The episode begins inside a Pokemon Center, with Ash and Brock watching Dawn prepare for her upcoming Pokemon Contest. Dawn twirls towards them, as does Pikachu, with the young girl wearing a pretty pink dress with ribbons all over. Ash and Brock say that she looks great, but Ash asks why she's wearing it. Dawn explains that that in Pokemon Contests in Sinnoh, dressing up in different outfits is encouraged. Also watching is Dawn's mother on the video phone, who Dawn thanks for sending her such a beautiful dress. Her mother looks worried however, saying that there's something missing... a chocker for Dawn's neck. Dawn wonders where she could get one, when suddenly a Glameow appears out of nowhere with a chocker around its tail.

Dawn's mother looks at the chocker around the cat's tail, saying that's perfect for her daughter. Dawn takes the chocker from around the Pokemon's tail, wondering where the Pokemon came from. At that, a voice coming from behind the Glameow makes her look up. The voic is question belongs to a young girl with short red hair, with sunglasses resting upon her head. The girl says that she overheard what her mother was saying, and that she can keep the chocker. Dawn puts in on and tells her mother that everything is fine now. Her mother disagrees however, saying that she didn't even thank the girl for her kindness. Dawn looks behind her to thank the girl, only to find her vanished.

Not too long after that, we find Ash and Dawn facing off in a practice battle to help Dawn prepare for her Contest. Almost unfairly, Ash sends out Pikachu to go against Dawn's Piplup. Ash tells Pikachu to use Quick Attack, which is stopped in its tracks by Piplup, who uses Bubblebeam to blast the ground in front of Pikachu. Ash tells Pikachu to use Iron Tail, whiich doesn't seem to make contact with Piplup. Dawn grows excited at being able to go toe to toe in the fight, and tells Piplup to use Peck attack. Piplup's beak shines brightly, before growing to more than double its normal size. Piplup attacks, and Ash tells Pikachu to use Iron Tail. Pikachu does so, but Aipom suddenly jumps in the way of the electric Pokemon and smashes its tail right into Piplup with its Focus Punch attack. Dawn scolds Aipom for interfering in their battle, and Ash asks Aipom what's wrong.

At that, Aipom jumps into the air, uses Double Team to create several clones of itself, then fires off a Swift attack betweenall the different clones to form a huge star in midair, before landing on the ground to pose. Ash looks at Aipom in utter confusion, not getting what just happened. Brock walks over however and is able to work out the problem straight away: Aipom wants to enter a Contest and do appeals. Ash is shocked, and runs over to Aipom and asks if this is so. Aipom jumps up and down happily, having just pulled an incredibly good appeal out of nowhere, especially since a good appeal usually takes several weeks of intense training. Dawn seems happy at Aipom's interest, and Dawn asks Ash if he would enter the Contest with her. Ash ponders it, but agrees under the pressure of both Pikachu and Aipom. Brock tells him that he'll have to hurry up though, if he wants to register for the Contest.

However, Dawn also forgot to register and so both trainers run to the Contest Hall registration desk to enter. The woman at the desk explains that as well as entering, they will also both need a Contest Pass. To get one, both traners insert their Pokedex into the Pokedex reader to have it scanned for authenticity. After being confirmed, the woman hands both trainers their Contest passes, along with a clear ball and a heart shaped sticker. Ash wonders what the clear ball is for, and Dawn explains that it's for their 'ace', their main Contest Pokemon. Ash wonders what she means, and Dawn shows him. She places Piplup's Pokeball inside the clear one, then puts the heart sticker on the opening button. Dawn then calls out Piplup, who appears in a burst of beautiful pink hearts and glitter. The clear ball enhances the appearing of a Pokemon coming out of its Pokeball in a Contest, Dawn explains.

Elsewhere, we find Jessie preparing for the Contest herself. Dressed in a large, retro style orange dress, complete with large yellow and orange glasses and her hair in pigtails, Jessie introduces herself as Candy Jessie. She then walks over to James, who shakes their money purse in midair, telling her that they have no money left after going to all the trouble of preparing for this Contest. Carnivine also turns around, having covered itself with various stickers. After snapping at Meowth, Jessie starts laughing in anticipation of the next day.

Later that night, Ash and Brock sleep peacefully as Dawn looks at the ceiling, thinking of what awaits her in the morning. Deciding that she can't sleep, she steps outside and calls out Piplup and Mimiroru. Both Pokemon are sleepy, but snap awake to listen to Dawn as she starts to talk about tomorrow's contest and the trail that awaits them. Holding the ribbon her mother gave her in her hand, she shows both her Pokemon it and explains that her mother used to be a famous Pokemon Coordinator.

The next day, we find the Contest just starting to begin, with someone that looks similar to Vivian and Lilian introducing the Contest. Watching the introduction is Ash, before Brock walks up to him, saying that Dawn should have been ready by now. Ash runs off to go find her, watched by Jessie who wonders why the brat is entering the Contest. In the room where the Coordinators get dressed, we find Dawn struggling to get her hair right in the mirror. At that moment however, the red haired girl from before appears and offers to help her with her hair. Dawn thanks her and agrees, before asking her name. The girl introduces herself as Zoey, and the two talk about the upcoming Contest, which Dawn says is her first. Zoey says that she's already won a ribbon prior to this Contest, and shows Dawn her own Ribbon Case- Containing a small pink ribbon.

Dawn thanks her again for helping her with her hair, and Zoey walks over, saying that she'll see her in the finals. Back inside the Contest hall, Momoan, who appears to be related to Vivian and Lilian, explains that the winner of the Contest will win the the cute blue ribbon, which she holds up for the audience to see. Momoan then introduces the three judges- Mr Contesto, the Head of the Pokemon Fan club and the local Nurse Joy. In the Coordinator waiting room, Dawn wonders where Zoey is. Ash asks who Zoey is, and Dawn tells him that it's the girl that they met before. At this, Momoan introduces the first Coordinator, who is Zoey explaining her absence from the waiting room.

Zoey starts off by sending out her Pokemon, which via a smoke sticker on her clear Pokeball, hides her Pokemon in a large cloud of smoke when it comes out. Zoey tells her Pokemon to use Double Team, which makes several clones of itself before all of them merge into one large Pokemon which behind the veil of smoke creates an intimidating image. As the smoke begins to vanish, the various Double Team clones fire off into different directions leaving a sole Misdreavus floating above the stage. Seeing Zoey's Pokemon, Dawn checks it on her Pokedex.

Back on stage, Zoey calls for her Misdreavus to use Shock Wave. Misdreavus does so, sending several powerful waves all across the Contest hall. Incredibly impressed, the crowd cheer as the judges give their impressions of the appeal, all incredibly positive. Momoan then introduces several other minor appeals, involving Rapidash, Beautifly, Scyther and others. Those done, she welcomes 'Candy Jessie' on stage. Outside selling the opening enhancing stickers, Jams turns to watch Jessie's appeal on the big screen. However, a small boy comes over to him and tells him that his stickers don't work, but Meowth jumps in and says that he must have damaged it or something. The boy isn't convinced, especially as several other Coordinators stand behind him complaining that theirs don't work either.

Back inside the Contest Hall, Jessie waves to the crowd before sending out James' Carnivine who appears in front of a huge pink heart. Jessie throws out several large pink and white lollypops, which shatter into pieces when Carnivine uses Bullet Seed. Jessie then tells it to use Bite attack, which Carnivine does, gulping all of the candy pieces before landing on Jessie's head and chomping on it. This being taken as Jessie's surprise finish, the crowd cheers and the judges seem impressed. The next on stage is Ash, who sends out Aipom in an explosion of golden stars. Ash orders Aipom to use Swift, before telling it to use Double Team. Several clones of Aipom are created throughout the stage, which Ash then tells Aipom to destroy with Focus Punch. Aipom does so, spinning around quickly and using its speed to fly into the air and then land on the stage to pose.

Watching all of this is Brock and Dawn, with Dawn looking worried. Brock asks her if she's okay, and Dawn smiles saying that everything is fine, and that Ash's appeal was awesome. A man then appears in the waiting room and tells Dawn to be on standby, and Dawn thanks him. Zoey then wishes Dawn the best, as does Ash as she walks past him on the way to the stage. Momoan introduces Dawn, telling the audience that this is her Contest debut as the curtain rises to reveal a nervous Dawn. Gritting her teeth, Dawn looks up and smiles, before sending out Piplup. Dawn's chosen entrance sticker is one that generates bubbles, and Dawn tells Piplup to use Bubblebeam to push the entrance bubbles back into the air. The bubbles merge and dance in the air, and Dawn tells Piplup to use Peck. Piplup's beak grows again, which amazes the crowd. Piplup then jumps into the air and uses Peck to burst all the bubbles with precise aim, sending down glittering drops of water. The crowd cheers wildly, ad the judges seem happy and impressed with Dawn's appeal.

Back in the waiting room, Ash and Brock tell her that her appeal was great, but Dawn falls to the ground happily. Ash asks if she's okay, and Dawn says that she's fine, just incredibly relieved. Zoey helps her up, saying that they might be seeing each other in the finals after all. At this, Momoan announces that the results are in, saying who will be entering the Battle stage of the Contest. The episode ends with all four trainers waiting for the results to the be shown. Who WILL make it to the finals...?

Thanks to Alfonso for writing this for us