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 comes 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 quickly notices Drew in the background 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 as Munchlax quickly lunges towards Combusken with a Focus Punch but is diverted off course and barely misses a bystander and smashes into the soft sand. Everyone works to remove Munchlax from the sand as May goes to apologize for Munchlax's actions. As the young girl then tries to hand May a solitary rose, Munchlax dashes forward and snatches it from her hand devouring it in one bite. May and the young girl walk down a corridor to come across the pool area. The young girl 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, she displays her affection for Drew. After a few short seconds, the attitude of a young, innocent girl turns into a determined one 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 introduces and begins announcements for 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 rotating around in circles while Jessie performs a small 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 as the magnificent blend of lights and colors entwine in the stadium. Munchlax's next move is Metronome as it moves its hands in synchronization but the move backfires and Munchlax is put to sleep. After a few moments of hesitation, May throws a Pokéblock into the air and while Munchlax recovers from its sleep, it rotates into the air and devours the Pokéblock. Munchlax begins its decent from the air and comes down with a Mega Punch, gracefully landing on the stadium platform.

The third contestant is Brianna and her Surskit. Brianna directs it to use Ice Beam. The beam successfully makes contact with the stage turning it to ice as Surskit gracefully rotates across the ring and finishes the performance with a high velocity spin. The crowd cheers and roars with Surskit's performance as all three judges give approval of Brianna's performance.

Other contestants of the contest include Hoothoot, Hypno and Blastoise. With the first round of competition ending, our contests patiently wait for the list of contestants that have advanced to the second round. The second round of contestants is announced with May, Brianna, and Jessie all being on the list. 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 and Jessie and her Mime Jr.. Combusken begins the battle with a Flamethrower but Mime Jr. easily dodges and retaliates with its own Flamethrower deducting points from May's score. Combusken quickly increases its speed and agility while it rushes toward Mime Jr. and they both clash. Mime Jr. rotates over Combusken's body and assumes a position where Mime Jr. begins "tickling" Combusken which reduces a substantial amount of points from May. Mime Jr. continues with another Flamethrower but as the flames engulf Combusken, it recovers and blasts through the Flamethrower attack striking Mime Jr. with a Mega Punch. Mime Jr. crashes to the ground with May being announced as the winner.

As round after round end, May and Brianna advance from contestant to contestant to finally meet each other 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. While Vibrava continues with its Screech attack, Combusken launches a Flamethrower towards Vibrava making for a direct hit. Vibrava then retaliates and responds back with its DragonBreath attack dispersing the Flamethrower. Vibrava then uses its Sand Tomb attack to encase and capture Combusken in a prison of sand. Combusken continues to struggle but is unable to remove itself from the tomb. Combusken's feathers begin to glow a faint blue as after a few moments, the sand is dispersed and Combusken releases itself from the sand. Vibrava doesn't let up with unleashing another DragonBreath attack and hitting Combusken for great damage reducing even more additional points.

Combusken ascends into the air for a Sky Uppercut but misses his target as Vibrava goes for another Sand Tomb attack. Combusken is prepared for this attack and disperses the sand once more and descends down with a hard kick to Vibrava. The two Pokémon crash into the ground as Vibrava is announced as unable to battle. May is announced as winner of this contest. Ash shows a bit of relief with May's victory as she is presented with the ribbon of the Chrysanthemum Convention. Lilian concludes the competition with the usual phrase of "See you next time". The sunset falls upon May and Brianna as with the first sighting of Drew, Brianna moves behind May and begins to blush. With their short meeting, Drew wishes Brianna luck as she quickly collapses. Drew reminds May that she only has two ribbons left until the Grand Festival and he then walks off into the distance with May staring at him, blushing.

As nighttime befalls Team Rocket, Jessie and Mime Jr. sit by the shoreside while James, Meowth and Wobbuffet are worried about Jessie. The night concludes with Team Rocket left in despair and our heroine May with one more additional ribbon.

Major events

• It emerges 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.
• May wins the contest with Munchlax and Combusken, earning her third Kanto Ribbon.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Drew
• Brianna
• Lilian
• Contesta
• 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) (Seiyū: 三木眞一郎 Shin'ichirō Miki*)
• Surskit (Brianna's) (Seiyū: 西村ちなみ Chinami Nishimura*)
• Castform
• Hoothoot
• Gardevoir
• Machop
• Meditite
• Makuhita
• Breloom
• Psyduck
• Skarmory
• Nidorina
• Blastoise
• Hypno

* No official credit was given for this character.

Trivia

File:Battle Frontier - Satoshi's Lineup 3.jpg

Ash's Sceptile in the opening

• Ash's Sceptile was added to the opening credits.
• In the Japanese version of this episode Drew's Roselia's voice was supplied by a different, uncredited voice actor for this episode due to the absence of its regular actress, Ikue Ohtani.
• 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, Teeter Dance, and Mimic in the contest, because it didn't have as much stock audio as Ash's Pikachu.
• The title refers to a spontaneous combustion, which is a sudden explosion.

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 reaired on October 9, 2008.
• After May beats Jessie in the battle round, Lilian says, "...and May moves on to the final round!" But in reality, she had to defeat another opponent before moving on to the final round against Brianna.

In other languages

• French: Troisième ruban
• German: Wenn zwei sich streiten, ...haut der Dritte ab!
  • The german episodes title is a pun on the saying, "when two are fighting, the third wins!"
• Italian: Una rivale anche in amore
• Latin American Spanish: Combusken espontáneo
• Iberian Spanish: ¡Combuskión espontánea!

← 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.