Sandalstraw Contest

*The next day...*

Ash practiced Pokemon ping pong with Barry. Ash decided to enter with Pikachu because his tail was perfect for hitting the ball. Ash and Pikachu weren't the only ones interested in Pokemon ping pong. Ambipom was interested too and she kept on doing warm ups for the sport. At that moment Kenny turned up.

"Don't forget the Pokemon contest." He reminded them.

They hadn't forgotten it. And the truth is Dawn thought that Ambipom doing ping pong might help in the contest. Ash was going to use his Snover and Zangoose for the contest. As for Dawn, she decided to use Ambipom for both the appeal and battle rounds. She was hoping to win this contest as it would be her fifth ribbon. For Ash, the ribbon would be his fourth and the same went for Kenny.

After practice with Pokemon ping pong, it was time for contest training. As Ash was practicing with Snover and Zangoose, Dawn practiced with Ambipom. Her other Pokemon Chatot, Cherrim, Clefairy and Drifloon were watching. Kenny was impressed that Dawn had more Pokemon on her team.

"Hey Dawn, how's Mamoswine doing at Prof. Rowan's lab right now?" Ash asked.

"Well Prof. Rowan said he is behaving now ever since he decided to open up to me again." Dawn answered. "But Prof. Rowan says I need to give Mamoswine more attention from now on."

"All Pokemon like getting attention no matter what they are." Brock said.

"I'll bring Mamoswine back onto my team later because I plan to use him in the next Pokemon contest." Dawn said.

The boys liked that idea.

It wasn't long until the Sandalstraw Pokemon contest was underway. Marian did the usual introductions and showed off the Sandalstraw ribbon. The ribbon was purple with white stripes and there were purple pentagons in the middle of the ribbon. Barry was watching on the sidelines with Brock and Tomo, while Ash, Dawn and Kenny stood in the waiting room. Dawn's other Pokemon were watching from the sidelines too.

Ash went first in the appeal rounds. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a red bow tie. He released Snover with a white party seal and white confetti appeared. Snover started his performance with Ingrain and roots came out of the ground.

"Freeze the roots with Powder Snow, Snover." Ash said.

Snover released a Powder Snow and the roots froze.

"Now get onto the top of the frozen roots and use Mist." Snover climbed onto the top of the frozen roots and released a thick white cloud to finish off the appeal.

"Wow Ash is actually pretty good with Pokemon contests." Barry said, seeming impressed.

"My big brother didn't win his three ribbons just by doing nothing." Tomo said.

A few more contestants were after Ash and then it was Kenny's turn. He released a new addition to his Pokemon team with a bubble seal, a Machoke. Machoke started off with Focus Energy, showing off it's muscles in the process. Then an enormous barbell that weighed three times more than Machoke's body weight was lowered onto the stage. Next Machoke used Strength to lift up the barbell with only one hand. Everyone was impressed by this, especially Barry and the gang. To finish off their performance, Kenny did a handstand on top of the barbell while Machoke was still holding onto the barbell.

Dawn and Kenny met up in the corridor.

"I was impressed with how you and Machoke did your performance." She told him.

"I hope to meet you in the battle rounds because I want to beat the person who won the Wallace Cup." Kenny said.

"No need to worry." Dawn replied. "I'll do my best to get to the second round."

Now it was Dawn's turn and her contest dress was in the normal state.

She released Ambipom with a musical note seal. To start things off Ambipom used Double Team and then all of the Ambipom's used Focus Punch. It created a white and yellow glow because of the song notes still flying around. Next Ambipom used Swift and she ended up using a move she learned while competing in Pokemon ping pong from Barry. Then Ambipom twirled around fast creating a starry tornado with her stars. To finish it off Ambipom used Double Hit and it broke the stars into millions of sparkles.

Everyone liked the performance and even Barry was impressed. Kenny was impressed too.

"Dawn had grown better as a coordinator after getting back to her feet following the Wallace Cup." Ash informed him.

While waiting for the results, Dawn couldn't help but be nervous about the results.

"Come on Dawn, you need to relax." Ash said. "You've been through all this before."

"I know, but I still can't help worrying whenever it comes to final results in Pokemon contests." Dawn said. "Not to mention you and Kenny will be in the battle rounds. Kenny said he really wants to earn his fourth ribbon here and beat me."

"Hey we are both rivals so we would want to defeat each other." Ash reminded her. "Remember what your mom and Zoey kept telling you just have fun no matter who you face."

Dawn remembered those words and thanked him for the reminder. Soon the results came and Ash, Dawn and Kenny made it to the battle rounds. Ash, Dawn and Kenny were not going to back down now, especially since they all wanted this ribbon.

The battle rounds soon came. Ash was using Zangoose and Kenny was using Prinplup. Ash, Dawn and Kenny easily defeated their first round opponents. But now Ash and Dawn were up against each other in the second round. As Zangoose and Ambipom were fast Pokemon it was hard for them to hit each other. But with using Pokemon ping pong technique Zangoose ended up losing to Ambipom's Swift and Focus Punch. So for the first time ever Dawn beat Ash in a Pokemon contest. Kenny defeated his second opponent and now it was the final battle between Dawn and Kenny. Ambipom and Prinplup were ready to go. Kenny started off with Bubble Beam, but Ambipom used Hidden Power to counter it and then Hidden Power hit Prinplup

"Ambipom, Double Team." Dawn ordered.

Prinplup used Bubble Beam to destroy the copies. More bubbles started to get near Ambipom, but Dawn quickly got an idea.

"Send the bubble back with Focus Punch." She said.

That idea worked because the bubbles flew right back at Prinplup.

"Hit them back with Metal Claw." Kenny ordered.

Ambipom and Prinplup began hitting the bubbles back at each other like a Pokemon ping pong match. Marian, the judges and the audience loved it.

"Bubble Beam again." Kenny ordered.

Ambipom countered it with Double Hit. Prinplup wasn't done yet and used Drill Peck.

"Counter with Aerial Ace Ambipom." Dawn said.

The two Pokemon collided with their attacks.

"Prinplup, Metal Claw." Kenny ordered.

"Counter with Thunder Punch." Dawn ordered.

Despite Thunder Punch being an electric type move, Prinplup didn't take much damage due to Metal Claw. Then before Ambipom could do anything, Prinplup pecked her hard with Drill Peck. Ambipom fell to the ground in defeat, marking the first time Kenny beat Dawn in a contest.

So Kenny was the winner of the Pokemon contest and he got the Sandalstraw ribbon. Dawn felt a bit disappointed not obtaining her fifth ribbon, but there were other contests she could enter to get her fifth ribbon. So she had time to work hard with her other Pokemon before she could enter another Pokemon contest.

Later that evening Kenny said goodbye to the gang. He wanted to get back to traveling now to catch newer Pokemon and train his Pokemon some more. Dawn promised she would beat Kenny the next time they met and Kenny promised the same thing. He also promised he would beat Ash next time too. Then he left.

"I'm impressed that Ambipom used Pokemon ping pong techniques during the contest." Barry told Dawn after Kenny left.

It made him decide that Dawn and Ambipom should enter the Pokemon ping pong tournament too. Ambipom actually liked that idea as she did start to feel interested in the sport.

So with the Sandalstraw Pokemon contest concluded there was still one more event to go through, and that was the Pokemon ping pong tournament.