Since entering the Indigo Plateau Conference, Ash hadn't encountered a single top tier opponent.
That wasn't to say his opponents were weak. On the contrary, every Trainer he faced was respectable, solid contenders among the participants.
But compared to Ash himself?
They were simply too far behind.
In most matches, Ash didn't even need to send out his main Pokémon. And even when he did, those Pokémon couldn't display their full strength.
If not for picking up Chimchar midway through the tournament and deliberately using those battles as training opportunities, the earlier rounds would have been downright boring.
Even so, Ash's true main lineup still hadn't had a chance to properly appear.
If Ash had gone all out from the beginning, yesterday's match against Ritchie was the clearest example of what would have happened.
That was precisely why Ash was so excited for tomorrow's match against Conway.
Finally, a strong opponent. An enemy truly worth fighting.
As for Conway himself…
Let's not talk about it.
Some people were elated. Others were miserable.
That was the nature of the Indigo Plateau Conference's draw system.
A powerful Trainer might fail to reach a high ranking simply because of bad luck, while a weaker Trainer could advance surprisingly far as long as the draw favored them.
Gary was the perfect example.
His luck in the draw could only be described as impeccable.
Every opponent he faced was either evenly matched with him or just slightly stronger, exactly the kind of match that allowed him to break through his limits, overcome adversity, and grow stronger.
In this Indigo Plateau Conference, Gary's progress had been undeniable.
Ash, on the other hand, was different.
His main team hadn't improved much, but his second team had grown significantly.
This time, Gary's opponent was once again at a similar level to him. Their match was scheduled as the third match of the next day, while Ash versus Conway would be the first match.
The opening match.
And when news spread that the opening match of the Top 16 would feature two championship favorites, the entire Indigo Plateau erupted.
Tickets for the Top 16 had to be purchased separately.
Not just the Top 16, but also the Top 8, Top 4, and finals all required new tickets. Spectators could choose individual matches or buy a full pass.
Some people bought tickets only for the first match and then stubbornly refused to leave the venue afterward. It was practically impossible to police, and as long as they didn't block other seats, the staff turned a blind eye.
As a result, tickets for the opening match were always the most expensive.
And this time?
The opening match featured Ash.
And his opponent was Conway.
Ticket demand didn't just spike, it exploded.
Even standing tickets sold out.
Ticket scalpers made a killing.
Worse still, many scalpers wanted to watch the match themselves, pushing prices to astronomical levels.
Even if you were willing to pay a scalper, there was no guarantee you could get a ticket.
Those who failed could only gather outside the Indigo Stadium to watch the massive broadcast screens.
Unless, of course, you were someone with connections.
At 9:00 AM the next day, the Indigo Stadium was already packed to capacity.
Not even standing room remained.
A true sea of people.
The hype surrounding this match easily ranked among the top three of the entire Indigo Plateau Conference.
The only matches that might surpass it would be Ash versus Gary, or Ash versus Paul.
One was Ash's childhood rival from Pallet Town.
The other was widely regarded as the second-strongest contender in the tournament, second only to Ash in reputation.
As for Paul's true strength?
No one knew.
Just like Ash, no one had been able to force him to fight seriously.
"The match about to begin is the Top 16 round of the Indigo Plateau Conference!"
"This will be a full six-on-six battle, allowing both Trainers to display their maximum skill!"
"Both competitors should be familiar to everyone. One is Conway, from Celestic Town in the Sinnoh region, worth noting, the hometown of the Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia!"
"And the other competitor needs no introduction, Ash from Pallet Town!!"
The moment the host finished speaking, the stadium erupted.
The cheers were deafening, like a mountain collapsing. The sound waves rolled through the venue, and the ground itself seemed to tremble.
Seeing the effect, the host nodded in satisfaction and continued:
"So far, Ash has not had a single Pokémon lose its ability to battle. Can Conway break Ash's undefeated record today?"
Like Ash, Conway was a Trainer who constantly rotated Pokémon, unlike Paul, who often relied on a single powerhouse to sweep.
But the reasons were completely different.
Ash rotated Pokémon to ensure balanced training.
Conway rotated Pokémon for pure tactical calculation.
Another key difference, Ash almost never reused the same Pokémon in consecutive matches, yet not one of them had ever been knocked out.
The most intense fight had been the battle where Monferno evolved.
Even then, Ash won cleanly. Monferno was exhausted, but not defeated.
Conway, in contrast, had already lost more than one Pokémon in previous matches, though he still emerged victorious.
Every one of Conway's battles appeared to be won by a narrow margin.
But to those with sharp eyes, something felt off. The battle patterns were too consistent.
Which suggested only one thing, Conway was deliberately hiding his true strength.
Almost every one of Conway's matches followed the same pattern.
They dragged on until the very last Pokémon, creating the illusion of a hard-fought struggle, only for Conway to suddenly overwhelm his opponent's final Pokémon with almost no effort.
Even more unsettling was the fact that, up to this point, none of the Pokémon Conway had used had ever repeated.
His reserves appeared even deeper than Ash's.
Because of this, no one could confidently predict the outcome of this match.
"Next, let's welcome Ash and Conway to the stage!"
After whipping the atmosphere to a fever pitch, the host warmly invited both competitors forward. Ash and Conway emerged slowly from the players' tunnel.
Ash wore an unmistakable look of excitement.
Conway, on the other hand, appeared solemn and focused.
For a data-driven Trainer like him, nothing was more frustrating than facing an opponent whose information was incomplete, or outright unreliable.
Ash wasn't just strong.
He was one of the very few Trainers Conway couldn't accurately analyze.
If Conway's understanding of most contestants exceeded ninety percent, then his grasp of Ash's true strength was probably less than fifty percent.
The same applied to Paul.
These two were the opponents Conway least wanted to face early in the tournament. There was little benefit in victory, and a single loss meant total elimination.
Given that, it would have been a miracle if Conway looked relaxed.
"Then for my first Pokémon, go, Blastoise!"
Ash released his opening Pokémon.
This was Blastoise's first appearance in the Indigo Plateau Conference.
At the same time, Conway threw his Poké Ball.
"Dusknoir!"
A massive, ghostly figure materialized on the battlefield.
The moment Ash saw it, he froze slightly.
This was a Pokémon Conway had never used in any previous match.
Dusknoir, the final evolution of Duskull.
Its evolution item, the Reaper Cloth, was notoriously rare. Training a Pokémon like this required not only resources, but patience and dedication.
Although Ash had learned an immense amount about Pokémon from the experts in the group, Dusknoir was a Pokémon native to Sinnoh and still relatively unfamiliar to him.
He immediately activated his Eye of Insight.
"Speed is only E-rank?" Ash murmured under his breath. "That slow?"
Fortunately for Conway, he didn't hear that.
Otherwise, his expression would have shattered on the spot.
To be able to see a Pokémon's stats so clearly, if Conway possessed eyes like that, his data-style training would be on an entirely different level.
In Ash's vision, Dusknoir's information unfolded in full.
Its Attack, Defense, and Special Defense were all at A-rank.
Its remaining stats were solidly B-rank.
Only its Speed was abysmally low.
This was clearly one of Conway's trump cards, and yet he had chosen to use it right at the start.
That alone showed how seriously Conway was taking this match.
"Ash has sent out Blastoise, a Pokémon he hasn't used before, while Conway has revealed a rare Dusknoir, also making its first appearance!" the host announced excitedly.
"The Top 16 match has entered a white-hot state from the very beginning!"
This opening was already far more intense than previous battles.
The fact that both Trainers had chosen unrevealed Pokémon made it clear just how important this match was to them.
"Dusknoir," Conway said calmly, adjusting his glasses, "reveal the opponent's held item."
Dusknoir's Frisk ability activated.
In real battles, Frisk didn't magically label items the way games did, it merely revealed them visually. Recognizing the item depended entirely on the Trainer's knowledge.
Conway was confident.
He assumed Blastoise was holding Mystic Water, or perhaps a defensive enhancement item.
But when the item appeared, Conway's pupils contracted.
A smooth gemstone hovered into view.
Within it, blue and brown patterns intertwined seamlessly.
"…?"
For the first time in a long while, Conway's mind went blank.
He frantically searched through his encyclopedic memory of held items.
Nothing matched.
Nothing even came close.
For a Trainer who prided himself on knowing everything, this unfamiliar gemstone was deeply unsettling.
Of course, Conway never believed he could recognize every item carried by Pokémon in the world.
But failing to identify an item in the very first battle of the round?
That was far too much.
The effect of Frisk didn't just reveal the item to Conway, it was clearly visible to the audience as well. Murmurs spread through the stadium as spectators leaned forward, trying to identify the gemstone on Blastoise.
Among them, even Paul, known for his keen eye, failed to recognize it.
The only ones who immediately understood were the Elite Four, seated in the special guest area.
"That thing…" one of them murmured. "Isn't that Blastoise's Mega Stone?"
"Yeah. That should be it. Did Ash get incredibly lucky, or did he prepare in advance?" another replied. "How does he have so many Mega Stones? First Venusaur, now Blastoise… surely there can't be more?"
"He was the first one to discover Mega Evolution," someone chuckled. "It's only natural that he'd have more than the rest of us. The real question is, how many does he actually have?"
Bruno crossed his arms, eyes shining with interest.
"When we went to Kalos, only Lance managed to find one. The rest of us came back empty-handed. I wonder if Ash has any extras that don't suit him…"
Lance and the others fell silent.
'Are you seriously setting flags right now?'
Still, the thought lingered.
After all, they had once believed that with their experience, and knowing about Mega Evolution in advance, finding Mega Stones would be easy.
Reality had proven otherwise.
Once Ash revealed Mega Evolution on the Indigo Plateau stage, finding them would only become harder. Asking Ash afterward, offering fair compensation… honestly, that didn't sound unreasonable at all.
On the battlefield, Ash himself didn't pay much attention to the exposure of Blastoise's Mega Stone.
He had already planned to use Mega Evolution in these matches.
In its normal state, Blastoise could fight Dusknoir evenly, but if Ash wanted to suppress and defeat it quickly, Mega Evolution was the most efficient choice.
That said…
Dusknoir's Speed was only E-rank.
Even Blastoise, whose speed wasn't particularly impressive, should be faster than that.
With a speed advantage, victory should have been straightforward.
Just as Ash was thinking along those lines...
"Dusknoir," Conway commanded calmly, "Trick Room."
The moment Ash heard the move, his expression changed sharply.
"Blastoise, Hydro Pump, stop him!" Ash shouted immediately.
"Blasto!"
Blastoise crouched low as the twin cannons on its back roared to life. A surging torrent of water exploded forward, crashing toward Dusknoir like a tidal wave.
Dusknoir didn't dodge.
Instead, it focused on rubbing an energy cube between its hands.
The Hydro Pump slammed into it head-on, sending Dusknoir flying dozens of meters across the field. A clear expression of pain flashed across its face.
Yet, it didn't release the cube.
The torrent finally subsided, and Dusknoir skidded to a stop at the edge of the battlefield.
Then, with a sharp motion, it hurled the cube forward.
The cube expanded instantly, growing larger and larger until it enveloped the entire battlefield.
The space distorted.
The world inverted.
Trick Room, successfully deployed.