BA010

==Synopsis==
===Yazmyne's Recovery===
Continuing from the previous episode, Yazmyne is appealing with Butterfree on the Viridian City stage. She appeal started out strong, but Butterfree's Gust is growing too powerful, much to the audience's worry as well as the judges. Yazmyne panics a little and watching, Nick thinks the appeal is over. Yazmyne recalls Nick's words when he said that Pokemon respond to their trainer's actions and mannerisms, so if she falters, so will Butterfree. Yazmyne orders Butterfree to use Confusion on the Gust. Dante is alarmed as he knows Butterfree's Confusion isn't very strong yet. Butterfree is worried, but Yazmyne encourages her new Pokemon to trust her. Butterfree complies and his eyes illuminate a cold blue. Butterfree's technique outlines the expanding golden tornado in a blue light. Unable to fully control the Gust, Butterfree inadvertently disperses it with his Confusion, just as Yazmyne wanted, effectively turning Butterfee'e weakness into a strength. As a result, the sparkling golden dust from Stun Spore, blankets the stage, many spores attaching themselves to Butterfree's wings, causing the wings to glow a golden hue while emitting a light glitter. Taking Yazmyne's lead, Butterfree floats to his trainer and lands himself aloft on Yazmyne's head, concluding the appeal.
The audience is in complete silence for several seconds before erupting into wild cheers and applause. Backstage, Nick comments on the tremendous flaws in Yazmyne's appeal, but she put on an unexpected show, and Dante adds Buterfree certainly looks dazzling. Elsie comments that she never expected such a large, powerful, and sparkling appeal from a beginner. Elsie says she has her opinions on the appeal, but she turns the judges who will ultimately decide Yazmyne's score. Nurse Joy and Mr. Contesta offer encouraging opinions, but Yuma is rather harsh. She comments that the golden Gust, though beautiful, was going out of control and Butterfree hesitated when Yazmyne ordered him to move. Yuma adds that even outside Contests, Yazmyne and Butterfree need to control that power so it will not backfire on them especially in a crucial battle. However, Yazmyne's appeal was beautiful and creative, especially since it showed off Butterfree's power and ended with Butterfree dazzling. The judges collectively award Yazmyne a decent score of 23. At home, Yazmyne's mother admits she would have gives her daughter a 21 at most but this being her very first appeal, may have influenced the judges a bit.
Yazmyne is relieved that her appeal is over, but knows that a 23 will land her in the bottom three if she even makes it into the Top 8. Yazmyne is joined by Dante and her Pokemon. Dante tries to compliment Yazmyne, but they both know she was about to mess up royally. Nick assures her that the plan was good, but execution and trust in all competitions takes time, and she risked using a Pokemon she just caught. Nick admits that Yazmyne should have waited to the next Contest before she used Butterfree. Nevertheless, 23 is a decent score especially for anyone's first Contest.
Following Yazmyne's appeal, five more appeals are held before the judges deliberate to post the final results. Meanwhile, Yazmyne feeds her well-deserving Butterfree while brushing Bulbasaur's back. Dante asks how Yazmyne feels and she replies that being on stage in its own way was exillerating, but it was highly stressful. Yazmyne says that if the battle rounds are anything like the appeal stage, then she hopes she doesn't make it to the battle rounds. However, she and Butterfree put a lot of time and energy into their appeal, so if not for herself, she hopes to advance for Butterfree. Dante asks if Yazmyne has read the rules for battle rounds. Yazmyne suddenly realizes that she put so much time into the appeal stage, she forgot to train Bulbasaur for the battle rounds, and she never even read the book Elsie gave her for appeals. After the brief intermission, the results are in. Nick achieves first place, and Yazmyne is in seventh, allowing both Coordinators to advance to the next round.
===Battle Rounds Begin===
Yazmyne is astonished to see her face on the screen. Carrie is in absolute jubilee, excited that her daughter is already advancing to the battle rounds. Butterfree is elated while Yazmyne's face whitens with shock. Dante can't help but laugh a little. He says that Yazmyne watched Contests as a child, but Yazmyne asserts that she never payed attention to the actual point deduction system, only the actual battles. Nick believes that he'll walk away with the ribbon anyway, but says that Yazmyne has even much more to worry about now. Elsie has the the trainers rearranged into a randomized tourney tree to show Nick and Yazmyne in the third and fourth battles, respectively. Yazmyne begins shuffling though the rule to book to read exactly how Contest Battles work. Dante takes the rule book away and reminds Yazmyne what Daniel said to her, that if she's really a trainer, she learn how to battle and achieve inspiration by watching others battles. Yazmyne agrees but Dante cannot help but add that he knows nothing about Contests.
The battles are underway. Yazmyne and Bulbasaur watch the first two battles of Quilava against a Pikachu, followed by an Eevee battling a Kirlia intently. Yazmyne tells Bulbasaur to notice that dodging attacks gracefully takes away the opponent's points. Also landing attacks takes away points. Pretty attacks will also take away the opponent's points. In the third battle, Nick battles with Makuhita against a Jumpluff. Yazmyne pays close attention to Riolu and Jumpluff's movements as they dodge or repel attacks. Jumpluff uses it's naturally light body to float, but Makuhita uses Whirlwind Wave intelligenly to disrupt Jumpluff's flight. When time runs out, Nick and Makuhita have earned the most points, allowing Nick to advance to the semifinals. Yazmyne turns to Bulbasaur, saying that they are up next.
Yazmyne tells Dante that she's noticed that the Coordinators are accenting their Pokemon's natural abilities to counter and take away the opponent's points and she thinks she knows how to do so with Bulbasaur. Dante wishes her luck and Yazmyne goes out for her battle. Yazmyne is facing against a female Coordinator. Elsie starts the clock, leading Yazmyne to call out Bulbasaur while her opponent chooses Gabite.
 The battle begins with a Bulbasaur landing a strong Razor Leaf that takes away her opponent's score but Gabite counters with a powerful Slash to disperse the leaves, costing out Yazmyne even more points. Bulbasaur charges with Tackle, but Gabite uses Bulldoze to stop Bulbasaur's attack and make him stumble. Gabite follows with another Slash that sends Bulbasaur flying back.
Bulbasaur performs Vine Whip. Gabite plans a Dual Chop to deflect the vines, but Bulbasaur catches Gabite's arms. Bulbasaur lifts Gabite and slams it into the ground. Before Gabite can recover, Bulbasaur ensnares Gabite with Leech Seed. Energy is sapped from Gabite and is sent to Bulbasaur, healing him. With Gabite hurt and drained, Bulbsasur strikes several times with Vine Whip, which costs her opponent a consistent loss of points. Gabite performs Sand Attack to kick sand into Bulbasaur's eyes for a moment. This stops his Vine Whip and allows Gabite to strike with Dual Chop. Gabite follows with Slash, but at Yazmyne's command, Bulbasaur uses his vines to jump over Gabite to evade then land a critical Razor Leaf just before time expires. When the two look to the clock, Yazmyne is shown with the most points, allowing her to advance to the semifinals. Upon victory, Bulbasaur jumps into Yazmyne's arms. 
When the stage is cleared, Dante congratulates Yazmyne backstage. Dante thinks Yazmyne might be a natural at Contests. Yazmyne denies, saying that she learned to be observant growing up. She used to watch her father's gym battles all of the time, so she developed the skills to watch Pokemon carefully in battle, but just because she knows what may be coming doesn't mean she and her Pokemon will always have the skills to react, especially with a time limit. Yazmyne asserts that she may have had a jump start in her journey, but she's still a rookie. Yazmyne thinks she got a little lucky, but also thinks that Bulbasaur was simply amazing. Dante asks if Yazmyne can keep it up for two more battles., and Yazmyne says that she will if she wants to win. Bulbasaur is eager to keep competing. Yazmyne says her next opponent is probably the strongest in the competition, leading her to share glares with Nick, her next opponent.
===SF: Yazmyne vs. Nick===
The episode spans to the next round, the Viridian Contest's second semifinal battle with Yazmyne against Nick for a spot in the finals. Nick calls out Riolu and Yazmyne has Bulbasaur. The battle begins, and Yazmyne orders Tackle. Makuhita executes a Vital Throw to catch, flick, and toss Bulbasaur across the battlefield, costing Yazmyne points. Bulbasaur recovers and both sides collide with Razor Leaf and Whirlwind, respectively.
Bulbsasaur plants a Leech Seed, which produces multiple vines to attack Riolu, but the latter shreds the incoming leaves with Cross Chop. Bulbsasaur immediately responds by capturing Makuhita's arms with Vine Whip. Bulbasaur toys with Makuhita before throwing it in the air. Makuhita finds balance in the air and fires a Whirlwind, which Bulbasaur matches with Razor Leaf. 
Makuhita and Bulbasaur continue to collide with Whirlwind and Razor Leaf, which causes the field to be consumed in shredded leaves. Nick and Riilu lose sight of Bulbasaur, who rushes through the leaves and strikes with Tackle. Bulbasaur follows with Vine Whip, and Makuhita counters with Circle Throw to regain the advantage. However, Bulbasaur lands safely to strike with Razor Leaf. Makuhita and Bulbasaur clash with a final Cross Chop and Tackle before time runs out.
According to the scoreboard Yazmyne has 1/3 or her original score while Nick has 1/4. The difference is small but it gives Yazmyne and Bulbasaur the clearance to advance to the final stage. Riolu is downtrodden that she could not get Nick to the finals again. Nick tells Riolu that their dream has just srtarted, and they will not give up. As Bulbasaur and Yazmyne celebrate their victory, Nick quietly walks off stage, believing that Yazmyne may be cut out for Contests after all, just so long as her appeals are in order. Dante also applauds Yazmyne with her Pokemon backstage.
===Final Stage===
Later, Bulbasaur is battling Kirlia on the final stage, and Kirlia effectively uses its psychic abilities to turn Bulbasaur's attacks back on with him as with Razor Leaf, but Bulbasaur uses a circular Vine Whip to cancel his own Razor Leaf. Using the leaves as cover Bulbasaur, as he did in the semifinals, ands a powerful Tackle. A powerful light then rains down on Bulbasaur with the effects of Future Sight, as Elsie describes, comes to shock Bulbasaur, which is how Yazmyne's opponents finished her last two opponents. Bulbasaur steals Kirlia with Vine Whip and throwes it into the Future Sight, causing Kirlia's own attack to explode on itself. A frustrated Kirlia recovers and the two Pokemon then clash Razor Leaf and Magical Leaf. Being a Grass-Type, Bulbasaur's attack carries more power and Kirlia is overwhelmed and ultimately knocked with 25 seconds left on the clock.
With this victory, Yazmyne wins the Viridian City Contest. Yazmyne is cheered and she congratulates her Bulbasaur. Yazmyne is flanked by Bulbasaur and Butterfree as she is presented the Viridian City Ribbon while Bulbasaur and Butterfree recieve ribbons of their own too. The judges applaud Yazmyne's natural vigor on the Contest Stage and remark that it's rare for a Coordinator to win the very first Contest they enter. They call Yazmyne and natural, hoping to see her on stage in the future. Elsie then welcomes the crowd to give the winner a round of applause. 
===Aftermath===
That evening, a reception is held and Yazmyne is at the desk with Dante. Yazmyne is presented with a monetary winning. Nick joins her to collect his own and says that Coodinators who make it to the battle rounds get a monetary winnings based on their placement, something Yazmyne did not know. Nick congratulates Yazmyne on the victory, which she attributes to Butterfree and Bulbasaur. Elsie finds them and catches up. Elsie gives Yazmyne a Ribbon Case, congratulating her victory, and Yazmyne places her Viridian Ribbon in her case. Elsie joins Nick in asking if she will compete in the future. Yazmyne flatly declines, saying that appeal stage is too stressful, while the battle rounds has a time limit and "going all out" won't merit her a victory. Yazmyne says she can understand appreciate the vigor and appeal of Contests, but she doesn't believe it's for her. Nick is a bit disappointed as he wanted to avenge his loss against a complete newbie, but he respects her descision as does Elsie. 
A Nurse Joy comes out and requests Yazmyne, saying that there is an extremely excited woman on the phone for her. Yazmyne pieces together that her mother must be cheering like crazy. Yazmyne reluctantly goes to the phone where her mother is already shouting about how happy she if for her daughter. Yazmyne peacefully replies that she is happy too.
==Major Events==
*Yazmyne and Nick clear the Viridian Contest appeal stage
*Yazmyne defeats Nick in the semifinals and eventually wins the Contest, earning her first Kanto Ribbon
*Elsie gifts Yazmyne a Ribbon Case
*Yazmyne still decides not to pursue Contests
For a list of all major events in this anime, please see Major Events/Battles Ablaze. 
==Characters==
===Humans===
*Yazmyne
*Dante
*Nick
*Carrie
*Duane
*Elsie
*Mr. Contesta
*Yuma
*Nurse Joy
*Coordinators
*Audience
===Pokemon===
*Bulbasaur (Yazmyne's)
*Pidgey (Yazmyne's)
*Spinarak (Yazmyne's)
*Butterfree (Yazmyne's)
*Makuhita (Nick's)
*Persian (Carrie's)
*Chansey (Nurse Joy;s)
*Mightyena
*Servine
*Eevee
*Quilava
*Pikachu
*Kirlia
*Jumpluff
Category:Episodes
Category:Episodes with Contests
Category:Battles Ablaze