Wham!!
Gothitelle was struck by Megahorn and sent flying backward. It crashed to the ground and couldn't get back up.
"Gothitelle has lost the ability to battle. Rhyperior wins!" the referee announced.
Rhyperior had shaken off the confusion while underground. It didn't remember Gothitelle's exact position, but it had retained a rough sense of where Gothitelle should be and committed to the attack anyway.
Gary saw that Rhyperior had surfaced close enough to Gothitelle and immediately understood that the confusion had ended. He issued the final command without hesitation.
This was the bond shared by old partners.
It really is worthy of Master Gary... too strong, Maya sighed inwardly as she silently recalled Gothitelle.
Maya had never truly believed she could defeat Gary. What she wanted was much simpler: to defeat even one of Gary's Pokémon. Although she still hadn't achieved that goal, she felt she had come close. The damage Gothitelle had dealt should have been substantial.
"Infernape, I'm counting on you!" Maya sent out her final Pokémon.
Flash!
[Lv.48 Infernape / Elite-tier]
Her final Pokémon was Infernape. This should be Maya's ace. It had Elite-tier potential, and reaching this level already showed that Maya had raised it quite well.
"Infernape, Mach Punch!"
Maya attacked fiercely the moment Infernape hit the field.
Infernape accelerated with Mach Punch, moving fast enough that Rhyperior didn't even try to outspeed it. Rhyperior simply crossed its arms in front of its body and took the hit head-on.
Bang!
After taking Infernape's Mach Punch, Rhyperior immediately reached out to grab it. But Infernape was quick enough to step back and avoid being caught.
"Stone Edge!" Gary ordered.
Rhyperior stomped heavily on the ground.
Infernape was already prepared to dodge, but when Rhyperior stomped, no rocks appeared beneath its own feet. Instead, the ground beneath Infernape suddenly split open, and a stone blade shot upward in a surprise attack.
Bang!!
Infernape had never expected Stone Edge to be used like that. The rock blade stabbed into its side and launched it into the air. The sudden pain was enough to make it faint instantly.
Bang!!
Infernape hit the ground hard, kicking up dust—and it couldn't rise again.
"Infernape has lost the ability to battle," the referee announced. "All three of Maya's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner of this match is Gary."
This battle had taken a little longer than most of Gary's other matches. If Rhyperior had avoided the Sleep Powder earlier, the match would have ended much faster.
"What a terrifying Rhyperior. Its level completely overwhelms the Trainers competing in this Conference."
"Exactly. This Gary is basically a bug. If it weren't for the age restriction, he'd probably already be banned from entering."
"It's fine, I've made enough money over the past few years. Thanks to Master Gary, I can basically lie down and enjoy life now."
"That's right. With a Trainer like Master Gary, you don't even have to work under someone else's orders."
The match ended.
Gary didn't remain on the field any longer than necessary. He went straight to the Pokémon Center in the contestant village and handed Rhyperior over to Nurse Joy for treatment.
"Master Gary, thank you for the battle today. Could... could I get your autograph?" Maya asked as she approached him there. She still remembered what Gary had agreed to before the match.
"Sure. I'll sign for you."
Gary was happy to fulfill Maya's request and signed for her.
Thinking about it carefully, this was actually the first time Gary had ever signed an autograph for a fan.
After all, he had never participated in any commercial activities. As a result, Gary's fans had no official merchandise to buy, so they could only settle for pirated items related to him.
For example, Team Rocket's trio had apparently been selling Gary-themed dolls and making a lot of money off them, although Gary had no idea. If he ever found out, he would absolutely make them pay image rights fees.
At 4:30 PM, the third-round matchups were announced.
This time, Gary didn't wait in the Pokémon Center. He stayed in his room.
"Tony."
Gary's third-round opponent was named Tony, a Trainer from the Unova Region. He was sixteen years old and right on the edge of no longer being eligible to participate in League Conferences.
According to the latest rules set by the League, only Trainers under the age of sixteen could participate in a regional League Conference. Anyone older was not allowed to enter.
Gary calculated his own age—he was about to turn fourteen. At most, that meant he could only participate in two more League Conferences.
If he counted carefully, that lined up perfectly with the Unova and Kalos Conferences. Two more appearances. Just right.
As for why Ash had been allowed to participate in the Alola League later, that was because the Alola League was newly established. It was the first Conference ever held there, so the rules weren't nearly as strict. Even the winner immediately became the first Champion of the Alola League, which was honestly rather casual.
Gary then checked which Pokémon Tony had used in the earlier rounds.
As someone from the Unova Region, Tony had naturally used Pokémon from Unova. He had used Throh and Ferrothorn. The remaining Pokémon he had used were all from the Sinnoh Region, namely Yanmega and Ambipom.
Gary frowned slightly. Tony's team composition was very strange. The Pokémon types were all over the place and had almost no internal synergy. It was comparable to Ash's old habit of collecting random Pokémon with no particular structure.
After that, Gary checked the matchups of the other Trainers. Things were still mostly similar to the original storyline. Ash's third-round opponent was still Conway, and Paul and Barry had also ended up matched against each other.
"Strange... where's the Trainer with Heatran?" Gary muttered.
He looked at the roster and realized that the Trainer with Heatran wasn't listed anywhere.
"Did this guy not even pass the qualifiers??"
Gary immediately flipped back to the charts from the first two rounds and confirmed it.
The Trainer with Heatran wasn't on them either.
"Good grief. He really didn't make it."
Gary was stunned.
That Heatran had been Level 60, but its Trainer hadn't even made it through the qualifiers. Just how weak were his other Pokémon? And how exactly had he even managed to capture Heatran in the first place?
"It's seriously weird."
Gary would have liked to see how that guy had performed in the qualifiers, but there was no way to check. The qualifier records weren't made public. Only the sixty-four players who advanced had visible information. Anyone eliminated before that couldn't be looked up at all.
The next day.
The third round of the preliminary stage had arrived. After this match, the tournament would move into the official final bracket of the Lily of the Valley Conference.
Gary's match was still in the morning, and it was the first one, so he arrived at Arena D fifteen minutes early.
When he entered the area where contestants were seated, he naturally saw his opponent for today—Tony.
Tony was wearing a red sweatshirt and a very Unova-style outfit.