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AG123

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← AG122 : Deceit and Assist
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
AG124 : Island Time →
Rhapsody in Drew
AG123.png
AG123   EP397
決戦！グランドフェスティバル③！！
Decisive Battle! Grand Festival (3)!!
First broadcast
Japan April 7, 2005
United States February 25, 2006
English themes
Opening Unbeatable
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening ポケモン シンフォニック メドレー
Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 ②
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka
Storyboard 大山和弘 Kazuhiro Ōyama
Assistant director ながはまのりひこ Norihiko Nagahama
Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura
No additional credits are available at this time.

Rhapsody in Drew (Japanese: 決戦！グランドフェスティバル③！！ Decisive Battle! Grand Festival (3)!!) is the 123rd episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 397th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 7, 2005, and in the United States on February 25, 2006.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
201

Blurb

May and Harley face off in the main competition of the Grand Festival! It's Harley's Banette and Cacturne against May's Beautifly and Bulbasaur. May's team gets in the first hits, but Harley makes a comeback and it takes some quick thinking for May to beat Harley and move onto the semifinals.

Elsewhere, Jessie wants to impersonate a coordinator and sneak into the competition. Team Rocket decides to kidnap Robert, but Ash interrupts them as they make their move. Snorunt is hit by Team Rocket's Pokémon and evolves into a Glalie! Jessie thinks it's adorable, James thinks it's creepy, but either way, Glalie easily sends them packing.

Back on the stage, May defeats Anthony's Pinsir and Combusken, but her next opponent will be an even greater challenge: Drew! And Drew has brought a Flygon he trained especially for the competition. Flygon and Roselia are up against Combusken and Skitty. It's a close fight but Roselia hits May's Pokémon with Stun Spore, followed by a Steel Wing from Flygon, and takes the win.

Now it's Drew and Robert in the finals. To May's surprise, Robert earns the victory and wins the Festival. But Drew isn't upset—that night, even though there's a party, he goes right back to training. Impressed by his example, May sets her sights on next year's Grand Festival!

Plot

Harley starts his battle with May by having his Banette use Screech, while his Cacturne uses Bullet Seed. Both hit their marks and lower May's points. May has Bulbasaur attack with Vine Whip; Harley's Pokémon try to dodge it, but Bulbasaur grabs onto their legs. Beautifly uses Silver Wind that lowers Harley's points. Bulbasaur releases its grip on Cacturne and Banette, which sends them both spinning. Beautifly whips up another Silver Wind, accelerating the spinning and leaving both of Harley's Pokémon dizzy. The dazzling combination earns high praise from the judges as Harley's points fall below half. May calls for Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip again, but Banette counters with Torment, halting the attack cold. Ash is confused why Bulbasaur stopped, leaving Max to explain that Torment blocks your opponent from using the same move twice in a row, leaving Brock to comment that May must now mix things up.

Cacturne fires Pin Missile at Bulbasaur, but Beautifly carries Bulbasaur high into the air, leaving Harley's attack a miss. Banette fires Will-O-Wisp, which manages to score a hit on both of May's Pokémon, but Bulbasaur uses Petal Dance, which combines with Will-O-Wisp to create sparkling dust all over the field, costing Harley more points. Cacturne retaliates with another Pin Missile which begins shredding the petals, but Bulbasaur and Beautifly are unharmed, and they retaliate with a Silver Wind and Razor Leaf combination that knocks out both Cacturne and Banette. Harley's points drop to zero as a result, and May moves on to the next stage. As he storms off in defeat, Harley tells Drew that he's probably happy to see him lose to May. Drew responds that May was just better than him, and Harley declares that he will be happy once he sees both of them lose.

Meanwhile, Jessie is still set on becoming Top Coordinator even without any Ribbons. James suggests that Robert is their best chance, and they watch as he steps outside before ambushing him with a rope cannon. Ash arrives and has Pikachu use Thunderbolt to free Robert from the rope. Team Rocket recites their motto before calling out Cacnea and Dustox to attack. Snorunt tries to use Ice Beam. but it fails while everyone laughs at it, with James calling it a "Nice Beam". Robert gives Snorunt some encouragement and advises it to focus its energy in its head to be able to aim Ice Beam properly. Cacnea uses Pin Missile and Dustox uses Psybeam towards Pikachu, but Snorunt jumps in front to take the hit and evolves into Glalie. Ash scans Glalie with the Pokédex. James and Meowth are unsettled by Glalie's fierce glare, but Jessie oddly finds Glalie beautiful. Robert suggests to Ash to test out Glalie's Ice Beam. Glalie follows suit, using Ice Beam to freeze Team Rocket and send them blasting off. Jessie is angered that her dreams of becoming Top Coordinator have been shattered yet again, to which Meowth sarcastically replies that if she really wants something to be shattered to wait until they land.

In the second stage and with thirty seconds remaining, May's Combusken and Bulbasaur face off against Anthony with Swalot and Pinsir. Anthony has only one-fourths of his score while May still has half of hers. Combusken tries to use Peck but Pinsir emerges from Swalot's mouth to pinch Combusken's beak shut. Time runs out, but May has the most points remaining and moves on to the third stage. Anthony respectfully congratulates May on the win and wishes her luck in the next stage. The third stage match ups are soon revealed, and May will face off against Drew.

In the third stage, May chooses Combusken and Skitty while Drew selects Roselia and Flygon. Brock and Max are stunned by Drew's newest Pokémon while Ash looks it up in his Pokédex. May is surprised to see a Flygon, and Drew remarks that this match is its debut appearance, stating he raised Flygon specifically to battle against May in the Grand Festival. Roselia begins with a sparkling Petal Dance while Flygon flies right through it to attack. Skitty counters with Assist which comes out as Fire Spin and burns the opponents' combination. Combusken uses Sky Uppercut but misses its target and falls back onto Skitty. Flygon uses Flamethrower and Roselia unleashes a Solar Beam towards their opponents while May has Combusken use Fire Spin to push the combined attacks away. The failure of his massive attack combination costs Drew serious points, putting May in the lead. Combusken uses Fire Spin again while Flygon counters with Sandstorm which blows the attack away. Skitty aims a Blizzard, though Roselia jumps on top of Flygon to fly away and dodge it. May's points suffer from having both of her attacks fail.

Putting her trust in its unpredictability, May orders an Assist attack from Skitty, which turns into a Vine Whip, but it misses Flygon. Undeterred, May declares Vine Whip to be just what she needs, and orders Combusken use the Vine Whip to jump high into the air. Roselia calls for a Magical Leaf which Skitty blows away with Blizzard. Flygon uses Flamethrower, but it is exactly what May wanted to happen. May has Combusken dive into the flames towards Flygon and smashes it with Sky Uppercut. Caroline is overcome with joy at seeing her daughter work so well with Pokémon. Vivian gives May praise while Norman watches from Petalburg City with pride. However, with little time and Drew still holding the lead, May can only hope for a knockout to win the round. She calls for Skitty to use Tackle and Combusken to use Quick Attack. Roselia replies with a Stun Spore that hits and paralyses the pair. Flygon finishes the match off with Steel Wing. The five minutes is up, and Drew is declared the winner. May is upset by the loss but puts on a brave face as she checks on her Pokémon. The crowd begins cheering for May and her wonderful performance, though the applause infuriates Harley who declares that there is no justice in the world.

Drew faces Robert in the final stage, and he is losing by a lot of points. Milotic uses Twister while Claydol rushes through the Twister and attacks Masquerain and Roselia with Hyper Beam, before Milotic finished them off with Iron Tail. With the win, Robert becomes a Top Coordinator and wins the coveted Ribbon Cup. During the awards ceremony, May says to Drew that she's sorry he lost, but Drew isn't bothered by the loss and tells her that it seems to him there will always be someone better.

Later that night, an after-party takes place to celebrate the conclusion of the Hoenn Grand Festival. May sits down after eating a lot, looks behind her and wonders where the flashing lights are coming from. She locates the source, and it is Drew continuing to practice his Contest techniques. Drew remarks that Robert is also training so no one will get ahead of him, hence why he became the Top Coordinator. Drew explains that if May wants to become a Top Coordinator, she has to keep practicing and getting better. He admits that he looks forward to the next Grand Festival and also expects May to be there. He promptly walks off, leaving May speechless. Ash offers May a vanilla ice cream cone but startles her in the process. Caroline realizes the pair were momentarily alone and suggests there might be a romantic connection. May sharply reminds her that she and Drew are just friends. She admits that Drew did give her something to consider however, admitting that she is planning on not giving up until she becomes a Top Coordinator. Caroline is very proud of her daughter's new ambition but reminds May that now she has to support Ash as he tries to become the next Hoenn League Champion.

Major events

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

Pokémon Trainer's Choice: Golem

Trivia

Errors

  • During the battle between May and Harley, Brock says that "Bulbasaur cannot use Vine Whip for awhile now", after Banette uses Torment. Torment only prevents a Pokémon from using the same move twice in a row.
  • In one part of the episode, May says "Combusken, use jump!", which is not a move.
  • After defeating Harley, Vivian Meridian says that May will be moving on to the semifinals, but in reality, she was moving on to the Top 16.
  • When Drew is watching May and Harley's battle, the time counter goes from 4:01 to 3:00 to 3:59.

Dub edits

  • In the original Japanese version, Banette and Cacturne's eyes turn into X's after being spun around. In the English dub, their eyes were changed to sideways-facing arrows. This also occurs with Cacnea when Team Rocket is blasted off.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

  • Question: Trainers, what is the final evolution of Geodude?
  • Choices: Dugtrio, Golem, Regirock
  • Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Golem, you were right!

In other languages



← AG122 : Deceit and Assist
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
AG124 : Island Time →
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.
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