An Alola Trainer coming to challenge the Indigo Plateau Conference—no problem.
A Champion-level Trainer coming to challenge the Indigo Plateau Conference—also no problem.
But putting those two together, and doing it while the Alola region doesn't even have a League…
Was he here to smash the place up?
That was what a bunch of Gym Leaders were thinking.
And they were basically convinced that had to be it.
[Celadon Vileplume: Gym Leaders, when you've been taking challengers lately, have you found any really talented Trainers?]
[Pewter Onix: So far… it doesn't seem like it…]
[Poison Elite Four Candidate: I ran into a Trainer not long ago who had a Pikachu with them. Their Gengar did have some real skill, but for now they're only at the level of a standard Gym.]
[Retired Unova Colonel: Eh, it's not that big a deal, right? It's just a Conference champion. He's not going to immediately use that to challenge the Elite Four and kick someone off their seat, is he?]
[Cerulean Mermaid: I feel like… that masked guy's strength isn't as simple as what we've seen. If he has Champion-level strength and he's challenging the eight major Gyms, then once he wins the Conference, he'll definitely challenge Elite Four Lance, right?]
[Dojo Primeape: If he challenges, he challenges. We all know Lance's strength—he's not getting beaten by some random Champion.]
Off-screen, Grey scratched his head, not really understanding why they were so worried.
Normally, shouldn't you have confidence in your own Elite Four?
Kanto was just in an awkward gap generation-wise, not lacking true powerhouses.
Lance was absolutely a fighter.
Even among Champion-level Trainers, he ranked up there.
As long as it wasn't an absurd hard-counter matchup, he was at least mid-tier, if not higher.
[Dragon Tamer Lance: Oh? Sounds like Gym Leader Grey has a lot of faith in me! Happy.jpg]
[Celadon Vileplume: Elite Four Lance! You're online!]
[Dragon Tamer Lance: Yep. Perfect timing, too—I'm here to let you know the rewards for the Gym Leader Selection Tournament. Especially the Champion's reward. I guarantee everyone will be satisfied.]
[Dojo Primeape: Go on.]
[Dragon Tamer Lance: Prize money stacks from Top 16 all the way to Champion—no need to get into that right now. There are Pokémon Eggs too, and everyone already knows that. Here's the important part!!!]
Lance even tacked on three exclamation points to underline how seriously the League was taking this tournament.
[Dragon Tamer Lance: The Champion gets to battle a "legendary bird Pokémon" that the League is on good terms with—Moltres! And if you earn Moltres's recognition, you can capture it!!!]
The group chat fell silent for a moment.
Then messages exploded all at once.
Moltres—one of Kanto's legendary bird Pokémon.
Its strength spoke for itself.
At minimum, Elite Four-tier battle power. And unlike Ho-Oh's sacred fire over at the Silver Conference, this was a living, breathing bird Pokémon!
The kind you could actually meet. Actually touch.
But after Lance sent that, a lot of people immediately turned their attention to Grey, and @'s started pouring in nonstop.
[Old Man Not Bald: @Dojo Primeape, if I'm not mistaken, Gym Leader Grey has already captured two of the legendary birds, hasn't he?]
[Celadon Vileplume: Gym Leader Grey is amazing… he's already captured two of Kanto's legendary Pokémon. I'm truly envious…]
[Retired Unova Colonel: @Dojo Primeape, when are you going to show me your bird?]
[Dojo Primeape: ? Gym Leader Surge, please don't omit the word "Zapdos."]
The moment Lt. Surge's message popped up, Grey almost couldn't hold it together.
"Show me your bird"—can you not drop those two words in a situation like this?!
People are going to misunderstand, seriously!
[Dragon Tamer Lance: True. When Gym Leader Grey registered his Pokémon, he gave our League staff a real scare. Later, when he went after Team Rocket, we finally learned that he really did have two legendary Pokémon under his command.]
[Dragon Tamer Lance: Everyone should learn from Gym Leader Grey. Whether it's guiding challengers or arresting Team Rocket members, Gym Leader Grey is basically the benchmark among Gym Leaders.]
[Giovanni of the Earth: Good, good, good! As expected of Gym Leader Grey—Kanto's young generation is impressive!]
[Dojo Primeape: You flatter me, Gym Leader Giovanni. I'm just an ordinary Gym Leader. I'm only a tiny bit luckier than most—really, I'm no different from a normal Trainer.]
[Dragon Tamer Lance: One more thing. The post–Indigo Plateau Conference challenge rules are changing slightly. You'll need to battle the Champion of the Gym Leader Selection Tournament first. If you win, you can keep challenging upward. If you lose, the tournament Champion can choose to challenge upward instead.]
[Dojo Primeape: So if I'm the Champion—if I beat the Indigo Plateau Conference winner, I can "go upward" too… meaning I can challenge the Elite Four?]
[Dragon Tamer Lance: Yes. And if you succeed in challenging the Elite Four, you can choose to become an Elite Four member.]
[Dojo Primeape: Good grief.]
Whether in real life or online, after reading Lance's messages, Grey could only say "Good grief."
Challenge the Elite Four directly?!
That kind of treatment was practically unheard of.
An Elite Four Challenge usually tied into each region's League Conference—connected events.
A Conference winner could choose to challenge upward.
If they won, they could become Elite Four.
Of course, the League Conference wasn't the only path.
Like Karen and Will back in the day—building up credentials and then challenging an Elite Four seat for replacement was also possible.
But before that, you still needed League membership—official recognition as an Elite Four-tier Trainer.
For example, Grey right now: his strength was already Elite Four-tier. Once he found time to go to the League and apply for recognition, he'd become an official League member.
Today's information load was massive. Grey had barely gotten up in the morning and already felt a headache coming on.
Giovanni. Pryce. And now even Kukui.
And thinking that he was only Elite Four-tier right now—yet might soon have to face Champion-level Trainers one after another—Grey was starting to feel a little doomed.
Yeah… he really needed to find a chance to slip off to Unova, see if he could "borrow" a few stronger Pokémon back.
Or train through some real battles and see if he could break into Champion-tier himself.
Grey wasn't just talking big—if his team could have two Champion-tier Pokémon, he'd have a real shot at taking the tournament title.
"Alright—time to open the dojo!"
Grey checked the time. It was exactly 9:00 a.m., the Fighting Dojo's opening time.
A beautiful day, starting with Gym challenges!
Now the only question was… who would today's challenger be?
Thinking that, Grey went to the front doors to see which lucky person it would be.
And the moment he saw who it was, Grey raised his brows and instinctively reached his hand out.
"Why are you back?"
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