"Oh! The Emboar sent by contestant Tony is a Shiny Pokémon! It looks amazing!" the host said in surprise.
"Lucky us, there's a Shiny Pokémon in this match."
"It's not bad—consider it a bonus for this battle. But unfortunately, it won't change the ending."
"Hurry up already, I can't wait to collect my money."
Although Shiny Pokémon were rare, the audience was far more interested in the outcome of this match. For many of them, the result of this battle directly concerned the quality of their future lifestyle.
"Emboar, use Heat Crash!" Tony didn't drag things out and attacked with everything he had.
"Boar!!"
A massive amount of flame erupted around Emboar's body. Gary had half expected Blue Flare, but the fire was actually red. Emboar took large strides and charged straight toward Electivire.
Since Tony wanted a quick battle, Gary would satisfy him.
"Thunder Punch!"
"Vire!"
Electric energy burst from Electivire's body. Lightning crackled around it as it rushed forward. Two figures—one burning red, one blazing gold—charged fiercely toward each other.
Boom!!
After the collision, Emboar's heavy body was knocked backward and fell heavily to the ground. It lost consciousness and couldn't rise again.
"Emboar has lost the ability to battle!" the referee announced. "All three of contestant Tony's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner of this match is Gary!"
"Congratulations to Gary for winning all three matches in the preliminary round and successfully advancing to the finals!" the host said.
"Master Gary is invincible!"
"Too strong! He swept them all in seconds again! Master Gary, you really don't belong in this bracket anymore!"
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have been so greedy. I should have just bet on Gary clearing the preliminary round in third place."
"Bro, you don't believe in Master Gary that much? What are you even betting on?"
"Me? I'm betting that Master Gary wins the entire Conference Championship without losing a single Pokémon."
"...You're insane. That's way too greedy."
"I believe in my gut, brother."
Although Gary was overwhelmingly strong, there was no guarantee that an even more powerful Trainer wouldn't appear—and that was exactly what Tobias represented.
Although Gary had performed dominantly in the preliminary round, some argued he still wasn't quite as impressive as Tobias. After all, Tobias had passed every match using only Darkrai—a single Legendary Pokémon that swept everything. Gary had used a different Pokémon each time.
In terms of sheer style, Tobias had a slight edge.
But the two had never faced each other, and the actual outcome was still uncertain.
As Tobias's performances grew more dominant, new betting options appeared on the underground markets—all centered on who would win the championship. Originally, there hadn't even been a betting line for Gary losing. But after Tobias appeared, bookmakers added a Gary vs. Tobias option with odds of roughly 1 to 1.5.
Many people were hesitating. Gary had three consecutive League Championship victories. Tobias had Legendary Pokémon. The crowd couldn't decide who to bet on, and the uncertainty was driving them mad.
After the match, Gary left the field and headed to the Pokémon Center in the contestant village.
In the afternoon, Gary went to watch Ash's match.
Ash was the last person who needed to advance before the finals bracket could be released. Gary normally wouldn't have participated in the Lily of the Valley Conference at all, but because of his presence in the bracket, there was a chance the final matchup schedule could change from the original timeline. He needed to confirm it with his own eyes.
Ash's third-round opponent was Conway. This Conway had appeared multiple times throughout Ash's journey. He was a very tactical Trainer who even used strategies like Trick Room during his battle with Ash—one of the first times Gary had seen such an advanced technique put into actual League combat.
After a hard-fought battle, Ash successfully won his third match. But he had almost lost, because Ash used Gible to fight and somehow defeated Conway's Dusknoir in an utterly unpredictable way.
Gary genuinely couldn't bear to watch.
Anyway, Ash had nearly failed this time.
After Ash won, the matchup system immediately announced the finals bracket.
Eight players had advanced to the finals. Just like the original timeline, it was Ash vs. Paul, and both Tobias and Gary's opponents were other Trainers. According to the bracket, whoever won between Ash and Paul would face Tobias in the next round.
After confirming that the matchup list hadn't changed, Gary left and began preparing to face Tobias.
Back in his room in the contestant village, Gary released Heatran and Darkrai.
[Lv.66 Heatran / Legendary-tier]
[Lv.52 Darkrai (Shiny) / Pseudo-Legendary-tier]
After a period of training, both Pokémon had grown, but only by one level each.
"Dak?"
"Hey?"
Darkrai and Heatran looked at Gary with puzzled expressions, not understanding why he had called them out.
Gary smiled slightly.
"I'm going to improve your strength."
He reached out and placed his hands on both Pokémon simultaneously. He consumed 22 Advanced Rare Candies at once, raising both of their levels to 70.
Together with Togekiss, which was already at Level 70, Gary now had three Champion-level Pokémon. That should be more than enough to handle Tobias.
After reaching Level 70, both Darkrai and Heatran awakened their exclusive signature moves.
To help them adjust, Gary rented a private training facility that evening and let both Pokémon practice their newly mastered techniques until they were comfortable.
The next day.
The day of the finals had arrived.
Gary's first-round opponent was a girl named Zoe. She was a capable Trainer—strong enough to earn her spot in the top eight.
There were four matches scheduled for today—two in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Match 1: Gary vs. Zoe.
Match 2: Tobias vs. Ava.
The Lily of the Valley Conference finals venue was packed.
Gary and Zoe were already standing in their command areas.
In the audience—
"We can see Gary's match again," Dawn said. "But honestly, I feel like Zoe's chances are very low."
After watching Gary's battle against Palmer, Dawn understood exactly how terrifying Gary's real strength was. In this entire Conference, only Tobias could genuinely challenge him.
"Damn it, I don't even have the chance to fight Gary!" Barry gritted his teeth. He had been eliminated by Paul in the preliminaries and was now stuck in the audience watching from the bench.
"Barry, even if you met Gary, you'd definitely lose," Ash reminded him.
"What?! I've become way stronger! It's different from before!" Barry retorted.
"Paul and I both lost to Gary. You lost to Paul. Are you sure you can beat Gary?" Ash said.
"What?! Paul lost to Gary?!"
It was the first time Barry had heard this. He immediately stood up and shouted across several rows of seats to where Paul was sitting.
"Paul! Did you lose to Gary?!"
Paul frowned immediately and ignored Barry completely.
"Hey! Talk to me! Why are you ignoring me? You'll be fined if you act like this!" Barry shouted.
Paul still didn't respond.
Ash and the others immediately tried to calm Barry down before things got more embarrassing. After all, the match was about to begin.