New Bark Town is known as the starting town in the Johto League.
Unlike Pallet Town, it's where most Johto residents begin their journeys, and even people from other cities come to New Bark Town to collect their starter Pokémon.
While Pallet Town also has starter Pokémon to collect, and even has Professor Oak, it's not very famous in Kanto. Aside from locals, almost no one collects their starter Pokémon there.
The two towns have vastly different statuses in their respective regions.
So even without the Silver Conference, New Bark Town is still quite lively, let alone now that it's hosting it.
Even after the peak of the season, New Bark Town is still packed with people.
When Ash and his friends arrived, the streets were practically overflowing with people, each with a Pokémon. Officer Jenny was seen maintaining order in the streets.
Generally, a town only has one or two Officer Jennys, while other police officers are recruited from outside.
Although the Officer Jenny family is large, their population isn't large enough to allow them to have a dozen or so officers in a single town.
The current situation in New Bark Town indicates that the town's population is simply too large, forcing the Officer Jenny family to bring in personnel from elsewhere to maintain order.
This was heaven for Brock!
He stared at the Officer Jennys maintaining order on the street, his mouth watering. In the blink of an eye, Brock appeared before one of the Officer Jennys, then produced a bouquet of roses from who-knows-where and began his classic confession.
"Ah! Officer Jenny, you shine like a star in the sky. In this vast sea of people, I spotted you at a glance. Your brilliance in the night sky is like the sun shining brightly in my heart..."
"Alright, alright, stop with the 'sun' nonsense. With so many suns in your heart, won't it evaporate your cardiovascular system?" Misty, holding Togepi in one arm and pulling Brock's ear with the other, dragged him away from the bewildered Officer Jenny.
In Misty's arms, Togepi happily raised its little hands like a child, a joyful smile on its face.
Perhaps this scene amused her, or perhaps the lively atmosphere made her happy.
Strangely enough, although Togepi hadn't trained much, it was already at Elite level.
At this level, it hadn't even undergone a first evolution.
Generally, this is impossible. Except for Bulbasaur, whose evolution is deliberately suppressed, Pokémon at Elite level should at least undergo one evolution.
Even pseudo-legendary Pokémon should have evolved by Elite level.
Togepi just wouldn't evolve. Ash checked it out but found nothing wrong, so he let it be.
It wasn't a big deal if it didn't evolve; it was fine as Misty held it, giving her something like a plush toy to hold so she wouldn't feel so empty.
When Misty came back, pulling Brock's ear, Serena smiled awkwardly and nudged Ash, asking, "What's wrong with Brock? He seems..."
"Like he's having a fit, right?" Ash finished Serena's sentence.
Serena nodded hesitantly. Back in Pallet Town, Brock was perfectly normal.
Aside from Professor Tinker's name, he was practically perfect, and incredibly capable at housework. Traveling with someone like that would definitely make things easier.
But now, after meeting Officer Jenny, Brock seemed like a completely different person. What was going on?
"Don't mind him, Brock's just like that. He gets all worked up when he sees mature, attractive women. But it seems even worse than when we separated!" Ash complained, scratching his head.
Brock had his moments of erratic behavior before, but never this extreme. He just rushed right up to people in this huge crowd, and that bouquet of roses he grabbed straight from the florist—without even paying!
After Misty pulled Brock back, Ash took the roses from him and returned them to the florist with a forced smile.
That was a bouquet someone had ordered; if it got damaged or dirty, they probably wouldn't be able to refuse to buy it.
Luckily, Misty acted quickly and decisively, and the bouquet wasn't damaged.
"Ahem, sorry, I made you laugh. I'm not usually like this, I just got a little excited seeing so many Officer Jennys. Don't mind it," Brock explained to Serena, clearing his throat.
Making a fool of himself in front of Ash and Misty was common place for Brock, but with a new member joining the team, and this newcomer previously admiring his housekeeping skills, his image in Serena's eyes was probably completely shattered.
"It's alright, I just didn't expect you to have this side to you, Brock~" Serena said with a smile, hands behind her back, seemingly unconcerned.
While Brock's behavior didn't seem very good, he didn't actually cause any real harm to the other person.
Although it could be considered sexual harassment, Misty had pulled him away in time.
"Hey, this guy can't control himself when he sees a pretty older sister. Sorry for the embarrassment, Serena," Misty said, clapping her hands and laughing sheepishly as she coughed Brock aside.
"So, where should we go now?" After this little incident, Serena raised the crucial question.
They were indeed in New Bark Town, but where did they register for the Silver Tournament?
"Just register at the Pokémon Center." Ash had already familiarized himself with the registration process for the Silver Conference. It was simple: bring your identification to the Pokémon Center, find Nurse Joy, and register.
If the process weren't so simple, New Bark Town would probably still be packed with people.
Amidst the throne, Ash and his friends finally reached the entrance of the Pokémon Center.
This was currently the busiest place in New Bark Town.
The Pokémon Center was already busy healing injured Pokémon, and now it was also registering trainers from all over the League—it was incredibly busy.
Ash and his friends queued for almost half an hour before finally getting inside the Pokémon Center.
Then Brock had another episode, but this time Misty, who was prepared, stopped him immediately.
Ash, on the other hand, successfully registered for the Silver Conference.
"Great! Now we can go to Violet City to challenge them! By the way, Serena, do you want to participate in the Silver Conference too?" Ash put away his Pokédex and asked Serena beside him.
Serena's face showed surprise and slight panic upon hearing this: "Eh? Me...me? That won't work, will it? I just started my journey, and I only have one Pokémon..."
"What does it matter? Everyone has a beginning. Half a year ago, I went straight to the Indigo League Conference right after starting my journey. Battling Gym Leaders from various regions during the Indigo League allowed me to quickly grow to where I am today. Battles are the best way to improve!"
"Even if you, Serena, aren't interested in Gym battles, you can still use them and the experience from the Silver Conference to improve yourself. This will make things much easier when you go to other areas in the future." Ash, the leader, gave Serena a thorough analysis.
If you can achieve a slight prominence in one area, going to other areas will indeed be much easier.
Even if Serena doesn't like League battles, that can still be part of her experience.
Otherwise, Serena would just be following them around like a headless fly, without any goals.
Such a trip is actually meaningless.
The scenery along the way is important, but the goal is equally important.
When you finally achieve your goal after overcoming numerous difficulties, the sense of accomplishment and the feeling of sublimation are absolutely unprecedented.
That's why Ash wanted Serena to participate in the Silver Conference.
Regardless of the final result, whether she could participate or not, at least Serena had a goal, at least she had participated.
Upon hearing this, Serena's pretty face showed hesitation, her delicate hands clenching.
After a moment, the expression on her gentle face turned resolute: "I understand, I will participate in the Silver Conference!"
"That's how it should be! Nurse Joy, could you please register my friend again?"
Since they hadn't left the Pokémon Center's front desk yet, it was a good opportunity to register Serena's participation as well.
Nurse Joy took Serena's Pokédex and registered her for the Silver Conference.
"Phew~ I'm already nervous before we've even started challenging the gyms! By the way, Ash, the first gym we're going to challenge is the one in Violet City, right?" Serena put her Pokédex back to her chest, feeling her heart pounding.
After calming down for a moment, she asked Ash.
She's now a participant in the Silver Conference, so she has to participate in gym challenges.
Before, she didn't care much about gym leaders, but now she wanted to know their information.
"Yes, next we're going to challenge Mr. Norman, the gym leader in Petalburg City in the Hoenn region. According to Professor Oak, when gym leaders come to the Johto League, they only bring their strongest Pokémon. That means there's no option for them to hold back, so Mr. Norman isn't suitable for you, Serena."
For novice trainers like Serena, gym leaders usually prepare beginner-level Pokémon. When Ash challenged Brock, Brock only used advanced-level Pokémon, not even elite-level ones.
At the time, Brock possessed professional-level Pokémon, meaning Gym Leaders generally tailor their strategies to their opponents.
This wasn't unique to Kanto Gym Leaders; Gym Leaders in other regions followed the same pattern.
The Pokémon they used varied depending on the trainer's experience.
However, the League explicitly stated that visiting Gym Leaders from other regions would only use their main Pokémon.
This meant that challengers facing visiting Gym Leaders had only one option: to battle the Gym Leader at full strength!
A Gym Leader at full strength is extremely difficult to defeat for most trainers, not just novice ones, but even seasoned ones.
Every trainer who sits in a Gym Leader's position is an elite among elites.
Therefore, challenging visiting Gym Leaders is incredibly difficult.
The League has offered incentives: anyone who challenges a visiting Gym Leader only needs four badges to participate in the Silver Conference.
Defeating a visiting Gym Leader also yields additional rewards, such as money, rare Poké Balls, TMs, or held items…
In short, the rewards for challenging a visiting Gym Leader are on a completely different level compared to challenging a local Gym Leader.
Of course, the difficulty level is also significantly different.
Ash's goal isn't just about visiting Gym Leaders; his aim is to challenge the strongest Gym Leaders from various regions!
Since his goal is to become one of the Eight Master Champions, he needs to defeat all those heavily upgraded Trainers!
The Norman Gym Leader is your first target. Norman's ace is the Normal-type Slaking, reportedly close to Champion level, and his other main Pokémon are all Elite Four members.
If Norman hadn't been unwilling, he would already be one of the Hoenn Elite Four members.
Serena's initial target isn't Norman, but there's a local Gym in Violet City that she can challenge, so her initial target remains Violet City.
"Hmph, judging from your words, do you think you can defeat my dad... defeat the Gym Leader Norman? Do you even know how strong the Gym Leader Norman is?!" Just as Ash and Serena were explaining some precautions for challenging the Gym Leader, a childish voice rang out behind them.
They were currently outside the Pokémon Center, and the entrance was packed, so they deliberately moved to a spot a little further away to avoid the crowd.
Ash turned around and saw that the speaker was a little boy with light green hair, wearing a dark green short-sleeved shirt and shorts—almost entirely green—and glasses.
"Little friend, judging from your words, you seem to know the Gym Leader Norman quite well? Are you also from the Hoenn region?"
Seeing that the other person was just a boy not even ten years old, Ash didn't dwell on the boy's sarcastic tone. Instead, he squatted down and spoke to him calmly.
"Of course! I... Gym Leader Norman is a household name in the Hoenn region! Given a little more time, even Steven from Hoenn will be surpassed by him! He's the future strongest trainer in Hoenn!" the little boy said proudly.
Anyone who didn't know better would think Norman was him. Even Norman himself wouldn't dare to challenge Steven!
That's the world's top trainer!