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. Whats Dawn like?
Ash: Oh, shes great. Shes a coordinator and has been in a lot
of contests.
Serena: Really?
Ash: Yep.
Serena: Thats 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: Were doing great. Dawn, this is Clemont, Serena and
Clemont.
Dawn: Its 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 thats your Piplup.
Dawn: Yep.
Bonnie: Hi, Piplup. Im Bonnie. (She strokes the top of Piplups
head.)
Piplup: Piplup, Pip.
Ash: So, Dawn, what was it you wanted to show us?
Dawn: Oh, youll 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: Thats 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 mustve 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: Ill bet it was.
Dawn: I used Quilava to battle and we were doing well for a
while.
Clemont: Thats 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
wasnt enough.
Bonnie: Oh.
Dawn: Then, it used Rock Slide, and that finished off Quilava.
Serena: Well, thats too bad.
Dawn: Its all right. Then, I had to think about who to send out
next, then Buneary came up and decided to step in. I wasnt
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 didnt 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: Thats 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 names Dodger.
Serena: Nice to meet you. Im Serena.
Ash: Im Ash. This is Pikachu.
Pikachu: Pika.
Clemont: Hey, Im Clemont.
Dawn: Im Dawn, and this is Piplup.
Piplup: Piplup.
Bonnie: Im Bonnie, and this Dedenne.
Dedenne: Dedenne.
Serena: So, Dodger.
Dodger: Well, Im 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 Lopunnys 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 Lopunnys mouth.
Light blue beams shoot out from the ball and the two moves
fuse into one.)
Dodger: Wow! That was amazing!
Dawn: Thanks.
Dodger: Thisll 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 dont know how its supposed to be done. Do you
guys know?
Clemont: No, we dont, 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: Were doing great. I see you have Torchic with you.
Torchic: Torchic.
Lex: Yep. Quinn and Diana had to step out, so Im taking care of
it for now. I was just teaching Torchic how to use Rock Smash.
Ash: Really? And hows it going?
Lex: Its coming along well. Its almost got it down.
Clemont: Thats good to know. Lex, this is Dodger.
Lex: Its 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. Lets say, in the first paragraph, you
talk about the different methods that go in training.
Bonnie: Whats 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 youre making, like quotes from other trainers, and make
sure youre attribute it to someone.
Ash: All right, whats 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. Heres a word of advice: keep your words
simple, provide some background information for new readers,
write certain words in laymens terms and present both sides of
the argument.
Dodger: All right.
Lex: All right, guys, lets 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: Thats good. Lets say Im 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 lets 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 Dawns Combo
move on it.)
Dawn: All right, lets 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 theyre 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. Its 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.
Well see you later.
(They all wave goodbye to the viewers and resume playing. The
scenery irises out, ending the episode.)