What? Kinda unexpected.

And yet, totally logical.

I can see it being worn for contests.

If only they opted for her in the anime instead of Iris D:

Isn't Iris a different character than her?

Mugen_fuego25 said:
Isn't Iris a different character than her?

Yeah, Iris is also in the games.

Why didn't put her in the anime? That is bullshit.

Seconded cdcfrp

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say for the whole "a new start" theme.

Ash, Pikachu, his mom and Oak are the only carryovers in this series.

Not only that but Ash is once again traveling with two gym leaders. A male and female one.

To me it's because they wanted to capture the feel of the original season of the anime.

It's a new world with new pokemon and new characters (bar those 4).