Alola: Lillie / Anomaly: Alliance

"Dianxi!"

Refusing to admit defeat, Dianxi unleashed a Diamond Storm. A pink diamond whirlwind shot straight at the black Nihilego, but the little white Nihilego formed a wall and actually took the attack head-on.

"Hehehe..."

The black Nihilego let out a sound somewhere between a sneer and a mockery. Waving her tentacles, she sent countless Venoshock blasts raining down again. This time, Suicune took Qiao Ran onto her back and leaped across the bridge to evade them.

Suicune was incredibly agile, dodging nearly all of the poisonous rain. Dianxi blocked the rest.

However, when the poison landed on the bridge, the seemingly sturdy structure was corroded into pit after pit. Just how powerful was this stuff...?

"N-No! This is..."

That thought had barely lasted a few seconds in Qiao Ran's mind before he stared at the rapidly cracking ground, his eyes widening.

The bridge had actually lost its support under that corrosion.

"Rumble!!"

The bridge split apart with a deafening crash, and Qiao Ran fell into darkness. Yet in the final second, he still reached out and recalled Dianxi and Suicune into their Poké Balls.

"Altaria!"

Qiao Ran remained calm in the face of danger. After everything he had experienced, he had developed a heart that grew calmer the more dangerous things became. He took out Altaria's Poké Ball, intending to have her help him through this crisis. Humans could not fly, but Altaria could.

However—just as he was about to move, he suddenly felt himself land on something soft.

"Thump."

"Huh? What... is going on?"

Qiao Ran raised his head and looked around in surprise. He discovered that he seemed to be on top of some Pokémon's body.

That Pokémon was flying through the air, flapping its wings. Not only that, but a girl's faint voice drifted over from beside him.

"Are... are you okay...?"

"!"

Startled, Qiao Ran looked toward the voice. By the faint light of the surrounding crystals, he saw—standing there was a cute girl with short black hair and a red hat.

The girl had large, bright, captivating eyes, and even when she spoke, she seemed to carry a faint smile. However, she did not look to be in very good spirits right now... There were light dark circles around her eyes, as though she had not slept properly in a long time. Her clothes were also tattered, exposing large patches of skin beneath an outfit that had already been rather revealing.

Qiao Ran even felt that if she moved just a little, he might see something he should not be seeing...

"You are..."

Qiao Ran felt like he should know her... even though he had never met her in person.

"Mei?" Qiao Ran asked tentatively.

"Huh?" The girl immediately reacted to his words.

Her large eyes were filled with confusion, as though they were asking, "How did you know?"

Alola: Mei

The girl did not understand why Qiao Ran knew her. As far as she remembered, this was the first time she had ever met this boy.

"Ah... sorry. I just heard a friend describe what you looked like, so I guessed it might be you."

Seeing the girl's reaction, Qiao Ran had basically confirmed that she was the Mei he had heard of.

—Like Mei, she was one of the many female protagonists in the Pokémon world. However, the regions they represented were different. Mei was from Unova, while this Mei was from Alola.

If the two regions were compared, the difference was probably like that between an international metropolis and a rural-urban fringe.

Although Alola had an outstanding organization like the Aether Foundation, the local customs here remained rather "simple." There were practically no industrial facilities, and the environment was extremely well preserved. In fact—even the League might not have been formally established yet.

"Really... There are actually friends who mention me... Did you come in from outside?"

Mei's gaze dimmed slightly. Seeing that expression, Qiao Ran could not help thinking of Mei again—what exactly had these female protagonists of the Pokémon world gone through? Why did every one of them seem so strange?

"I did come in from outside, using a somewhat special method. My name is Qiao Ran. It's nice to meet you."

Qiao Ran looked around, then smoothly changed the subject. He was rather afraid that she would keep asking how he got in, since that was something he had no way of explaining.

"What exactly happened here?"

"This place... suffered an unprecedented disaster."

Mei shook her head and directed her Pokémon to land on the ground.

Only then did Qiao Ran realize that the Pokémon beneath him was a bright green Tropius with bananas hanging from her neck. She was the one who had caught him in midair.

"At first, a friend invited me here. Then, for some reason... dozens of Ultra Wormholes connecting to another world suddenly appeared, and countless Ultra Beasts entered this facility through them."

"I had no way to stop the Ultra Beasts' invasion. I could only watch as they occupied this place. They exiled all the other living beings to another world and transformed this place into their nest. And not only that... even my best friend was taken by them..."

Mei weakly sat down on the ground. This was the lowest level beneath the bridge, but Mei had turned it into a small temporary base.

There were beds, supplies, water, food—everything seemed to be here.

But there was no electricity, nor were there many necessities of modern life. Qiao Ran could not imagine how Mei had survived here.

"Is the friend you mean Lillie? I saw her just now too."

Qiao Ran sighed. If he had enough strength, he wanted to save Lillie too. No matter what, she was a good girl. She should not have become like that.

"You know Lillie too?"

Perhaps because she had not seen another living person in so long, or perhaps because of the natural familiarity Qiao Ran gave off, Mei spoke with him very easily. There seemed to be none of the distance expected between two people meeting for the first time.

"Yeah, of course I know her."

Qiao Ran nodded noncommittally, adding silently, though she doesn't know me.

"Lillie... sniff."

At the mention of Lillie, Mei's little nose twitched. She silently walked to one end of the bed and picked up a somewhat dirty doll—it was shaped like a Clefairy.

"This was Lillie's favorite doll. I even went out of my way to find it and bring it back... Even if she has already become like that, I've always believed... there must be a way..."

As she spoke, tears actually welled up in Mei's eyes. It was hard to imagine how badly a girl this strong had been hurt to become the way she was now.

"..."

Seeing how sad she was, Qiao Ran truly wanted to hug her and comfort her. But then he remembered that they had only just met. Would doing something like that be inappropriate?

What if she thought he was a pervert? Would he get yelled at again???

So Qiao Ran's hand hung in midair, reaching out and pulling back, stretching and retracting. He had no idea what to do.

"Um... what's wrong with you?"

After quietly crying for a while, Mei finally noticed Qiao Ran's bizarre movements beside her. She could not help turning to look at him, then carefully put the Clefairy doll back on the bed.

"N-No, nothing. I was just thinking about a somewhat complicated problem."

Qiao Ran scratched his head, trying to change the subject again. He no longer wanted to trigger the "definitely anger a girl upon first meeting her" buff. After suffering several losses, he had become increasingly cautious in this regard.

Dianxi and Vulpix had also helped Qiao Ran realize just how deep the waters ran when it came to girls.

"A complicated problem? Are you thinking of a way to save Lillie?"

"...Yeah. That's right."

Qiao Ran went along with it and decisively nodded. He did want to save Lillie, after all, so this did not conflict with his previous thoughts. Besides, he had a feeling that the Nihilego parasitizing Lillie was connected to the "singularity center." That Nihilego held a particularly special position within the whole group.

"Lillie... I knew it, I knew it! As Lillie's friend, you must feel the same way I do!"

Hearing Qiao Ran's answer, Mei's face lit up with excitement. She even stepped forward and hugged Qiao Ran's body with immense enthusiasm.

"That's great! That's great!"

"...!"

Qiao Ran's eyes widened. He had just been agonizing over whether to make such a move, yet this girl had turned around and hugged him first.

Was this the passionate Alola?—Qiao Ran decided he loved it.

Although this girl did not have Mei's unbelievably outrageous figure, she was still much better endowed than the flat chests of Vulpix and Dianxi. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that Vulpix and Dianxi were the unusual ones.

"By the way, what Pokémon do you still have available? I might not be able to deal with that strongest Nihilego yet, but if you have other Pokémon..."

Mei's hug did not last long. After she let go of Qiao Ran, he asked about her team.

Now that he had found an ally and confirmed what they needed to do next, Qiao Ran needed to understand his ally's strength.

—If this protagonist had combat power comparable to Mei's, then their next actions would undoubtedly become much easier.

However—after hearing Qiao Ran's words, Mei showed a bitter, helpless smile.

She was clearly smiling, yet Qiao Ran thought she looked as though she were crying.

"Fine, I'll show you my Pokémon."

With Mei's movements, several Pokémon revealed themselves beside her.

Qiao Ran's gaze swept over them.

"Decidueye... Alolan Muk... Toxapex... Salazzle... Drapion..."

Qiao Ran was excited at first, but the more he looked, the more confused he became.

"Wait, why are all your Pokémon Poison-types aside from your starter and flying transportation????"

Why were they all Poison-types???

Nihilego had a quadruple resistance to Poison!! Poison and Rock meant a fourfold resistance without question. Poison-type moves would not even scratch her, okay?!

Qiao Ran suddenly felt that he understood something.

Why had Mei always been helpless against this Nihilego?

—It was not that she had not worked hard. It was because her team composition was truly, truly absurdly toxic. Not only were most of her Pokémon Poison-types, but the rest had no advantage against Nihilego either. Some of them were even at a type disadvantage.

"Um..." Mei rubbed her head, not knowing how to answer Qiao Ran's question.

She could only stick out her tongue a little and act cute on the spot.

"Because... they all look cute?"

Singularity: Alliance

"You... sigh."

Like a deflated balloon, Qiao Ran could only sigh. He took out the Rotom he had stuffed into his pocket, preparing to check the levels of her Pokémon.

Mei's Pokémon choices were very distinctive to her. At a time like this, Qiao Ran had no other solution. Although most Pokémon experts specialized in one type, an adventurer who often traveled outside could not train only Pokémon of a single type. Otherwise, they could easily end up in a predicament like this.

"What's that? A Rotom?"

When Mei saw Qiao Ran take out Rotom, she leaned closer. She also pulled a red object from her bag.

It was Alola's specialty—the Rotom Dex.

By putting Rotom into the Dex, it became a flying Pokémon encyclopedia that could also be used as a selfie phone. It was extremely convenient.

However, her Rotom had completely run out of energy. He could not even open his eyes.

"Because there's no electricity or sunlight here... I've never been able to charge him. If we can get out..."

As Mei spoke, her gaze became determined again.

She looked at Qiao Ran and excitedly thrust out her chest. "Let's defeat that Nihilego together!"

"Uh... yeah, I know, I know."

Qiao Ran's gaze was still on Rotom's screen, and he did not notice Mei suddenly getting fired up beside him. He could only respond mechanically.

"These Pokémon... are mostly around level thirty-seven?"

Qiao Ran muttered to himself. Although Mei's Pokémon were all higher level than his, they had no type advantage, and this level was still not enough against that Nihilego.

"What should we do?"

Qiao Ran rubbed his chin. He really wanted to ask Mei whether her Pokémon knew countering area-of-effect moves like Surf, Scald, or Earthquake. But after thinking it over, he ultimately did not ask.

First, the Toxapex on Mei's side that might know Water-type moves was probably just a tank. Even if she could spray out a little water from her body, it likely would not do much against Nihilego's extremely high Special Defense. Second, while the Ground-type move Earthquake could deal a devastating blow to Nihilego in the games, unfortunately, they were in reality now...

Qiao Ran figured that when the time came, they might not shake a single jellyfish, and instead shake their own teammates half to death.

"I've already shown you my Pokémon. What about your teammates?"

Seeing Qiao Ran looking as though he wanted to say something but was holding back, Mei could not help feeling a little unconvinced.