Chapter six (HK PKMN)

Harry was ready for the Silver Conference to finally begin. He, his brother, and Gary were all registered for the conference.... Sadly Ash and Gary still weren't getting along, and Gary was being much nicer.

"Chill you two," Harry said. "So, Gary. You traveling to Hoenn after this?"

"I'm not sure yet," Gary replied.

"Oh well. The screenings will begin soon." Harry replied, before leaving to prepare.

Harry was extremely pleased with his performance in the pre-screening rounds. None of his Pokemon had fainted and Harry consistently outperformed his opponents and he demonstrated much greater skill as a trainer. His Pokemon were one-hitting other Pokemon; especially his older and much stronger Pokemon. Harry easily earned his place in the Top 48.

The Top 48 were requested to get in line for the opening ceremony; that included Harry, so he complied, eager for the *real* competition to begin.

Harry made sure that he, Ash, and Gary were near each other in the line up.

"So, Harry, I heard that you trained on Mount Silver..." Gary began. "How'd that go?"

"I caught several powerful Pokemon and leveled up my Pokemon to extreme levels of power." Harry withdrew his Pokedex and showed Gary his numbers for Pokemon caught. "I also caught one of each Pokemon out of sheer boredom. If I defeat the Kanto Elite Four and Champion then I would be a Pokemon Master... at least for Kanto."

"Did you meet Red?" Gary asked, and several trainers looked interested in Harry's answer.

"Nah, the Pokemon were too strong around that area and I had to think about my Pokemon's health and well-being. I'll get to him eventually though and battle him."

"So you can lose?" Gary asked in amusement.

"If I lose then I'll just train harder and then battle him again."

Fortunately, the competitors began entering the stadium. Harry stopped with the other competitors and waited for Pokemon League President, Charles Goodshow, to make the opening speech.

"Skillful and excited participants, now that the Ho-Oh's sacred flame is watching over all of you, battle with honesty, integrity, and honor so that you will never regret a single moment of your time here." Mr. Goodshow said, thankfully keeping the speech short and sweet.

Harry's first opponent in the semi-finals was Darren from Cianwood City. Darren had his Donphan one-hit by Swampert's Hydro Pump and his Victreebel and Typhlosion got the same treatment from Ice Beam and Hydro Pump, respectively.

Harry's next opponents were far easier to beat and Harry was soon left watching his competition.... Harry identified Harrison from Littleroot Town, Ash, and Gary as his best competition. Harrison thought he was being sneaky by not having his Blaziken wear the Blazikenite that he had, but Harry noticed the Key Stone that Harrison was wearing and was already well-aware of Harrison's 'secret weapon'. Harry just hoped that he had already tested it and could actually control it. If he couldn't... well, people could die.

Harry was still pleased to be in the Top 16 and was pleased that Ash had made it too. Gary and Ash would finally be facing each other in the second battle in the Top 16, and Harry would be going second. Ash had already easily defeated Macy in the Top 16, with her Fire-type Pokemon easily being defeated by Totodile and Gyarados, and her Starmie and Electabuzz being defeated by Gyarados too.

The battle between Gary and Ash was epic, Harry would freely admit that, but Gary was still better at training Pokemon; Ash would improve though and he was already showing signs of improvement. Sadly, Harry could already tell that Gary was already considering giving up being a trainer, which Harry found truly stupid. Harry tried convincing Gary not to give up... but it seemed that Gary had already decided. Gary had at least Elite Four potential, maybe even Champion potential, and Harry didn't want him to let that go.

Harry was to be the third to battle in the Top 16, and he was hoping for an actual challenge, and as he noticed the two Key Stone's worn by his opponent Alex, Harry believed that he just might get his wish.

"This battle will be a full on six-on-six battle, with both trainers allowed unlimited substitutions and the battle will have no time limit. Furthermore, when one or both trainers lose three Pokemon, there will be a short intermission." The referee said and Harry nodded in understanding.

"Go Heracross!" Alex said, with clear confidence. The Mega Stone it was wearing was probably the reason for his confidence, which Harry found quite sad.

"Go Blaziken!" Harry responded boredly.

"Heracross! Mega Evolve!" Alex said, to the awe of nearly everyone. Everyone watched as power emitted from Alex's Key Stone and Heracross and light enveloped Heracross as it evolved into its Mega-Evolved form. When it had finished evolving, Alex was extremely confident and was smirking.

Harry merely rolled his eyes and ordered Blaziken to use Blast Burn... Harry watched with detachment as Blaziken bathed the battlefield in its fire, quickly defeating the low level Mega Heracross.

"Heracross is unable to battle! Alex send out your next Pokemon!"

"There called levels! Take them into account!" Harry called out to his shocked opponent.

"Go Gyarados!" Alex said, and promptly ordered a Hydro Pump, which was met by a Solar Beam that plowed right through the much weaker Gyarados' attack and struck Gyarados... easily defeating it. Harry estimated that Alex's Gyarados was only around level 60, and no where near a match in a contest of power with his Blaziken that was at level 100.

"Gyarados is unable to battle! Alex send out your next Pokemon!"

"Go Jolteon!" Alex said, quickly having it use a Thunder Wave that had no effect due to the heat channeled within Blaziken's body. Harry was very proud that all of his Fire-types could all do that.

A quick Brick Break easily defeated Jolteon, shocking Alex to his core.

After a short break, they were back to battle and Alex had decided to place his hopes on his first Pokemon, and sent out his Typhlosion.

It was ordered to use Flame Wheel, which it was knocked out of by Thunder Punch and then hit with Focus Blast.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle! Alex send out your next Pokemon." The referee said, and Alex thought about it and instead decided to forfeit.

"The winner by forfeit is Hadrian Ketchum from Pallet Town," the referee said.

"Did you have to humiliate me?" Alex asked angrily.

"After you dismissed me because of your Mega-Evolved Heracross? Yes, I did. Your arrogance needed a major reduction. Your Pokemon are nearly Elite Four level and retraining until the next conference will help you improve. Mega-Evolving your Pokemon doesn't guarantee you victory... you didn't even order Mega Heracross to do anything. You just stood there smirking like you were expecting me to forfeit." Harry replied, angering Alex. "I'm a former champion and it'll take much more than a low level Mega-Evolved Pokemon to intimidate me."

Harry's next opponent in the finals was Jon Dickson. Jon was reasonably talented but his Pokemon were all weak and easily dealt with. His Pokemon were all beaten fairly easily by Sceptile and Swampert. That put Harry in the Top 8.

After another battle won, Harry was in the Top 4.

Unfortunately, Harrison from Hoenn defeated Ash, barely, and advanced to the Top 4, and Harrison barely won his next battle without his heavily injured Blaziken. It was down to Harry, Harrison, Rick from Hoenn, and some random trainer who's name Harry didn't know. Of them, only Rick and his well-known Legendary Birds were a threat to him.

Harry would be battling Harrison next and he intended to win.

"This battle will be a full on six-on-six battle, with both trainers allowed unlimited substitutions and the battle will have no time limit. Furthermore, when one or both trainers lose three Pokemon, there will be a short intermission." The referee said and Harry and Harrison both nodded in understanding. "Trainers send out your first Pokemon!" The referee said. Harrison sent out Kecleon and Harry sent out his Charizard.

"Use Psybeam!" Harrison ordered, starting the battle off. Harry had Charizard charge through it and use Slash.... Harrison was shocked at the speed and brutality and shocked even further when his Kecleon was quickly left unable to battle. Harry was just pleased that he didn't have to deal with that annoying invisibility.

"Kecleon is unable to battle. Harrison, send out your next Pokemon." The referee said.

"Go Hypno!" Harrison said. Harrisoned order Hypnosis and Harry ordered Flare Blitz and then had it followed up with Shadow Claw.

"Hypno is unable to battle. Harrison, send out your next Pokemon."

Having no choice, Harrison sent out his fully recovered Blaziken and then promptly Mega-Evolved it to be safe.

"Use Quick Attack!" Harrison ordered, believing that close combat would be best.

Harry calmly ordered a close range Hyper Beam that blasted Blaziken across the battle field and heavily injured it. Charizard quickly took flight and then used Aerial Ace, defeating the weakened Blaziken.

"Mega Blaziken is unable to battle! Since Harrison has lost three Pokemon, we will take a short break."

Harry was unaware of the reactions that he was causing all over the world and in the audience....

Lance and the Elite Four recognized that Harry was at the Champion-level. Lance was confident that Harry would defeat Rick and save him the annoyance.

Most people watching already believed that Harry would win and become champion, some were withholding their judgement, but they were all part of a very small minority.

Harry's family, Gary Oak and Professor Oak, and sixteen Gym Leaders were all very impressed and in awe of his skills as a trainer and his powerful Pokemon. Ash was further inspired by his minutes older and much more talented brother... Ash decided then and there to train much harder. Gary Oak decided to become a Professor, knowing that Pallet Town's reputation was in good hands with the Ketchum brothers battling. As for Professor Oak... he was reminded of his grandson Blue; Gary's cousin and Samuel's grandson through his eldest son, and of Red and Green. Harry was exceptionally skilled had similar skills to the Fighter, the Trainer, and the Evolver. Samuel knew that it would be Harry who became the strongest of the Pallet Town Pokedex... he already was, after all, and he only needed to maintain his strength.

Harrison's Sneasel was easily defeated by Blaziken and his Miltank was less than nothing against it. Focus Blast decimated his Houndoom, avoiding the possible Counter move, and Steelix was one-shot with Blast Burn.

"The winner is Hadrian Ketchum from Pallet Town!" the referee said, to cheers.

**Later that night....**

Harry and Rick from Hoenn were scheduled to battle the next day for the Champion title, but Rick seemed to already believe he had won though... he was walking around with his head held high and sneering at almost everyone.

"More food for the future Champion of Kanto!" Rick yelled, annoying everyone. "The first thing I'm gonna do as champion is create a new age requirement on these competitions! And I'll ban Mega-Evolved Pokemon!" Rick said loudly.

Having tired of Rick's arrogance, Harry spoke up. "Good thing you aren't going to win then! No one needs to see you run and hide behind your Legendaries when your sole advantage is neutralized! Besides, Lance would wipe the floor with you. You're basically a helpless infant without your Legendaries." Harry said, angering Rick and amusing everyone that he had annoyed.

"Just don't take the embarrassing defeat that you'll suffer too hardly. Once the humiliation is over you can finally learn how to train Pokemon instead of exploiting the powers of the Legendary Birds and still getting beaten by the Hoenn Elite Four. I mean people are laughing at you! They call you Rick the Prick! They all believe that those victories rightfully belong to Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos... and they're right." Rick looked enraged.

"The only reason that none of these people have said anything is because they know that you'll never become champion here and that you're a joke. You can't even get past the Hoenn Elite Four with your Legendaries!"

"I'll break your Pokemon, Ketchum!" Rick spat angrily, shocking those listening.

"Good luck with that amateur hour," Harry replied mockingly. "Legendary Pokemon aren't a valid substitute for actual skill and the only thing that you've done is make yourself a laughing stock in two regions."

"I'll do what my cousin couldn't and defeat you!" Rick yelled.

"Your cousin?" Harry asked boredly.

"Bill! You defeated him at the Indigo Conference!" Rick snarled.

"That explains it.... It explains everything." Harry said in faux realization, confusing Bill and calming him down. "Bill got all the training skill for your entire gene pool!" Harry added, causing a lot of laughter and more anger from Bill.

Officer Jenny soon entered and made both trainers behave.

Harry stuck around just long enough for Rick to be escorted away; having been illegally drinking, which explained quite a lot in Harry's opinion. Still, Rick would be allowed to compete; despite peoples protests. Legendary Pokemon were great press and seeing them in battle was too valuable for the Pokemon League not to allow to happen and then to market the hell out of. The Pokemon League's greed would be useful to Harry too, he might have to publicly unveil his access to Mega Evolution to the world.

It was finally the day of the Johto League Silver Conference final, and after today either Harry or Rick would be known as one of the best trainers in Kanto. Harry had prepared obsessively for his battle with Rick and was going to leave this conference the big winner. Harry was very confident in his strategy and believed that if circumstances remained in his favor then he could win with four or more Pokemon remaining.

Rick was trying to look confident, but it was hard to do when hung-over, and all the cheering for Harry was giving him a migraine from hell. Rick's behavior last night had been spread around and most of the audience disliked him now, and Rick was annoyed by the glares directed his way.

Harry was supremely confident. His strategy was very simple... Charizard would attempt a team sweep to severely humiliate Rick. If successful, and it should be due to Charizard's extreme power, it would heavily demoralize Rick and make him an even bigger laughing stock. In terms of levels, Charizard was at level 125 and was also a familiar, which further enhanced his power. It was basically at a level over 170 and had underwent intense training.

"This will be a full six-on-six battle with unlimited substitutions allowed and shall have no time limit. The winner will leave here the winner of the Indigo League, win one million Pokedollars and other prizes, and gain the right to challenge the Johto Elite Four and the reigning Champion, Lance." President Goodshow said. "Today you will all get to see Legendary Pokemon in action and perhaps even see one of them defeated."

Rick snorted in derision.

Goodshow nodded to the referee to start the match.

"Trainers send out your first Pokemon!" The referee said. Rick sent out his Sceptile and Harry sent out his Charizard, which roared a challenge to Sceptile. "Begin!"

"Leaf Blade!" Rick called out. Harry had Charizard dodge and take flight, and begin barraging Sceptile with Flamethrower from a safe distance... weakening it for the finishing strike while pacing himself for the other five. An Aerial Ace from Charizard and Rick's Sceptile was defeated.

"Sceptile is unable to battle. Rick, send out your next Pokemon."

Rick sent out Swampert and Harry kept Charizard in play, already planning Swampert's defeat.

Rick had Swampert use Hydro Pump, but it was overpowered by a Solar Beam that one-hit Swampert. Rick looked shocked, but he was a creature of habit and used his Hoenn Starters to weaken his opponents.

"Swampert is unable to battle. Rick, send out your next Pokemon."

"Go Blaziken! Flare Blitz!" Rick said.

"Meet it head on! Aerial Ace!" Harry countered and Rick, being a dumb brute, had Blaziken meet it head-on... ending with Blaziken on the ground and heavily damaged. Harry coldly ordered an Air Slash that left Blaziken unable to battle.

"Blaziken is unable to battle! Since Rick has lost three Pokemon, we will take a short break."

Rick was shocked to his core and panicking. He had three Pokemon defeated in less than three minutes. He *knew* that Ketchum was making an example of him with a team sweep and he couldn't forfeit. He had to beat the kids Charizard and then five more Pokemon. His best hope was Zapdos or Moltres... and Articuno would probably get beat the easiest.

When the battle restarted, Rick sent out his Zapdos and had it use Thunderbolt on Charizard... which did absolutely nothing due to special training for Charizard. The response was brutal... a Hyper Beam from Charizard, followed up by a Giga Impact, and then, to almost everyone's shock, a Dragon Claw that left Zapdos unable to battle.

Awed mutterings broke out from those watching, not just in the audience, but those watching on TV. His Charizard was so powerful and highly trained that it could use immense power without resting. Anyone watching knew by now that Harry would win this... perhaps with only his Charizard.

"Go! Moltres! Use Ancient Power!"

"Dodge and then get close!" Harry called out, but Charizard took some damage while obeying. "Hyper Beam!" Harry ordered once Charizard was in range.

"Solar Beam!" Rick ordered, despite Zapdos suffering.

"Dodge, Charizard!" Harry ordered, but Charizard was hit in the chest by the Solar Beam. Once Charizard recovered, it replied with a Giga Impact and then another Hyper Beam, defeating the lower leveled albeit Legendary Pokemon. Zapdos was beaten, but Charizard was now at 70% of its full strength.

"Moltres is unable to battle. Rick, send out your next Pokemon."

"Go Articuno! Use Blizzard!"

"Use Flamethrower!" Harry ordered, knowing that keeping heat circulating would only help Charizard. It was dodged and Rick also added Hail to the equation, damaging Charizard further.

After a look from Charizard and him tapping his Mega Stone, Harry decided that it was time to go public.

"Charizard! Mega Evolve!" Harry said, to the surprise of almost everyone but those who guessed that he was saving it. Surprise turned into awe as power emitted from Harry's Mega Ring and Charizard and light enveloped Charizard as he evolved into his Mega-Evolved form. A higher level Pokemon that was Mega-Evolved and had a type advantage. This would be fun, and Rick looked terrified!

"Flamethrower!" Harry ordered, Charizard obeyed but Articuno dodged and was hit by the real attack, a Flare Blitz that was followed up Fire Blast, blasting Articuno into the ground... unconscious.

"Articuno is unable to battle. The winner of the battle and Silver conference is Hadrian Ketchum from Pallet Town!" The referee said, and the crowd broke out into deafening cheers.

"Hadrian has done it again!" The announcer said in awe. "For those who don't know, this is Hadrian's second championship win in a row and second over all! Not only that, but Hadrian has surpassed his own achievement and none of his Pokemon fainted during the entire Silver Conference! This is to be expected; in my opinion, of course. He was offered a place in the Johto Elite Four before even participating in the Silver Conference and was rumored to have trained on Mount Silver for six months before the Silver Conference!"

"Here comes the Johto Champion, Lance, and President Charles Goodshow to present Hadrian with his trophy and other winnings!" The announcer said as Lance and President Goodshow walked towards Harry.

"Congratulations once more, Hadrian!" Pres. Goodshow said jovially.

"Yes, congratulations, Harry. You are beginning to tap into your potential as a trainer and your dominance here proves it." Lance said. "I shudder to imagine you at your prime!"

"Thanks, Lance. It means a lot to hear that from someone of your standing." Harry replied, pleased with the compliment.

"I, too, am in awe of your skills... and at the mere age of twelve!" Goodshow said. "Congratulations on your winning of the Silver Conference, Hadrian! I present you with your trophy; proof of your victory, and one million Pokedollars will be transferred into your account. Your winning the Silver Conference grants you the right to challenge Johto's Elite Four and Lance at any time you desire, and you will bear the title Champion of the Silver Conference until next year."

"I wish you luck and many more victories, Harry. I hope that someday you'll set your sights on both of these championships...." Lance said, before he and President Goodshow excused themselves. Harry was left wondering why Lance wanted him to defeat him... maybe Lance wanted him to succeed him.

While thinking about that, the reporters managed to get to him.

"Congratulations, Harry," one reporter said. "What's next for you?"

"The Hoenn League and hopefully another championship win." Harry replied.

"You are now known for disdaining trainers who use Legendary Pokemon... can you expound on that."

"Yes, I would love too. Legendary Pokemon are naturally very powerful, some would say they are overly powerful and it's not even a by-product of a bond between trainer and Pokemon, but merely the result of a lucky or targeted capture. I consider using them in battles for badges, money, or titles a sign of weakness and exploitation of what are essentially endangered species of Pokemon. Anyone who uses them for such can have their victories questioned and attributed to those Legendary Pokemon.... They don't grow as a trainer as much or possibly at all by obsessing on the powers and abilities of their legendaries instead of growing their others." The reporter nodded, but Harry wasn't finished.

"At the risk of sounding arrogant... my Pokemon and I are proof of the merits of hard work, commitment, and bonding and training with your Pokemon. As are many others and their own Pokemon, of course."

"I think what a lot of people are curious about is Mega Evolution, so what is it?" A reporter asked. "You seemed unsurprised by Bill having it, Alex having it, or Harrison having it and you were able to counter each of them without accessing it for yourself. This implies knowledge of it, possibly greater knowledge than others to me."

"Mega Evolved Pokemon are actually their own species of Pokemon for one thing. Each Pokemon must hold a specific object, a Mega Stone, which is unique to their species, and the trainer must have a Key Stone. Mega Evolution is very dangerous and requires a strong bond between both trainer and Pokemon, if the bond isn't strong enough then the Pokemon could go berserk and possibly even go on a killing spree. Mega Evolution should be first attempted in a controlled environment and with people on hand to defeat or contain the possibly rampant Pokemon."

"As for my awareness of it, I intensely study myths and legends from around the world. Defeating Mega Evolution? Few if any things are truly invincible and strategy can easily overcome Mega Evolution with the right circumstances. Bill was arrogant and rejoiced in his victory before he had it... he was never going to win that battle; his Pokemon weren't high enough level to defeat my others and having my Gengar use Explosion and Destiny Bond was redundant and largely because I was bored of him. Alex was arrogant too, and that was his down fall. Harrison's Pokemon were largely beaten by overwhelming power."

"All are gifted trainers, however. But to win championships you need to go beyond their last known skill levels and their Pokemon's last known levels. Of them all, Bill has Elite Four or Champion potential. Alex could be a champion if he works hard. Harrison needs to retire his Kecleon and Miltank or level them up extremely high to compensate for them just not being an impressive species of Pokemon, but he won't do that and likely won't ever excel like other trainers."

"What Pokemon are capable of Mega Evolution?"

"The Kanto and Hoenn starters, Alakazam, Gengar, Gyarados, Ampharos, Scizor, Heracross, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Aggron, Pidgeot, Gardevoir, Steelix, and those are just the ones that I know of." Harry replied, but he was withholding a lot of information. Harry knew that a lot more Pokemon could Mega Evolve.

Thankfully the reporters were eventually satisfied and Harry was free to leave.

Harry's brief pre-Hoenn vacation was enjoyable and productive.

Harry's newly owned property, Pokemon Land, had finally been repurposed; the damaged robots were all dismantled and sold for scrap metal and some of the rare earth materials were also sold. It was now fully converted into a festival and tournament grounds and was booked completely solid for several months. Until Harry was ready for phase two of his plans, it would be steadily earning him money to invest in its future. It was estimated to turn profitable in a year, which was mostly due to Harry demanding as much of their losses be recovered with salvage as possible.

The mines on Ketchum Island were now productive, with magic having been used to mine it in Harry's spare time and with some Pokemon helping, and Harry had another source of wealth to invest with. Harry also sold his acquired gold and silver from his travels for just over two million Pokedollars, which was good. It was just sitting in one of his vaults and taking up space.

It was fossil hunting that completed one of Harry's most ambitious goals... he now had his sixth dragon-type... and yet another water-type and a ground-type.

With Ash leaving early, Harry also left early to keep an advantage. He had already acquired the Pokemon from Sinnoh that he wanted and would be slowly training them in Hoenn while winning badges and battles.