Neighborly Contest

While heading to Lake Valor, the gang arrived at a seaside town. Johanna was waiting for them there. Johanna was going to hold a Pokemon coordinating class for young children tomorrow in the town. Traveling to different towns to hold Pokemon coordinating classes for young children was something she did ever now and then.

"What do you teach?" Brock asked her.

Johanna was just about to show her lesson plan, but a waiter came up.

"You have a phone call." He said.

Dawn took a look at the plan and it was about learning how to get to know Pokemon, catch Pokemon, breed Pokemon and be a coordinator.

"I'd love to check out my mom's class." Dawn said. "You guys too?"

"I'd like to check it out." Tomo added.

"Me too." Brock continued.

"I'd like to as well but I can't." Ash sighed. "There is a Pokemon contest in nearby Neighborly Town tomorrow. And I want to enter that contest to obtain my fifth ribbon."

"Oh I see." Dawn said. "Well as much as I want to watch you Ash, I really want to watch my mom's teaching class."

"Ah no problem Dawn." Ash shrugged his shoulders. "I'll tell you about it when I come back with my fifth ribbon."

Just then Johanna came back, but she had bad news. The Nurse Joy in Neighborly Town was busy with a sick Pokemon and she wouldn't be able to judge the Pokemon contest tomorrow. Therefore Johanna had been asked to be the judge, but she wouldn't be able to teach her class.

"Leave it to me." Dawn declared.

"We can help as well." Tomo and Brock agreed to help.

"It will be great to have you judge me in the Neighborly contest tomorrow Johanna." Ash said.

"Well Ash, I hope you show me a great performance." Johanna said.

*The next day...*

Johanna and Ash went to Neighborly Town for the contest. Dawn, Tomo and Brock met up with some children for their Pokemon class on the beach.

"My name's Dawn and these two are Tomo and Brock." Dawn introduced them. "We're taking my mom's place as teachers for the Pokemon coordinator class."

Next she showed the children her five contest ribbons and Tomo showed off his seven gym badges.

"You're one badge short." A boy said.

"That's true, but I'll get it soon." Tomo said.

Piplup and Growlithe stepped forward towards the children and the children start petting them right away. But the boy who spoke to Tomo started pinching Piplup's cheeks hard. Piplup got angry when the boy laughed.

"That is no way to treat a Pokemon." Dawn said angrily. "You have to be nice to the Pokemon. You wouldn't want to be treated like that, would you?"

The boy snorted. His name was Thomas.

"Let's release our other Pokemon." Tomo suggested.

Dawn agreed to the idea.

Tomo released Shellos, Glaceon, Stunky, Castform and Carnivine. Dawn released Mamoswine, Cyndaquil, Pachirisu, Buneary and Clefairy. Brock released Happiny, Sudowoodo, Croagunk, Shieldon, Cranidos and Nuzleaf.

"Okay children, say hi to the Pokemon but be nice to them okay." Dawn said.

While the other children ran over to the Pokemon, Thomas just looked unimpressed. He was one of those boys who played hard to get.

*Meanwhile...*

The Neighborly contest was about to begin with the preliminary rounds. Right now it was Ash's turn and he was wearing a black soldier uniform with red stripes and yellow patterns, a black belt and brown boots. He was using Pikachu for the appeal rounds.

"Come on Pikachu, let's show them what we can do." Ash said.

"Pika!" Pikachu said.

*Back at the beach...*

Brock was teaching the children about Pokemon breeding. He was telling them about a Pokemon's conditions and about how to prepare Pokemon food properly and how to tell if a Pokemon is feeling healthy or not. Next up, Tomo was telling the children about how to catch a Pokemon. He first told them they had to weaken a Pokemon first with a battle and then throw the Poke Ball at the fallen Pokemon. To demonstrate he used a rock as a pretend wild Pokemon and had Growlithe attack it with Flamethrower. Then he threw a rubber ball at the rock. The children took turns throwing a rubber ball at the rock too.

Now Thomas, being a hard to get type of child, was being a nuisance the whole time. He didn't show any interest while listening to the classes and he kept on playing pranks on Piplup. First he drew a mustache on Piplup and then he threw a rubber ball at Piplup. This made Piplup angry and he chased Thomas. Dawn felt this was going to be more difficult then she thought, especially with a student like Thomas.

*Back at the Neighborly contest...*

Ash was in the battle round and he was using Infernape. Right now Infernape had just used the fiery Counter Shield to defeat his opponent. The audience liked the counter shield and so did the judges, including Johanna.

*Back on the beach...*

Everyone was having lunch that Brock made. After that it would be Dawn's time to give a class on Pokemon coordination. But Dawn was worried about Thomas. Because of his pranks she was worried she wouldn't be able to get through to him and teach him. Brock gave Dawn some comforting words and told her she would be fine. Dawn still wasn't sure but agreed to do her best.

Dawn went on to start the class of being a Pokemon coordinator. She first explained the preliminary rounds and then the battle rounds.

"But you must remember your Pokemon are the real stars of Pokemon contests." She said.

She told them what Zoey told her. Thomas was becoming unimpressed. So Dawn decided to give a demonstration with her Pokemon because she started to get fed up with his attitude. She released Mamoswine and Cyndaquil with heart seals and then she demonstrated her flame and ice combo.

The children liked it; Thomas did too, but he wasn't going to admit it.

"Now I will use the same move again but with a different Pokemon." Dawn said.

She returned Cyndaquil and released Pachirisu.

"Okay this time I will be using Pachirisu's electricity, which will make the ice sparkle. I will be calling this move the ice chandelier." Mamoswine used Ice Shard like when using flame ice and Pachirisu was in an orb of ice.

"Now Pachirisu, Discharge." Dawn said.

Pachirisu released a Discharge attack, but it broke the ice apart. The move was a failure.

"Oh come on." Thomas said. "That wasn't a finished move. Besides it's boring to watch Pachirisu just stand still inside that ice."

Dawn felt he was right about that.

Dawn was starting to feel down because of her failed move, so Tomo and Brock comforted her.

"Ice chandelier isn't going to be a easy move to master." Brock said.

"Yeah, don't forget your flaming ice combo wasn't easy to master either." Tomo added.

"I know." Dawn sighed. "But I really do want to master ice chandelier too. Can it really be done?"

She thought about what Thomas said and suddenly she got a brain wave of how to perform ice chandelier again. Dawn drew a plan for her 2nd attempt on ice chandelier and showed it to everyone. The plan was to do the same thing as before, but have Pachirisu spin around while using Discharge.

"No need to worry. I am sure it will work this time." Dawn said.

Brock and Tomo agreed with the plan and told Dawn to go for it. And so Pachirisu and Mamoswine did the same move, but this time Pachirisu spun around while releasing Discharge. Unfortunately Pachirisu became dizzy and the ice broke apart. The 2nd plan failed.

"Oh no, and I was so confident it would work." Dawn sighed. "Maybe spinning in the ice isn't going to cut it."

Thomas spoke rudely again and said anyone would feel dizzy while spinning around.

*In Neighborly Town..*

The contest was coming to a end and Ash was the winner. Mr. Contesta was presenting the ribbon to Ash. The Neighborly Ribbon was a green ribbon with white designs in the middle.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is your fifth ribbon right Ash?" Johanna asked.

"Yes, that's right." Ash answered.

"We look forward to seeing you at the Sinnoh Grand Festival, Ash." Mr. Contesta said.

Ash held his fifth ribbon up with pride, happy he was now qualified for the grand festival. Pikachu and Infernape were happy too.

*Back on the beach...*

Dawn was going to try her ice chandelier combo for the third time, but instead of using Mamoswine she decided to use Buneary.

"Buneary, use Ice Beam to surround Pachirisu." Dawn said.

Buneary used Ice Beam to create an orb of ice for Pachirisu, but she created a bigger orb of ice than Mamoswine's.

"Oh I see." Brock said. "The ice Mamoswine used to cover Pachirisu was small therefore the air in there was too small, which is why Pachirisu became dizzy. But since Buneary's Ice Beam created a bigger ice sphere for Pachirisu, it can run around instead of just spinning because it has more space."

"Pachirisu, Discharge." Dawn ordered after Buneary created a big enough ice sphere.

Pachirisu ran around inside the sphere while using Discharge. All of the children, including Thomas, cheered to Pachirisu for encouragement. Thanks to everyone's cheers the sphere did light up beautifully and everyone was amazed by it. Surprisingly Thomas and Piplup cheered together.

"Dawn did it." Tomo said.

"She wasn't able to master ice chandelier with Ice Shard, but switching it to Ice Beam it worked." Brock said.

Dawn was happy her combo worked and Pachirisu and Buneary were pleased with themselves.

She was about to thank Thomas for his advice, but then everyone saw Thomas and Piplup playing together in the ocean. Thomas was no longer picking on Piplup and they were now friends.

"What's going on with them?" Dawn asked.

"I get it now." Brock said. "Thomas really did like Piplup, but he didn't want to admit it. So he played pranks on Piplup to let his emotions out instead of just saying things."

Dawn was happy to see this. Thomas finally admitted to Dawn that her skills as a coordinator and he apologized to Piplup for the pranks. Dawn was happy her coordinator class was a success and she got through to Thomas.

*That evening...*

Johanna and Ash met up with Tomo, Dawn and Brock back at the cafe next to the beach. Ash showed off his ribbon to the others.

"Wow you did it, Ash. You got your last ribbon." Dawn said.

"Ash's Pikachu gave off a wonderful electric fire work display in the preliminary rounds, and his Infernape showed off a fiery counter shield which I really liked." Johanna said. "I'm actually happy I got to judge Ash in a contest."

"It was a honor to be judged by you, Johanna." Ash smiled.

Johanna then thanked Dawn, Tomo and Brock for teaching her class for her and she gave them some sweet buns from Neighborly Town.

"Dawn, I have a present for you." Johanna said.

She gave Dawn a small, flat box.

"This is a new dress for the grand festival made by me." Johanna said.

"Oh wow thank you mom, I can't wait to wear it." Dawn said, happily.

"I can't wait to see you and Ash at the grand festival." Johanna smiled.

*The next day...*

The gang said goodbye to Johanna and the children. Now that Dawn and Ash had five contest ribbons, it really was time to head over to Lake Verity for the grand festival.