Flash!!
[Lv.45 Tropius / Elite-tier]
[Lv.66 Darkrai / Legendary-tier]
"My god, that's…"
"Darkrai!"
"This Tobias actually owns a Legendary Pokémon!"
The surrounding contestants were stunned. None of them could believe they were seeing a Legendary Pokémon in an official League match.
"Similar to what I expected."
Gary nodded slightly.
Level 66. Just as Gary had guessed. Tobias's Pokémon were indeed above Level 65, which meant Latios was probably around the same level as well.
"It seems my training still isn't enough."
Gary had only just raised his Pokémon to Level 60. Legendary Pokémon naturally had higher species strength than ordinary Pokémon. If the level gap couldn't even be closed, the fight would be very difficult.
Boom!
An explosion echoed.
Darkrai used Dark Pulse and instantly knocked out Tropius.
The Trainers around were shocked by Darkrai's strength. A one-hit knockout against an Elite-tier Pokémon.
Gary glanced once and turned away.
With Tobias's strength, only Ash and Paul might be able to force out his other Pokémon. The rest of the field had no chance at all.
That said, the Trainer with Heatran might also stand a chance—but Gary didn't know if that Trainer would make it through the preliminaries.
In the afternoon.
The second qualifying match began.
Gary didn't switch Pokémon and continued to use Togekiss.
His opponent was a girl named Tomi. Her first Pokémon was a Level 46 Ninetales. With such a level, the outcome was obvious.
Ninetales couldn't damage Togekiss at all and was instantly defeated by Togekiss's Air Slash.
The next day, the third match held no surprises either. Togekiss continued to fight and secured Gary's third straight qualifying victory.
Winning all three qualifier matches would normally guarantee advancement to the preliminary round.
However, there were a lot of Trainers participating in the Lily of the Valley Conference this time. More than sixty-four Trainers had won all three of their matches, so the final cut had to be made based on Gym performance.
Gary obviously wouldn't have a problem. With ten Gym Badges to his name, his advancement was certain.
After being confirmed for the preliminary round, Gary gave his Pokémon a break and waited for the opening ceremony to begin.
Two days later, the opening ceremony officially began.
As with previous League Conferences, the sacred torch was passed first. It wasn't until night fell that the sixty-four advancing Trainers entered the main venue.
The stadium was filled with people, and the sound of cheering filled every corner.
On the torch platform, a man and a woman stood beside the huge torch. Both held torches in their hands and lit the sacred flame together.
"The sacred fire is lit! The Sinnoh League Lily of the Valley Conference officially begins!"
As the words rang out, fireworks exploded across the night sky in dazzling cascades of color.
"Gary! You're in the competition too!"
"Pika!"
Standing in the middle of the venue, Ash and Pikachu had been looking around for familiar faces and finally spotted Gary and Eevee.
Gary shook his head slightly. "You only realized now? Didn't you see me during the qualifiers?"
Although the qualifiers had been split across different areas, if Ash had bothered to check the other arenas, he could have easily found Gary.
This guy really doesn't investigate anything, Gary thought. He'd dared to enter the Sinnoh League using Pokémon he'd caught back in Hoenn, without bothering to look up any of his competition. If he got eliminated again, he'd deserve it.
"No, I was too busy fighting my qualifiers with everything I had!" Ash said sheepishly. "But it doesn't matter. This time, at the Lily of the Valley Conference, I'm definitely going to beat you, Gary!"
"Pika! Pika!"
Pikachu was also fired up.
Pikachu had been defeated by Gary many times. It wanted to win against Gary at least once.
"Good fighting spirit," Gary said. "But make sure you don't get eliminated by some random Trainer like at the Ever Grande Conference. Otherwise you won't even get the chance to fight me."
"Th-That…!"
Ash couldn't say a word.
His loss to Tyson at the Ever Grande Conference last year was the most regrettable moment of his career. If he had won that one match, he could have faced Gary. But he had been defeated by Tyson instead.
"Now the first-round matchups will be displayed!" the host suddenly announced.
The sixty-four contestants present immediately straightened up, their gazes fixed on the massive LCD screen at the center of the venue.
A tournament bracket appeared on the screen, displaying all sixty-four ID photos in their assigned matchups.
Every Trainer began searching for the Rival they would face the next day.
Ash's first-round opponent was Nando, just like in the original storyline.
Gary's Rival was a boy named Jensen. Looking at him, Jensen seemed to be about sixteen years old. Gary spotted him in the crowd—Jensen also looked back at Gary, but the expression on his face wasn't particularly good.
Some Trainers who liked to research their opponents had already investigated the more prominent contestants during the qualifiers.
Gary had participated in three League Conferences and won all three Championships. It was almost impossible for someone like him not to attract attention.
On the Pokémon Sports Lottery, although Gary's odds were extremely low—barely better than bank interest—there were still plenty of people betting on him. As long as the bet was large enough, the profit was guaranteed.
Among the peripheral betting markets, many people had directly wagered cars and houses on Gary. If loan interest rates hadn't been so high, some of them would have borrowed money just to bet more.
At times like this, the collective intelligence of gamblers always reached its peak.
After the opening ceremony.
The sixty-four contestants returned to the contestant village to rest.
In his assigned room, Gary used the computer terminal to look up information on Jensen.
Jensen was a Trainer from the Hoenn Region. During his three qualifying matches, he had only used two Pokémon: Aggron and Swampert. It was clear that Jensen had taken the qualifiers seriously and was deliberately concealing his full team. Both Aggron and Swampert were Hoenn-native Pokémon, likely the first batch he had personally raised.
The sixty-four contestants were divided across four stadiums for the preliminary round. Gary was assigned to Stadium D, and his match against Jensen would be the third match of the next morning.
The matches began at nine o'clock. A 3-on-3 battle usually ended in just over ten minutes at most, so Gary's match would come around quickly.
The next day.
The Sinnoh League Lily of the Valley Conference preliminary round officially began.
Gary arrived at Stadium D early in the morning to prepare for his match.
The twenty-four contestants assigned to Stadium D were all sitting in their designated seats.
"Tobias!"
The moment Gary entered, he immediately spotted Tobias, who sat surrounded by an oppressive aura.
Tobias was sitting alone in a corner, completely separate from everyone else. None of the other contestants were willing to approach him.
"So I ended up in the same stadium group as him," Gary thought to himself. "We won't meet during the preliminary round, though."
If they happened to meet in the preliminary round, Gary could possibly replace Tobias and end up being the one to defeat Ash again.