So That Was It. I Was Starting to Understand Everything

Cabo Poco, Paldea.

Outside the large villa opposite the Sunshine Gym, several moving trucks were parked neatly by the entrance.

The villa gates, which Qingyu had never seen open before, were now thrown wide in a rare display of hospitality, with Machamp carrying goods back and forth through them.

Besides the Machamp employees, quite a few people dressed as maids, butlers, chefs, and the like stood in a circle.

Clearly, this impressive villa, built quite a few years ago, was finally welcoming its owner home.

"Thank you, Miss Machamp!"

A girl with a high ponytail and green streaks in her hair stood by the roadside, thanking the Machamp movers.

A fingerless glove covered her right hand, and her whole outfit had a sporty look. With her healthy, sun-kissed skin and the adorable freckles on her cheeks, she looked full of youthful energy.

"Champ!"

The muscular Machamp, whose employee T-shirt fit like a tiny vest, enthusiastically gave her a thumbs-up before climbing into the truck under the black-haired girl's gaze.

"Pokémon really are amazing creatures. Miss Machamp even knows how to drive..."

Watching the trucks disappear into the distance, the black-haired girl couldn't help marveling aloud.

It was hard to imagine how inconvenient human society would be without Pokémon.

Even three adults probably couldn't match a single Machamp's efficiency, could they?

And that wasn't even counting irreplaceable super-employees like Dragonite mail carriers, Porygon programmers, and Rotom AI.

Pokémon really are amazing!

With that thought, the girl was about to turn back when she suddenly noticed a person and his Pokémon emerging from a path, heading toward the other end of Cabo Poco.

A black-haired young man I've never seen before, and an adorable Eevee?

Normally, handsome or beautiful people left a strong impression, yet Nemona had no memory of him at all.

I should have greeted all the neighbors in town before moving to Cabo Poco...

Did I somehow miss this guy? That's so rude of me!

After finishing brunch with Eevee and getting dinner packed to go, Qingyu was walking along the path back to the Sunshine Gym when he suddenly sensed something and whipped his head around.

His eyes widened the moment he looked.

"Nemona?"

The girl before him, both familiar and unfamiliar, quickly brought a strange expression to Qingyu's face.

He hadn't expected the first local he met after crossing over into the Pokémon world to be the protagonist's rival from Scarlet and Violet.

Nemona, a humanoid future Paradox Pokémon, nicknamed Iron Crush, and a holder of Paldea's Champion title.

At first, Qingyu hadn't recognized the building opposite his home, but once Nemona appeared, it clicked.

"Isn't that Nemona's huge beachside villa?"

Though he had plenty of questions, standing frozen on the spot like this seemed a little rude.

Qingyu quickly collected himself, gave Nemona a polite smile as she watched him, then turned and continued home.

Working backward from the game's storyline, Nemona's move to Cabo Poco to recuperate should have happened two years before the main story began.

In other words, she wasn't a Champion yet, and there was a good chance she wasn't even a Trainer.

"So that was it. I was starting to understand everything."

Once he returned to the Sunshine Gym, Qingyu eagerly switched on his computer and began looking up information online.

In fact, after receiving Blue's training notes last night, he had already tried searching online to see whether the "Nurturer" existed in this world.

But the result had been-

No such person found.

Now that he thought about it again, perhaps it wasn't that Blue didn't exist in this world, but that he hadn't entered the public eye yet.

After some targeted searches, Qingyu soon gained a basic understanding of the various regional Leagues.

Since Professor Oak's retirement, the Indigo League had gone a long time without a Champion. Lance, the strongest of Kanto's Elite Four, was currently serving as acting Champion.

The other regions were more or less as Qingyu remembered.

Hoenn Champion Steven, Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, Kalos Champion Diantha, and Galar Champion Leon were all young people who had risen to the top over the past two years.

As for the Alola Region, it had yet to join the Pokémon League.

At this point, Qingyu finally confirmed one thing.

The timeline he was currently in was a little earlier than the one he remembered-roughly two years earlier.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Qingyu's feelings were somewhat mixed.

Bad news: he knew next to nothing about what would happen during these two years.

Good news: at least there probably wouldn't be any major incidents during them.

Everyone knew the big stuff only happened after the protagonist showed up, so he could still lie low and build up his strength for now.

"But since I've crossed over into this world, is there a chance I'm the unlucky protagonist?"

The thought had barely surfaced before Qingyu immediately snuffed it out.

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

I'm just a slacker Gym Leader. If the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up. It won't be my turn!

Long-term matters weren't his concern, either. He still had something very important to do this afternoon-

Improve Eevee's battle strength.

Now that he had fans, getting the Sunshine Gym up and running again was the natural next step.

According to the notes, Eevee's combat ability before evolving was very average.

But Eevee was his only Pokémon right now, so he could only hope it would step up.

Fortunately, his Eevee seemed a little outside the rules.

Starting with its newly learned move, Sketch, might produce some surprising results.

Besides battling, there were plenty of other ways to improve a Pokémon's combat ability, such as...

Watching videos.

Of course, Qingyu was a respectable man. He meant the move tutorials on Technical Machines.

Before coming home, he had picked up a few discs at the Pokémon Center in Flat Dish Town.

In the Pokémon games, all you had to do was tap a disc against a Pokémon's head, and it would instantly learn the corresponding move. Very convenient.

Of course, such an absurdly powerful feature couldn't possibly exist in reality.

Technical Machines didn't need to be crafted from collected materials like in the games, either. Instead, purchasing access depended on a Trainer's rank.

Although Qingyu's certified Trainer rank was still only beginner, he at least wasn't short on money.

Besides the operating funds allocated by the Paldea League, his parents' disappearance had also left him with a compensation payout he couldn't possibly spend in full.

It was hard to imagine how, under these circumstances, the body's original owner had ended up in a rich woman's arms.

Of course, that wasn't the point.

For a Pokémon to learn a move from a Technical Machine, it needed to watch and study the recording repeatedly.

Qingyu's task this afternoon was to watch videos with Eevee.

While guiding Eevee through learning moves and building its courage to battle, he could also strengthen their bond.

"Confuse Ray, Snarl, Skill Swap, Encore..."

"Let's start with those few moves~"

"Vee?"

Nestled in Qingyu's arms, Eevee raised its head and happened to notice the wicked little smile at the corner of its Trainer's mouth.

Why did it feel like its Trainer's smile looked like a villain's...?