S09

S9 redirects here. For the Japanese TCG release with the set symbol S9, see Brilliant Stars (TCG).

Pokémon: Battle Frontier Season 9
Logo for the season
Opening	Battle Frontier
Episodes	47
Region	Kanto
Series	Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
Preceded by	Pokémon: Advanced Battle
Followed by	Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl

Pokémon: Battle Frontier is the ninth season of the dubbed version of the Pokémon anime. It is the fourth and final season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. It follows Ash as he continues to collect Symbols from the Kanto Battle Frontier while May participates in Pokémon Contests.

It began on September 8, 2006 with the dub premiere of Fear Factor Phony, and concluded on March 3, 2007 with Home is Where the Start Is!. It originally aired in the United States as part of the 2006-2007 Cartoon Network Saturday morning lineup. It also began broadcasting on CITV/Action Stations! on October 30, 2008 in the United Kingdom, this is the first time this series has been shown on Freeview.

The English dub underwent many changes at the start of the season. 4Kids Entertainment's licensing rights to the dub expired and in an agreement with Pokémon USA they decided not to renew. Meanwhile, Kids' WB! (a broadcast network) dropped all anime from its lineup, leading to Cartoon Network, a cable network, picking up the series, where it remained until season 19.

It is preceded by Pokémon: Advanced Battle and succeeded by Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the first season of the dub of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, which is based on the Generation IV games.

Blurb

The territory might be familiar, but even Ash and Brock can find more than a few surprises in their home region of Kanto, like a Pokémon Ranger hot on the cases of two Legendary Pokémon! May’s back on the Contest path, blazing a trail to the Kanto Grand Festival, while Ash seeks out the hidden facilities of the Battle Frontier. If finding them wasn’t hard enough, he’s still got battles with the Frontier Brains to deal with—much tougher than any Gym Leader he’s ever faced.

Important events

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

• Ash and his friends meet Ranger Solana, who is searching for an injured Celebi. (AG155)
• Brock enters his first Pokémon Contest at Gardenia Town. (AG167)
• Ash and company runs into Solana again, as they encounter a wild Deoxys. (AG171 - AG172)
• The Kanto Grand Festival takes place at Indigo Plateau. (AG180-AG182)
  • May, Drew, Harley, and Solidad get past the preliminary Appeals Round. (AG180)
  • May defeats Harley in the Contest Battles, putting her in the Top 8. Drew and Solidad also make it to the Top 8. (AG181)
  • May defeats Drew in the quarterfinals but loses to Solidad in the semifinals, finishing in the Top 4. (AG182)
  • Solidad wins the Grand Festival, receiving the Ribbon Cup and becoming a Top Coordinator. (AG182)
• Ash and his friends learn from Professor Oak about Sinnoh, a region located north of Kanto. (AG187)
• May learns that Drew, Harley, and Solidad plan to enter Pokémon Contests in the Johto region. (AG187)
• Ash calls for his Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur for his match against Brandon. (AG189)
• Ash is offered a position as a Frontier Brain, but he declines. (AG190)
• Ash enters his first Pokémon Contest at Terracotta Town. (AG191)
• Ash and his friends go their separate ways. Brock and Max go back home in Pewter City and Petalburg City, respectively. May plans to compete in Johto Pokémon Contests. Ash returns to Pallet Town. (AG192)
• Ash meets up with Gary, who came from Sinnoh. The two have a battle, with Ash's Pikachu losing to Gary's Electivire. (AG192)
• Ash decides to travel to Sinnoh, and leaves all his Pokémon, except Pikachu, at Professor Oak's Laboratory. However, Aipom quickly follows Ash and rejoins him. (AG192)
• Team Rocket continues to follow Ash into Sinnoh. (AG192)

Party changes

Additions

The following Pokémon are obtained:

• James's Mime Jr. (AG147)
• Brock's Bonsly (AG156)
• May's Eevee (AG157)
• Ash's Aipom (AG182)

Evolutions

The following Pokémon evolve:

• Brock's Mudkip → Marshtomp (AG148)
• Ash's Phanpy → Donphan (AG154)
• Ash's Grovyle → Sceptile (AG161)
• Brock's Onix → Steelix (while under Forrest's care; between AG133 and AG177)
• May's Combusken → Blaziken (AG191)

Other

• James's Chimecho (left with the caretakers of James's summer home; AG147)
• Ash's Sceptile (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
• Ash's Corphish (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
• Ash's Swellow (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
• Ash's Donphan (left at Oak's lab; AG192)

Battle Frontier

Ash battles the following Frontier Brains:

Symbol	Opponent	Epicode	Result
Guts Symbol	Greta	AG149	Victory
Tactics Symbol	Tucker	AG153	Victory
Luck Symbol	Lucy	AG158	Victory
Spirits Symbol	Spenser	AG164	Victory
Ability Symbol	Anabel	AG169	Defeat
		AG170	Victory
Brave Symbol	Brandon	AG178	Defeat
		AG186	Defeat
		AG189 AG190	Victory

Pokémon Contests

May participates in the following Pokémon Contests:

Location	Epicode	Result
Silver Town	AG151	Victory
Wisteria Town	AG160	Defeat
Chrysanthemum Island	AG162	Victory
Gardenia Town	AG167	Victory
Mulberry City	AG174 AG175	Victory
Terracotta Town*	AG191 AG192	Tie

Episodes

Epicode	Episode Title	#
AG146	Fear Factor Phony	1
AG147	Sweet Baby James	2
AG148	A Chip Off the Old Brock	3
AG149	Wheel of Frontier	4
AG150	May's Egg-Cellent Adventure	5
AG151	Weekend Warrior	6
AG152	On Olden Pond	7
AG153	Tactics Theatrics!!	8
AG154	Reversing the Charges	9
AG155	The Green Guardian	10
AG156	From Cradle to Save	11
AG157	Time Warp Heals All Wounds	12
AG158	Queen of the Serpentine!	13
AG159	Off the Unbeaten Path	14
AG160	Harley Rides Again	15
AG161	Odd Pokémon Out!	16
AG162	Spontaneous Combusken!	17
AG163	Cutting the Ties that Bind!	18
AG164	Ka Boom with a View!	19
AG165	King and Queen for a Day!	20
AG166	Curbing the Crimson Tide!	21
AG167	What I Did for Love!	22
AG168	Three Jynx and a Baby!	23
AG169	Talking a Good Game!	24
AG170	Second Time's the Charm!	25
AG171	Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys' Crisis! (Part 1)	26
AG172	Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys' Crisis! (Part 2)	27
AG173	All That Glitters is Not Golden!	28
AG174	New Plot, Odd Lot!	29
AG175	Going for Choke!	30
AG176	The Ole' Berate and Switch!	31
AG177	Grating Spaces!	32
AG178	Battling the Enemy Within!	33
AG179	Slaking Kong!	34
AG180	May, We Harley Drew'd Ya!	35
AG181	Thinning the Hoard!	36
AG182	Channeling the Battle Zone!	37
AG183	Aipom and Circumstance!	38
AG184	Strategy Tomorrow - Comedy Tonight!	39
AG185	Duels of the Jungle!	40
AG186	Overjoyed!	41
AG187	The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing!	42
AG188	Pinch Healing!	43
AG189	Gathering the Gang of Four!	44
AG190	Pace - The Final Frontier!	45
AG191	Once More With Reeling!	46
AG192	Home is Where the Start Is!	47

Home video releases

North American DVD releases

Main article: List of English language Battle Frontier home video releases (Region 1)

Australian DVD releases

Main article: List of English language Battle Frontier home video releases (Region 4)

Trivia

• Battle Frontier is the only English season to have its own ending theme, instead of just a shortened or instrumental version of the opening theme.
• Battle Frontier is the only English season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire not to contain the word "Advanced" in its title.
• In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), this season was initially skipped, and the broadcast of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl started immediately after AG145 with the Dutch dub. However, in the Netherlands, Battle Frontier was not skipped.
• In the Hindi Hungama TV/MarvelHQ dub, the narrator parodies Indian actor Dharmendra in each episode. This practice continues in the Sinnoh and Unova arcs, with his accent becoming less humorous in Unova.
• This is the first season:
  • to consist of less than 52 episodes under the television definition.
  • to be dubbed by Pokémon USA, as well as the first not to be dubbed by 4Kids.
  • to premiere on Cartoon Network in the United States, with the final season being Pokémon the Series: XYZ.
  • to not feature any eyecatches at all, and the only one outside of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.
  • where Ash doesn't earn a Badge, as he's competing for Symbols instead.

In other languages

Language		Title
Czech		Pokémon: Park zápasů*
Danish		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Dutch		Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Strijd der Grenzen) Pokémon: Battle Frontier *
Finnish		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
French		Pokémon - Battle Frontier
German		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Hindi		पोकेमोन: बैटल फ्रंटियर
Italian		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Norwegian		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Portuguese	Brazil	Pokémon: Batalha da Fronteira Pokémon: Battle Frontier *
	Portugal	Pokémon: Fronteira de Batalha
Russian		Покемон: Боевой Рубеж
Spanish	Latin America	Pokémon: Batalla de la Frontera
	Spain	Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Swedish		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Tamil		பொகெமொன்: பாட்டிலே பிரான்டியர்
Telugu		పోకీమాన్: బాటిల్లె ఫ్రాంటియర్

Series and seasons of the Pokémon animated series Original series (list) Indigo League • Adventures in the Orange Islands The Johto Journeys • Johto League Champions • Master Quest Ruby and Sapphire (list) Advanced • Advanced Challenge • Advanced Battle • Battle Frontier Diamond and Pearl (list) Diamond and Pearl • Battle Dimension • Galactic Battles • Sinnoh League Victors Black & White (list) Black & White • Rival Destinies • Adventures in Unova and Beyond XY (list) XY • Kalos Quest • XYZ (Mega Evolution Specials) Sun & Moon (list) Sun & Moon • Ultra Adventures‎ • Ultra Legends Journeys (list) Journeys • Master Journeys • Ultimate Journeys (The Arceus Chronicles) Horizons (list) Horizons Specials (list) Pikachu's Winter Vacation • Side Stories • Pokémon Chronicles Planetarium specials • Pikachu shorts Mewtwo Returns • The Legend of Thunder! • Pichu Bros. in Party Panic The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon • A Ripple in Time Complete list • Movies

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