The Grand Festival

Because of the Grand Festival, the resort was packed.

After arriving, Bai Shi had to search hard before he found a place to stay.

The Grand Festival would run for several days.

It had two stages: the preliminaries and the main tournament.

With over a hundred entrants, it was nearly as large as the Lily of the Valley Conference.

In the preliminaries, contestants showcased their Pokémon's appeal on three stages: red, green, and blue.

Each stage had two judges who scored the performances.

The red stage's judges were Gym Leader Fantina and Nurse Joy from Jubilife City.

The green stage's judges were Sukizo, president of the Pokémon Fan Club, and Nurse Joy from Deepplain City.

The blue stage's judges were Contesta, director of the Pokémon Contest Committee, and Nurse Joy from Lilycove City.

The thirty-two highest-scoring contestants would advance to the main tournament.

There, they would compete in two-on-two Pokémon battles.

The thirty-two qualifiers would face off until one winner remained.

Bai Shi remembered only the outcome of the Grand Festival storyline: Zoey won.

He had completely forgotten how it happened.

"I hope this Grand Festival gives me some new ideas."

Bai Shi planned to watch the contestants' performances with an eye toward learning.

One morning, the Grand Festival officially opened.

Bai Shi took a seat in the stands with Ash and Brock.

Before that, he had met up with Ash's group, saying he had come to cheer Dawn on.

Ash and the others had welcomed him without suspicion.

Only Kenny wore an odd expression. He did not seem particularly happy.

Bai Shi had no interest in competing with him for Dawn's attention and simply ignored him.

Perhaps because he was distracted, Kenny made an obvious mistake during the first round of judging.

He accidentally hit his own Pokémon