Brock's Attention and the Tournament Format

If the Commoner Trainer named Tetsuya Tamaki really had the kind of talent his son Brock claimed, then he was well worth investing in.

After all, getting on good terms with a future Breeding Master would bring tremendous benefits to the later generations of his family.

"So what are you planning to do?"

Brock did not insist that Brock follow his own methods. After all, he would pass the position on to Brock sooner or later, and Brock still needed training.

"I talked with him a lot today. I could tell he was hiding quite a few things, but it doesn't matter.

His background means he definitely craves knowledge. I plan to have another direct talk with him tomorrow."

Brock took out an apron and put it on, preparing to start cleaning the house.

He kept talking as he worked. "He's a smart person. He doesn't seem very good at socializing, but he gets his meaning across well enough, both directly and indirectly.

When I hinted at information to him, his reactions were normal too. He didn't show any resistance.

His investment potential is very high. I already spoke to the Gym about the specific evaluation when I came back. They'll investigate and produce a report."

"Mm, good. You'll be in charge of it when the time comes. This is your first investment target too, isn't it?"

Brock looked at the report and decided it was better to let Brock make the decision himself.

As for having revealed some information, that was not a big deal at all.

"Yes, I understand." Brock's hand paused for a moment as he mopped the floor, but he quickly continued.

"Dad, lift your feet. Stop sitting here reading. You're holding that report upside down. Don't pretend. Hurry up and go upstairs to check on the Younger Siblings. Day after day, you don't take care of anything, you—"

Listening to his son nag, Brock quickly took the report and went upstairs.

His son was good in every way, except for this one thing. He nagged a little too much.

Brock walked up the stairs, his eyes, identical to Brock's, narrowing.

Tetsuya Tamaki, was it? He sounded like he had decent potential. Interesting.

Meanwhile, Tetsuya, who had returned to his room at the Pokemon Center to rest, had no idea about the conversation between father and son.

After taking a shower and sitting down on the sofa, Tetsuya began thinking over his conversation with Brock today.

Judging from Tetsuya's probing, Brock did not know anyone named Ash. At least, he did not know him right now.

Tetsuya was not disappointed. His main goal had simply been to confirm it, since Ash was a childhood memory from his Previous Life.

In a real world like this, Tetsuya would not find it strange even if Ash did not exist. After all, based on what he understood, this world was far too different from what the anime had shown.

It was like that in every respect.

Especially when it came to tournament competitions. The fact that Ash, who had only just started out, could reach the Quarterfinals was just absurd.

But then again, it did not seem completely impossible. Tetsuya rubbed his chin in thought.

Although he had not planned to participate in the Conference before and did not have the strength to do so, not to mention being busy making money and studying, he still had a rough understanding of the situation. In this world, the Alliance Conference was divided into the Two-Year Format and the Unlimited Format.

What people usually called the Alliance Conference referred to the latter, and the videos Tetsuya watched were all of the latter as well.

"No wonder. I was wondering why every single Conference participant was so ridiculously strong. It was nothing like what I saw in my Past Life."

That was what Tetsuya had thought when he first learned about this back then.

The so-called Two-Year Format was aimed at novice trainers who had only recently set out.

Moreover, the Main Competition and the top four of the Conference required for trainer rank certification also referred to the Main Competition and top four of the Unlimited Format, not the Two-Year Format.

The specific restriction was that trainers over sixteen and under eighteen could register to compete using Pokemon they had captured and raised for no more than two years. The registration method was likewise to obtain Eight Badges.

Basically, the strength of the contestants' Pokemon was mostly Normal Level, with a small number at Elite Level, and quite a few at Novice Level as well.

The Unlimited Format was different. There were no time limits whatsoever.

Contestants who made it to the Main Competition were basically Elite Level trainers and Quasi-Elite Four Level trainers. Only after reaching the Elite Four level would they switch to participating in the Elite Four Challenge. Normal Level trainers could not even get past the Preliminary Round.

However, very few trainers participated in the Two-Year Format. There seemed to be only two or three hundred each year, and most were Commoner Trainers joining to satisfy a dream.

After all, for them, becoming an ordinary trainer was already their limit. Entering the Unlimited Format would only mean being eliminated in the first round of the Preliminary Round, which was completely meaningless.

If they achieved a slightly better ranking in the Two-Year Format, they could at least brag about it to their descendants.

A very small number of second-generation and third-generation trainers would go there to play around, and the top eight were usually monopolized by these people.

Compared to the Unlimited Format, the Two-Year Format also had a private nickname: "Baby Competition."

Just from that name, one could see how much trainers disdained the Two-Year Format.

It was said that the League was working on changing this problem and trying to revise the Conference format. After all, the current Two-Year Format seemed rather meaningless.

But they could not simply cancel it, either. Otherwise, novice trainers would have no experience at the beginning.

As for how exactly they would change it, Tetsuya was not very clear right now. It might end up looking like the anime from his Previous Life, but he guessed it probably had nothing to do with him.

After all, in order for Tetsuya to find a Backer and obtain resources, he had to show his strength in the Unlimited Format. The Two-Year Format had no reference value or meaning at all.

In past years, there had even been people who took Elite Four Level Pokemon to participate in the Two-Year Format, shamelessly claiming they had raised them themselves within two years.

And yet the displayed capture time really was under two years, so they could only be allowed to compete. In the end, when they fought those people, it was truly like beating up babies.

Only later did the League find out that this guy was a Powerful Second Generation. That Elite Four Level Pokemon really was his, yes, but the time involved was far more than two years.

That Pokemon was the offspring of his father's Quasi-Champion Pokemon. It had grown up with him since childhood, and only after raising it for sixteen years did he finally put it into a Poke Ball.

By the time he entered the competition, the official capture time was just over a year, so it met the requirements.

It wasn't as if no one else had ever thought of doing this. The key was, never mind whether you had a Pokemon like that in the first place—if you did not capture it, and someone else defeated it and caught it with a Poke Ball, you would have nowhere to cry.

After all, as long as it had not been put into a Poke Ball, it counted as a Wild Pokemon, and anyone could capture it.

But that guy just so happened to spend the first sixteen years of his life never stepping out of the house, stubbornly raising his one and only Pokemon at home.

Only when he officially turned sixteen and was allowed to set out on a journey did he capture the Pokemon.

That more or less counted as exploiting a loophole. Supposedly, that guy's final outcome was pretty miserable, but with a powerful father protecting him, it probably was not too exaggerated.

As for using your parents' Pokemon to compete, or capturing a powerful Pokemon to compete, for the former, never mind whether your dad would beat you to death the moment you brought it up—Commoner Trainers would not have that condition anyway.

As for the latter, if you could capture a powerful Pokemon, that meant you were pretty strong yourself, so why would you still enter the Two-Year Format? Go show yourself off in the Unlimited Format.

If you borrowed someone else's Pokemon to defeat another Pokemon and then captured it, there was no way that Pokemon would listen to the Trainer. In game terms, its Affection would be below 10.

You simply could not command it. This kind of situation would be obvious at a glance, and you would be disqualified from the competition.

If there really were a protagonist, all I can say is I did my best. I forced the explanation as hard as I could. Take a look and see if there are any other bugs.

Begging for investment, begging for follows, begging for recommendations, begging for Monthly Passes!!!

Begging for everything!!

Hint, hint.