Ursula is a rival of
Dawn's that was first introduced at the Akebi Town Pokémon Contest Tournament but it was revealed later on that she had also participated in the Mikuri Cup at the Lakeside Resort, the tournament
Dawn won.
Ursula ran into
Dawn in Daybreak Town, where she had traveled in order to compete in the Daybreak Town Pokémon Contest. She saw
Dawn in the practice yard where she was practicing with her Plusle and Minun. The Cheering Pokémon revived
Dawn's childhood fears, who passed out shortly after the two Pokémon shocked her, causing her hair to go frizzly and sparkle.
Ursula was later seen eavesdropping when
Dawn was explaining to
Ash Ketchum and
Brock the reason behind her fear for Plusle and Minun, as well as how she got the nickname Dee Dee (ピカリ, Pikari in Japanese) when she was still in kindergarten. Upon hearing the story,
Ursula laughed and started plotting a way to use this information to her advantage.
In the first round of the Daybreak Town Pokémon Contest, she used her Gabite and Jigglypuff for the double appeal. Gabite managed to control Jigglypuff's Rollout attack with elegance using its arms, and then used its Iron Tail attack to throw
Ursula's Jigglypuff in the air. The collision of Jigglypuff's Hyper Voice and Gabite's Stone Edge, as well as the combination of Jigglypuff's Gyro Ball and Gabite's Sand Tomb attacks, created sparkling effects that amazed the crowd and the judges.
Ursula finished her appeal by having Jigglypuff spin on Gabite's claw while it was using a Dragon Claw attack, thus ending the appeal with the same pose as when it started.
Ursula's appeal was well-received by the judges and she made it to the second round of the contest.
Ursula faced off against
Jessie in the first battle round of the Daybreak Town Pokémon Contest. She was able to win the battle by skillfully using her Plusle and Minun's combination moves in order to block the attacks of
Jessie's Seviper and Yanmega, thus easily subtracting a great deal of points from her opponent. The Cheering Pokémon helped
Ursula reach the final battle round of the contest, where she faced off against her rival,
Dawn.
Ursula gave
Dawn a hard time, as Plusle and Minun managed to successfully dodge many of their opponents' moves. Their Encore also had a significant impact in
Dawn's strategy rendering her Mamoswine and Cyndaquil susceptible to Plusle and Minun's attacks. However, with the help of her Mamoswine and Cyndaquil who encouraged her when she was feeling desperate,
Dawn managed to pull off a last-minute victory after perfecting her Flame Ice combination towards the end of the battle, which helped her deduct enough points from
Ursula before the timeout. This made
Ursula really upset and she vowed to beat
Dawn in the Grand Festival.
Ursula is a Pokémon Coordinator whose goal was to defeat
Dawn at the Grand Festival. After obtaining the 5 necessary ribbons in order to qualify for the event, she managed to advance past the appeal round at the Grand Festival and eventually was matched up against
Dawn.