After all the hard work earning five Ribbons from Contests around the whole of the Hoenn region, May and the others have finally arrived in Slateport City, where the Hoenn Grand Festival will be held. Everyone congratulates May on getting to the Festival. Inside, May hands the receptionist her Ribbon Pass and her five Ribbons to register for the Festival. The receptionist scans the Ribbons to check for authenticity and then tells May that she is done, handing her a guidebook, about the Festival rules, and her pass back.

As everyone heads for the dorm rooms, May and Max are greeted by a wonderful surprise - their mom, Caroline. May tells Caroline that Ash has won his eight Badges and will be entering the Hoenn League after the Grand Festival. Caroline meets the news of Ash’s latest win with some bad and some good news. The bad news - Norman couldn’t come because he had to watch over the Gym. The good news - he’ll be watching the Festival on TV.

Up in the dorm, May receives some mail from Kelly in Lilycove. Brock spots a letter from Savannah and her daughter Sandra from Rubello Town. Other letters come from Timmy of Verdanturf Town, Dr. Abbey from the Pokémon Clinic, and even Janet from Rustboro City. All of the letters contain words of support and apologies for not being there to cheer May on in person. Meanwhile, Brock studies the guidebook that the receptionist gave May. As in the Rubello Town Contest, which went by the Grand Festival Rules, different Pokémon are used in different rounds and a tournament following the Appeal Rounds.

Outside, Team Rocket decides to pull yet another scam. This time, James dresses up like Norman again while Jessie dresses as his manager. James does various poses as Norman and one kid asks for his autograph. “Norman” tells the crowd that he’ll be giving Pokémon Counseling to anyone. The kid who wanted the autograph asks Jessie is she’s Norman’s mom so she gets mad at him and screams that she is his manager. A crowd swarms around them…

May leads Caroline and the others outside for some air as a Houndoom and a Zigzagoon practice with their trainers. May lets out all five of her Pokémon which Caroline calls a wonderful collection. May tells her that Beautifly won her first Contest for her. While May trains, Ash decides to continue to tame Snorunt’s Ice Beam. Snorunt fires off the attack and it starts to go everywhere but ends up freezing Ash. Nearby, the trainer with his Zigzagoon throws a Pokéblock for it to catch but Munchlax jumps in the way and eats it. May scolds it and apologizes to the trainer while Max pulls out a block of May’s Pink Surprise. Munchlax falls asleep promptly after eating it.

A little ways over, Drew watches the scene with Roselia. May notices him and they greet each other. Trying to outdo each other once more, Drew finally shuts May up with another rose. Just then, Harley walks by and spots May. At first, May and the others are a bit skeptical about Harley given his scheme in Izabe but Harley seems genuinely ecstatic to see May again. He begs for forgiveness for his evilness. May forgives him and then realizes that he has yet to meet Drew. She introduces the two leading to Harley going on and on about he he’s heard a lot about Drew and looks forward to facing him sometime. Drew stands frozen in shock as Harley rambles; Harley eventually takes out his camera and snaps a picture of May - again. He leaves and then, once out of earshot, vows to get revenge for May defeating him.

Meanwhile, “Norman” is "examining" various trainer’s Pokémon, telling them their stats and how well they’re doing, and "temporarily checking" them inside (but actually caging them). As they’re doing that with some kid’s Espeon, Harley passes by and seems pretty interested ... but then realizes what a pathetic joke it is.

While May shows off Beautifly’s Silver Wind, Harley comes back and praises her about it. He tells her that he would never take advantage of her and that it will be a competition to remember. Drew comes over and tells Harley that his advice is horrible but Harley denies it and says that he got it from the Petalburg Gym Leader. Harley shows everyone a “signed poster” which triggers Max and May’s suspicions because the handwriting is different than they remember. Harley leads them over to where he got the poster.

Ash and the others creep through the crowd and then confront “Norman and his manager.” May tells Beautifly to use Silver Wind which knocks off their costumes and the tent concealing the cages. With their scam revealed, Jessie, James and Meowth begin to make their getaway in their new “Blade Runner” machine. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and the machine breaks. The cages of Pokémon fall back to the ground as Team Rocket blasts off; Beautifly helps the Pokémon land safely. Harley tells May that her Silver Wind was amazing and that she could get through the preliminaries with just that one move. May decides to listen to him and only use Silver Wind.

The next day, the Grand Festival begins. The Zigzagoon from earlier uses a Shadow Ball to start things off. Robert and his Milotic complete their Appeals with a score of 98 out of 100. Drew and Roselia get 95 with their Petal Dance attack. Harley and Cacturne receive 84 for their fast Bullet Seed. Finally, May’s turn comes up. She releases Beautifly with sparkles from the Pokéball. She has the Pokémon use Silver Wind. Truthfully to himself, Harley thinks May has no chance to pass through but she gets 88 - better than him. The results come back and Robert got 1st. Drew was placed 3rd, and May got through at 48th out of 64. The Grand Festival has just begun. How will it end?