In a Black World –
Sabrina's sudden declaration made Ash's mind go blank.
Did he hear that right?
Sabrina—a Gym Leader—was saying she'd still go collect badges and enter the League Conference… just to fight him?
"But the next Indigo Plateau Conference isn't until next year, right?"
"Yeah. But I looked it up—the Silver Conference in Johto is held at the end of the year. There's still about half a year left, so… let's fight at the Silver Conference then."
With her hands behind her back, Sabrina leaned forward, her face nearly brushing Ash's.
Ash didn't even seem to notice.
He was still stuck on the phrase Silver Conference.
He knew a lot, but he wasn't all-knowing.
After all, the Silver Conference was the Johto League tournament—of course he wouldn't know every detail.
But what Sabrina said made his thoughts come alive.
If Johto had its own League Conference… then wouldn't other regions have their own League tournaments too?
Ash had been wondering where he should travel after the Indigo Plateau.
Now it seemed… he had a new goal.
"Say what you want—but don't get so close, okay!"
Misty's voice snapped Ash out of his thoughts.
When he came back to his senses, Misty was already standing between him and Sabrina, glaring.
Sabrina only raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
Then Misty hugged Ash's arm tightly, made a face at Sabrina, and stuck out her tongue.
She was very clearly staking her claim.
...
[Lorelei: Huh? Bold. Misty's being that direct now?!]
[Sakura: No way—she feels her position is threatened… A pretty, curvy girl keeps attacking Black World Ash.]
[Sakura: If it were me, I'd panic too. The duck's already in your hands—you can't just watch it fly away!]
[Ash: Hey! Who are you calling a duck?!]
[Brock: Sakura's talking about Black World Ash—why are you getting mad?]
[Ash: Ah! Brock! I see through you! You'd sell out your friend for a pretty big sister!]
[Misty: You only realized that now?]
[Lance: Alright, alright—save the romance battlefield for later. No one's going to talk about Ash's performance in the last two matches, or Sabrina saying she'll enter the Silver Conference?]
[Volkner: What's there to talk about? The Indigo Conference field is uneven. Even on White World Ash's side, getting through early rounds is partly luck.]
[Flint: Exactly. Letting "special students" enter Indigo was a huge flaw. Trainers who earned eight badges run into those special entrants and just steamroll them. Not even the same level.]
[Cynthia: That system really does seem unique to the Indigo Plateau. Other League Conferences don't work like that, do they?]
As they said, the special entry system really was a major flaw of the Indigo Conference.
"Special entry" was basically connections.
Getting into the Indigo Plateau based on written theory alone was an insult to trainers who fought hard for eight badges.
The most representative example was the girl named Sundae that Ash and the others met early on.
She was said to have strength "equivalent to three Gym badges," but she got completely crushed by Black World Ash—who had only just begun travelling.
Even White World Ash beat her cleanly with Pikachu.
Back then, White World Ash's commands were basically: "Dodge!" "Attack!" "Think of something, Pikachu!"
If even that version of Ash could win, it told you exactly how much "gold content" those three badges had.
[Falkner: Our Johto League has real gold content!]
[Bugsy: Right—and Johto Gym Leaders rarely go easy. Anyone who gets eight badges and reaches the Silver Conference is a true elite.]
[Jasmine: If you want to challenge a League, come to Johto first!]
[Lance: ...]
[Bruno: ...]
[Lorelei: Do you people have any shame left?]
Lance was the Johto Champion, and Bruno was one of the Johto Elite Four—but both were also Kanto's Elite Four.
At this moment, neither of them knew which side to speak for.
Lorelei had no such concern.
What was this, stepping on Kanto to lift Johto?
Calling Indigo "trash" and Silver "pure gold," huh?
…In some ways, they weren't entirely wrong.
...
In a Black World –
Ash looked a little dazed.
Misty had suddenly grabbed his arm without warning, and the soft pressure pressed tightly against him—making him shiver.
What was going on? Why was she holding him so suddenly? Did something happen he didn't know about?
Across from them, the smile Sabrina had been wearing stiffened and turned cold.
That was a blatant declaration of war.
She instinctively wanted to use her psychic powers—but when she saw Ash's stiff, awkward expression, she dismissed the idea.
In terms of closeness… how could she compete with the girl beside him?
Misty had travelled with Ash for months.
Sabrina had known him for only two days.
Calm down. Violence isn't the way.
Dad said… be gentle. Boys like gentle girls.
And with the look Mom designed for me… I'm not losing.
After forcing herself to breathe twice, Sabrina put a "soft" smile back on her face.
It still looked a little unnatural.
"Ash, what are we eating next?"
As she spoke, she very naturally took Ash's other hand.
Brock silently took two steps back, ready to run at any time.
He wanted absolutely nothing to do with this battlefield.
And—seriously—he was jealous enough to cry.
Ash was only ten years old, and he was already getting "left and right" treatment.
And one of them was a mature, older girl with a terrifying figure!
Brock's heart was crumbling.
Compared to Ash…
his romance experience was nothing but hardship and heartbreak.
So the two girls "escorted" a completely rigid Ash to the market to find food, while Brock kept a safe distance behind them—just in case stray crossfire hit him.
...
[Gary: Look at Black World Ash hugging left and right. Now look at our Ash. Can you try a bit harder?]
[Delia: True. Ash, Gary went out with six girlfriends. You've travelled two regions—bring a girlfriend home, okay? Oh wait, you did bring one back.]
[Ash: Huh? Who did I bring back?!]
[Delia: Misty! Such a good girl. And you are not allowed to bully her!]
[Ash: …I told you, Misty and I aren't like that! Misty denied it herself!]
[Brock: You really are a hopeless idiot, Ash…]
[Furula: Steel-reinforced straight man!]
[Sabrina: Super wooden man…]
[Serena: That's honestly too much, Ash…]
Misty didn't speak. She was tired. She didn't want to speak.
And deep down, she felt…
Even if Ash here ever did "get it," she probably wouldn't be the only one by his side.
Just look at Black World Ash—he was already surrounded.
If their Ash awakened into a "Gary-type" womanizer someday… would she even be able to find a room?
She needed to mentally prepare herself first.
Ash, meanwhile, was completely confused.
What did he do wrong? Wasn't he just telling the truth? Misty had said not long ago that she didn't like him!
So why was everyone suddenly condemning him?
...
In a Black World –
After escaping the "left-and-right" stroll, Ash finally returned to calmer ground.
By now, he had more or less guessed what Sabrina was thinking.
But he still couldn't figure out one thing:
Why him?
They'd only battled once and then became friends.
How did that turn into this?
That was a question even Ash couldn't answer.
But there was another question he couldn't avoid:
He and Misty were basically separated by one thin "paper window," and now Sabrina had charged in.
What was he supposed to do?
Backing away from Misty because of Sabrina was impossible.
But rejecting Sabrina for Misty's sake…
Somehow felt cruel too.
That night, Ash couldn't sleep.
He went to the lawn near the Indigo Plateau, lay down with Pikachu, and stared at the stars.
Under the starlight, the restlessness in his heart slowly eased.
"Yo, Ash. What are you doing out here instead of sleeping?"
Ash looked over and saw the one who arrived: his sharp-tongued rival—Gary Oak.
"It's you, Gary… I can't figure something out, so I couldn't sleep."
"Heh. I didn't think there were still things you couldn't figure out."
Gary sat beside him, propped his hands on the grass, and tilted his head toward Ash.
"It's about girls, right?"
Ash: !!
"How do you know?"
"Come on! I'm a guy who's grown up surrounded by flowers. If you weren't grinding so hard, I'd have taken my girlfriends on a romantic road trip in a sports car."
"To catch up to you, I didn't bring them with me."
"But I still call them every day~"
"Girlfriends… plural?"
Ash slowly formed a question mark in his mind.
Wait—wholesale girlfriends?
Isn't it normal to have one?
"What, is it weird to have multiple girlfriends?" Gary smirked. "Ash, what era do you think this is? Anyone with ability still keeps just one girlfriend?"
"I'm guessing you're stuck between two—or more—girls, right?"
"For once, I'm ahead of you."
"Let me teach you how to get along with girls."
That night, Ash "leveled up" a lot.
It was also the first time Ash truly felt that Gary Oak looked like a giant—standing tall.
...
[Gary: Damn it! In another world, the only thing I can teach Ash is dating?! That's outrageous.]
[Serena: Gary… what nonsense did you teach him?!]
[Misty: Don't tell me your midnight lesson is going to awaken something weird in him…]
[Sabrina: Gary Oak. Heaven's punishment.]
[Gary: Hey, hey! Don't be ungrateful!]
[Gary: I didn't teach that so you could all become "discarded wings," okay?]
[Gary: If Ash chose only one and abandoned the others—think about it. If you weren't the one chosen, how would you feel?]
Gary's words made the girls who liked Ash go tense.
Everyone wanted to be the only one.
But… what if they weren't?
Being chosen would be sweet.
But not being chosen…
meant losing Ash—and possibly losing him even as a friend.
Could they accept that?
The answer was: no.
So Gary was right.
Even if they hated it, they would still have to thank him.
At least… it reduced the risk of total loss.
[Delia: In that case, everyone really should thank Gary. But Gary, could you teach our Ash too~?]
[Gary: Uh… Aunt Delia, it's not that I won't, but anyone with emotional intelligence can learn this. Ash… honestly has no hope unless he has an epiphany.]
[Ash: Hey! What do you mean no hope?! It's just dating! I'll definitely get a girlfriend someday!]
Even so, when Ash watched the calm and capable Black World Ash struggling over romance…
he couldn't help feeling a little afraid.
Was love… really that complicated?
...
In a Black World –
The screen turned to the next day. The third match began.
Ash stood in the arena, still full of energy—even though he'd barely slept.
For a super-rookie like him, one sleepless night was nothing.
This time the battlefield was an Ice Field, and his opponent was named Lorelei.
(He didn't know it yet, but he'd just drawn an absolute nightmare.)
Lorelei's first Pokémon: Staryu.
Ash's first Pokémon: Dratini.
That's right—Dratini was finally taking the field.
It had already molted twice and was, in theory, on the verge of evolving.
Now was the perfect time to push it into evolving into Dragonair with a fierce fight.
And an ice field was the perfect stage for it.
Dratini's appearance triggered cheers from the crowd.
In Kanto, the Dratini line was extremely rare.
People even called it a "dragon myth" in rumours.
This was Dratini's first appearance at this year's Indigo Plateau Conference.
The last time a Dratini had made waves at a League tournament… might've been back in Lance's era.
The cheers didn't stop for a long time.
The announcers were practically losing their minds.
Lorelei quickly recovered from her surprise and started commanding Staryu.
Dratini might be rare, but its early battle strength was famously not impressive.
Lorelei saw it as her chance.
"Staryu, Water Gun!"
"Dratini—Twister, send it back!"
"Draa~!"
The thin stream of water fired from Staryu's core was swallowed by the twisting wind Dratini whipped up.
Then the water-infused cyclone slammed into Staryu and knocked it back several meters.
"Thunder Wave!"
Golden waves wrapped around Staryu the moment it stabilized.
Ash didn't let up.
"Agility, then Slam!"
A blue blur flashed.
Before Lorelei could adjust, Dratini rushed in, hooked one of Staryu's arms with its tail, and smashed it into the ice.
"Crack!"
It wasn't one hit.
Dratini slammed Staryu again and again until it stopped struggling, then finally released it.
Lorelei stared blankly.
Was this even legal?
Wasn't battling supposed to be turn-based?
She hadn't even finished her thought, and Ash had already chained three or four moves in a row.
And who said Dratini was weak before evolving?
This didn't look weak at all.
This looked terrifying.
...
PS: The heroines on both sides basically accepted the emotional direction and let Gary take the "mentor" slot, but I still feel it reads a bit stiff. Sigh… I really haven't read enough harem stories. Just know there are many heroines!
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