Sandalstraw Town
| Sandalstraw Town タツナミタウン Tatsunami Town | |
 Sandalstraw Town | |
| Region | Sinnoh |
| Debut | Stopped in the Name of Love! |
Sandalstraw Town (Japanese: タツナミタウン Tatsunami Town) is an animated series-exclusive location in the Sinnoh region. It was first mentioned in The Lonely Snover! when a teacher told Dawn about a Pokémon Contest that was scheduled to take place there within a few days.
Ash and his friends were originally traveling to Snowpoint City, but decided to head to Sandalstraw Town so Dawn could enter the Sandalstraw Contest and compete for her fifth Ribbon, which would allow her to sign up for the Grand Festival. They arrived there in Stopped in the Name of Love!, in which they met up with Barry and Kenny again. Barry revealed he had stopped by to take part in the upcoming Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament while Kenny was planning to participate in the Sandalstraw Contest just like Dawn.
Sandalstraw Town was the location of a number of important events, such as Piplup refusing to evolve, Kenny winning his fourth Ribbon, and Ambipom leaving Dawn's team to go train with O at his Ping Pong Training Center in Vermilion City.
Places of interest
Pokémon Center
- Main article: Pokémon Center
During the group's stay in Sandalstraw Town, Dawn's Piplup began to evolve. However, he wanted to remain a Piplup and used Bide to stop the Evolution process, which caused him to collapse from exhaustion and prompted Dawn to rush him to the local Pokémon Center so he could have some rest. Not realizing that Piplup did not want to evolve, Dawn excitedly talked about his evolved form and, when Piplup began evolving again, she asked him to let it happen this time. This left Piplup very upset and he ran away from the Pokémon Center to a nearby forest.
After that, Dawn went to the forest together with Ash, Brock, Kenny, and Barry to search for Piplup. She eventually found him but the two were surrounded by several Ariados. The swarm attacked them with Hyper Beam, and Piplup received all the attacks before using Bide to retaliate, sending the Ariados flying. When they were heading back to the Pokémon Center, Piplup was captured by Team Rocket along with Kenny's Prinplup and Barry's Empoleon. Dawn was able to sneak inside Team Rocket's Piprinoleon robot, where she—thanks to Meowth's translation—learned that Piplup refused to evolve so he could keep protecting Dawn just like he did when the two first met. By working together, Dawn and Piplup managed to destroy the robot and send Team Rocket blasting off. After that, the whole group returned to the Pokémon Center, where Nurse Joy gave Dawn an Everstone to prevent Piplup from evolving.
Contest Hall
- Main article: Contest Hall
Like many other towns in Sinnoh, Sandalstraw Town is home to a Contest Hall, attracting several Coordinators who wish to enter the Sinnoh Grand Festival. A Pokémon Contest was held there in Old Rivals, New Tricks! and among the contestants were Dawn, Kenny, and Jessilina.
In the Performance Stage, Jessilina commanded Mime Jr. to use Teeter Dance, and the Mime Pokémon spent some time storing up energy before unleashing the move. This amplified Teeter Dance's effect and everyone began dancing along Mime Jr., including the Contest Judges. On Kenny's turn, he showcased Machoke's toughness to great results. The Fighting-type Pokémon used Focus Energy to show off its muscles and then Strength to lift a barbell three times heavier than its own weight. On Dawn's turn, she sent Ambipom out with a Song Seal and used the Seal's effect to her advantage, asking Ambipom to punch all the musical notes with Focus Punch. After that, Ambipom used Swift as if serving a ping pong ball and proceeded to spin around rapidly, causing the Swift stars to move in a spiraling pattern before she destroyed them with Double Hit, which resulted in sparkles pouring down on both Ambipom and Dawn as they posed together to finish their performance.
When Marian appeared to announce the eight Coordinators who had cleared the Performance Stage, it was revealed that Jessilina, Kenny, and Dawn would be moving on to the Battle Stage. There, Dawn squared off against Jessilina in the semifinals and managed to defeat her. She advanced to the final round, where she found herself up against Kenny. While battling him, Dawn had the idea to implement Ambipom's ping pong moves into the battle. Despite Dawn's efforts, Kenny was able to surprise her and deliver a powerful attack, which knocked Ambipom out and made Prinplup the winner of the battle. This victory gave Kenny his fourth Contest Ribbon, the Sandalstraw Ribbon.
Dome
- See also: Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament
Sandalstraw Town has a dome which can be used as a venue for several Pokémon competitions. The Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament took place there in To Thine Own Pokémon Be True!. For the duration of the tournament, there were multiple ping pong tables located just outside the dome to allow Trainers and their Pokémon to practice.
Participating in the event were Ash and Pikachu, Dawn and Ambipom, Barry and Empoleon, Jessie and Meowth, O and Shiftry, among others. During the tournament, Jessie was disqualified in the very first round when Meowth used Fury Swipes, breaking the rules. Ash and Pikachu were also taken out in the first round after losing to Wilkinson and his Farfetch'd. Other contestants were more successful, such as Dawn, Barry, and O, who managed to reach the quarterfinals. There, Barry lost to O, who moved on to the semifinals to face off against Dawn. During their match, Dawn's paddle broke and Ambipom was left to play by herself. Although her ping-pong moves were good, they were not enough to defeat the team of O and Shiftry, who went on to win the tournament after defeating Theodore and Gliscor in the final round.
After the tournament, O was still very impressed by Ambipom's ping-pong moves, so much so that he offered to take her on as a student at his Ping Pong Training Center in Kanto's Vermilion City. Dawn left Ambipom decide what she wanted to do: continue competing in Pokémon Contests or go train to become a ping pong champion. In the end, Ambipom chose to pursue the path of a ping pong player and go with O. Dawn accepted her decision and they said their goodbyes.
Gallery
| Pokémon Center | Contest Hall | Dome | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exterior | Interior | ||
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Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | タツナミタウン Tatsunami Town | From 立浪草 tatsunami-sō, skullcap |
| English | Sandalstraw Town | From straw sandal |
| French, Italian | Scutellaria | From Scutellaria |
| German | Helmkrautach | From Helmkräuter, skullcap |
| Spanish | Pueblo Alpargata* | From alpargata, espadrille |
| Pueblo Sandalstraw* | From its English name | |
| Korean | 골무꽃마을 Golmu-kkoch Maeul | From 골무꽃 golmu-kkoch, skullcap |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 立浪鎮 Lìlàng Zhèn | From 立浪 tatsunami |
| Polish | Sandalstraw | From its English name |
| Portuguese | Aldeia de Sandália de Palha | Translation of the English name |
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This article is part of both Project Anime and Project Locations, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Anime and Locations, respectively. | 
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