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Purple Gold City, Dragon Nest Stadium. 19:30.
The event was being broadcast live across the entire region.
The grand audition opening ceremony had officially begun.
All twenty thousand seats in the venue were completely packed, not a single empty spot in sight.
In front of the dazzling and spectacular stage, sixteen judges from various fields sat at a long table. Some were high-ranking officials of the Alliance. Some were well-known scholars. Others were world-famous superstars. But the most eye-catching among them all was none other than one of the current Elite Four Members of the Norlandia Alliance, the Fairy-type specialist known as "Seven-Fold Rainbow" Lennon.
She and the Nine-Tailed Fox Entertainment Company she had founded under the Norlandia Alliance's banner were the organizers and main investors behind this grand talent show.
At that moment, the world-famous superstar was quietly chatting with the Norlandia Alliance's Psychic-type Master, Luanna, who sat right beside her.
Luanna had also made a name for herself in the world of artistic performance in the past. She had represented the Norlandia Alliance in the World Tournament and had won one championship and two runner-up titles in the individual artistic performance category. Her record was impressive, and her reputation was well-deserved.
It was Lennon's sudden and rapid rise to fame that had pushed Luanna to retire at the very height of her career. She had stepped away from the profitable world of artistic performance to focus entirely on Pokemon battles. In a way, Luanna had given up her spotlight so that Lennon could shine.
Because of this, Luanna was, in many ways, a great senior figure to Lennon. And Lennon was deeply grateful for the older woman's decision to step aside. The two had always shared a warm personal relationship because of it. While others might hesitate to speak freely around Lennon, Luanna had no such reservations.
"I still don't understand," Luanna said flatly.
Lennon smiled and leaned toward her. "Sister Luanna, what is there to be confused about? Didn't you do the same for me when you were at your peak? Now that it's my turn to help new talent find their footing, why are you the first one to push back against it?"
Luanna clicked her tongue. "That's completely different. I stepped back because I could see that your talent far outpaced mine. I didn't want to be swept away like an old wave when a stronger one came crashing in. So I bowed out of the performance competitions. But what exactly are you doing here?"
Lennon gave a light, playful smile. "Well, Sister Luanna, how do you know this talent show won't turn up someone even more remarkable than me?"
Luanna fell silent after that.
Lennon had managed to sidestep her senior's questions with a bit of charm, but in truth, she understood exactly what was at stake. The global entertainment world was changing in ways that nobody could ignore. The days of a single performer carrying an entire industry on their shoulders were over. That era was gone and was not coming back.
That was simply the nature of how entertainment evolved. If you did not move into the new markets and connect with fresh audiences, performers from other alliances would take that ground from you without hesitation.
Just last year, a girl group called K.D.A., formed by the neighboring Nirvana League, had swept through the global artistic performance market at a breathtaking pace. In less than twelve months, they had completed over ninety concert tours across the world. Now, the only thing standing between K.D.A. and complete dominance of the entertainment world was the championship at the World Tournament.
By comparison, the Norlandia Alliance's entertainment industry felt like a still pond. It relied almost entirely on top-tier names like Lennon to hold its own against the divas rising from other alliances around the world.
The facts were hard to ignore. At the World Tournament the year before last, Lennon had only managed to earn a bronze medal in the individual artistic performance competition.
The Alliance's official position was that Lennon had been pouring most of her energy into Pokemon Contest battles and was not focused on individual artistic performance rankings. But Lennon knew the truth of her own situation better than anyone else.
Facing the Asgardian Alliance, which had long been considered the strongest in artistic performance, and the fast-rising Nirvana League at the same time, finishing in third place was something she could be quietly relieved about, even if it was not what she had hoped for.
And yet, even after struggling her way to a gold medal in the Pokemon Contest, Lennon felt a sense of crisis she had never known before. It was the same uneasy feeling that Luanna must have felt years ago, the moment she had watched a young Lennon appear out of nowhere and start climbing fast.
So Lennon had made up her mind. She needed to use everything at her disposal, both her own resources and those of the Alliance, to build a group within two years that could stand toe to toe with the Nirvana League's K.D.A. A group that could match them in performance skill and in Pokemon battle strength alike, and maybe even surpass them.
That was the real reason she had been willing to put so much effort into organizing an event of this scale.
Lennon had little faith in those who had spent years going through the motions in the entertainment world. She trusted her own eye for talent. She was looking for something rare and real.
She was looking for the next Lennon. The next Luanna. Not just anyone who could perform.
That was why she had set a strict age limit for participants in this audition. No one over the age of sixteen was allowed to enter. Girls of that age were usually just beginning their journey with Pokemon, just starting to learn what it meant to raise and train a partner. It was unlikely that any of them would already be powerhouses in terms of battle strength. But it was precisely at that age that raw talent was easiest to spot, unpolished, unfiltered, and honest.
Up on stage, the host had finished the opening remarks, and Lennon pulled herself out of her thoughts. The first stage of the auditions, the stage performance, was about to begin. She glanced instinctively at the list of participants beside her.
The very first name on the list caught her attention right away.
Aresdra Cortana.
Was this girl from the Asgardian Alliance? Or was she mixed-race?
That question alone was enough to spark Lennon's curiosity in a big way.
The Asgardian Alliance produced remarkable girls year after year, with both striking looks and impressive strength. They had given Lennon no shortage of tough competition on the performance stage over the years. She was genuinely curious to see what this girl with what appeared to be Asgardian roots might bring to the table.
Backstage, Aresdra was already dressed and waiting for her turn.
She wore a pure white evening gown that moved gracefully with her. A sparkling diamond necklace caught the light against the skin at her neckline. It was the very first piece of jewelry Nova had ever given her. She had worn it tonight hoping it might carry some of Silly's warmth all the way from Harmony City, enough warmth to help her push through the fear knotting up inside her.
But it was not working.
Even if Nova had been standing right there beside her, it probably would not have been enough to calm the nerves twisting through Aresdra at that moment.
She had crouched quietly in a corner of the waiting area, tracing slow, absent circles on Torchic's back with one finger.
Torchic seemed to think it was being given a nice massage to help it relax. It chirped contentedly, "Torchic, Torchic," clearly enjoying the attention.
Riolu, on the other hand, was not fooled at all. Living up to its reputation as a Pokemon that could sense human emotions through Aura, it had picked up on Aresdra's anxiety without any trouble. It reached up and began gently patting her on the back with its small black paws, quietly trying to ease her feelings.
"JoJo," Aresdra whispered, her voice tight. "Why do I have to go on first? Of all the people here..."
Riolu let out a short sigh and gave a small, helpless shake of its head. It had no answer for her.
The reason, of course, came down to her name.
For the K.D.A. Girl Group auditions, the order of the first stage had been decided by the first letter of each contestant's name. Aresdra's full name was Aresdra Cortana. Normally, with a surname like Cortana, she would have been sorted under the letter C. But the staff handling registrations here in Norlandia did not follow the naming conventions used in other alliances, where family names came last. Instead, they had sorted participants by their given name.
And no name in the lineup started earlier in the alphabet than one beginning with "A."
So Aresdra found herself at the very top of the list. First to go on.
No matter how nervous she felt, that fact was not going to change. The host's voice rang out across the packed stadium, clear and sharp:
"Let us welcome..."