We’ve just left off on May and Harley about to face each other in the first battle round, Beautifly and Bulbasaur against Cacturne and Banette. Harley goes first with Banette’s Screech and Cacturne’s Bullet Seed, which already throws both of May’s Pokemon off guard, losing about 20% HP. May’s Mom is a bit embarrassed, but then when Bulbasaur uses Vine Whip, Cacturne and Banette try and dodge it, but Bulbasaur is quick and catches them both by the leg. While they’re both immobile, Beautifly does 20% damage with Silver Wind as well. After that, Bulbasaur throws them both, sending them spinning in circles while Beautifly uses yet another Silver Wind. When they slow down, they wind up confused, and Harley lost a little more than half the entire HP bar. Bulbasaur then goes for another Vine Whip, but Banette quickly counters with Torment, not allowing it to repeat its move. Bulbasaur backs off, withdrawing its vines. Cacturne then goes for a Pin Missile, but May has Beautifly quickly sweep down and lift Bulbasaur out of the way. However, Banette’s Will-O’-Wisp easily gets them no matter how high or far they may be, losing May almost half her HP bar as well. However, while Beautifly does a Petal Dance on Bulbasaur, it somehow pops all of Banette’s blue flames from its last attack! Vivian and the crowd are pretty impressed with her strategy. As Harley is gradually losing bits of his bar, he tries a last-effort Pin Missile from Cacturne, but fails in this mess. Finally, with Bulbasaur still on Beautifly, they use a combo of Silver Wind and Razor Leaf, knocking both opponents out at 1:57 seconds. This round goes to May.

Harley angrily leaves the hall, sulks into the dressing room and pretends not to notice Drew. But Drew can’t help but comment on Harley’s deserving what he got, and that he’s actually going to beat May without having a dirty reputation.

TR are planning their next scheme again, so they use James’ laptop to look up the top coordinator like they found Tonpei. Sure enough, the closest they could find is Robert, who according to the database sports Milotic and Claydol. Speak of the devil, they just see Robert walk out of the hall during the little break. Meowth quickly fires his net, but Robert is quick and stops it with his bare hands. Just then, Ash comes out of the door with Pikachu and Snorunt, ready for training. Noticing TR and the net, he sends a T-bolt to break the net. As they say their motto, they also complement Robert on his Milotic, but he just laughs knowing what they’re up to. As TR sends out Cacnea and Dustox, Ash decides to finally put Snorunt’s Ice Beam to use. However, it barely comes out. Robert then points out to Ash that Snorunt’s just having a bit of energy shortage from training as well as before, from the looks of it, so it’s possible that’s why it’s having trouble. Then, Robert goes up and gives Snorunt a bit of consoling about controlling it’s Ice Beam, with Ash and Pikachu’s support as well, and Meowth’s mockery. Pin Missile and Psybeam are just about Pikachu, but Snorunt pushes him out of the way and takes the hits instead! Amidst all the smoke and dust from the attack, Snorunt begins to glow... and evolves into Glalie! Robert congratulates Ash, and TR look threatened by Glalie’s angry look. Finally, Robert gives Ash the advice that Glalie are known to be well coordinated, and should have no problem controlling attacks. With that, he has it use Ice Beam sending TR off in a block of ice. Ash hugs Glalie, and thanks Robert for all his help.

Now May is up against Tonpei (Swalot kid from before), and there are 30 seconds left in the battle. May has half her HP left, while Tonpei has about 30%, and it’s Bulbasaur and Combusken against Swalot and Pinsir. Combusken tries to Peck Swalot, but Pinsir (who was hiding UNDER Swalot) gets out and uses its claws to shut Combusken’s beak. But either way, before anyone can make another move, time runs out, and since May has more HP left, the round is hers.

Back in the room, Tonpei congratulates May and stuff, thanks Ash and co for helping him with his previous problem, and moves on. Anyway, there should be about 8 trainers left now... and to May’s luck, she’s placed against Drew for the quarterfinals! Everyone’s shocked, but she’d have had to face him eventually...

This time May uses Combusken and Skitty, while Drew uses Roselia and... Flygon! Everyone’s surprised because they never knew of him having a Flygon, but Drew says he was saving it specifically. As Vivian signals the start, Roselia uses Petal Dance, having Flygon zoom through it. May decides to try her luck with Skitty’s good ol’ Assist, and uses Fire Spin! This stops the petals, and distracts Flygon for a bit as well. While Flygon is still airborne, Combusken goes for a Sky Uppercut, but Flygon is pretty fast and dodges. With that, Combusken falls over, right on Skitty, with Flygon hovering over them both! Things don’t look too good... but anyway, Flygon then lets out a Flamethrower and Roselia a Solar Beam. As they close in on May’s Pokemon, Ash yells to have them dodge it, but instead she has Combusken counter with Fire Spin. As it uses all its might, the Fire Spin cancels both attacks! Both May and Drew lose HP, but Drew loses a bit more. This was quite a tough move, so May deserves some applause. May then tries another one of Combusken’s Fire Spins, but Flygon counters with Sandstorm. In this whole mess of whirly-elemental attacks, Skitty aims at Roselia with Blizzard. However, the Sandstorm hits, and Drew uses the same trick having Flygon sweep down and grab Roselia, taking it out of the way. May’s side takes a lot of damage, now left with about 40%. One minute left...

Skitty’s Assist this time sends a Vine Whip, which they both easily dodge. However, she can still make use of it. Having Combusken jump really high, Skitty holds out the vines, and Combusken jumps from the tip right at Flygon! However, back on the ground Roselia tries to distract with Magical Leaf, but Skitty stops them with Blizzard. Flygon then tries to stop the Blizzard with Flamethrower, but Combusken, still in the air, absorbs the fire and heads towards Flygon. Engulfed in flames, Combusken goes for a fiery Tackle, hitting Flygon square-on! This stunt gets a lot of attention from the crowd, and even Norman at home, and Drew takes a bit more damage. But, it’s not over yet. Combusken and Skitty take a break from fancy stuff and just use Quick Attack and Tackle, since Drew’s Pokemon have just taken a bit of damage... but Roselia stops them both with Stun Spore. While paralyzed, Flygon hits them both with Steel Wing... and just as the clock runs out, May has also ran out of HP. This round is Drew’s.

May sighs, now that it’s over... but she is relieved to have made it this far, and everyone else is proud of her. That, and it was a pretty intense battle. Top eight is pretty impressive for someone’s first festival. However, Harley is really embarrassed and jealous and angrily sulking in a corner, that after all his scheming carefully to beat May and failing, Drew beat her just like that. Hopefully he learned from that... anyway, May roots for Drew for the time being...

Drew is now in the final round, facing Robert’s Milotic and Claydol, using Flygon and Masquerain. Robert has about 60% left and Drew barely has 10%, and there are 30 seconds left in the battle. Milotic sends a Twister at them, and before they can to anything Claydol pops out from the Twister and uses Hyper Beam. Finally, Milotic lays the smack on them both with Iron Tail. Flygon and Masquerain both fall, and the battle—as well as the Festival—goes to Robert.

Confetti fills the stage, the crowd cheers as Vivian awards him the cup. May is a little disappointed that Drew lost, but at least he got pretty far as well. Plus, who knows how she would have been against Robert. Anyway, to end the festival, Vivian announces a conclusion party in the evening.

May’s enjoying herself later that evening, but then notices in the distance something that looks a bit like fireworks. Then she turns around, and notices Drew outside the area, training with Roselia and Masquerain. She’s a little surprised that he’s not participating, but apparently he’d rather be training. That Robert is really an experienced Coordinator and one tough beast, and Drew wants to compete in next year’s festival as well. He knows Robert will be there, since he’s there every year, and his current challenge is to beat Robert. In fact, he did have a run-in with him back at the Slateport Contest Hall. Robert has been the undefeated top Coordinator for years now, and now Drew wants that position. May freezes for a moment as Drew walks off, thinking to herself... but then Ash and friends interrupt with a few snacks.

They then notice Drew in the distance, and ask if she knows what he’s up to. As her Mom comments that her friend Drew was amazing, she gets a little embarrassed and just says that she definitely wants to try for the Grand Festival again next year. She’s found her ambition, and that is to be the top Coordinator. Her mother and friends all with her luck... then Caroline remembers that Ash also had something, and wishes him luck too. That’s right, it’s time to head over to Ever Grande City for the Hoenn League!

Thanks to Zak for writing this Guide for Us