Chapter 80

A-Du: "Come on, kid. No one is unbeatable—everyone has gone through defeat."

Daigo: "I don't want to admit it, but there really are people who have never lost a single match."

Mikoli: "You mean the Battle King, right? That guy has never lost a match in any official League competition."

Daigo: "Black Xiao-Zhi, he hasn't lost either! Old Man Blaine actually had a chance to win, but in the end the Crimson Gym collapsed."

Shirona: "Honestly, even if that match had continued, Blaine might not have won. Believe it or not, at the critical moment, Black Xiao-Zhi's Charmeleon would have pulled off an in-battle evolution right in your face."

Daigo: "Don't say it—don't you dare say it."

【After Xiao-Mao lost his match, Xiao-Zhi fell into confusion. Even the Xiao-Mao he'd always been chasing had lost—could he really make it into the main tournament of the Indigo Conference?】

【Fortunately, with Pikachu and his friends by his side, and with everyone's cheering and encouragement, Xiao-Zhi regained his courage. Carrying the conviction of certain victory, Xiao-Zhi began his final preliminary match.】

【The Grass Field battle began surprisingly smoothly. Xiao-Zhi's Bulbasaur easily defeated his opponent Kaoruko's Beedrill and Scyther, and what delighted Xiao-Zhi even more was that Kaoruko's last Pokémon was a Bellsprout.】

【Just as Xiao-Zhi thought he'd take an easy victory like in his first match, Kaoruko gave him a resounding slap across the face.】

【The unassuming Bellsprout went wild—winning battle after battle, it not only took down Bulbasaur but also knocked out Pikachu.】

Erika: "Whoa, this Bellsprout is way too strong!!!"

As a Grass-type Gym Leader, Erika was seeing such a flashy Bellsprout for the first time as well.

Gardenia: "When a Bellsprout knows martial arts, even an immortal couldn't stop it!"

Old Man: "What an interesting Bellsprout."

Xiao-Zhi: "Interesting? Not interesting at all. No way—I don't want to fall at the gates of the Indigo Conference main tournament just like Xiao-Mao did."

Xiao-Zhi really felt like crying this time. He'd already gotten ready to pop the champagne to celebrate, and then you go and do this to him?

Fortunately, what Xiao-Zhi feared most didn't happen. Relying on Muk's absolute suppression, he successfully took his final victory and advanced into the Top Sixteen of the Indigo Conference.

Misty: "That was really close, but what surprises me even more is that Xiao-Zhi actually used his brain."

Brock: "Right. Knowing that an opponent met on a Grass-type field was very likely to be a Grass-type Pokémon, he specially had Professor Oak send over the Poison-type Muk. Knowing how to use type advantages to win—I have to say, Ash, you've really made me see you in a new light."

Xiao-Zhi: "The Top Sixteen isn't my limit. Since I've made it into the main tournament, then I'll take the championship in one go!"

Misty: "There you go again, Xiao-Zhi."

Brock: "Hahaha, now that's the real Xiao-Zhi."

【After winning on the Grass Field, he stuffed himself silly at the restaurant, then met a Trainer named A-Hong. With a little help from Team Rocket, Xiao-Zhi and A-Hong became best friends.】

【At the next day's draw ceremony, Xiao-Zhi and A-Hong walked together, and as luck would have it, the two were drawn against each other in the Top Sixteen.】

【On the eve of the match, Team Rocket used a voice changer to disguise themselves as A-Hong's voice and lured Xiao-Zhi out.】

【While Xiao-Zhi was being held up by Team Rocket, the time for his match with A-Hong had already arrived. Inside the Indigo Stadium, A-Hong had already entered the field.】

【Second by second ticked away, yet Xiao-Zhi still hadn't entered the arena. At this point Misty was completely furious. She thought A-Hong had used some underhanded trick to make Xiao-Zhi late, so she charged straight into the field and started arguing with A-Hong.】

【After A-Hong's explanation, Misty finally understood that the phone call hadn't been from A-Hong at all—she and Xiao-Zhi had both been tricked.】

【It had already grown dark. The referee came to A-Hong's side, ready to award A-Hong the victory by default. At this point A-Hong argued his case forcefully, begging the referee to wait a little longer. Thanks to A-Hong's insistence, the referee finally agreed to his request.】

· 0 begging for flowers··· ···

【At the very instant the agreed-upon time expired, Xiao-Zhi, with the help of Pidgeotto, arrived at the arena just in the nick of time.】

【The match could finally continue.】

【The first bout was A-Hong's Butterfree against Xiao-Zhi's Squirtle. Under the effect of Sleep Powder, Squirtle fell asleep. At this point the referee hurriedly raised his flag and announced that Squirtle was unable to battle.】

Erika: "??????? Can someone tell me what's going on? Squirtle is just asleep, not unable to battle—why is that a loss? Is it really okay for the referee to blatantly blow such a crooked whistle?"

Karen: "Maybe it's a penalty for being late?"

Karen wasn't entirely sure either.

President Damarangi: "Hahaha, after waiting for Xiao-Zhi for so long, the referee might have gotten drowsy too. It's perfectly normal to make a mistake."

President Damarangi laughed it off and let the matter slide.

【Despite all sorts of unfavorable factors, Xiao-Zhi still fought A-Hong all the way to the last Pokémon. At this point each side had only one Pokémon remaining—A-Hong's was a Pikachu, Xiao-Zhi's was his ace Charizard.】

【Just when everyone thought victory was in Xiao-Zhi's grasp, Charizard started acting up again.】

【It flew off the battlefield and fell fast asleep.】

【No matter how desperately Xiao-Zhi pleaded from the sidelines, Charizard showed no intention of continuing the fight. Xiao-Zhi's Indigo Conference journey thus came to an end in such a dramatic fashion.】

A small town in Kanto.

Misty: "Sigh, I told you so—that guy's personality is terrible."

Brock: "Charizard, you really are… sigh."

Pikachu: "Pika pika."

Squirtle: "Squirtle squirtle."

Bulbasaur: "Bulba, bulba."

This time it wasn't just Misty and Brock—even the Pokémon were upset. The Indigo Conference was everyone's joint effort, and yet Charizard alone ruined it all.

Being blamed by so many people for the first time, Charizard was a little embarrassed too, but its proud nature made apologizing absolutely impossible.

"Alright, alright, everyone, don't blame Charizard anymore. Charizard didn't do it on purpose."

Even though his future self had missed the chance to go further in the Indigo Conference because of Charizard, Xiao-Zhi still chose to defend Charizard at this moment.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't moved. After doing something so outrageous, Xiao-Zhi still defended it like this—Charizard secretly swore in its heart that it would never do anything stupid again.

At this moment, the white-bordered screen dimmed, and the black-bordered screen lit up.

The picture appeared.

【Xiao-Zhi's first match was scheduled for tomorrow. With nothing to do, Xiao-Zhi took the four of them on a stroll around the Indigo Town.】

【Wait? Four people? Aren't Xiao-Zhi's companions only Misty and Brock?】

【Oh, forgot to mention—to celebrate Xiao-Zhi making it into the Indigo Conference, Erika and Sabrina both rushed to the Indigo Conference site to cheer for him in person.】

【"I really don't see what there is to celebrate. With Xiao-Zhi's strength, isn't making it into the Indigo Conference the most natural thing in the world?" Misty said curiously.】

Since Leaf arrived, Misty's mood has not improved at all.

Unlike Nana, who came to find friends to play with, this wicked woman Leaf is definitely here for Ash, so how could Misty's mood possibly improve?

"Don't worry; Leaf can only spare time for this period. Once the Indigo Conference ends, she will have to return to the Rainbow Gym," Brock comforted.

"Right. Hmph, Leaf still has a Gym to guard constantly; how can she compete with me!" Hearing Brock's analysis, Misty perked up again.

Looking at it this way, her three older sisters are not entirely useless; they can still play some role.

Lorelei: "What's the situation? Is the Leaf from another world that proactive? She went straight to his doorstep?"

Diantha: "She has no choice but to be proactive; excellent men are hard to find. Let alone a man as excellent as Black Ash."

Cynthia: "He is only nine years old and still a boy."

Diantha: "So what if he is nine? Does the League's law forbid nine-year-old boys from falling in love?"

Erika: "How old is Leaf? She must be several years older than Ash, right?"

Leaf: "What several years? Only six years! Haven't you heard, 'A woman three years older brings a gold brick'?"

Gardenia: "But you are more than three years older."

Leaf: "Then wouldn't it be even better to hold two gold bricks?!"

Cynthia: "Awesome!"

Amidst the noise and commotion, Ash finally met his opponent for the first match.

His opponent was a boy named Kim, whose specialty seemed to be Ground-type Pokémon; coincidentally, the venue for the first round of battle for both sides was also a Rock Field. Kim could be said to have a tiny bit of home-field advantage.

Bruno: "Ground-type Pokémon? Is Ash going to send out Pikachu again?"

Bruno: "Ash's Pikachu is unparalleled against Ground-type Pokémon; it is not wrong to send out Pikachu."

Lance: "Why use an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken? Where is the logic in sending out an ace in the preliminaries?"

93: Black Ash even wants to learn Psychic? The competition is exploding!

"Are you Ash from Pallet Town?" Kim said with a grave expression.

Kim had not expected his luck to be so bad, drawing Ash in the very first round.

"Absolutely genuine," Ash smiled slightly.

"This guy is so calm," Kim thought to himself. "Sigh, I hope I don't lose too badly."

Kim had a clear understanding of his own strength; his level was merely that of the preliminaries, at best advancing two or three more rounds in the preliminaries. Facing Ash, he had absolutely no chance.

Gary: "Kim has never battled Black Ash nor seen Black Ash battle; how does he know he definitely cannot win?"

Gary felt puzzled by Kim's behavior of showing fear before the battle even began.

Lance: "Go check the list of trainers who lit the sacred flame in past editions, and you will have the answer. Every trainer who could ascend the Sacred Flame Platform was without exception one of the top trainers in Kanto."