Ash and friends have arrived in Terracotta Town, where they will be separating once more after a new set of adventures has come to its end. May and Max will be catching the boat back to the Hoenn Region, Brock will go back to Pewter City, and Ash will be returning home to Pallet Town. As they walk through Terracotta Town together, they notice that there is a Festival going on and May quickly spots a poster for a Pokémon Contest. She says she’s going to enter it and, to everyone’s surprise, Ash announces he will and that since it’s not an official Contest, he won’t need a Pass.
At the Contest Hall, the registration clerk tells Ash and May that they need only fill out the form of registration to enter the Contest. Ash says out loud as he writes that he’ll use Pikachu for the Appeal Round and Sceptile for the Battle Round, while May comments she’ll use Eevee and Combusken. Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and Meowth spy on Coordinators from the bushes and plot to steal all of their Pokémon.
The registration clerk moves to the stage as the Contest opening draws near. Nurse Joy, at one of two Judge podiums, says that the winner of the Contest will receive the Terracotta Town Medal as their prize. The emcee wastes no time in commencing the Contest with none other than May’s appeal. He announces that she was in the Top 4 at the Indigo Plateau Grand Festival as she runs out on stage and releases Eevee.
May tells Eevee to use Dig and it begins making tunnels all over the field. Nurse Joy comments that the holes are nice, but wonders what May will do with them. May commands a Shadow Ball and multiples of them begin coming out of the holes, forming a circle in the air. Eevee launches one last one and it hits the center of the circle, creating beautiful fireworks in the air. As the Appeal Rounds continue, the Judges aren’t very impressed by the displays and finally Ash’s turn comes up.
The emcee announces that Ash was in the Top 8 at the Hoenn League Tournament as he sends in Pikachu and orders it to use Quick Attack. As it zooms around the field, Ash tells it to add in a Thunderbolt and it creates spinning circles of electricity. Ash then tells Pikachu to use Iron Tail and the spinning circle begins flying around the field. Making two more, the three circles bounce off each other and create a beautiful display to make the crowd cheer.
All of the Coordinators stand out on the field as the emcee prepares to announce the results of the Appeal Round. He announces that May holds the lead and will be moving on, and that Ash, being in second, will be her opponent. Ash and May cheer and then face each other, determined not to lose.
Outside the Contest Hall during the break between rounds, Ash and May send out Sceptile and Combusken who immediately begin glaring at each other. Just then, a boat with a Magikarp on the deck begins driving around on the grass. Three people, obviously Jessie, James, and Meowth, begin throwing Pokémon food about, trying to attract the attention of them all. The Pokémon come running and quickly get caught in a net. Ash and friends run up and confront the trio, who pull off their disguises and reveal themselves as Team Rocket, saying their motto as usual.
James fires a net at Pikachu and manages to catch it, putting it underneath the hanging net of the other Pokémon. They begin to leave but May orders a Mega Kick from Combusken prompting a “Bigfoot!” comment from Team Rocket as Combusken kicks down the nets. Sceptile uses Pound to send the nets towards the congregation of Coordinators. Each Coordinator catches their own Pokémon and Pikachu is freed once more. Pikachu shocks Team Rocket and May tells Combusken to attack, but it doesn’t. It slowly falls to its knees, apparently in pain. May watches anxiously as Combusken starts to glow and grow in size. When the glow fades, a Blaziken stands in Combusken’s place. Blaziken uses a Blaze Kick attack to blow up Team Rocket’s boat and send them blasting off once again. Ash looks up at Blaziken and scans it with his Pokédex, commenting that he wants to fight it.
Back in the Contest Hall, Ash and May meet in the center of the field and shake hands, then dispersing to their respective sides of the field. Ash releases Sceptile as May sends out her Blaziken and they both run towards the center, springing up in the air. They bounce off the ceiling and land where they started, ready to go. They launch into the air once again and Sceptile uses Pound, but Blaziken dodges it. Sceptile next tries a Bullet Seed and again misses. Sceptile’s third attempt at an attack is Leaf Blade, but it too misses as Blaziken uses Matrix-style dodges. Up on the screen, Ash’s points slowly degrade and Nurse Joy comments that missed attacks count for negative points.
Ash tells Sceptile that it needs to be more accurate and has it back Blaziken into a wall, then using Pound to send Blaziken flying back to the other side of the field. Sceptile moves in for another attack, but Blaziken uses Fire Spin and smashes Sceptile away. Blaziken tries to use Sky Uppercut, but misses, giving Sceptile the opportunity to use Leaf Blade, depleting May’s points halfway. At 2 minutes and 50 seconds to go, the match is pretty even.
Sceptile uses Bullet Seed once more and slowly pushes the blocking Blaziken backwards. They meet in the center once more in a Leaf Blade and Sky Uppercut smash. Blaziken uses Blaze Kick as Sceptile uses Pound and neither side gains any ground. The clock passes one minute and both Pokémon are extremely tired out. As they fall to their knees on their respective sides of the field, both trainers encourage their Pokémon to get up. Sceptile suddenly starts to glow in its Overgrow ability, used only once before in the Petalburg Gym as a Grovyle. Sceptile stands up, recharged from Overgrow and ready to go once more.
On the other side of the field, Blaziken starts to glow red, using its Blaze Ability. It, too, stands up recharged and ready to go. And once again, the two fully evolved starter Pokémon meet in the middle in a Leaf Blade and Sky Uppercut frenzy. Both trainers’ points are nearing total depletion as they launch their ultimate attacks simultaneously: Overheat and Solarbeam. The attacks create a giant explosion and everybody watches tentatively as they wonder who will win the match. The smoke from the explosion continues to spew in the air and neither Pokémon appears. Who will emerge from the blast conscious and victorious? Stay tuned!
