Episode 55: Dawn of a New Day

Ash, Brock, and Brenda are just arriving in a new city. Despite being a decently large city, nothing about it seems too unnatural. The entire city seems to be built around the concept of harmony with nature. Plants grow all around, and everything is lush and green. Brock declares, "This is it, we're here."

That's right, our heroes have made it to Celes City, which, unbeknownst to Brenda, is the site of the Wallace Cup, her next Pokémon Contest. Now all that remains to be seen is how Brenda will take this surprise.

Brenda excitedly says, "Alright, I say we head to the Park Zone first, it's supposed to be Celes City's main attraction."

Ash and Brock look to each other and nod in unspoken agreement. Ash then says to Brenda, "Yeah, we can do that, but first we have something to show you." He grins. "A surprise."

Brenda grins back. She says excitedly, "I love surprises!"

Ash and Brock smile at each other with self-congratulations. Brock says, "Alright then, close your eyes and we'll lead you there."

Brenda closes her eyes and then covers them with her hands. "Alright, lead the way!"

Ash says, "Alright, open your eyes."

Brenda opens her eyes to see a massive-sized contest hall. It's completely covered with decorations and people are everywhere. Her excitement instantly turns into dismay. Knowing the answer already, she cautiously asks, "Guys…what is this?"

Ash smiles. "This contest hall is the site of the next Wallace Cup."

Brock adds, "The Wallace Cup is a super special contest hosted by none other than the Contest Master Wallace himself. The winner gets the special Aqua Ribbon that can be used to enter any Grand Festival in the world. Coordinators come from all over just to compete."

Ash explains, "We saw that it was being hosted here soon and knew a good surprise like this is just what you needed to cheer up after your loss at Starside."

Brenda struggles for words, and not in a good way. "Um…well…um…"

Ash and Brock both suspectingly ask with anticipation, "Yes?"

Brenda forces it out, shouting, "I've given up on contests! I'm not a coordinator anymore!"

Ash and Brock are confused. Ash asks, "Not a coordinator anymore? What do you mean?"

She clenches her fists angrily. "I mean what I said! I've called it quits! I'm done!" She begins to cry and suddenly runs off.

Ash and Brock are completely stunned. They look to each other for a moment and then realize that they should go after Brenda. They run off too. Brock shouts, "Brenda, wait!"

It's too late though, she's already gotten lost in the crowd. Ash and Brock look around hopelessly for her.

Brenda is sitting down at a table outside a local restaurant and has her head down, sobbing into her arms.

Someone walks by and takes not of her. It's a girl, but her features aren't shown clearly. She takes the seat across from Brenda and asks, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Brenda looks up to her, but then just lowers her head and continues to cry. She sobs, "Don't worry about me."

The girl says back, "Come on, don't be like that. I bet you'll feel better if you talk about whatever it is that's got you down."

Brenda looks up again. She does her best to get herself under control and wipes the tears from her eyes. She's still crying, but not as hard. "I…I've just been having problems recently…You see…I used to be a Pokémon coordinator."

"Used to be?"

"Yeah…used to be. It was all just a joke though…a fantasy. I pretended like I was an actual coordinator, but in reality I could never measure up…I realized that at my last contest where I screwed up badly…but I never told my friends. They brought me here to surprise me with the Wallace Cup…they didn't know that I wanted nothing to do with a Pokémon Contest ever again."

"You've got to cheer up, come on. You want to know what I say when things get bad?"

Brenda looks to her. "What?"

"No need to worry, that's what I say." The girl is revealed. It's Dawn. She smiles at Brenda. "Why don't you take a walk with me? I have something to show you."

Dawn and Brenda are now walking through the city. Brenda has calmed down for the most part, though she hasn't cheered up yet. Dawn is now carrying Piplup in her arms. Dawn asks, "So, what's your name?"

Brenda forces a smile. "My name is Brenda."

"That's a nice name. My name is Dawn, and this is my partner Piplup. I'm a Pokémon coordinator too." Brenda doesn't respond well to the too statement. Dawn continues, "This will actually be the third Wallace Cup we've entered."

Brenda asks, "Really, have you won any?"

"As a matter of fact, we won the one held in Sinnoh a while back at Lake Valor." She pauses and blushes. "We also entered one in Johto, but that didn't go over too well."

Piplup scratches the back of its head and apologizes, "Pip…"

Dawn changes the subject. "Anyways, believe it or not, I think I know exactly how you feel right now Brenda."

"You do?"

She nods. "I do. You see, back when I was just starting off as a coordinator, I hit a rough patch. I went two contests in row without even making it past the Appeal Stage. After that I really had an issue with believing in myself. I started to think that there was no way I would ever win a contest again. But then I entered the Wallace Cup, and not only did I make it past the Appeal Stage, but I won it all. There was some tough competition too. I probably wouldn't have been able to go through with it if it weren't for my friends. They were great friends and made sure that I didn't give up. I think that's what your friends were trying to do by surprising you with this. They were trying to encourage you."

Brenda takes all of this to heart. "Really?"

Dawn nods. "Yes, and since they obviously care about you, it's up to you to prove both to them and yourself that you can do this."

"I don't know…I…I really don't think I'm worthy of calling myself a Pokémon coordinator."

"That's nonsense. Here, this is what I wanted to show you." She beckons to the scene before them, which is a wide open field. All across it coordinators are hard at work training with their Pokémon. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"I…I see coordinators and their Pokémon working together."

Dawn nods. "Bingo. Now, tell me this, what is it that makes those coordinators what they are in the first place? What separates them from anyone else?"

Brenda is surprised by this question. She takes a moment to think. Then she answers, "It's their dedication…they're all dedicated to working with their Pokémon and to earn ribbons. They all have a passion."

Dawn nods. "Exactly. Now as long as you are just as dedicated, just as passionate, and put in your fair share of work, there's nothing to stop you from being a coordinator."

Brenda thinks this over. She then, with some reservations, says, "There is one problem with that…you see…my problem is that I…I didn't put in the work…"

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"You see, I entered my first Pokémon Contest without an ounce of training. I had only just heard about Pokémon Contests not long before, and thought it would be fun to enter one. I just competed using my gut and I made it to the final round. I may have lost, but everyone was telling me what great natural talent I had. Then I went on to win my first ribbon, once again with absolutely zero training. At this point I thought I was invincible. But then I entered my first double performance. I had two Pokémon perform who I had never tried pairing up before. It was a complete disaster. It was then that I realized how seriously I had screwed up, and how it was just luck that had gotten me as far as I was. I realized that I didn't deserve to be a coordinator because I didn't put in the work it required."

Dawn slowly nods. "I see. Well you know what? No need to worry."

Brenda is taken aback. "What? How could you say that? You just told me that hard work is needed to be a coordinator, and I told you I don't work hard."

Dawn shakes her head. "No, I told you that hard work, as well as dedication and passion is required. I can obviously see that you're passionate and dedicated, otherwise you wouldn't be so emotional about this. And who cares if you haven't done any training before? It's never too late to start. Sure, maybe the way you acted before wasn't like how a coordinator should act, but that doesn't mean you can't redeem yourself."

Brenda is wide-eyed. "Do you really think so?"

Dawn nods with confidence. "I know so. Look, we still have a couple of days until the Wallace Cup, so why don't we start doing some training right now?"
Brenda is uncertain. "I don't know…"

"Remember what I told you? All you need is to have confidence. Once you get confident, everything will turn out alright."

Brenda clenches a fist with determination and takes a deep breath. Then she nods. "Okay. Let's do it. Let's train."

Who's that Pokémon!?

This Pokémon glides through the air without a sound as if it were sliding. It hangs on to the face of its foe using its clawed hind legs and the large pincers on its forelegs, then injects the prey with its poison barb.

Brenda and Dawn have found an empty area to begin their training. Brenda looks to Dawn and says with uncertainty, "So…um…I've never actually done any training before…what should I do?"

Dawn stops to think. "That's a good question. I guess that's something you don't normally think about." She thinks for a moment more. "I know! Why don't you show me a performance with one of your Pokémon? Start off by just pretending you're in an actual Appeal Stage. We can work from there to develop your own training method."

Brenda nods. "Alright…let's do it." She pulls out a Pokéball and stares at it for a moment. "Alright…here goes nothing…" She takes a deep breath and tosses the Pokéball. "Kappaqua, center stage!"

Kappaqua appears. It looks around, and then looks to Brenda questioningly. "Appa?"

Brenda forces a smile and rises her fist in determination. "Kappaqua, you and I are going to do a little bit of training."

Kappaqua is utterly shocked. "Kappa appa!?"

Brenda nods. "Yes, you heard me right. We're going to train for the Wallace Cup, our next contest."

Kappaqua cheers, "Kappapapaqua!" It is obviously quite joyed by this revelation. It then stops and thinks for a moment. It smiles slyly. "Kappapaqua…"

Brenda groans. "Yes…you told me so..." She points to Dawn. "By the way, this is Dawn, she promised to help us out with our first real bit of training."

Kappaqua grins at her. It says as if to thank, "Appaqua!"

"Alright Kappaqua, let's show her what we've got. Use your Water Gun and fire it straight up into the air!" Kappaqua points it head up and fires it attack straight up. The goes up, hits its peak, and then begins to sprinkle back down in droplets like a fountain. "Great, now use Confusion and capture the drops!" Kappaqua asserts its psychic powers and suspends the various droplets in midair. The floating droplets catch the light of the Sun and begin to shimmer and sparkle. "Great, now let's finish this off! Let's bring in some movement!" Kappaqua causes the droplets to dance around each other, increasing the shimmering effect. Then it lets them go, they all fall to ground, suddenly cancelling the light show. Brenda and Kappaqua bow.

Dawn claps. "That was great. How'd you think of that trick?"

Brenda shrugs. "I just came up with it, just now."

Dawn is somewhat taken aback. "Wait, you're telling me that you didn't plan that ahead of time? It's one thing to not practice, but do you really not even come up with combinations ahead of time?"

Brenda shakes her head. "Not normally. I just do what comes naturally to me at the time. Besides, in a contest battle scenario, a preconceived plan can only mess up your chances at adapting to your opponent." She catches herself and suddenly looks disappointed in herself once more. "At least that's what I used to think…"

"Hey, let's not do that again. If you can really come up with moves like that on the spot, then that really is some great talent you've got." She pauses. "But that doesn't mean that you should neglect working on polishing your moves ahead of time. There's always room for improvement."

"There is?"

Dawn nods. "There is. For example, watching your last show, I've already come up with an idea to improve it." She looks down to Piplup. "Why don't you and I show Brenda what she could do to give her performance a better spectacle?"

Piplup nods. "Piplup." They both take positions.

Dawn looks to Brenda. "As important as moves and how you combine them are, sometimes the actual actions of your Pokémon can be just as much, if not more important. For example, initially your Water Gun attack only served to get all the drops of water into the air. Why not turn that part into its own show? Watch." She turns to Piplup. "Piplup, use Hydro Pump straight up into the air and give it a spin!"

Piplup leaps into the air and begins to spin as it uses its attack. "Piplupluplup!" The stream of water it shoots up dances around itself as Piplup spins, creating an entirely different visual show than Kappaqua's Water Gun.

Brenda claps this time. "You're right, just little tweaks like that make it look so much better."

Dawn nods. "To tell the truth, the spin is my signature technique, but it does serve to illustrate my point. Why don't you and Kappaqua give it a try?"

Brenda nods. "Let's do it." Despite saying that, she pauses and hesitates.

Dawn asks, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…I'm just thinking about how you're giving me all this help, and you don't even know me. My friends were trying to help me, but I just ran away from them."

Dawn steps closer to Brenda. "It sounds to me like you really care about your friends and they really care about you."

Brenda nods. "Yes, they're some of the best friends a girl could ask for. They've been doing their best to keep me cheered up ever since my loss. We've stuck together through thick and thin."

Dawn grins. "Aw, I used to travel with friends like that."

"Used to?"

"Yeah, recently I've been travelling alone, but back when I just started my journey I traveled with a group of friends. We all supported each other. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through my losing streak if it weren't for them."

"What happened to them?"

"We had to go our separate ways. One of them wanted to go to school and begin working towards a career, while the other needed to head off towards another region to compete in its league. I had a chance of the lifetime to do some work in the Pokémon fashion industry in Sinnoh, so I stayed behind. I've since started travelling again, but I've never had anyone to travel with since." She looks Brenda in the eyes. "Never leave your friends Brenda. A shared experience is always better than a solitary one."

Brenda nods. "I'll remember that."

Dawn grins. "Good, you better. Now, how about you try that spin technique out?" Brenda nods and they get ready to try.

Watching from atop a nearby building is Team Rocket. James rubs his eyes. "Is this déjà vu, or is that the Sinnoh Twerpette?"

Meowth nods. "That's definitely the Sinnoh Twerpette, but what's she doing in Tenno?"

Jessie says with rage, "Isn't it obvious!? It wasn't enough for her to steal the Aqua Ribbon from me once, so now she's back for seconds! So infuriating!" She gets an idea. "I know, let's put her in her place and steal her Piplup."

James is uncertain. "I don't know…what good would a measly Piplup do us?"

Meowth realizes something. "Actually, that's not a bad idea at all."

Jessie and James both ask, "It isn't?" Jessie with excitement, and James with confusion.

"Don't you remember, Sinnoh Twerpette gave that Piplup an Everstone a long while ago when it was about to Evolve into Prinplup. I'll bet you that by now it's more than ready to do a double Evolution and become an Empoleon. All we have to do is take that Everstone away."

James nods. "A perfectly poachable, proud, power-packed penguin Pokémon is a proper prize primed to pilfer and purloin."

Meowth agrees, "You said a Meowth-ful."

Jessie declares, "Let's do it."

It's Gligar!

Ash and Brock are still looking for Brenda. Ash calls out, "Brenda!" Obviously there's no response. Ash sighs. "I feel so bad, we sprung this on Brenda when she wasn't ready for it."

Brock comforts, "Don't say that Ash, we did what we thought would cheer her up. We had no idea she would act this way."

Ash says, "I just don't get it though. It's not like Brenda to give up on anything. She accomplishes anything she sets her mind to, so why just call it quits?"

"I think that that's the reason right there. She's used to accomplishing anything, so failing so badly at her last contest must have really had an impact on her, more so than we thought. That's the problem when you have an unmatched natural talent on something. You begin to think you're perfect, and as soon as that illusion's shattered, you fall apart."

"Poor Brenda…"

"Honestly though, it's a good thing."

Ash is suspicious. "How could this be a good thing?"

"If Brenda just kept on winning contest after contest her confidence in her natural ability would only continue to grow larger and larger. By the time she inevitably fails at something she will have been so much more confident that it would have been absolutely devastating. It's better that this happens sooner rather than later so she can learn from it ahead of time."

Ash nods. "I suppose so." He pauses and thinks. "So do you really think she'll get better then?"

Brock nods. "I'm certain of it. Contests are Brenda's passion, and it would seem like she was made to be a Pokémon coordinator. She just needs someone to remind her of that fact. Once she gets back into things, she'll not only be back to her old self, but she'll be better than ever having learned an important lesson."

Ash declares, "In that case, we've got to go find her and help her get through this." Brock nods in agreement. "Where should we look next?"

Brock thinks. "Maybe we should figure out where all the coordinators are training, that might be a good place to look."

Ash shakes his. "No, this is Brenda we're talking about."

Brock nods. "Right, and training for a contest after that last outburst is probably the last thing she'd be doing." They think about where to look next.

Brenda declares, "Alright Kappaqua, we'll do it this time, spin and use Water Gun!" Kappaqua leaps into the air and begins to spin as it attacks with a torrent of water. The water creates a spiral shape as it moves with Kappaqua's spin. Brenda cheers, "Alright, we did it!"

Dawn congratulates, "See, I told you there was no need to worry. A little bit of practice can go a long way."

Brenda pauses and thinks for a moment. She asks, "Is this how it feels to train…?" she then exclaims, "Because it feels great!"

Piplup walks up to Kappaqua and pats it on the back. "Piplup."

Before Kappaqua can respond, a net shoots out of nowhere and captures both Pokémon. It then pulls them away.

Brenda and Dawn both shout at once, "What!?"

Jessie appears, "Listen, is that the voice of an outdated Twerpette I hear?"

James also appears, "It's speaking to me obnoxiously clear!"

"On rewind!"

"Back in time!"

Meowth pops up too. "Too old, I fear!"

"Bringing this motto back into style!"

"Dashing all hope, putting you in denial!"

"A Twerpette by any other name's still a twerp!"

"When you come from the past, you know we'll usurp!"

"Jessie!"

"And it's James!"

"And Meowth, now that's a name!"

"Putting the reruns in their place!"

"We're team Rocket…!"

They all declare, "In your face!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

Brenda and Dawn both exclaim at the same time, "Team Rocket!?" They look to each other and both ask at once, "Wait, you know Team Rocket?"

Jessie holds up the net containing Kappaqua and Piplup. "That would be us, and look, we not only got our future Empoleon, but also a bonus prize."

James declares, "We really are winners!'

Dawn shouts back, "Oh yeah, well all I see are a couple of losers."

James shouts, "You take that back!"

Jessie states, "We'll just have to make them." She throws a Pokéball. "Go, Buzzsaw!"

James nods in agreement and throws a Pokéball too. "Go, Ivine!" Ivine appears, but the moment it does it leaps back and grabs a hold of James' face, embracing it in an itch-inducing hug. James shouts, "Itchy!" and rips Ivine off his face. "Make them itch, not me!" He begins to scratch feverishly at his face.

Dawn comments, "Same old Team Rocket…" She looks to Brenda. "Are you ready to battle alongside me?"

Brenda nods. "You bet I am." She pulls out a Pokéball and throws it. "Rabbolt, center stage!"

Dawn also pulls out a Pokéball. "Buneary, spotlight!" Dawn's Buneary, wearing its signature orange coat, appears.

Jessie orders, "Buzzsaw, use Flash Cannon!"

James stops scratching and shouts, "Ivine, use Ivy Whip!" Both Pokémon launch their attacks.

Dawn and Brenda both order at once, "Bounce!" The two rabbit Pokémon leap up and over the attacks of Team Rocket's Pokémon and land on top of them, delivering a kick, they then leap back to their starting position in perfect unison.

Jessie angrily shouts, "Buzzsaw, use Night Slash!" Buzzsaw flies towards Buneary and prepares to attack with its saw.

James adds, "Ivine, go for a Giga Drain!" Ivine attacks with tendrils of green energy that's directed at Rabbolt.

Dawn counters, "Buneary, Ice Beam!" Buneary attacks with Ice Beam, which forces Buzzsaw to fall to the ground upon being hit.

Brenda counters, "Rabbolt, Hidden Power!" Rabbolt hits Ivine with several orbs of energy before the green tendrils can reach it, stopping the attack.

At this point, Ash and Brock run in. Brock shouts, "Look, there's Brenda! She's fighting Team Rocket!"

Ash asks with shock, "Is that Dawn!?"

Brenda and Dawn both see them. They both shout to Ash and Brock, "Leave this to us!" To look to each other in surprise for a moment, but return their attention to the battle.

Dawn begins, "Buneary-"

Brenda adds, "And Rabbolt-"

They both says, "Finish this with-"

Dawn commands, "Thunder Punch!"

Brenda shouts, "Shockwave!"
Buneary jumps at Ivine and Buzzsaw. Its ears begin to spark with electricity and it "punches" with them, knocking both Pokémon back into their trainers. Then comes Rabbolt's burst of electricity in the form of a Shockwave attack. They are sent flying into the sky, leaving the net with Kappaqua and Piplup behind.

As they're flying off, Jessie complains, "That twerpette has got a lot of nerve coming all the way to Tenno just to attack me like that!"

Meowth says with annoyance, "She attacked all three of us, not just you."

James adds, "Not to mention I doubt she came here just to attack you."

Wobbuffet appears and agrees, "Wobbuffet!"

Jessie shouts, "How dare you take their side!?"

Then they all shout, "We're blasting off again!"

There's an added, "Wobba!" as they disappear from sight.

Back on the ground, Brenda and Dawn free their Pokémon. Ash runs up to Dawn and exclaims, "Dawn, what are you doing here!?"

Dawn smiles. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here for the Wallace Cup. It should be me who's asking you that question."

Ash points to Brenda. "That's our friend Brenda, she's a coordinator too. We're here for her…or at least we were…"

Dawn and Brenda both look to each other and break out laughing. Dawn asks, "Wait, so your friends we talked about were Ash and Brock?"

Brenda laughs, "They sure were. They were your friends too?"

Dawn nods. "You bet." They both laugh some more."

While they're laughing, Buneary hops up to Pikachu and bashfully greets it. Pikachu happily waves to it. "Chu!" This makes Buneary very happy.

Ash asks, "Wait, what am I missing here? How do you two know each other?" He looks to Brenda. "And why are you happy again?"

Brenda simply looks to Dawn and suggests, "Hey, let's continue that training. I've got a lot of work to put in before the Wallace Cup starts."

Dawn nods. "Sure thing, let's do it." They run off to continue their training.

Ash is stunned. "Did I just hear Brenda ask to start training?"

Brock nods. "Something tells me we missed quite a lot today."

And indeed they did. You know what they say, it's a small world after all, and today's events only went to prove that, and two of the most unlikely coordinators became friends today. And now that she's finally training, Brenda just has to win the Wallace Cup, right? You'll just have to stay tuned!

To Be Continued…