"The Pokémon Conference is a grand competition held in every region. Generally, the competition takes place once a year, and the start times vary by region. For example, our Kanto's Indigo Plateau Conference will begin in half a year, while Johto's Silver Conference is almost ready to start."
"The day before the Pokémon Conference begins, participants must register with eight Gym Leader badges to qualify. You can only have more badges, not fewer. If you only collect them on the day of the competition, then unfortunately, you'll have to wait until next year's competition, and all the Gym badges you collected this year will be invalidated, requiring you to collect them again."
Xiao Xia explained the rules of the Pokémon Conference to Ash in meticulous detail.
In terms of rules, the Pokémon Conference can be said to be quite strict. Participants need to collect eight Gym badges within a year, and not all Trainers have a full year. Rather, most Trainers actually don't have a year to collect badges.
After all, every Trainer departs at a different time, and wanting to start their journey right after the Pokémon Conference ends requires quite a bit of serendipity and coincidence.
Like Ash, he is only on his second day of travel, and the Indigo Plateau Conference is set to begin in just half a year. This means Ash must collect eight Gym badges within six months, otherwise, he will miss the Indigo Plateau Conference.
"Are Gyms hard to beat?" Ash asked curiously.
"It's hard and it's easy. The main purpose of a Gym is a training checkpoint and threshold set by the League for Trainers. They possess strength far beyond that of ordinary Trainers. If they truly fought with all their might against challengers, probably not many would be able to pass the Gym trial."
"So, generally, Gym Leaders assess Trainers based on the badges they hold and the duration of their journey. The more badges and the longer the journey, the stronger the power the Gym Leader will display."
Gyms are challenging checkpoints set up by the League in various regions. If they used their full power against every challenger, then the challenge would be meaningless, as it wouldn't be a test at all.
Suppose a novice Trainer just emerged from Pallet Town with a starter Pokémon, perhaps with one or two more Pokémon like Rattata or Pidgey caught near home, and then faced a Pokémon whose strength reached professional or even Gym Leader level...
Never mind the tactics of a Trainer who just started their journey; with such an exaggerated level gap, even if you brought in a Champion to command, they still wouldn't win.
So generally speaking, Gym Leaders do not use their true strength to compete with challengers. If a challenger can truly force out and defeat the Gym Leader's full power, then it proves that this challenger has the potential to be a Champion!
Don't misunderstand, the Champion mentioned here is not the League Champion, but the League Conference Champion. There are only two words difference between them, but the actual meaning expressed is vastly different.
Generally, the strength of a League Conference Champion is usually around professional to Gym Leader level, and only a very small number of League Champions will have Elite-level strength.
"If you encounter an Elite-level Trainer participating in the competition, then you can only consider yourself unlucky. The reason Trainers of that caliber participate in the League Conference is not actually for the Conference Champion title, but for a seat among the Elite Four. This is because the Conference Champion gets one chance to challenge the Elite Four, and if they defeat an Elite Four member, they can take their place."
Xiao Xia gestured with her fair fingers, speaking with great seriousness.
By then, Ash had learned most of the League Conference rules. For a novice Trainer like him, who hadn't even earned a single Gym badge, the Gym challenges wouldn't be too difficult. Ash's worried heart also relaxed a little.
He took out his Pokémon Pokedex at the Pokémon League front desk and successfully registered for the League Conference. Afterwards, Miss Joy thoughtfully gave Ash a map, which also marked the cities where Gyms were located.
Miss Joy suddenly thought of something and smiled at Ash, saying, "Speaking of which, you are the second Pallet Town Trainer to arrive in Viridian City, and also the second Pokedex owner."
"Second? Who was the first?" Ash was stunned for a moment, then quickly asked.
The reason he and Xiao Xia were able to reach Viridian City so quickly was partly due to being chased by a Spearow and partly due to traveling through the night. This speed should have been quite fast. Even if he was the one who arrived late, there shouldn't have been anyone faster than him.
"The first was a young man named Gary. He seemed to have arrived in a sports car. When he came to the Elf Center, his red sports car attracted a lot of onlookers." Miss Joy lightly touched her fair chin, recalling the scene of first meeting Gary yesterday.
"A sports car… that Gary, he really knows how to enjoy himself!" Ash gritted his teeth, saying with an annoyed expression.
He traveled the world on foot, while Gary, on the other hand, drove a sports car! The difference in their treatment was like heaven and earth.
"The meaning of travel lies in the scenery along the way. Although that guy named Gary is faster than you, he views the surrounding scenery as fleeting clouds, gone in an instant. Such a journey won't bring him much growth," Xiao Xia said to Ash meaningfully.
"Exactly, what's the use of being fast! Gary's experiences definitely aren't as rich as mine. On my first day of travel, I even met a Pho—mmph!mph!" Ash hadn't finished speaking when a pair of fair, small hands clamped tightly over his mouth.
Xiao Xia stood behind Ash, her pretty face nodding apologetically to Miss Joy, then she quickly used one hand to grip Ash's neck and the other hand to continue covering Ash's mouth, dragging Ash away from the front desk.
After moving some distance away from the front desk, Xiao Xia finally released Ash's mouth. Ash gasped for air, complaining with a displeased expression, "Xiao Xia, what are you doing! Are you trying to kill me?"
With Xiao Xia's strength, Ash could have easily broken free, but he was afraid of accidentally hurting her if he struggled abruptly. Plus, he also guessed that Xiao Xia had a reason for doing that, which was why he didn't struggle forcefully.
But Xiao Xia was covering his mouth and gripping his neck; it was practically like trying to kill him.
Xiao Xia rolled her eyes and said somewhat exasperatedly, "You have the nerve to say that! Do you really want to talk about meeting 'that' on the road in public? Do you know how many people covet that Pokémon? If someone heard that you met It on your first day of travel, you'd be targeted by who knows how many people during your journey. Get some sense, alright?!"
Hearing this, Ash paused, then scratched his head somewhat awkwardly: "S-sorry, I didn't think it through. You're really more cautious, Xiao Xia."