After hearing that another challenger had arrived, Nemona quickly came out of the training area.
Then she froze on the spot.
Wasn't this challenger a little too young?
This has to be a prank. What kid this young starts challenging Gyms? At the very least, she should have a parent with her!
Although, I guess I used to run all over Unova with Lacey when I was little, too...
(Lacey, the older student and fan favorite from the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC.)
While Nemona was thinking this, Qingyu spoke up.
"Although you look a little young..."
"I can feel your determination to challenge this Gym, so I, Qingyu, Gym Leader of the Sunshine Gym, accept your challenge!"
Qingyu crouched down and looked at the expectant Poppy, his expression serious.
Mr. Qingyu is so cool!
Standing behind him, Nemona nodded repeatedly in heartfelt agreement when she heard that Qingyu was willing to accept the little girl's challenge.
Back when she had been recuperating in other regions, she had dreamed of becoming a Trainer, too, and had visited quite a few Gyms across those regions for that very reason.
But she had always been turned away because she was too young to meet Victory Road's requirements.
Only two or three kindhearted Gym Leaders had been willing to accept her challenges, and the only one who had truly treated her as a Trainer was the man at the Driftveil Gym.
Gym Trainers like Mr. Qingyu, who treated every challenger equally, were actually very rare.
If only I'd met Mr. Qingyu sooner!
Of course, Qingyu's reasoning was nowhere near as elaborate as Nemona imagined.
As a Gym Leader, refusing a Trainer's challenge simply because of their age would have been rude.
Besides, this little girl, Poppy, would become one of the Paldea Region's