First Meeting / Please...

After the minimum age for setting out on adventures had been raised, the standard had dropped quite a bit again by the time Mei left home.

Sometimes, Mei even wondered whether she was the so-called protagonist of this world. However... after certain things happened, her outlook had changed.

"Keep going! Serperior, tighten your coils!"

After using Leaf Storm, a Pokémon's Special Attack would drop drastically. To cover that gap, Mei commanded Serperior to use another move.

"Shh..."

The level advantage left the poachers utterly unable to resist. On top of that, the coordination between Mei and Serperior was far beyond anything these people could compare to.

In the blink of an eye, a Primeape lost consciousness in Serperior's bindings. Looking at the remaining Pokémon, Serperior held her head high, her eyes carrying a hint of mockery and provocation.

"B-Bastard!"

Seeing that look, the poachers wanted nothing more than to rush up and kick her one by one. Yet faced with her strength, they did not even have the ability to fight back.

This time, they had miscalculated.

Elsewhere, the poachers' leader had also run into a huge problem.

"Not only is there a Gym Leader... that little girl over there is incredibly strong too... and that boy using strange Pokémon..."

Looking at the battlefield before him, already a complete mess, he had bitten his lips until they bled.

If there had only been one Gym Leader, his Pokémon could still have held her off for a while and let the others enter the truck to seize the target. But... if there were two people at that level, then he was completely out of options.

Most importantly, his prediction had been predicted by theirs. That was absolutely the last thing he had expected. These people... had clearly come prepared to wipe them all out!

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!"

The battle was becoming more and more deadlocked, which only made things worse for them. The poachers' leader called out the signal to retreat. Though he no longer knew how many people could escape, under the circumstances, whoever could leave should leave.

"Don't think you can run!"

Iron Maiden swung her steel shovel, intending to stop the poachers' leader. Sooner or later, she would get revenge for him insulting her with her own name.

"You tell me not to run, and I'm supposed to just not run?"

The poachers' leader was furious too, but he had no choice but to yield for now. It did not matter if those low-level poachers were caught, but he absolutely had to escape.

However, amid the chaotic battle, every vehicle had either exploded or been damaged. With no other choice, he recalled his Pokémon and leaped straight into the forest beside the road.

He moved with remarkable agility, clearly a veteran at running away. When the other poachers saw their boss take the lead in fleeing, their order immediately fell apart. Everyone was busy trying to save their own lives.

Taking advantage of their utter collapse, Qiao Ran happily began farming experience points from the side. He even sent out the lower-level Altaria to rack up points. Iron Maiden and the others were holding the front line, so it was only natural for Qiao Ran to slack off a little here.

"Altaria! Hyper Voice!"

"Cree—!"

Altaria spread her wings in midair, and turbulent sound waves radiated from around her. Every enemy Pokémon touched by the energy wave suffered massive damage.

As a Normal-type area-of-effect move, the returns Hyper Voice brought were difficult to imagine. This was what Qiao Ran relied on to let Altaria farm experience—it was simply too efficient.

It barely took any time for Altaria to reach Level 19. Her level was not particularly high yet, and leveling was indeed extremely fast at lower levels. However, as her level rose higher and higher, leveling would become increasingly difficult. That would be the real challenge.

Elsewhere, Iron Maiden stood atop Aggron and began her surrender speech.

"Your leader has already fled! The rest of you, surrender immediately! If you keep resisting stubbornly, you'll only add to your crimes! Do you want a shovel to the face?!"

As the Steel Gym Leader, Iron Maiden could not use speed to catch up to the poachers' leader, who had already escaped. However, suppressing the small fry still left here was a piece of cake.

"You—have already lost!"

With Iron Maiden's declaration, the Steel-type Pokémon also let out roars. Intimidated by Iron Maiden herself and her Pokémon, some poachers who knew they could not escape chose to surrender outright. Others who thought they had some skill and tried to flee were knocked straight to the ground by Iron Maiden's shovel, one blow at a time.

Though she could not deal with some powerful Pokémon, Iron Maiden was already invincible when facing humans.

"Help me get some handcuffs from the car. We're about done here."

Iron Maiden looked toward Qiao Ran, who was slacking off nearby. She needed to keep watch here to prevent these people from taking the chance to escape, so this task could only be handed to Qiao Ran.

"Fine."

Qiao Ran shrugged and took the completely undecorated car key from Iron Maiden.

As expected of a straight-laced Steel-type woman. Everything about her is so utterly plain.

Though he was only running errands now, Qiao Ran had no complaints. He had profited quite well from this trip, especially since Altaria's level had risen to a fairly impressive point.

Although he still could not participate in higher-level battles, one day he too would grow into someone others needed to look up to—he looked forward to that day.

After Qiao Ran left, the expedition team members in the truck also came outside to gather. When Iron Maiden saw Dr. Lilia, she went over to greet her first.

"Did you find anything interesting?"

"Forget it. You're not interested in that stuff anyway, and you'd definitely find it boring even if I told you."

The two spoke casually without any sense of distance between them, as if everything that had just happened were as ordinary as eating and drinking.

"H-Hello, big sister Iron..." Mei greeted her as well. However, judging by how timid she looked, she was probably another unfortunate child who had once said the wrong thing and experienced Iron Maiden's terrifying strength firsthand.

"Little Mei did very well today. In a few years, you might even become a Champion. Lilia would be overjoyed to have a Champion as her assistant."

Iron Maiden could not help teasing Mei, but every word she said was true. With a child as talented and capable as Mei by Dr. Lilia's side, Iron Maiden could feel much more at ease about her friend's safety.

Dr. Lilia was someone who could never stay idle. Since childhood, her ambition had been to explore all kinds of places. Exploration inevitably came with danger. Iron Maiden had always been at Dr. Lilia's side to clear the way for her, but now that task had been passed on to Mei.

"By the way, the one who was talking to me before... isn't she here?"

Suddenly, Dr. Lilia brought up the person who had spoken to her telepathically earlier. It was that person's words that had guided her here. Though the poachers had also set an ambush here, this counter-ambush against the poachers' counter-ambush had undoubtedly been a huge success.

Yet no matter how Dr. Lilia looked around Iron Maiden, she could not find a second person. Had she left?

"Him... he went to my car to get handcuffs. Just like little Mei, he's a very gifted child. At his age, he can already skillfully use psychic powers to command Pokémon in battle... honestly, it's my first time seeing someone so frightening."

"Command in battle..."

Dr. Lilia blinked in surprise. She knew she could not do such a thing, after all, her psychic powers had their limits too.

"Not only that, he and your younger sister also... hehe."

Iron Maiden stopped halfway through her sentence, then pursed her lips and revealed a meaningful smile. As for what she meant, Dr. Lilia could only fill in the blanks herself.

"Eve? You saw her? I heard she ran away from home some time ago..."

The moment Eve was mentioned, Dr. Lilia became anxious. She had heard the news before officially entering the ruins, but once the formal confidential investigation had begun, she had been unable to leave. Now that she was back, she naturally needed to know where Eve was.

"She's at my Gym now, so don't worry. She's fine, and someone protected her very well on the road too."

Iron Maiden explained everything directly. Yet listening to her, Dr. Lilia felt that her best friend's tone carried a trace of... envy?

The group continued chatting, and at that moment, Qiao Ran came over carrying the handcuffs.

"Whew—this stuff is much easier than shovels."

Qiao Ran put down a bag of handcuffs and wiped the sweat from his forehead. After the endless hell of shovel training, he could finally feel his body improving. Though he was still far from being able to tear apart Legendary Pokémon with his bare hands, Qiao Ran had always been working hard.

One day, I'll pay back every bit of humiliation I suffered from Dianxi and the others.

"Good job."

Iron Maiden smiled and patted Qiao Ran on the shoulder, then carried the bag off to work. Before leaving, she specifically said something to the others.

"Oh, right, Lilia. This is the person you just mentioned, the one who spoke to you. Qiao Ran, this is Eve's older sister, Dr. Lilia, and her assistant Mei. Get acquainted."

"Th-This...!"

After hearing Iron Maiden's words, the three people on both sides stared at one another.

Qiao Ran was looking at Mei. This girl... was almost exactly like the one in his memories, or perhaps in his imagination. She might even have been more charming.

Mei and Dr. Lilia were also observing him, studying this boy they had met for the first time.

Dr. Lilia in particular revealed an incredibly strange expression, sweeping her gaze over him as though she were looking at some wondrous creature.

"Y-You're a man???"

"Me?"

Qiao Ran pointed at himself, equally confused. How was he not a man?

Wait, did he not look like a man??

Did he need to prove his identity while introducing himself??

"N-No, I mean, the voice that spoke to me through psychic powers earlier... it was obviously a girl's voice... no, maybe I should say a little girl's voice?

Anyway, it's completely different from you!"

Dr. Lilia was equally bewildered, to the point that she could barely speak clearly. It was her first time encountering something like this. It felt as awkward as a burly man over six feet tall opening his mouth and speaking in the voice of a little girl.

"This..."

Qiao Ran's brow twitched. He seemed to realize where the problem lay.

Dianxi... that girl must have said something strange just now!

"This is just a minor issue. Besides, there are so many psychics out there. There must be people whose voices differ from their actual voices."

Qiao Ran began confidently making things up. Though he did not know what Dianxi had said, he had to smooth this over.

If I don't, even Mei beside me is looking at me strangely.

"Mm... is that so?"

Dr. Lilia tilted her head. She had never researched this matter, but since Qiao Ran explained it that way, she simply chose to believe his reason.

After that topic ended, the three continued chatting about random things. Qiao Ran deliberately or unconsciously tried to create an opportunity to be alone with Mei, but he never found a good chance to make a move.

"This is tricky..."

Being able to meet Mei, especially a living Mei, undoubtedly filled Qiao Ran with excitement. Yet what he wanted to discuss with her was not necessarily something others could know—if she really was that Mei.

First of all, as a native of the Pokémon world, Mei certainly would not be like the people of this world, who did not even know what "Legendary Pokémon" were. If she saw Qiao Ran's Pokémon, what would her reaction be?

Second, what had Mei experienced as the price of coming to this world? Had anyone else learned about those experiences?

Thinking this over, Qiao Ran finally took advantage of the moment when the two people opposite him were not paying attention. He wrote a few words on a slip of paper, then gripped it tightly in his hand.

He was waiting for an opportunity.

The League's support arrived quickly. Once Iron Maiden had the situation under control, the poachers were all stuffed into vehicles before long. Iron Maiden clapped her hands and announced the end of the mission.

"Alright, it's about time we headed back."

"Mm."

Watching everyone leave, Qiao Ran secretly hung back at the very end and quietly moved closer to Mei.

"Wha..." Mei noticed Qiao Ran's movement with remarkable sharpness. But just as she was about to say something, she heard him softly whisper two words into her ear.

"Unova."

"...!"

At that instant, Mei's body seemed to have been struck by lightning, and she froze in place. Her reaction was so intense not merely because of the warm, ticklish sensation at her ear, but because of those two words—Unova.

Those words seemed utterly ordinary at first glance, but they were the name of Mei's homeland. Only someone from the Pokémon world would know that name!

"You...!"

Mei began breathing heavily and looked at Qiao Ran with an expression she had never shown before. There was nostalgia and shock in her eyes, excitement and disbelief as well, but more than anything else, there was the joy of meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

Her face even flushed faintly from how excited she was.

But Qiao Ran interrupted her again. He forcibly grabbed her hand and stuffed the note into it.

"Shh—"

After doing all that, Qiao Ran decisively chose to leave without any hesitation. There were too many people here, and it was not the best place to discuss things. He needed a time when the two of them could be alone to talk about deeper matters.

After he returned to the group, Iron Maiden ahead suddenly looked at Qiao Ran with an extremely meaningful expression.

"Looks like... you two are very close. You're already at this stage?"

"W-What do you mean?" Qiao Ran could not help breaking out in a cold sweat. Just how much had she seen?

"Don't play dumb. Don't be too greedy as a man, or I'll help little Eve clean house, hehe."