Watch Pokemon the Series: Ruby & Sapphire

With such a roster of talented Coordinators, it's no surprise that the competition at the Grand Festival is particularly fierce! Emotions are running high on all sides...especially for Drew, who seems to be more high-strung and quick to anger than usual. It seems May's strong performance in the first round has unsettled him a bit, and he's looking to get even! But first, May goes up against her old nemesis Harley, who brings out his Cacturne and Wigglytuff for a Double Battle performance against May's Munchlax and Eevee. Although Wigglytuff proves to be quite a formidable opponent, it can't overcome May's teamwork with her Pokemon! May wins the round, and Harley is out of the competition. Drew and Solidad have won their battles as well, moving forward into the quarterfinals. But the run is about to end for one of these three friends--because the next battle is Drew versus May!

Ash and May have just finished a blistering battle in the finals of the Terracotta Pokemon Contest, and when time runs out and the smoke clears, they both have an equal number of points. The judges declare them both winners! At dinner, May announces that she wants to compete in the Pokemon Contest circuit in the Johto region, and that she wants to go alone rather than relying on her little brother. Max sadly decides to go home, but Ash promises him a battle as soon as he's old enough to be a Trainer! The last leg of Ash's journey back to Pallet Town is interrupted by Team Rocket, who are trying to steal a powerful Electric-type Pokemon...not Pikachu this time, but Electivire, a Pokemon from the Sinnoh region whose Trainer is none other than Gary Oak! After seeing how strong Electivire is, Ash decides he has to go to Sinnoh, too--and so the next adventure begins!

Ash's Frontier Battle journey has come to a successful end, but before our heroes part ways, they learn of an unofficial Pokemon Contest in Terracotta Town, and Ash and May both decide to enter! When May takes the stage, the crowd goes wild, recognizing her from her semi-final finish at the Grand Festival. She's delighted by the applause, and her Eevee creates a gorgeous fireworks display! Ash gets a similar welcome thanks to his quarterfinal showing at the Hoenn League, and Pikachu puts on a strong performance in its contest debut--strong enough to send Ash to face May in the finals! But first, there's the little matter of Team Rocket to deal with. May's Combusken and Ash's Sceptile team up to blast them off, and during the battle, Combusken evolves into Blaziken! It's Blaziken vs. Sceptile in the finals, and when time runs out, the score is nearly tied and there's no clear winner...yet!

At the Battle Pyramid, Charizard has fallen to Brandon's Dusclops, and Ash calls out Bulbasaur. Dusclops again uses Confuse Ray, but with a heartfelt pep talk from Ash, Bulbasaur snaps out of it and defeats Dusclops! Ash brings out his Squirtle to face Brandon's Ninjask, but Squirtle is defeated, and Bulbasaur is called up once more to take Ninjask down. Brandon's next Pokemon is Solrock--and this matchup ends in a double knockout, leaving one Pokemon left on each side! Ash's final Pokemon is Pikachu, of course...but after using Registeel in their first battle, Brandon has another Legendary Pokemon up his sleeve: Regice! All seems lost as Regice freezes Pikachu solid, but Ash's voice manages to reach his best buddy's ears, and with a blazing Thunderbolt and Volt Tackle, Regice is defeated--and Ash claims victory over the Battle Frontier! He has the option to stay and become a Frontier Brain himself, but Ash decides he'd rather keep traveling!

For his rematch against Brandon at the Battle Pyramid, Ash decides to gather four of the Pokemon who have been with him the longest: Bulbasaur, Charizard, Squirtle, and of course Pikachu! To get reacquainted, he takes the four of them camping in the mountains, and after some training, they spend the evening sitting around the campfire as Ash tells the story of how he met each of them. Naturally, Team Rocket gets in on the nostalgia by pulling some of their old tricks--but, as is tradition, Ash and his Pokemon friends send them blasting off again. The next day, when Ash and Brandon meet for their battle, they agree to a four-on-four match--starting with Ash's Charizard and Brandon's Dusclops! Charizard fights through an early Confuse Ray to get back in the battle, but when Ash calls for a Fighting-type move that doesn't work on Dusclops, the mighty Charizard is defeated! Who's up next?

Ash and friends--including Professor Oak--are staying at the Fennel Valley Pokemon Center when Nurse Joy comes down with a bad case of the flu and has to stay in bed. It's bad timing, because a Pokesitter named Matt has just gotten into a bus accident on a nearby mountain road, leaving several Pokemon injured. Our heroes head out immediately to bring them back to the Pokemon Center for treatment--and quickly discover that taking care of a big group of Pokemon is a lot of work! Brock seems to have a talent for it, and Professor Oak praises his gift for healing. Soon, Nurse Joy is feeling well enough to take over, all the Pokemon are restored to health and loaded back on the bus with Matt--and Ash learns that Brandon is on his way back for their rematch at the Battle Pyramid!

As our heroes await Ash's next rematch with Brandon, it appears both Ash and May are having trouble coming to grips with their recent defeats. They get support from Max and Brock, of course--and from some surprising sources as well! Professor Oak brings a special gift for Ash from his many Pokemon and human friends back home. Then, Drew arrives to cheer May up and challenge her to a contest battle! The Team Rocket trio try to interfere, but they're defeated by an unexpected champion: May's old nemesis Harley, who simply can't bear the thought of anyone other than him being allowed to ruin her day! After an intense performance on both sides, Drew emerges victorious, and May happily congratulates him. Drew and Harley are off to compete in Pokemon Contests in the Johto region, and they invite May to come along--but first, May wants to find her own battle style!

When our heroes and Brandon arrive at the Battle Pyramid for Ash's final Battle Frontier challenge, they meet Nurse Joy, a big fan who knows absolutely everything about both Ash and May's Pokemon careers and has a scrapbook to prove it! She offers to help Ash train for his battle--and ends up beating him with her formidable Chansey, who also blasts the Team Rocket villains off as soon as they show up to steal it. Professor Oak sends Ash his Torkoal to face off against Registeel, a Legendary Pokemon who's fighting on Brandon's team, and the matchup seems to be going his way...until his overconfidence gets the better of him, and Brandon's power and experience prove too much for the young Trainer. The Frontier Brain offers some valuable words of wisdom, which Ash takes to heart, and promises to battle him again as soon as he returns from his quest for a mysterious Pokemon!

Ash's Aipom runs away in a forest and is attacked by a Weavile. Kerrigan, a member of the Wilderness Guard Corps, rescues it and tells our heroes that the Weavile is a stray who's abandoned its group. Prompted by Jessie, who wants to catch it, Meowth learns its story: The stray Weavile used to be the leader of the group, until a rogue Weavile challenged it and took its place. It's been living alone in the forest, challenging every Pokemon it meets so it can become strong enough to reclaim its throne--and now, after meeting a Sneasel who's left the group because of the new leader's tyranny, it's ready for the challenge! The two Weavile clash in a fierce battle, and it soon becomes clear that the stray's training has paid off! At Sneasel's urging, the two Weavile decide to call a truce, and the group is reunited in harmony.

Our heroes meet a Chatot, a fascinating Pokemon who can mimic anything it hears, and its Trainer, Audrey. Audrey tells them that she and Chatot have formed a stand-up comedy duo called the North Sea Chat-a-lots, and when Ash and the others beg for a demonstration, they happily launch into their routine, much to the delight of our heroes! Afterward, Audrey says their training for the Comedy Grand Prix has been interrupted because Chatot flies away for several hours every day. When the chatty Pokemon returns from its mysterious trip that evening, our heroes listen to what it's saying and figure out that it's been visiting a children's hospital! The kids and Chatot absolutely adore each other, and Chatot has been reluctant to leave them. Audrey agrees to perform for the hospital before she and Chatot take their show on the road, and the rave reviews convince both of them that their dream is worth pursuing!

Ash and friends find themselves in a village with a most unusual annual ritual: choosing a king who will rule for the next year! The candidates compete for possession of the crown, and whoever is holding on to it at sundown wins the royal title. Brock decides to compete to impress the ladies, but the continued shenanigans of Ash's Aipom cause the crown to become stuck to its head! The village elder, Zeus, rules that if Aipom still has the crown at sundown, it gets to be the king, so everyone pitches in to free it. Finally, a young villager named Hank, who's always dreamed of being king, comes up with an idea. He offers Aipom a Belue Berry, which is so sour that it makes not just Aipom's face but its whole head scrunch up--and the crown comes loose in Hank's hands, just as the sun sets!

The Grand Festival battle between May and Drew is really heating up, as the two Coordinators pelt each other with sizzling combinations, each pecking away at the other's score! The lead keeps changing at a dizzying pace--and then May's Combusken learns how to use Overheat, a move that buys her just enough time to run out the clock and squeak past Drew on points! Drew is out, and May moves on...just as Ash finally catches the Aipom who's been stealing his hat! In the semi-finals, May goes up against her new friend Solidad, whose rock-solid strategy and powerful Slowbro and Pidgeot make short work of May's Munchlax and Combusken. Dazed and sad, May slowly makes her way off the battlefield, where she finds her friends waiting to support her. Solidad goes on to win the Ribbon Cup, and after an emotional farewell between May and Drew, our heroes are on their way to Ash's rematch at the Battle Pyramid!