“Togemon!
Use Spiky Knuckle Punch!”
Inside the Shalour Gym in the Kalos region—
Serena, whose youthful features still retained traces of innocence yet already hinted at the breathtaking beauty she would one day become, swung her arm forward and gave the command.
In front of her, a Digimon with a cactus-shaped body, three small holes on its face, and boxing gloves covering both fists immediately responded.
Togemon!
Its body spun wildly like a top.
A storm of sharp needles erupted together with powerful gusts created by its punches.
Lucario was blasted backward before it could defend itself, crashing heavily into the wall at the rear of the Gym.
“Lucario is unable to battle!
Togemon wins!”
“Since Gym Leader Korrina’s three Pokémon have all lost the ability to battle, the victory goes to Serena from Vaniville Town!”
As soon as the referee made the announcement, Serena excitedly turned around and flashed a brilliant smile toward the two people sitting in the audience.
“Mom!
Noah!
I won!”
Watching her daughter happily run over, Grace smiled warmly before embracing her.
Then, she lightly scolded her daughter, “Serena, that’s very impolite.”
“You should call him Uncle Noah.”
Serena puffed out her cheeks.
“But he’s barely older than I am…”
At that very moment, Togemon’s body began to glow with a bright white light.
Its massive body rapidly shrank.
A moment later, it had transformed into a small green Digimon with a blooming flower atop its head.
Palmon.
“So it reverts after evolving?”
Korrina walked over while handing Serena her Gym Badge.
“That’s almost exactly like Mega Evolution.”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help staring curiously at Palmon.
“This is the partner Digimon Noah…
Uncle Noah…
gave me.”
Serena instinctively started to call him ‘Noah’, but after noticing the warning look in her mother’s eyes—
She immediately changed it to ‘Uncle Noah’.
…
Walking out of Shalour Gym—
Noah couldn’t help sighing to himself.
It had already been three months since he left Alola to begin his grand talent-poaching operation.
Originally, he believed that with the advantage of being a Transmigrator—
Combined with the emotional intelligence he had gained from three previous relationships in his past life—
He could convince Serena to move to Alola within a month at most.
Yet before he even realized it—
Three whole months had already passed.
Honestly, it wasn’t that surprising.
Although Noah had earned a modest reputation within the academic community—
That reputation only existed among researchers.
It was similar to asking whether everyone who played Genshin Impact knew about The Legend of Zelda.
The answer was obviously no.
And when Grace first heard Noah wanted to recruit her daughter to become a Trainer in Alola—
Her immediate reaction had simply been: “Is this guy a kidnapper?”
Honestly…
That was exactly how any normal parent would react.
However—
While they were on their way to the Pokémon Center to let Serena’s Pokémon recover—
Noah happened to meet Grace’s eyes.
She immediately returned an especially gentle smile.
“I don’t think Serena performed very well today.”
“Why don’t we…
discuss it together tonight?”
Taking advantage of the moment when Serena handed her Pokémon over to Nurse Joy, Grace quickly whispered those words to Noah.
‘Uh…’
‘Ma’am…’
‘That ‘discussion’…’
‘It sounds anything but innocent.’
…
Late that night.
The blanket had already been kicked onto the floor.
Noah hadn’t been a smoker in his previous life.
Yet sometime during the past month—
He had somehow developed the habit.
‘Why had things turned out like this?’
The person he originally liked was supposed to be Serena.
At that moment, Grace—radiating a mature charm completely different from her daughter’s—used the last bit of strength remaining in her body to wrap her arms around Noah’s neck from behind.
No one would ever guess she was already the mother of a fourteen-year-old girl.
At that instant—
Noah finally understood why so many people in his previous life envied Professor Oak.
“Sis…”
“Why don’t we move to Alola?”
“It’ll make it easier for me to take care of both of you.”
After remaining silent for quite some time, Noah finally managed to say those words.
“Mmm…”
Grace lazily answered with a single syllable.
The word ‘both’ made her especially happy.
…
Kalos League Headquarters.
“We’ve recently discovered two exceptionally promising young Trainers.”
Drasna, the Dragon-type member of the Kalos Elite Four, placed two information files in front of Champion Diantha.
“Their performances during their recent Gym Challenges have demonstrated extraordinary potential.”
Diantha picked up the first file.
Name: Alain
Age: 15
Hometown: Lumiose City
Partner Pokémon: Charizard, Metang, Larvitar…
She then opened the second file.
Name: Serena
Age: 14
Hometown: Vaniville Town
Partner Pokémon: Palmon…
“Palmon?”
“I’ve never heard of that Pokémon.”
Diantha asked curiously.
“It’s supposedly a newly discovered Pokémon from the Alola region.”
Drasna explained.
“Recently, a Pokémon researcher from Alola has been publishing a large number of papers that have caused quite a stir throughout the academic world.”
“I believe his name is…
Noah.”
“This girl named Serena just defeated Korrina, correct?”
Diantha closed the file.
“Shalour City isn’t very far from here.”
“I’ll go take a look myself.”
Academic research wasn’t something Diantha cared much about.
She preferred filming movies.
Still, as the Champion, she believed it was her responsibility to pay attention to talented young Trainers.
After all—
Among the eight regional Leagues, Kalos was universally recognized as the weakest.
It ranked dead last, even below Galar.
Although Diantha was rather laid-back, enjoyed slacking off to film movies, and didn’t devote all her attention to Pokémon battles—
She still had her pride.