"You're a pervert, Ash!"
After carrying Dawn to the village entrance, Ash sensed her frustration and finally put her down at her strong insistence. However, Dawn's expression remained resentful, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. After all, he had taken advantage of the situation a lot on the way there, and to make it worse, he acted like he had no idea what she was talking about. He was completely incorrigible!
"Ahem, hey, Dawn, Pikachu and Brock are waiting for us in the village. Let's go!" Even the thick-skinned Ash couldn't handle Dawn's indignant glare. He could only speak gently as he followed behind her. Once her anger had subsided, the two of them slowly walked into the village.
Inside, they found the village was unusually lively. A closer look revealed that a festival was about to begin.
"Hello, Ash, Dawn, you two finally made it."
"Pikapi Pikachu" Pikachu scurried back up to Ash's shoulder, greeting both Ash and Dawn.
"You came at the perfect time, Dawn! There's an event here you're going to love!" Brock said with a grin, handing her a flyer. The flyer detailed the festival's activities, including a Pokémon Contest being held in the village today.
"Yay! A Pokémon Contest! This will be a great warm-up for the one in Floaroma Town!" Dawn cheered as she held the flyer. She quickly said goodbye to them and hurried to the location of the Contest. Ash and Brock exchanged helpless glances and followed her.
After finding the organizers and filling out her contestant profile, Dawn prepared for the competition. Meanwhile, Ash and Brock spent their time wandering through the lively village. Because it was a festival, many vendors had set up stalls with delicious food. The two of them, along with Pikachu, spent a lot of time sampling the tasty snacks. After eating their fill, they reluctantly left. Of course, Ash packed up some warm food to take back to Dawn, who was training.
"Huh, it's a Pokémon Center! Joy must be waiting for me there!" Brock suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the building with the Poké Ball sign. His face took on his usual lovesick expression.
"It's a bit small, but it really is a Pokémon Center!" Ash was also a bit surprised to find one in such a small village. "This must be a pretty populated village!" he thought to himself, remembering the Contest about to take place.
"I'm coming, Joy!" Unable to contain his excitement, Brock became a blur of motion as he rushed toward the center.
"Weren't we supposed to go back and find Dawn?" Ash rubbed his forehead in frustration, watching Brock from a distance. "Ugh, whatever. This is a good chance to switch out a Pokémon with Professor Oak!" Since they were approaching a town, the number of wild Pokémon they encountered was starting to decrease. With a Pokémon Center right there, he could bring a new Pokémon to get some training. With that thought, Ash took the snacks for Dawn and headed toward the Pokémon Center.
After a series of antics, Ash returned with a new Poké Ball and Brock, who had tearful marks on his face, to where Dawn was training.
"Honestly, what took you two so long? The match is about to start!" Dawn had changed into her pink dress, her hands on her hips, as she sternly questioned the two of them and Pikachu.
"It's all Brock's fault! He was swooning over Joy again!"
"Pika~" Ash, ever the good friend, didn't hesitate to stab Brock in the back. Pikachu, following Ash's example, joined in on the backstabbing, blaming Brock.
"Yeah, yeah, it was my fault!" Brock didn't deny it. He took the blame, sadly thinking that he was just a little bit away from winning Joy's heart.
"Alright, Dawn, here's some fermented tofu I brought back for you. It smells so good!" With the blame distributed, Ash quickly took out the snacks and presented them to Dawn.
"Arigato, Ash!" The food worked like a charm. Dawn happily accepted the fragrant snacks. "Wait, I'm wearing my dress. I might get it dirty!" Dawn held up her pink dress with her left hand, looking conflicted at the delicious snacks.
"It's okay, I'll help you! Open your mouth. Ahh!"
"Ah!" Dawn blushed and opened her mouth, ready for the food. Ash used his chopsticks to divide a piece of fermented tofu into four small chunks, carefully placing them on his palm, and feeding them to her.
"Sob... Pikachu, let's go!" Brock was still lost in his sadness over failing to charm Joy. He glanced at Pikachu, who, as an equally single friend, was quietly staying in a corner, not looking at them.
...
Having settled everything, the trio made it to the village's performance stage. The stage had already been set up, and the village chief and Joy were seated below as judges. For this informal competition, Dawn chose to use her inexperienced Pachirisu. After spending a few days together, the two of them could now coordinate, but they lacked real battle experience.
In the first round, Dawn had Pachirisu use Discharge, giving the audience a small electric-type firework display. Unfortunately, Pachirisu, with its Huskie-like personality, got overly excited and accidentally increased the power, giving all the judges and spectators a little "shock therapy."
"Oh no, I blew it!" Dawn was dejected after the first round, thinking that Pachirisu's mistake meant she wouldn't make it to the second.
"Chima!" Pachirisu also knew it had messed up and ruined Dawn's performance. Its usually lively face lost its smile, and its large tail drooped to the ground. Dawn quickly comforted it, telling it it was just a competition and that they'd do better next time.
"You won't have to wait for next time, because hardly anyone here is a good performer!" Following Ash's finger, Dawn was shocked to see that she had advanced. Her name was right there on the screen.
"Don't be surprised. It's a small village. It's normal not to have a lot of great competitors," Brock calmly explained.
"Chima~" Upon learning it had advanced, Pachirisu immediately puffed out its chest and looked at Dawn as if to say, "I'm awesome, aren't I?"
"What a sly little guy!" Ash shook his head, commenting on how quickly Pachirisu's expression changed.
The second round was a battle performance. Dawn used Pachirisu again, and her opponent was Team Rocket's Dustox. In the match, Pachirisu used its excellent dodging ability to avoid all of its opponent's attacks. Even when facing Dustox, the clever Pachirisu used its large tail as a gas mask to block the powder moves. Finally, it won with a single Discharge.
"Yes! We won, Pachirisu!" Dawn cheered, hugging her cute Pokémon. As for Ash, he was busy dealing with the three members of Team Rocket, who, having lost, were trying to steal the winner's prize.
"You annoying little brats!" x3 They were about to make a move when Pikachu, who had been waiting for this moment, sent them blasting off with a single Thunderbolt.
"A year's supply of bananas? How are we ever going to finish all of this?" Dawn clutched her head in frustration, looking at the small mountain of bananas in front of her. There were so many. She couldn't possibly ship them all home, and they would spoil if they didn't eat them quickly. Eating too many wouldn't be good for her, either.
Luckily, Ash saw her dilemma. He took out a Poké Ball he was holding and said, "These bananas are no problem at all! Let this guy help you take care of them!"
"Come on out, my old friend!"