A young male trainer was shoveling food into his mouth, grumbling between bites.
"If we get there too late, we won't make the registration."
"What's the rush?"
Across from him sat a chubby guy with glasses, stirring his curry with no urgency at all.
"It's a knockout tournament. Let the rookies go first and tire each other out a bit. Guys like us, the strong ones, wait till later. Strike at the right time."
He scooped up a big spoonful of curry and stuffed it into his mouth, clearly enjoying himself.
"This tournament—it's hosted by that old man from the Day Care, right?"
Their conversation caught the attention of a lanky guy passing by with a tray, who stopped to chime in.
"Old man?"
"That's not just any old man. Back in the day, he was a Gym Leader in the neighboring Johto region."
"He was one of the longest-serving Gym Leaders. Probably had pseudo-Elite Four strength."
The chubby guy kept chewing as he spoke, calm and composed.
"What?!"
That gave the tall guy quite a shock. He'd only heard that the Day Care in Viridian was run by some elderly man—someone called Grandpa Yanagi or something.
He never imagined the man was actually a retired powerhouse!
A pseudo-Elite ranked trainer—someone of that level would easily rank in the top ten of any region.
"And get this—the tournament prize is a Pokémon egg that Grandpa Yanagi personally bred and selected."
"Trainers from not just Kanto, but other regions have shown up just to compete!"
The chubby guy kept talking while chewing.
"A Pokémon egg raised by someone of pseudo-Elite Four caliber..."
The tall guy swallowed hard.
"I've gotta go check it out!"
"Forget it." The chubby guy gave him a side glance. "You're a Beginner-tier trainer. You probably wouldn't even survive the first round. You'd need to be at least High-tier to stand a chance."
"So what? Watching it isn't gonna hurt!"
The tall guy didn't seem fazed by the condescension.
Of course he didn't expect to win—but with such an incredible prize on the line, all the top trainers would definitely show up. It was bound to be packed with great battles.
And what trainer could resist watching high-level Pokémon matches?
He then pointed toward a recently vacated seat.
"You see the guy who was sitting there a moment ago? What was his name again… Paul?"
"Miss Joy said he's an Elite-tier trainer from Sinnoh!"
"Huh?!"
Now it was the chubby guy and his friend's turn to freak out. They almost choked on their food.
"Are you serious?! He looked our age!"
That cold-looking guy from earlier couldn't have been older than twenty. You could've told someone he just graduated from Pokémon School and they'd believe you. No way he was already Elite-tier.
"Dead serious."
The tall guy nodded confidently.
"Miss Joy saw his trainer card herself. He had seven Gym Badges from the Sinnoh League, all stamped neat and clear!"
The moment he said that, the chubby guy and his buddy exchanged glances—then shoveled the last bite of food into their mouths.
"Well then, we better go see this for ourselves."
And with that, the three of them quickly packed up their trays, stood up in sync, and rushed out of the Pokémon Center cafeteria, joining the growing crowd heading in the same direction.
…
This whole scene had played out right in view of Ash's table.
Leaf was sipping through a straw when she asked in confusion, "Where's everyone going?"
Seeing all the trainers heading toward the same destination, it became clear—today's excitement wasn't just about a Shiny Pokémon showing up.
"They're probably going to that battle tournament Grandpa Yanagi's hosting," Yumi said, setting down her teacup. As a local, she was naturally familiar with it.
"Grandpa Yanagi?" Ash and Leaf both turned toward her.
Yumi explained, "He used to be a Gym Leader. Now he runs the Viridian Day Care. Around here, he's very respected."
"When he organizes a tournament, even trainers from other regions come to compete. It's common to see Elite-tier trainers show up."
The respect in her tone when mentioning Grandpa Yanagi came through naturally.
After hearing her explanation, Ash casually poked at his salad with a fork and asked, as if it were an afterthought, "So what's the prize for the tournament?"
"This time it's… I think a Pokémon egg," Yumi recalled. "But there's only one prize, and it goes to the champion."
That's also why she wasn't planning on participating.
Trainers in Viridian often sparred with one another, and she was well aware that among High-tier trainers, she was only average.
And with all these top-tier Elite trainers entering… there was no way she'd win.
She figured it was better to spend her time training in the forest and improving herself.
"Yumi! Check the group chat!" one of her teammates suddenly shouted, waving their phone in excitement.
"A guy from Sinnoh entered the tournament!"
"Apparently he graduated just last year and already has seven Gym Badges!"
"And he's on the battlefield right now! Three straight wins!"
Once again, the trainer chat group was buzzing with news.
"Well, in that case… should we go take a look too?" Ash's eyes flicked to the screen.
He recognized the person in the photo instantly.
The co-lead from the Diamond & Pearl series—
Paul.
So in this parallel world, Paul was a year older than him… but his battle prowess was still just as insane.
Seven Gym Badges in a single year.
Now Ash was wondering—what kind of traits did Paul have?
"Let's go check it out."
[End of Chapter]