Was it Dawn that kissed him? Why would she show affection to him after the weeks of traveling from town to town in her home region? Ash's head repeated those and related questions through the night, even with advice from an associate, Barry. The morning rose and the trio of kids were well on their way toward Lake Valor. Ash got a call from Volkner who told them that the Sunnyshore Tower, heavily damaged by the brainless actions of Team Rocket, was still being repaired and will be operational by the time the Grand Festival ends. Because of this setback, Ash had no choice but to join Dawn in watching her and her Pokémon compete. Stopping at a clearing at the peak of the sun's rise, the kids released their Pokémon for some of Brock's special chow. Ash's Pikachu, Torterra, Infernape, Gible, Staraptor and Buizel, Dawn's Piplup, Buneary, Cyndaquil, Pachirisu, Mamoswine and newly acquired Togekiss from Salvia, and Brock's Sudowoodo, Croagunk and Happiny were enjoying the meals prepped by the breeder. Ash viewed the glorious Togekiss, one which Dawn used in the Arrowroot Contest as practice for the Grand Festival. He was the only one who was left in the dark about the female "Prince and the Pauper" moment. Still, he was suspicious about how Dawn had Togekiss this whole time only to bring it out as a showoff display prior to the upcoming Coordinators' Championship tournament. He did have a question from yesterday's winning performance.
"Dawn, what did you do with the Arrowroot Town Contest Ribbon?" he asked. Dawn stopped her scarfing of stew to respond to Ash.
"I thought I told you already," she scolded. Brock scoffed, not seeing it the same way.
"Probably exhausted trying to perfect Gible's Draco Meteor, huh?" he chuckled. "Dawn gave her extra ribbon to Jessilina who told her that it was her fifth ribbon." Jessie was heading to the Grand Festival herself. Now Ash's questioning focused on Togekiss.
"I see," he reviewed their answer. "Well, how about Togekiss? How long did you have it before you wanted to show us?" Dawn wasn't expecting Ash to be so quizzical about her Pokémon collection. She knew she got it from Salvia, but if she told him that the real princess gave her Pokémon away, Ash would figure out that she didn't kiss Ash. She fought to think of a way to hide what happened before.
"Well, I guess it started back a month before we all met with Team Rocket trying to take Pikachu," she began her fib. "Mom and I were grocery shopping when we spotted Togekiss being attacked by a flock of Spearow and leader Fearow. Mom used her Glameow to shoo away the Spearow and Fearow so we could save Togekiss from anymore harm. Because the Twinleaf Town's Nurse Joy was helping another Nurse Joy somewhere else, we had to treat it's injuries ourselves. We brought it home and worked to make Togekiss better. When it was back to full health, Togekiss thanked us by showing that airborne ballet you saw yesterday. It was still pretty weak and would need time but when my time to start training arrived, I'd asked Mom to take care of it before I came back since I knew how well it could be used for Contests and even the Grand Festival."
To Ash, this Pokémon was as valuable as Piplup since these were her first Pokémon in different standards: first to treat and first to legally obtain by Prof. Rowan. Ash bit into it like he always would. Brock knew she was lying but hoped that if he kept quiet, Ash would forget about his encounter with the disguised Salvia. Ash's suspicions perked up almost immediately. Something else bothered him. "But we were in Twinleaf Town not too long ago and I didn't see Togekiss then." The more Ash was getting closer to finding the truth, the more Dawn wanted to stall his advances.
"Come on, Ash! I knew that if you saw Togekiss, it would've been easily frightened. It reacted that way in front of us." A natural reaction. Ash took her word for it.
"Well, I guess running into Togekiss so soon would frighten the wings off so I'll go along." Groans from Dawn and Brock told them they weren't humored. Ash quickly stood, wanting a little action. No, not that action with Dawn. "Well, I'm gonna go do some training for when Volkner's ready. Buizel, Torterra, you ready?" Torterra and Buizel were ready to help out in preparing for the next battle. They ran to a nearby clearing. Torterra and Buizel faced each other. "Okay Buizel, let's work on that Ice Punch on speedy projectiles." Reaction and timing training. "Torterra, you ready?" Torterra roared, ready to go. "Okay! Energy Ball!" Torterra fired a green orb of energy at Buizel. "Buizel, Ice-" An Aura Sphere came out of nowhere and destroyed the Energy Ball. Togekiss flew down and faced Torterra, upset over something. "Togekiss!" Dawn and Brock raced over to the training a bit surprised.
"Togekiss, they were training!" Togekiss looked at Dawn all defensive. Why was Dawn yelling at her when it protected Buizel...even though it didn't need it? Brock sensed trouble with the ploy breaking down.
'This isn't good,' he minded. 'If Dawn can't contain Togekiss, Ash will learn real quick about the brief swap...and who really kissed him.' Suddenly, Togekiss chirped excitedly, wanting to train as well. Dawn's nerves were rattling. Talk about facing the moment of truth. She didn't look ready to train her new Pokémon. Ash was enjoying the addition of Dawn's new Togekiss willing to help practice.
"You sure, Togekiss?" he grinned. Togekiss chirped confidently. Enough to skirt Ash. "You got it!" Dawn was panicking. Brock realized Dawn's distress but what could he do? Togekiss even chose its opponent as Buizel, who was stoked to accept training, even if the opponent was someone else. "Are you sure Togekiss was shy when you first met it?"
"O-Of course!" Dawn defended herself. "Why would I lie about my story?" Because you just did.
"I don't know. It opened up outstandingly well in the Arrowroot Contest." Forced into a corner by Ash's sudden suspicions and Togekiss goad to train, Dawn chose to go along and prove she was worthy of owning Togekiss.
"Look, Ash! Either face me or not!" Ash grinned. Confidence would bore conclusion.
"Fine! Buizel, Water Gun!" Buizel spat streams of water upward.
"Togekiss, dodge it!" Togekiss played around, nonchalantly avoiding each strike. Did Togekiss really know it was in a battle? "Uh...counter with Sky Attack!" Togekiss didn't get the command and continued it's aerial prancing.
"Match speed for speed with Aqua Jet!" Buizel cocooned itself in a veil of water as it leaped up to meet Togekiss.
"Come on, Togekiss! Use Air Slash!" Only now did Togekiss listen that it wound up Air Slash and hurled it toward Buizel head-on.
"Buizel, break out and use Water Pulse!" Buizel stopped in midair and swiftly fired a blue orb, much similar to Togekiss' Aura Sphere. Both attack clashed in the middle and sprayed water in all directions. Splashes hit both Pokémon but both recovered. Ash realized something. Dawn's voice back at Arrowroot and now were rather different. Plus, Togekiss did ignore an order from Dawn.
"Sky Attack-"
"Hold it!" All and the Pokémon turned to a rather upset Ash. He figured that something was wrong with Dawn and her new Togekiss and now there was proof.
"Ash, what's wrong?" Brock questioned. The voice, the mood, the training with Togekiss...Dawn's Delcatty just exited her bag.
"Who's Togekiss' real trainer?" Ash wanted the truth. Dawn and Brock tried to keep Ash in check.
"I told you, it's mine," Dawn took defense. Ash knew this wasn't true.
"No, it's not!" Dawn and Brock were surprised that Ash would snap with that volume. His anger was hard to control so he faced away. "Tell me the truth...if you can!" He ran off, secluding himself from his human and Pokémon friends. Pikachu didn't want to break from Ash and started to chase.
"Pikachu, don't bother!" Brock stopped the mouse, angering the Pokémon.
("He's my best friend!") he squeaked back. Brock had a reason and Pikachu had to have known.
"I realize that but you're also in on the switch." Pikachu wanted so bad to be by Ash's side...but knowing that he saw the princess as who she really was, he listened to Brock's wary advice. Watching with binoculars, Team Rocket witnessed the verbal blasting and how Ash just ran off from his Pokémon.
"I knew something was a little quirky about that Twerpette," Jessie, not really reflecting about her final ribbon to enter the Grand Festival, studied the situation. "But why would Pikachu's Twerp suddenly flip out because of her Togekiss?" James and Meowth weren't as lazy when it came to understanding the issue.
"Apparently, the twerp believes the girl's Togekiss was not hers," James clarified. "Which could mean that Twerpette you faced in the final round of that Pokémon Contest might not have been the same Twerpette we see." James seems to have some idea, unbeknown how right he really was. Jessie could care less about who really took her victory away in embarrassing fashion. She was beat in embarrassing fashion and wanted a little payback.
"Any twerp who turns me into a laughing stock is still a twerp!" She's also missing a key point. It's something the "men" noticed.
"You know, that Goodwill Ambassador did look a heckuva lot like the twerpette," Meowth murmured. James thought back to Arrowroot where he did notice similar faces with both Dawn and Salvia...or was that Salvia and Dawn?
"Now that you mention it, the Goodwill Ambassador and the twerp looked so much alike, I think she had a twin given away at birth," James theorized. "Perhaps the twerpette we see and the twerpette in the contests were who we believe are swapping in and out so that she kept a low profile that her family is of fame and fortune." Awkward point. One Meowth wanted to specify.
"You mean that the twerpette and the princess switch because the princess is better at contests than she is?" They pictured it now as Salvia, looking like Dawn in contest dresses, is winning the crowd over as the other Dawn, in street clothes, watched from behind the curtain. "I see your point. No way could we tell those two apart, even if my nine lives depended on it." That's so way off, it's no wonder only Team Rocket would be the ones to come up with that hypothesis. Meantime, Ash was lakeside skipping stones. Hey, a seven skipper! Pretty cool. Ash wasn't more upset with Dawn's lies than he was with how far the stones skipped. He knew Togekiss wasn't Dawn's Pokémon to begin with. He nearly kissed Dawn in a suspicious case of mysterious love thought. Jessie, redressed as Jessilina, appeared to meet Dawn's friend...if he would accept.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" she cheerfully greeted. "It's a small world after seeing you in the audience all the time." Ash didn't acknowledge Jessie. Every time Team Rocket was in disguise, they'd fool the kids into traps. Ash's ignorance was a real gust of wind of a new direction. "Are you upset over your twerpy friend's new Pokémon?" Ash lied on the stump he sat for since splitting from the others.
"Just that Dawn lied about how she acquired Togekiss," he muttered. "That and the mood and tone she displayed now and back in Arrowroot Town were completely different. Back at Arrowroot, she was more...polite and cordial and...even kissed me after Gible successfully did Draco Meteor nearly plowed us in. I didn't get the same feelings a few minutes ago." Boy, tell her your life story while you're rolling. Jessie didn't scoff. She was a little awed that her archenemy, despite not knowing that it's her in disguise, was getting love but going through a quarrel at once.
"Oh dear! I don't know what to say!" She'd think of something quickly. "So your friend's credibility was called into questioning and you learned the truth?" Ash hissed away from Jessie. "Not so much, huh?" Finally, Ash jumped to his feet. He seemed dead set on finding the truth about who he encountered.
"I need to apologize to Dawn." He turned to face Jessie, calmed from the brief chat. "Sorry about wasting your time from preparing for the Grand Festival." Jessie waived the apology off, not a big deal to her.
"I wasn't really warming up but thanks anyway." That's when out of the corner of his eye, Dawn showed up with a worry twinkle in her peeps. Togekiss and Pikachu stood by her.
"Dawn?" Jessie saw this and trying not to blow her cover, wanted to excuse herself.
"Ah, look at the time! I'm gonna leave you two alone to straighten your differences, okay? Tootles!" With that, Jessie dashed away. Now it was between Ash and Dawn. A more eased raven-haired trainer spoke first.
"Listen...I-I'm sorry for blowing up like that. I wasn't feeling too comfortable with how you and Togekiss worked together." Dawn looked like she'd accept the apology.
"Yeah...well..." she hesitated. "Brock, Pikachu and I should apologize for lying to you. I was just jealous when you were kissed." Dawn saw the kiss and didn't appreciate it. Ash itched his head in some embarrassment.
"You might find it a little hard to believe but I almost kissed you while you were sleeping." Dawn hiccuped. She nearly got some Ash on either her cheek or her lips. Pikachu was equally stunned.
("I never imagined you as Romeo-esque,") he squeaked. Dawn's cheeks bled red. There was a moment where Ash would've blindly kissed her and any jealousy toward Salvia would have been null and void.
"O-Oh, wow..." she shuttered, slightly humored. After settling down, Dawn told her about what happened in Arrowroot Town as she sat on an adjacent stump. "After you ran off to train for Volkner, we were approached by Freesia who asked for my help. We met Princess Salvia who had asked me to pose for her so that she'd participate in the Pokémon Contest. After dressing as me, she ran to meet you and...I saw the whole exchange." Ash now learned Salvia kissed him, not Dawn. "I...got a bit upset but I tried to be a good sport about it. After she won and handed the ribbon to Jessilina, she gave me Togekiss." Fully informed, Ash figured about Pikachu's involvement as well as Brock.
"Lemme guess," he started. "Because you and Brock saw the kiss, Brock believed that I wouldn't know that switch between you and the princess." Dawn nodded, the secret out in the open.
"You know, you lived any ordinary young boy's dream of being kissed by a princess, much like a girl to a prince." Obvious but a good analogy. Ash was back on his feet, knowing what to do.
"Dawn, I wanna go meet the princess. I wanna know if maybe she does have feelings for me or if that moment was for protecting her from Gible's success." Dawn sighed. It bugged Ash so well, he wanted more of the truth and chose to see Salvia. "Togekiss, can you guide us to Princess Salvia? I wanna meet her as she is." Togekiss bowed, accepting Ash's request. A journey was set as Ash was ready to seek Salvia but trouble was about to brew and it didn't involve Jessie or James. Find out next time.