In just a couple of weeks, The Pokemon Company will be holding its first ever online tournament. Called the Pokemon Autumn Friendly, this global competition will take place October 20-23, and will give Pokemon enthusiasts who don't have the luxury of traveling for tourneys the opportunity to participate and test their skills.

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Registration for the Pokemon Autumn Friendly is free of charge, and will take place from October 12-19. You can sign up for the event here . To participate you must only use monsters from Pokemon Black and White's Unova region. The event itself will take place on the Pokemon Global Link's Global Battle Union site.Participating will not qualify players for the Pokemon World Championship 2012, but they will have the chance to earn the title of Pokemon Autumn Friendly Champion. Participants will also be the first to battle in a Pokemon-sanctioned Global Battle Union tournament.During the event, participants will face off against other trainers from around the world online. The better you do, the higher you'll rank. At the end of the tourney, all results will be posted to the leaderboards of the Global Battle Union website.All battles in the Pokemon Autumn Friendly will be double battles, meaning two Pokemon from each trainer's party will be out battling at the same time. You need to have anywhere from four to six Pokemon in your Battle Box before each battle to participate. All Pokemon that are level 51 or higher will automatically be lowered to level 50 for the duration of the battle. Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem are not playable for this particular tournament.To participate, all you need is a copy of Black or White, a 3DS, DSi, or DS system, and access to online. You will also need to have a Pokemon Trainer Club account, which is free of charge and can be created at the official Pokemon website Best of luck, PokeManiacs, and may the best trainer win!