Ritchie's Happy opened with Tailwind, aiming to seize an early advantage in speed.
Ash's response, however, was far more straightforward.
With an overwhelming level advantage, there was no need to concern himself with elaborate setups. A gap this large was enough for Butterfree to ignore even doubled speed outright.
Ash chose the simplest option.
Direct suppression.
"Butterfree," Ash said calmly, "Acrobatics."
"Wu-oh~!"
Butterfree spun through the air like a dancer mid-performance, its body swaying left and right with such fluidity that its trajectory became almost impossible to track.
By the time Happy finished setting up Tailwind, Ash's Butterfree was already right in front of it.
Its wings slashed downwards.
Boom! Boom!
Sonic booms tore through the air.
"Happy, dodge, quick!" Ritchie shouted.
Happy flapped its wings desperately. The Tailwind surged from behind, accelerating its body and pushing its speed beyond that of an average Professional-level Pokémon.
That burst of speed allowed Happy to barely evade the first strike.
But before it could relax...
A sharp sense of danger flared behind it.
Bang!!
Acrobatics smashed into Happy's back, slamming it straight into the ground.
Happy was fast after Tailwind, but compared to Ash's Butterfree, the difference was only marginal.
More importantly, Ash's Butterfree possessed Compound Eyes.
In its vision, Happy's movements were slowed, trajectories laid bare, and dodging paths completely exposed.
The instant Happy shifted to evade, Butterfree had already adjusted its angle mid-attack.
The strike landed after the dodge.
Although Acrobatics lacked heavy raw power, its true strength lay in its flexibility, light, fast, and easy to redirect. It allowed precise control over body positioning and made it far easier to strike vital points during movement transitions.
Seeing Happy smashed down by a super-effective hit, Ritchie's face tightened with worry.
"Happy! Are you okay?!"
"Wu…"
A weak cry rose from the smoke. Happy fluttered out of the haze, still airborne, still conscious.
But anyone familiar with Pokémon battles could see the truth immediately.
Its movements were stiff, its posture unstable. Pain clearly slowed its reactions.
Acrobatics directly countered Happy's typing, and Ash's Butterfree stood a full major level higher. The only reason Happy hadn't fallen immediately was because this level gap wasn't as extreme as those shown by Pikachu or Charizard.
Even so, Happy's stamina was nearly exhausted.
Just using Tailwind had already consumed a massive portion of its strength. After that hit, the battle was effectively decided.
Ash still had three Pokémon in perfect condition.
Ritchie had only a flickering candle left.
And yet, Ritchie hadn't given up.
"Happy," he shouted, "Air Slash!"
Not retreat, attack.
Happy flapped its wings, releasing more than a dozen crescent-shaped blades of compressed air. They rained down toward Butterfree like a storm.
"Acrobatics," Ash said again.
This time, not to attack, but to evade.
Butterfree danced through the barrage with breathtaking elegance, weaving between the Air Slashes without a single hit landing.
And while dodging, it was closing the distance.
In mere seconds, Butterfree arrived right in front of Happy.
"Bug Buzz!" Ritchie shouted urgently.
Bug Buzz was different.
Unlike Air Slash, it was an area-of-effect move, no gaps, no blind spots. No matter how nimble Butterfree was, dodging completely should have been impossible.
But Ash had no intention of dodging.
"Keep going, Acrobatics."
A piercing cry burst from Happy's mouth as visible green sound waves surged outward, crashing into Butterfree.
For a moment, Butterfree's body stiffened. Pain flickered across its expression.
Ritchie's eyes lit up.
But the next instant, Butterfree flapped its wings violently and surged forward with even greater speed.
The momentum carried it straight through the sound waves.
Its wing struck Happy one final time.
Bang!
Happy slammed into the ground once more.
Smoke rose, but this time, it was thin. The audience could clearly see the battlefield.
Happy did not move again.
"Butterfree is unable to battle!" the referee announced loudly.
"Since all of Ritchie's Pokémon are unable to continue, the winner of this match is, Ash!"
Ash's portrait appeared on the electronic display, the word WIN flashing beside it.
Top 16, secured.
The victory came without suspense.
The only surprise was how overwhelming it was.
Before the Top 32, Ash's battles, though undefeated, had never looked this effortless. Many believed that Ritchie, far stronger than Ash's earlier opponents, would at least force one of Ash's Pokémon out of the fight.
Instead, it was a complete rout.
Compared to this match, Ash's earlier battles looked like child's play. They hadn't even been on the same level.
Ritchie clenched his teeth, then slowly exhaled, recalling Happy.
In that final exchange, his plan had been clear.
Use Bug Buzz, his strongest move, to disrupt Butterfree's movement, then rely on Tailwind to widen the speed gap and regain control.
Bug Buzz was Happy's STAB move, and with Tinted Lens, even resisted damage became neutral. It was the strongest attack Happy could possibly use.
If that couldn't stop Ash's Butterfree...
Then there truly was nothing left.
Any dream of using Quiver Dance to turn the tide had been nothing more than fantasy.
And now, that if had become reality.
Happy's Bug Buzz failed.
And the battle ended in a single decisive blow.
This defeat was, in truth, not entirely unexpected.
Although the process far exceeded what Ritchie had imagined, he had already realized midway through the battle that the gap between them was insurmountable. Because of that, he didn't feel too bitter about losing.
The only regret was that he hadn't managed to defeat even a single one of Ash's Pokémon.
Compared to the true top-tier Trainers of the Indigo Plateau Conference, he was still a long way off.
After the match, Ritchie and Ash exchanged a friendly handshake. Then Ritchie waved goodbye and hurried off toward the Pokémon Center. Several of his Pokémon were injured, and unlike Ash, he didn't possess any special healing abilities, going to the Pokémon Center was the obvious choice.
In reality, Ash had still held back.
Pikachu hadn't entered its Partner Mode, and Charizard hadn't used Sacred Fire. If either of those powers had been unleashed, Ritchie's Pokémon wouldn't have escaped with such relatively light injuries.
With Ritchie defeated, the tournament officially moved into the Top 16, where all matches would now be fought in a six-on-six format.
This was actually somewhat unusual.
In most tournaments, full six-on-six battles already began at the Top 32 stage. Only the Indigo Plateau Conference still used three-on-three matches at that level.
The reason was simple: the Indigo Plateau Conference was, at its core, a tournament for rookie Trainers.
Six-on-six battles were vastly more demanding than three-on-three. They tested not only the overall strength of a Trainer's Pokémon roster, but also their switching decisions, endurance management, and long-term tactical planning.
To reduce the impact of roster depth and give rookies a fairer chance, the Indigo Plateau Conference deliberately kept the Top 32 at three-on-three.
However, this "rookie protection" ended there.
Once the Top 16 began, everyone faced the same test, full six-on-six battles, where true strength could no longer be hidden.
After Ash's match concluded, the seventh match of the day belonged to Gary.
By the time Trainers reached the Top 32, there were no longer any weak opponents. Even Gary was forced to reveal nearly all of his trump cards, excluding Mega Evolution, to narrowly secure victory.
Mega Evolution was a decisive weapon, capable of overturning an entire battle. Gary had no intention of using it unless he was truly cornered.
The opponents ahead would only grow stronger. If he used Mega Evolution here, how would he deal with those battles later?
If he couldn't even pass the Top 32 without relying on Mega Evolution, then Gary would rather be eliminated at this stage.
Until Ash himself used Mega Evolution, Gary had no intention of doing so either. It was both his respect for Ash as the one who discovered the phenomenon, and his own stubborn pride.
In the end, the result was favorable.
Gary also advanced to the Top 16.
The two Trainers Ash had been paying close attention to, Conway and Paul, both had their matches scheduled for the following day.
All eight matches that day concluded before six in the evening. It wasn't that there were no other notable Trainers, but compared to Conway and Paul, the rest were still a step behind.
The next day, the Top 16 matches began in earnest.
Conway once again showcased his terrifying analytical ability, completely controlling the flow of battle. His opponent was dismantled methodically, with almost no chance to fight back.
Paul's match was even more brutal.
Relying on the overwhelming power of Torterra, he steamrolled his opponent from start to finish. So far, Paul hadn't encountered a single Trainer capable of forcing him to fight seriously.
For someone at his level, participating in this tournament was little different from smurfing. If not for rivals like Conway and Ash, he could have almost guaranteed himself the championship.
In terms of tournament performance alone, Conway and Paul were not inferior to Ash in the slightest.
If Ash didn't have his previous record, battling an Elite and even achieving victory, then his only real advantage over them would have been his age.
Whether one questioned the methods he used to defeat Koga was irrelevant. The outcome was undeniable, he won.
Later, his battle against Lorelei further solidified his reputation. Even though he lost, it was an honorable defeat.
In terms of fame and prestige, Ash currently stood far above the others.
Of course, reputation was a double-edged sword.
If Ash were to lose in a direct confrontation, all of that fame could instantly become a stepping stone for his opponent.
From that perspective, being too famous wasn't necessarily a good thing.
The Top 16 draw took place immediately after the Top 32 concluded.
On the main stage of the Indigo Plateau Conference, all remaining contestants stared tensely at the flickering electronic display above.
They didn't yet know who their next opponent would be.
But they all knew one thing, if given the choice, none of them wanted to face Ash.
Ash's strength was widely acknowledged as the greatest in this year's Indigo Plateau Conference. Even Conway, Paul, or Gary wouldn't willingly choose him as their Top 16 opponent.
Because once you lost here, you were truly out.
If they lost to Ash in the Top 4, at least there would still be a losers' bracket to fight through.
But losing in the Top 16?
That meant complete elimination.
As the electronic display board above the stage began to rotate, the portraits of the final sixteen contestants appeared one by one. The screen flickered, shuffled, and finally locked into place.
The matchups were decided.
Gary's opponent was a boy named Gene.
The moment he saw that name instead of Ash's, Gary let out a long breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Thank goodness.
If he had drawn Ash, he honestly had no confidence at all. In a one-on-one, maybe there would be a one-in-ten-thousand chance.
But in a six-on-six?
Dead. Absolutely dead.
There was no room for fantasy there.
To enter Dragon Island, he needed to finish in the top three of the Indigo Plateau Conference. He couldn't afford to stop here.
Not now.
Ash's opponent was revealed next.
And the moment his name appeared on the screen, a ripple went through the crowd.
Conway.
One of the biggest favorites of this year's Indigo Plateau Conference.
For Conway, drawing Ash in the Top 16 was the worst-case scenario.
At that moment, his thin, pole-like face darkened to a sickly, liver-purple hue, his expression gloomy to the extreme.
Conway specialized in data.
And because of that, he possessed detailed information on nearly every remaining contestant.
It was precisely for this reason that he dreaded facing Ash so early.
Damn it.
Even if he somehow managed to defeat Ash, the cost would be enormous. Every hidden tactic, every contingency plan, every carefully concealed trump card would be dragged into the open.
For someone like Conway, who thrived on control and always kept a final card hidden, this was utterly unacceptable.
But the draw was final.
Unless he could somehow become the tournament organizer and declare the entire grouping invalid, there was no escaping it.
His next match would be against Ash.
Ash, on the other hand, reacted very differently.
When he saw Conway's name appear opposite his own, his eyes lit up, and a grin spread across his face.
At last.
Finally.
He had encountered someone truly worth fighting in the Indigo Plateau Conference.