This week's episode starts out on a harbour, our heroes Ash, May, Brock, Max and Pikachu are standing their after just arriving from getting off the boat. They move further down the seafront and onto the market, they venture through until suddenly May spots a poster for a local Pokémon contest which brightens up the whole gang until from behind them Ash declares that he is going to enter too.

Over at the contest hall Ash and May are signing up pondering over which of their Pokémon to enter, Ash finally comes to the conclusion that he will be entering Sceptile for this contest whereas May will be using Eevee for the appealing stages, when they promise each other to make it a good contest!

Outside the contest hall Team Rocket are eyeing up all the entries for the contest with their evil eyes. Growlithe, Gloom, Charmeleon, Seel and Nidoran Female are all standing outside with their trainers unaware that Team Rocket plan to steal them and give them to Giovanni, their boss.

Meanwhile the show inside has begun, the announcer is introducing the judging team which consists of Nurse Joy from the local PokéCenter. She stands up and presents the ribbon which is up for grabs, a rather huge golden sun shaped badge with the pink ribbon looks a very worthy prize for the victor of the contest. Brock however has different ideas and runs over to Joy, gets onto his knees and starts to admit his love for her until Max corrects him, grabs his ear and pulls him away. After all the commotion is over the announcer takes his seat and starts to introduce the trainers for the appeal round.

First up is May, the announcer introduces her as one of the top finishers in the Grand Festival which is followed by a huge cheer from the crowd as May takes the stage. Max is very proud of the ovation she has got from the audience which she answers by sending out her Eevee. Eevee's appeal starts with an array of dig attacks, much to Ash's amazement and the judge's confusion; however everything falls into place when Eevee launches several Shadow Ball's into the sky from the multiple holes before jumping out and firing a further Shadow Ball into the previous ones setting off a chain for firework-like explosions. The judges love it and the crows do also, chanting her name as she runs off the stage with a huge grin on her face, waving to the audience.

The rest of the appeals get underway, the first guy using a Magikarp which just flops around on the floor, next up is a Gloom, however it's sleep powder attack hits the judges which knocks it out of the tournament. A Charmeleon now does it's appeal, using Flamethrower it makes a ring of fire in the air which it then jumps through, finally a Seel does it's appeal with Ice Beam, creating a statue with a figure at the top. The only coordinator left to do their appeal is Ash, the crowd greet him in the same manner as they did with May, his top 8 position from the Pokémon League has helped with his. Ash uses Pikachu for his appeal, Pikachu starts out with a Quick Attack and begins bouncing around the stage at huge speeds, Pikachu then uses Thunderbolt as it is running and makes rings of electric which with Iron Tail Pikachu begins to bounce around the arena. Pikachu does this twice more and keeps up the motivation of the rings with Iron Tail some more as the crowd and judges watch on in total awe.

The announcer takes the stage; he thanks the trainers for their wonderful appeals and begins to introduce the two finalists. First up is May, who will be facing Ash which both trainers seem excited about as they turn to face each other, both definitely ready for their up and coming battle.

Outside Ash is standing with Sceptile facing May and Combusken, the two Pokémon come face to face with a spark in between them, anxious about beating the other in the battle which is due to start. Brock notes that May has the type advantage however Max is not so optimistic as Sceptile is much more powerful, a higher level and a more trained Pokémon. All of a sudden from afar a boat with a Magikarp on it starts to move over, Pokémon food starts to fly over towards all the nearby Pokémon. Hoppip, Pidgey and Noctowl grab a bite in the air, we see Team Rocket on board throwing the food out to the Pokémon as Meowth says how it is only bait and part of their. Nidoran Female, Growlithe and Oddish all help themselves along with a fair few other Pokémon until James aims the cannon on the front of the ship at the Pokémon and launches at net out across the Pokémon and grabs them so Team Rocket can pull them aboard.

The gang run up swiftly behind the ship without Jessie, James and Meowth seeing them, until they whip off their disguises and start to say their motto. A second net is fired and Pikachu is grabbed, Ash and May react straight away and run over with Sceptile and Combusken. Combusken smashes the place where the nets hung from with a crushing Mega Kick attack, shortly before Sceptile jumps up and whips the nets over towards the trainers so that the Pokémon can be freed much easier. Ash orders a Thunderbolt from Pikachu, May wants Combusken to attack too with a Fire Spin but something is wrong, Combusken is exhausted and just falls to his knees. May tries to help it up but Combusken starts to glow a bright white, Combusken is evolving! It grows much taller than May before the light fades and Blaziken is left standing where Combusken once stood much to May's delight.

Team Rocket are having none of this and try to catch Blaziken with a net but it just smashes through it before crushing the boat with a well placed Blaze Kick, sending Team Rocket flying off into the horizon. May runs over and thanks it for pulling off the amazing Blaze Kick; Ash gets the Pokédex entry from Blaziken and then redirects his mind towards the contest battle which has just got a lot more interesting.

Back inside the contest hall the climax of the event is about to get underway, Ash and May take the stage, wish each other good luck before the battle and shake hands before running off to take their places. The clock starts to tick down and Ash sends out Sceptile, May replies instantly by sending out her Blaziken to the battle field, the two Pokémon run and jump into the air, summersault and kick off from the ceiling to land back by their trainers in a synchronised fashion.

Ash tries a slam from Sceptile but Blaziken blocks it with it's arms so he tries a Bullet Seed, but Blaziken back flips out of the way so Ash tries again by using Leaf Blade but Blaziken's swift reactions allow it to lean back and dodge every Leaf Blade that is thrown at it causing Ash's points to fall. The judges are very impressed with this and compliment the trainers not long before the crowd starts to cheer to encourage more battling, while this is happening Ash realises Sceptile has the Speed advantage so he gets it to back Blaziken against the wall and uses this advantage to get a direct hit with a Slam attack taking off a third of May's points.

Ash attacks again with a Bullet Seed, but Blaziken disintegrates it with a flamethrower attack which also hits Sceptile, damaging Ash's points yet again. May tries a Sky Uppercut on for size but Sceptile's superior speed allows it to dodge with ease, doing more damage to May's points than Ash's. An accurate Leaf Blade from Sceptile scores a direct and powerful hit on Blaziken which is followed by a Slam attack damaging May's points even more. The match is at a tie, the crowd are loving it and Max, Brock and Pikachu are watching on in total awe, Ash tries a Bullet Seed attack, but it is easily blocked by Blaziken however it is knocked back a little bit so Ash again uses this to quickly jump in and Slam Blaziken again, but before he can follow up with a Leaf Blade Blaziken jumps out of the way and uses Fire Punch which clashes with Leaf Blade rendering both attacks impartial. Blaze Kick from Blaziken and a quickly acted Slam clash in mid air as the clock ticks down to just 1 minute remaining, and both Pokémon fall back down to the ground exhausted.

Sceptile sits up after catching its breath and Overgrowth starts to surround Sceptile, making him glow with a green colour. The same happens to Blaziken too, but this is Blaze and makes Blaziken glow red so now both Pokémon are super pumped and ready to win this battle. Sceptile charges in with a Leaf Blade as Blaziken runs in charging a Sky Uppercut the two clash in the air to no success, the same happens again Blaze Kick and Slam until the two Pokémon use their most powerful attacks. Blaziken fires an Overheat at Sceptile, while Sceptile replies with Solarbeam them both colliding in mid air, exploding with much smoke engulfing both Pokémon, but before we can see who has come out victorious the clock ticks down to zero and the episode finishes with everyone looking on in total amazement.

Thanks to grem for writing this for us