readytorunbook Chapter 660 - 660: Lily of the Valley Conference Begins
Chapter 660 - 660: Lily of the Valley Conference Begins
A flash of light split across the battlefield."Go—Tropius!"
Ueno's voice rang out, sharp with urgency, as his Poké Ball burst open. A large, leaf-winged Pokémon materialized in midair, its broad wings spreading wide as it let out a deep, resonant cry.
"Trop—!"
Air currents stirred beneath its wingspan. A faint wind swept across the arena as Tropius steadied itself, tense but ready.
[Tropius ♂]
[Level: 45]
[Potential: Elite-tier]
Then Tobias moved.
No announcement. No unnecessary motion.
He simply raised his arm and threw his Poké Ball forward.
Darkness erupted from it.
Not light—not the usual brilliant flash of energy. Darkness. It poured outward like spilled ink, consuming the surrounding brightness and drawing it inward as a chilling presence began to take shape on the field.
The temperature in the arena dropped a noticeable degree.
The atmosphere compressed.
"Dark… rai…"
A low whisper, almost subsonic, resonated through the air as if the sound itself were warping.
Darkrai appeared.
Its body hovered above the ground, a shifting mass of shadow and deep violet mist. A single glowing eye stared outward from beneath the white ruff of its neck, cold and utterly indifferent. Its dark aura pulsed around it like something breathing.
[Darkrai]
[Level: 66]
[Potential: Legendary-tier]
For one full second—
Silence.
Then everything broke at once.
"My god—!"
"Is that Darkrai?!"
"A Legendary Pokémon—at a League tournament?!"
"This Tobias actually has one—!"
Shock rippled through the audience and the watching Trainers alike. Competitors who had been casually observing other matches now stood completely still, eyes fixed on the battlefield. This wasn't rumor anymore. It wasn't speculation passed around the contestant village.
It was real.
Gary watched from the sidelines, Eevee sitting calmly at his feet. His expression remained entirely composed.
"Level 66…"
Similar to what I predicted.
Tobias's Pokémon were indeed above Level 65, just as Gary had estimated. Latios was likely around the same range.
His mind shifted into analysis mode immediately.
Darkrai alone already outclassed standard Elite-tier Pokémon by a significant margin. And Tobias clearly had more depth beyond it—an entire unseen team behind that one opening. Legendary Pokémon possessed inherently higher Species Strength than ordinary Pokémon. Even at equivalent levels, they held a natural statistical advantage.
At lower levels?
That was a deficit before the first move was even called.
Gary exhaled slowly.
The improvement still isn't enough.
His core Sinnoh Pokémon had only just reached Level 60. Against a Legendary operating at Level 66, the numerical and qualitative gap was meaningful.
He shelved the thought.
On the battlefield, Tobias spoke.
"Darkrai."
Just the name.
No command. No gesture.
It was enough.
Dark energy immediately condensed around Darkrai's form, gathering into a dense, pulsing sphere that warped the air around it, bending light at its edges.
Then—
It fired.
BOOM.
Dark Pulse surged forward like a tidal wave of compressed shadow, tearing across the arena and distorting everything in its path.
"Trop—?!"
No time to react. No chance to dodge. The attack connected directly, and Tropius disappeared into the explosion of darkness.
When the pulse dissipated—
Tropius lay crumpled on the arena floor.
One hit.
Knockout.
The silence that followed was unlike anything heard during the qualifiers. Then the murmuring started, quiet and disbelieving.
"…That's it?"
"Instant knockout…"
"It wasn't even close—"
Even seasoned Trainers in the spectator sections couldn't mask their shock.
Gary watched a moment longer, then turned away.
As expected.
With power at that level, the vast majority of competitors wouldn't even push Tobias to reveal a second Pokémon.
Only a handful might realistically force out more.
Ash. Paul.
Perhaps the Trainer with Heatran.
The rest of the field didn't stand a chance.
Afternoon — Second Qualifying Match
Gary returned to his own assigned arena.
He didn't switch Pokémon. There was no need.
"Togekiss."
Efficiency was all that mattered in the qualifiers. The goal wasn't to impress—it was to advance cleanly.
His opponent was a girl who introduced herself as Tomi, her voice carrying a slight tremble of nerves.
"H-Hi. I'm Tomi."
"Gary."
The referee's flag cut downward.
"One-on-one—begin!"
"Go—Ninetales!"
Flames burst outward as Ninetales materialized on the field, its nine luminous tails flowing elegantly behind it.
[Ninetales ♀ — Level 46]
The difference in presence was immediate and obvious. But Tomi didn't hesitate.
"Ninetales—Flamethrower!"
Fire surged across the arena, heat distorting the air between the two Pokémon as it roared toward Togekiss.
Gary remained perfectly still.
"Air Slash."
Togekiss's wings beat once.
A compressed crescent of sharpened air formed in an instant—then launched forward.
The attacks collided.
And the Flamethrower split, cleanly severed down the middle. The Air Slash carved straight through the stream of fire without losing momentum, continuing forward.
"Nine—?!"
There was no time to react. The slash connected.
Impact.
Ninetales was flung backward, tumbling across the arena floor before coming to rest, motionless.
The referee raised his flag immediately.
"Ninetales is unable to battle! Gary wins!"
Gary recalled Togekiss without comment.
Too easy.
The following day — Third qualifying match.
Same outcome.
Togekiss entered. Togekiss attacked. Togekiss won.
Three matches. Three victories. Not a single point of damage taken across all three engagements.
Gary stood at the edge of the field as the final results were tabulated.
That's enough.
Under normal circumstances, three consecutive wins would guarantee a spot in the top sixty-four. But this year's participant pool was unusually large, and the overall caliber was higher than previous years.
More than sixty-four Trainers had ended with perfect qualifying records.
Tiebreakers fell to prior Gym performance and badge history.
Gary wasn't concerned. Ten Gym Badges, combined with his three consecutive regional League Championship titles, placed him comfortably above virtually anyone else in the field.
Advancement was a certainty.
After receiving confirmation of his qualification, Gary gave his team a full rest day.
The qualifiers had been warmups. The real battles hadn't begun yet.
Two days later — Night
The Lily of the Valley stadium blazed with light from every angle.
Tens of thousands of spectators packed the stands from floor to ceiling, their collective voices building into a single, roaring wave of anticipation that vibrated through the structure.
At the center of the arena, the ceremonial torch platform stood elevated above the field. Two figures stepped forward with flames in hand—past champions, chosen to honor the occasion. They raised the torches together.
The sacred fire ignited.
"The flame is lit!"
"The Sinnoh League—Lily of the Valley Conference—officially begins!"
Fireworks erupted above the stadium in cascading waves of color. The crowd's roar redoubled, filling every corner of the massive complex.
Gary stood among the sixty-four qualified finalists in the stadium's presentation area. Eevee sat calmly beside him, its fur catching the reflected light of the fireworks.
Watching.
Calm.
Focused.
It begins.
"Gary! You're in the competition too!"
He turned.
Ash.
Pikachu perched on his shoulder, ears pricked upright.
"Pika—pi!"
Gary shook his head slightly. "You only noticed now? Didn't you see me during the qualifiers?"
Although the qualifiers had been held across different arenas, if Ash had bothered to visit other sections—even briefly—he would have spotted Gary immediately.
But Ash never investigated. He never scouted opponents. He never prepared beyond raw instinct. The fact that he had dared to enter the Sinnoh League using Pokémon primarily caught in the Hoenn Region, without even researching his competition, was peak Ash. If he lost early again, he would have no one to blame but himself.
"No, I was fighting the qualifiers with all my might," Ash said, scratching the back of his head 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's eyes blazed with fighting spirit. It had lost to Gary multiple times over the years, and wanted nothing more than to claim a win.
Gary's expression didn't shift.
"Good fighting spirit. But make sure you don't get eliminated by someone else before we meet—like at the Ever Grande Conference."
Ash froze.
"…!"
That hit.
His loss to Tyson at the Hoenn League had been the most regrettable result of his entire career. He had been just one round away from facing Gary. One more win. And Tyson had taken it from him.
"This time I won't lose!" Ash shot back, fire returning to his voice.
Gary didn't respond. He simply turned his gaze back to the ceremony.
"Now announcing the first-round matchup brackets!"
All sixty-four finalists snapped to attention, every pair of eyes turning toward the massive LCD screen suspended above the arena.
A tournament bracket appeared, filling the screen. All sixty-four ID photos were displayed, paired against one another.
Trainers immediately began scanning for their own names.
Ash found his first. His opening opponent was Nando—just as it had been in the original timeline.
Gary located his own pairing a moment later.
Gary — vs — Jensen
Jensen. A Trainer from the Hoenn Region. About sixteen years old.
Gary found Jensen in the crowd. Their eyes met briefly.
Jensen's expression wasn't good.
Some Trainers who preferred to do their homework had already researched the more prominent competitors during the qualifiers. Gary's record was impossible to miss—three League Conference entries, three Championship victories. That kind of history didn't stay hidden.
On the Pokémon Sports Lottery boards, Gary's odds were absurdly low—barely higher than bank interest rates. And yet massive numbers of bettors were still piling money onto him. As long as the bet was large enough, even tiny odds translated into guaranteed profit.
Some of the more aggressive gamblers had reportedly wagered cars and houses on Gary's victory. If loan interest rates had been lower, they probably would have borrowed to bet even more.
In moments like these, the crowd's collective gambling instinct was operating at full capacity.
After the opening ceremony, the sixty-four finalists returned to the contestant village to rest.
In his room, Gary pulled up the facility's computer terminal and searched for information on Jensen.
Jensen was from the Hoenn Region. During the three qualifying matches, he had used two Pokémon: Aggron and Swampert. Both were Hoenn-native species—likely the core of Jensen's original team and his longest-tenured partners.
The fact that Jensen had reserved his other Pokémon during the qualifiers showed discipline. He was a serious competitor who understood the importance of concealing his full lineup.
Gary noted the data, then closed the screen.
It won't matter.
The following morning.
Stadium D.
Twenty-four Trainers gathered in the outer waiting area, none speaking much. The atmosphere before a real tournament match was fundamentally different from the qualifiers. Heavier. More focused.
Gary entered the waiting room—
And immediately spotted Tobias.
He sat alone in the far corner of the waiting area, completely isolated from the other twenty-three Trainers. Nobody had sat near him. Nobody had approached him. Nobody was speaking within a five-meter radius of his position.
The same invisible pressure Gary had sensed during the qualifiers radiated outward from the man, keeping everyone at an instinctive distance. He sat with his eyes forward, expression unreadable, as though the rest of the room simply didn't exist.
Gary observed him for a moment without moving.
I ended up in the same venue group as him. But the preliminary bracket structure means we can't meet here—not until at least the top eight.
Gary found a seat and settled in.
A thought surfaced, quiet and deliberate.
If I meet Tobias in the preliminary round and eliminate him early…
Then I might end up replacing him as Ash's obstacle.
Ash would never get the chance to face Darkrai at all.
He considered that for a moment.