"Finally, it's over."
At the disaster command headquarters.
Ethan stretched lazily and let out a light sigh of relief.
After an entire day of uninterrupted rescue operations, all the injured in the city had already been rescued and were now gathered together receiving treatment.
Completing all rescue work in just one day was something completely impossible in the world Ethan came from.
But this was the Pokémon world, and in the face of these creatures that wielded inconceivable powers, everything became possible.
Moreover, with Pokémon specialized in healing, the mortality rate of the injured had been reduced to the minimum. As long as there was still a breath of life left, a single use of the move Heal Pulse was enough to practically save that person's life.
"Thank you very much for your help. This time, your Riolu was truly an enormous help in the rescue."
"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, once this catastrophe is completely resolved, the League will undoubtedly grant recognition and a reward commensurate with your performance and cooperation."
After all the dust had settled, President Turner also sighed in relief and spoke solemnly to Ethan.
Although in the final stage of the rescue, due to the arrival of reinforcements from various places, Riolu's role had been greatly reduced, in the initial stage of the rescue, Riolu's aura power had played an absolutely crucial role.
In rescue situations, time is life; every second that passes can mean a death. It could be said that Riolu had saved the lives of countless people.
...
At night.
Ethan returned to the temporary rest point.
Although he was very tired, at that moment he felt extremely excited.
He opened the Poké Balls in his hand, and Riolu and Vibrava appeared, both wearing equally exhausted expressions.
These two Pokémon possessed detection abilities and, among all of Ethan's Pokémon, had contributed the most to the rescue efforts during the earthquake.
At the same time, they were also the ones who gained the most from this relief operation.
As for Riolu, there was no need to say much: after such a long period of training in aura power, it had finally achieved a decisive breakthrough.
Now, with its mastery of aura power, it could be said that Riolu had completely opened a new door and placed one foot on the path toward becoming a true powerhouse.
However, its current mastery of aura power was still rather superficial. Aside from aura-based detection, it had yet to control other abilities related to it.
It was easy to imagine that, for a long period of time from now on, training aura power would become Riolu's primary training direction.
Moreover, in terms of moves, Riolu could already begin training the move Aura Sphere.
Although only a very small minority of Riolu manage to learn Aura Sphere before evolving into Lucario, Ethan was convinced that a Riolu that had already mastered aura power fully possessed the ability to train this move.
After all, aura power was such a powerful force that not even all Lucario who mastered Aura Sphere were able to truly control it.
Sensing aura and using the move Aura Sphere were not the same as mastering aura power; the gap between the two was enormous.
Furthermore, Aura Sphere was a long-range move that benefited from increased Special Attack, and in the hands of a Riolu with such powerful mental strength and a Special Attack far superior to its peers, this skill would undoubtedly be able to unleash its maximum power, even surpassing that of an average Lucario.
"Riou!"
After understanding the effect of the move Aura Sphere through Ethan's explanation, Riolu immediately became excited. After waiting for so long, it could finally learn its first Fighting-type move.
"Rest well first; training aura power isn't urgent."
Ethan smiled as he gently patted its head.
Although Riolu had already mastered aura power, Ethan still planned for it to continue training emotional energy.
After all, aura power and emotional energy were intrinsically linked; aura power had been mastered precisely through emotional energy. Before having a clear and systematic method for training aura, strengthening emotional energy training was also a very good option.
Moreover, for Riolu to successfully evolve into Lucario, it still needed a sufficient level of friendship, and friendship was nothing more than a form of emotional energy.
Only a Lucario that had successfully evolved could learn the move Calm Mind and master even more long-range moves, allowing its powerful mental strength to be fully unleashed. Only then could Lucario be considered truly complete and possess sufficient combat capability.
"Riou!"
A look full of anticipation appeared in Riolu's eyes, and the way it looked at Ethan was filled with gratitude.
"Rest well first; you worked very hard today."
Ethan smiled, patted its head once more, and carried it to the bed, covering it with the blanket.
After that, his gaze fell upon Vibrava, which was resting quietly while lying on the floor, and he smiled faintly. Aside from Riolu, Vibrava's gains had also been enormous.
During this earthquake, thanks to its advantage as a vibration-type Pokémon, it had successfully comprehended the move Earthquake!
At present, the move Earthquake still lacked a complete training method and could only rely on the Pokémon's own comprehension. For Vibrava, a Pokémon specialized in vibrations, this was truly crucial and might become the key opportunity for it to fully master the power of vibration.
At this moment, Vibrava had mastered a large number of skills, and its training in all aspects was quite outstanding. However, among all these abilities, only wind control and the development of the Levitate ability could be considered distinctive; in other aspects, it did not particularly stand out.
Throughout this period of travel, after encountering so many powerful trainers, Ethan increasingly felt how important it was for Pokémon to find their own path.
Like Sandslash with its move combinations, Cacturne with its Root Dominion, Slowking with its integrated duality, Meltan mastering Magnetic Levitation and Electromagnetic Cannon, or Charizard with its Sunny Day Dragon.
Once a Pokémon found its own path, its increase in power became extremely evident; this was also the inevitable road for a Pokémon to advance toward the pinnacle.
And Vibrava's strength had clearly reached a bottleneck. Although continuously learning various skills allowed it to accumulate a solid foundation, it still lacked that crucial process of qualitative transformation arising from quantitative accumulation.
It was easy to imagine that if Vibrava managed to fully integrate all its abilities, its power would undoubtedly experience explosive growth.
That path could begin from a specific skill, a particular attribute, or a certain capability.
Just like Vibrava's wind control and vibration ability—both were extremely good entry points and might help it find its own path.
(End of chapter)