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>Enters the Queen of the Princess Festival contest
>Wins a beauty pageant that also doubled as a pokemon battle tournament
>To win, the contestant had to be both beautiful and a good battler based on judge preference
>Both judges were guys
>Judges declare Misty as Queen of the contest and tournament
>Only other noteworthy contestant was Jesse, she lost because Psyduck had a migraine and did its psychic powers.
>Same episode confirms Pikachu is male
>Shows that Misty is skilled enough to use non-water type pokemon that were loaned to her by Ash and Brock
>Queen of the Princess Festival (Queen Contest in JPN) can be seen as basically a girls-only prototype version of pokemon contests. Contest = Contest. Princess = Coordinator. Queen = Top Coordinator. Instead of ribbons, its vvery rare one of a kind doll set (Dolls because in JPN its the Doll Festival). Princesses/Coordinators dress to impress the judges.
>Pokemon Contests wouldn't be a thing in the series for 4 years in 2002, or 3 years if familiar with the dub version of the Princess vs Princess episode.