In the air, Ethan paid no attention to the astonished expressions of the trainers below.
At that moment, Vibrava, thanks to its Levitate ability and its mastery of the wind, had already perfectly controlled the violent air currents.
Then, it was seen lightly flapping its wings and quickly chasing the small dot in the distance.
Far ahead, the examiner was also observing the situation behind him.
Noticing that no Pokémon had caught up to him, he shook his head with a bit of disappointment and thought about stopping for a moment to wait.
"Huh? That is... Flygon?"
Suddenly, the examiner was stunned when he saw a green figure, immediately showing a surprised expression.
Normally, the first ones to reach him were usually Flying-type Pokémon. For something like Flygon to be the first to arrive was already uncommon.
"Wait... it's not Flygon, but... Vibrava!"
All of a sudden, the examiner rubbed his eyes in disbelief. But when he looked again, he saw that the Vibrava had already quickly caught up to him.
"It really is Vibrava!"
After confirming that he had not been mistaken, his expression stiffened and his eyes widened slightly.
"I didn't expect the first one to catch up to me to be a Vibrava. It seems we can't keep waiting. Pidgeot, the evaluation has begun."
Upon hearing this, Pidgeot let out a loud and clear cry and began flapping its wings rapidly, accelerating its flight.
Little by little, its figure drifted farther and farther away, while Vibrava followed closely behind, leaving the other candidates on the island looking at each other without knowing what to do.
"Hey, hey... did they just leave like that?"
Looking at the empty sky, the candidates were stunned.
"Did we just fail the exam that easily?"
One of them said in despair, wondering if he really had such terrible luck.
"Look, another Pokémon managed to take off!"
At that moment, someone shouted in surprise.
A Swellow could be seen that, barely enduring the gale and the turbulent air currents, managed to rise into the air.
Thanks to its perseverance, it finally managed to get out of the zone of violent winds.
"We did it!" the trainer riding Swellow shouted excitedly.
However, his appearance was extremely disheveled, in sharp contrast with the carefree calm that Ethan had shown.
But he no longer had time to think about that. He immediately mounted Swellow and chased in the direction where Pidgeot and Vibrava had disappeared.
After Swellow opened the path, more and more Pokémon began to rise one after another.
At the same time, the wind and the currents in the air gradually weakened, allowing more candidates to join the main group.
"Damn it, where did they fly to?!"
After a long stretch of pursuit, one of the candidates could not help but worry.
"This can't be... they could at least wait for us..." another muttered in an almost desperate tone.
"Wait, look at that!"
Suddenly, someone saw a golden glimmer in the distance and exclaimed.
"It's sand, it's sand!"
"It must have been left by that Vibrava!"
"Quick, follow it!"
One of the aspirants, full of enthusiasm, ordered his Pokémon to follow it.
In the distance, Vibrava's speed began to gradually decrease.
As it flew, a trail of sand could be seen spreading behind it, small golden dots floating in the air like a shining ribbon stretched across the sky.
"It seems he doesn't want the other candidates to fall behind... what an interesting kid."
Noticing Ethan's small action, the examiner smiled slightly, finding it intriguing.
It should be known that the first phase of the professional Pokémon hunter exam also had a limit on the number of slots; not all aspirants could successfully reach the Secret Kingdom.
After all, the Pokémon hunter license was the pass granting access to the League's Secret Kingdoms, and the resources in those places were limited. Therefore, the number of hunters had to be strictly controlled.
Right now, thanks to the advantage he had taken, Ethan could have completely eliminated all the other aspirants, thus ensuring that he would pass the first phase successfully.
However, he chose not to do so and instead decided to lend them a hand. This made the examiner value him even more.
While the examiner was evaluating Ethan, Ethan was also observing him.
For quite a while now, the examiner's Pidgeot had always maintained the same distance from Vibrava.
When Vibrava accelerated, Pidgeot did as well. When Vibrava slowed down, Pidgeot also reduced its pace.
That allowed Ethan to confirm something: Pidgeot's speed seemed to be deliberately adjusting to match that of his Vibrava.
"As I thought, the first phase also involves an elimination competition. The reason must be to limit the number of Pokémon hunters and balance the resources."
"After all, the content of the exam is to successfully explore a Secret Kingdom. Once the exploration is completed, those who make outstanding contributions within the Secret Kingdom will be able to pass."
"To control the number of hunters, the League will surely eliminate part of the aspirants from the very first phase, keeping the number of people who enter the Secret Kingdom under control."
Ethan began to form his own conjectures. Allowing only the strongest to enter the Secret Kingdom would not only control the total number of hunters, but would also filter out those who lacked sufficient strength, ensuring overall safety. Undoubtedly, it was a reasonable plan.
"If I kept Vibrava at maximum speed the whole time, I could eliminate everyone else. But... if I eliminate too many, the difficulty of exploring the Secret Kingdom will increase considerably."
"In a dangerous place, every additional aspirant means another layer of safety. So I must make sure that the strongest group in this examination field also manages to pass."
Ethan already had another plan in mind: this way he could maximize the chances of success in the exploration.
In the sky...
Gradually, under Ethan's guidance and with his intentionally reduced speed, a large number of aspirants managed to catch up with them.
And when he saw that a long line had formed in the air behind them, the examiner smiled slightly and suddenly made Pidgeot begin accelerating again.
(End of chapter)