Pokemon Learning League

Newspaper Article

Written By

Timothy Whitfield

(Episode opens with Ash, Pikachu, Bonnie, Dedenne, Serena, and Clemont walking down a path on a clear blue afternoon and Bonnie casually speaks to the audience.)

Bonnie: Hi, there.

Dedenne: Dedenne.

Serena: Hey, there.

Ash: Hey.

Pikachu: Pika.

Clemont: Hello.

Ash: Pikachu, are you excited to what Dawn has to show us?

Pikachu: Pikachu.

Clemont: Tell us, Ash. What's Dawn like?

Ash: Oh, she's great. She's a coordinator and has been in a lot of contests.

Serena: Really?

Ash: Yep.

Serena: That's amazing.

(They keep heading down the path until they come to a park, where they find Dawn waiting for them.)

Ash: Hey, Dawn.

Dawn: Hey.

(They both give a high-five.)

Pikachu: Pika.

Piplup: Piplup.

(They also give each other a high-five.)

Dawn: How are you doing?

Ash: We're doing great. Dawn, this is Clemont, Serena and Clemont.

Dawn: It's nice to meet you guys.

Serena: Nice to meet you, too.

(She shakes her hand.)

Clemont: Hi, Dawn.

Bonnie: Hey.

Dedenne: Dedenne.

Dawn: Aww. Your Pokemon looks so cute.

Bonnie: Thanks. This is Dedenne. And I see that's your Piplup.

Dawn: Yep.

Bonnie: Hi, Piplup. I'm Bonnie. (She strokes the top of Piplup's head.)

Piplup: Piplup, Pip.

Ash: So, Dawn, what was it you wanted to show us?

Dawn: Oh, you'll see. Come on out!

(She tosses her PokeBall up, and Lopunny comes out of it. She wears an orange vest with a pink heart in the center.)

Ash: Cool. Buneary is now a Lopunny.

Pikachu: Pika.

(Lopunny blushes in her cheeks and hides her face in the fur on her arms.)

Dawn: That's not all. Lopunny, use Charge Beam!

(She opens her mouth and an orb of yellow electricity forms in front of it.)

Lopunny: Lopunny!

(She fires a massive beam of electricity from the orb at the sky.)

Ash: Whoa!

Dawn: Now use Focus Blast!

(She puts her hands together and forms a light blue ball of energy. She then does spins around and fires it to the sky and it explodes like fireworks.)

All: Wow!

Pikachu: Pikaa!

Dedenne: Dede!

Bonnie: Dawn that was great!

Dawn: Thanks, Bonnie.

Clemont: Well, guys, how about I make us some lunch?

Dawn: Sure.

(He sets up a fire. Later, they eat their lunch.)

Dawn: Mmm, this is great.

Ash: Yeah.

Pikachu: Pika.

(As Pikachu eats his food, Lopunny kneels down to his level, puts one ear over him and gives him a snuggle.)

Clemont: Dawn, would you mind telling us how your Buneary evolved?

Dawn: Of course. Well, we were busy practicing some new Contest moves.

Serena: It must've been hard to do that.

Dawn: Oh, it was. Then, a trainer came up and challenged me to a battle.

Ash: Oh. What kind of Pokemon did she have?

Dawn: She had a Reunicles, and it was pretty strong.

Ash: I'll bet it was.

Dawn: I used Quilava to battle and we were doing well for a while.

Clemont: That's great. What happened after that?

Dawn: Then, her Reunicles started using Power-up Punch and its attacks were stronger than before. It had gotten very intense. So, I had Quilava use Eruption to finish it off, but it wasn't enough.

Bonnie: Oh.

Dawn: Then, it used Rock Slide, and that finished off Quilava.

Serena: Well, that's too bad.

Dawn: It's all right. Then, I had to think about who to send out next, then Buneary came up and decided to step in. I wasn't sure about it, but she insisted.

Ash: Really?

Dawn: Yep. So, when Buneary jumped in, she was doing pretty well, and then Reunicles used Aura Sphere and it did a lot of damage to her. I thought she had had enough and tried to call her back, but she didn't want to quit. Then, just as she was about to fire an Ice Beam, she started to evolve. After that, it had gotten much stronger and she learned the new moves and managed to beat her.

Clemont: That's pretty impressive.

Dawn: Thanks.

Serena: Here, guys. I made something for us.

(She holds out a bag full of macarons. They each take one.)

Ash: Mmm, this is really good, Serena.

Dawn: Yeah.

(As they eat the macarons, a young boy named Dodger comes up to them. He has red-orange hair, a short-sleeved shirt, a pair of beige pants and some sneakers.)

Dodger: Excuse me?

(They all look over at him.)

Dodger: Hi. My name's Dodger.

Serena: Nice to meet you. I'm Serena.

Ash: I'm Ash. This is Pikachu.

Pikachu: Pika.

Clemont: Hey, I'm Clemont.

Dawn: I'm Dawn, and this is Piplup.

Piplup: Piplup.

Bonnie: I'm Bonnie, and this Dedenne.

Dedenne: Dedenne.

Serena: So, Dodger.

Dodger: Well, I'm writing this newspaper article about Contest moves and combo attacks and I was wondering if one of you could show me some.

Ash: Hey, Dawn. Show him of your moves.

Dawn: Okay.

(They head over to a clearing.)

Dawn: Get ready for this. Lopunny, start off with Bounce!

(Lopunny jumps up high into the air.)

Dawn: Now use Ice Beam!

(A light blue ball forms in front of Lopunny's mouth. Light blue beams shoot out from the ball while she spins. The beams create a big spiraling ice slide and lands on top of it. She slides down it.)

Dawn: Finish it with a Dizzy Punch!

(She flips upside-down on her ears and the ear fluffs glow multicolored. She lands at the bottom of the slide and bounces up and lands back at the top.)

Dodger: That was really good.

Dawn: Thanks. Now, watch this. Piplup and Lopunny, do a Spin attack!

(Piplup and Lopunny jump up in the air and do a spin. Then, Piplup opens his beak and releases a stream of blue bubbles and Lopunny A light blue ball forms in front of Lopunny's mouth. Light blue beams shoot out from the ball and the two moves fuse into one.)

Dodger: Wow! That was amazing!

Dawn: Thanks.

Dodger: This'll make a great article, except for one thing.

Serena: What is it?

Dodger: It needs to look really good for the paper. The only thing is I don't know how it's supposed to be done. Do you guys know?

Clemont: No, we don't, but maybe Lex can help you out with that.

Dodger: Really?

Clemont: Yep. (He pulls out the Pokepilot and calls, who is playing around with Torchic and a rock.)

Lex: Oh, hey, guys. How are you?

Dawn: We're doing great. I see you have Torchic with you.

Torchic: Torchic.

Lex: Yep. Quinn and Diana had to step out, so I'm taking care of it for now. I was just teaching Torchic how to use Rock Smash.

Ash: Really? And how's it going?

Lex: It's coming along well. It's almost got it down.

Clemont: That's good to know. Lex, this is Dodger.

Lex: It's a pleasure to meet you, Dodger.

Dodger: Thanks.

Lex: So, what are you guys up to?

Serena: Dawn was just showing us some of her Contest moves and combo attacks.

Lex: Okay.

Ash: Dodger is writing an article about them and he wants it to look good. So, he wants to know how he could do that

Lex: Of course. If you want to make it look good, you have to do a few certain things.

Dodger: Okay, how do I start it off?

Lex: Try starting it off with a strong lead. Make it a brief summary of what the article is going to be about, which will answer some basic questions. For example, if you wrote an article about Pokemon Training, you would start it off by saying what it is, why trainers do it and etc.

Clemont: All right, now what?

Lex: Next, write it in an inverted pyramid format. What you do is bring up the most vital facts first, and bring up the less important ones later. Also, make each paragraph more important than the next. Let's say, in the first paragraph, you talk about the different methods that go in training.

Bonnie: What's next?

Lex: Now, you look over the body of the article. Carefully analyze it, and if needed, provide some support for some of the claims you're making, like quotes from other trainers, and make sure you're attribute it to someone.

Ash: All right, what's left?

Lex: Lastly, when you write your conclusion, try to re-summarize some important facts and include some helpful information.

Clemont: Doing an article like that really can work well.

Lex: Oh, it does. Here's a word of advice: keep your words simple, provide some background information for new readers, write certain words in laymen's terms and present both sides of the argument.

Dodger: All right.

Lex: All right, guys, let's do an example of one.

Dawn: Okay, Lex.

Piplup: Piplup.

(Pan down to a lower panel.)

Lex: You guys ready to go?

Bonnie: Yes, we are.

Lex: That's good. Let's say I'm writing an article about Gym Leaders. How do you think the lead should start?

Ash: It should start by talking about what a Gym leader is, what they do, and how they do their job.

Lex: Okay, Ash. Now, what are some important facts we can put in here?

Clemont: Gym leaders take great care into running and maintaining their gyms.

Lex: Good one, Clemont. What kind of support do you think could be used here?

Serena: You could put quotes from some of the gym leaders about how important it is to be one.

Lex: All right, Serena. Finally, what can be put down for the conclusion?

Dawn: It can say how being a gym leader may not be easy, but it can be worth it to help trainers out on their journeys.

Lex: Okay, Dawn. You guys did very well.

Bonnie: Thanks, Lex.

Lex: No problem, Bonnie. Now, Torchic and I need to get back to training. See you guys later.

Clemont: See you, Lex.

(He puts the Pokepilot away.)

Ash: Okay, Dodger

Dodger: Yes, I am.

Bonnie: Okay, but let's ask the viewers want to do it.

Serena: (She looks at the viewers.) Hey, do you want to do it? (She waits for an answer from the viewers.) Okay, then.

(Cut to a blank article page with an image of Dawn's Combo move on it.)

Dawn: All right, let's get to it. What can the lead be about? (She waits for an answer from the viewers.) It should be about what Contest moves and combo attacks are, how they're done and what kind of benefit they can have. All right.

Clemont: What sort of facts should be put in first? (He waits for an answer from the viewers.) They should be about what moves would work well together, how they look and what kind of effect they might have. Sure, why not.

Dodger: Now, what quotes can be used to support the article? (He waits for an answer from the viewers.) Experienced Coordinators stating how much time it takes to get some moves to work and look just right. Okay.

Ash: All right, what should the conclusion be? (He waits for an answer from the viewers.) It can be about how Contest moves and combo attacks can be quite helpful during a Contest or a battle. Yeah.

(Cut back to them and Bonnie speaks.)

Bonnie: Very good, guys.

Dodger: Thanks a lot, guys.

Ash: No problem, Dodger.

Pikachu: Pikachu.

Dodger: Well, I better get going. See you later.

All: Bye.

(He walks away.)

Serena: I think that Dodger will make a great article writer.

Clemont: Yeah. It's going to work out well for him.

(They all turn to the viewers.)

All: Thank you, guys.

Pikachu: Pika.

Piplup: Piplup.

(Cut to them playing around with their Pokemon.)

Bonnie: Well, that was an interesting episode. Did you enjoy it? (She waits for an answer from the viewers.) All right, then. We'll see you later.

(They all wave goodbye to the viewers and resume playing. The scenery irises out, ending the episode.)