Today marked the opening ceremony of the Indigo Plateau Conference.
Yesterday, the sacred flame had been relayed across the region. Today, it would be carried to the cauldron and ignited into a towering blaze, officially beginning the League.
The flame passed from hand to hand.
When the final two torchbearers stepped forward, Ash felt an immediate sense of unease.
He could not see their faces clearly, yet the feeling was unmistakable.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
If he recognized them without seeing their faces, then they had to be people he knew extremely well. But that made no sense. None of his acquaintances were supposed to be part of the torch relay.
Ash frowned, searching his memory.
Then it hit him.
He still had Aura Power.
Even if he could not see their expressions, a person's Aura did not lie. Its rhythm, texture, and presence never changed.
Ash released his Aura.
An invisible blue wave swept across the stadium.
In the next instant, Ash's face twisted in shock.
"Everyone, stop those two!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs.
"They're Team Rocket!"
The stadium erupted into chaos.
Not everyone immediately recognized Ash's voice, but the words "Team Rocket" sent a reflexive chill through every Trainer present.
Even diminished, Team Rocket was still Kanto's most notorious criminal organization. To the League, they were a fading threat. To Trainers with less than two years of experience, they were still monsters.
And then reality struck.
This was Indigo Stadium.
Opening day.
Elite Four members were present. Champions from other regions were watching from the stands. And Team Rocket dared to target the sacred flame here?
They had to be insane.
The moment Ash finished shouting, the two torchbearers dropped the act.
They tore away their disguises and revealed their true appearances.
Blue hair. Red hair.
One man, one woman.
Jessie and James.
Ash's brows knit together.
The last time he had seen them was before his battle with Giovanni, nearly two months ago. He had assumed that with Team Rocket shattered and Giovanni missing, the trio had gone their separate ways.
Instead, they had chosen to crash the Indigo Plateau Conference opening ceremony.
What kind of death wish was this?
Even Giovanni showing up might have made some twisted sense. But these three? Did they think the surrounding Elite Four and Champion were decorations?
Today, aside from the Kanto Elite Four, Champions from Sinnoh, Hoenn, and Galar were expected. Cynthia, Steven, and Leon were all en route and would arrive at any moment.
Under those circumstances, the Team Rocket Trio dared to make a move?
They would need ten lives to survive what followed.
Ash could not understand it.
"Brat, your eyes are as sharp as ever!" James shouted. "How did you see through our disguise?!"
They had wrapped themselves from head to toe. Masks, hats, cloaks, only their eyes visible. They had even kept their backs turned to Ash the entire time.
In the past, Ash had always recognized them instantly. This time, they had taken precautions.
And yet he still saw through them.
Did the kid have some kind of automatic detection ability?
"Your disguises just suck," Ash replied flatly, naturally omitting Aura Power. "You barge into Indigo Stadium after everything that happened? Are you tired of living? Your boss is gone. Why are you still clinging to Team Rocket?"
That was what truly baffled him.
With Giovanni missing and Team Rocket effectively dissolved, why were they still doing this? Should they not have disappeared or turned over a new leaf?
Before Ash could finish his thought, a massive shadow fell from above.
A giant robot slammed down behind Jessie and James.
Its hatch opened, revealing Meowth inside the cockpit.
Meowth's face burned with fury. "Don't spout nonsense! Boss Giovanni is fine! He's just recovering! Soon he'll lead Team Rocket's glorious comeback!"
"That's right!" Jessie cried. "Disbanding Team Rocket was all part of a grand plan!"
"Our boss is playing a bigger game!" James added fervently.
"Before his return, we'll offer him the sacred flame so he notices us and lets us join his master plan!"
To them, Giovanni had not abandoned Team Rocket in defeat. He had merely stepped back for a greater future.
"Enough talk!" Meowth shouted. "Jessie, James, get in! We're taking the flame!"
James nodded. Without hesitation, he hurled the torch into the cauldron, igniting the sacred flame into a roaring inferno.
Then both Jessie and James leapt into the cockpit.
The hatch sealed shut.
The legged Metapod-shaped robot extended its arms and reached toward the cauldron, intending to lift the entire structure.
High in the VIP box, President Goodshow's face turned pitch black.
Never mind how they infiltrated the ceremony. Never mind how they passed security.
Allowing Team Rocket to reach the sacred flame was a catastrophic failure.
"Who is responsible for security?!" the chairman roared. "How did Team Rocket reach the flame platform? Is our system made of paper?!"
His voice thundered across the arena.
The Indigo Plateau Conference was being broadcast nationwide. This was Kanto League's annual showcase, watched across regions.
And now, before millions of viewers, Team Rocket was stealing the sacred flame.
Even if the League had backup flames prepared, this was no longer about the flame.
It was about face.
If those three escaped Indigo Stadium with the sacred fire, the Kanto League would become the laughingstock of the world.
Lance stood beside the chairman, his expression equally grim.
He had personally led the purge of Team Rocket across Kanto. And yet here they were, on his home turf, daring to humiliate the League in public.
If that was the case, then what meaning had all his previous operations held?
Are these three supposed to be high-ranking executives now?
What gave them this kind of audacity?
Ash was about to release a Pokémon.
But someone moved faster.
"Torterra. Frenzy Plant."
The calm, icy voice cut through the chaos.
In an instant, massive roots and thick green vines erupted from beneath the Metapod robot, binding it completely.
"C-can't move!" Meowth screamed, yanking levers desperately. The robot strained, but the Frenzy Plant held firm.
The speaker stepped forward from the crowd.
Black hair brushed his shoulders. His expression was cold and unreadable. Hands remained tucked casually in his pockets as he stared at Team Rocket's machine with absolute disdain.
"Torterra," he said flatly. "Destroy it."
The vines tightened.
The massive robot was torn apart in an explosion of metal and sparks.
"Damn it! Another brat interfering!"
"Mission failed again…"
"This feels awful…"
Once again, the Team Rocket Trio became twinkling stars in the sky, vanishing without a trace.
As the robot exploded, the sacred flame pedestal was flung into the air. Burning embers scattered in every direction, some even shooting toward the spectator stands.
"Blastoise, Water Pulse."
A clear, surging jet erupted from the arena. The water spread into rippling waves mid-air, neatly extinguishing every stray spark before it could land.
At the same time, Torterra used Frenzy Plant to catch the tumbling pedestal and gently lower it back into position.
The danger was resolved in seconds.
The cold-eyed teenager turned toward the Trainer who had ordered Blastoise to act.
Ash.
The moment their gazes met, both felt something inexplicable.
They were complete opposites.
And yet, somehow, familiar.
Neither spoke.
After a brief pause, the teenager recalled Torterra and returned to his team without a word. Ash likewise withdrew Blastoise.
The sudden crisis ended almost anticlimactically.
But the result was ideal.
The sacred flame was safe. Casualties were minimal. The Indigo Plateau Conference could continue.
That said, the Kanto League had still lost a great deal of face.
Allowing Team Rocket to infiltrate such a prestigious event was a serious failure. Had they escaped cleanly, Kanto would have been publicly humiliated on a global broadcast.
With the interruption resolved, the opening ceremony resumed. Without further incidents, it concluded in under ten minutes.
Next came the draw.
The Indigo Plateau Conference preliminaries consisted of four rounds, each held on a randomly assigned battlefield. Win all four, and a Trainer advanced to the main stadium, Indigo Stadium, joining the Top 32.
That was when the true knockout phase began.
The preliminaries alone revealed the scale of the competition.
One loss meant elimination.
Fail once, and your Indigo journey ended on the spot.
That was why the Indigo Plateau Conference was often called a lottery. Other regional leagues allowed at least one loss before the Top 32. Here, even a single mistake meant immediate elimination.
More than five hundred Trainers had entered.
Even the preliminaries would take at least four full days, and that was an optimistic estimate. Every match was three-on-three. If even a few dragged on, four days would not be enough.
When Ash arrived at the drawing area, a visible ripple passed through the crowd.
All eyes fixed on the machine he would draw from.
His opponent mattered.
No one wanted to face Ash in the first round.
Lose your opening match, and your official ranking would land somewhere around five hundredth place.
That was not just defeat. That was humiliation.
At the drawing station, the cold-eyed teenager had just finished.
The electronic board displayed his matchup.
Paul versus Doran.
Ash glanced at the name and nodded slightly.
"So it's him."
He already knew of Paul. Gary had warned him before the conference. One of the entrants was unusually strong. Paul had been traveling for at least a year and a half and had placed highly in his very first tournament.
He was only here for one reason.
Dragon Island.
Otherwise, a Trainer of his level would have no interest in a rookie-focused event like the Indigo Plateau Conference.
After the brief glance, Ash stepped forward to draw.
There was no chance of facing Paul in round one. Paul already had an opponent.
The electronic board flashed.
"Ash, Water Field," the receptionist announced with a bright smile. "Your opponent is Jamie. Match begins at 2 p.m. Here's your Pokédex."
Participants could register with either an ID card or a Pokédex. Ash chose the Pokédex. It doubled as identification, and he still had not bothered to apply for a personal card.
Why complicate things?
When the result appeared, the surrounding Trainers collectively let out a sigh of relief.
They were safe.
All except one.
Jamie.
Among the sea of relieved expressions, his face had gone pale.
..
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