When Ash, Misty, and Brock pause for a quaint picnic by a lake, Politoed wanders off and is mistaken by another trainer for her own Politoed, the rhythm leader in her Pokémon cheerleading squad that had gone AWOL. When Ash and friends clear up the misunderstanding, the trainer still begs for them to loan her their Politoed for use in an upcoming cheerleading competition. Meanwhile, her own Politoed returns and, none too pleased to find another Pokémon in its place, immediately runs away again. Not wanting to break up a happy Pokémon cheer team, Misty allows the trainer to borrow her Pokémon for the competition, but promises in the meantime to track down the missing Politoed and convince it to return to active duty.