Following their travel route, Ash and his companions arrived at a town full of childlike charm and dreamy colors, O-Hina Town.
Colorful streamers and balloons hung along both sides of the streets. Shop windows displayed all kinds of exquisite dolls, and the air itself seemed to carry a sweet, festive scent. It turned out that the town was currently holding its annual Princess Festival.
"Wow! It's the Princess Festival!"
The moment Misty stepped into the town, her eyes immediately sparkled like stars, completely captivated by the adorable dolls. "I want this one! And that one! That one is so cute too!"
She instantly entered full "shopping mania" mode and began sweeping through the stalls.
By coincidence, the Team Rocket trio had also wandered into town at the same time. Jessie, who had absolutely no resistance to cute (and potentially valuable) items, immediately joined the shopping frenzy. She and Misty began fiercely competing at stall after stall.
During the scramble, a beautiful hairpin that Jessie had her eye on accidentally fell to the ground and was instantly swallowed by a passing Lickitung with an unusually long tongue.
"Ah! My hairpin! You greedy glutton!" Jessie exploded with anger and immediately pulled out a Poké Ball. "Let's see how I teach you a lesson! Go, Poké Ball!"
Perhaps it was her rage, or perhaps it was simply fate. The Lickitung was actually captured successfully.
Jessie stared at the Poké Ball with a complicated expression, both heartbroken over the lost hairpin and bewildered that she had somehow gained a new Pokémon.
Inside the town's largest shopping mall, they saw a massive poster advertising the Queen of the Princess Festival. The winner would receive an entire limited edition set of extremely exquisite dolls. The method of competition, surprisingly, was a Pokémon battle.
Even more unexpectedly, the rules specified Double Battles, meant to showcase the elegant coordination between Trainers and their Pokémon.
Ash felt a little confused. Weren't Double Battles supposed to become popular later in the Hoenn region?
What he didn't realize was that the butterfly effect had already begun when he became Professor Oak's research assistant. When publishing papers about other regions, he occasionally introduced battle styles and customs from elsewhere. As a result, O-Hina Town had decided to innovate and adopt Double Battles for the very first time.
Seeing how much Misty wanted the prize, Ash and Brock decided to help her out.
"Misty, let them help you!" Ash said. "Pikachu, Togepi, and Bulbasaur, make sure you work well with Misty!"
Brock also smiled and took out a Poké Ball. "You can borrow my Vulpix too. Its graceful appearance will definitely earn extra points."
"Pika~!"
"Toge~!"
"Bulba!"
"Vul~"
Meanwhile, Jessie sent out her usual lineup: Arbok, Weezing, and her newly captured Lickitung. Meowth was also forced to participate just to fill in.
The Queen of the Princess Festival – Pokémon Battle Segment officially began.
The stage was transformed into a battle arena, surrounded by enthusiastic spectators.
Misty's command style was flexible and focused on coordination. She had Pikachu use Quick Attack to disrupt the opponents, Bulbasaur used Vine Whip for control and interference, Vulpix displayed both elegance and power with Flamethrower, while Togepi occasionally created surprises with Metronome. Sometimes it used Sweet Kiss to confuse opponents, other times Safeguard to protect teammates.
Jessie's style was much more aggressive. Arbok repeatedly fired Poison Sting, Weezing launched waves of Sludge attacks, and although Lickitung had just been captured, its Lick occasionally caused paralysis. Meowth mainly harassed the opponents with Fury Swipes.
The battle was intense, moves colliding in flashes of light.
With the four Pokémon she had borrowed, Misty formed a team with complementary types and versatile tactics.
In the end, thanks to superior strategy and better teamwork between her Pokémon, she directed Vulpix to unleash a precise Flamethrower while Pikachu followed up with an Electric Ball, defeating Jessie's final combination of Arbok and Weezing and securing victory.
"We did it! We won!"
Misty excitedly hugged the limited edition doll set she had dreamed of. Pikachu, Togepi, Bulbasaur, and Vulpix gathered around her, happily calling out.
Ash and Brock were genuinely happy for her.
However, amidst the noisy award ceremony, Ash's gaze drifted toward the defeated but visibly disappointed Team Rocket trio below the stage. In particular, Jessie could not hide the brief flash of longing in her eyes as she looked at the doll set.
Even though they're villains… this time they really just participated normally, Ash thought.
Quietly activating his ability through the system and Aura, he murmured in his mind, "System, can you perfectly replicate this champion doll set?"
[Yes. Consuming 100 World Points to perform material structure scanning and energy reconstruction. Confirm?]
"Confirm."
With a faint, almost imperceptible flash of light, another identical doll set appeared in the system's temporary storage space.
Using the crowd as cover, Ash quietly packaged the replicated dolls and anonymously left them at the mall's lost and found counter, along with a small note addressed to "Miss Jessie."
When the Team Rocket trio prepared to leave in disappointment, Meowth unexpectedly discovered the package and note at the lost and found desk.
"Jessie, look at this, meow!"
Jessie opened the package in confusion. When she saw the complete limited edition doll set inside, identical to the one in Misty's hands, she was stunned.
"W-Who sent this?"
The note contained only a single sentence:
[Encouragement for the runner-up. Your Lickitung has great potential.]
Jessie held the doll set in her arms, her expression complicated. There was surprise, confusion, and finally she snorted lightly, though a faint smile crept onto her lips.
"Hmph… whoever sent this clearly has good taste! Let's go!"
Watching Team Rocket leave with the dolls, Ash smiled slightly.
Sometimes, even the smallest act of kindness could bring unexpected changes. At the very least, it allowed this Princess Festival to feel a little more complete for everyone.
[Ding! Host secretly gifted a doll set to Team Rocket, slightly altering the interaction relationship. Reward: 50 World Points (Kindness Behavior Bonus).]
[Current World Points: 21,950.]
Carrying the joy of victory and a small secret, Ash and his companions left the lively O-Hina Town behind and continued onward toward their next adventure.