Zoey

Zoey (Japanese: ノゾミ Nozomi) is a recurring character who appeared in the Pokémon anime. She is a Pokémon Coordinator from Snowpoint City and 's main rival. She first appeared in Mounting a Coordinator Assault!.

History
Zoey debuted in Mounting a Coordinator Assault!, where she quickly made friends with after returning the choker Dawn had misplaced. At that point Zoey had already competed in three Contests and won one. She was the first contestant to appeal in the Jubilife City Pokémon Contest, and the presentation of her was enough to take her to the Battle Round. In the following episode, she defeated, Dawn, and Jessilina with her , winning the Jubilife Contest and earning her second Ribbon. Later in Getting the Pre-Contest Titters! it was revealed that Zoey's first Ribbon had been won in a battle against Kenny's Prinplup. She has a Contest Pass for the Sinnoh region.

In Buizel Your Way Out Of This! Zoey ran into Dawn and her friends, who were fishing in a lake on the way to Hearthome City. She told them that she had lost her last Contest and was taking a break. After failing to catch a, Zoey said that she would continue fishing at the lake to try to obtain a.

In A Stand-Up Sit-Down!, Zoey sprained her ankle and could not make the walk back to her camp site. Fortunately, Dawn and her friends were able to help her up and take her there. Upon arriving, Zoey introduced the group her, which was in the same lake Dawn had caught. She also showed Dawn a video of a Double Performance and shared that the upcoming Hearthome Contest would use the format. When Jessilina appeared and challenged Dawn to a battle, Zoey decided to fight instead. She was able to defeat Jessilina using beautiful and effective combinations.

In Dawn's Early Night!, Zoey met Dawn once more and also met Nando for the first time. When Nando revealed his decision to participate in both s and Gym s, Zoey became angry and said he needed to make up his mind. Zoey made it to the finals of the Hearthome Contest but lost. She was upset for not only her loss but also that she was unable to beat someone who was not "fully dedicated" to Contests in her eyes.

Zoey was the main reason why Ash and Dawn traded their and. In Arrival of a Rival!, she told Dawn to raise Aipom after learning that Ash only entered the Jubilife City Pokémon Contest because Aipom wanted to take a shot at it. In Throwing the Track Switch, she suggested that Ash and Dawn should trade their Pokémon with one another. She brought up that Aipom was more interested in competing in Contests instead of battling and vice versa for Buizel. After practicing with each other's Pokémon, they eventually agreed and did the trade.

Zoey reappeared in Staging a Heroes' Welcome! to compete in the Wallace Cup. It was revealed that she had caught a, and the performance given by the Wing Fish Pokémon took her to the Battle Stage. In Strategy with a Smile!, she lost to in the semifinals of the event.

Zoey appeared again in Classroom Training!, where she welcomed Dawn and her friends to her hometown, Snowpoint City. She was showing the town to them when Candice, the Snowpoint Gym Leader, came up and joined them. It was revealed that Candice is a childhood friend of Zoey and that they went to the same school. Because of this, Zoey often calls her "Miss Senior". She also appeared in Sliding Into Seventh!, watching Ash's Gym battle with Candice, and again in A Pyramiding Rage!, where she watched Paul's battle against. She left at the end of the episode with Candice.

Zoey's next appearance was in Double-Time Battle Training!, where she was shown winning her fifth and final Ribbon required for the Grand Festival. She, along with Candice, helped Dawn train for the Contest and the two had a Double Battle with Zoey winning. In Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!, she and Candice were seen watching Dawn's performance on TV from Snowpoint City.

Zoey entered the Sinnoh Grand Festival in Last Call — First Round!, where it was revealed that her and  had evolved into  and, respectively. Using these two Pokémon, she managed to pass the Performance Stage by making use of Gastrodon and Lumineon's Water-type attacks in the Contest Hall's pool. In the next episode, she won her first battle at the event, advancing to the Top 16. In Coming Full-Festival Circle!, she battled Nando in the semifinals with her and  and managed to win the match.

In A Grand Fight for Winning!, she found herself up against in the final round. The two had a hard-fought battle, with Zoey's Glameow and against Dawn's Piplup and. It was clear that the battle could go either way, but when the time ran out, Zoey won by one point. Having won the Grand Festival, she was awarded the Ribbon Cup as well as the title of Top Coordinator. After the competition, she told Dawn that she was going back to Snowpoint City, where Candice was waiting for her with a party to celebrate her victory. She invited Dawn to the party, but Dawn refused saying that she wanted to cheer for Ash in the Sinnoh League. Zoey then said goodbye and left.

She made a cameo appearance in the ending credits of Zoroark: Master of Illusions. She and her Glameow were shown taking shelter from the rain inside a log.

Character
In contrast with many of the rival characters presented in the, Zoey is very friendly with Dawn. She proved numerous times that she cared about Dawn and wanted to help her grow as a. By helping Dawn become more skilled, the two were able to strengthen their friendship.

Zoey has been seen motivating Dawn on several occasions. For example, it was revealed in Tag! We're It...! that Zoey had suggested to Ash that he should enter Dawn in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition to give her a confidence boost after not making it into the second round of the Hearthome Contest. Also, in Team Shocker!, she was seen watching the Contest from a Pokémon Center. After seeing Dawn failing to pass the Performance Stage again, she decided to meet up with her and tell her what she was doing wrong. Zoey met up with Dawn at the end of the episode and told her that she had made her appeal too flashy, forgetting that the Pokémon themselves are supposed to be the main attraction. Once again, Zoey went out of her way to help Dawn become more skilled.

Zoey is very loyal to her friends but has no problem giving them tough criticism when the time calls for it. However, if she feels one of her friends is being mistreated, she wastes no time sticking up for them. Such examples include her sticking up for when she was being made fun of by Jessilina in A Stand-Up Sit-Down!. Despite having a sprained ankle, she still battled in Dawn's defense. She also defended when Paul was being rude to him in A Pyramiding Rage!.

She is a childhood friend of Candice and the two share a strong bond, with Candice having helped Zoey to raise when they were younger and always inspiring Zoey to work hard and do her best. In Double-Time Battle Training!, Zoey thanked Candice for her continued support after winning her fifth Ribbon in the Contest.

She initially was against people who wanted to compete in both Pokémon Contests and Gym s, saying they needed to make up their minds. This is seen in her reactions to Ash in Arrival of a Rival! and Nando in Dawn's Early Night!. For that she apologized to Ash for her behavior in Staging a Heroes' Welcome! after realizing that it was good to learn from both types of s. It was revealed in Classroom Training! that the reason for this trait in her character was that while she wanted to be a Top Coordinator, Candice wanted to be a Champion Trainer. They promised each other to follow their goals and as such Zoey looked down on people who did both since she thought they weren't taking them seriously.

Zoey's tough demeanor suggests that she is a. This is further seen in her short haircut and her choice in Contest outfits, which are stylized suits rather than dresses.

Pokémon
This listing is of Zoey's known in the :

Sinnoh Ribbons
This listing is of the Ribbons Zoey has obtained in the Sinnoh region:
 * Unknown Ribbon (prior to Mounting a Coordinator Assault!)
 * Ribbon (Arrival of a Rival!)
 * Unknown Ribbon (prior to Playing the Leveling Field!)
 * Unknown Ribbon (prior to Classroom Training!)
 * Ribbon (Double-Time Battle Training!)

Grand Festival ranking
Zoey has competed in the following Grand Festivals:
 * Sinnoh Grand Festival - Winner (A Grand Fight for Winning!)

Other achievements
Zoey has competed in the following Pokémon Contests:
 * Contest - Runner-up (Dawn's Early Night!)
 * Wallace Cup - Top 4 (Strategy with a Smile!)

Trivia

 * Counting only regular characters, Zoey is the first female rival in the.
 * Zoey's Japanese name is Nozomi while Dawn's is Hikari. The ' and the ' are two "bullet train" lines in Japan. The Nozomi is faster than the Hikari, possibly symbolizing that Zoey is farther along in her coordinating skills than Dawn.
 * Zoey is the first major rival to win her region's major tournament.
 * Zoey shares her Spanish name with Zossie. Both are called Zoe.

Related articles

 * Images on the Bulbagarden Archives
 * Images on the Bulbagarden Archives

Zoey Zoey/Zoe Zoé (dessin animé) Zoey ノゾミ 小望