Ash and co. pass through a tunnel and the weather suddenly turns cold, signaling their arrival in the northern parts of the region. When they arrive at the Pokémon Center, they meet an eccentric girl named Marilyn who loves cute Pokémon but has some crazy arbitrary rules about what constitutes cute, much to the chagrin of Dawn and especially Brock.
Tropes
- Chewing the Scenery: Marilyn and eventually Brock get very dramatic with their approach to their conflict. It's too funny for words.
- Color Failure: Marilyn doesn't think Dawn's Piplup is cute at all. Piplup is struck white with shock and remains in this state for the remainder of the scene. The same trait happens with Mime Jr. when she feels the same way about him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Marilyn was bullied because everyone mocked her love of Shelllder as not being "cute" enough so she decides to start giving high standards on what is "considered" cute onto others.
- Hypocrite: Marilyn dismisses Piplup as cute even though Piplup actually follows the "standards" she expressed a few seconds earlier.
- Kawaiiko: Marilyn fits the trope to a tee, except that she's more obsessed with cute Pokémon. She even has a very strict criteria what she considers to be cute: 1) Height is not more than 2 feet, 2) hasn't evolved, and 3) looks "absolutely lovely." The last rule is so subjective that even a cute Pokémon like Piplup or Mime Jr. could be rejected by her. Ironically, she developed this obsessive kawaii attitude because she was bullied by her friends for believing that Shellder is the cutest Pokémon of them all.
- Rule of Drama: Invoked and deconstructed. Marilyn likes her battles to be "valiant", which means they need to take hits and be in pain before their victory is earned. Brock figures out that her Cherubi is faking its injuries to appeal to her, and later demonstrates the same thing with his Sudowoodo.
- Tranquil Fury: Brock does not take Marilyn's idea of cuteness nor the fact she makes her Pokémon be considered woobies in battle very well, but he doesn't raise his voice about it.
- Ugly Cute: In-universe, Marilyn feels this way about her Shellder, and learning to accept her feelings toward it is treated as the first step toward improvement.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: For most of the episode, Marilyn refuses to battle with or against any non-cute Pokémon.
- Wham Line: Brock to Marilyn when she continues to not take battling seriously.Brock: You're acting inappropriate.
