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The address of "Ancestor" made even the cold-faced Paul, who usually lacked expression, unable to keep his composure. Who among those present could make a Champion call them Ancestor? It clearly couldn't be Ash or them, so that only left—that Dragonite!
"I'm just out for some fresh air with the youngsters, don't mind me. Proceed with your process as usual..." A deep, resonant voice echoed in everyone's hearts. Gary looked at Alistair in shock.
"This Dragonite can talk?!"
"Gary! Show some respect. This is the Patriarch of the Dragonite Family from Dragon Island, possessing unimaginable strength," Lance scolded in a low voice.
If it were any other Dragon, even a clan patriarch, Lance would never be so solemn. But this Dragonite was different; he was not only the Patriarch of the Dragonite Family but also a God Domain Level Pokémon!
Because of his status and strength, even the entire Dragon Tamer Clan had to be respectful to him, let alone a rookie Trainer like Gary.
"The Patriarch of the Dragonite Family—Mr. Lance, you're joking, right? How could the Patriarch of the Dragonite Family be ridden by Ash?" Gary said, somewhat disbelieving.
However, those words made Lance's eyes widen until they were perfectly round. What do you mean Ash was riding the Patriarch of the Dragonite Family?! Explain yourself clearly!
"Alistair sent us out, Mr. Lance. He's a Dragonite with a very good temperament!" Ash said with a grin, patting Alistair's shoulder.
Lance: ———
At this moment, Lance felt like he was lost in the wind. Although he knew Ash was famous for being the No. 1 unpredictable person, he didn't expect him to be this surprising! Has he already become brothers with Alistair?!
It's only been three short days! Isn't this social ability a bit too exaggerated?
Eventually, Lance and the others departed under Alistair's gaze. As they left, Lance's face still bore that look of disbelief. Who could have thought that the only God Domain Level Dragonite on Dragon Island would be won over by Ash in just three short days?
Lance even suspected that if it weren't for the fact that Alistair had to preside over Dragon Island, he might have just run off with Ash!
If that were really the case, the Dragon Tamer Clan would probably fall into chaos. Although they said Ash and the others could capture any Pokémon they wanted, you damn well can't kidnap the leader of Dragon Island!
He was not just the stabilizing force of Dragon Island, but the stabilizing force of the entire Dragon Tamer Clan!
Fortunately, that situation did not occur. Alistair seemed to take a liking to Ash, but not to the point of leaving with him.
Lance was also very curious about what Pokémon Ash had captured and why it had caught Alistair's attention. However, these matters would have to wait for a private discussion. Now, after sending Ash and the others back, they had to return to the Dragon Tamer Clan.
Although the confidentiality of Dragon Island was well-maintained, there were still loose ends to tie up to ensure the existence of Dragon Island wouldn't be exposed. Furthermore, Alistair seemed to have something to say to the Dragon Tamer Clan.
So, the questions Lance wanted to ask could only be postponed for the time being.
Ash and the other two returned to the Indigo Plateau. He had wanted to greet Paul and ask what Pokémon he had captured, but Paul left without saying a word.
Additionally, Gary successfully captured the Bagon that Ash had mentioned. Mainly because that Bagon's status in the group was quite unique; Pokémon with S-grade talent are generally somewhat different. Therefore, Gary was able to easily identify which Bagon had the unique talent Ash spoke of.
Although it took some time to gain the other party's recognition, the final result was successful without any major issues, and he also had a good harvest on Dragon Island.
"What are you going to do next?" Ash asked Gary on the way back to Pallet Town.
"Train my Pokémon well and prepare for the Silver Conference. This year's Silver Conference is going to be incredibly exciting. If I don't participate, I'll probably regret it for a lifetime," Gary said firmly, holding his backpack with one hand and looking up slightly at the blue sky and white clouds.
"Exciting? Is this year's Silver Conference different from before?" Ash tilted his head, somewhat puzzled.
He had also planned to participate in the Silver Conference after finishing with the Orange Islands, but the Silver Conference Gary spoke of seemed a bit different from the one he knew.
The Silver Conference was not a rookie Trainer conference like the Indigo Plateau Conference. In the Silver Conference, powerful Trainers appeared one after another. A Trainer who won the Silver Conference could even directly challenge the Elite Four and the Champion.
The winner of the Indigo Plateau Conference could only challenge the Elite Four. However, even for the Elite Four challenge, past winners of the Indigo Plateau Conference had never exercised this right. After all, wouldn't it be laughable to have a Trainer who had debuted for less than two years challenge an Elite Four member?
In contrast, winners of the Silver Conference really did have precedents for challenging the Elite Four. After all, to become an Elite, besides working diligently under the League, only a Conference Champion is qualified to become one.
Therefore, full-scale League Conferences like the Silver Conference and the Ever Grande Conference are very attractive for Trainers to enter, and it's not uncommon for Trainers with Elite Four Class strength to participate.
It wouldn't even be strange to encounter a Champion in the conference, though encountering a Champion might only happen once every ten years. If you do, you can only say you're unlucky.
And this year's Silver Conference—has been reformed.
"Haven't you been watching the news? Didn't they just release the rules two days ago? The winner of this year's Silver Conference will be eligible to participate in the Masters Eight Qualifiers."
"The Masters Eight Qualifiers!" Ash exclaimed. "What's that?"
Gary: ———
If you don't know what the Masters Eight Qualifiers are, then why the hell are you so surprised!
"You should at least know about the Masters Eight Tournament, right?"
"Of course!"
"It's been half a year since the last Masters Eight Tournament. The next one—which is this current one—is already in preparation. The venue is still the Galar Region because the first-place winner of the last Masters Eight was Mr. Leon, who belongs to the Galar Region. For the home-field advantage, this year's Masters Eight is naturally chosen to be in the Galar Region."
"This year's Masters Eight Tournament is tentatively scheduled for eight months from now. That is to say, one month after the Indigo Plateau Conference ends is the Masters Eight Tournament. During this month, the Masters Eight Qualifiers will take place."
Gary explained everything to Ash in detail, acting just like a nagging mother.
The so-called Masters Eight Qualifiers are naturally to select the candidates for the Masters Eight Tournament. Currently, the whole world has seven major Leagues: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and the Alola League.
Among them, the Kanto and Alola Leagues have no Champion. In fact, the Alola League doesn't even have Elite Four positions. However, they have Trainers comparable to the Elite Four, except their titles aren't 'Elite' but 'Island Kahuna'.
In reality, the Island Kahunas of the Alola region are equivalent to the Elite Four of other regions; only the titles are different.
However, the Alola region ultimately has no Champion, so it is not eligible to participate in the Masters Eight Tournament.
That's right, the qualification for the Masters Eight requires one to become a Champion!
As long as you are the Champion of a League region, you can directly participate in the World Coronation Series.
There are eight spots in the World Coronation Series. Currently, there are only five Champions among the seven major regions, which means they still need to rely on other competitions or rules to determine the remaining three spots.
The League had a plan for a universal Level Ball competition, but half a year wasn't enough time to prepare, so that project can only be implemented for the next Masters Eight Tournament. This year's Masters Eight candidates will be decided through Qualifiers.
There are two criteria for qualifier eligibility. One is being an Elite Four member of any region; only by becoming an Elite are you eligible for the Qualifiers.
The other is being the Champion of the Silver Conference!
As long as you can become the Champion of the Silver Conference, you will also be eligible for the Qualifiers. Therefore, the competition in this year's Silver Conference will be particularly fierce!
Although for some powerful Trainers, this isn't the only way to join the Masters Eight Qualifiers—some have the qualification to challenge the Elite Four, and if they win and take an Elite seat, they can also participate in the Qualifiers.
But what are the odds of defeating an Elite Four member?
Don't say that to become a Champion you must defeat every opponent. Just because you can't win now doesn't mean you won't win in the future. Obtaining the qualification to participate is the most important thing.
Compared to defeating an Elite, the possibility of standing out in the Silver Conference is naturally a bit higher.
So no matter how you look at it, this year's Silver Conference is likely to be a clash of titans—
"There's such a thing?!" Ash exclaimed with a look of surprise.
It was one thing for the Indigo Plateau Conference to undergo reforms, but even the Silver Conference had changed. What's going on these past two years? Why are major competitions like the League Conferences being modified so frequently?
However, such changes were actually a good thing for Ash. If the Silver Conference hadn't changed, Ash wouldn't have known how to participate in this year's Masters Eight Tournament. Although becoming an Elite Four member also grants qualifier eligibility, the prerequisite for becoming an Elite is also becoming a Silver Conference Champion to gain the challenge rights.
As for his challenge rights from the Indigo Plateau Conference, if they weren't used on the spot, they would expire the next day. There's no such thing as keeping them. So, if he wanted to challenge the Elite Four, the only path was still becoming a League Conference Champion.
But then again, with Ash's connections, he didn't necessarily need to win a championship if he wanted to challenge an Elite Four member.
In any case, the reform of the Silver Conference greatly affected its competitive level. Originally, perhaps the highest level seen would be Elite Four Class, but with this setup—perhaps hidden Champion-level Trainers would appear.
After all, winning the championship grants a qualifier spot, which is much simpler than challenging an Elite. The 'simplicity' here refers not only to the difficulty of the challenge but also the level of hassle involved.
Initiating an Elite Four challenge is very tedious; from the request to the official match, one might have to wait ten days to half a month, with a mountain of procedures to follow. So for the vast majority of people, becoming the Silver Conference Champion is more practical.
It's hard to say if Ash's luck was good or bad, but at least Ash himself thought his luck was pretty good.
If it were any other rookie Trainer who had debuted for half a year, hearing the news of the Silver Conference reform would probably make them feel like the sky was falling. How could they possibly win!
But this was Ash. For Ash, it merely added a bit of challenge to make him more excited, and it provided a more convenient way to get a qualifier spot. Why not?
"Besides the conference changes, there are some other minor adjustments that might involve Gym Leaders from all regions. The specific policies haven't been released yet, so we'll have to wait and see—I suspect that Gym Badges obtained in other regions might also be usable in the Silver Conference. That rule has likely been changed."
"No way! If that's the case, how many people will participate in the Silver Conference!" Ash's eyes widened as he retorted in disbelief.
If badges from other regions could also be used, then how was this different from it essentially becoming a World League Conference?
With the addition of those enticing rewards, the number of participants exceeding a thousand would probably happen in the blink of an eye. Collecting eight badges is certainly difficult, but the Indigo Plateau Conference already had hundreds of participants. With the Silver Conference changing to such rules, exceeding a thousand would be perfectly normal.
With so many participants, not to mention how long the matches would take to schedule, management would also be a very troublesome matter. Even Ash could think of this; surely the League had thought of it too?
"The number of participants might be the highest in history. And it's said that Elite Four members, Champions, and even Gym Leaders from all regions will come to help maintain order. Plus, the Silver Conference venue is already being expanded; it's estimated to be two or three times larger than it is now."
Ash looked at Gary with a strange expression and asked, "Where exactly did you get all this inside info? The Silver Conference reform is one thing, but you're not making up these later parts, are you?"
Gary rolled his eyes and replied irritably, "You're the one making things up. This is all intel from my grandfather. What do you know!"
Hearing this, Ash realized. So it was intel from Professor Oak. That wasn't surprising; if anyone they knew could get first-hand data from the League, the closest connection was Professor Oak.
"Mr. Lance too, not telling us about such a big matter~"
"He is the Johto League Champion, of course he has to keep the Silver Conference reforms confidential. He can't just reveal them to you because you're on good terms. You think everyone is like my grandfather!"
"Fine—since the Silver Conference has changed like this, I'll have to work even harder! I'll strive to train at least six Elite Four Class Pokémon before the conference starts!" Ash pumped his fist and said with great ambition.
Gary was speechless beside him. He didn't refute Ash, because if it was Ash, he really might be able to do it—