Japanese Title: Pokémon Contest! Yosuga Convention!!
Original Airdate: October 4, 2007
US Airdate: January 26, 2008
Ash is all fired up for his battle with Fantina, but he arrives at the Gym to find a note on the door explaining that she won't be back for quite a while, much to his disappointment. Nando, who is also there, suggests participating in the Hearthome Tag Battle instead, while Dawn also has a Contest to enter.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Amusing Injuries: Ash and his Pokémon crashing headfirst into the door of the Hearthome Gym after Nando tells them Fantina's not there.
- Armor-Piercing Question: After Dawn gets eliminated from the Contest in the appeals round, Ash and Brock try to cheer her up by telling her that she had a great performance. Dawn responds with, "Okay, but why did we lose?!" They don't have an answer to that.
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode implies that Dawn and Zoey will face off in the final round, but Dawn loses in the appeals round and Zoey ends up duking it out with Nando for the Hearthome Ribbon (and also loses).
- Break the Haughty: A mild one, all things considered, but Zoey gets proven wrong that Nando can't be good at both Gym Battles and Contests when he defeats her in the final round.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Dawn loses the Hearthome Contest in the appeals round, resulting in a Heroic BSoD.
- Call-Back: Zoey's injury from A Stand-Up Sit-Down! has healed.
- Conspicuous CG: During Nando's performance, the floating musical notes and staves use a 3D effect.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Nando's Kricketune swiftly dispatches Jessie's Dustox and Seviper.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Zoey is initially dismissive of Nando's decision to participate in both Gym Battles and Contests, but comes to respect him after he beats her in the final round of the Hearthome Contest.
- The Dog Bites Back: Without being aware of it, Nando gets Jessie back for framing him 13 episodes earlier for the theft of the Adamant Orb when he defeats her in the Contest's battle round.
- Guy Liner: During the Contest, Nando's eyelashes are fuller and thicker than they're usually drawn, implying he's wearing eye makeup as part of his performance attire.
- Hate at First Sight: More "dislike" than "hate", but Zoey is less than impressed with Nando's decision to compete in both Gym Battles and Contests, saying he really needs to make up his mind. However, Zoey softens towards Nando when she saw his performance in the contest and beat her in the final round.
- Heroic BSoD: Dawn's self-confidence gets shaken up when she loses in the appeals round and runs off depressed.
- Leave Me Alone!: After Dawn fails the appeals round and gets eliminated from the Contest, her friends and her Pokémon try and fail to cheer her up. She runs off to have some alone time.
- Lethal Joke Character: While Kricketune is a very weak Pokémon in the games and a Com Mon, Nando owns one that turns out to be surprisingly strong and skilled, putting on a successful appeals performance and defeating Jessie's Pokémon during a battle round.
- Magic Music: For his double performance, Nando uses Sunflora and Kricketune to cover the stage in floating musical notes and staves while using Sing and Grass Whistle to play a beautiful melody.
- Plot Armor: Subverted. Up until this point, Dawn's predecessor May had never lost an appeals round, so few watching up until that point would have expected the armor would break and she'd actually get eliminated in the first round. In particular, May managed to pass even when she lost control of Combusken's Fire Spin, yet Dawn didn't do anything visibly wrong and was simply Overshadowed by Awesome.
- Skyward Scream: After losing in the appeals stage, Dawn runs to the balcony and lets out a despairing scream.
- The Unreveal: Zoey's final battle with Nando is never seen, only the aftermath.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Jessilina indulges in some when she gets into the appeals round and Dawn doesn't.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Ash's reaction to Nando telling him that Fantina's not at the Hearthome Gym.Ash: (kneeling on the ground and crying) Say it ain't so...!
