Chapter 195: The Preliminaries Begin
A month later, Ryan and his group arrived in Celadon City by boat. After disembarking, Ryan stretched and said, "Ah! It feels so good to be free!"
Lillie rolled her eyes at Ryan helplessly and said, "I handled most of it, okay?"
"The capable should do more. With you and Ariana around, I'm relatively at ease," Ryan chuckled.
Sapphire said eagerly, "Alright, let's hurry up and register at the Pokémon Center. The tournament starts in a week."
"No rush," Ruby said. "This week, Sapphire, you should spend more time getting used to your new partner. No need for special training; a balance between work and rest is the right choice."
"Okay. So, let's go get something to eat first." Ryan waved his hand, deciding on their next goal.
The group set off for Celadon City. On the streets of Celadon City, trainers with Pokémon were everywhere. Ruby curled his lip and said, "The League has played a brilliant move, using legendary Pokémon as bait to lure out all the hidden powerhouses."
"But they don't need them all," Ryan said. "This is also a good opportunity for us to develop. If we encounter suitable candidates, we can try to recruit them into Mercenary Guild. Especially those who have been eliminated—if they're strong enough, we can give them a try. Of course, you can check their character yourself."
The group went to a ramen shop called Rainbow Noodles, which was said to have very delicious ramen. They ordered four bowls of ramen and started eating.
However, not long after, a group of people, both unexpected and expected, walked in. Ryan slurped up a mouthful of ramen, chewed and swallowed it, and then said, "Ash, over here, over here."
That's right, the people who came in were Ash and his group, except for one more person—a man with a Meowth wearing long boots and a cowboy hat by his side.
"Huh? This Meowth, its leg must be injured. What a pity. Although it's well-trained, its strength would be even greater if its leg hadn't been injured," Ryan said, noticing the Meowth.
"Hmm. How did you find out?" the man asked curiously.
"Morrison, this is Ryan, also the founder of Team Rocket," Ash said with a smile. "Ryan, long time no see. I'll definitely beat you this time."
"Yeah. I'll be watching," Ryan laughed.
Ash and his group sat down to eat ramen, chatting as they ate, and the two groups became acquainted. Sapphire knew that Ash was Ryan's long-time rival and asked, "Ash, what Pokémon have you caught recently? You seem very confident—they must be very powerful."
"Hmm. I did catch two very strong Pokémon recently, they'll definitely surprise you," Ash said mysteriously.
"This time the League is offering a legendary Pokémon as the first prize, there will probably be many strong opponents. Ash, you have to be careful," Serena said.
"Don't worry, Serena. We've all seen Ash's strength. Putting everything else aside, making it into the top four is no problem at all," Brock said.
Ryan finished his soup, sighed, and said, "One of my Mercenary Guild members will also be participating. He's quite strong. If he doesn't run into people like us, he should be able to make it into the top eight too."
After their casual chat, Morrison checked the time and exclaimed, "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"
He immediately dashed out, with Ash and the others chasing after him in confusion. Ruby glanced at the leisurely Ryan and asked, "Should we chase after him?"
"No need, let's go to the Pokémon Center to register first. After all, we still need to consider the Pokémon we'll be using in the tournament," Ryan said casually.
The group paid and strolled leisurely toward the Pokémon Center, the venue for the tournament. The tournament venue for this year's Ever Grande Conference was a complex built on a large lake. The buildings were arranged in a circular pattern, with two outer rings and the main tournament venue in the center. The two outer rings were the venues for the preliminary rounds and the qualifying rounds.
On the shore were the players' village, restaurants, and recreational facilities; after registration, participants were assigned dormitories. The Pokémon Center, where registration took place, was located on the outermost ring of the lake, where participants could register and transfer their Pokémon.
Ryan and his group arrived at the Pokémon Center and handed their Trainer Cards and eight badges to Nurse Joy for scanning at the front desk. After the scan was complete, Nurse Joy said, "Ryan from Pallet Town and Sapphire from Littleroot Town, your records have been registered for the tournament. Here are your room keys and competition guides."
Ryan and Sapphire took their things. Ryan looked at the competition guide and asked, "How many people have participated in the preliminary rounds?"
"Okay, let me check," Nurse Joy said. "There are over eight hundred people. Regarding the preliminary rounds, after the registration deadline, the schedule will be sent to the computers in the players' rooms. Please check your email."
Ryan nodded, and then the four of them went to the players' village and found their assigned dormitories. However, they had a slight disagreement when it came to room assignments because the two rooms were not next to each other and were quite far apart.
Logically, Sapphire and Lillie should share a room, and Ryan and Ruby should share a room. But Ryan and Ruby immediately refused: They were joking—what kind of image would it be for two grown men to always share a room? Besides, after breaking the ice, Ryan and Lillie's relationship had clearly warmed up, so how could they let go of such a good opportunity to be alone?
Besides, Sapphire and Ruby can't be alone together all the time, so when will their relationship progress further? Therefore, Ryan decisively pulled Lillie into the room, closed and locked the door, and let them figure it out!
With the rooms assigned, Ryan began to consider the upcoming Pokémon lineup. All the non-legendary Pokémon were used. As for legendary Pokémon, Ryan didn't plan to use them, but he also had to consider the possibility of an unexpected upset.
Therefore, for legendary Pokémon, Ryan submitted the three younger Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre, also as a way to annoy the League: I'm using them openly, what can you do about it!
Then, the newly captured Flareon, Darkrai, and Meloetta were also sent out, to gradually build synergy.
After uploading the information of the participating Pokémon, Ryan began to review the information of the other participating trainers. As expected, he discovered many formidable opponents. Many of the participants possessed one or two legendary Pokémon, and their ages were also on the rise, with the oldest being over forty. They too had been drawn to the Ever Grande Conference by the legendary Pokémon prize.
Ryan didn't have much of an opinion on this; he simply dealt with whatever came his way, believing that everything else was insignificant in the face of absolute strength.
For the next week, Ryan and Sapphire ensured their Pokémon rested well, preparing them for the tournament in peak condition.
With emails sent to each participant's computer, the preliminary rounds were assigned. Due to the unprecedented number of participants—over a thousand—the tournament decided to hold three rounds of preliminary rounds, eliminating participants down to 256 who would advance to the official qualifying rounds.
Ryan's first opponent had been determined, and he smiled: "I didn't expect it to be him!"
(End of Chapter)
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