July 25. Clear skies.
The sky was clear, and the weather was sunny and mild. What a fine day to stomp some noobs~
"I could have... originally..." Fully dressed, Young Master Mao stood at the hotel entrance and sighed.
Inside the Champion Suite at the Emperor Penguin Hotel, plates and cups were still scattered everywhere. Gengar hummed as he expertly cleaned up.
Despite looking exhausted, Ash had challenged his new friend Masamune to a race to the venue first thing that morning. By now, he had pulled far ahead and vanished from sight.
The Ever Grande Conference venue was an open-air stadium built over a lake.
The Ever Grande Main Stadium at its center extended outward, connecting to more than a dozen smaller subsidiary venues.
The preliminary rounds would take place in those subsidiary venues.
"Each person has to fight two preliminary matches to narrow over six hundred contestants down to two hundred. And they're one-on-one matches, so there's absolutely no room for error.
"I wonder if Ash and Masamune can handle it," Brock said worriedly, holding the tournament guidebook.
"Relax~ Those two will be fine." Young Master Mao smiled. "Masamune might be a newcomer, but Ash is a veteran contestant. He won't crash and burn that easily."
"That's true." Brock nodded.
"By the way, where are May and her brother?" Gary asked curiously.
Why was Mama Brock operating alone today?
"Oh, they went to watch Brendan's match. As for me, I'm going to cheer for Ash and Masamune. So we split up," Brock explained briefly.
"Right, what about you, Young Master Mao?" Brock asked.
"Me? Whatever, really. We trained too hard yesterday, so apart from Eevee-chan, everyone went to the Pokémon Center to recover today." Young Master Mao spread his hands. "I'll check out both sides."
Come to think