Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.
I'm enjoying it with my loved ones, and so should you guys.
Enjoy thsi chapter.
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While it was obvious to most and can be said that Ash had won his first round battle of the tournament rather easily, he wasn't the only one as Tyson and Morrison also won their battles rather smoothly. The three of them successfully entered the second round, to the 16-to-8 match.
That night, Ash, his group, their families, Tyson, Morrison, and Gary gathered together for a little celebration.
Molly sat next to Delia and her dad, and behaved rather well, by which it meant she wasn't acting like a squirrel on crack.
She and Max were enjoying their time with Delia, her dad, Norman, and his wife in the next table over.
"It's delicious! It's truly the best pancake you can get, whether authentically baked in a stone stove or not!" May cheered from next to Ash, having the most wonderful time enjoying the food special to her.
"It's exactly as reported in the food guide!" Brock also liked it very much, he can feel his rock will harden after eating this. The group checked in based on the food guide May referred to, and it did not disappoint.
Winona nodded, "Yes, the texture is very soft, though I don't think it's wise to eat that much in one sitting, May." She couldn't help but glance at her friend, who is also a lover of the same man she loves, and the 6-7 plates stacked on each other.
"It's my first time to participate in one of these major conferences, and it's definitely more fun than anything I did!" Morrison was the one enjoying the current tournament the most, without a doubt as he just couldn't stop talking about it. Although it is his first time to participate in one of these, his performance was really good, being better than most of the Trainers who had more experience than him.
Although it seemed that he was in mid-battle crisis for all of his battle, he still came out on top to win every time and get some much needed experience.
He is the kind of Trainer that Ash was previously, someone who doesn't shy away from their innate bold personality, and that's the same thing that let him become good friends with many people.
"Morrison, why are you getting so nervous out of the blue?" Looking at Morrison's appearance, Tyson couldn't help but tease.
"I'm not nervous!" Morrison said, trying to hold up his so-called image, "I'm just…"
The truth was that his heart was beating a little too fast, and his throat was also a little tight, but he didn't know why.
Suddenly, a young man with gray-blue hair appeared in front of Ash out of nowhere. Everyone roughly knew who this person was. He was amongst the Trainers who also managed to enter the second round of the competition. However, his strength was mediocre, maybe even less than Morrison, so no one paid much attention to him, other than Ash who smiled when he battled.
During the tournament, Ash and pretty much everyone had been paying attention to the information of other contestants. Of course there were people who were given more attention, like Ash and even Tyson, but most people paid little to no attention to this mysterious Trainer.
But Ash knew what kind of person he was, even though he just won the first round of the main tournament with a team of six Pokémon that looked like they were put together at random.
Though now Ash was a little surprised to see this guy approaching him, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he was stopped by this guy, "Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but you are the champion of the last Silver Conference, Ash, right? Do you really have the real Latios?"
Latios made an unexpected appearance at the finals of the last Silver Conference to help Ash get some extra popularity that he didn't really care for, and singlehandedly won against all the opponents Pokémon's.
So as long as one watches the battle and even looks at Ash's stinking appearance, one of the first things they will remember is that he has a Latios.
Though most people are not able to do that as Ash uses his Aura to slightly cover up his face.
The last thing he wants while traveling with his friends is his large fan base seeing him and chasing to get his autograph.
That sounds like an absolute nightmare to him.
"Yes, that's me, what's the matter?" Ash nodded and didn't hide it at all.
However, this man didn't say anything else and just turned around and walked away.
"Never seen a person like that in all my experience as a Gym Leader…" Winona couldn't help but say, to which everyone else at the table nodded.
"Big Bro, the matchups for the second round just came out!" Max ignored whatever just happened and ran to the table. Now that everyone was full and full, they had to hurry over and check out their next matchups.
"Alright, no matter who my opponent is, I won't lose!" Morrison's fighting spirit was burning strong, but when he saw his opponent was going to be in the second round, he fell dead silent.
His opponent was none other than Ash, whom he saw as one of his closest friends.
He was stunned there, at a loss, not knowing what to do or think. He couldn't battle against Ash Zhi. It was his first time attending a major conference and he really wanted to win, but he didn't want to face Ash so soon and lose.
On the contrary, Ash smiled and said, "Nice, Morrison, let me see your full strength in our next battle!"
During their travels, Ash and Morrison had already fought against each other when they first met. At that time, it was just a friendly battle, and Beldum had not yet evolved into a Metang.
As someone that Ash has a liking towards, it was the best situation to battle each other in a six-on-six full-scale battle.
The outcome between him and Gary was decided in a similar battle, so he wanted to battle someone who he thought of a rival like that once again.
However, Morrison remained silent, turned around and just left the Pokémon Center without saying anything.
"There's nothing we can do about it." Brock and Tyson, as the two oldest ones here, shook their heads and Brock continued, "For Morrison, this is his first time to participate in one of these, and he just tasted the sweetness that is victory. Now he has to fight against you, who he thinks of as a good friend and the strongest in the tournament so soon."
Tyson nodded and continued for Brock, "I think it will be difficult for him to deal with it alone. Ash, it's really only you now who can help him come out."
"Hmph, since he came here to participate in the tournament as a Trainer, he should have been mentally prepared for who he has to face. There will always be someone else who will put you under the most pressure imaginable. How can he even participate in a big thing like this without even having this basic awareness? This is one of the most important things he should have prepared for!" Gary snorted coldly.
As a proud man and former Trainer, he was always ready to face defeat, like how he accepted his early exit in the Indigo Plateau Conference, or how he lost to Ash and switched his main careers.
So seeing Morrison be like this now just hit him wrong.
"Hey, you can't say that!" May defended Morrison.
Ash gently patted his girlfriend's soft hair and said, "May, you don't understand what he's saying. Think of it."
Gary looked at May and explained, "May, I know you and Ash have participated in many Pokémon Contests together, and you have also participated in the Grand Festival together. Not to mention you have faced Ash not once or twice, but many times. So tell me, have you ever had the thought of not wanting to battle against Ash because he's your boyfriend and stronger than you?"
Hearing this, May thought for a moment and shook her head, "Although I know I am nowhere close enough to be an opponent Ash takes seriously, I still want to fight against him with all my strength and let him see my progress! To not disappoint him after all he did for me!"
Hearing this, Max suddenly remembered during one of his sister's training sessions with Ash, where she was very unhappy because of Ash going too easy on her.
"As a Pokémon Trainer, it's a common saying that 'the moment our eyes meet is the beginning of the battle.' The greatest respect for the opponent is to go all out and fight without leaving any regrets!" Gary looked at the direction Morrison left, "I didn't realize this at first, but when I did, I never looked back at it. So you tell me, what kind of trainer is he? He has to learn this lesson in order to truly succeed in this field!"
Ash smiled and patted his long time friend's shoulder, "Come on, I have something to ask of you."
When pulling Gary away, Ash nodded to Brock and told him, "If possible, go and find Morrison to explain."
However, at this point, Brock shrugged and knew there was little he could do about this situation now, it ultimately all depends on how Morrison processes this himself.
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The reason Ash pulled Gary over was because while they were talking, he found out what Gary was currently researching about.
He gave Gary the contact information of Professor Proctor and told him that he can contact the Professor to get some assistance on his research topic. And maybe Gary can also help the Professor and his wife on their research about the resurrection of the berries from ancient times.
This can also help Ash in the long term as those resurrected fossil barriers were not just some simple thing that the fossil Pokémon ate. It was a tree fruit from ancient times, where the energy density was much higher than it is today.
So thinking of those berries being made into his special energy cubes, he knew those would be extraordinary, perfect even.
To this idea, Gary wholeheartedly agreed and immediately decided to take a trip to Wales Island after the Ever Grande Conference was over. This can also later help him begin his research on ancient Pokémon, like he wanted to do from the very beginning.
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The sky was lit with beautiful, bright fireworks!
"The second round of the Hoenn Region Ever Grande Conference tournament is about to begin! The battlefield for the first half has been decided to be the ICE VENUE! Will the one who wins this battle and reach the Top 8 be the popular Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town or will it be the Rising Star that is Morrison from Verdanturf Town?"
Unsurprisingly the first match of the second round is between Ash and Morrison. Ash had not seen Morrison since the matches were confirmed yesterday, and that was some time ago.
It was obvious to all that he was deliberately avoiding Ash and the rest.
Even if he bravely arrives at the battle site now, Morrison was still uneasy, with cold sweat on his face and keeping his mouth tightly shut.
In fact, compared to even the experienced participants, as a first-time participant in a competition, it was already very good for him to get this far. In the first major tournament Ash was part of, the Indigo Plateau Conference, Ash advanced to the top 16, but lost because at that time he had no control over his Charizard.
However, even compared to Ash, Gary had it worse when he made a surprising exit in the Top 32.
But this time, after winning the last Silver Conference, his confidence in winning his second Conference Championship was high, so Ash was very determined.
"Stand up for battle, Dusclops!"
Since it was the ice venue where a solid grip was necessary, Ash sent out his Ghost-type Dusclops to take the lead. Just like in the previous battle, what Ash wanted to do was use the Ghost-type's weird style to disrupt his opponent's tactics.
Morrison didn't know what was happening, but he felt like he was being roasted on fire. He nervously took a Poké Ball and threw it out. His starting Pokémon was a Girafarig, a Pokémon with the dual Normal and Psychic-type.
Ghost-type skills are ineffective against its Normal-type, effectively erasing the only weaknesses that Dusclops could have done with offense.
But by now, Ash already thought of some other ways for his Dusclops to cause damage to Girafarig without needing to use offensive Ghost-type attacks.
"Fire Punch!"
After Dusclops had evolved, he grew a pair of hands. It was an expert at using this by creating weird hand movements and the power of its one eye to put the opponent into a hypnotic state and even control it, though it mostly works on weaker ones.
On the ice field, Dusclops controlled its slide movement and increased its speed. Not only that, it was as if he was drifting in front of the unmoving Girafarig; multiple consecutive flaming punches hit Girafarig's head and hit him hard on the ice.
"Girafarig loses the ability to fight, Dusclops wins this battle!"
It was as simple as that.