AG162

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Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

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 Pokémon Go!

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 Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, 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.

Blurb

May is about to enter her next Contest on Chrysanthemum Island. Drew is there too, but not only is he not competing, he didn't send her the mysterious note she received in Wisteria Town. During a practice battle between Munchlax and Combusken, May meets Brianna, the real sender of the note. Though she rooted for May in Wisteria Town, she's really a huge Drew fan. May introduces her to Drew, which only makes Brianna determined to beat May and earn Drew's respect.

The Contest begins! Jessie teams up with James' Mime Jr. to perform a hula dance, May and Munchlax take the stage with a risky use of Metronome, and Brianna and her Surskit puts on an amazing ice show. All three will move on, but before the second round starts, Brianna wants to know if May likes Drew! Well, May's not so sure about that. Jessie battles May in the second round, and James is horrified to watch Combusken defeat Mime Jr. with a mighty Sky Uppercut.

Now it's Brianna and May in the final round, and Brianna's brought her Vibrava. Vibrava comes on strong, using Sand Tomb to trap Combusken. All looks lost but Combusken learns Mega Kick, just in time to free itself and then knock Vibrava out! Afterward, as Brianna congratulates May, Drew compliments Brianna and sends her into a swoon. May is sure to see Drew and his smooth moves again, but first, it's on to the Battle Palace!

Plot

Ash and his friends have arrived on the getaway destination Chrysanthemum Island for May’s next Pokémon Contest. Outside the Contest Hall, the registered Coordinators are preparing their prized Pokémon while Ash tries to hone Sceptile's skills following its heartbreak. Sceptile tries to use Bullet Seed, but it only manages to create a small plume of smoke. Ash calls for Sceptile to try again, when Drew confronts him, adding that he is only making Sceptile more stressed. May asks her rival about the letter she received back in Wisteria Town, though Drew replies that he didn’t send the letter. He explains that he isn’t even going to be competing in this Contest, and he instead travelled to Chrysanthemum Island to rest up. The admission leaves May curious as to who actually wrote her the latter.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is by the beach with Jessie dressed in her Contest attire as she 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. Brianna is pleasantly surprised to see her idol May in-person, adding that she was the one who sent her the letter. She tries to hand May a solitary rose, Munchlax jumps forward and snatches it from her hand, devouring it in one bite. After learning that Brianna is a fan of Drew’s as well, she takes her to a nearby hotel pool to meet him. After a few quick words, the two shake hands and Drew wishes Brianna luck in the Contest. When Drew is finally out of sight, Brianna displays her affection for Drew. 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. The Appeals Round begins and the first contestant is Jessie with her magnificent Mime Jr. dressed in Hawaiian attire. When Mime Jr. is sent out from its Poké Ball, it rotates on its upper head while Jessie performs a small hula dance. The crowd roars for Jessie's performance. Next, May and her Munchlax take to the stage. May quickly directs Munchlax to unleash its Solar Beam, 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, allowing it to gracefully pirouette like an ice skater across the now frozen performance stage. It finishes the performance with a high-velocity spin. The crowd cheers for Surskit's performance as the Contest Judges give approval of Brianna's performance.

The other contestants include Hoothoot, Hypno, Blastoise, and Castform. With the first round of competition ending, the results are revealed and among the contestants are May, Brianna, and Jessie. The match-ups are 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 knocks Mime Jr. with a Sky Uppercut to win the round.

After clearing through their other battles, May and Brianna 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 Dragon Breath attack, nullifying the Fire Spin. Vibrava 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 Dragon Breath 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, the Chrysanthemum Contest draws to a close and Mr. Contesta presents May with the Chrysanthemum Ribbon; her third overall.

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, causing her to suddenly faint from swooning. 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.

Major events

May holding the Chrysanthemum Ribbon

• Ash and his friends arrive in Chrysanthemum Island and meet up with Drew again.
• It is revealed that May's invitation was sent by Brianna rather than Drew.
• James's Mime Jr. is revealed to know Mimic and Tickle.
• May's Combusken learns Mega Kick.
• May enters the Chrysanthemum Contest and wins, earning her third Kanto Ribbon.

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

Debuts

Humans

• Brianna

Characters

Humans

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

Pokémon

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

Trivia

Ash's Sceptile in the opening

• Ash's Sceptile was added to the opening credits.
• The episode's English and Spanish dub titles refer to spontaneous combustion, which is a sudden ignition or explosion.
• In the original Japanese version, 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.
• 4Kids background music is used in this episode.
• Team Rocket neither blasts off nor recites their motto in this episode.
• Pokémon Symphonic Medley is used as background music after Combusken learns Mega Kick.
• Brianna's Vibrava is seen defeating a trainer’s Gardevoir with Dragon Breath. While this is possible during Generation III, it is no longer possible because Gardevoir is now a Fairy-type.

Errors

• Combusken is misspelled as Combuskin on the English dub's title card. This was later corrected, though the error remained on the DVD version, foreign language dubs 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！
Danish		Combuskens store triumf
Dutch		Een vurige strijd!
Finnish		Yllättävä Combusken
European French		Troisième ruban
German		Wenn zwei sich streiten, ...haut der Dritte ab! *
Hebrew		קומבסקין הספונטני
Hindi		कमाल Combusken Kamaal Combusken*
Italian		Una rivale anche in amore
Korean		포켓몬 콘테스트! 굴거리섬 대회!
Norwegian		Raske Combusken!
Brazilian Portuguese		Combusken Espontâneo
Russian		Спонтанный Комбаскен
Spanish	Latin America	Combusken espontáneo
	Spain	¡Combuskión espontánea!
Swedish		Den första kärleken!

← AG161 : Odd Pokémon Out!

Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

AG163 : Cutting the Ties that Bind! →

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