The Wallace Cup

At the same time, the Wallace Cup was in full swing.

The Wallace Cup was a special Pokémon Contest founded by Wallace, the Hoenn Region's reigning Champion and a top Coordinator.

It toured the world at regular intervals, and the winner received a special ribbon presented by Wallace himself.

Unlike ordinary ribbons, this one could be used at a Grand Festival in any region.

Wallace also served as a judge.

In both scale and influence, it far surpassed an ordinary Pokémon Contest and was second only to the Grand Festival.

For Coordinators, it held enormous appeal.

It even drew Coordinators from other regions to compete.

May, Ash's former traveling companion from the Hoenn Region, was one of them. She was known as the "Hoenn Princess."

She had traveled all the way to the Sinnoh Region in hopes of winning the Wallace Cup.

To ensure the event went ahead on schedule, the Pokémon League had invested heavily in personnel, resources, and funding.

That was precisely how Team Galactic had caught them off guard.

While the Sinnoh League's higher-ups focused most of their attention on preparing for the Wallace Cup, Team Galactic stole the two orbs.

At least, that was how they saw it.

The theft of both orbs also sent shock waves through the Sinnoh League.

Several senior officials took the blame and were summarily removed from their posts.

The Sinnoh League underwent a major personnel shake-up.

It also began taking Team Galactic far more seriously.

Cynthia, the reigning Champion of the Sinnoh Region, personally stepped in.

She launched an investigation alongside an International Police officer codenamed Looker.

The tip Bai Shi had sent earlier was brought back to the table and examined as an important lead.

Official rewards were posted online and offline to gather information on Team Galactic.

They