October 21.
The upheaval on Mt. Coronet had barely caused a stir online, because hardly anyone had noticed it in the first place.
But once the show aired... everyone would know.
What little discussion there was had been drowned out by other news.
The first bombshell was that Li Wei would be competing in this year's Lily of the Valley Conference.
With the Lily of the Valley Conference drawing near, there was no need to keep it secret anymore. It also served to build anticipation for the tournament.
"Wait, Li Wei's entering the Lily of the Valley Conference? Isn't that basically the Little Cup for him?"
"Actually, you never know."
"A Trainer named Tobias showed up this year. He earned eight Badges using just one Darkrai!"
"Whoa-"
"But... I still don't think he can beat Li Wei, right?"
"Speaking of Darkrai, doesn't Li Wei have one too...?"
Quite a few people online had gotten the wrong idea, assuming the Darkrai from Alamos Town was Li Wei's Pokémon.
Naturally, neither Li Wei nor Darkrai could be bothered to clear things up.
Letting people think the Darkrai from Alamos Town belonged to Li Wei was fine. It would save Darkrai a lot of trouble.
"I reckon he's testing the waters for next year's Master League."
Thanks to that Lip-Reading Expert a while back, word had already leaked that Li Wei would be entering the Master League next year.
"This year's Lily of the Valley Conference is going to be interesting!"
With Ash, Tobias, and Li Wei all competing, this year's Lily of the Valley Conference would have plenty to offer.
Whether it was the question of Li Wei using his rare Pokémon or the prospect of a Darkrai VS Darkrai showdown.
The second piece of news was that the Master League's Knockout