Before anyone realized it, more than half a month had already passed.
"Oh my god! Silvally has defeated Kommo-o!"
"Let's congratulate contestant Gladion! He has defeated the powerful Hau and successfully advanced to the finals!"
"In three days, Gladion will face off against Selene in the final battle to decide the winner!"
The host's loud and excited voice traveled through the microphone and into the ears of everyone present.
Following that, loud applause filled the entire stadium.
"What a shame," Hau said.
Inside the arena, Hau held his forehead with a look of regret and disappointment. He had given it his all, but he was still no match for Gladion.
Gladion recalled Silvally. His face was as cold as ever as he glanced at Hau.
Hau was indeed a strong opponent, but Gladion was simply better.
However, Gladion knew that Hau was not the main focus of this tournament.
The opponent he would face in the finals was far more difficult!
It was Selene, who was also a High Executive of the organization!
This was the backup plan Damian had arranged from the start.
Selene was the biggest obstacle on Gladion's path to the championship.
Gladion turned around. Time was running out.
He had to use these last few days to make sure his main team was in its best condition to prepare for the finals in three days.
No matter what, he was going to give it everything he had.
"Big brother is amazing! He even defeated Hau."
Up in the audience seats, Lillie was very happy for her brother.
Hau was the strongest new Trainer in Alola in recent years, besides Selene.
"Ha~ he really does have some skills. I'll test his limits when the time comes."
Selene spoke with interest. Hau was her rival, after all.
However, she hadn't expected that Hau would be eliminated in the Manalo Conference before he even got to face her.
"..."
Lillie looked conflicted.
For a moment, she didn't know who to cheer for.
Gladion was her brother, but Selene was her best friend.
In a way, they might even become family in the future.
Well, I'll definitely cheer for Selene.
Anyway, it was impossible for her brother to beat Selene, so cheering for him wouldn't help.
Lillie hesitated for less than two seconds before making her choice.
She believed her brother would understand.
Damian wasn't focused on the battle anymore.
He had watched the first half of Gladion and Hau's fight closely, but he didn't focus much on the second half.
Instead, he was watching another match: the finals of the Indigo Plateau Conference in Kanto, thousands of miles away!
That's right, the Indigo Plateau Conference had reached the finals.
And the two finalists were none other than Red and Ash.
Although he had been staying in Alola recently, Damian had not missed the tournaments in other regions.
After all, the conferences in every region this year were quite interesting.
But without a doubt, the Indigo Plateau Conference was the most exciting.
Damian had really enjoyed watching it over the past few days.
Just as he had thought at the beginning, there were too many absurdly strong Trainers in this year's Indigo Plateau Conference.
Ordinary contestants barely got to show anything.
When they ran into those powerful Trainers, almost all of them were crushed by a single Pokémon.
That only changed once they reached the Top 8.
First was the first match: Red vs. Leaf. Leaf was eliminated.
Then the second match: Blue vs. an unknown Trainer. Blue advanced.
Third match: Ash vs. Ethan. Ethan was eliminated.
Fourth match: Silver vs. an unknown Trainer. Silver advanced.
You could say it was truly a clash between strong Trainers.
Those two unknown Trainers were very unlucky.
Blue's Arcanine swept all six of his opponent's Pokémon.
He beat that Trainer so badly they looked ready to cry.
Silver was exactly the same.
With a cold face, he used Weavile to beat his opponent so badly they almost surrendered on the spot.
It was a completely one-sided battle.
On the other hand, the matches involving Red and the others were very exciting.
Next were the semi-finals: Ash vs. Silver.
In the end, Silver was still defeated by Ash.
In this match, Ash and Greninja successfully activated Battle Bond, which shocked the entire audience!
Then there was the classic battle between Red and Blue.
The fight between the two of them was extremely intense, but Red managed to win by a narrow margin.
Blue's expression darkened at the time.
Losing to his rival Red in front of everyone at the Indigo Plateau Stadium was definitely unacceptable for the proud Blue.
And then came the final match: Red vs. Ash!
Damian really didn't expect that the Indigo Plateau Conference in this world would end up like this.
A final between two brothers who were both incredibly talented.
The excitement around this year's Indigo Plateau Conference had reached a level no one expected.
"It looks like Ash is no match for Red. Can Battle Bond Greninja really not get past Mega Charizard X?"
Damian raised an eyebrow as he watched the live stream on his phone screen.
On the field, the battle between Red and Ash had entered the final stage.
Red's ace, Mega Charizard X, still defeated Ash's Battle Bond Greninja.
How should Damian describe this?
It felt like a strange sense of déjà vu.
After all, in the anime, Ash's Greninja eventually lost to Alain's Mega Charizard X.
And in this world, Ash's Greninja fell to a Charizard X once again.
But fortunately, Ash's Pikachu was his true ace.
However, Pikachu had already fought before and was already worn down.
Also, Pikachu was at a disadvantage against Mega Charizard X to begin with.
On top of that, Red still had a Venusaur that was able to fight.
And as expected, Pikachu couldn't save the match for Ash.
It fell under the claws of Mega Charizard X.
Red won the final victory and became the winner of this year's Indigo Plateau Conference.
"I wonder how far you can go in this world," Damian thought.
He put away his phone.
He was very curious to see how many of the Kanto Elite Four Red could defeat.
After all, the Kanto Elite Four were not easy to challenge!
The Elite Four in this world were too strong.
Every member was Champion-level.
Lorelei and Bruno were strong even by Champion standards.
Especially the head of the Elite Four, Lance.
He was one of the strongest Champions.
Damian didn't think the current Red could defeat Lance.
After all, this wasn't the Red from the games who could defeat and catch a wild Mewtwo in just one year.
Or rather, the "protagonists" of this world did not have talent and luck as exaggerated as they did in the games.
To be honest, it was even a question whether Red could get past Agatha.
That old woman was actually very powerful.
Moreover, she specialized in the tricky Ghost and Poison types.
Plus, Red was a Trainer who came from Professor Oak's lab.
Agatha might use that as an excuse to settle a personal grudge and make things very hard for Red.
But that wasn't particularly important.
For Red and the others, this year was just the beginning.
Next year would be the time they truly showed their potential.
"So, there really is a gap in strength between regions."
Damian returned to Aether Paradise.
He lay down in the yard and continued scrolling through his phone.
Soon, he saw a piece of good news.
The Kalos Champion has changed! The new queen Serena's challenge was successful! She defeated Diantha and officially took the throne!
Seeing this news, Damian couldn't help but smile.
He switched to the official Kalos live stream.
As soon as he entered, the screen was filled with so many comments that he couldn't see the picture at all.
After blocking the comments, he saw Serena wearing a flower crown.
She stood between Diantha and the Kalos League President, standing proudly as everyone watched her.
"That's really good," Damian chuckled.
Yes, this was the difference in strength between regions.
Compared to the brutal difficulty of Kanto, Kalos was much easier by comparison.
It wasn't just Serena.
The difficulty in Unova wasn't high either.
For Rosa and Hilda, their only real competition was each other.
As for the Unova Elite Four and Alder, they weren't particularly difficult opponents for those two.
The finals for Rosa and Hilda were also today.
The battle had ended in the morning.
Rosa narrowly defeated Hilda to win the conference and was currently still undergoing her Champion Challenge.
Damian saw it clearly.
After the battle ended, the camera showed Rosa looking smug and excited.
She was talking non-stop to Hilda.
Hilda's expression darkened.
Well, Rosa was probably rubbing it in.
With Rosa's personality, she was likely being quite mean about it.
But they were very close, so there wouldn't be any problems.
Hilda would probably find a way to get her revenge later.
Evening came.
Rosa and Serena both called.
They happily and proudly told Damian about their results and success today.
"Mr. Damian! I've become the Kalos Champion! I didn't let your expectations down!"
"Damian, Damian~ I'm the Unova Champion now! Do you want to come to Unova to see me? I can wear my Champion outfit for you!"
Clearly, both girls wanted to be praised.
Especially Rosa, who started using a sweet, cutesy voice again.
But the happiness in her tone was impossible to hide.
Becoming a regional Champion was their dream when they started their journey.
Now that the dream was complete, they were naturally eager to share it with someone important.
Damian praised them generously and acknowledged their achievements.
As a leader, he encouraged them properly.
Now, two regional Champions were High Executives of Team Rocket.
But Damian still wasn't satisfied.
Unfortunately, Platinum failed her challenge against Cynthia today.
After receiving Platinum's disappointed message, Damian specifically called her to comfort her.
Then, Damian organized the information regarding the regional conferences and Champion Challenges from the past few days:
Kanto Region: Indigo Plateau Conference winner Red. Failed the Elite Four challenge. Lost at the third stage against Agatha.
Hoenn Region: Ever Grande Conference winner May. Lost the Champion Challenge against Steven.
Sinnoh Region: Lily of the Valley Conference winner Platinum. Lost the Champion Challenge against Cynthia.
Unova Region: Vertress Conference winner Rosa. Successfully defeated Alder to become the Unova Champion.
Kalos Region: Lumiose Conference winner Serena. Successfully defeated Diantha to become the Kalos Champion.
Alola Region: Manalo Conference not over yet, but Selene's victory is almost certain.
Galar Region: Champion Cup not over, but against Leon, Gloria has almost no chance of winning.
Paldea Region: Mesagoza Tournament winner Juliana. Successfully defeated Geeta to become the third Champion-ranked Trainer in Paldea.
Damian strongly suspected that Geeta was still holding back.
Her strength was likely close to Cynthia and Steven's.
Even if there was a gap, it wouldn't be very large.
"Once Selene becomes the Alola Champion, we can go back to Kanto and prepare for the coming war."
Damian gently petted the head of the napping Victini beside him.
He smiled.
He had stayed in Alola for two reasons.
First, he wanted to see the moment Selene became the Champion with his own eyes.
Second, he wanted to wait for all the regional conferences to end so he could prepare for the big war between Team Rocket and the League.
Damian was really looking forward to it.
He was already thinking about how to make his entrance in front of the League's Champion-level Trainers.
After all, the number of Champions participating on that battlefield would create a scene no one had ever seen before!