On the outskirts of Shalour City's East District stood an enormous octagonal building resembling an arena!
This was the venue for the Pokémon Battle Festival!
With the start of the Pokémon World Championships, this official competitive event had drawn Trainers eager for opponents from every region to the Kalos Region!
After all, the Battle Festival was an important event where every Trainer could substantially improve their ranking in the Pokémon World Championships!
Aside from regional Gym matches and Battle Parks, official competitive events such as the Battle Festival and Battle Tournament offered a considerable number of points for accumulated wins!
This was one of the most important ways for Trainers to improve their rankings and classes!
Anyone could freely enter these competitive events.
As a result, the Kalos Region's Battle Festival and the Sinnoh Region's Battle Tournament had attracted a great many Trainers.
Every Trainer yearned for a higher ranking-for fame, wealth, and status!
Just as in the original story, even Ash and a host of other outstanding competitors had gathered here to improve their rankings and classes and settle who was best.
The Battle Festival used a two-on-two single-battle format, with matches held on either a Grass Field or a Rock Field.
Here, a beginner Trainer might have the terrible luck of encountering an elite-class Trainer.
A Gym-class competitor might unexpectedly find themselves facing an inexperienced youngster.
All matchups were generated by a computer Rotom, who used a continuously expanding and updated Trainer database to pair competitors with similar numbers of wins before their matches began.
Yes, Rotom selected opponents based on wins, not a Trainer's strength!
That made every matchup highly unpredictable, with no way to manipulate it...
At that moment, outside the Battle Festival's bustling venue, Korrina emerged from the competitors' passage, her face flushed and her