Paldea Region, Poco Path Town.
Outside the large villa directly opposite Sunlight Gym, several moving trucks were parked neatly in a row.
In Qingyu's memory, the gates of this villa had never once been open. Yet today, they were wide open, and Machoke could be seen carrying goods in and out nonstop.
Aside from these Machoke workers, there were also maids, butlers, and chefs standing nearby.
Clearly, this stately villa—built many years ago—was finally welcoming its owner.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Machoke!"
A girl with a high ponytail and green highlights stood by the roadside, thanking the Machoke movers.
Her right hand was covered by fingerless gloves, her outfit sporty from head to toe. Combined with her healthy tan skin and the cute freckles on her cheeks, she radiated youthful energy.
"Machoke!"
The muscular Machoke—wearing its employee T-shirt like a crop top—enthusiastically returned a thumbs-up before quickly boarding the truck under the black-haired girl's gaze.
"Pokémon really are amazing creatures," the girl sighed as she watched the trucks drive away."Even Machoke know how to drive…"
It was hard to imagine how inconvenient human society would be without Pokémon.
Three adult humans couldn't match the work efficiency of a single Machoke.
Not to mention irreplaceable super-workers like Dragonite mail carriers, Porygon programmers, and Rotom-based AI systems.
Pokémon really were incredible.
With that thought in mind, the girl was about to turn back—when she suddenly noticed a person and a Pokémon emerging from a side path, heading toward the other end of Poco Path Town.
A black-haired young man she'd never seen before… and an absolutely adorable Eevee?
Normally, attractive people left a strong impression, but somehow, Nemona had no memory of him at all.
Before moving to Poco Path Town, she should have greeted all the neighbors already…
Had she really missed this guy alone? That would be terribly rude!
After finishing brunch with Eevee and packing dinner for later, Qingyu was walking back toward Sunlight Gym when he suddenly felt something and sharply turned his head.
The moment he looked—his pupils widened.
"Senior Nemona?"
The familiar-yet-unfamiliar girl before him made Qingyu's expression turn strange.
He never expected that the first local he'd meet after transmigrating into the Pokémon world would be the rival of the Pokémon Scarlet/Violet protagonist.
Nemona—Humanoid Pokémon (Future Form), nicknamed Iron Crush, holder of the Paldea Champion title.
At first, Qingyu hadn't recognized the building across from his place. But once Nemona appeared, it all clicked.
"So that's Nemona's beachside mega-villa?"
Though full of questions, standing there frozen would be rude.
Qingyu quickly snapped out of it, gave Nemona a polite smile, then turned and continued walking home.
Judging by the game's story timeline, Nemona moving to Poco Path Town to recuperate should've happened about two years before the main plot began.
Which meant—
She hadn't become Champion yet. She might not even be a Trainer at this point.
"I see… I'm starting to understand everything now."
…
After returning to Sunlight Gym, Qingyu immediately opened his computer and began searching for information online.
Last night, after obtaining Green's breeding notes, he'd already tried looking up whether a concept like "the Breeder" existed in this world.
The result?
No such person.
Thinking about it now, maybe it wasn't that Green didn't exist—he just hadn't entered the public eye yet.
After a precise search, Qingyu quickly formed a basic understanding of the regional leagues.
Since Professor Oak retired, the Indigo League hadn't produced a Champion for a long time. Lance, the head of the Kanto Elite Four, was currently acting as Champion.
The other regions mostly matched Qingyu's memories.
Hoenn Champion Steven, Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, Kalos Champion Diantha, and Galar Champion Leon had all risen to the top within the past two years.
As for the Alola Region—it still hadn't joined the Pokémon League.
At this point, Qingyu finally confirmed one thing.
The timeline he was currently in was earlier than he remembered—by about two years.
"So… is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
Qingyu's mood turned a little complicated.
Bad news: he had almost no idea what would happen during these two years.
Good news: there probably wouldn't be any major incidents yet.
Everyone knew that the big stuff only happened after the protagonist showed up—so for now, he could safely lie low and develop.
"But since I'm a transmigrator… is there a chance I'm actually the unlucky protagonist?"
The thought popped up for just a moment before Qingyu crushed it.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
I'm just a slacker Gym Leader. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up—no way it's my problem!
Long-term worries aside, Qingyu still had something important to do this afternoon—
Improve Eevee's battle strength.
Now that he had fans, reviving Sunlight Gym was the natural next step.
According to the notes, Eevee's combat ability before evolution was pretty mediocre.
But since Eevee was his only Pokémon, he had no choice but to rely on it to step up.
Fortunately… his Eevee seemed a bit illegal.
Starting with the newly learned move Sketch, maybe he could pull off some unexpected results.
Besides battling, there were many other ways to improve a Pokémon's strength. For example—
Watching videos.
Of course, Qingyu was a serious person. He meant move tutorials from Technical Machines.
On the way back, he'd conveniently bought a few discs from the Poké Mart in Mesagoza.
In the Pokémon games, you just bonk a disc on a Pokémon's head and—bam—it instantly learns the move.
Convenient as hell.
Naturally, reality didn't work in such a broken way.
TMs didn't require grinding materials either. They were unlocked for purchase based on Trainer rank.
Even though Qingyu's certified Trainer rank was still only Beginner, money wasn't an issue.
Aside from Paldea League subsidies for gym operations, his missing parents had left behind compensation money he could never finish spending.
It was honestly hard to imagine how the original owner of this body had somehow ended up living off a rich woman's support.
But that wasn't important.
To learn moves from TMs, Pokémon needed to repeatedly watch and study the recordings.
This afternoon's task was simple—
Qingyu and Eevee were going to watch videos together.
While guiding Eevee to learn moves and build battle confidence, they could also deepen their bond.
"Confuse Ray, Snarl, Skill Swap, Encore…"
"Let's start with these few~"
"Eevee?"
Curled up in Qingyu's arms, Eevee lifted its head—and just happened to catch the faintly villainous smile on its Trainer's lips.
Why did it feel like… its Trainer's smile looked suspiciously like that of a final boss?
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