Natsui was certain that Lisia had not been out for very long.
Even so, she had asked to return to the dorms with him. Her reason for doing this was very clear.
But...
Natsui looked at the hands holding his arm tightly. If they went back like this and Misty found out, there would be a big fight immediately.
However, if they did not go back, would he have to walk around with her more?
To be honest, Natsui liked Lisia. This young girl was happy and lively. She was also very beautiful and a famous idol. She was excellent in every way.
He was not the type of person to ignore his own good luck.
If he were alone, he would not refuse to have a girl like her walk with him. But the problem was that there was someone else with him!
If those two really met, it would be a big disaster.
Yet, he could not bring himself to say no to her.
Sigh, this is hard to handle...
He thought about it many times. He had no choice but to lead Lisia slowly back toward the dorms. He planned to think of a way while they walked.
Lisia, of course, did not know she was being a problem.
For her, sneaking out was a way to relax. She did not expect to see Natsui. It was a pleasant surprise!
This man had left a deep impression on her. He was handsome and had strong Pokémon. He was famous, and his personality was steady but also a bit funny and charming. He was her perfect romantic ideal!
Of course, it would be even better if Misty was not around him.
But that did not matter. Misty was not here right now anyway. Without anyone in the way, she could finally spend time with Natsui!
Since she was happy, she began to talk a lot more.
Looking at the tourists around them, she sighed. "This is the hard part of being an idol. No matter where I go, people notice me. I can't even enjoy a simple walk. But Natsui, you didn't use a disguise at all. You are walking on the street and no one recognizes you. It seems people in the Hoenn region don't know you very well yet. But I believe that after the Ever Grande Conference ends, you will be the most popular person here!"
It was exactly as Lisia said. Once someone becomes famous, they usually face this situation. It makes traveling very difficult. Natsui even hoped that after the Ever Grande Conference, no one would know him.
Although that was impossible, he would be leaving the Hoenn region by then. The impact would not be too big.
However, Lisia's words gave Natsui an idea.
His mind moved quickly. He looked at the Gardevoir beside him. Gardevoir immediately understood his meaning. She used telepathy to talk to Gengar in the shadows.
A short time later, Gengar quietly came out of the shadow. It flew into the sky nearby.
It hid its body and then blew out a large amount of air. In an instant, a strong wind hit Natsui and Lisia.
Under the sudden strong wind, Lisia's cap was blown away. Because she had been talking to Natsui, she had also taken off her glasses and mask. Now, her famous face appeared for everyone to see.
By chance, a young boy walked past them. He was interested in the hat flying in the wind. Then, he looked at Lisia's face. He froze for a moment. Then, he looked very happy and shocked. He pointed at Lisia and shouted loudly.
"Ah! It's Lisia!!!"
This shout made everyone look over. It did not just surprise Lisia; it made all the people nearby look at her.
Who was Lisia?
She was the most popular Contest idol lately. Anyone who followed Pokémon Contests knew who she was.
Hearing that name, people were surprised at first. But when they saw the real person standing there, everyone rushed toward her!
"Lisia!!!"
"Wow, she is so cute!!"
"My whole family are fans of yours! Can you give me an autograph!?"
Lisia was stunned.
She was still thinking about where the wind came from and how her hat had been blown away.
Seeing all these people rushing toward her, she finally woke up. She quickly let go of Natsui's arm. She had a stiff smile on her face as she waved to everyone.
"H-hello, everyone..."
Because she was too popular, Lisia was surrounded very quickly. Just as she wanted to look for Natsui, she found that he was already far away.
When Natsui got out of the crowd, he was already quite far from Lisia.
He looked back. More and more people were running toward that spot.
Beside him, Gengar could not help but laugh loudly. It said to Natsui, "You are so mean! You actually thought of such a bad idea!"
"I only did this to escape. I had no choice." Natsui looked at it and then said, "Alright, stop laughing. Hurry back to Lisia and protect her. Even though the security will arrive soon, we must make sure Lisia is safe before then!"
"Don't worry," Gengar patted its chest loudly.
"Leave it to me!"
Knowing that Lisia would be busy for a while, Natsui watched Gengar leave. Then, he decided to find Misty first.
He knew that even if Lisia escaped those people, she knew he was staying at the Contest Village. She would definitely look for him. If he went back to Misty now, he could warn her. That way, she would not be so angry when she saw Lisia.
Natsui left the snack street. He looked for Misty and the others. After checking two training fields, he finally found them at the third one.
However, when he walked closer, he saw that it was not just Misty and May's group. There were two other people with them.
He knew one of them, but the other was a stranger.
One of the people Natsui saw was Drew. He had his hands in his pockets. He was standing in a cool pose in front of Misty. Misty did not even look at him.
On May's other side, there was a man with a green hat and green clothes. He had purple hair, and his behavior was strange.
These people were talking about something. But when Natsui walked over, those two looked at him and then left in different directions!
This made him feel confused.
It was not strange for Drew to leave after seeing him, but why did the purple-haired man leave?
When she saw Natsui coming, Misty waved her hand at him.
Natsui walked to her side. He looked at the back of the purple-haired man and asked, "Who is that?"
"His name is Harley," Max answered. "He has a strange personality. He often refers to himself as a girl and uses mean tricks to lie to people!"
So that person is Harley.
Natsui only knew a little about him from the anime. Looking at Max's tone, it was clear that Max did not like the man.
"What were he and Drew doing here?"
Max shook his head. "Drew was just here to say some big words. As for Harley, he had some trouble with my sister before. He came to apologize this time. But I feel this person isn't that simple. I don't know what he's planning."
"I see. Well, no matter what he's planning, just be careful."
Natsui did not care much about it. He was about to ask May how her training was going when he suddenly heard a girl's voice from behind.
"Natsui! I knew you would be here!"
Natsui saw Lisia walking quickly toward them.
Beside her, his Gengar was following with a smirk!
"Lisia!!?" When she saw that person, Misty's eyes went wide. She said in disbelief, "Why are you here!?"
"Eh?" Lisia looked at Misty. She pretended to be surprised. "Didn't you know? I was just walking with Natsui for a long time! If an accident hadn't happened, we would still be together right now!"
These words made Misty very angry!
When she saw Lisia run to Natsui and grab his arm, Misty ground her teeth and moved forward. She grabbed Natsui's other arm and tried to pull him away.
Seeing this, Ash, May, Max, and Brock looked at each other in surprise.
They had never seen Misty this angry before!
Ash asked, "Who is this person? Why is she fighting Misty for Natsui?"
"I don't know," May shook her head. "I've never heard Misty talk about her..."
"Lisia... Lisia..." Brock rubbed his chin. Then he remembered something. "Oh! It's her!"
"Her?" The other three turned to him. "You've heard her name?"
Brock pulled a booklet for the Grand Festival out of his pocket. He turned some pages and found one. He read to them, "...During the Festival, we have also invited the Contest Idol Lisia to perform..."
"A Contest Idol?"
Hearing this, Ash and the other two were even more surprised.
Brock nodded. He closed the booklet and continued, "I checked this name before. She is also a Pokémon Coordinator. It seems her fans call her 'Lisi.' She is very popular in Hoenn and other regions."
"Now that you mention it, I think I've heard her name on TV too..." May said. "After becoming a coordinator myself, I know how hard it is. She became an idol at this age, so she must be really amazing!"
Ash said, "If that's the case, how does Misty know her? And it looks like their relationship is..."
At this moment, Natsui was getting dizzy from being shaken.
The two girls were very strong. Seeing that they would not stop, he used his own strength to pull the two of them together. Then he broke free from their hands. He said, "Stop pulling. If you pull more, my arms will really break. If you have something to say, just solve it between the two of you!"
Hearing him say this, Misty and Lisia finally stopped holding him. Instead, they stood face-to-face and argued.
Natsui rubbed his arms and took a step back. He finally felt relieved.
Seeing Gengar come over, he whispered with a frown, "How did she find this place?"
Gengar said normally, "Of course I brought her here."
"What!?"
"Chuckle, you only told me to protect her. You didn't say what to do after that. Plus, she knows I am your Pokémon, so she kept pestering me to find you. I had no choice, so I brought her here. But speaking of which, I really wanted to see what would happen when these two girls met. It's still as exciting as I thought!"
"You guy..."
Natsui shook his head.
He had planned everything, but he forgot about Gengar, who loved to watch trouble!
Natsui could not stay there anymore. Misty and Lisia were still arguing. He was afraid they would attract a crowd. He led them back to the dorm first.
Once the three of them left, May followed them with Ash and the others back to the dorm.
Just as they reached the dorm entrance, Lisia's manager arrived. The manager was looking for her.
"Lisia!" When the manager saw her, he walked over with a worried face and gave her a phone. "Where did you go? Do you know that someone took a picture of you holding a man's arm just now? It's already been uploaded to the internet! Everyone is saying your secret relationship has been exposed!"
Natsui and the others looked at the phone together. On the screen was the scene of him and Lisia at the snack street. It was the moment where Lisia was holding his arm!
Someone had taken a photo and put it online very quickly.
People were very fast at catching news.
However, Lisia only smiled. She did not seem to care. Compared to her, Misty almost fell to the ground!
She did not expect that while she was training with May, such a big thing had happened!
Her territory had actually been stolen!!