Is Zoey Dawn's rival or mentor?

[Dax]

Here's the deal, the only battle and sparkle of rivalry that I spotted in those two was when they met in the first contest. After that time they never felt like rivals and most of the time treat each other normal, like friends.

After the first contest most of the interactions they had was about either suggesting the trade or training. They trained for the Double Contest, she followed the advice of trading with Ash and she trained once again in the last contest after Dawn losing. It seems Dawn follows her orders too much and that Zoey is interested in teaching Dawn and in making her a better coordinator. Isn't this something Dawn's mom should be doing instead of Zoey?

Is she Dawn's rival? Is she Dawn's mentor? Is she Dawn's platonic love?

 

[King Of Steel]

Zoey seems to have high expectations of Dawn and is usually very disappointed with her when she doesn't do things right or does something really wrong in her Contest-related stuff (crashing out of the appeal rounds twice in a row? She usually got through).

In this respect, she could be said to be a mentor to a less-experienced Coordinator like Dawn.

At the same time she is a rival, because they are aiming for the same goal: To win the Grand Festival. Of course, at the moment, they have to focus on winning ribbons. Dawn has only one compared to Zoey's two and Kenny's two really, so she's kinda lagging behind.

 

[Elitex Darkray no luxray]

I hink that Dawn has 2 figure out who she is, is she doing it for her mother or for someone else, if she figures that out, she'll start winning ( as if she ever has won something ¬¬ )

 

[Geodude]

The answer is simple. She's both.

 

[CyberCubed]

She's a rival and mentor like Solidad is to May.

The only difference is Zoey is much younger and knows her better. Kenny is more like a regular rival even though he's friendly.

 

[killer74]

zoey is both i also think she might be a lesbian

 

[AshfanGirl20]

Like others have said she's both.

 

[Dax]

I still feel it's her mom the one that should be a mentor not Zoey. All that her mom does is look at the freaking TV all the time instead of moving her butt and telling Dawn what she's doing wrong.

Even if Dawn is the one that needs to figure it out she's still not doing it because Zoey is always telling her what to do and Zoey is not even a Top Coordinator.

 

[P13]

I seriously wonder where you are getting the idea that Zoey is "telling her what to do", if anything she's spurring her on with light suggestion and offering her training and friendly rivalry. Some people are so convinced that she's some kind of super-pushy individual that forced Ash and Dawn into a trade.

If anything she probably feels a little bad about Dawn losing the contest thanks to her suggestion, and wants to make up for it by helping her more.

But I agree that she's not exactly a rival and not exactly a mentor, a rival-mentor if you will...

Dawn's platonic love?

Obvioulsy

 

[chamo-chan]

Zoey is both a Rival and a Mentor.

Dawn and Zoey are both aiming at going to the Grand Festival, but at the same time, Zoey is trying to teach Dawn how to be a better coordinator.

 

[Dax]

I seriously wonder where you are getting the idea that Zoey is "telling her what to do"

Maybe I need to rephrase it. I meant, giving her a lot of suggestions that obviously end up benefiting her. Trade and all kinds of training. Dawn follows but still messes up. I know Zoey is not pushing her since it seems she actually likes doing it but sometimes she feels more like a mentor instead of a balance between rival and mentor.

 

[Yoshi-kun]

She’s a mentor. She is isn’t both, because that would require her to be competitive with Dawn. And since she hasn’t really been competitive with her at all, just being nice, helping and giving advice, then she isn’t a rival. A rival can be friendly but they have to have some spark of competitiveness that drives them and the protagonist to battle against each other and win. Dawn and Zoey don’t have that, so its’ s hard to call Zoey a rival.

She's a rival and mentor like Solidad is to May.

Solidad actually acted like she wanted to battle May though.

I still feel it's her mom the one that should be a mentor not Zoey. All that her mom does is look at the freaking TV all the time instead of moving her butt and telling Dawn what she's doing wrong.

Johanna doesn’t care, it’s as simple as that. Remember Dawn tried to talk to her after she lost her first contest, but her mother told her that she shouldn’t call her anymore for things like that. At her next contest that she won, she had start the conversation with “I know you didn’t want me to call you every time” or something like that, just to tell her that she had won the ribbon. She can’t ask her mother for help, because she won’t give her help. To be honest the pessimist in me says that her mother was more upset at the embarrassment Dawn brought her than to what happened to Dawn, but that’s probably because I hate Johanna.

Maybe I need to rephrase it. I meant, giving her a lot of suggestions that obviously end up benefiting her. Trade and all kinds of training. Dawn follows but still messes up. I know Zoey is not pushing her since it seems she actually likes doing it but sometimes she feels more like a mentor instead of a balance between rival and mentor.

I completely agree with you. That’s exactly the problem. Zoey needs to be more competitive with Dawn.

 

[silverdragonlaura]

I think she's more like a mentor.
Their rivalry isn't as strong as May and Drew's, not only that but,
she seems to want to help Dawn improve.
Although... It is more of a balance....
still... I'm leaning more towards mentor.....

 

[uhhhhh]

I vote for both even though I'm leaning a little on the mentor side. >.>

 

[KetchupO]

shes Dawns Girlfriend.

xD joking chill....

Anyway, like it's been stated, I believe she's both
But I don't really sense much rivalry going on :s

 

[LexSuicune]

Platonic love, yup...
I can already see her bumping muffins with Dawn...

 

[XxVascoxX]

~HikarixNozomi~ is the new gen love story for fanfics writer...so grab it...
to be serious after so many advice have to accept that zoey is more skillfull than dawn and is definitely a mentor more than a rival..

 

[npdargy312]

They are rivals

 

[Ancax]

Mentor. After Dawn lost the last appeal round,she went to their room in the Pokemon center and threw herself down on the bed. Zoey snatches the sheet off of her, tells her to get out of bed and have a battle with her. She tells her to use Ambipom. When she does the same appeal that she did in the contest, Zoey says: "What are you doing? Sure the attack is pretty, but where is Ambipom? Did you forget that the attack is supposed to enhance your Pokemon's visual beauty? I think you forgot."

She is a mentor, but also a rival when the situation calls for it. Zoey could be mentoring Dawn to make her an adequate rival for her, since Dawn is among the worst coordinators this gen, it seems.

 

[Treecko Girl]

They're rivals. Yeah, it sounds weird, but hear me out. I believe that the writers wanted to give a change of scenery, the reason being that all other rivals (Gary, Drew etc.) were mean the the main characters at first. Perhaps the writers wanted to introduce a "kind" rival for a change. Though, I don't think it's a change many have welcomed.