CHAPTER 106 - IT'S HERE, THE BEGINNING OF THE INDIGO LEAGUE!
In the previous chapter we saw how our heroes arrive at the Mega Island and separate with the aim of quickly finding their Mega Stone, after a long time, Ash manages to find the Lopunnite however when he took it an Audino appeared calling himself the guardian of the Mega Stone, to obtain it Ash had to challenge him to a battle and after Mega Evolve to his Lopunny, gets the approval of the Audino, but that's not all, Ash also manages to get hold of the Charizardite X thus getting the Mega Evolution of his two Pokémon ... rather of all three.
...
With Ash.
Several days passed since our trip to the Mega Island and I must say that we all did perfectly, Nancy and Verity got their Mega Stone with relative ease, they also faced two guardians but luckily for them, their tests were similar to that of Mega-Houndoom so they had plenty of time to get to the port without any problem.
As for the rest of the days, we decided to rest at least until three days before the start of the Indigo League, Why? Because we receive an e-mail.
My e-mail says the following:
"The 285th participant, Ash Ketchum-Hale from Pallet Town must report to the main building of the Indigo League tomorrow at 12:00 to register all of his Pokémon and get their ID, the address has been attached to this e-mail, greetings and have a nice day" – that's what the message said.
For the girls it was something similar only changed their participant number and name, but for everything else it was an exact copy of mine.
The rest of the day we was extremely nervous, I couldn't even enjoy the delicious food Molly tried to make me to cheer me up.
...
The next day.
We got up very early, showered, dressed and had breakfast quietly.
After that we called a taxi that would drop us off directly at the main building of the Indigo League.
To be honest with all of you, there were several ways to get there, the first was walking, but obviously we decided not to do it, the second was by train but in Pallet Town there was no train station and the third was with the car, taxi, etc.
As for who we were going because it was me, Nancy, Verity and Latias, the others decided to come in three days when the Indigo League started and yes, they had tickets, apparently my father had numerous contacts and got tickets for everyone in the front row to see the battles, it's amazing what you can do with money.
Nervously we set off to the Indigo League.
...
A couple of hours later.
The trip lasted only 1h and 30 min, it did not reach two hours despite what has just been mentioned.
The trip passed in complete silence because the nerves did not let us do anything, by the way, before leaving, we had to make sure we took everything we needed, although we really only had to check if we had all our Pokémon and Pokéball because the rest of things was already provided by the Indigo League.
When we got out of the taxi and could glimpse the main building of the Indigo League, only one word "impressive" crossed my mind, the building was large if not huge, very similar to video games with the exception of the Pokéball drawn in the center of the building.
In the distance we could glimpse the huge stadium in which the fights would be dispute and some smaller battlefields that is where the qualifiers rounds would take place.
As I understand in the big state only the quarterfinals, the semifinal and the same final will be made, I can be wrong but I think it was like that.
With that said and returning to the subject we entered through the door which was already large in itself, inside it looked like a reception of a luxurious hotel only that this was not a hotel or so I thought ...
"Good morning, are you looking for someone or something?" – a girl suddenly asked.
The girl, or rather woman, was about 180 cm tall, with blond hair tied in a ponytail and a uniform that resembled to a secretary.
"We are participants of the Indigo League and we have been summoned here" - Nancy replied.
"Oh, perfect, you are the first of today, follow me and I will give you instructions" - said the woman.
Basically we had to approach a kind of reception where the woman took out a paper with what seemed to be a QR code.
"As you can see this code will add a new update to your Indigo League APP already present in the Rotom Dex, you just need to scan it with the scanner already incorporated in the APP, once updated all you have to do is register your Pokémon, your name and the participant number that was previously mentioned, once you completed this, the information will reach me and then I will print your official credential" - explained the woman.
The APP I'm talking about is the APP I mentioned earlier, the one used by gym leaders, I think I remember mentioning it a while ago.
"Don't worry, the information is completely private and only the Indigo League will have access to such data" - the woman said.
The three of us nodded to her words.
"Very well, you can sit on the couches there and do these procedures more comfortably, once you have finished you can let me know, I'll be waiting here" - the woman said.
The three of us nodded and sat in some nearby armchairs, took out our Rotom Dex and through the APP, downloaded the update.
"Girls first of all i remind you that here we have to register all our Pokémon" – I commented.
"Yes" – both nodded.
The poor ones were so nervous that I let them fill in their data in peace without telling them any other thing.
"Let's see... I filled in the species of Pokémon that you will use during the Indigo League, there is no limit of Pokémon that you can register, however, the battles will be 6 vs 6, the nicknames put to your Pokémon can not be included in the APP" – I read.
Well, all clear, let's see... my Pokémon are: Pikachu, Manaphy, Charizard, Meowscarada, Mew, Cyndaquil, Lopunny, Meloetta, Latias and Beautifly, those are the Pokémon that I will use in the Indigo League and yes, i am aware that i have an Eevee, but I have something very special reserved for that Eevee so i decided not include him in my team for now.
I filled out the list and I must say that I am quite satisfied with my team, it is true that I have many Psychic type but they are very strong, i also have an electric type, Water, Fire, Flying, Grass, Dark, Fight, Bug and Dragon, a wide variety of types if you want my opinion.
After registering our Pokémon we went to the counter and informed the woman of that.
"Perfect, let's see...!" – said the woman.
The woman started typing something on her computer but suddenly her expression changed completely, as if she was greatly surprised by something.
"Sorry, are you absolutely sure that you've registered the correct Pokémon? If by chance you have made a mistake you are in time to rectify, otherwise if you are caught with a Pokémon that you have registered but you do not have ... You will be automatically disqualified" - the woman explained.
Her expression already seemed strange to me, apparently before giving us the credential she has to read the data that she has received and surely she saw Mew and the other Pokémon both legendary and singular, so she doubted the veracity of the information she received from us, it's normal.
"Don't worry, there hasn't been any mistakes, we've all the pokemon that we register in the APP, if you want we can do a demonstration in a place where nobody could see us" - Nancy said.
Seeing that we were completely sure of our words and not being able to detect any trace of lying, the woman nodded.
"No need, i just wanted to remind you of that, very well, from now on the Indigo League has all the information about the Pokémon with which you are going to participate, will give you the credentials and you will only have to wait 3 days" – explained the woman.
"Excuse me, is there a hotel nearby to stay during these days?" – I asked.
Let's be honest i do not want to take another taxi and then take another one three days later, I prefer to pay and stay here, it will only be a few days, specifically 5 days, the first day will be the qualifier rounds, the second the fights before the quarterfinals, the third day the quarterfinals, the fourth day the semifinal and the fifth day the final, in total I guess it would be little more than a week.
"True, I forgot to say, you see, this building is not only the headquarters of the Indigo League but also has free rooms that participants can use during their participation, in addition you have a Pokémon Center service whenever you want and need" - she explained.
"Is this building so big as to hold so many contestants?" asked Verity.
"No, here only fit 100, the rest will be distributed among different nearby hotels but as your are the first to arrive you have been lucky and you can stay here, in the place that is closest to the stadium" – she explained.
"I see, thanks for the information" – Verity thanked.
After this, the woman took out three cards, the carss were simple, the first part of the cards was red followed by a black stripe and below a white one, that is, it was shaped like a Pokéball.
Its content was simple, the participant number, a photo and your name.
"Very well, all set, if you have any questions it's time to ask them" – said the woman.
The three of us looked at each other and then denied.
"Since you don't have any other questions, then I will give you your rooms, here you have your 3 keys..." – said the woman.
"Excuse me, we just want a room" - Nancy said suddenly.
"This... It's not that it's outdated but girls and boys are not allowed in the same room, I'm deeply sorry" - said the woman.
"Don't worry, we are officially engaged" – Nancy said with a smile.
The woman stared at us, as if she was looking for proof of it but to be honest I doubt it works after all we have nothing to prove it.
"Okay, here you go, your room is number 100, just take the elevator that is up there and go up to the first floor, enjoy your stay and good luck in your battles" – nodded the woman.
"What? – I asked confused.
"What's wrong with him, why are you so confused?" – the woman asked.
"It's n-nothing" – I said somewhat nervously.
"Then it's okay, enjoy" – the woman said goodbye.
After this, we went to the elevator.
"Nancy, why did the woman so easily accept that we are engaged and not ask us for proof?" – I asked once in the elevator.
"What are you saying Ash, why would we need a proof of it?" - asked Nancy confused.
"That's right, what girl would say she's engaged with a guy without being? I guess you're nervous" – Verity nodded.
Again a culture shock, it seems to me that I will have to investigate a little more the culture of this world because there are still things that are not clear to me.
Whit that said, we entered our room and I must say it was too extravagant even for me, fancy furniture, giant TV, a bed bigger than a double bed, a phone, a fridge, in short, a lot of luxuries.
"How can you afford to give all participants such a luxury?" - asked Nancy confused.
"Most likely it is because a large percentage of them only last one day, realize that apart from these three days, the preliminaries will be within 4 days and most of the trainers will lose and will have to leave or stay as spectators" – explained Verity.
Yes, it makes sense.