"Slowking is unable to battle, Gardevoir wins!"
Moonblast faded, and Slowking lay still. One hit. That was all it took.
Conway backed his data-driven approach against most opponents, but data required information, and he'd walked into this match knowing almost nothing about Ash. In raw tactical instinct, they were probably even. None of it mattered when every other variable was stacked against him.
But he'd never expected it to end this fast. One exchange. One Moonblast. His ace, the Pokémon that had given him the confidence to keep fighting, gone in the time it took to blink.
The message couldn't have been clearer: Everything before this was warm-up. Now it's over.
Whatever confidence Slowking's arrival had restored shattered alongside it.
The remaining battles weren't worth narrating in detail. Conway's last two Pokémon, Lickilicky and Heracross, barely lasted seconds. One Psychic each. Neither landed a hit. Neither came close.
The outcome had been decided the moment Slowking fell, but the formalities still had to play out. Three minutes later, the referee's voice rang across the stadium.
"Heracross is unable to battle, Gardevoir wins! All six of Conway's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner of this match is Ash!"
Ash was through to the Top 8.
On the field, Gardevoir's body shimmered with light as the Mega Evolution released. The dark gown dissolved, the heightened power receded, and she settled back into her natural form, blue-haired, graceful, and looking entirely unbothered by the four consecutive knockouts she'd just delivered.
She drifted to Ash's side, watching him with bright, expectant eyes.
"Amazing work, Gardevoir. That was a perfect debut." Ash flashed her a thumbs up, grinning wide.
And it had been. This was Gardevoir's first real appearance under the spotlight, her only prior competitive outing had been the Cinnabar Gym battle on Blaine's lava field, far from any broadcast cameras. Today, the whole world had been watching. Mega Evolution in full glory, Psystrike shattering Trick Room, and a clean four-Pokémon sweep without breaking a sweat. As first impressions went, it was about as emphatic as they came.
Gardevoir's expression softened into quiet satisfaction. For a Pokémon, the thrill of victory was only part of it. What mattered more was sharing the moment with your trainer, hearing the praise, feeling the pride. She'd chosen to evolve from Ralts for exactly this reason: to grow stronger, to stand beside Ash and fight at a level worthy of him. The roaring crowd and Ash's warm approval told her that choice had been the right one.
Ash recalled her and walked across the field to meet Conway at the centre line. Conway extended his hand with a rueful smile.
"I walked in thinking the rumours were overblown," he admitted. "'On par with an Elite within six months of debuting.' 'The strongest rookie in Kanto's history.' Sounded like hype." He shook his head. "After today, I'll just say, you earned every word of it."
"Ah, come on." Ash rubbed the back of his neck, grinning ear to ear. "I wouldn't go that far. Strongest rookie is a bit much..."
Conway's eye twitched. 'With that look on your face, you want me to believe you're being humble? You're practically begging for more compliments.'
He kept the thought to himself. The truth was, the rumours undersold it. Ash wasn't just Kanto's strongest rookie, he was quite possibly the strongest rookie in the history of the competitive circuit, full stop. Conway couldn't think of a single trainer from any era who'd shown this much firepower this early. At his current trajectory, it wouldn't be long before Ash was knocking on the door of the Undefeated King in Galar.
A stray thought crossed Conway's mind as he left the field. Since the Top 32, the VIP section had been thinning out. The Sinnoh Champion had vanished. The Galar Champion, who'd made a point of attending every one of Ash's matches was nowhere to be seen either. Only Steven from Hoenn remained alongside the Kanto Elite Four and President Goodshow.
Where had those two Champions disappeared to?
Conway buried the question and let it go. The missing Champions weren't his concern anymore. His run at the Indigo Plateau Conference was over. If it weren't for wanting to see how far Ash could go, he'd probably have packed his bags and left tonight.
"Good luck in the next rounds." Conway withdrew his hand and adjusted his glasses, allowing himself a thin smile. "You're the one who knocked me out. If you lose after this, I won't forgive you."
"Don't worry." Ash met his eyes, grin unwavering. "I'm going all the way."
The opening match set a high bar, and the rest of the day's Top 16 bouts couldn't quite match it. Solid battles, competitive moments, but nothing that shook the stadium the way Ash's double Mega Evolution had.
The one exception was Gary's match, and not because of the battle itself.
Gary Mega Evolved his Blastoise.
The crowd nearly rioted. Ash was one thing, the kid was a walking anomaly, and by this point people were almost numb to his surprises. But Gary having Mega Evolution too? That shattered the assumption that it was some unique, Ash-only phenomenon.
Speculation spread through the stands like wildfire. Had Mega Evolution already gone mainstream in Kanto? Were they all about to see half the bracket transform?
The answer, obviously, was no. If Mega Evolution were commonplace, more than two trainers would be using it. The more perceptive observers in the audience pieced together the likely explanation quickly enough: Ash and Gary were childhood friends and longtime rivals. If Ash had discovered a new power that could be shared, Gary would naturally be the first person in line to receive it.
The fact that Ash had been willing to share it, even with a rival, said something about his character.
Gary's Mega Blastoise was strong. Genuinely strong. The gap between his and Ash's was slim enough that only experienced trainers could spot the difference, a marginal edge in Ash's favour, barely worth mentioning in isolation.
But context mattered. Gary's Blastoise was his undisputed ace, the centrepiece of his entire roster. Ash's Blastoise didn't even crack his top four.
An ace that was slightly weaker than someone else's bench piece. The implication was quietly terrifying.
Gary rode his Mega Blastoise to a three-Pokémon sweep and punched his ticket to the Top 8.
The bracket draw came out that evening, and Gary's reaction could be summed up in one word: relief.
He hadn't drawn Ash. He hadn't drawn Paul. With only a two-in-seven chance of avoiding both, that was about as lucky as a draw could get.
Ash's quarterfinal opponent was a trainer named Travis, overall strength hovering between High Peak and High Low, with a fully scouted roster. Ash felt zero pressure. Paul's draw was similarly manageable.
Gary had the toughest road of the three, but "tough" was relative. As long as he wasn't facing Ash or Paul, every matchup was workable.
The moment the draw ceremony ended, a wave of reporters and spectators surged toward Ash, desperate for answers about Mega Evolution. Ash had anticipated this. One nod to Gardevoir, a flash of Teleport, and his entire group vanished from the venue before a single microphone reached him.
Information about Mega Evolution would come out eventually, but not until after the Conference. There was no reason to hand out tactical intelligence mid-tournament.
With the crowd dodged and the chaos left behind, Ash and Gary joined Professor Oak and Delia for a private celebration dinner. Reaching the Top 8 in their first-ever Conference, and an enhanced-format one at that, was already historic, regardless of what came next.
Even Professor Oak hadn't been this dominant in his own debut year. Gary might have paled slightly next to Ash's performance, but he'd already surpassed his grandfather's first-Conference record.
Gary had surpassed his grandfather's debut record, and Ash was on track to make League history entirely. Two top-tier talents out of tiny Pallet Town, Professor Oak couldn't have been prouder.
The celebration dinner wasn't one of Delia's home-cooked affairs. They went out to a proper restaurant near the Indigo Plateau venue. The food was excellent, the prices steep, and the private room they'd booked pushed the bill even higher. None of them cared. A little money for a quiet evening away from the chaos was worth every coin.
After the meal wound down and everyone was pleasantly full, Ash caught Professor Oak before he could head back to Gary's lodging. He pulled him aside, glanced around, and lowered his voice.
"Professor, there's something I need to tell you. It's about, Lugia Jr."
Professor Oak's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "What?! Lugia Jr...!!"
"Shh!" Ash waved his hands frantically, then peeked around the corner into the hallway. Empty. Technically, the check was unnecessary, Mewtwo was monitoring everything in their vicinity, and anyone approaching would be detected instantly, but old habits died hard.
He laid out the situation. Professor Oak listened with widening eyes, clearly hearing all of this for the first time. That wasn't surprising. The existence of Lugia Jr. wasn't exactly classified among Kanto's upper leadership, but Oak had been out of those circles for years. He'd settled into the quiet life in Pallet Town, and the League had no reason to drag him back into high-level briefings.
"So you want to head to the Orange Islands after the Conference?" Oak asked once Ash finished.
"Yeah. I want to help Lugia Jr. find its family." Ash nodded. He hadn't brought this up for permission, he'd made his decision already. But Professor Oak was family, same as his mom. Before heading anywhere significant, Ash wanted him in the loop.
Oak stroked his chin for a moment, then smiled. "That works out nicely, actually. Your next goal after the Indigo Plateau Conference is the Silver Conference in Johto, correct? That's still seven or eight months away. Plenty of time to visit the Orange Islands, come back, and collect your Johto badges." His expression softened.
"Honestly, I've been worried you've been pushing yourself too hard. Ever since you started your journey, it's been nonstop, every minute squeezed for training. That's the only reason you got this close to fielding Elite Four-level Pokémon in half a year, but it takes a toll. The Orange Islands are resort territory. Go, help Lugia Jr., and get some rest while you're at it."
It was such a Professor Oak response. Anyone else would have heard "Lugia" and immediately jumped to the implications, legendary Pokémon sightings, global safety, research opportunities. Oak's first thought was that Ash could finally take a vacation.
"Yeah. I'll make sure to enjoy it."
"Oh, and since you're going anyway," Oak added, his tone shifting to something lighter and entirely too casual, "do me a favour while you're there."
Ash stared at him.
'Three seconds. My heartfelt moment lasted exactly three seconds before he turned it into an errand.' He briefly considered being annoyed, then gave up. Classic Oak.