“Oh?
You know me?” Lorelei looked at Aaron in mild curiosity.
“Of course.
The glamorous champion of the last-but-one Indigo Plateau Conference, and also the most famous female champion in the past twenty years,” Aaron replied with a smile.
“Is it really that exaggerated?
Lance’s Dragonite is the true pride of the Indigo Plateau,” Lorelei said.
“That’s because Dragonite has the bonus of being the guardian of Kanto.
In terms of fame, you’re definitely more well-known, Miss Lorelei,” Aaron said with certainty.
After all, in the past twenty years, there had only been three female champions at the Indigo Plateau Conference, and among them, Lorelei was the most beautiful.
In any world, beauty was always an advantage.
“Is that so?”
Lorelei didn’t show much on her face, but a faint hint of joy appeared in her brows.
Clearly, no one disliked being praised—especially when it wasn’t far from the truth.
She lowered her gaze toward the injured Vulpix in Aaron’s arms.
“Is this your Pokémon?
It’s seriously injured.
You should take it to the Pokémon Center immediately.”
“Right.”
Seeing Vulpix’s pitiful condition, Aaron immediately snapped back to reality.
Without hesitation, he said to Lorelei, “Miss Lorelei, I’ll see you later.
I’m taking Vulpix to get treatment first.”
With that, he rushed toward the Pokémon Center, carrying Vulpix, and handed it over to Nurse Joy for treatment.
Only after everything was done did Aaron collapse into a chair outside, panting heavily.
His body felt completely drained.
The chase by Ursaring, combined with running while carrying Vulpix, had pushed his body to its limit.
Even with the enhanced physical abilities of humans in this world, it was still exhausting.
If it had been his previous life, he wouldn’t have been able to run this far at all.
“Run tired?
Take a break.”
Lorelei appeared out of nowhere, holding a bottle of drink and handing it to him.
“Miss Lorelei, why are you here?” Aaron asked, taking the drink in confusion.
“I was worried about your Vulpix.
You’re far too careless as a Pokémon Trainer—letting your Pokémon get so badly injured,” she said as she sat down beside him.
She specialized in Ice-type Pokémon, and Alolan Vulpix was also Ice-type.
On top of that, it was extremely cute.
So she had followed along out of concern.
“Miss Lorelei, that Vulpix isn’t my Pokémon.
It’s wild.
I just found it in the forest while it was being chased by Ursaring and helped it,” Aaron explained.
“Not your Pokémon?
Wild?” Lorelei’s eyes lit up slightly.
Aaron, who had just been exhausted, immediately became alert.
He straightened up and looked at her warily, all previous admiration for a beautiful older woman vanishing instantly.
Beauty was valuable, but Pokémon were more important.
Especially a rare Pokémon with the potential Fairy-type evolution—there was no way he would give it up.
“Little brother, don’t be so nervous,” Lorelei said with a light laugh.
“I do have my eyes on that Vulpix—it’s Ice-type, it’s adorable, and it has decent potential.
I really do like it.
But since you protected it all the way here, I won’t take it from you.”
Aaron finally relaxed a little.
If Lorelei really wanted to take it, he wasn’t confident he could stop her.
After all, the normal logic of capturing Pokémon was to weaken wild ones in battle first.
But Aaron didn’t even have a single Pokémon yet—he planned to follow his “little brother” Ash’s path and bond through emotion instead.
No matter what, he would take Vulpix back to Professor Oak’s laboratory and confirm the Fairy-type research.
“However,” Lorelei added, pushing up her glasses, “if you fail to befriend it, I might still take it.”
Aaron rolled his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to engage further.
“Are you angry now?” Lorelei asked with amusement.
“You know I’m Lorelei, but I still don’t know your name.
Who are you?
You look like you’ve already turned ten.
Are you a Pokémon Trainer?
Why aren’t you challenging the regional League, but instead here in Alola?”
“My name is Aaron.
I didn’t take a starter Pokémon, so I don’t qualify to challenge the League.
I’m currently Professor Oak’s assistant.
I’m just here traveling,” he replied reluctantly but honestly.
“Professor Oak’s assistant?
That’s quite promising,” Lorelei said with a smile.
Professor Oak’s influence was well known.
“Absolutely,” Aaron said proudly.
“Believe me, within three years, I’ll be the youngest Pokémon Professor in history.”
“The youngest Professor?” Lorelei studied him carefully.
She had been traveling for years and had her own way of judging people.
She could tell he wasn’t bragging—he genuinely believed it.
But becoming a Professor at thirteen was still astonishing.
Lorelei’s lips curled slightly.
“In half a year, the current Indigo Plateau Elite Four will retire.
When that happens, I’ll be participating in the Champion Challenge.
You should come and watch.”
“The Champion Challenge?” Aaron nodded.
Unlike the games in his previous world, where becoming League Champion was straightforward progression, the real Pokémon world was different.
A Conference Champion only qualified to participate in the Champion Challenge.
“That’s right.
Come cheer for me.
I’ll become the first female Champion in Kanto in ten years,” Lorelei said confidently.
“Female Champion?” Aaron smiled faintly.
In the anime world, Kanto was a very peculiar place.
First, Legendary Pokémon distribution was odd.
Other regions had multiple major Legendary Pokémon—Hoenn had Groudon and Kyogre, Sinnoh had Dialga and Palkia—but Kanto only had Lugia residing in the Orange Islands, and even its regional affiliation was debated.
Second, Kanto was the only region in the entire League without a Champion.
Only the Elite Four existed: Lance of Dragons, Agatha of Ghosts, Lorelei of Ice, and Bruno of Fighting-types.
Their type matchups were heavily imbalanced.
Lance’s Dragonite was 4x weak to Ice, Lorelei was countered by Bruno, Bruno was ineffective against Ghost-types, and Agatha’s Gengar couldn’t beat Lance’s Dragonite.
None of them could dominate the others, resulting in a stalemate.
Eventually, Lance left to become the Champion of Johto instead.
“That expression of yours—what does it mean?” Lorelei asked suspiciously.
“Nothing.
I just believe Miss Lorelei is the strongest.
My whole family will come cheer for you when the time comes,” Aaron said casually.
“If you say so,” Lorelei replied unconcerned.
Every participant in the Champion Challenge had absolute confidence in themselves.
Aaron didn’t continue the topic.
He simply sat there idly until he noticed movement nearby.
Curious, he looked over and saw two teenage trainers engaged in a Pokémon battle, passively watching to pass the time.