Ever Grande City, Ever Grande Conference

Because the Hoenn Champion Tournament was being held in the massive island city of Ever Grande City, Alex first had to travel there together with Crobat.

Fortunately, Ever Grande City was not particularly far away from his current location, and with Crobat's speed, the journey did not take very long.

As they flew across the ocean toward the island, Alex could already see the enormous conference complex from far away.

Even from the sky, the scale of the event was obvious.

Large buildings, battle arenas, countless transport vehicles, and massive crowds filled the area surrounding the Ever Grande Conference.

By the time Crobat descended closer toward the city entrance, Alex could already hear the noise from below.

There were many Trainers gathered outside the entrance, along with a huge number of reporters and camera crews.

Alex, who observed the scene from above while Crobat slowly descended, was genuinely impressed by the sheer number of cameras and media personnel present.

Countless reporters were interviewing various well-known Trainers who had come to participate in the tournament.

Alex even recognized several famous Trainers among them.

Some were non main Gym Leaders from smaller cities.

Others were well-known Elite Trainers with significant reputations throughout Hoenn.

A few of them were even surrounded by so many reporters that movement around them had nearly stopped completely.

When Alex and Crobat finally landed near the entrance area and began walking toward the conference building, it did not take long before several reporters recognized him as well.

After all, Alex's popularity had increased noticeably over the past few months.

Between his performance during the Pokémon Raid, the media interviews afterward, and the enormous success of Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, many people now recognized him on sight.

A few reporters immediately moved toward him with visible excitement.

"Alex! Do you have a moment for a short interview?"

"Do you think you can win the Hoenn Champion Tournament?"

"What placement are you aiming for?"

"Will your famous Gardevoir participate?"

Several cameras immediately turned toward him.

However, Alex did not stop walking, although he briefly looked coldly at the reporter who had asked the last question.

Without even slowing down much, he simply replied calmly, "Afterward."

Although several reporters showed visibly dissatisfied expressions after hearing such a simple rejection, none of them pushed the matter further.

More importantly, they did not want to ruin their chances of obtaining an interview after Alex completed his registration.

As a result, nobody attempted to block his path or provoke him further.

Alex continued walking forward and soon entered the enormous entrance lobby of the Ever Grande Conference.

The inside of the building was just as crowded as the exterior.

Numerous Trainers were gathered throughout the massive hall, while Alliance employees and security personnel maintained order.

It was immediately obvious where participants had to register.

Several lines of Trainers were already waiting in front of a large registration counter, while multiple staff members calmly directed people and prevented excessive noise or disorder.

Fortunately for Alex, the lines were not especially long at the moment.

Only a few Trainers stood ahead of him. As a result, he hardly needed to wait very long. While waiting, Alex silently observed the surrounding Trainers.

Some appeared nervous but mosted looked excited or overly confident.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, it finally became Alex's turn. He stepped forward toward the registration counter.

A beautiful young woman sitting behind the desk looked at Alex with a professional smile and politely said, "Hello, sir. Could you please give me your ID card?"

Alex did not say anything unnecessary and simply handed her his identification card.

The woman quickly scanned it and verified his identity through the Alliance system.

After confirming everything successfully, she looked back up at Alex while maintaining her professional smile. "Would you like a normal registration, or a Seed Spot registration?"

Alex already knew exactly what she meant.

Just like the Kanto Champion tournament he had participated, this Champion Tournament possessed two different registration options.

With a normal registration, any Trainer could participate as long as they fulfilled the minimum badge requirements.

There were 3 possible qualification paths, but all of them required Gym Badges and obtaining those badges was far from easy. Even B-Rank and A-Rank Gym Badges posed serious difficulties for many Elite Trainers.

However, the Seed Spot registration was entirely different.

To qualify for that category, participants first had to fulfill all normal registration requirements. On top of that, their Pokémon team also had to surpass a specific average level requirement.

Alex already knew the exact numbers.

A Trainer either needed a team average level of at least 47.5 across all six Pokémon—or they needed at least three Pokémon at Level 50 or higher.

Although those requirements sounded manageable on paper, Alex understood very well that the overwhelming majority of tournament participants could not actually meet them.

Most Trainers simply lacked enough high-level Pokémon.

However, Seed Spot registration granted a massive advantage during the tournament.

Seeded Trainers would not face other seeded participants during the preliminary rounds. And because almost all truly powerful competitors registered as seeds, seeded participants generally avoided dangerous opponents early in the tournament.

Alex calmly replied, "I want to register for a Seed Spot."

The beautiful woman looked slightly surprised for a brief moment, though her professional smile quickly returned.

"Of course," she said politely. "Please place the six Pokémon that are going to participate in the tournament onto this machine."

She lightly pointed toward a large registration device positioned beside the counter before continuing, "Please keep in mind that once registration is completed, you will no longer be able to change your team afterward. So please choose carefully."

Alex had already made his decision earlier, so he did not hesitate.

After thinking everything through carefully, he had ultimately decided on the following team: Crobat, Scizor, Gardevoir, Blaziken, Umbreon, and Ditto

In the end, Ditto had won the competition for the final slot.

A Ditto capable of using Transform at the Master Rank was just too overpowered in a tournament environment.

Especially against opponents unfamiliar with Ditto's true capabilities, it could easily become a decisive factor in some battles.

Without wasting further time, Alex placed the six Poké Balls onto the registration machine.

The device looked very similar to the machines used during the Kanto Champion Tournament.

As soon as the Poké Balls were placed onto the platform, the machine automatically began scanning them.

Several lines of information immediately appeared on the large screen beside the counter.

The beautiful woman silently examined the displayed data for several seconds. Then her eyes widened slightly in visible surprise.

She looked back at Alex and said with a smile that now appeared far more genuine than before, "Wow… your six Pokémon have an average level of 57.33."

Even some nearby Trainers waiting in line could not help glancing over after hearing that number.

A few showed shocked expressions.

After all, an average level above 55 was extremely high.

The woman continued smiling as she said, "You are actually the strongest Trainer I've personally seen register today."

She quickly finished processing the registration before continuing, "You fully qualify for a Seed Spot."

The machine beside her printed out a small participant card, which she handed toward Alex. "Here is your participant number, If you have any questions regarding the rules, match schedules, battle formats, or tournament procedures, you can find all the relevant information on the official website of the Hoenn Champion Tournament."

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