CHAPTER 107 – THE INDIGO LEAGUE BEGINS

In the previous chapter we see how our heroes receive the long-awaited mail from the Indigo League almost a week after getting their Mega Stone, nervously they go to the main building of the Indigo League where they had to register all their Pokémon and where they will stay throughout the Indigo League, at least until they lose, if they lose...

...

With Ash.

It had been 3 days since we arrived at the Indigo League and I must say that in these few days, the entire enclosure was filled with hundreds... no, thousands of people who came to see how the Indigo League was going.

By the way, i was informed that the capacity of the main stadium was about 75,000 people, practically the size of a football field, while the smaller stadiums could only hold 30,000 people which was not a small amount either, the good thing is that there would be several preliminaries at the same time so everyone could enjoy their favorite battles.

But during these days not only people came but I also met Wendy, Leaf, Gary, Erika, her mother, etc. i won't mention everyone, but everyone i know came to see us.

On the other hand, my parents and my sweet little sister arrived here this morning which was a surprise because I expected to meet them after the firsts battle but apparently Molly kept saying that she wanted to go so my parents came as soon as possible.

As for the girls, I could see that they were all nervous because they barely spoke and almost didn't eat.

"ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE INDIGO LEAGUE MUST GO IMMEDIATELY TO THE MAIN STADIUM!" – said a voice over the PA system.

The girls got up right away because of it, so without being able to finish our breakfast we set off to the central stadium, probably there they would explain the rules and stuff.

...

When we arrived at the central stadium and showed our credentials to the guards, they let us pass being able to observe how big the stadium was.

It was very well cared for grass and had a very aromatic smell clear that the day also accompanied because it was completely sunny devoid of any cloud.

"Please stand here, when people arrive we will explain everything you need to know about the Indigo League and then we will proceed to the preliminary battles" – said a man in a suit.

"God, I'm very nervous" - Nancy said suddenly.

"Me too, I don't think I can handle so much pressure" - Verity nodded.

"I agree, can I go? I regretted it and i don't want to participate" - Wendy nodded.

"Girls, calm down, you have come this far through your efforts, you do not have to be afraid, you will do very well" – I smiled.

"Ash is right, if we are nervous we will not be able to give our best, you must calm down" – Leaf nodded.

"Aren't you nervous?" asked Nancy in surprise.

"I'm nervous, very nervous, however, I know that everything I've done has helped me to get here, my Pokémon, my family, everyone trusts me and I can't let him down, I won't lose just because I am nervous" - I replied.

That's right, many people trust me and I will definitely not disappoint them, I will win this Indigo League, i will honor the name of Ash Ketchum-Hale, the original Ash could not win this League but I am different.

Upon hearing my answer, all the girls calmed down a bit and we continued talking for a while until the whole stadium was full.

75,000 people were watching the field attentively as they talked about their things, until, at last, the man in a suit began to speak.

"WELCOME ANOTHER YEAR TO THE LONG-AWAITED INDIGO LEAGUE, FIRST OF ALL, WE GIVE YOU OUR SINCERE THANKS FOR ATTENDING SUCH AN ACCLAIMED EVENT!" – began the man.

The entire stadium burst into applause for a few seconds.

"NOW I WILL PROCEED TO EXPLAIN SOME THINGS, FIRST, THE BATTLES WILL BE 6 VS 6, THIS IS COMPLETELY OBVIOUS, SECOND, NO KIND OF CHEATING IS ALLOWED, ANYONE CAUGHT CHEATING WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED AND THIRD, ONLY POKEMON THAT YOU HAVE REGISTERED CAN BE USED!" – said the man.

The whole stand and the trainers present were listening his words.

"VERY GOOD, NOW WE WILL PROCEED TO DO THE KNOCKOUT MATCHES, TODAY 90% OF ALL TRAINERS WILL BE SENT BACK, I WISH YOU ALL GOOD LUCK FOR THIS INDIGO LEAGUE AND HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT!" – said the man.

Everyone applauded and proceeded to make the draw, I just hope i don't have to battle any of the girls just yet, i want them to reach at least the quarterfinals, please, Arceus i don't to battle against any of them.

...

More than 6 hours later.

It had been 6 hours since the beginning of the preliminaries and I must thank Arceus for heeding my request, i didn't battle with any of the girls which was great.

In terms of battles, we all passed with ease, in fact, they did not weaken any Pokémon during the battles and I could easily pass to the second round.

As for the girls, basically the same thing happened to them, just like me they showed 3 Pokémon, but they did not manage to weaken any of their pokémon, only Wendy was the exception because her rival weakened one of her Pokémon but that's all.

Those who went to the next round were the following: Me, Nancy, Verity, Wendy, Leaf, Richie, Cindy (Movie), Erik (the one who had a Charcadet in the first episodes), Gary, Jake (Movie), Toby (Movie) and five other people of which I was only interested in two.

One of them was a blonde girl with twintails, she was about 170 cm, blue eyes, white shirt and black skirt with leggings of the same color, she was beautiful if you ask me.

The second was a boy with black hair that covered one of his eyes, the one i could see was black so I guess the other was the same color, he wore a black shirt with black pants and a normal face neither ugly nor handsome but i saw a fight of each one and I must admit that they have talent, i wonder who they are because I didn't see them in the original anime, maybe they're from some video game and i don't recognize them? I don't know but in any case they were good.

After the battles we were gathered again in the stadium.

"CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TALENTED TRAINERS WHO HAVE MANAGED TO GET THROUGH TODAY, TOMORROW THE SECOND ROUND WILL BE HELD, YOU'D BETTER GO TO REST, TOMORROW A LARGE PART OF YOU WILL LEAVE OF THIS STADIUM AND LEAGUE UNFORTUNATELY!" – said the man.

Today's battles were the simplest, the real battles starts tomorrow, i have to be prepared.

*Very important note: I won't do the points of view of Nancy and Verity because there will be a lot of battles and i think that this will be bored for you and very difficult for me so i'll do only Ash's Point of View, maybe in the future i'll do the other Points of View but now no.

...

The next morning.

We woke up totally rested and ready for action, many of the trainers left yesterday and the whole building was freer, after all there were only 16 coaches left of the almost 400 we were originally.

"Little brother, yesterday you were amazing, i hope you win today too, i'll be cheering for you, i'll be cheering you all" – Molly said during breakfast.

"Thank you my precious little sister, how is it possible that I have such an amazing sister?" – I replied.

Then i stroked her head and she smiled.

"Ash, now seriously, today's battles will be very difficult, stay focused and don't be nervous" - my father said.

"I know, don't worry dad" - I nodded.

"Good luck to all of you, girls remember that we are cheering you all from the stands" – said my mother.

"That's right" - Bianca nodded.

Didn't I tell you? Bianca and her grandfather also came, sorry for forgetting to mention that.

"Thank you" – we all said.

After breakfast we headed back to the stadium where the remaining 11 were waiting.

"I must admit that I didn't think you'd get that far Ash" - Gary said after seeing me.

"I don't know what to say, we've trained a lot" - I replied.

"Yes, not bad to be you but you should know that today is your last day, at least if you face me" – Gary said arrogantly.

"We'll see about that" - I said calmly.

His arrogant comments don't make me angry, it's just his way of wishing me good luck.

"Ash, girls, it seems that in the end you passed the round, although I already imagined it" – Cindy said suddenly.

"Yes and I don't want to be arrogant but the preliminaries were quite easy" – I nodded.

"Did you hear that? I told you I wasn't the only one who thought in that way" - Toby said with a smile.

"Yes, but he doesn't brag about his victories all the time" - Cindy said.

"Anyway, congratulations on getting here" - Nancy said.

"Thank you, we don't want to be arrogant either but the preliminaries were simple" - Cindy agreed.

"Simple? I don't know where those trainers came from but they didn't even help me warm up" - Gary said.

Cindy was going to say something, but suddenly Richie and Erik came over.

"Come on Gary don't be like that, everyone trained so hard to get here" - Richie said with a smile.

"That's right, don't be so cruel to them" – Erik nodded.

"Whatever you say" - Gary said.

After this Jake also joined the conversation and we were chatting for a while while the people in the stadium came and sat in their respective seats until finally the same man from yesterday appeared and spoke on his microphone.

"I HOPE YOU HAVE RESTED BECAUSE TODAY IS THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND ROUND, TODAY ONLY 8 OF YOU WILL GO TO THE QUARTERFINALS, NOW WE WILL PROCEED TO MAKE THE DRAW TO SEE WHO WILL BE YOUR OPPONENT IN THIS SECOND ROUND!" – said the man.

Then he pointed to the huge screen that was at the top of the stadium and it began to draw our opponents.

Little by little the screen stopped and the first image he showed was mine.

"It's you Ash!" – exclaimed the girls.

Who knew would be the first?

Then the screen drew again, but this time in the other box until it stopped showing the figure of Toby.

"WE HAVE THE FIRST FIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IN THE FIRST MATCH YOU WILL FACE ASH KETCHUM-HALE OF PALLET TOWN AGAINST TOBY MARKUS OF VERMILLION CITY!" – said the man.

Everyone started applauding.

"It looks like we'll face each other in the first battle of today" - Toby said with a smile.

I could only nod to this and wish him luck.

After this they announced the following matches.

To summarize myself I will tell you how it turned out, the second battle would be Leaf vs Richie, the third battle would be Verity vs Cindy, the fourth battle would be Nancy vs Erik, the fifth battle would be Gary vs Jake, the sixth battle would be Wendy vs a boy whose appearance reminded me of the typical NPC, the seventh battle would be the twintails girl whose name was Emma against another guy who also looked like an NPC and for finally, the eighth battle would be the boy whose hair covered one eye and whose name was Fran vs another NPC, do not blame me for not remembering their names, to begin with i am not good with names.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE HAVE ALREADY MADE THE DRAWS AND THE FIRST FIGHT WILL BE HELD AT THIS VERY MOMENT, I BEG THE TRAINERS WHO AREN'T ASH OR TOBY TO LEAVE THE BATTLEFIELD IF THEY ARE SO KIND!" – said the man.

Wow, I didn't know the battle would be so fast, I still haven't decided which Pokémon I should use, but I'll improvise, I'll just say that if I can I want to reserve my Mythical and Legendary Pokémon for the last rounds.

"Good luck Ash, may the best win" - said Toby.

"PUT YOURSELVES IN YOUR RESPECTIVE POSTS, THE FIGHT WILL BEGIN SHORTLY!" – said the man.

"I say the same, may the best win" – I nodded his hand.

And then we both put ourselves in our respective positions.