Altaris the quaint island chain with two major islands and several smaller islands surrounding. Towns are nestled here in there; from the mountains to the forests to the hills. Pokémon inhabit every area, in the wild and with trainer companions.
Every trainer has an ambition, most commonly to become the top trainer and by the best they can be. Others have different approaches to what happens with their Pokémon. Altaris makes it easier for the trainers with different ideas to take their ambition further.
Obsidian Shard Island is the turning point for these trainers. Altaris' dark secret is forever at home here. This is the dark twist forever leaving Altaris separate from the other regions, in something known as a Pokémon Deathmatch. The simple point of the Deathmatch: pitting their Pokémon against each other to prove themselves as the strongest trainer, in a different way. A win brings money, safety (for the moment) and the trainers praise to the Pokémon. The losing side, well, is never heard from again.
All illegal, the Deathmatches are. Yet, they are still spectated and participated in by crowds of hundreds. Reports are attended by authorities, but investigations only led to arrests of one or two, many times no, participants. Even the Pokémon that are spared being killed in the match are left abandoned by trainers, which leads to the wild Pokémon discovering them and attempting their own alerts to the authorities.
Not all the people of Altaris know about the Deathmatches, as the only clues about them that they receive is in the news. The news, though, only reports stories on attacks on both humans and their Pokémon by the wounded and savage Pokémon; some wild Pokémon are found dying while trainers are arrested for the murdering of the innocent.
An underground group, simply known as Team Mortis rises to those who follow the Deathmatches. Yet it is still unknown to what their true role is in the practice.