"The winner is Dawn!" Marian announced. The audience cheered as Dawn and Piplup walked off stage.

"That was awesome!" Ash yelled. The pokémon yelled in agreement with the trainer.

Kori clapped half-heartedly. To be honest, the battle was really nothing to get excited about. Dawn's Piplup beat the other coordinator's Solrock without any problem.

Solrock- the Meteorite Pokémon. It is said to have fallen from space. It floats in the air and moves silently. In battle, the pokémon releases intensely bright light.

But Kori would secretly admit that Dawn definitely got stronger than she was in the last contest. Dawn's progress in a short time made her want to jump into her own training as soon as possible.

"Now it's Kenny and Diana's battle coming up," Taylor said.

"Yep," Brock said, "and it's going to be a good battle."

Kori had no choice but to agree. Diana has really proved herself in that last battle and Kenny has a bunch of experience to take from. Both of her friends, would be battling against each other. She had no idea which one of them would win, but she was ready to cheer either way.

Chimchar turned to face Kori. "Chim?" What would happen if one of them lost?

Kori shrugged. "One of them losing would be tough, but the loser will eventually move on and we support whichever one wins."

Chimchar, who seemed to be satisfied with the answer nodded in agreement. Whatever was going to happen, would happen.

Diana sat in the dressing room, mentally preparing herself for her battle with Kenny. She was nervous; Kenny had much more contest experiences than she did. What if she lost? Diana sighed as she petted Turtwig's shell.

Dawn and Kenny walked over. Diana smiled nervously. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Dawn greeted with a smile. "Ready for you battle?"

Diana shrugged half- heartedly. "As ready as I'm going to be."

Kenny raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound very confident to me. You better be a little surer of yourself, especially when you battle against me."

Dawn sent a glare Kenny's way. After seeing the hard look, Kenny held his hands up in defense. "I didn't say anything that wasn't true Deedee."

"Stop calling me Deedee!"

Diana began giggling. It was just that hearing them bicker like some married couple was funny and calming. It was enough to take her nervousness away.

Dawn pouted when she realized she was being laughed at. "Anyway," she said. "Good luck out there." She smiled out there. "Both of you. I'll be rooting for you."

"Oh don't worry yourself Deedee," Kenny said cockily. He walked past both girls and towards the stage. "I'm not going to need any luck."

The comment made Diana puff out her cheeks in irritation. Won't need luck? She knew that Kenny had been trying to impress Dawn, but that was no excuse fro being rude. And if honestly thought he was going to beat her so easily, he had another thing coming. Diana returned Turtwig to his pokéball and waved to Dawn before walked towards the stage as well.

"Now to announce the next battle." Marian pointed to the right of the stage. "On this side is Kenny." Kori clapped as hard as she could. "And on the other side is Diana." Kori and their group of friends clapped, Even Lyssa paused from taking pictures, so that she might clap for her friend as well.

"Now both coordinators have five minutes on the clock to battle. The coordinator with the highest amount of points after five minutes wins. Now begin!"

Diana was the first to throw her pokéball, releasing Turtwig from within the army of pink petals. Kenny threw his pokéball and Prinplup came out of a huge, golden star. Diana knew Turtwig had the type advantage, so she needed to use that to the fullest. "Turtwig use Razor Leaf!"

Turtwig threw his head to the side, releasing the Razor Leaf attack. "Twig!"

Kenny smirked. "It's gonna take more than a type advantage to beat us Diana. Counter with Metal Claw!"

"Prin!" Prinplup ran to meet the Razor Leaf. He ran with a speed Diana would not have believed the penguin pokémon capable of. Prinplup's fin shined brightly as he attacked the incoming attack, swatting it like a fly.

"Diana may have begun with the first attack," Marian announced, "but she is certainly losing momentum, while Kenny seems to be quickly taking the lead!" Diana's points began to go down.

Prinplup continued to run until he was in front of Turtwig. Prinplup hit the tiny leaf pokémon with the super effective attack. "Now hit it with another Metal Claw!" Turtwig cried out in pain.

More of Diana's points went down. Something needs to be down quick. "Turtwig! Bite!"

Turtwig jumped up and bit on one of Prinplup's fin's, causing the glow of the Metal Claw to dissipate. Kenny's points began to go down.

"Looks like Turtwig's Bite caused Metal Claw to fail." Marian raised her arm towards the scoreboard. "Kenny's points went down, making both coordinators about even."

Diana planned on changing that. "Now throw Prinplup!"

Turtwig twirled around, while Prinplup's fin was still in his moth. Prinplup's feet came off the ground and, as soon as Turtwig let go, went flying towards a wall. More of Kenny's points went down.

"Looks like Prinplup is being thrown out of the battle. Does this mean Kenny's down for the count?"

"In your dreams," Kenny said under his breath. "You use Bubblebeam on the wall Prinplup."

Prinplup opened its beak and attacked the wall with a barrage of Bubblebeam attacks. It was powerful enough to propel Prinplup back on the stage. Diana's points took a plunge.

"Looks like Prinplup's still in this," Marian pointed out, "with two minutes to spare, who of these two coordinators will win?"

Kori definitely wasn't sure of the answer. So far, both parties hadn't done much physical damage to the other, but both have pulled some fancy maneuvers and now, their points were pretty much even.

"Now what?" Ash asked, unintentionally repeating the same question going through Kori's head.

Lyssa put down her camera. "No way of knowing. It really is any one's guess, but I'm pretty impressed that Prinplup is able to give Turtwig so much trouble since it's a water- type."

Brock nodded. "Kenny's done an excellent job of training Prinplup to defend well against type disadvantages. Wouldn't be surprised if he did that with all his pokémon."

"This is too much!" Taylor suddenly yelled. "I don't want any of them to lose!"

"I know dear," Cari said in a comforting manner, "but in every contest or battle, there will be a loser. As long as they both battled their best, than they shouldn't have too much regret. Even if one of them loses."

"I'm not so sure about that..." Lyssa whispered. Everyone looked at her, silently waiting for an explanation. "Kenny losing wouldn't be much of an issue; he has more experience and is probably use to loss as a coordinator. But Diana..."

"Diana already has a pretty low self- esteem. Anyone who has met her sister, can't blame her for feeling that way... but I'm just afraid that losing this... not ultimately winning the ribbon.. may validate the thought that she may be..."

"Worthless?" Kori asked. Now, after listening to Lyssa, she had to agree with the other girl's fear. Diana could be her own worst critic. What if she quit being a coordinator because she thought of a loss as a failure. That would be terrible, considering how much she took to it.

They would just have to see what happened next.

Diana had no idea what to do next. Against Kenny and Prinplup, nothing her and Turtwig did seemed to be working.

"Now use Mist!" Immediately after, the field became covered in a milky white smoke. Diana could hear the sound of points going down. Time to change things.

"Turtwig! Use Earth Power to jump over the smoke!" Although Diana could no longer see Turtwig in front of her, she knew he did as commanded when he suddenly jumped above the mist. Now all we have to do is counterattack, Diana thought.

They never got the chance, because suddenly Prinplup was up in the air as well and attack with Bubblebeam. While Turtwig was in the air he couldn't dodge.

"Razor Leaf!" Turtwig flipped around and leaves soon collided with bubbles, they looked to be even at first. But soon, the Razor Leaf lost its momentum and the Bubblebeam got through and attacked Turtwig.

"TUR!" Turtwig fell to the ground hard, but the Bubblebeam didn't really do any damage. Before Turtwig could recover, Prinplup came down on him with a hard Metal Claw, doing major damage.

"Turtwig!" Diana called out in panic.

At that moment, the Mist dissipated. The sun shone brightly unto the stage.

"Turtwig got hit with another super effective Metal Claw!" Marian asked dramatically, "Will Turtwig have the will to get back up? Or is it down for the count?"

Turtwig open his eyes. He was in so much pain right now. He really wanted to sleep.

"Please get back up Turtwig!" Diana yelled. "I know you can still do it! You, Shinx and I can still do this!"

"Tur...?" Turtwig wanted to help Diana and Shinx. That, and the cheering he could hear made Turtwig want to keep trying. He slowly got to his feet. The sun shined so brightly, felt so warm. "Turtwig..." Turtwig felt power coursing through his veins, a green light showed in front of him. He heard Diana gasp, but he couldn't understand why.

They all watched as Turtwig seemed to have created a green orb.

"What is that?" Taylor asked.

"I'm not really sure..." Ash answered, "I've never seen that attack before."

Kori putted her pokédex out for clarification. "Energy ball. A grass- type move that draws power from nature and fires it at the foe."

"So it's called Energy ball," Taylor said. "But if Turtwig knew that move all along, why didn't Diana tell Turtwig to use it before?" Taylor asked, confused.

"It's because she didn't know," Kori quickly explained. "Turtwig just now learned Energy ball."

"And it's a good thing too," Brock pointed out, "that means they're still in this."

Everyone continued to watch the match. One minute left on the clock.

Diana watched Turtwig finished the move called Energy ball. Turtwig threw the ball towards Prinplup.

"Hey Diana!" Kenny called, catching the girl's attention. "It's great that Turtwig knows Energy ball, but don't expect it to help much." Kenny pointed at Turtwig. "Prinplup! Hit with another Metal Claw!"

"Prin!" Prinplup ran across the field towards Turtwig, his two flippers glowing. Prinplup slammed the Energy ball with the Metal Claw. Diana's points went down.

Enough is enough. "Turtwig flip!"

Turtwig ran towards Prinplup. As soon as Metal Claw was about to connect, Turtwig jumped and flipped over and behind Prinplup. "Now use Energy Ball!" Turtwig did as he was told, nailing Prinplup in the back.

"Plup!"

"Prinplup no!" Kenny yelled. Everyone witnessed as Prinplup fell to the ground. After being hit by that super effective attack, no one knew if the penguin pokémon would be able to continue. "Are you okay Prinplup?"

"Prin..." Prinplup readied himself to get up. He slowly raised himself off the ground, and was almost on his feet, but the buzzer went off. Time was finally up.

"Time!" Marian yelled. "Now to tally up those points. The winner is..."

Everyone waited in anticipation as Marian revealed the name of the winner. Diana held her breath.

"... Kenny of Twin Leaf Town!"

What? Diana quickly looked at the scoreboard. Both Kenny and her finished with less than half of the points they had originally began with, but the difference in points were still noticeable. Kenny still had more points than she did. Diana felt extremely numb. She knew that Turtwig was becoming concerned, but she couldn't bring herself to care as she ran off the stage.

Kori and Lyssa were now watching the final contest battle between Dawn's Piplup and Kenny's Prinplup. The excitement was really heating up; both sides were giving it their best efforts, but both girls just couldn't find enjoyment in it. They were both worried about Diana. After she had ran into the dressing room, they had gone over there to talk to her. Diana had already locked herself in the bathroom with her pokémon when they had came and no matter how much they pleaded with her, she wouldn't open the door to speak with them. Only at the urging of Cari did they finally abandon their endeavor and walked back to their seats. Knowing that they had left their friend, alone and probably crying in a bathroom made them feel sad and guilty. Lyssa has yet to take any pictures.

Cari patted Kori and Lyssa on their shoulders. They were both so startled, they jumped up from their seats. When she had their full attention, she spoke. "It'll be alright. Diana is upset now. Just give her a few minutes of alone time and I'm sure that she'll be fine."

Both girls nodded, but none of them looked like they believed her. They went back to watching the final battle. Each of them, still thinking about the friend still on the dressing room.

While Kori and Lyssa were worrying, Diana had changed back into her normal clothes and put her hair back into her pigtails. She sat on one of the benches. The final battle was on the monitor, but instead of enjoying it, all she could think was how she had lost. She couldn't believe it. She had been so sure that when Turtwig had gotten Priplup on the ground, she had been so sure that she had won. She really wanted to win. She angrily wiped the tears sliding down her cheek.

For a long time, ever since her mom died, she has been told how worthless she was by her sister. How much of a loser she was. After that moment, her sister seemed to distance herself away from her and she no longer had a friend her age before meeting Kori and Lyssa. After getting through the appeals round and through the quarter finals, she thought she had an actual chance of just... winning this time around. To prove her strenght... her worth... that was all she wanted. Diana sighed and absently petted Shinx.

"Shinx ..." Shinx called sadly.

Turtwig just stared at Diana, becoming very worried for his trainer.

If I can't be there, Diana thought, the least I can do is watch and cheer for the friends that were strong enough to make it.

"Time is up!" The timer went off. Both Piplup and attacking. "Now the winner is... Dawn of Twin Leaf Town!"

Dawn grabbed Piplup, jumping up and down. She was so excited about winning her first ribbon.

"We did it Piplup!" Dawn held Piplup by the fins and twirled around in circles. "We won!"

Mr. Contest gave Dawn the Floraroma ribbon for winning the contest. Everyone then got up from their seats and went to congratulate Dawn. Her win was really something. Kori walked over to Kenny. "That battle really was something," she said, patting him on the back. "And you did great too Prinplup."

"Prinplup."

"Thanks Kori," Kenny said. They both walked towards Dawn and everyone who were still offering congratulations.

"Congrats on winning Dawn," Kori said, holding out her hand.

Dawn smiled slowly and so the offered hand. "Thanks." Dan began to look through the crowd. "Hey where's Diana?"

No one answered. No one knew what to say. Kori didn't think it was right to tell Dawn that Diana was probably still in the dressing room, crying her eyes out.

I'm right here." Everyone turned. Kori and Lyssa were surprised to see Diana, smiling happily for Dawn, when she had been so upset before. It almost seemed as if everything was alright.

Except for the fact that both Turtwig and Shinx looked very worried about Diana. Also Diana was clenching her hands so tightly that they shook. Kori and Lyssa could definitely tell that Diana was not okay right now. Kori took a step forward. She wasn't sure what she would do or say, but she wanted to help. Right after, Kori felt a hand on her shoulder.

Dawn looked just as concerned as Kori felt, but she looked at Kori in a way that seemed to say that she would handle it. If Dawn thought she could help, then Kori was willing to let her try. Kori nodded. Dawn smiled and took Diana's arm, dragging her back into the dressing room. Lyssa and everyone else were about to follow until Kori stopped them. They had to wait because Diana needed this.

"So congratulations again," Diana said.

"Thank you Diana." Dawnn really appreciated that Diana was so sincere about what she was saying, even when she was taking her own loss so hard. Diana was a good friend. "I'm sorry about your loss though."

Diana shrugged. "There's only one winner," Diana replied. "I'm not strong enough."

"But you will be," Dawn said.

"No I won't." Diana smiled sadly. "I could never battle like you or Kenny."

"Yes you can!" Dawn exclaimed. Diana jumped, clearly shocked by the outburst. "I'm sorry about yelling, but honestly. You battled great out there with Turtwig. Your performance with Shinx was better than mines with Pachirisu was. You and your pokémon did great out there and you can only get better. Besides this is only my second contest, you didn't do any worse than I did on my first."

Diana became curious. "What happened in your first contest?"

"I lost in the semi finals," Dawn explained. "I battled a friend and lost. Her name is Zoey and she was amazing. She took complete control of that whole battle. She ended up defeating me and winning the whole contest."

"And you won this time..." Diana pointed out. "You and Kenny took such control over the battlefield... I couldn't keep up... if my pokémon and I are going to keep going down this path," Diana smiled, "we'll have to do some training then." Dawn and the pokémon smiled. Both Turtwig and Shinx jumped up and down in their excitement. They would get to do it again.

"That's great!" Dawn yelled. "And one more thing."

Diana titled her head to the side, waiting expectantly.

"You need to be more confident in yourself and your pokémon!" Dawn commented, "I don't understand why your self-esteem is so low, especially when you and your pokémon were so awesome!" Dawn grabbed Diana's shoulders. "Just believe in yourself and your pokémon."

Diana thought about everything that Dawn had said, and concluded that the other girl had been right; her pokémon really did beautifully out there. Diana nodded and picked up both Turtwig and Shinx. " You both were so amazing out there."

Shinx smiled knowingly. "Shinx shinx shinx," he answered, as if to say that of course he was amazing. As if there was any real doubt.

Turtwig on the other hand, became very excitable. "Turtwig tur twig..." Turtwig seemed to be talking a mile a minute. He couldn't wait for the next contest.

"Now that's much better." Dawn smiled conspiratorially." I think we should probably tell everyone that it's okay to come in now. Don't you think?"

Diana grinned and nodded.

After that, Dawn and Kenny changed back into their normal clothes. Everyone continued to talk until finally, the sun went down. Diana, Lyssa, Kori and her family went their way to the Pokémon Center. Dawn, Brock and Ash left Floraroma Town, on the way to Eterna City for Ash's next gym battle. Kenny left in the opposite direction, to get ready for the next contest and promised to keep in touch.

The Floraroma Town Contest may have ended, but life continued to go on.

Kori's Pokemon

1. CHIMCHAR (female): (EMBER, ACROBATICS, IRON TAIL, TAUNT, FLAME WHEEL)

2. ALTARIA (male): (SING, STEEL WING, AERIAL ACE, COTTON GUARD, MIRROR MOVE)

3. OSHATWOTT (male): (SCALD, AIR SLASH, RAZOR SHELL)

4. CHERRIM (female): (MAGICAL LEAF, PETAL DANCE, SUNNY DAY)

Lyssa's Pokemon

1. CORSOLA (female): (WATER GUN, ROCK BLAST, BUBBLE)

2. BIDOOF (male): (MOVES UNKNOWN)

Diana's Pokemon

1. TURTWIG (male): (RAZOR LEAF, EARTH POWER, BITE, ENERGY BALL, SYNTHESIS)

2. SHINX (male): (SWIFT, TACKLE, THUNDERSHOCK, SCARY FACE, SPARK)

The Friends

Cari's Pokemon

1. Dewott (female): (MOVES UNKNOWN)

Taylor's Pokemon

1. RazorMist (OSHAWOTT) (female): (MOVES UNKNOWN)