December 2, Lily of the Valley Island.
Today marked the preliminaries of the Lily of the Valley Conference.
Li Wei did not need to participate, while Cynthia had to attend as the Sinnoh League's representative.
As both her partner and a seeded contestant, Li Wei went to watch the matches from the VIP stands.
However, since the preliminaries took place across three subsidiary arenas and the main arena, Li Wei and Cynthia were not together.
The preliminaries were two-on-two matches, pairing up contestants who had earned eight Badges in single-elimination battles. They had only one chance.
Although they all had eight Badges, their abilities varied considerably.
That was partly because some Gym Leaders occasionally slacked off.
Before Ash arrived in Sunyshore City, Volkner had spent a long time neglecting his duties.
As the strongest Gym Leader in the Sinnoh Region, he was only slightly weaker than Flint of the Elite Four.
But for a while, the Sunyshore Gym had left its Badges right at the entrance. Even a passing dog could have taken one.
That was why Shinji had called the Sunyshore Gym's Beacon Badge the most worthless Gym Badge.
Previously, that title had belonged to the Cobble Badge from Maylene's Veilstone Gym.
Ash sent out his ace, Pikachu, who swept both opponents and advanced to the Knockout Round without any surprises.
At crucial moments like these, Pikachu never fooled around.
Meanwhile, thunderous cheers erupted from the main arena.
Tobias had sent out Darkrai, defeated his opponent in just two moves, and promptly left the field.
At the highest point of the main arena, Cynthia stood with her arms folded as she watched alongside President Samaranch.
"Darkrai..."
The election for the next Pokémon League president had already concluded, with Mayor Luca winning 72 percent of the vote.
According to opinion