Ash is still quite sensitive to the emotional perception of evil intentions; otherwise, every time he meets Team Rocket, he wouldn't vaguely recognize them even without using Aura Power.
As for Paul, he doesn't actually have much animosity. He just feels the other is a bit too extreme; that way of treating Pokemon is also incorrect. For people like him, it's just a matter of correcting them.
However, today, he's gained a new understanding of Paul. He isn't as indifferent as he appears on the surface, without any feelings for Pokemon. At least Ash has definitely sensed his emotions towards Chimchar.
Today, Paul has also done many things he usually wouldn't. Ash isn't particularly familiar with Paul, after all, they've known each other for not long, and can even be said not to know each other. But some of Paul's information he actually learned from the Parallel World.
Again, he's not the same kind of person as Damian.
"Huh?" Ash's words made Monferno look up, its lively eyes fixedly watching him, seemingly trying to confirm whether Ash's words are true or false.
"Of course it's true. That guy does care about you quite a lot, so we also have to do our best and not let that proud guy down. Let's strive to have the strength to battle him in the main tournament!"
"Monferno!" Monferno nodded vigorously, excitement showing on its face. It couldn't wait to start training.
During this period, Ash almost didn't train it and was relaxing, playing with his Pokemon, and exploring around the Quartz Plateau with Ash, playing games...
These past few days were the most relaxed Monferno had ever felt, with both its mind and body relaxed, leading to the release of its power in today's battle.
This is also why after Chimchar evolved into Monferno, its strength surged to the Advanced Peak. If it weren't for the fact that its current Level hadn't fully solidified, further improvement wouldn't be good. After defeating Gengar, it could even rise to the Elite Level.
However, rising Levels too quickly isn't a good thing, so Ash also advised Monferno to suppress its Level as much as possible and only advance once its Ability Value increases.
The matches over the next few days will surely elevate Monferno to a brand-new level!
...
The subsequent matches proceeded in an orderly manner, and nothing unexpected happened during this time. Ash and Gary both defeated their opponents in the third match.
In the third match, Ash continued to battle with Monferno, but only used it to defeat the opponent's first Pokemon before switching. Letting Monferno battle all the time would be unfair to the other Pokemon.
So in yesterday's battle, Ash also let Tauros and Gengar take the stage.
Tauros had a tough fight but still won, while Gengar... it played around on the field for a full five minutes before resolving the opponent. If it got serious, the fight could end in a second, but since it rarely got out to battle, usually serving as a teacher in the backyard, it took the opportunity to loosen up, pretending to be evenly matched with the opponent.
Finally, after having enough fun, it reluctantly put on a show of barely defeating the opponent and claimed victory. Ash was helpless about this; although it might not be very fair to the opponent, if under control, letting his Pokemon be a little happier allowed them to play, then so be it.
On the eighth and last day of the Quartz Conference, the fourth match began. If they win the fourth match, they can advance to the top 32 of the Quartz Conference.
In other words, this fourth match could be counted as a round of 64 matches.
This day was the last day of the Quartz Conference preliminaries. Gary glanced at his opponent in the round of 64, who was a boy in shorts and a T-shirt, looking about seventeen or eighteen years old.
However, the Quartz Conference doesn't allow Trainers who have been traveling for more than two years to participate. So, theoretically, that boy's age should be around seventeen.
But this wasn't Gary's concern. What concerned him were the nightmares that had plagued him during this time. Every night for the past few days, he dreamt of himself stopping at the round of 64 in the Quartz Conference, a terrifying nightmare.
The strength of his group wasn't high, with only a handful of people who could match him. If he fell at the round of 64, he might as well cut his throat.
Today's opponent was also the strongest among the four preliminary matches, but it shouldn't be an issue for him as long as he gave it his all.
Thus, Gary decided to bring out all his hidden Pokemon, except for those with MEGA Evolution, and aimed to make it to the top 32 first.
Ash's opponent this time is someone named Xunzi, who seems to be a lady from a prestigious family and appears to be very elegant and beautiful in both clothing and demeanor.
Although he hasn't seen her in person yet, Brock was already starry-eyed just by looking at the photo, showing a foolish, love-struck expression.
The last time Brock showed this expression was when he saw Cynthia. However, since Cynthia was quite far away, Brock's infatuated time wasn't very long.