AG162

← AG161 : Odd Pokémon Out!

Advanced Generation series

AG163 : Cutting the Ties that Bind →

Spontaneous Combusken!

AG162   EP436 ポケモンコンテスト！ユズリハ大会！！ Pokémon Contest! Yuzuriha Convention!!

First broadcast Japan February 2, 2006 United States November 4, 2006

English themes Opening Battle Frontier Ending

Japanese themes Opening バトルフロンティア Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 ③

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto Assistant director 秦義人 Yoshito Hata Animation director 広岡歳仁 Toshihito Hirooka Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Spontaneous Combusken! (Japanese: ポケモンコンテスト！ユズリハ大会！！ Pokémon Contest! Yuzuriha Convention!!) is the 162nd episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 436th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on February 2, 2006 and in the United States on November 4, 2006.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

A new challenge and a new adventure begins our story as everyone begins making preparations for the upcoming Chrysanthemum Island Convention. Trainers wait outside the stadium doors, preparing their prized Pokémon while Ash tries to hone Sceptile's skills while they still seem to be short of perfect. Ash directs Sceptile to use a Bullet Seed attack but only manages to create a small plume of white smoke, leaving Sceptile with a surprised look on his face. Ash tries to cheer Sceptile up giving him inspirational words of courage. May notices Drew as he walks up to our heroes.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is by the beach with Jessie dressed in her usual Contest attire and also plans to use Mime Jr. in the upcoming Contest. In the distance, May begins to work on Munchlax and Combusken's skills. Munchlax quickly lunges towards Combusken with a Focus Punch, but misses and continues on to nearly hit a bystander and crash into the soft sand. As everyone tries to remove Munchlax from the sand, May goes to apologize for its actions. The young girl then tries to hand May a solitary rose, Munchlax jumps forward and snatches it from her hand, devouring it in one bite. May and the girl, named Brianna, walk down a corridor to come across the pool area. Brianna quickly notices Drew and begins to blush as May tries to introduce the two. After a few quick words, the two shake hands and Drew wishes her luck in the Contest. When Drew is finally out of sight, Brianna displays her affection for Drew. After a few short seconds, her attitude turns from lovestruck meekness to fiery determination as she tells May that she wants Drew's respect and the quickest way she'll get it is by beating May in this Contest.

The spotlight shines on Lilian as she begins announcing the Contest. Our first contestant is Jessie with her magnificent Mime Jr. dressed in Hawaiian attire. When Mime Jr. is released from its Poké Ball, it rotates on its upper head while Jessie performs a small hula dance. The crowd roars for Jessie's performance. Our next contestant on the stage is May and her Munchlax. May quickly directs Munchlax to unleash its SolarBeam, filling the stadium with a magnificent blend of lights and colors. Munchlax's next move is Metronome, so it begins moving its hands in synchronization. However, the move backfires and Munchlax is put to sleep, having used the move Rest. After a few moments of hesitation, May throws a Pokéblock into the air. Munchlax instantly awakens and devours the Pokéblock in mid-air while rotating. On its descent, Munchlax comes down with a Focus Punch, gracefully landing on the stadium platform.

The third contestant is Brianna, with her Surskit. Surskit uses Ice Beam on the stage, turning it to ice that it can skate across. Surskit gracefully pirouettes like an ice skater and finishes the performance with a high-velocity spin. The crowd cheers for Surskit's performance as all three judges give approval of Brianna's performance.

The other contestants include Hoothoot, Hypno, Blastoise, and Castform. With the first round of competition ending, the contestants patiently wait for the list of those who have advanced to the second round. The second round of contestants is revealed to include May, Brianna, and Jessie. May and Brianna display their happiness for advancement. The match-ups are then announced, with May to face Jessie in the first round of the tournament.

The stage is set with May and her Combusken facing off against Jessie and her Mime Jr. Combusken begins the battle with a Fire Spin, but Mime Jr. easily dodges and uses Mimic, sending an identical Fire Spin to Combusken. The tricky move deducts more points than usual from May's score. Combusken recomposes itself and rushes toward Mime Jr with Quick Attack, and they both clash. Mime Jr. maneuvers itself in mid-air to begin "tickling" Combusken, reducing a substantial amount of points from May. Mime Jr. follows up with another Mimicked Fire Spin, but as the flames engulf Combusken, it recovers and gains power. Combusken leaps through the ongoing Fire Spin and strikes Mime Jr. with a Sky Uppercut. Mime Jr. crashes to the ground defeated and May is declared the winner.

May and Brianna continue winning in the battle round until they find themselves against one another in the finals. The crowd cheers as the final battle is started. May calls upon her Combusken while Brianna releases her Vibrava. As Combusken moves in for the attack, Vibrava uses its Screech attack, causing Combusken to cover its ears. As Vibrava continues with its Screech attack, Combusken launches a Fire spin for a direct hit. Vibrava retaliates with its DragonBreath attack, nullifying the Fire Spin. Vibrava then uses its Sand Tomb attack to entrap Combusken's legs in a mound of sand. Combusken struggles, but is unable to remove itself from the tomb. Suddenly, Combusken's feathers begin to glow a faint blue. After a moment, Combusken bursts from the Sand Tomb using its new move, Mega Kick. Vibrava doesn't let up, unleashing another DragonBreath attack and hitting Combusken for great damage, reducing May's points further.

Combusken ascends into the air for a Sky Uppercut, but misses its target as Vibrava goes for another Sand Tomb attack. Combusken disperses the sand once more and descends down with a hard Mega Kick on Vibrava. The two Pokémon crash into the ground, and Vibrava is declared unable to battle. With this victory over Brianna, May and Combusken have won the Chrysanthemum Contest. Ash shows a bit of relief as May is presented with the Ribbon of the Chrysanthemum Contest. Lilian concludes the competition with her usual phrase, "See you next time." As the sun is setting, May and Brianna reflect upon their Contest performances. May's friends join them on the beach, including Drew, who causes Brianna to blush and hide behind May. Drew acknowledges both of their good efforts and wishes Brianna luck, but she suddenly faints. Drew reminds May that she only has two Ribbons left until the Grand Festival. As he walks off into the distance, May watches him and begins to blush.

As night falls, Jessie and Mime Jr. sit by the shoreside. James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet worry about Jessie. The night concludes with Team Rocket left in despair and our heroine May in possession of one more Ribbon.

Major events

• It is revealed that May's invitation to the Contest was not actually sent by Drew, but instead by Brianna, a rookie Coordinator.
• May's Combusken learns Mega Kick.
• James's Mime Jr. is revealed to know Mimic and Tickle.
• May wins the Contest with Munchlax and Combusken, earning her third Kanto Ribbon.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Drew
• Brianna
• Lilian
• Raoul Contesta
• Mr. Sukizo
• Coordinators
• Audience

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Mime Jr. (James's; used by Jessie in the Contest)
• Sceptile (Ash's)
• Combusken (May's)
• Munchlax (May's)
• Roselia (Drew's)
• Vibrava (Brianna's)
• Surskit (Brianna's)
• Castform
• Hoothoot
• Gardevoir
• Machop
• Meditite
• Makuhita
• Breloom
• Psyduck
• Skarmory
• Nidorina
• Blastoise
• Hypno

Trivia

Ash's Sceptile in the opening

• Ash's Sceptile was added to the opening credits.
• The English and Spanish titles refer to a spontaneous combustion, which is a sudden ignition or explosion.
• At the beginning of the episode, the narrator calls Chrysanthemum Island a "sun-and-fun mecca," a term related to a real-world location.
• In the Japanese version of this episode, Drew's Roselia's voice was supplied by a different, uncredited voice actor due to the absence of its regular actress, Ikue Ohtani because it didn't have as much stock audio as Ash's Pikachu.
• Sarah Natochenny becomes the English voice actress for Drew's Roselia as of this episode, as it is its first appearance since the voice acting switch.
• James's Mime Jr. uses Tickle and Mimic in the Contest.
• This is one of the few episodes (prior to Best Wishes) in which Team Rocket neither blast off nor recite their motto in any form.

Errors

• Combusken was misspelled as Combuskin on the dub's title card. This was later corrected, though the error remained on the DVD version and when it re-aired several other times.
• After May beats Jessie in the battle round, Lilian says, "...and May moves on to the final round!" May actually had to defeat one more opponent before moving on to the final round against Brianna.
• After Combusken uses Fire Spin on Vibrava, Brock mentions that Fire-type moves wouldn't be strong against Ground-type Pokémon. This is a mistake because Vibrava resists Fire due to its other type, Dragon. The Ground type itself does not resist Fire-type moves.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		神奇寶貝華麗大賽！讓葉大會！
Finnish		Yllättävä Combusken
European French		Troisième ruban
German		Wenn zwei sich streiten, ...haut der Dritte ab! *
Italian		Una rivale anche in amore
Brazilian Portuguese		Combusken ao Extremo
Spanish	Latin America	Combusken espontáneo
	Spain	¡Combuskión espontánea!
Swedish		Den första kärleken

← AG161 : Odd Pokémon Out!

Advanced Generation series

AG163 : Cutting the Ties that Bind →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.