Unfortunately, the battle did not unfold as Brock had hoped.
Ash lost in the end.
Although he traded blows with Zoey in the early stages, his hot-blooded fighting style did not work particularly well on the Contest stage, especially against powerful opponents like Zoey. It proved even less effective against her, and once she figured out his patterns, she won by a substantial margin when the five-minute countdown ended.
Of course, it was not really because Ash was that bad.
After all, he had reached the elimination rounds of two tournaments, was an Honorary Pokémon Trainer of the Orange League, and had even defeated a powerhouse like Brandon. How could Ash possibly be weak?
It was just that he had sent out Aipom, whom he had only recently caught, and the rules did not make defeating the opposing Pokémon the objective. Against Coordinators whose tactics focused solely on deducting their opponents' Appeal Points, that difference in fighting style turned Ash's strengths directly into weaknesses, leading to his unfortunate elimination.
Still, it had to be said that the perseverance Ash displayed in battle, and Aipom's performance in particular, gave Zoey a somewhat different impression of him.
After Zoey advanced, the second and third matches brought Dawn and May's battles against their respective opponents.
There was not much to say about those two matches, though.
First was May. For someone who had already reached a Grand Festival final, that transformation and trial had greatly changed both her perspective and her strength, to say nothing of all the time she had spent traveling with Xia You. Under his influence, unless she made a serious mistake or encountered another exceptionally skilled Pokémon Trainer, opponents at a Contest of this level would not cause her any trouble.
Then there was Dawn.
As mentioned before, she