There is a legend which has been attached, unchanged, to many of the strongest pokemon in Alola's history, to the point where the original version has been lost. It claims that, on the day it hatched, a swarm of Cutiefly flew overhead, so many that the newborn pokemon was hours old before it saw the Sun. For Cutiefly, after all, are drawn to strong auras, and many pokemon have auras even stronger than those of flowers.
Like in sports played by humans, talent in pokemon battles was long determined by genetics; no matter how hard they trained, some individuals would inevitably benefit more and grow stronger than others. Yet there has never been a breeder alive capable of affording DNA testing for every egg they hatched, so trainers around the world sought a variety of shortcuts to grasp a pokemon's potential - the surest of which was far and away the reaction of the trainer's Cutiefly. The use of Cutiefly for analysis became as common as the use of Ditto for breeding, and although few Ribombee ever won tournaments in Alola, serious trainers always remembered to catch and teach their Cutiefly the art of sensing pokemon auras.
Every now and then, a top trainer from Alola would test their luck overseas; quite often, the superior potential of their pokemon gave them the edge they needed. But if they failed to support themselves with prize money, they could always make a living helping out local pokemon breeders and trainers; a Cutiefly, after all, need not restrict itself to analyzing one's own team.
Today, the popularity of Hyper Training has made the selective breeding of competitive pokemon all but obsolete. Yet it, too, relies on methods of strengthening auras which were pioneered by the Cutiefly.
