[The title card comes up]
[voiceover] Stopped in the Name of Love!
[The camera gives us a panoramic view of Sandalstraw Town as it pans left and then fades to the local Pokémon Centre]
As Dawn excitedly prepares for her newly discovered upcoming Pokémon contest in Sandalstraw Town, our heroes find shelter at a quaint nearby Pokémon Centre...
All right, everybody - come on out! [Her Pokémon, minus Piplup, come out of their Poké Balls] We're closing in on our fifth ribbon so let's train like there's no tomorrow!
[Dawn's Pokémon cheer but then, Piplup tries to fly but falls on the ground]
Piplup?
Hey, are you feeling all right?
Pika?
Pip. [Shakes his head] Pip-lup. [Stands up but goes out of control] Pipee-lupee...ee! Piplup! [Sits on the ground again]
You've been acting strange lately. Are you certain you're all right?
Aargh! Look out, look out, look out, look out! [Runs into Ash whose hat goes flying into the sky]
Argh!
Oof! [Lands on the ground]
Ash, are you okay?
[Ash's hat lands on his head]
Why, you! I oughtta...
Huh?
What do you think you're doing? I'm gonna make you pay a fine for that. [Sees Ash] Huh - aah! [Points to Ash] It's you, Ash!
Barry.
Pika?
[Kenny arrives]
Hey, there, Dee-Dee, long time.
Kenny?
Obviously, you're gonna enter the Sandalstraw Contest too, right, Dee-Dee?
Look, you better stop calling me Dee-Dee or else!
Huh? Just a cotton-pickin' minute - are you trying to say you two know each other?
You know Kenny too, Barry?
Of course. Best buddies... [Turns to Kenny] Right?
Yeah, although we just met each other now for the first time.
See, I just found out both Kenny and I are from Twinleaf Town, so that means we're practically like brothers. The deal is, Kenny's going to enter the contest and then I'll enter Pokémon Ping-Pong for a double win. We're going to do some special training.
Pokémon Ping-Pong?
You don't know what that is? Let me see if I've got it... [Gets out a poster which promotes the Pokémon Ping-Pong tournament] Yeah, here. You see, they're holding ping-pong after the contest, and all the strongest competitors are going to be there.
I remember reading about this at the Pokémon Centre. It's double ping-pong where trainer and Pokémon form a team.