Awakening

"Blastoise is Unable to Battle. Charizard wins, so the final victor is Ash!"

A solemn yet resounding voice rang out from the vast, bustling venue at the heart of Silver Town in the Johto Region.

Without a doubt, it was currently the Johto Region Alliance Conference—the Silver Conference.

"After an intense battle, the final victor has finally emerged. It is Ash from Pallet Town!"

After confirming the result of the match, the tournament host announced the news to the surrounding spectators in an impassioned tone.

"Let us cheer for Ash's spectacular battle!"

"Amazing!"

Spurred on by the host's stirring words, all the spectators enthusiastically shouted along.

In that moment, the atmosphere in the arena reached its peak.

Yet as one of the stars of this match—and the protagonist of this story—Gary was unlike everyone else in the venue. He felt neither regret nor disappointment. Instead, he wore a bewildered expression.

"Where is this?"

Gary opened his confused eyes and surveyed the lively arena before him, a puzzled look appearing on his face. "What exactly is going on?"

However, before Gary could ask anything, a flood of memories suddenly surged into his mind, quickly answering his earlier questions.

After a brief stabbing pain, Gary understood what had happened to him.

"So I became Gary in the Pokémon World!"

Having understood what had happened to him, Gary opened his eyes, his expression complicated.

The cause of it all was like this: Gary had originally been an ordinary human living on a blue planet, but he had unfortunately died in an accident.

He had then been reincarnated into a world that had only been an anime in his previous life, becoming the grandson of the renowned Professor Oak from the original work. In the future, he would become the famous Shigeru Oak in the field of Pokémon research—the early rival of Ash, and the second most handsome Gary in the world. (Of course, the most handsome person in the world was the reader right now.)

Although he had been reincarnated into this world of Pokémon, Gary had been an adult in his previous life. His mental strength far surpassed that of an ordinary child, so in order to protect his soul from the impact of his past-life memories, those memories had been sealed away.

Even without those memories, Gary was still a genius youth due to his exceptional mental strength. But he was only an ordinary genius.

As a result, Gary's earlier development had remained consistent with the original work. He had only reached the Round of 32 at the Indigo Plateau Conference in the Kanto Region, and now at the Silver Conference in the Johto Region, he had fallen to his childhood rival Ash by just one step, stopping at the Round of 16.

It was only now that Gary's physical condition had met the requirements. Coupled with his unwillingness to accept defeat after losing to Ash, that impact shattered the seal on his past-life memories and allowed them to awaken completely.

This was probably what Buddhism in his previous world called Past Life Memory.

Having understood everything, Gary looked at Ash standing across from him with a mixture of curiosity and complicated emotions. Ash was both his rival and the Child of the World in the Pokémon World.

As for Ash, after hearing the referee announce the final result, he failed to react at first. He merely stood there blankly, looking utterly at a loss.

It was not until several minutes later that Ash finally snapped out of his overwhelming joy and shouted excitedly.

"Great! I finally beat Gary!"

None of the spectators reacted much to Ash's loss of composure in the arena. After all, it was perfectly normal for a trainer who had won a battle.

Now that his past-life memories had awakened, Gary naturally still regarded Ash, whom he had grown up with, as his rival. So he did not interrupt Ash in his excited state. Instead, he stood across from him and quietly watched as Ash danced about in delight.

Only after Ash calmed down from his excitement and recalled his Unable to Battle Blastoise did Gary slowly walk over to him.

"You've finally calmed down, Ash."

After hearing Gary's calm words, Ash still had a trace of excitement on his face as he shouted at him, "I beat you in this battle, Gary!"

"Oh? You're getting carried away over just one victory?"

Hearing Ash take pride in defeating him, the well-mannered Gary did not argue. He merely replied in an utterly calm manner, as though the one who had lost to Ash had not been him.

"Looks like I overestimated you. You're still the same as ever, Ash."

Hearing Gary's indifferent tone, Ash, who had still been rather excited, lost the smile on his face and turned his gaze toward Gary.

"Gary, you..."

Before Ash could finish, Gary cut him off.

"This time, I only lost to Charizard's Guts. As for you, Ash, you're still far from enough."

Upon hearing Gary belittle him, Ash, who had been so happy moments ago, immediately protested indignantly. "What are you talking about? I was the one who beat you, Gary!"

"My evolution will not stop here. This is the last time. Next time, you won't have such good luck."

Seeing Ash become somewhat carried away after defeating him, Gary, as his rival, naturally would not try to talk him down. Instead, he used his own words to motivate Ash. After all, he rather appreciated the guy.

And after saying that, Gary ignored Ash's reaction and turned to leave the battle arena.

"What was that about?!"

Although Ash was somewhat indignant after hearing Gary's words, he reined in his smugness.

After leaving the battle arena and just before entering the Player Tunnel, Gary stopped. He turned back to look over the noisy venue, silently making up his mind.

At the next Alliance Conference, I will definitely claim the final victory!

After looking around the Silver Conference venue, a confident smile appeared on Gary's previously calm face. He then strode into the Player Tunnel, leaving the arena.

With it, I will definitely stand at the pinnacle of this world!