"Here we are the stadium where I will be crowned champion!" Ash said as he Casey, and Molly made their way through the front gates of the Silver League grounds.
"Don't be so certain about that Ashy boy." Gary teased, walking over to the trio.
"Gary!" Casey growled.
"Down girl, the rules here are different than the rest of the region." Gary said with a chuckle.
"What do you mean different?" Casey asked in confusion.
"Once Gary and I are registered in the competition we can't have a Pokemon Battle outside of the stadium or risk being disqualified." Ash said calmly.
"And since I've already registered I won't be fighting your cheerleaders." Gary commented.
"Big words from the guy who had a squad of cheerleaders last time." A new voice said walking up with another Pikachu.
"Ritchie, man it's been a while since I've seen you." Ash said, seeing his friend from the previous league. "Did you also earn the badges needed to enter the Johto League?"
"Yeah, we got here about a week ago." Ritchie said confidently. "How about you?"
"Just got here, but we're not going to lose this time." Ash said confidently, showing his eight badges.
"Ash, care to introduce us?" Molly asked, walking up.
"Right, Ritchie this is my cousin Molly and our friend Casey." Ash said, introducing the girls.
"Nice to meet the both of you, any friend of Ash's is a friend of mine." Ritchie said, extending his hand.
"Friends are great, but that alone won't win you the league." Gary said. "Ash you should get registered before it gets too late or you'll miss your chance altogether."
"Right! Going!" Ash said, running off with Pikachu hot on his heels.
"Should we follow him?" Casey asked.
"No, he should be fine on his own for that step as long as he remembers to get a big enough room set for the three of us." Molly said. "We should probably go to make sure he does that."
"Good idea!" Casey said as the girls ran after him.
Inside the main area
"Now hold on! I was here first, there's no way I'm letting you register first!" A boys voice said.
"Please tell me Ash isn't about to get into a fight already." Casey groaned, trying to see who it was.
"You must be blind, clearly I was here first, so just lay off of it and let me register already!" Another boys voice said.
"Well, it's not Ash at least." Molly sighed in relief.
"Both of you just calm down." Casey said, sticking her bat between the two boys. "Do neither of you know the rules here?'
"Of course we know the rules!" The first boy in a red jacket said. "But we haven't registered yet."
"And you really think they're going to care if the two of you start a battle right here in the waiting room?" Casey asked. "So save your battling for the arenas."
"What's going on here?" Ash asked walking over. "Is Casey making friends?"
"Hardly, she's stopping two trainers from disqualifying themselves before they even register." Molly said.
"Let them." Ash said with a chuckle. "No one from Kanto or Johto can stop me this time."
"Is that so?!" The second boy with short blonde hair said in offense. "Just so you know we both started our journey from the esteemed Professor Elm!"
"Wait, you two wouldn't happen to be Jimmy and Vincent?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, but how do you know our names?" The boy in the red jacket asked.
"We also started our journey with Pokemon from Professor Elm." Molly said.
"Even him?" The blonde boy asked.
"Nope, I'm already a step ahead, I got my first Pokemon from Professor Oak." Ash said with a smug smirk.
"Well then now we have a common enemy." The boy with the red jacket said. "How about it Vincent, we turn our energy back towards him?"
"Sounds good to me Jimmy." Vincent said with a smirk.
"Then the two of you should get to registration, I think they're closing soon." Ash said, as the two ran off.
"So those were the trainers from New Bark Town, I guess they did make it here after all." Casey said as they left.
"Wait Ash, don't you also have to register still?" Molly asked.
"Already did, and got our rooms. We're in the Gold Tower." Ash said, checking their room assignment. "We have a bit before the opening ceremony, let's check it out!"
At their room
"This is an incredible view!" Casey said, walking through the door sharing the rooms between Ash, and the girls.
"I'm kind of surprised they had a joined room for us." Molly said, walking over.
"Lots of trainers travel in groups, as well as reporters or fans, a lot of the rooms actually have the semi-conjoined rooms." Ash said. "Also the televisions show the battles as they're happening."
"Of course they do." Casey sighed, setting the remote down.
"Don't you have to get to the opening ceremony soon?" Molly asked.
"Yeah, just thinking of all the battles ahead." Ash said looking out at the stadiums for the conference.
A bit later that evening
"Welcome everyone to this years Silver Conference." Mr Pokemon said. "Now if everyone would turn to this years runner, who will now light the ceremonial torch to begin the competition."
Ash and the trainers around him, turned to the main entrance of the field to see a man running, holding a torch lit with a flame.
"This torch holds Ho-oh's flame, the eternal flame of Johto." Mr Pokemon said. "Reminding us all that true Pokemon battling is not just on the field, but every step of the way."
"Thank you for that Mr. Pokemon." A woman's voice said. "For those of you who don't know me I'm DJ Mary from Goldenrod city and I'll be your primary MC for this tournament. We have a lot of tough trainers here this year so we'll be having a couple of screening rounds until there's only 48 of you left." Mary explained. "You'll be getting a number sent to you tonight, and that number will be your match for the first round, and until the screening is done, every match is sudden death, meaning only one Pokemon each, so let' see you all battle your hardest!"
"Single Pokemon rounds." Molly said in shock.
"That means even the slightest mistake can cost an otherwise great trainer the win." Casey said.
"Alright buddy, we're finally here, let's win it all this time." Ash said, looking up at the flame of Ho-oh, illuminating the evening sky.