With Aiden throwing the question back to them, the other ten powerful Trainers in the room fell into deep thought.
After a long silence, Brandon—the only other person present who owned Legendary Pokémon—spoke first.
"Secondary Legendary Pokémon should be permitted to participate. Does everyone agree?"
The room remained silent for a while.
Cynthia and Lorelei were the first to respond.
"We agree that secondary Legendary Pokémon should be allowed."
Steven, Wallace, and Lance soon voiced their agreement as well.
No matter what else could be said, they were all confident that they possessed enough strength to defeat secondary Legendary Pokémon.
Once more than half of the Champions had agreed, Diantha and Alder also gave their approval.
Geeta followed suit.
At that point, even if Leon objected, it would no longer matter.
Thus, he could only agree as well.
"Then what about primary Legendary Pokémon?"
Leon looked around the room.
"I think I can say this plainly."
"If primary Legendary Pokémon are allowed to participate without restrictions, then Aiden will undoubtedly become the final winner of this so-called world tournament."
"Am I wrong?"
Although no one wanted to admit it, Leon was stating the truth.
However, most of the people present had good relationships with Aiden.
At the very least, the Champions of Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh were all closely connected to him.
They could hardly propose banning Aiden from using primary Legendary Pokémon outright.
Besides, who knew whether there were other unaffiliated Trainers in the world who possessed Legendary Pokémon?
Being acknowledged by a Legendary Pokémon was also proof of a Trainer's ability.
They could not simply prohibit Legendary Pokémon altogether.
In the end, Lance spoke.
"How about this?"
"Taking Champion Leon's concerns into consideration, I propose that secondary Legendary Pokémon be allowed without restriction."
"However, each Trainer may use only one primary Legendary Pokémon per battle."
"What does everyone think?"
The others considered the suggestion carefully.
Allowing only one primary Legendary Pokémon in each battle while placing no restrictions on secondary Legendaries was already showing Aiden a great deal of respect.
They had to leave the other competitors at least some hope of defeating him.
Facing one primary Legendary Pokémon was terrifying enough, but it would not inspire the same despair as facing an entire team of them.
For Aiden, however, being restricted to a single primary Legendary Pokémon was practically no restriction at all.
With the overwhelming strength of such a Pokémon, even if an opponent sent out all six of their main partners, they would almost certainly still lose.
Besides, did they truly believe Aiden was powerful only because he possessed Legendary Pokémon?
Were all the other main Pokémon he had trained supposed to be useless?
Leon initially appeared ready to say something else.
However, after thinking it over, he realized that if he continued pressing the issue, Aiden might genuinely become angry.
This restriction was already the best possible outcome.
Any harsher rules would make it obvious that they were specifically targeting Aiden.
"I agree."
Diantha was the first to give her approval.
Although this was far from her first meeting with Aiden, she understood his strength extremely well.
Restricting him to one primary Legendary Pokémon was already a favorable rule for everyone else.
At the very least, the world's top Champions would still possess some possibility of fighting him.
If the restrictions became so severe that Aiden refused to participate, then any competition claiming to determine the strongest Trainer in the world would become a joke.
"I agree as well."
The second person to support the proposal was Alder, the Champion of Unova.
He was already getting on in years and had begun to feel that his strength was declining.
Retirement was no longer far from his mind.
To everyone's surprise, Aiden himself also accepted the rule.
"I agree."
He then looked at Leon with amusement, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"But Leon, do you really believe I can't defeat you without using Legendary Pokémon?"
Leon had actively traveled to Hoenn to challenge him.
After being thoroughly crushed by Black Rayquaza, he had now raised the possibility of restricting primary Legendary Pokémon.
It was honestly rather ridiculous.
Once Aiden agreed, Steven, Wallace, Cynthia, Lorelei, and the others also voiced their support.
With more than half the votes in favor, the rule was officially established.
Hearing Aiden's challenge, Leon smiled confidently.
"If we're only using ordinary Pokémon, I will never lose to anyone."
Aiden laughed.
"I'm not the only person who may defeat you in an ordinary Pokémon battle."
"In the future, there will be others as well."
"You can wait and see."
With that, Aiden left the Pokémon League headquarters at Mt. Silver.
Now that the rules had been settled, each regional League would be responsible for announcing the tournament.
The first stage would consist of battles among Gym Leaders and other near-Elite Four Trainers in the Great Ball Tier.
Those matches would uncover powerful Trainers capable of advancing into the Ultra Ball Tier.
Only then would the true stage for Aiden and the others begin.
The Ultra Ball Tier would primarily consist of regional Champions, Vice Champions, and members of the Elite Four.
Retired Elite Four members would also be allowed to participate, along with the strongest Trainers promoted from the Great Ball Tier.
Although only eight Great Ball Tier Trainers were currently expected to advance, the organizers intended to gather a total of sixty-four competitors to ensure the Ultra Ball Tier tournament could proceed smoothly.
Those sixty-four Trainers would compete for the eight positions in the Master Ball Tier—
The Masters Eight.
The Trainers already confirmed to enter the Ultra Ball Tier directly were as follows:
Kanto League
Champion Lance, Vice Champion Lorelei, Vice Champion Brandon, Ice-type Elite Four Pryce, Poison-type Elite Four Agatha, Fighting-type Elite Four Bruno, Psychic-type Elite Four Sabrina, former Fire-type Elite Four Blaine, and Orange League Champion-level Trainer Drake.
Total: Nine Trainers
Hoenn League
Champion Aiden Flint, Vice Champion Steven, Vice Champion Wallace, Dragon-type Elite Four Drake, Ice-type Elite Four Glacia, Ghost-type Elite Four Phoebe, Dark-type Elite Four Sidney, and former Water-type Elite Four Juan.
Total: Eight Trainers
Sinnoh League
Champion Cynthia, Psychic-type Elite Four Lucian, Electric-type Elite Four Volkner, Fire-type Elite Four Flint, Bug-type Elite Four Aaron, and retired Ground-type Elite Four Bertha.
Total: Six Trainers
Unova League
Champion Alder, Fighting-type Elite Four Marshal, Psychic-type Elite Four Caitlin, Dark-type Elite Four Grimsley, and Ghost-type Elite Four Shauntal.
Total: Five Trainers
Kalos League
Champion Diantha, Dragon-type Elite Four Drasna, Steel-type Elite Four Wikstrom, Water-type Elite Four Siebold, and Fire-type Elite Four Malva.
Total: Five Trainers
Since the Alola League currently had no Champion, it would send several island kahunas to compete in the Great Ball Tier.
As long as they won their matches, they would naturally advance into the Ultra Ball Tier.
Paldea League
Champion Geeta, Dragon-type Elite Four Hassel, Flying-type Elite Four Larry, Steel-type Elite Four Poppy, and Ground-type Elite Four Rika.
Total: Five Trainers
Altogether, thirty-eight Trainers had already secured direct entry into the Ultra Ball Tier.
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