DP146

Dressed for Jess Success! (Japanese: ポケモンコンテスト！スイレン大会！！ Pokémon Contest! Tournament!!) is the 146th episode of the, and the 612th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan as a 1-hour special on October 1, 2009, along with DP145 and in the United States on February 27, 2010.

Blurb
The Lilypad Town Pokémon Contest is finally underway! Our heroes, along with Lyra and Khoury, are all there to cheer Dawn to victory! Meanwhile, Jessie, who normally disguises herself as Jessilina for her Contest performances, finds herself feeling under the weather after winning two Contest Ribbons. She convinces James to go dressed as Jessilina and compete in her place! With Meowth as his Pokémon, a disguised James dazzles the audience with a unique display of Meowth's Fury Swipes, a performance good enough to advance them to the Battle Round. Dawn advances as well, but during the semifinals her Mamoswine gets very angry at James and his Carnivine. Instead of listening to commands from Dawn, Mamoswine charges instead! Dawn begins to lose points rapidly, until by the end of the five-minute time limit, James and Carnivine emerge victorious, and ultimately go on to win the Contest!

With Ribbon number three safely in her possession, an ecstatic (and recovered) Jessie thanks James and Meowth profusely, while angrily wondering out loud why James seemed to get more applause than she ever did...

And Dawn, having been down this road before, takes it all in stride and chalks it up to experience. She reassures Mamoswine that there will be other Contests and battles to win.

Plot
Jessie finds herself sick on the day the  is about to begin. To help his friend, James disguises himself as Jessilina and takes her place while she remains in bed. Meanwhile, makes the decision to use  in the battle round. expresses the gang's concern in this choice, seeing as this Contest holds the pivotal fifth Ribbon Dawn needs to enter the Grand Festival. However, Dawn feels confident in her choice. While in the waiting room, the gang meets James in his guise as "Jessilina". Lyra makes a remark about the outfit he is wearing, leaving him nervous. reassures him, reminding him that he is cross-dressing for Jessie.

The first round commences, and in a quick set of moves, Dawn's Piplup uses and then  to leave a dazzling impression on the minds of the Contest Judges. "Jessilina" uses Meowth and to make delicious ramen for the judges, and they are quite impressed with the showmanship and flavor of the meal. Throughout the Performance Stage, describes to Khoury the purpose of the round, as Contests are completely new to Khoury.

Backstage, Piplup appears confident and satisfied with its win. The screen lights up, and it is revealed that Dawn is moving on to the next round along with "Jessilina". In the next round, Dawn uses Mamoswine. The she is up against sends out a. Mamoswine proves itself powerful when Dawn commands it to use its newly found combo of swallowing, much to the surprise of the audience. Mamoswine gains ice spikes along its back, which it then couples with and  for a quick one-hit knockout of the Granbull. This shocks Dawn, and she reveals backstage that she had been hoping to test more of Mamoswine's combos before the match was through. and Brock attempt to cheer her up, and help her to be happy that she's going on to the next round.

As the rounds progress, James uses to great success, moving on up in the tournament. Meanwhile, Brock explains to Khoury how Contest Battles are different from Gym.

It comes down to the semi-final match, and James finds himself up against Dawn. He sends out Carnivine (who naturally chomps on James's head at first) and Dawn sends out Mamoswine. Dawn starts off the match with an Ice Shard, but to her surprise, "Jessilina" is prepared and has Carnivine use to steal the Ice Shard before Mamoswine can eat it. This startles Mamoswine causing it to start to get worked up while Carnivine playfully juggles the Ice Shard. Meowth, sitting backstage, notes to himself that James could possibly win the match. Carnivine returns the Ice Shard back towards Mamoswine and, as Mamoswine is still in shock, it does not react in time to dodge and the Ice Shard hits it square on the head costing Dawn some points. Mamoswine begins to become enraged, and Dawn tells her Pokémon to calm down but instead Mamoswine charges and (without being commanded) uses Take Down in an attempt to hit Carnivine. Carnivine proves itself too agile for Mamoswine, and dodges by simply leaping over the Twin Tusk Pokémon. Mamoswine runs backwards and forwards trying to hit Carnivine only to miss every time and the constant failed attacks causes Dawn's points to quickly drain, while Dawn frantically tries to bring Mamoswine (who is becoming even angrier) under control.

After a couple of more failed attempts at Take Down, Mamoswine then tries to use Hidden Power against Carnivine however James has it use which counters Hidden Power. Mamoswine then fires, but Carnivine spins elegantly out of the way causing Dawn to lose more of the few points she has left. Mamoswine once charges Carnivine, who James then orders to use Vine Whip and snags Mamoswine's tusks to its surprise. Carnivine then yanks back hard, throwing Mamoswine forward off its feet, which combined with its charging forward momentum, sends it violently sliding on its chin across the stage towards the judges! It quickly becomes clear that Mamoswine won't be able to stop in time, and Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and Nurse Joy barely scramble out of the way just before Mamoswine's body is halted by crashing into and destroying the judges' desk. Dawn runs forward worried that Mamoswine has been seriously hurt, but Mamoswine tries to get up clearly ready for more.

With that, time expires, and it's no surprise to anyone that "Jessilina" has the most points remaining. Mamoswine has calmed down, but is clearly saddened as it already knows that its behavior has cost Dawn her Contest. Dawn tries to cheer Mamoswine up, saying they'll do better next time. The rest of the gang rush backstage to make sure Dawn is all right, and she assures her friends there's no need to worry. She tells them that while she might have been better off entering with another one of her Pokémon, this contest has been a chance for her to learn what areas she and Mamoswine need to practice in. Lyra is puzzled at Dawn still being in a good mood despite her loss, as the screen displays "Jessilina" winning the final round.

James is awarded the Lilypad Ribbon alongside Meowth and Carnivine, and soon passes it on to Jessie who thanks them for their help. However she then starts to grow angry that the audience liked James better as Jessilina than they ever liked her and pledges to never miss a contest again. James and Meowth just shrug; Jessie will be Jessie, and they've ended the day as winners.

That evening, Dawn gives Poffins to her Mamoswine for its efforts and while sorry she lost the Contest, pledges to win the next one, earn her final Ribbon, and go to the Grand Festival. Ash and Brock pledge their full support, as Lyra and Khoury note how nice it is to travel with friends. The episode ends with the gang preparing to leave Lilypad Town, Dawn determined to enter the next contest truly ready for whatever faces her.

Major events

 * James disguises himself as Jessilina and participates in his first Pokémon Contest.
 * Dawn's Mamoswine is entered for the first time in a Pokémon Contest.
 * competes in the Contest, but is knocked out in the semifinals, suffering her first loss to Jessilina.
 * James wins the Lilypad Contest, earning Jessie her third Contest Ribbon.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Khoury
 * Marian
 * Raoul Contesta
 * Mr. Sukizo
 * Nurse Joy
 * Mario
 * s
 * Mr. Sukizo
 * Nurse Joy
 * Mario
 * s
 * s

Pokémon

 * (Mario's)
 * (Coordinator's)
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Trivia

 * With the exception of those owned by main characters, all of the Pokémon that are seen to be entered in the  were introduced in Generation II.
 * Instead of Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Examination, a preview of the Team Galactic finale was shown, which was revealed to be airing in November 2009 in Japan.
 * This is the first episode since One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team! to have returned to his Poké Ball for a period of time.
 * This marks the first time did not cheer for her in a Pokémon Contest.
 * James's win of the Lilypad Contest marks the first time a main character participated in a Pokémon Contest and won it on their first try.
 * In addition, it also marks the first time James has cross-dressed in the, something that used to be a frequent running gag for him.
 * This episode's English dub title is most likely based on the phrase "dressed for success".
 * Similar to Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!, no dub-exclusive music was present within the episode, including the title card music.
 * During 's performance in the first round, an instrumental version of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~ is used.
 * This is the only episode of the and Khoury arc in which Khoury's Totodile does not appear.
 * doesn't recite their or blast off in this episode.

Errors

 * One of 's feet is miscolored.
 * In the Brazilian translation, Piplup's is mistranslated as "Bite".

In other languages
Verkleidungstausch! EP615 DP146 DP編第146話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第144集