Kenny

*The following day...*

Ash and Dawn were practicing for the Pokemon contest. Dawn had decided to use Pachirisu and Piplup this time. Ash planned to use Budew, but he wasn't sure about the other one. Dawn practiced with her Pachirisu; it knew Bide, Charm, Quick Attack, Spark, Sweet Kiss and Discharge. Tomo had his Electrike help Dawn's Pachirisu and his Pachirisu control their Discharge attacks. Tomo's Pachirisu knew the same attacks Dawn's Pachirisu knew but he also had the egg move Bite.

"Thanks for helping me with this Tomo." Dawn said.

"No problem." Tomo replied. "Remember I have a Pachirisu that also needs some practice."

As the Pachirisu were new, they had catching up to do if they wanted to be strong like the other Pokemon.

Suddenly Dawn's Smoochum egg which Brock had been holding onto started to glow.

"Dawn it's time for your egg to hatch." Brock said.

The gang went to the Pokemon Center, and with Nurse Joy's help the baby Smoochum hatched safely from the egg. Dawn was awestruck with how cute her Smoochum was and picked her up immediately to hug her.

"I so have to call my mom about this." She said, running to a phone with Smoochum.

"Well Dawn's happy with her new Pokemon." Ash said.

"Yeah and no doubt she'll want to use Smoochum in a contest soon." Brock said.

After Smoochum hatched and Dawn introduced Smoochum and Pachirisu to Johanna, it was time to get back to training. But then a reddish-brown haired boy around Dawn's age walked up to the gang.

"Hi Dee-Dee." He said to Dawn.

"Kenny, is that you?" Dawn gasped.

"That's right Dee-Dee." Kenny said.

"Stop calling me that already." Dawn said, slightly irritated.

The boys were confused about Dawn being called Dee-Dee by Kenny.

"I'm Ash and this is Brock and Tomo." Ash introduced himself, Brock and Tomo to Kenny.

Kenny remembered seeing Ash on TV in the Hoenn and Kanto contests and grand festivals, and even saw him win the Jubilife Contest.

"So Ash, are you entering this contest too?" Kenny asked.

"Yep." Ash answered. "And I've decided to go with Staravia and Budew."

"So Dawn, are you traveling with these guys?" Kenny asked.

"I am." Dawn said.

Kenny explained that he was entering Pokemon contests too. He entered his first contest some time ago but he lost in the finals to Zoey and her Glameow; it was where she won her first ribbon.

"I've got to say Ash you did great against Zoey and her Glameow, I had trouble trying to beat her." Kenny said.

"Pikachu and I learned tricks for battles over the last three years." Ash said.

While everyone had drinks at a cafe Dawn explained to the others that she and Kenny knew each other since nursery school and have been best friends ever since because he lives in Twinleaf Town too. And Kenny left to become a Pokemon trainer a few months before she did. Kenny noticed Dawn's Piplup and realized she chose Piplup. He revealed his starter Pokemon was Piplup but it was a Prinplup now and released it.

Ash looked Prinplup up on his Pokedex.

"Prinplup, the Penguin Pokemon and the evolved form of Piplup. It lives alone, away from others. Apparently, every one of them believes it is the most important."

"Wow, so my Piplup will evolve into that too." Ash said.

He told Kenny about his Piplup and how he caught it back in Kanto. Dawn's Piplup tried to befriend Piplup, but it wouldn't acknowledge it. Dawn wasn't happy with that and Kenny explained that it had only opened up to him at the moment.

"That's a penguin Pokemon for you." Ash said. "They are the proud, stubborn and spoiled type."

Next Kenny ended up sharing funny stories about Dawn back in nursery school. Once she cut her hair herself and she looked like a Chimchar in the end, then while performing in a play Dawn was dressed up as a Slowpoke and she sneezed so loud that she fell off a rock she sat on and made a mess, then one day she appeared in her pajamas and had two non-matching shoes on. The boys, Pikachu, Growlithe and Piplup thought it was very funny. This naturally made Dawn mad at Kenny and she wished to battle him to prove what she could do. Kenny didn't want to battle Dawn though, he wanted to battle Ash and his Pikachu. Dawn thought Kenny was being a coward but decided to let him have his way; besides she knew that Ash would easily defeat Kenny due to how strong Pikachu was.