After picking up his challenger number using his earlier reservation, Xin Mu did not stay at the entrance to wait in line.
The gym staff would notify him when his turn was approaching.
With so many people ahead of him, even a 1v1 would take several minutes once the referee's explanation of the rules and sending out and recalling Pokémon were factored in. It would be at least a few hours before his turn.
"Squirtle, you're leading off this time."
"Squirtle? (Wasn't this supposed to give the little ones some practice? If I go first, won't that raise the difficulty?)"
The Pokémon qualification exam was the shortcut for anyone who wanted to challenge the League as quickly as possible.
Although the League's official Pokémon qualification exam had some bizarre questions, and the odds of passing without the standard answers were hard to describe, anyone who passed could challenge a regional conference without any Gym Badges.
Taking the exam was actually faster than traveling all over the country, but challenging gyms was itself a form of training.
Meownei did not need to level up anymore, and Regirock was much the same...
Judging by Tobias's performance, that level of strength was already enough to win a conference, though it still fell a little short of taking on a Champion's main team in a full battle.
When the Sinnoh League held its Lily of the Valley Conference, the one who ultimately challenged Cynthia was not Tobias, but Flint, the Fire-type member of the Elite Four.
By all reasonable inference, Tobias had not even made it past the Elite Four, which also indirectly demonstrated the importance of a full team.
Darkrai plus Latios plus four Caterpie was still not quite enough.
Training alone with equipment and battling random trainers clearly could not compare to