Why is my Pokémon acting a little weird?

The girls who worked with Qiao Ran were basically accustomed to this situation, and Zhulan, who often went on scientific expeditions alone, also gradually adapted to it. Only Lusamine, who came with them this time, was the more difficult one to deal with. Although Qiao Ran understood that it was a bit too much for the chairman and scientific researcher to run around like this, it also meant that he had to invest more effort in the other party and take special care of her.

"Thank you, Xiao Ran."

Lusamine, who was well versed in the ways of the world, could not have failed to notice this. When Qiao Ran helped her down, she still thanked him.

However, after all, because of her relationship with Lillie, she could accept Qiao Ran's kindness with peace of mind. After all, they had already discussed this matter before, and in the future, they would probably be a family.

She was quite satisfied with Qiao Ran. Lillie also inherited her vision and found the best one among everyone.

Continuing forward from the landing site, after crossing a large dilapidated area and defeating countless sneak attacks from the ultimate beasts, Qiao Ran and the others finally saw the prototype of the so-called "gathering point".

"This……"

However, when seeing this scene, whether it was Qiao Ran, Acerola, or the others, they couldn't help but widen their eyes.

What appeared before them was a two- or three-story stone wall, seemingly stretching out into the distance. Atop the stone wall, stacked rock Pokémon like Geodude were stacked. Upon noticing Qiao Ran and the others approaching, these Pokémon began to cry out.

"This...I'm afraid it's Lizzie's work."

Mitsuki couldn't help but speak.

Each island has its own unique approach to dealing with Ultra Beasts, and in the Alola region, the only one capable of this feat is the island queen, a master of rock-based techniques. Mobilizing so much rock and stacking it into a wall with perfect precision requires meticulous calculation and exceptional skill, an impossible task.

"Well, it should be Lizzie."

Aserola also agreed. Unlike the king of their Ula'ula Island who loved to sleep, Lizzie's ability was very suitable for protecting other people. Moreover, Lizzie not only looked reliable on the outside, but was also a very responsible person on the inside. Although she often complained about not being able to get married, in Aserola's opinion, she was just joking.

How come no one likes him when he is so outstanding?

"Mizuki? Acerola? Wait, why are you here??"

Suddenly, a voice came from above the wall. The other party seemed to be surprised by the appearance of several people. However, the most surprising thing to the other party might not be just Mitsuki and Acerola.

"This... Chairman Lusamine??"

“…Hmm? And this one is…”

Her eyes paused on Zhulan, as if she couldn't recognize her.

Chapter 685 [Mao]

The Alola region is isolated from the outside world and often does not receive information from the outside world in a timely manner, so it is understandable that the girl does not know Zhulan. After all, Alola has gradually become more open, which has only happened in the last ten years.

"How come you are here?"

The girl inside the stone wall waved hurriedly, trying to show Acerola and the others the way.

"Walk a few hundred meters over there, there should be an entrance. I'll go over and help you open the door now!"

As she spoke, she released a mantis, which held her and jumped down from the top of the stone wall.

Qiao Ran and others also followed her instructions and walked in the direction she pointed.

Taking advantage of this time, Mitsuki and Acerola also secretly introduced the identity of the girl just now. With the dim light of the night, no one could actually see each other's face and dress clearly, but from the outline and voice, it was clear that she was a very young girl.

"...That was Mao just now, the Grass-type captain of the Alola region. Her family runs a restaurant in Kone City, and she usually helps out there."

Mitsuki lowered her voice.

"But she didn't seem to recognize Zhulan. I'll tell her about it when we meet next time."

Miyue said this and observed Zhulan's expression, but Zhulan just smiled lightly and didn't care.

"It's okay, I'm not a star, and I don't need everyone

People remember who I am.”

She was not someone who cared about false reputation. Being remembered as a Pokémon trainer by others was no longer important. Instead, she would rather be remembered as a mythology researcher, which was the direction she was currently working towards.

"After all, Alola was like this before. No one knew what the alliance was. It was only recently that Professor Kukui from Melemele Island mentioned the Alola Alliance, and that's when we started paying attention to it."

Acerola defended Mao, saying that the Alola people were just that unique.

After walking along the high rock face for a while, Qiao Ran and the others finally found a place similar to an "entrance". Along the stone walls along the way, Qiao Ran also saw many rock-type Pokémon. Normally, they looked like real stones, and only opened their eyes when Qiao Ran and the others got close. These Pokémon originally lived in the mountains, but perhaps because of the invasion of Ultra Beasts, they had nowhere else to go.

Serving as a guard here is also a way to live with humans.

"Welcome—Mizuki, Acerola, are you all right?"

After opening the wooden door embedded in the stone crevices, a girl with green hair and a red flower-shaped ornament on her head appeared in front of everyone. Her skin was a healthy wheat color, which was indeed a very common skin color in the Alola region where the sunlight was relatively strong.

As soon as she saw Acerola and Mitsuki, she rushed over and grabbed their hands.

"Why are you here? And it's so late?"

The expression on her face was a bit confused and worried, but the enthusiasm still felt very Alola.

"This one……"

Mitsuki and Acerola looked at each other and decided to go in first.

"Mao, this is a bit long, let's talk about it slowly, okay? And what about Shuilian and Sister Lizi? They should be here too, right?"

"Well... they should be resting by now. I'm in charge of the guard duty tonight. Usually, we three take turns. After all, the area we're currently managing includes parts of Kangdai City and Kanike City. If we need to rush there, it's usually quite a distance. It's great to have you nearby."

Mao's face was full of excitement, as if she saw an old friend, and she said a lot in one breath.

However, she soon discovered Qiao Ran and others standing beside them under the guidance of Miyue and Acerola's gazes.

"Ah... sorry! I got a little too excited. Um... who are you...? Let me introduce myself first. I'm the Grass-type captain of Akala Island. You can just call me Mao. My current goal is to be the strongest chef."

Mao patted her head, stuck out her tongue, and introduced herself. Just as Qiao Ran and others saw, she was such an extremely cheerful, yet consistent girl.

Qiao Ran and others also briefly introduced their identities. Since Qiao Ran himself did not have a special name in this world, he could only call himself "a trainer from afar". Fortunately, there was also a "trainer from afar" named Mei who had not yet made a name for herself.

When Zhulan and Liliae introduced themselves, the girl in front of them was still surprised.

"...The eldest daughter of the Ether Foundation... In other words, you are the chairman..."

Mao glanced at Lusamine carefully, and felt relieved when she saw that she was still smiling. She had never thought that as a civilian, she would be able to meet the chairman and eldest daughter of the Ether Foundation. Even after becoming the captain, Mao still had the same mentality and did not feel that she had become a very important person.

Zhulan's identity almost made her stumble.

"God...God-God Sinnoh Champion???"

If you specifically asked her who the champion of each region was, she might not recognize it, but as soon as you mentioned the Sinnoh champion, she understood it all at once.

That is the pinnacle of Pokémon trainers in a region, and each one is stronger than the King and Queen of their island!

According to the tourists who came to the restaurant, the champions of their region could easily defeat the four island kings. Although Mao didn't know whether this was true, the outside regions seemed more developed than Alola, so what they said must be right, right?

"Crown...Crown Champion..."

Mao's gaze froze on Zhulan's face until Zhulan couldn't help laughing, and then she realized that she might have been a little rude.

"Hold...Hold, sorry..."

Mao stammered an apology and lowered his head. Staring at the other person like that was too rude.

"It's okay. It's interesting to see trainers from other regions."

Zhulan did not blame the other party. It was a good thing to see such an energetic junior. However, she didn't know what the other party's level was in Pokémon.

Since traveling here, Zhulan's impression of the Alola region has always been that "the trainers are very young." Those who can make a name for themselves in Alola seem to be very young.

This area might become really powerful in the future.

Chapter 686 [Liz]

Entering the stone wall,

The situation inside is obviously much better than outside, and Akala Island is also different from Ula'ula Island. Most of the stronger trainers on this island are gathered together, so this is probably the reason why they can quickly set up this line of defense, while on Ula'ula Island, they are scattered here and there, and by the time they want to react, it is too late.

"Um...you guys wait here for a moment. I'll go get Shuilian and Lizi. They won't be long."

After bringing Qiao Ran and his group to her family's restaurant, Mao touched her head and ran to inform them of the situation. She was not at ease leaving this matter to others, so it would be better for her to do it herself.

In the restaurant, Mao's parents and brother came forward and asked the group if there was anything they wanted to eat.

"Our restaurant is a long-standing one on the island, and we often attract tourists from other areas. You must be Mao's friends, right? She just said you're from another island, so you must be hungry on the way here."

Mao's parents obviously knew Acerola and Mitsuki, but they treated everyone else equally as Mao's friends.

"We have actually already..."

Qiao Ran was about to refuse, saying that they had already eaten on the way, but before he could do anything, he was interrupted by Lusamine beside him.

"Let's have some simple dishes. I've heard about your restaurant's reputation from some of the employees before. If I have the chance, I'd like to try it."

Lusamine smiled and picked up the menu on the table.

"We don't have a big appetite, so we'll just have a small taste tonight."

Hearing these words from the chairman of the Ether Foundation himself, Mao's parents couldn't help but smile with joy. The name of their restaurant had actually reached the chairman's ears, and Mao's brother rubbed his hands nervously, almost getting so excited that he started cooking on the spot.

Lusamine looked at the menu, ordered a dish at random, and then let the others make their own choices. However, she finally reminded them not to be extravagant. After all, she could see that the menu on the table seemed to have been there for a long time - no one had picked it up in a very long time.

In other words, in this place, food is still a scarce resource. Here, food is not supplied according to demand, but according to quantity.

Of course, one of the reasons was that she couldn't eat anymore.

"Mother."

Seeing that Lusamine had taken care of everything and Mao's parents and brother had happily gone to cook, Lillie couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes at her mother.

"Really...still thinking about these things at a time like this, what if we can't finish eating them later?"

In Lillie's opinion, Lusamine really liked to play this kind of trick. Although she seemed very happy, she would be tricked sooner or later.

"...How about asking the only male here to help?"

Lusamine also laughed and glanced at Qiao Ran.

"Generally speaking, boys should be able to eat more, right? Gladion was like this when he was little."

"I……"

Qiao Ran's smile froze on his face. He could eat, but the question was, weren't there too many people present?

One, two, three, four, five, six, that’s six people in total!

Can I eat so much?

However, facing Lusamine's expectant gaze, Qiao Ran had no way to refute. After all, she was Lillie's mother, and she was the kind of person who could dominate others with her high rank. Moreover, he didn't know if it was Qiao Ran's illusion, but he always felt that Lusamine had unrealistic expectations of him.

I really can’t eat so much!

————————————————————————————————————————

Qiao Ran sat at the dining table, feeling despair about his future, but fortunately, not long after Mao went out, he brought back two people and resolved the crisis.

"Hello everyone, I'm back!"

Mao appeared in front of everyone with a smile, and next to her stood a shorter girl wearing a blue shorts and a tall, plump woman with a dark complexion.

"Alola, my name is Suiren. I'm the Water Captain of Akala Island and I'm in charge of the trials at the Murmuring Hills."

The little girl with short blue hair was the first to greet us. Although her expression looked a little weak, from the way she introduced herself, she did not seem as pitiful as her appearance.

Moreover, her figure is actually not much different from Aserola's. Although she is the same age as Mao, her development is obviously weaker. No wonder Aserola said before that she and Suiren are good friends - compared with the other two on Akala Island, Suiren is probably the only one who is Aserola's partner.

"My name is Liz, Liz, and I am the island queen of Akala Island. It just so happens that everyone is having dinner."

On the other side, a tall woman with dark skin smiled and sat down at the dining table very generously. The most important thing was that she just sat next to Qiao Ran.

"Liz, I like people who eat well. If you don't eat, you won't have the energy to fight."

This island queen is also a very peculiar person, her enthusiasm is even greater than Mao's.

It was even more than that. She sat down at the table very familiarly as soon as they met. Although she should be not much different from Zhulan in age or a few years older, their personalities were very different.

"In that case, I'll make you something to eat. Shuilian, you can sit over there too."

Seeing that Lizzie was already at the table, Mao was also eager to try. She had been surrounded by the Ultra Beasts for so long, and she hadn't made a serious "big meal" for a long time. Today, a distinguished guest worthy of entertaining finally came, so she had to show off her skills no matter what.

"Oh... okay."

Shui Lian blinked her eyes and slowly sat down at the table. Her expression was still a little confused and no one knew what she was thinking.

"By the way, now that dinner is ready, Lizzie, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Lizzie raised her head and glanced at everyone present.

"Are you all from other islands? What's the situation on the other islands in Alola?"

As the queen of the island, Lizzie has been paying close attention to the situation in Alola. Unfortunately, although Akala Island can protect itself, if it moves outward, it will still be besieged by Ultra Beasts. Therefore, she is quite curious about how Qiao Ran and others came here.

There are so many ultimate beasts out there, right?