The Lily of the Valley Conference Opens

The Lily of the Valley Conference preliminaries had come to an end.

Ash, Nando, Paul, and the others had all advanced to the main tournament.

The 64 competitors who qualified would soon face even fiercer battles.

As in the preliminaries, matchups in the main tournament would be decided by random draw.

The system would draw the pairings for each round.

The first three rounds would use three-on-three rules.

Full Battles would not begin until the quarterfinals.

That added plenty of uncertainty to the tournament.

Not long after the preliminaries ended, the Lily of the Valley Conference officially opened.

All 64 competitors gathered in the main stadium for the opening ceremony.

Spectators had long since filled the stands.

With no match of his own to worry about, Bai Shi joined them. He held a tub of popcorn and watched the spectacular fireworks with keen interest.

When the Sacred Fire was lit, the stadium erupted with excitement.

Thunderous applause rolled through the stands, and cheers rang out without pause.

The first-round matchups appeared on the big screen.

As expected, Ash had been paired with Nando, the "wandering minstrel."

Paul and the others, meanwhile, drew competitors Bai Shi did not know.

Given their strength, they should advance easily.

"Those matchups are pretty much what I expected!"

Bai Shi was not surprised in the slightest.

After traveling for so long, he had learned a thing or two.

If he did not interfere, the main storyline generally followed the anime.

As long as his involvement was limited, the story's momentum would drag events back on course even if he accidentally changed some details.

Cyndaquil was one example. Bai Shi had helped Ash and the others drive off Team Rocket.

In the end, just as it had in the anime, Cyndaquil had evolved into Quilava shortly