"What?! Didn't you just challenge the Battle Castle a few days ago?" Barry said in surprise. "It's only been a few days, and now you're already here to challenge the Battle Tower?"
"That's right. To challenge the Battle Tower, aside from needing a recommendation, you also have to obtain Symbols from the other four battle facilities before you're even qualified," Palmer reminded him.
Gary didn't say a word. He simply pulled a Badge case out of his pocket and opened it.
Inside were seven Gym Badges lined up, and above them sat four Battle Frontier Symbols.
"What?! You already have all four Symbols? Even the one from the Battle Hall?!" Barry was floored.
He'd assumed it would already be impressive if Gary managed to collect two Symbols. He never imagined Gary would already have all four. What really stunned him was the Battle Hall Symbol in particular.
Barry knew Argenta well, and he knew firsthand just how powerful her Dragonite was—every bit a match for his own father's. If Gary had beaten Argenta, that meant his strength was already on par with Palmer's.
"Gary..." Ash hadn't expected Gary to be tackling the Battle Frontier at all.
Having challenged the Kanto Battle Frontier himself, Ash knew exactly how brutal it could be. He never imagined he'd end up trailing behind Gary in this regard.
"Oh, now that's impressive. You've already beaten four Frontier Brains." Palmer grinned. "In that case, why don't we hold our battle during tomorrow's Conference?"
Everyone nearby, including the event organizers, froze in surprise. None of them had expected Palmer to suddenly propose a Battle Frontier exhibition match for tomorrow's festivities.
"I don't mind," Gary said, "but won't that cause problems with the schedule?"
"Not at all. Just think of it as extra entertainment for tomorrow," Palmer said with a wave of his hand.
He then turned to Johanna. "Johanna, that's fine with you, right?"
"Of course, no problem at all," Johanna replied cheerfully.
Johanna was Dawn's mother, a Pokémon Coordinator, and the host of this year's Twinleaf Festival.
"Well, if no one objects, then I'm fine with it too. Let's hold the battle during tomorrow's Conference," Gary said.
"Then it's decided. I'll head home to see my wife for now."
"Barry, let's go."
Without any further discussion, Palmer left with his son and his Dragonite.
Gary followed Ash and the others back to the Pokémon Center.
...
At the Pokémon Center, the group gathered in the restaurant for dinner.
"Gary, you've been quietly working your way through the Sinnoh Battle Frontier and you're almost done, and you never even mentioned it to me," Ash complained.
"What difference would it have made if I told you? Do you even have time to challenge it?" Gary said flatly. "Setting that aside, don't you still need to train the Pokémon you caught here in Sinnoh? You haven't even finished collecting your eight Badges yet."
Ash's expression soured immediately.
Gary was right. Ash hadn't even finished collecting his Gym Badges, and on top of that, he was planning to use his newly caught Sinnoh Pokémon at the Lily of the Valley Conference.
If he tried challenging the battle facilities now, he'd have no choice but to rely on his older, previously trained Pokémon—none of which were currently strong enough to take on a Frontier Brain.
"Hold on a second. Gary, didn't you only end up with seven Badges too?" Brock suddenly cut in.
Back at the festival, when Gary opened his Badge case, Brock had noticed he only had seven.
"Wait, what? You only have seven Badges, Gary?" Ash asked, surprised. He distinctly remembered Gary having all eight.
"Yeah, I'm missing one. No rush though—I'll finish the Battle Frontier first," Gary said.
Ash nodded, trusting that Gary had more than enough strength to back that up. Even for Ash himself, collecting all eight Badges wouldn't take that long if he really pushed for it.
"So, are you confident about beating Mr. Palmer tomorrow? I heard he's on par with the Elite Four," Dawn asked.
"If I wasn't confident, I wouldn't have agreed to challenge him," Gary said simply.
"Then I definitely have to watch your match tomorrow!" Dawn said, practically buzzing with anticipation.
She'd heard plenty about Gary's strength from others, but she'd never actually seen him battle in person. Tomorrow would finally be her chance.
The group ate, chatted, and wrapped up a pleasant dinner together.
The next day arrived, bringing with it the climax of the Twinleaf Festival.
On the festival's final day, a Battle Conference was set to take place—open to any Trainer who wanted to join.
The format was simple: one-on-one battles, with the eventual winner earning the right to face off against Palmer himself, along with a trophy to commemorate their victory.
Gary and Ash arrived at the festival grounds right on time. The venue itself was nothing more than an ordinary public battlefield.
However, since a special exhibition match had been added to today's schedule, the organizers had brought in a professional referee from the Battle Tower to officiate.
At nine o'clock sharp, the matches began.
Johanna, dressed elegantly, took on her role as host for the Conference and introduced the day's special guest.
"Thank you all for your patience. Allow me to introduce our honored guest today—representing the Sinnoh Battle Frontier, the Frontier Brain standing at the very top of the Battle Tower, the Tower Tycoon himself, Mr. Palmer. Please give him a warm welcome!"
"Hello, everyone!!"
Standing beside Johanna, Palmer waved enthusiastically at the gathered crowd.
"Mr. Palmer, thank you so much for joining us at today's event," Johanna said warmly.
"It's an honor to contribute even a little to this wonderful Twinleaf tradition," Palmer replied.
Just like any typical exhibition event, the organizers and special guests were introduced first before the Battle Conference officially got underway.
A large crowd of Trainers eagerly signed up to compete.
Since there were no restrictions on entry, and given that Twinleaf Town was a fairly small town without many seasoned Trainers, most of the competitors were beginners. Even Dawn managed to win a handful of matches.
After several rounds of eliminations, only two finalists remained.
Unsurprisingly, they turned out to be Ash and Barry—since neither Dawn nor most of the other competitors stood much of a chance against the two of them.
For the final match, Ash chose Pikachu, while Barry sent out Empoleon.
Without much surprise, Ash claimed victory, earning himself the right to battle Palmer.
"Ugh, seriously?" Dawn groaned.
"Yeah, I told everyone I was going to beat my own dad... Ash needs to be penalized for this," Barry grumbled.
Having lost their matches, Dawn and Barry sat together eating takoyaki, clearly still sulking over the results.
"No need to be jealous, you two," Gary said, trying to cheer them up. "Even though Ash won, none of his Pokémon besides Pikachu really stand a chance against Palmer."
"What makes you say that?" Dawn asked.
"Pikachu is Ash's strongest Pokémon, but it's already fought through several consecutive battles today. It's definitely not in ideal shape to keep fighting. And the rest of his team just isn't at a high enough level yet," Gary explained.