"Typhlosion, Blast Burn!"
"Feraligatr, Hydro Cannon!"
After Pikachu's victory against that Furret, Ash's luck improved a lot. In the remaining two battles, the opponent was the ones that had to release their Pokémon first, so Ash just used the Pokémon he had to restrain that opponent, so he was easily able to win the victory with two of his three Royal Starter Pokémon from the Johto Region!
Additionally, all three of his opponents had lost the battle within a single move.
"Big Brother is the greatest!"
Molly hugged Ash's leg and cheered happily. He had won all three of his required battles. He is now perfectly safe since he had just passed the selection battles and will be able to participate in the preliminaries later.
On the big screen of the Pokémon Center, a TV is broadcasting the Trainers who have passed the selection and entered the main stage.
"Big Brother, you're the first one there! Great!" The little girl has the sharpest eyes and found Ash's photo at once. Although the order of the photos here does not necessarily mean the results of the competition, Ash's results were obviously extremely impressive. His picture appeared in the first row first picture.
Next, the group also saw photos of Harrison and Gary. As expected, they also successfully entered the the main tournament.
"Ash, congratulations on your victory's!" Mr. Goodshow appeared behind Ash to congratulate him on his successful wins.
"It will not be easy to reach the finals of the Silver Conference!" Mr. Goodshow said to Ash to get him ready for the rules of the upcoming competition.
"The preliminaries of the Silver Conference will be a three-person competition in a group, and the Trainer who scores the most winning points will be able to participate in the main tournament!"
"The final is a fierce competition between wil be between the 16 people who won the all their preliminaries beautifully!"
In short, Ash still has to go through a lot of battles to even reach the actual tournament. This will be a longer and more difficult battle process than the one his past self faced at the Indigo Plateau Conference.
However, a smile appeared on Ash's face.
It's been a long time since he met a a place like this to earn more of the Exchange Points he really wants. The more battles the competition has for him, the better. He has been saving his Exchange Points for a long time now. He believed that after passing the preliminaries, he can redeem another Z Crystal!
That was a real Ultimate Move. Having seen Pikachu's Gigavolt Havoc with his own eyes before, Ash was full of expectations for the power of the other Z Moves that he would finally get in the future!
The next Z Crystal that Ash wants has also been decided long ago!
The Dragon-type Z Crystal!
Devastating Drake!
Ash knows that the only true Dragin-type Pokémon he currently has is Dratini, plus his Charizard and his other Pokémon that being his Red Gyarados all have the Dragon-type after completing their individual Bond Evolutions. Additionally they can all use powerful Dragon-type attacks.
In fact, quite a few of his Pokémon can use Dragon-type attacks. For example, Blastoise has learned Dragon Pulse and can also use this Z Move!
"Thank you, Mr. Goodshow, my blood is alredy boiling form excitement!" Ash had a confident smile on his face. He was looking forward to his upcoming battles!
That night, Ash and Mr. Goodshow confirmed the details of being the last torch runner at tomorrow's opening ceremony, and then he took Pikachu for a detour to the lake for a walk, with Latias silently accompanying them in her human form.
"Pikachu, you have to get ready for the preliminaries tomorrow! This will be the first Conference Champion that we have to win, we must win it beautifully!"
"Pika pika!"
Ash and Pikachu were in high spirits. Latias patted Ash on the shoulder and pointed to a familiar figure sitting by the lake.
"Hey, Gary. What are you doing here so late at night?" Ash was very familiar with Gary's Aura after seeing him so many times.
Hearing Ash's voice, Gary also turned around and said, "It turns out to be Asv. I heard that you will be tomorrow's torch runner, so you can call me impressed! You have to be ready for that ya know."
Ash sat next to him, while Pikachu went to play with Latias, "This is a matter of honor to me, of course I will do my best."
"By the way, what's wrong with you? What are you doing here?" Ash knew Gary's mentality pretty well by now. Even if he doesn't remember much of the plot, he still remembered a lot about the future direction of important characters like Gary.
After Gary loses to Ash in a battle here, he will make up his mind to become a Pokémon Researcher instead of continuing on to be a full time Pokémon Trainer. Not to mention inheriting the legacy of his grandfather Professor Oak, this is also the path he choose to find things more about himself.
Now is the one of times where he has to make a very important decision that could change the rest of his life!
The two sat by the lake, neither speaking to each other, just looking up at the full moon high above the sky.
At this time, it feels like they were just kids again, when they used to be very close friends.
It made him feel a little nostalgic even though he had never experienced like this before!
"When I left Pallet Town, the moon was like this on the first night on the road!" Gary seemed very emotional about this. It was obvious that he had accumulated a lot of experience along the way.
Hearing this, Ash chose it just smiled. When he left Pallet Town and embarked on his journey, his past self was still a dazed young boy who knew nothing about the world. He even chose to challenge a Pidgey on his own because Pikachu at that time didn't want to listen to him at all.
He then got Pikachu all covered in bruises as soon as he left his comfort place.
He spent the first night at the Pokémon Center in Viridian City, so he really didn't have the time to look up at the moon that night.
Looking at Ash's somewhat nostalgic look, Gary also said, "It's really incredible. If I hadn't seen such a moon that night, this moment might have been a complete different thing!"
"The choice we make at this moment will already lead to infinite possibilities in our future. To be honest, we are still very immature compared to many people in the world!"
Hearing Gary's word filled with emotions, Ash nodded along and said, "Gary, we are still very young. As you said, we have an unlimited future ahead of us. Whatever we want to do, we can just go ahead and do it!"
As Ash's mother, Delia, once said, "Let your mind go on a trip to see what you really want to be!"
Hearing this, Gary stood up, his eyes seemed to be twinkling with excitement, "Ash, remember that the person who will defeat you and will win the Silver Conference Champion is going to be me!"
Ash laughed and said, "No, the one who will win the Silver Conference Championship is going to be me!"
The next day, gings and drums were banged loudly, bright fireworks were blasting in the sky, colorful flags were fluttering in the wind, and there were huge crowds of people waiting for the final torch runner to began to tournament.
The main venue of the Silver Conference, the Silver Stadium, was already completely full. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the opening ceremony of the Silver Conference and the entry of the Trainers!
"The venue of the Johto Region Silver Conference is all filled with powerful Pokémon Trainers. The battle of strength and strategy is about to begin soon!"
"Who will win the Silver Conference? Let us sincerely look forward to the fierce competition waiting ahead of us!" The commentator yelled loudly into his microphone.
"Update here, we got news that the final torch runner had entered Silver Town with the Sacred Fire belonging to Ho-Oh!"
"The Trainers are entering one after another, now let's wait for the torch runner to enter!"
"Here we go, the last torch runner is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" Under the spotlight, Ash ran into the venue holding the torch high!
Delia, Professor Oak, and Professor Elm looked proudly at Ash in front of the their own TV's. Pikachu was following Ash all the way, his head held high, shining brightly. What a glorious moment it was for them!
"The Legendary Pokémon that quelled wars and restored life to the earth and forests, Ho-Oh! Now it's been brought to the our grand stadium to host the Silver Conference!"
Everyone was looking forward to it, Ash climbed onto the Sacred Fire platform and lit the sacred flame!
The Johto Region Silver Conference has officially begun!