After Beating the Old One, Comes the Young One?

The voice from the other end of the phone belonged to neither a person nor Pokémon Luo Mu recognized.

It was an emotionless voice mechanically synthesizing text typed in through a keyboard.

Usually, the only ones who communicated with Luo Mu over the phone like this were Calyrex, who had gradually figured out modern electronic devices and had even learned to browse the internet for educational cartoons suitable for young Pokémon to watch with Cosmog, and Oranguru.

Although Luo Mu had been skipping work quite a bit lately, he still remembered that Oranguru was the Acting Gym Leader on duty at the Gym today.

The moment he heard that a challenger from Unova Region had specifically asked for him to accept their challenge—

Luo Mu's first thought was—

Damn it, had that ungrateful old bastard Alder actually come knocking?

But Luo Mu quickly realized something was off.

That did not make sense either.

When Alder had come to visit with his Volcarona, Oranguru had been the one to receive him.

Oranguru did not have dementia. There was no way it would forget a guest it had once received.

It had only said that the challenger was from the Unova Region, without mentioning their identity.

That meant the visitor definitely was not Alder. Otherwise, Oranguru would surely have said so.

In a flash, Luo Mu formed a complete chain of logic in his mind.

Still, just to be safe, he asked, "Do you know who they are?"

After a brief silence, the same synthesized voice came from the other end.

"I do not know. It is a child. He rushed in like a storm and would not even hand me the form he filled out."

Though the synthesized voice carried no trace of emotion, Luo Mu somehow heard a hint of