Just as the person and the Pokemon were stunned by Xiao Mei's Thunderbolt, a cold sensation, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, attacked them like lightning from the darkness behind them without warning!
"Qiu—!" Mimikyu reacted faster than its trainer!
Its distorted face instantly burst with an instinctive will to protect, and its small body exploded with astonishing speed, blocking itself between the purple-haired girl and the danger!
A fierce green blade of light almost grazed Mimikyu's eerie face, making a "chi la" sound as it accurately struck the "Pikachu" disguise on Mimikyu's body, producing a slight sound like fabric tearing.
Where Mimikyu was hit, the already scarred "Pikachu" disguise was torn open into a larger gash, and shadows seemed to surge within.
However, Mimikyu was only knocked back half a step by the impact, letting out a low, muffled grunt with a rubbing sound.
Its true eyes, hidden beneath the tattered cloth, flashed fiercely, having suffered no substantial damage!
Ability: Disguise!
Mimikyu's seemingly fragile Disguise completely absorbed the fatal sneak attack at the crucial moment.
"Who?!" Chen Kai's cold voice immediately rang out.
He quickly approached with Xiao Mei, his eyes sharp, the helplessness he felt during the battle with Raticate completely gone, replaced by full vigilance.
Having suffered many losses in France, he would not be easily tricked again now.
In the shadows not far from him, a Grovyle with sharp eyes and forearms transformed into sharp blades silently revealed itself, maintaining an attacking posture, clearly the attacker who had just launched the Leaf Blade.
It turned out that while Chen Kai sent out Xiao Mei, he also opened Grovyle's Poké Ball, allowing it to sneak into the tree shadows to counter any pursuers behind them.
Grovyle used the light from Xiao Mei's Thunderbolt to Lock-On to the person tracking them from behind, its X-Scissor pointed directly at the purple-haired girl and the Mimikyu protecting her in front.
Chen Kai's gaze swept over the girl's strange purple hair, her patched black tattered skirt, and the Mimikyu in front of her, but then he froze again.
The purple-haired girl's face turned pale from the sudden turn of events and the questioning; she didn't notice Chen Kai's surprise and hurriedly stepped out completely from behind the rock, her hands nervously wringing her tattered skirt, explaining in hurried English: "S-sorry! I... I didn't mean to! I... I was just a little curious... so I followed to see... I really have no ill intentions!"
Although Mimikyu's Disguise was broken, it still floated in front of the purple-haired girl, the tip of its tail condensing a dark purple Shadow Ball, ready to counterattack at any moment.
And Grovyle also began to condense a green Energy Ball in its hands, waiting for Chen Kai's command to attack Mimikyu.
At this moment, Chen Kai was a bit at a loss, because the girl in front of him looked too much like Acerola from Pokemon Sun and Moon!
Although this was Alola, Chen Kai had never encountered anyone so similar to an anime or game character on Blue Star, and with purple hair at that!
However, Chen Kai spent most of his second year of high school sleeping, and he had long forgotten the English he had learned before, making his current situation very awkward.
He cleared his throat, trying hard to organize his stumbling, heavily Chinese-accented English, attempting to make his tone less stiff, but the effect could only be described as very "Chen Kai-esque": "Uh... It's... it's okay! No... no problem!"
He clumsily waved his hand to signal "it's okay," then pointed at himself, then at the girl, trying to force out what he thought was a friendly smile: "I... we no fight! Friend?"
Zhou Zicheng, who was beside him, couldn't bring himself to mock his guest and friend, so he could only hold back his laughter until his face turned red.
The purple-haired girl opposite was amused by Chen Kai's stumbling and strange words, and the tense atmosphere eased a bit.
Seeing the other party's expression relax, Chen Kai tentatively, with extremely poor pronunciation, carefully and word by word asked: "You are... uh... Acerola?"
The purple-haired girl's expression changed from amusement to surprise; how could this foreign teenager, who couldn't even speak properly, know her name?
She almost blurted out: "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Chen Kai: "..."
His face was full of confusion and bewilderment.
The girl's rapid-fire series of questions sounded like an alien language to him; he could only catch a few scattered words but couldn't understand them coherently at once.
"Pfft—! Hahahahahahaha!" Seeing Chen Kai's expression, Zhou Zicheng could no longer hold back, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard he was bending over, tears almost coming out.
"Oh my god, Kai Ge, your English... hahahaha... She's asking how you know her name."
Chen Kai's old face flushed, and he scratched his head, regretting slacking off and sleeping in class; it truly was a case of regretting not having enough knowledge when it was needed!
He couldn't possibly say he had seen Acerola in anime and games, could he?
He could only stammer and ask Zhou Zicheng to help him make excuses.
Fortunately, although Zhou Zicheng's Pokemon breeding studies in Alola weren't great, his basic language skills were decent, and with his translation, Chen Kai and Acerola were able to communicate.
Blue Star's Acerola was slightly different from the one in Sun and Moon.
In Sun and Moon, she was a librarian and a captain, and later became one of the first Four Heavenly Kings of the Alola region.
In Blue Star, Acerola was still a student, seemingly from the same school as Zhou Zicheng, but Zhou Zicheng quietly told Chen Kai in Chinese that he didn't seem to have seen Acerola at school.
Acerola stated that she was just wandering nearby and, seeing Chen Kai and Zhou Zicheng, two foreigners, she followed out of curiosity.
Even a child like Zhou Zicheng didn't believe this, but Chen Kai did.
Chen Kai had looked at the map, and the guesthouse was not far from the abandoned Thrifty Megamart, so he felt it was quite normal for Acerola to appear there.
Zhou Zicheng didn't know what to say for a moment.
However, since the misunderstanding was resolved, everyone was happy, and Acerola quickly left.
Chen Kai achieved his goal of teaching Zhou Zicheng Pokemon battles and helping him build confidence, and the two returned to the guesthouse.
Zhou Zicheng excitedly ran to share the joy of his battle victory with his father.
Chen Kai was about to go back to his room to rest when his grandpa stealthily came over and asked, "Xiao Kai, has Exeggcute made up its mind?"
Chen Kai took out Exeggcute's Poké Ball and scratched his head.
He had hinted at Exeggcute today, and Exeggcute was very troubled; it seemed to have decision-making difficulties too.
Chen Kai himself had this problem; he always felt that only children made choices, and he wanted them all!
But Pokemon evolution could only choose one type, and he couldn't help but think, Big Boss was better, directly choosing Hydrapple, saving him a lot of trouble.
His grandpa saw Chen Kai's distress and patted his shoulder: "Take your time."
His grandpa had always been strict only with Chen Kai's mother and uncle, but he had a special affection for Chen Kai as a grandchild and never forced him.
But surprisingly this time, his grandpa, who was already preparing to return to his room, couldn't help but turn back and give Chen Kai advice: "Xiao Kai, my personal suggestion! Just a suggestion, all your other Pokemon are Dragon-type, Exeggcute can also consider evolving into Alolan Exeggutor."
Chen Kai could only respond, "Okay, I'll consider it, Grandpa."
He didn't think having all Dragon-types was a good thing.