On the cold morning of Day 24 of Month 12, with snow slowly falling, the Top 128 Trainers gathered in the Indigo Stadium, staring at the Giant Screen with the Central Torch behind them.
The Magikarp were let loose inside the Aquarium of the Pokemon Center, where the golden balls were floating.
At first, Mock Draws were held, and Leaf and Gary nearly jumped in shock when they were pinned against each other for Round of 128.
When the real Draws started, all the Referees and the cameras kept a keen eye on the Pokémon, who tackled the balls, making them explode, and soon the numbers started appearing on the Screens, filling up the brackets on the Tree of the Knock-Out Phase.
Number 8 appeared on the 29th Bracket, and everyone kept their eyes on it as they waited for the next golden ball explosion.
It was number 51 that Aizen found himself against.
Twenty minutes later, all 128 Brackets were filled, and the people finally got to take a good look at the Knock-Out Tree.
Egnar and Aizen glanced at each other and smiled when saw that they would only cross paths in the Final.
On the side, Ritchie was frowning as he found him potentially up against Ash in the Round of 32.
Leaf too frowned when she saw that she would be facing Aizen in the Semi-Finals if she made it that far. In the Round of 16, she could meet Anthony Marken, the guy whom Aizen had defeated in his duel at the Saffron Gym.
In the Quarter-finals, she could potentially be up against Alain Sycamore, whom Anira had informed her was Aizen's estranged friend and Professor Sycamore's estranged son.
He was a strong opponent, who had also gathered 16 Points in the Preliminary Matches, using only his Charizard, Chestnaught, and Malamar.
Leaf was immensely relieved that she was not going to be up against Aizen before the Semi-Finals. Of all the Opponents, he worried her the most.
However, what shocked her was her opponent in the Top 128.
It was Viktor. The bulky boy whom they had met at the beach near Bill's Lighthouse. The very guy whom Misty had defeated and Anira had thrown into the colony of Exeggutor.
When she instinctively glanced to her right and a few columns away, she found the boy in question dangerously looking at her.
It was clear that he wanted to settle old debts.
She innocently smiled at him and looked away to mask the coldness in her eyes.
Leaf remembered what the boy intended to do to Misty's Golduck, and she wanted to teach the rascal another lesson.
However, no one was more tense than Gary Oak.
He was up against some very strong opponents, and in the Quarter-finals, he could potentially face Egnar Goodwin, the favourite to win the Conference, and in the Round of 16, he could be up against Jimmy, who was in the Quarter-Finals of last year's Silver Conference, and was the younger brother of Ethan, who won the Silver Conference last year.
He, however, was very confident about making it to the Top 16, which could not be said for the majority of the Trainers.
The Trainers who were facing Aizen and Egnar were already very depressed.
The Team of Referees then addressed the Trainers and requested them to read the rules of the matches before the start of every match.
Only the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, Bronze-Final, and Final were going to be held in the Indigo Stadium.
Round of 128 was going to be held in the four Rock Battlefields.
Round of 64 was going to be held in the four Ice Battlefields.
Round of 32 was going to be held in the four Water Battlefields.
Round of 16 was going to be held in the four Grass Battlefields.
After the group returned to the Pokémon Center, they sat down to have their breakfast.
Aizen's match was at noon in the Third Rock Battlefield. Leaf's Match was at 1 pm in the Fourth Rock Battlefield. Gary had his match at 3 pm in the Fourth Rock Battlefield, and both Ritchie and Ash had their matches at 5 pm in the Second and Third Rock Battlefields.
Misty quickly purchased the tickets for everyone, and since both Ash and Ritchie had their battles at the same time, the group decided to watch it in the Lounge of the Pokémon Center to keep tabs on both matches.
"I hope you will make it quick. I have my match in the next hour." Leaf playfully said to Aizen when they all walked towards the Third Rock Battlefield.
Since the Top 128 and the Top 64 matches were where Trainers could use three Pokémon in the Battles, it was unlikely that the matches would last for the full hour. Most of the matches of the Preliminary Rounds had ended within twenty minutes.
"Alright." He smiled and promised her, and then parted ways with the group as he headed inside the Eastern Lounge.
The boys and the girls went to take their seats in the Grandstand which had been vacated after the end of the 11 am Match.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, for our 15th match of the Round of 128, we have on the Eastern Grid, the Trainer with the perfect score in the Preliminary Matches, who is from the Blanc Island, representing the Blanc Palace, Blanc Kingdom, the Trainer who has only revealed his Blastoise and Aerodactyl in the Conference so far... Aizen Orayen!"
Deafening cheers rose to the sky, and the Prince walked onto the field and took his spot.
"On the Western Grid, we have the aspiring, the ambitious, the Pride of Sento Cherry Town, Johto, representing the Cedar Hall... Ron Dickson!"
A tall boy, around the age of sixteen, with brown hair, walked out of the western tunnel and took his spot on the grid.
The countdown soon started, and both the Trainers plucked a Pokeball from their belt.
As soon as the Referee raised his Flags and whistled, they sent out their chosen Pokémon on the Battlefield.
"Electivire vs Steelix. Let's begin!"
Ron was stunned when he saw the gigantic Steelix, who looked very menacing, and before he could even react, the Stone Serpent used Dig and disappeared into the ground.
"Focus!" He called out to his Pokémon in alarm, who immediately cleared up his mind and readied a Focus Punch.
However, to its shock, Steelix did not emerge from the ground close to it.
Instead, the Stone Serpent appeared behind it, and as soon as it got out of the ground, it used Earthquake, which rattled the Electric Pokémon.
Steelix then immediately created a Sandstorm in the Battlefield, and as soon as it harmed Electivire's vision, it used Dig again.
"Stay focused and smash it with your Focus Punch when he appears from under you."
However, to the irritation of Electivire, it did not attack it but proceeded to create several large holes in the Battlefield.
And then another powerful earthquake followed, which ended up creating a depression in the arena, a large crater, and Electivire felt nauseous and lost its focus.
And then something dreadful happened.
Steelix gave the poor Pokémon a Heavy Slam, nearly crushing it under its weight.
When the Steel Serpent moved away, Electivire was found unconscious and in pretty bad shape.
Ron immediately recalled his Electivire and his mind was no longer calm.
He sent out a Quagsire, and Aizen immediately recalled his Steelix and sent out his newly evolved Ivysaur, giving it an opportunity to gain some experience.
Round two continued for over seven minutes before Ivysaur prevailed against his opponent. And he was clearly very happy about his win.
In the third round, Aizen allowed Ivysaur to continue for a while against Blastoise, but when it was clear that he could not win despite the Type Advantage, he recalled him and sent out his own Blastoise, who finished the battle in under five minutes.
Ron had tears in his eyes after the match, and the Orayen Prince did not offer the boy any words of consolation.
He silently left the battlefield under the applause of the spectators.
By the time he came out of the Arena, the group was waiting for him on the bridge that led to the Fourth Rock Battlefield.
Leaf hugged him, and after receiving some words of encouragement from Anira, May, and Misty, where the Waterflower asked her to teach the boy a lesson he would forever remember, she went to the Participant's Lounge.
The 12 pm Match was still ongoing, so the group had to wait and watch it from the rooftop.
At 12:50 pm, they took their seats at the Grandstand and watched the management repair the field for the next match.
"On our Eastern Grid, the Girl from Pallet Town, Kanto, who has performed brilliantly in the Preliminary Matches, amassing a total of 14 Points. She's representing the Blanc Laboratory, Blanc Island, and she and her team are aiming for the win... Leaf.... Green!!!"
"On our Western Grid, the boy from Driftveil City, Unova, representing the Milk Brothers Ranch, and who is just as fierce as his Pokémon, please welcome... Viktor... Grand!!!"
The boy, as soon as he arrived on his Grid, glared at Leaf, who did not bother looking at him and simply plucked her Pokéball from her belt.
As soon as the whistle sounded out, both the Trainers threw their Pokéballs in the air.
And Viktor felt his heart jump in his throat when he saw that his Jolteon was up against a Magnezone.
Both these Pokémon had not been revealed by their Trainers so far in the Conference.
"Round 1: Jolteon vs Magnezone. Begin!"