Solaceon Contest

*The next day...*

Dawn did some more training for tomorrow's Pokemon Contest. Smoochum was moving some hearts with Confusion and danced around with them.

"That's great, Smoochum." Dawn said. "We'll do that in the appeal round. And Ambipom will do the battle round."

"That's a great idea." Brock said.

*Meanwhile...*

Ash was talking to Prof. Oak on the phone.

"Well Ash, I love meeting your new Sinnoh Pokemon and so does Tracey and your other Pokemon." Prof. Oak said.

Just then an Ambipom showed up next to Prof. Oak. It was Ash's; his Aipom had evolved yesterday sometime after the disturbance with Unown.

"Listen Prof. Oak." Ash said. "Do you remember Team Aqua and Magma from Hoenn?"

"Yes I do." Prof. Oak replied.

Ash informed him that Sinnoh had a evil team known as Team Galactic.

"I haven't met them yet, but I found out yesterday that Team Rocket encountered them." Ash said.

"Be careful Ash." Prof. Oak warned him. "I'm sure this team will be dangerous like the others were."

Ash promised Prof. Oak that he will be.

"Oh Professor. There's another mystery on my hands here." He took the mysterious plates out of his backpack. "I've been finding and collecting these plates traveling across Sinnoh, and I found a new one at the Solaceon Ruins."

He presented a pink plate. Prof. Oak had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"That is very mysterious Ash." He said. "I have never seen anything like those plates. You must be on guard if this means something. You know very well how mysteries eventually end."

"That I do." Ash said.

He recalled everything he had been through. With all the mysteries in the past, Ash felt that something would happen with the plates in the end.

*The next day...*

It was time for the Solaceon contest. Marian did the usual introductions and showed off the Solaceon ribbon. The Solaceon ribbon was purple with white triangular patterns. While Brock and Tomo sat in the seats like normal along with Growlithe and Piplup, Ash, Dawn and Kenny were in the waiting room for their turns. Ash was wearing blue trousers, a red shirt, a black, blue and yellow coat, a light blue scarf, red cuffs with yellow outlines, white gloves, black shoes and white socks. Dawn was wearing her dress the same way she did in the Jubilife contest. She still felt sure she was going to win the contest this time.

The appeal rounds came and Kenny was up first. He sent out Breloom with a line seal, which created a spiral of white lines. Breloom first released a spray of Stun Spore; next Breloom released a Energy Ball and then punched it with Mach Punch. It created beautiful sparkles combined with the Stun Spore. Ash and Dawn could see that Kenny had improved with his moves.

"Don't let nerves get to you Dawn." Ash advised. "Remember we all improved our skills for this."

Dawn knew he was right. In the seats Piplup was worried about Dawn, but Tomo reassured him that everything was going to be alright.

After Kenny came out some other coordinators went after him and then it was Ash's turn. He released his Turtwig with a flower seal, which released a shower of yellow flower petals. Turtwig started off with Dig; this surprised the audience and judges because they knew Turtwig couldn't learn Dig. Turtwig created 10 holes and dived down one of them. Then Turtwig released multiple energy balls from the holes. Then he came out of the holes and threw one more Energy Ball attack. The energy ball attacks exploded into fireworks. The audience loved Ash's appeal.

Next it was Dawn's turn. She sent out her Smoochum with a heart seal, which released a big pink heart. Smoochum started off by releasing a light Powder Snow attack. Then Smoochum did the Sweet Kiss and Confusion combo while dancing, like how she practiced. At first it seemed nice, but then the hearts started to cover Smoochum.

"Uh-oh, Dawn is making one of the appeal round's mistakes." Ash told Kenny.

"Yeah, having the Pokemon hide too much." Kenny agreed.

He knew about the errors in a contest. In the seats Brock and Tomo thought this was a little too much because they knew about contest errors too.

After the appeal rounds were over everyone waited for the results. Dawn was telling Smoochum that she was great in the appeal and they would have passed this. Ash wasn't so sure about that due to her mistake. Brock and Tomo, who just entered the waiting room, thought so too. The results came up and to her horror, she didn't make it to the second round but Ash and Kenny did.

"What happened?" Dawn asked, sadly.

Smoochum and Piplup were disappointed. Ash had the 'I thought so' expression on his face.

At Twinleaf Town Johanna, who saw everything on TV, felt sorry for Dawn. She knew what it's like to lose contests because she had been there herself. And now Dawn is going through the same thing.

The boys didn't know what to say to Dawn, especially since this was the second time he lost the appeal round. Suddenly Dawn congratulated both Ash and Kenny.

"We are sorry for your loss Dawn." Brock said.

"Hey, no need to worry." Dawn said. "I just didn't have a great time out there. Come on Ash, Kenny you need to get ready for the battle round."

Despite smiling, Ash wasn't falling for it; her aura helped him see right through her and Dawn was sad and crushed due to her second loss. But she didn't know what to do.

The battle rounds went smoothly and Ash and Kenny ended up facing each other in the finals. Kenny's Prinplup was up against Ash's Vigoroth and they had already lost half of the points each. Kenny ordered Prinplup to use Drill Peck but Vigoroth used Counter and the move backfired. Kenny then ordered Prinplup to use Bubble Beam, but Vigoroth used Mimic to counter the Bubble Beam with his Bubble Beam. It was bad for Kenny, because he was losing more points than Ash. Soon time was up and the result was that Ash won so he earned the Solaceon Ribbon.

Ash was happy winning his third contest, but he was worried about Dawn. That evening Kenny got ready to leave.

"I'll be sure to beat you in the next Pokemon contest Ash." He said. "And you too Dawn."

"I don't think I'll be in the next one." Dawn sighed.

She was still down after her loss.

"Listen Dawn." Kenny said. "No matter what, I am not going to let you give up on Pokemon contests, especially after I beat you in them."

"Come on Kenny." Dawn said. "I'll be in another Pokemon contest soon."

He wasn't convinced, but he didn't push it. So he said goodbye to the gang and left, but he was still worried about Dawn; he saw how down she was.

*That night...*

Dawn was sorry for herself and upset over her loss. She looked at the old ribbon her mom gave her.

"Oh mom I lost again." She said sadly. "But how come? I don't know what I am going to do."

Then she cried herself to sleep.

*The next day...*

Ash, Brock and Tomo had just finished getting ready to leave, but Dawn still wasn't up.

"I'm worried Brock." Ash confessed. "Since Dawn lost the appeal round twice, she feels crushed and upset."

"Yes, it can hurt when you're on a losing streak like this." Brock said. "The question is what should we do?"

"Leave this to me." A voice said.

It was Zoey.

"I take it you saw the contest on TV?" Ash asked. "And I take it you noticed Dawn's error too?"

"Absolutely Ash and I liked your appeal." Zoey answered.

"Dawn is crushed by this and we don't know what to do." Ash said.

"Don't worry Ash, I will sort this out." Zoey said.

Zoey entered the room Dawn was sleeping in and she pulled the blanket off her.

"Get up." She ordered. "And let's have a battle."

Dawn was confused and surprised to see Zoey.

"You can partner with Smoochum and I want to battle based on what you did yesterday." Dawn was still confused but agreed.

So Dawn and Zoey got ready to battle. Dawn sent out Smoochum and Zoey sent out Glameow. Dawn had Smoochum use the Sweet Kiss and Confusion combo they did yesterday.

"I bet that Zoey is going to show Dawn what her error was in this battle." Ash said.

"I believe you're right Ash." Brock nodded.

Smoochum was now covered in the hearts like yesterday.

"This is a nice move Dawn." Zoey said. "But where's Smoochum? In the middle of that Smoochum disappeared. You must remember that Pokemon are the main attraction. You spent so much time polishing your moves you forgot to really show what the moves are made of."

Dawn started to understand her error.

"Glameow, Iron Tail." Zoey ordered.

Iron Tail broke the hearts apart. Then Glameow used Shock Wave on Smoochum. Dawn ran over to see if Smoochum was okay and she was.

Zoey walked over to Dawn.

"Dawn, do you know why I decided not to enter the Solaceon contest after the Hearthome contest." She informed her.

Dawn didn't know why.

"Everyone gets upset when they lose Dawn." Zoey said. "When you don't think clearly, it's easy to forget what's important. That's why after a loss I take some time off to recharge so I will be ready for the next challenge."

"I know what you mean." Ash said. "I've lost battles and other things before and taking some time off to think through things helps me decide what to do during the next challenge."

"My point exactly Ash." Zoey said, happy he understood what was being said.

So the idea was to have Dawn take some time off from Pokemon contests for a bit to find her feet, and Ash decided not to think about contests either since he had three ribbons and to give Dawn some space.

So after another Pokemon contest, the gang left Solaceon Town to head to Veilstone City so Ash and Tomo could get their next badge.