The problem was that Yun Que saw not just one Floette, but three clustered together, with several more scattered in the distance.
"Pokémon Trainer over there."
On the gravel path through Melemele Meadow, Yun Que spotted a young man feeding the Flabébé.
"Hm?"
"There are actually Floette here!"
"What's wrong?" Shen Qi walked over with an easy smile. "Isn't it perfectly normal for their evolved forms to appear somewhere with so many Flabébé?"
"You... you aren't from the Alola Region, are you?"
He didn't have to be a Melemele Island local; being from another island would do. Almost everyone in the Alola Region knew that the Flabébé in Melemele Meadow couldn't evolve.
"Me? I'm from Kanto."
"No wonder. I'm Yun Que, a member of the Melemele Troupe."
Yun Que responded as though it were only natural. "The Flabébé here... haven't been able to evolve for about ten years. The exact reason is still unknown."
"I see." Shen Qi put on a thoughtful expression. "I think I heard something about that during the Island Challenge, but I saw Floette as soon as I arrived at Melemele Meadow. It felt perfectly normal."
"Mm... for a Pokémon Trainer who doesn't know the situation, it really would be."
Yun Que was already tapping out messages on a social app. Within minutes, vehicles belonging to the Rangers and the Island Guard arrived.
Melemele Island's Captain Ilima and Vice Captain Hau had both come.
When they saw the few... dozen or so Floette fluttering about, these Pokémon Trainers of considerable standing in the Alola Region were all stunned.
Surprised as they were, the Rangers and Island Guard immediately set up a cordon, afraid that too many tourists and spectators would flood in afterward, destroy any potential research clues, and cut off the Flabébé's budding chance to