Burnet felt a little disappointed when she saw that the box didn't contain a ring or neckce—those essential items for a confession of love.

  Kukui, meanwhile, picked up a note from the box and read its contents aloud, his curiosity piqued:

  "For use on Pokémon capable of learning Fmethrower? What does that mean?"

  Saying this, Kukui picked up the small disc inside the box and examined it. "What is this thing, anyway?"

  Unable to figure it out after scrutinizing it for a while, Kukui decided to stick to his philosophy of "learning through practice."

  He resolved to follow the instructions on the note.

  "Come out, Litten."

  As the Pokémon Professor in the Alo region responsible for distributing starter Pokémon to new Trainers, Kukui often carried the Alo starters with him.

  Under the curious gazes of everyone present, Kukui crouched down and presented the disc to Litten. Muttering to himself in puzzlement, he asked:

  "But how do you even use this?"

  No sooner had he spoken, Litten with the feline curiosity typical of cat-like Pokémon, extended its front paw and swiped at the disc.

  The moment Litten's paw pad touched the surface of the disc, a faint light shimmered across the disc, and its contents were absorbed into Litten's body at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  "Litten, are you okay?" Kukui asked, concerned.

  But in the next moment, he noticed that the previously deep-red disc had turned completely transparent.

  "Meow!"

  Before Kukui could investigate further, Litten suddenly seemed extremely excited. It raised its head high and spat out fmes.

  A small fme pilr, about five centimeters in diameter, burst forth.

  "Whoa!"

  Standing directly across from him, Faba, the deputy director of the Aether Foundation, was caught off guard and fell ft on his face in a rather undignified manner.

  His pants had been burned, exposing his scorched backside.

  Gdion quickly stepped forward to shield his sister, not wanting her innocent eyes to see something so indecent.

  "Deputy Director! Are you all right?"

  A group of Aether Foundation staff rushed over to check on him.

  "D-damn it! That bsted cat!" Faba cursed furiously.

  However, neither Lusamine, their superior, nor Kukui, the Pokémon Professor, was paying him any attention at the moment.

  All eyes were on Litten, who was casually scratching itself with its paw as if nothing unusual had happened.

  "That… that was Fmethrower, wasn't it?"

  Burnet, too, looked completely stunned. "A starter Pokémon meant for new Trainers… using Fmethrower!?"

  It was well-known that the Pokémon provided to new Trainers by the League were usually at a very low level to ensure they wouldn't disobey commands due to being too strong.

  Some of them hadn't even mastered basic moves like Water Gun or Ember.

  Let alone Fmethrower.

  Even though the fme pilr just now was pitifully weak, it was unmistakably Fmethrower!

  After a moment of silence, Lusamine finally spoke:

  "If this thing gets out, it will cause an uproar—not just in Alo but across the entire Pokémon world!"

  Currently, there were essentially three ways for Pokémon to learn new moves.

  The first method was through natural progression as the Pokémon's level increased. For example, the Litten before them would naturally learn Fmethrower as it grew stronger, evolved into Torracat, and eventually Incineroar.

  However, this method typically only allowed Pokémon to learn moves that aligned with their typing.

  The second method was through genetic inheritance from their parents.

  For instance, while Charmander could learn Dragon-type moves like Outrage, it couldn't do so through training alone. However, if one of its parents knew the move, there was a chance it could inherit it.

  Thirdly, there's the method of learning by imitation.

  This is where a Pokémon who has already mastered certain skills acts as a teacher, offering hands-on guidance.

  For example, in the anime, Ash's Treecko learned Bullet Seed by training with someone else's Grovyle, and May's Skitty learned Blizzard by following the example of another trainer's Delcatty.

  But with the invention of this disc, a Pokémon can instantly learn high-power moves.

  Although there are level restrictions—low-level Pokémon can't fully unleash powerful destructive force, as seen earlier with Litten—it's still terrifying!

  At the very least, it saves a massive amount of training time!

  "This was invented by that kid?!"

  Kukui excimed in disbelief.

  If that's the case, then it's truly frightening.

  It could even rival Joker who's been making waves in the Johto region recently with the invention of the Poke Ball Distruptor!

  "Kukui, didn't he leave a number? Quickly, contact him!"

  …

  …

  For now, the events at the Aether Foundation haven't spread.

  What's currently trending on the Alo local network is still the discussion about Stephen confessing to Lusamine.

  "I was there at the scene, and I even cheered him on. Even though I knew it was impossible, I admired his courage."

  "I think he might have a better chance with Lusamine's daughter instead."

  "If I had been as brave as him back then, I wouldn't still be single. Ugh, forget it. I'm going to hug my Ditto and cry for a while. Tonight, I'll have it transform into Diantha."

  "You must be new here! Diantha may be a star, but she's only 12 this year, right? She's still a child actor."

  "Exactly, at least pick an adult. For example, Lorelei from the Indigo League."

  "I think Agatha still has her charm too."

  "Now that's truly heavyweight…"

  …

  …

  Stephen and his two companions returned to the forest base on the outskirts of Hau'oli City.

  The atmosphere on-site was as solemn as a funeral parlor.

  "Um… I'll go out and pick some berries."

  Will was the first to make his escape, worried he'd end up being lunch if he stayed.

  Once the base was left with just Stephen and Karen, even the fearless Stufful didn't dare make a move. Hugging the Swablu egg by the incubation chamber, its tiny eyes darted back and forth between Stephen and Karen.

  Karen, casually scrolling through her phone, spoke with a faint smile. "Not bad. The internet's all saying you're about to save yourself 30 years of effort and achieve instant success."

  "Karen, I just want to improve myself," Stephen blurted out instinctively.

  But Stephen was only saying that to himself.

  There was a 90% chance Karen wouldn't get the joke.

  Of course, if she did, the situation could escate.

  "There was no other way. At that moment, to make the people around me clear the way and to attract Lusamine's attention, I had no choice but to use this move."

  Stephen shrugged, implying it wasn't his fault.

  What could he do? He couldn't confess to Lillie, right?

  At the time, Stephen had noticed the doll-like girl standing quietly in the corner.

  But even if he had the guts, the League ws wouldn't allow it.

  Between two difficult options, he chose the lesser crime.

  After some consideration, Stephen decided it was better to aim directly for Lusamine.

  After all, at the time, he couldn't think of anything else that would grab her attention more effectively.