In the preparation room.
All the contestants had gathered, watching the television screen nervously.
The names of those advancing to the next round of Contest Battles were about to be announced. No matter their Pokémon Performance scores, making it through meant they still had a chance to win a ribbon.
Usually, the organizers adjusted the number of qualifiers according to the number of contestants and their scores. Sometimes sixteen advanced, sometimes thirty-two.
A solemn mood hung over the room.
Baimu and a handful of others still looked fairly cheerful.
Their scores were all above 38.5. Whichever cutoff the organizers chose, they were unlikely to be eliminated. They were safely through.
"A scoring system really is nice..."
Dawn sighed with feeling.
She still remembered the Sinnoh Pokémon Contests she had entered in her debut year. They had not used scores at all, leaving her on edge after every first-round review.
She had always been terrified of being eliminated.
Scores could be nerve-racking too, but at least once everyone had performed, she could usually tell whether she had a chance.
Her only regret was that score of 39.
Whoosh!
The many cards drifting across the screen narrowed to sixteen. As they flipped over one by one, everyone's portrait appeared. None of them had missed out.
"We all made it!"
Wally threw up his arms and cheered, drawing jealous or envious looks from the other contestants around him.
Of course.
A few also gazed at Baimu and Lisia with admiration. They saw the two as leaders of Hoenn's younger generation of Pokémon Contest competitors.
May had once been among them too; she would never have earned the title "Hoenn Dancer" otherwise. But she had spent the past two years competing in other regions, with no one around to keep promoting her. Naturally, her