Guys, I Hooked a Person!

It was a child in orange-yellow shorts, who looked quite young!

But his idiot Trainer was not looking at the water at all, his eyes fixed on the fishing rod as he prepared to pull hard.

Idiot, that child might get cut by the hook if he did that!

Serperior frowned as two vines swiftly extended from near its leafy collar.

One vine lashed Luo Mu directly across the butt, making him suck in several breaths of pain. He dropped the fishing rod and looked at Serperior with a resentful expression.

He had not offended Serperior, had he? Had its discovery of how he had tricked it before finally come to light?

Serperior ignored him. Its other vine stretched purposefully into the water and pulled the unconscious child out.

When he saw Serperior rescue a child from the water, Luo Mu no longer cared about the burning pain in his butt. He hurriedly took the child from Serperior's vine.

"There are no visible external injuries. She should have inhaled water. She keeps coughing, so we just need to clear the water from her airway."

Luo Mu swiftly determined that the child was probably not in mortal danger. While marveling at how ridiculously tough people in the Pokémon world were, he directed Serperior to use its vines to perform the Heimlich maneuver and expel the water from the child's airway.

Serperior, which was highly adept at controlling its vines, had a better grasp of the appropriate force. As an adult, he might misjudge the strength and potentially cause the child secondary injuries.

Only then did Luo Mu finally have the time to examine the drowned child's features.

He would definitely have to take her to the Police Station and ask Officer Jenny to find her parents.

Before him was the face of a little girl around ten years old, with fair skin and cute pigtails.

She looked somewhat familiar, but Luo Mu could not remember where he had seen her.

Then he noticed that the girl's soaked clothes, judging by their color and design, looked like the uniform of Naranja Academy from his memories?

That meant this little girl should be a student at Naranja Academy.

Luo Mu began considering whether he should contact Geeta.

It seemed like overkill to trouble the busy Paldea League President over such a minor matter, but Geeta was the only person Luo Mu knew at Naranja Academy. The other teachers were not the ones he remembered at all.

Just as Luo Mu wondered whether Geeta would answer if he called now, a noticeably louder bout of coughing caught his attention.

Turning his head, he saw the little girl's eyes slowly opening.

Nemona's unfocused eyes gradually came into focus, but the instant she saw Luo Mu leaning over to look at her, her pupils dilated. Her lips trembled as she tried to call for help.

But Nemona was afraid of angering Luo Mu, so she could only clamp a hand tightly over her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.

"?"

Luo Mu looked puzzled. Judging by the obvious fright on the little girl's face, she had probably been scared by something.

Luo Mu thought about it. Right now, there was only him, a kind and friendly big brother, and Serperior, which looked like trouble at a glance.

The answer was obvious.

Serperior had scared her!

Luo Mu marveled at how smart he was for finding the right answer so quickly. The solution was simple too.

Putting on a warm, sunny smile, Luo Mu reassured the girl while Serperior looked at him as though he were an idiot. "Don't be afraid. Serperior is this big brother's Pokémon."

"It may look a little fierce, but it means no harm."

Before Nemona could process the information, a vine sliced through the air with a sharp crack. The furious Serperior, enraged by Luo Mu's words, lashed his butt several more times.

It still controlled its strength well. Not only did it choose the sturdy flesh of his butt, but it also struck with enough force to hurt without causing any actual injury.

Luo Mu knew Serperior was already going easy on him. After all, its Vine Whip could easily smash through trees and rocks, but the pain still made him suck in breath after breath.

After Luo Mu and Serperior finished their little scuffle, he noticed that the little girl no longer seemed afraid. She was just still somewhat timid.

She had probably realized from his interaction with Serperior that they were not bad people.

But the faint wariness still lingering in her eyes concerned Luo Mu.

Being cautious was a good thing, but was this little girl not being a bit too guarded?

After thinking it over, Luo Mu decided to ease the girl's emotions through conversation first, then quickly bring her back to his home to at least get her dry. Wearing soaked clothes for too long made it easy to catch a cold.

"Hello, my name is Luo Mu, and I'm the owner of this farm." Luo Mu gave a brief introduction before continuing, "This is my partner, Serperior. Can you tell me your name?"

"Serp~"

Serperior tried its best to soften its expression, but its innate noble aura was not so easily changed.

Nemona first looked at Serperior, then studied Luo Mu, who was showing her kindness.

After hesitating for several seconds, Nemona timidly said, "My name is Nemona. Thank you for saving me, big brother."

"Mm-hm, Nemona? That's such a lovely name." Luo Mu nodded instinctively and praised her in a gentle tone.

Then Luo Mu's eyes suddenly widened, and his expression became exaggerated.

Wait, wait, wait. Had he heard wrong?

This cute little girl with fair skin was Senior Nemona, the future energetic Champion known as "Iron Unrequited Love," with her healthy wheat-colored complexion?

She did not look anything like her!

Whether it was her personality or her appearance, only her facial features seemed somewhat similar.

Was it just someone with the same name, or had he accidentally entered Tsukuyomi?

But Nemona really was wearing Naranja Academy's uniform. Still unwilling to give up, Luo Mu made one last attempt and asked, "If it's convenient, can you tell me where you live?"

"I live in Los Platos."

This time, Nemona answered quickly. For some reason, her intuition told her that this big brother was probably not one of the bad people who had kidnapped her.

"Gasp."

That confirmed it completely. This little girl really was the human-shaped future Paradox Pokémon, Senior Nemona, the battle maniac nicknamed Iron Unrequited Love.

Luo Mu, who had once howled online about wanting to be Senior Nemona's Arcanine or Lycanroc, felt an immense sense of dissonance. His whole mind went numb.

It seemed the personalities of the Scarlet/Violet protagonist group had changed somewhat in childhood compared to when the story began.

No, it should be said that their childhood personalities had changed into the personalities they developed after growing up.

Luo Mu wanted to ask Nemona to come home with him, but at that moment, she grabbed his hand in panic and anxiously said, "Big brother, let's get out of here quickly!"

"The people who kidnapped me might already be nearby!"

Luo Mu's smile froze as he asked blankly, "Huh?"