Ash, with his invincible physical body, wants to become a Pokémon Master...

"Sometimes I think, we are still young, and the future holds endless possibilities..."

But then Xiao Mao shook his head and stopped talking. After a long while, he finally spoke again.

"Ash, this time I'm betting everything on the tournament!"

But seeing that Gary's words were incomprehensible, Ash just tilted his head and didn't quite understand.

Suddenly, Gary stood up and shouted at the lake, then turned to look at Ash.

"Sometimes having a monster like you as a formidable opponent is really stressful, and I have to push myself to keep improving."

"But I still want to say that I will not lose to you in this league tournament, and I will be the one to win the championship in the end!"

Ash finally understood, and immediately stood up and let out a howl even louder than Gary's before smiling and saying to him.

"This is the Gary I know! But I will never lose, right, Pikachu!"

"Pickup!"

Seeing Ash call out to him, Gary couldn't help but smile.

"That's really your style. I hope we won't be disqualified from the competition tomorrow because of disturbing the peace."

"How could that be..." Ash was very confident; he was the League's chosen future by the Chairman.

The two looked at each other and smiled, their worries dissipating considerably after the battle.

But after the conversation, Ash still dragged Gary around the lake three times before the two finally went back to sleep.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have triggered a new side quest, "The Final Battle Against a Rival!": Defeat Shigeru at the Silver Tournament!]

[Rewards: Alliance Coins +90000; Free Attribute Points +10; Golden Crown +1]

————Sanctioning Light Particles————

The opening ceremony of the Silver Tournament on the second day.

Viewers in various regions who were following the event, including Hanako, Professor Oak, and Sabrina, all turned on their televisions at the same time to watch the broadcast.

The trio of Kojiro even personally carried a camera to the scene to report on the opening ceremony for Red TV.

Of course, the most eye-catching task of being a cosplay reporter was ultimately taken by Musashi.

Meanwhile, Shigeru went to the opening ceremony with dark circles under his eyes. He couldn't sleep at all after being dragged running by Satoshi yesterday.

As he entered the arena with the other contestants, Shigeru got annoyed when he saw Ash in the front row.

"Damn it, how come that muscular bastard is so energetic?"

Hmph, that's where Gary's mistake lies, because Ash has special techniques for falling asleep.

Gary's biggest mistake was disbanding his girlfriend group after their crushing defeat at the Quartz Conference.

It's just tough on Xia and Cai Dou, who are currently rubbing their lower backs in the audience.

During the opening ceremony, Ash was called over by President Damaranchi to be a torchbearer again.

The sacred flame of the Johto region is not Moltres's flame, but the inextinguishable flame left behind by Ho-Oh, which feels even more advanced.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have received the "Blessing of Ho-Oh's Sacred Flame": During the tournament, the HP recovery speed of all participating Pokémon will increase by 5%!]

After the meeting, the preliminary league held its draw. Ash was the first to be drawn and was placed in Group H on the first draw.

The opponents happened to be a man and a woman.

"The Silver Tournament's preliminary league uses a three-on-three format, with three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss."

"The player with the highest score after each round wins and advances to the final tournament. Moreover, you cannot use the same Pokémon in each round. Ash, are you ready?"

Just as Xiaozhi stepped out of the venue and was still pondering his next strategy, a familiar voice came from the side.

"That voice... it's Xiao Gang!"

"Hey Ash, I'm here to cheer you on."

The dark-skinned man walked over with a casual wave, and this time Xiao Gang didn't get lost like before.

He arrived just in time for the opening ceremony and even took the opportunity to look at the competition rules before explaining them to Xiaozhi.

"But Xiaogang, what's that handprint on your face?"

"Haha, it's alright, it's just that I've been through a bit of hardship under Cupid's guidance."

"You must have gotten into trouble for harassing some older sister again, but I'm still happy that you came."

If Ash or Misty weren't around to stop him, it would have been predictable that Brock would end up in this situation.

Xiao Gang was also a little embarrassed. He thought his flirting skills were already superb, but why did he always fail? So he quickly waved his hand and changed the subject.

"Speaking of which, there's been a girl staring at you over there since earlier. Who is she?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhi turned around and saw a girl with braided hair hiding behind a tree.

When the other person saw that Xiaozhi had spotted her, she simply stopped hiding and immediately jumped out from behind the tree with her hands on her hips.

"Hmph, Ash, are you ready to face my blazing flames?"

The girl seemed to know Ash, but Ash was completely clueless about her.

"Um, who exactly are you?"

"Hey, come on, I'm your next opponent, at least remember my face properly!"

Seeing that Xiao Zhi didn't recognize her at all, the girl immediately rushed up angrily, but when she got closer and saw Xiao Zhi's tall figure, she was immediately stunned.

"Hmph, don't think I'll be afraid of you just because you're tall."

"My passionate and beautiful Xiaomeng will definitely melt you with the strongest flames!"

With her fists clenched, Xiaomeng felt as if a volcano was erupting behind her.

Only then did Xiao Zhi finally remember that this seemed to be the girl in the pair of men and women he had just drawn lots with.

It seems this girl came to scout out the enemy's situation. She also has a rather fiery personality; she's a fire-type girl.

“But you can’t really call her a beautiful girl…” Ash looked her up and down, and even Brock nodded in agreement.

"Hmm~, if she were 8 years older, she would probably be considered cute."

Hey you guys!

When Xiaozhi and Xiaogang started commenting on her appearance, Xiaomeng's fiery temper finally exploded.

If it weren't for the fact that Xiao Zhi's muscles made him look like he couldn't win, Xiao Meng would have wanted to go up and fight them.

"You bastards, just you wait! I'll make sure you pay for this on the field!"

The girl with the braided pigtails ran off quickly, coming and going in a flash.

However, since his opponent has already come to provoke him, Ash naturally has to take it seriously.

As soon as he got back to the dorm, he immediately pulled Xiaoxia aside and asked her to help him find Xiaomeng's information.

Just as I initially suspected, most of this girl's Pokémon are Fire-type.

"He's a person who's true to his word." Ash didn't dislike him.

However, trainers with such distinctive styles are easy to target, and the Pokémon to be sent out can be decided immediately.

But I didn't expect him to cause trouble so soon.

Because the Silver Conference preliminaries and league matches require players to submit their Pokémon usage lists in advance via computer before the competition.

Xiao Zhi originally wanted to report Xiong Er, but unexpectedly, there was no information about Martial Arts Xiong Shi in the computer.

Ash quickly checked the database and found that the list of Pokémon that could be used in the preliminary league basically only included the main Pokémon from the Kanto to Johto regions.

"Oh no, does that mean I won't be able to use some of my Pokémon!"

"That's right." Xiaoxia could only shrug helplessly; after all, rules are rules.

Fortunately, this only applies to the preliminary rounds. Once the final tournament begins, the Pokémon rosters will be handwritten by the players, and this restriction will no longer apply.

The computer may not have information on Pokémon from other regions, or the official team may want the rules to be more favorable to local trainers.

Sigh, the ugly adult world~

But even in such unexpected events, the muscular man is not afraid.

"Hmph, it was definitely the right decision to train the newly acquired partners in the Johto region before the competition!"

Xiao Zhi gave himself a thumbs up for his foresight and immediately drafted a new list of participants and submitted it.

Finally, the day of the second preliminary league arrived at the H group C arena, where Ash and Moe were to battle.

The battlefield is finally looking decent now, with a large circular arena bustling with activity, and even the commentators have returned.

"Welcome to the City Alliance Silver Tournament, everyone!"

"This match features the passionate young girl, Xiaomeng, against Xiaozhi."

"This adorable girl with braided pigtails is known for her skill in using Fire-type Pokémon. She and her friends used flames imbued with bonds to perfectly defeat all their opponents during the selection tournament!"

"I wonder what kind of amazing performance Xiaomeng will bring us this time."

"And her rival, Ash... is also a trainer."

"Alright, let's quickly turn our attention to the battlefield!"

"Hey, wait a minute, isn't your explanation a little too short about me?"

Before, at least there was a prefix like "muscular man," but this time there's nothing at all!

And what's with the fact that he's a trainer too?!

Isn't this discrimination a bit too obvious?

It was only then that Xiao Zhi finally realized that the commentator's voice sounded strangely familiar.

"This is the same guy who was providing commentary at the Quartz conference before!"

"Damn it, don't let me catch your people." Ash straightened his hat and led Pikachu to the battlefield.

"Now, the match between Xiao Zhi and Xiao Meng officially begins!"

As the referee's flag was waved, the roulette wheel on the large screen between the two players began to spin rapidly.

Finally, the light stopped on the red team.