The machine closed, and Metapod extended its hands, preparing to move the Holy Fire Altar onto itself.
At this moment, Damalanchi's face in the special audience section turned dark. Never mind where those three guys came from or why they had the guts to break into the Quartz Arena—just letting those three Team Rocket members in was already a security failure!
"Who is in charge of security?!! How could Team Rocket infiltrate the Holy Fire Altar? Is the security system made of paper?!" Damalanchi's furious roar echoed throughout the stadium.
Usually a mild-mannered person, he was truly angry this time. After all, the Quartz Conference was being broadcast nationwide!
As the annual grand event of the Kanto League, it naturally attracted worldwide attention. It represented not only new blood for Kanto but also the future of the Trainer profession.
But now, the Kanto League had made a fool of itself in front of the entire world! And it wasn't over—a reinforced version of the Holy Fire was about to be taken away right before everyone's eyes by those three guys!
If they managed to leave the Quartz Arena, the entire Kanto League might become the laughingstock of all leagues today!
The League had reserves of the Holy Fire, but this wasn't a problem of the Holy Fire itself—it was about face!
The face of Lance, who was beside Damalanchi, also looked grim. He had been chasing Team Rocket across Kanto, yet today, right at the Quartz Conference site, they had the audacity to cause trouble at his base?
Did that mean all his efforts against Team Rocket before now were a joke?!!
Were those three some high-ranking officials of Team Rocket? What gave them the guts to come here!
Ash was about to release his Pokemon to stop them, but someone else acted faster.
"Torterra, Frenzy Plant." A calm, cold voice sounded, and countless green tendrils rose from beneath the giant Metapod, tightly binding the Metapod robot in an instant.
"I can't...can't move, Meowth!!" Meowth frantically shook the lever, but the robot's power couldn't break free from the Frenzy Plant.
The owner of the voice stepped out from the crowd. He had almost shoulder-length black hair, his expression cold and devoid of emotion, his hands in his pockets, looking down on the massive Team Rocket robot with disdain.
"Torterra, destroy it." The cold voice rang out again, and the Frenzy Plant entwining the Team Rocket robot suddenly tightened. The massive Metapod robot shattered with a loud crash!
"Damn it! Another brat is getting in our way!"
"This mission failed again..."
"What a frustrating feeling, Meowth!!"
Team Rocket's trio once again turned into stars in the sky, disappearing without a trace. As the Metapod robot exploded, the Holy Fire Altar also tumbled through the air, scattering flames, some of which shot into the audience.
"Blastoise, Water Pulse."
A clear surge of water shot out from the arena, forming waves in the air, blocking all the falling embers, and the Holy Fire Altar was also caught by Torterra using Frenzy Plant and gently set back into place.
At this moment, the cold young man's gaze turned to the one who had commanded Blastoise to help him—of course, it was Ash.
The moment their eyes met, a strange feeling arose within them. Despite being strangers, they could sense that they were entirely different types of people.
After a brief stare-down, the cold young man took out a Pokeball to recall Torterra, then wordlessly returned to his team. Ash likewise recalled his Blastoise.
This sudden incident ended rather abruptly, but at least the result was positive; the Holy Fire was saved, and not many people were injured. The Kanto League, on the other hand, faced considerable embarrassment.
Allowing Team Rocket to infiltrate such a grand event was a monumental security lapse. Fortunately, Team Rocket didn't manage to walk out in broad daylight; otherwise, Kanto would have been nailed to the pillar of shame.
After this minor episode, the opening ceremony continued. Without Team Rocket's interference, the opening ceremony concluded in just ten minutes.
After the ceremony ended, it was time for the draw. The preliminaries of the Quartz Conference consisted of four rounds, each drawn at random. After securing four victories, participants could move on to the main stage, the Quartz Arena battles.
That's when the top 32 would face off.
The sheer number of contestants could be gleaned from the preliminaries. Each contestant had only one chance, with no room for error. A single defeat meant saying goodbye to the Quartz Conference.
Therefore, it was said that the Quartz Conference relied heavily on luck. Other competitions allowed some errors in preliminaries, only directly saying goodbye after losing once in the top 32.
But in the Quartz Conference, a single loss even in preliminaries meant an exit. One had to win four consecutive battles to enter the top 32; otherwise, it was straight-up "goodbye."
The total number of participants this time was over 500. The preliminaries alone would take four days, which was only an estimate. Even the preliminaries were three-on-three battles, and if some matches were particularly intense, four days might not be enough to finish.
Ash and others arrived at the venue and the contestant draw location, which directly caused a huge stir, drawing everyone's attention to Ash's draw location.
Ash's opponent was extremely important to them because no one wanted to face Ash in the first round. Otherwise, what difference would there be from being directly eliminated? Getting knocked out in the first round meant being ranked 500th—how embarrassing would that be!
At the draw location, the cold young man had just completed his draw. His opponent was someone named Rhonda, and the draw display board showed his name—Paul.
Ash and this cold young man locked eyes once again, and he also saw the name on the electronic display board.
'Paul...so it was him.'
Ash wasn't unfamiliar with this name. Gary had mentioned before entering the Quartz Conference that among the contestants was someone very strong named Paul. He had been traveling for at least a year and a half and had achieved a good ranking in his first tournament.
This time he was participating only for the Dragon Island slot; otherwise, a contestant of his caliber wouldn't bother to come to a backwater beginner competition like the Quartz Conference.
After exchanging glances with Paul, Ash turned his head to begin his own drawing ceremony. After all, he definitely couldn't have his first match against Paul since Paul already had an opponent.
As the electronic display board flickered, Ash's opponent was quickly assigned.
"Ash, you've drawn the Water Field. Your opponent is Mandi, and the match will begin at 2 PM. Here, this is your Pokedex." The receptionist flashed her signature smile as she handed Ash back his Pokedex.
Registration could be done using an ID or a Pokedex. For Ash, it was more convenient to use the Pokedex since he hadn't gotten around to getting his own ID yet—after all, the Pokedex could serve as an ID, so why bother?
Those around who weren't chosen as Ash's opponents breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Among all those faces, one looked particularly sour, and that person was—Mandi.