Natsui and Ash reached the place for the torch relay. They were surprised to see that Misty, May, and the others were already there!
The boys were very shocked. They had talked to the girls earlier. At that time, the girls had just finished eating their ramen. How did they get here so quickly?
Misty saw the looks on the two boys' faces. She spoke proudly. "Chuckle, you didn't expect that, did you? Hmph, did you think you could leave us behind and watch the torch relay by yourselves? No way! We could not miss this!"
They asked for the story and found out what happened. Misty and the others were at the ramen shop. They met a torch runner there. The runner had a Meowth that wore a hat. Then they got a message from Natsui. They talked and decided to follow the runner to the relay site. They were already close to the place. So, they arrived before Natsui and Ash!
The group was all together now. They watched the torch relay ceremony.
The relay had been going on for some time. Several runners had already changed. All the good spots to stand were full. They could only watch from far away on the side of the road.
People said the fire for this torch came from a Moltres. To normal people, this was very special and mysterious. But Natsui thought to himself. "What? A Moltres? I see that Pokémon every day."
Misty smiled the whole time while she watched.
Natsui felt this was very strange.
For the past few days, he could tell she was worried about something. She had been unhappy and in a bad mood. But after the party for the Grand Festival, she was smiling again.
He did not know exactly what happened. But Natsui was happy to see her feeling better.
He thought May must have helped her feel happy.
He felt he should find a time to thank May properly.
The group went back to Ever Grande City. Ash and the others went to their rooms. Natsui left them for a short time. He went alone to the delivery company.
The Meteorite Key Stone from Kuroda had arrived. Natsui was very excited about this. He wanted to see how a Meteorite Key Stone was different from a normal Key Stone.
However, he was disappointed.
On the outside, the Meteorite Key Stone looked just like a normal one. If he did not know where it came from, he would not see a difference.
He would have to test it himself. He would let his Pokémon Mega Evolve. Then he could feel the difference in their power.
Natsui put the Key Stone away. Then he went to the local police station.
He had one more thing to do. The International Police had promised him reward money. It was finally here!
The person giving the money was not Anabel or Looker. It was a man from the International Police who wore glasses. He looked like a polite office worker.
They took photos and gave speeches. Then Natsui finally got the money.
It was exactly five million. He did not have to pay taxes on it. This was much more money than the prizes from the other conferences. Now his bank account was much fuller.
He also received a certificate. It said he was a Special Investigator. With this paper, he had a legal job with the government. In the future, he would have more legal power to fight bad organizations in any region.
He had already gained a lot before the Ever Grande Conference even started!
Natsui went back to the dormitory hall. Ash had just finished talking to Professor Oak and Delia.
Ash was a good child. He had to tell these two important people that he had arrived. Natsui thought for a moment. Then he told Sabrina, Erika, and Professor Cerise's family that he was there too.
The others were happy to hear the news. But they were far away or busy with work. They could not come to see him. They would watch him on television.
Natsui did not mind. It might be a problem if they actually came.
Professor Cerise's family was okay. But if Erika and Sabrina came at the same time, it would be bad.
He got a headache just thinking about it.
They finished these tasks. Then the group went to the machines to trade Pokémon.
Ash said he would use his current team for the conference. But Natsui was different. He had caught some Pokémon in Hoenn. They were strong, but he needed more help to win. He also wanted to use the Pokémon that traveled with him through two regions. They needed to fight too.
He sent his Legendary Pokémon away. He brought back Tyranitar, Scizor, Venusaur, Jolteon, and Blastoise.
Now his team had Dragonite, Eevee, Milotic, Metagross, and Blaziken too. These were the Pokémon he would use for the conference.
He did not use the Crystal Onix or the giant Red Gyarados. They were too strong. He left them at Cerise Park.
Next, they had to work very hard. They used all their time to train and get ready.
They were friends, but they were also rivals. Natsui and Ash trained in different places. They did not want the other person to see their secrets or plans.
...
Time went by very fast. Soon, it was the day of the preliminaries.
The Ever Grande Conference is different from the Grand Festival. It has three parts: the Preliminaries, the Preliminary Tournament, and the Main Tournament. Many more people signed up for this conference. More than 600 people were there!
The 600 people had to be cut down to 256 for the Main Tournament. This shows the competition was very hard.
The preliminaries are one-on-one battles. Each trainer uses only one Pokémon. It is easy to make a mistake here. If the other person has a Pokémon that is strong against yours, you might lose immediately.
Natsui and Ash met again after ten days of training.
They lived in the same building, but they did not see each other. Ash saw Misty sometimes. But he had not seen Natsui for many days.
Natsui left early and came back late every day. He spent all his time at the training grounds. No one knew how he was training.
Ash was curious about Natsui's progress. But Natsui did not talk about it, so Ash did not ask.
Natsui smiled at him. "Be careful. Don't get eliminated before you even reach the Main Tournament."
"That's impossible!" Ash said. He hit his fist against his hand. He was very confident. "Just watch me. I will definitely make it to the Main Tournament smoothly!"
"That's hard to say," Misty said to tease him. "What if you're unlucky and run into Natsui in the first round of the preliminaries? Wouldn't you be eliminated and sent home immediately?"
"Pui, pui, pui!" Ash was annoyed. "Misty, hurry up and close your big mouth!"
The preliminary matches were not in the main stadium. They were in 15 small venues on the outside. But these venues were still large. They could hold 3,000 people. All 15 venues started at the same time. The scene was very big.
The crowd was very excited. The venue was very full.
The name "Ever Grande Conference" was very famous in Hoenn. Many people came to watch. They filled the seats quickly.
Natsui went to Arena A4. He left Ash and went with Misty.
Most trainers had eight badges. But some people got in other ways. Some people were very good, and some were not. This made the preliminaries very interesting.
Natsui's match was the third one. He had to wait. He watched two matches first.
The first match was between two young boys. They were the same age as Ash. They went to a Pokémon academy.
They knew a lot from books. But their battle was not very good.
They followed the rules of their books too much. It was boring. The people watching were not interested. Misty was yawning. Only the two trainers thought it was a good fight.
The boy with red hair won by a little bit. It took almost seven minutes to finish. He won and moved to the next round.
The audience clapped a little. The boy did not notice that people were not excited. He smiled and waved to the crowd.
The second group went up. Now the people were more interested.
This was a match between two middle-aged men. They looked like office workers. They were sweating and moving around. They worked very hard to cheer for their Pokémon.
The battle was very physical. The Pokémon hit each other many times. It was more exciting than the first fight.
The older man lost the match.
But he still had hope. There were many players. Some people had to fight extra matches to reach the 256 players. This man did well. So he would get another chance to fight later. If he lost again, he would be out.
Natsui did not worry about that.
It was time for the third match. It was his turn.
He showed everyone that he was much stronger than his opponent!
He only used Eevee. But he won easily with great power.
The battle was very fast.
The match started, and the referee raised the flag for the end after 42 seconds. Eevee's opponent could not hit Eevee once. Eevee attacked many times and won.
The audience was very quiet for a moment. Then they started to cheer.
Some people were eating potato chips. They looked up and the match was already over. They were very surprised.
This match was much better than the others!
The people of Hoenn saw Natsui for the first time. He looked very handsome. He stood there with one hand in his pocket. He had a calm smile.
His opponent looked at his Pokémon on the ground. He was shocked. He could not believe he lost so easily.
He worked hard for more than a year. But the match was over before it really started.
Natsui walked off the stage. The audience was cheering for him. He gave Misty a high-five.
"That was so fast," Misty laughed. "Even though I thought it would be easy before the match, I really didn't expect the opponent couldn't even last for one minute."
"It's because Eevee performed well," Natsui said. He looked at Eevee and smiled. "It didn't give the opponent a single chance. This way, there shouldn't be any problem with me moving to the next round. I wonder how Ash is doing now."
"Do you want to go see? Ash's match is further down the list. It hasn't started yet."
"Of course I want to go. Let's go."
They left the arena. They walked toward Ash's venue. They saw the Team Rocket trio again!
The trio appeared more often when they were with Ash.
But they were not being bad this time. They looked like salesclerks. They had boxes on their chests. They were selling candy, juice, and food!
They were trying to make money.
They had good ideas for business when they were not trying to catch Pikachu. They worked very hard. Jessie complained, but they were successful.
They just picked the wrong path in life.
Natsui and Misty reached Ash's arena. Ash was walking onto the field. His match was about to start. May and the others were in the seats. There were two new people sitting next to them.
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