Dawn's Friend Leona

Dawn didn't know what to do after losing the appeal round a second time. Because of that she had started to lose her confidence as a Pokemon coordinator and she didn't know what she should practice with her Pokemon. Because of what Zoey told her about not to forget her Pokemon are the main attraction, Dawn was at a complete loss.

Ash noticed she was suffering a lack of confidence because of her two losses. He had a talk with Brock.

"What can we do Brock?" He asked. "Dawn is starting to believe that she shouldn't continue with contests anymore."

"Well Ash." Brock said. "With something like this, we need something or someone that could help Dawn stand on her feet again."

"Yes, but what could help Dawn start to stand up again?" Ash asked.

Despite wanting to cheer Dawn up, the boys had no idea how to pull it off.

But then there was something that did make Dawn cheer up a bit. The gang had arrived at a hot spring.

"Another of my childhood friends lives here." Dawn explained.

Her name was Leona and Dawn was happy to see her.

"I've been watching you and Ash in the Pokemon contests on TV." Leona told her.

"Due to my two losses, I'm taking a break from contests for the time being." Dawn explained.

"Ah well, no need to worry Dawn." Leona said.

Hearing Leona say 'no need to worry' made the others wonder if all of Dawn's old friends knew her line.

"Can we get into a hot spring?" Dawn asked her.

"Yes, but on one condition." Leona said.

Her condition was that she wanted to have a tag battle with Dawn. The thing is, Leona planned to travel around Sinnoh and battle gyms; she also thought having a tag battle would cheer Dawn up. Dawn agreed, especially since she hadn't done anything exciting with Leona in a long time. Ash and Tomo were chosen to be Dawn and Leona's opponents and Brock was chosen to be the referee.

Leona had three Swinub and sent out one of them and Dawn sent out her Piplup. Ash sent out his Hippopotas and Tomo sent out his Shellos. Swinub started off by trying to tackle Hippopotas and Piplup tried to peck Shellos. Hippopotas and Shellos dodged the attacks then began to fight back. Hippopotas used Mud Slap on Swinub and Shellos used Water Pulse on Piplup.

"Wow Dawn, your friends are good at this." Leona said.

"Ash and Tomo have been trainers for nearly five years now, so they know a lot about Pokemon battles." Dawn explained.

Piplup and Swinub fought back with Bubble Beam and Ice Shard.

This battle made Dawn remember something from her kindergarten days. At kindergarten, there was a boy who was a bully; he liked bossing the other kids around and he always claimed the playground as his own. Dawn and Leona had enough of him and they took him down and left him crying.

Leona moved in next.

"Swinub, Blizzard." Hippopotas protected himself and Shellos with Protect. Then Shellos moved in with Water Pulse and it hit Swinub. Hippopotas struck Piplup with Tackle.

Dawn was getting worried, but Leona reminded her there was no need to worry. Dawn perked up again.

"Piplup, Whirlpool." She said.

"Use Blizzard again." Leona told Swinub.

Hippopotas and Shellos were hit by the attacks; things were not looking good for them.

"Now for the final attack." Leona said.

"Right." Dawn nodded.

This was a trip down memory lane for Dawn, remembering the time she and Leona defeated that bully together. Piplup and Swinub charged at Hippopotas and Shellos with Peck and Tackle. Hippopotas and Shellos were hit really hard and they fainted, so Dawn and Leona were the winners.

Dawn cheered with happiness and hugged Piplup.

"We won!" She shouted.

Piplup was happy about the win too. Ash and Tomo returned their Pokemon.

"Dawn looks happy now." Tomo said.

"This battle was definitely something that Dawn needed to perk her up, especially with a childhood friend." Ash said.

Even Brock agreed.

After the battle was over Leona and the gang took a dip in the hot springs and they loved it. So Dawn was happy to have met up with Leona again and her spirit perked back up. The only question left was what to do about her next Pokemon contest?