan.
She suddenly let out a silent sigh.
In reality, she had lost this battle.
A civilian, who had come this far relying only on his own abilities.
While she was the student of Champion Leo; the difference in status between the two was like heaven and earth.
Yet even so, she had only managed to defeat Ethan by the smallest of margins.
Could she really say that she had won, when she had barely triumphed in the field of Fire-type Pokémon, which was also the domain in which she excelled the most?
It was easy to imagine that if this had not been a battle of Fire-type Pokémon, she probably would have lost miserably.
"I really... still have a long way to go."
A sigh slowly echoed within the room.
...
Arcaia City, meeting room of the Thorne family.
After the end of the tournament, Laura Thorne had returned home first.
"Magmortar... and Ethan."
At that moment, Laura was holding a newspaper in her hand, one that was precisely reporting on Ethan.
In fact, she had followed the battle between Ethan and Naira from beginning to end.
To be honest, when she saw Litwick face Ninetales, she had almost felt that Litwick had no chance of winning at all.
After all, Litwick was a Pokémon in its initial form; its innate racial disadvantage was simply too great. In the first round of the preliminaries, the reason Litwick had been able to score 526 points was entirely due to exploiting tricks, and moreover, Ninetales possessed the Flash Fire ability, so the significance of that was not very great.
But when she saw Litwick, relying on the move Substitute and the Flash Fire ability, continuously strengthen the power of its flames and nearly defeat Ninetales, she was truly shocked.
And now, after the competition had ended, she had received another document about Ethan: the content of his post-match interview, as well as his detailed information.
After reading the data in her hands, a clear expression of surprise appeared on Laura's face.
When she had decided to befriend Ethan back then, she had never imagined that his identity would become so coveted.
"The leader of the Pokémon evolution field..."
"Do you think there is a possibility that he could unravel the unresolved mystery of this Pokémon?"
The head of the Thorne family swept his gaze across everyone present, taking in their expressions, and then pointed at the mural projected on the large screen.
In the image of the projected mural, the silhouettes of four Pokémon could be clearly seen.
Three of them were Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar, while the fourth silhouette looked very similar to Gengar.
However, compared to Gengar, this Pokémon had many more spikes on its body, and like Haunter, it had no feet. Its arms were also somewhat similar to Haunter's, but they were directly connected to its body, with spikes on them as well. In addition, there was a mark in the center of its forehead...
"Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, and this Pokémon."
"If our assumption is correct, then this Pokémon is very likely the evolved form of Gengar."
The words of the Thorne family head caused everyone's gazes to flicker intensely.
Did Gengar still have another evolutionary form? Although it sounded unrealistic, if what was recorded on the mural was true, then that possibility really did exist.
"I think it's worth trying."
"If Gengar truly has an additional evolutionary form, the significance of that for our family would be enormous."
An elder of the family expressed his stance, and the others nodded one after another, then directed their gazes toward the document about Ethan in front of them.
Judging by what Ethan had demonstrated in terms of his understanding of Pokémon evolution, he seemed to possess some method of determining whether a Pokémon could still evolve.
Although this was nothing more than speculation, as long as there was even the slightest possibility, everyone wanted to give it a try.
"Then let him try."
"Laura, you should be able to get in touch with him, right?"
Seeing everyone's reaction, the head of the Thorne family nodded slightly and then addressed Laura, who was sitting at the end of the conference table.
"Yes, I can."
"Ethan and I signed an agreement for the purchase of food for Ghost-type Pokémon. I just happen to have his contact information."
Laura nodded quickly; thinking about Gengar's possible evolutionary form, her eyes also shone with excitement.
"Then contact him... wait, better yet, go yourself. Make sure to invite Ethan to the Thorne family estate. If he's unwilling, you can offer him something he's interested in in exchange..."
(End of chapter)