Two trainers were battling in front of the Pokémon Center.
Naturally, they didn’t care about being watched.
Both of them struck flashy poses before releasing their Pokémon.
One was a pink, balloon-like creature.
The other looked like a mutated grass-type Pokémon resembling a giraffe.
Aaron recognized both of them immediately.
The first was Jigglypuff—the so-called “Pink Demon.” In the anime, it always followed Ash around, using its Sing move to put everyone in the world to sleep.
Aside from ancient Pokémon, it had never failed.
It was practically a broken existence.
The one here wasn’t quite that absurd, but judging by its training, it was still quite well-developed.
The other, the giraffe-like grass Pokémon, was even more familiar in another sense.
An Alolan Exeggutor.
A regional variant from Alola, mutated due to excessive sunlight exposure.
It had grown to an enormous height of 10.9 meters, and a second head had appeared on its tail.
Its typing had also changed from Grass/Psychic to Grass/Dragon.
But honestly, there was nothing about it that looked even remotely like a Dragon-type.
Among Dragon Pokémon, it was practically at the bottom of the hierarchy.
After all, Dragon-types were usually strong without exception.
In fact, among the eight pseudo-legendary Pokémon across regions, only Tyranitar and Metagross weren’t Dragon-types—while the other six all were.
It was almost enough to make people think Dragon-types were synonymous with pseudo-legendaries.
“Jigglypuff, use Flamethrower!”
Under everyone’s gaze, neither trainer panicked.
The Jigglypuff’s trainer calmly issued the command.
Alolan Exeggutor was hit squarely by the Flamethrower, but it didn’t show much pain.
The damage was clearly limited.
The Exeggutor’s trainer immediately countered.
“Exeggutor, use Seed Bomb!”
Exeggutor let out a cheerful cry.
Its leafy head glowed green, and several bomb-like seeds materialized in the air, striking Jigglypuff directly.
Jigglypuff was forced back repeatedly.
Its pink body was now covered in dust, clearly having taken damage.
“How strange…” Lorelei said, adjusting her glasses as she watched.
“Exeggutor is Grass/Psychic.
Flamethrower should have done serious damage.
Why is it so ineffective?”
“Hm?
You didn’t know?” Aaron replied.
“Alola’s environment is special, so many Pokémon there have different forms.
Exeggutor, for example, changed from Grass/Psychic to Grass/Dragon.
Because Dragon resists Fire, Flamethrower only does normal damage.”
“I see…” Lorelei said thoughtfully.
“I was only here on vacation and didn’t think much about it.
But if that’s the case, there must be quite a lot of regional variants here.
I might as well spend my last half-year of travel in Alola.”
She smiled faintly.
She was confident she could win the upcoming Champion Challenge.
And once she became Champion, she would have to take on official League duties—meaning she would no longer be free to travel wherever she wanted.
“This place really is special,” Aaron said.
“I’ve also heard they’re developing something called Z-Moves.
You might want to study it.
It could increase your chances of becoming Champion.
It’s just a pity that Alola’s economy isn’t very developed, and it’s too untouched by modernization, so the League hasn’t invested much here.
There are no full League Conferences or Gyms here.”
“You really know a lot for a kid,” Lorelei said with slight admiration.
“Now I’m starting to think you really might become a Pokémon Professor.”
“Staying at home and still knowing everything about the world—that’s me,” Aaron said smugly.
“But I don’t just want to be a Professor.
After that, I’ll become a Pokémon Master.
After traveling through all regions, I’ll eventually challenge the Kanto Champion.
And when that time comes… I hope it’ll be you, Sister Lorelei.”
“Oh?
Is that so?
I’ll be waiting,” Lorelei replied with a smile.
“Huh?
Something’s wrong with the battle…”
Her expression shifted as she noticed the fight outside.
Exeggutor unleashed a powerful Dragon Tail at Jigglypuff.
It clearly hit cleanly—but Jigglypuff acted as if nothing had happened.
Instead, it retaliated with a rapid series of slaps, sending Exeggutor spiraling into a KO state with swirly eyes.
“Strange…” Lorelei adjusted her glasses again, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
“That Dragon Tail just now was quite powerful.
Under normal circumstances, Jigglypuff should have been finished.
So why is Exeggutor the one that got knocked out?”
“Because Jigglypuff is immune to Dragon-type moves,” Aaron said casually.
Right now, the Fairy-type had not yet been officially discovered.
In Kanto, Jigglypuff was simply classified as Normal-type.
But in reality, it was Normal/Fairy.
And Fairy-type was the natural enemy of Dragon-types—dealing double damage to them, while being completely immune to Dragon-type attacks.
That Exeggutor had truly made a terrible choice.
Instead of using Grass-type moves, it switched to Dragon-type attacks—only to be completely countered.
“Immune to Dragon-type moves?” Lorelei’s eyes widened in shock.
Among all Pokémon types, Dragon-types were widely regarded as the strongest.
Anything with Dragon typing was almost guaranteed to be powerful.
And now she was hearing that there existed a Pokémon that could completely nullify Dragon-type attacks?
“Is that true?
Jigglypuff is really immune to Dragon moves?”
“According to theory, yes.
And not just Jigglypuff—there are other Pokémon like it too.
But the full details still need further research.
Once I publish this paper, I’ll officially become a Professor,” Aaron said confidently.
“If you can truly discover a type that can negate Dragon-type attacks, you’ll definitely become a groundbreaking researcher,” Lorelei said.
“Don’t forget me when that happens.”
“Lorelei-sister… a beautiful, gentle, and powerful trainer like you—no one would ever forget,” Aaron replied smoothly.
“Then let’s move forward together,” Lorelei said.
“Let’s see who reaches their goal first—you becoming a Professor, or me becoming Champion.”
Aaron’s eyes lit up.
Suddenly, he grinned.
“Lorelei-sister, why don’t we make a bet?”
“Oh?”
“Whoever achieves their goal first gets to make the loser do one thing unconditionally.”
“Fine,” Lorelei said without hesitation.
“I’ll take that bet.
After all, having a future Professor as my subordinate would make my Champion life much easier.”
“It’s a deal.”
Aaron smiled brightly.
Become Champion?
Sorry—that’s impossible.
In the original story, Ash went on his journey, and she was still an Ice-type Elite Four member.
Lance, Agatha, Bruno—none of them were normal people.
One had a Dragonite, one was the oldest veteran Elite Four member, and one could wrestle an Onix with his bare hands.
Becoming Elite Four?
No problem.
But Champion?
Don’t even think about it.
And now, he had basically secured a future condition from an Ice-type Elite Four member for free.
Just thinking about it made him feel extremely satisfied.