Having made it through the preliminaries of the Grand Festival in Slateport City, May takes in her Pokémon for check-ups. Nurse Joy completes the process and gives them back to May in top condition. As May says thanks, Brock says that he needs a check-up. Unfortunately for him, Nurse Joy doesn’t do check-ups on humans. May leaves Brock at the counter feeling deserted and heads for the door just as Harley runs up. He asks if they can practice together for the next round, to which May heartily accepts.
Outside, Drew heals his Pokémon with Super Potions as Brock reminds May that she is to use two Pokémon in the main finals with the first round using just one and then the second being Double Battles. On the beach, lots of trainers train their Pokémon for the competition, including a Swampert, Chansey, Raichu, Hitmontop, Espeon, Marill, Shedinja, Aipom, Trapinch, Illumise, and Sandshrew. Ash also continues to train Snorunt’s Ice Beam. Max lines up pop cans as targets for Snorunt as Ash orders an Ice Beam. Snorunt sneezes before it can launch the attack and the Beam heads for a Swalot. A man jumps in the way and it freezes him instead.
Ash has Torkoal melt the ice and it cries as Ash apologizes to the man. Instead of getting angry, the man compliments Snorunt and says that he thinks Ash will be using it in the Festival. Ash quickly corrects him and says that he’s only cheering on a friend. The man introduces himself properly as Anthony and his Swalot. Ash looks up Swalot in his Pokédex and then asks if Anthony made it to the finals.
Sadly, Anthony tells Ash that he won’t be in the Finals because he lost his Contest Pass and all five of his Ribbons when he showed them to three people the previous day. As he tells the story, he and Ash look out over the beach to see a Shuckle, Voltorb, Dragonite, Houndour, Electrode, Lickitung, Snorlax, Heracross, Donphan, Skarmory, Pidgeotto, Exeggutor, Psyduck, Ninetales, and Poliwhirl training while a man chases his Hitmontop. Ash agrees to help Anthony find his Ribbons.
Meanwhile, Jessie basks in the glory of finally successfully stealing Ribbons and being able to enter the Grand Festival and become famous James asks why Jessie needs to be famous to which he gets a reply from Jessie that she would be on magazine covers, set fashion trends, be treated as royalty, and even get a recording contract whether she could sing or not! However, James reminds her that she must win the Grand Festival first. Meowth comments that he’d rather steal things while James looks something up on his laptop. He tells Jessie that if she won with Anthony’s Ribbons, the face on the magazine covers would be Anthony’s too.
Back at the arena, May announces that she’ll be using Beautifly in the next round, along with another Pokémon that she hasn’t decided yet. She asks Harley which one to choose as Combusken, Bulbasaur, and Skitty cheer and Munchlax sleeps. She decides to have them take turns. Before she begins practice, she asks Harley is she can use all of them and Harley tells her that it’s not a problem.
Brock asks if May’s sure about Beautifly. She responds that Silver Wind got her this far and calls up Skitty first. As Skitty runs up, Drew watches from nearby with Masquerain and Roselia. May tells Skitty to use Assist and it produces a Fire Spin. She calls for another Assist and it conjures up a Silver Wind. Harley compliments Skitty’s Assist and tells May that she could make it through the next round with just that alone. May argues that she can’t know what attack will come up but Harley tells her that she can’t be penalized for that and that any Pokémon is fine to use. May decides that she will use Skitty for the first round of the Finals to which Caroline and Drew think is a risky strategy.
Meanwhile, Ash and Anthony continue to search for Anthony’s Ribbons and Pass. More trainers continue to practice with their Pokémon - Sealeo, Solrock, Whismur, Makuhita, and Haunter - all unaware of the crime being committed. Max runs up with help in the form of Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny tells Anthony that if he reports the crime, he can still compete but Anthony rejects the suggestion because without the Ribbons, he won’t be able to do his best. They took so long and such hard work to earn that competing without them wouldn’t be right. Max suggests that they check everyone that competes to see who doesn’t match the picture on their Pass.
Later, the first round of the Finals begins with fireworks. Vivian announces to the crowd that the 247 original participants have been narrowed to 64. Watching from their homes are Savannah and Sandra, Kelly and Grumpig, Erika and Joshua, Dr. Abbey and her Delcatty (Johnny), and Norman with Slakoth, Vigoroth, Slaking, and Kenny. Vivian continues her speech that one of the 64 competitors will win the coveted Ribbon Cup, and then begins to introduce the Judges. First off is Raoul Contesta - the Head Judge and the Pokémon Contest Director. Second is Sukizo - Head of the Pokémon Fan Club. Finally are three Nurse Joy’s who have completed check-ups on all competing Pokémon. From the stands, Brock flirts with the Nurse Joy’s as Caroline questions him about being okay.
Inside, May frantically searches for something as Harley walks up. He assumes that she is looking for Drew but she corrects him and tells him that she is looking for the thief of Anthony’s Contest Ribbons and Pass. Harley dramatically states that he hates the fact that there is deceit around them. A short ways away, Jessie dresses up in an Anthony costume and James and Meowth continue to have their doubts about the plan.
The first round of the competition begins with a trainer and his Ninetales. He runs out really fast, releases the Pokémon and orders a Flamethrower. Harley’s turn comes up second. He releases a Banette and Vivian says that the Ghost Pokémon dropped the temperature 25 degrees. Harley orders a Will-O-Wisp from Banette followed by a Thunder which goes straight up and comes back down on itself. Instead of being hurt, Banette just laughs. The Judges score it an 89. Other Pokémon compete a receive various scores: an Alakazam gets 80; a Vaporeon gets 78; a Makuhita gets 90; a Sunflora gets 72; an Electrode gets 86; and a Lickitung gets 88.
Vivian announces that the next person is the 58th place finisher from the preliminaries - Anthony! Jessie starts to run down the hall where the real Anthony, Officer Jenny, Ash, and Pikachu await her. They confront her before she reaches the stage and Anthony has Swalot use Swallow. After swishing Jessie around for a while and pulling off her costume, Swalot uses Spit Up to release Jessie, back in her Team Rocket uniform. Officer Jenny approaches Jessie saying that she is under arrest for theft. Jessie starts to pull out a Pokémon but James and Meowth stop her and flee the scene.
Anthony heads out onto the stage and sends in Swalot. Up in the stands, Ash’s friends compliment him on helping Anthony. Swalot starts the round off with a Sludge Bomb and a Bullet Seed with amazing accuracy. To finish it off, Swalot Swallows the attacks to make a clean finish. His score: 82.
May’s turn comes up soon after Anthony’s and she releases Skitty. She has it use Assist several times in a row, getting Razor Leaf, Fire Spin, Vine Whip, String Shot, and Silver Wind. Sukizo calls it “remarkable!” May calls for another Assist and it gets an attack that May has never used before: Solarbeam. In the stands, Caroline thinks that it is Munchlax’s attack while Munchlax sleeps on her lap. One more Assists gets a Petal Dance and Skitty gets confused. Inside, Harley praises himself for his devious plan, which Drew overhears. Back outside, the crowd seems to like Skitty’s craziness and, though she doesn’t want to, May orders a Doubleslap. Skitty, being confused, hits itself and it snaps out of confusion. To finish off the round, May has Skitty use Blizzard to create a pillar of ice upon which it lands at the very top. Her score: 79.
Once back inside, May apologizes to Harley about not sticking to one move. Drew tells her that she needn’t have done so and reveals Harley’s plot. May asks him why he would do such a thing; he screams that he wanted revenge for the Purika Contest. Harley leaves and Drew tells May that she should trust in her Pokémon and do what her heart says is right.
To finish off the first round, the top three winners from the preliminary round compete. From third place, Drew starts off with Masquerain. He orders a Hidden Power from the Pokémon. The energy balls circle Masquerain as Masquerain uses Bubble. To finish off, Drew has Masquerain send the bubbles soaring into the stands with Silver Wind. The Judges love it and award him all 100 points. When Robert’s turn comes up, he too receives 100.
The top 32 competitors are revealed and Robert, Drew, Harley, and May all made it. The pairings are revealed and May must face Harley in the next round. On the beach that night, Jessie decides to move to Plan C since Plan A failed. Meowth inquires about Plan B to which Jessie screeches that she’ll go through the whole alphabet to become Top Coordinator.
Next day, May and Harley’s battle begins. May sends in Beautifly and Bulbasaur against Harley’s Cacturne and Banette. She says that she wants a fair match but Harley objects. Since Harley wants to play unfair, May decides to play that game herself...
