Now, Brendan only had one Sceptile left.
Although Sceptile hadn't been injured in its battle with Slaking, it had consumed a great deal of stamina from all the constant movement and dodging.
Even so, even at full strength, it still wouldn't be a match for Latios.
"I wonder if Brendan can pull off a miracle with his final Sceptile," the host remarked.
"A miracle? What, does he think Pokémon can turn into Ultraman?!"
"Accept the baptism of light, haha."
"This Brendan is really underwhelming. I thought he could at least take down one of Gary's Pokémon, but he got swept."
"Gary's just too well-rounded. I remember back when he first entered the Indigo Plateau Conference, he basically crushed every opponent."
Although the match wasn't technically over yet, the audience could already tell the outcome had been decided. Brendan had no chance of turning things around.
"Latios, use Thunderbolt!" Gary ordered.
Golden electric currents surged across Latios's body, condensing into a bolt of lightning that shot down toward Sceptile. The field was covered in water now, leaving the Grass-type nowhere to run.
"Jump into the air!" Brendan ordered.
Sceptile launched itself upward immediately. The lightning struck the ground, splitting into thin currents that scattered across the wet surface but hit nothing.
"Luster Purge!" Gary followed up without hesitation.
Sceptile couldn't change direction in midair—it was a sitting target.
"Lati!"
Latios fired a blazing sphere of psychic light straight at Sceptile.
"Then let's go down fighting—Leaf Storm!" Brendan shouted desperately.
"Scep!!"
Sceptile twisted its tail and launched a storm of green leaves that surged toward the incoming attack. The two moves collided. Luster Purge punched straight through the Leaf Storm, but the scattered leaves didn't fully disperse—they wrapped around the psychic blast as if clinging to it.
Boom!
Two explosions erupted almost simultaneously as both attacks hit their marks.
Twin clouds of haze blossomed in the sky, and a green figure dropped out of the smoke, crashing down onto the icy field below. It was Sceptile.
The referee saw this but didn't rush to make his call. He looked up, waiting for the smoke above to clear. When Latios emerged completely unharmed, he raised his flag.
"Sceptile is unable to battle! Latios wins!"
"All of Brendan's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner of this match is Gary!"
The first round was over.
Gary had defeated Brendan without losing a single Pokémon, and the match concluded with a clean sweep.
After the referee's announcement, Gary recalled Latios and turned to leave through the player tunnel.
"Huh?" Max said from the stands, confused. "Didn't Gary say he'd only use Pokémon he caught in the Hoenn region? Why did he use Latios?"
"Strictly speaking, Latios was indeed caught by Gary in the Hoenn region," Brock said.
"Really?"
"No way."
Max and May were both surprised.
"That Latios lives near Alto Mare, which is technically part of the Hoenn region. It's quite far from the mainland, though," Brock explained.
...
5:00 PM.
After the first round concluded, only sixteen trainers remained in the Ever Grande Conference. All sixteen had gathered at the Pokémon Center in the Players' Village, waiting for the second-round matchups to be announced.
When Gary walked into the Pokémon Center, every trainer in the room turned to look at him.
His use of Latios in the afternoon battle had made him one of the most talked-about competitors in the entire conference. A Legendary Pokémon drew attention no matter what region you were in.
Ash and the others were already there, along with Tyson and Morrison.
After meeting up with Gary, everyone exchanged brief greetings and settled in to wait for the bracket to be released.
At 5:30, the matchups appeared on the big screen.
With the field cut in half, Gary quickly found his own photo. His opponent was a girl named Yui.
After identifying his next opponent, Gary immediately scanned the crowd and quickly spotted Yui herself.
Yui was looking right back at him. They were seven or eight meters apart, but the tension between them was palpable.
The silent exchange of gazes between Gary and Yui continued for a moment in the lobby. The only other notable stare-down was between Morrison and Ash—they had been matched up for the next round.
Gary didn't bother greeting his opponent. He turned and left the Pokémon Center, heading to the restaurant in the Players' Village for dinner.
After eating, Gary returned to his room and looked up Yui's information.
Player: Yui
Gender: Female
Pokémon used: Wigglytuff, Sharpedo, Ninjask, Mawile, Raichu, Medicham, Tropius, Houndoom.
"Eight Pokémon—she's raised quite a few," Gary noted as he reviewed her data. Since the start of the conference, she had rotated through all eight.
Although there were no records of Yui's past tournament appearances, she was definitely not a rookie. She had been a trainer for at least two or three years. Even if her team included Pokémon at Gym-level potential, their levels should be close to maxed out by now, and she likely had around two quasi-Elite level Pokémon.
"Should be fine. Not a difficult matchup." Gary figured Yui wouldn't pose much of a threat. If even someone at Tyson's level could make it to the finals, that said enough about the overall strength of this year's Ever Grande Conference. He could afford to play it casually.
...
The next day.
The second round of the Hoenn League Ever Grande Conference began.
All of today's matches would be held in the morning. The battle between Ash and Morrison was scheduled first.
The two were already standing on the field, and the chosen battlefield was the ice arena.
Just like in the original storyline, Morrison couldn't bring himself to fight Ash seriously. He made several command errors in the first half and lost two Pokémon in a row. He only started battling properly toward the end of the first half, but by then he had already lost three Pokémon going into the halftime break. In the second half, Morrison returned to form, but it still wasn't enough—he ultimately lost to Ash.
Then came Tyson's match. He won his battle with some difficulty, though notably he didn't use Metagross. Instead, he brought out an Absol, making smart use of his available roster.
"Now, please welcome Gary and Yui to the field!" the host announced.
Gary and Yui's match was the third of the day. Hearing the announcement, both trainers walked out of the player tunnels and took their positions in the command areas on opposite sides of the field.
"Both competitors are ready! Let's see what battlefield we'll have for the first half!"
On the stadium's big screen, the roulette cursor spun rapidly. After three seconds, it landed on the water droplet symbol.
"It's decided—the battlefield will be the water field!"
The entire arena vibrated slightly as the floor shifted. A massive pool of water rose into place, essentially a giant swimming pool with two floating platforms on either side for Pokémon to stand on.