Rhapsody in Drew

AG123   EP397 決戦！グランドフェスティバル③！！ Decisive Battle! Grand Festival (3)!!

First broadcast Japan April 7, 2005 United States February 25, 2006

English themes Opening Unbeatable Ending

Japanese themes Opening ポケモン シンフォニック メドレー Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 ②

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 大山和弘Kazuhiro Ōyama Assistant director ながはまのりひこNorihiko Nagahama Animation director 志村泉Izumi Shimura No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de

Rhapsody in Drew (Japanese:決戦！グランドフェスティバル③！！Decisive Battle! Grand Festival (3)!!) is the 123rd episode ofPokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 397th episode of thePokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 7, 2005, and in the United States on February 25, 2006.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

May and Harley face off in the main competition of the Grand Festival! It's Harley's Banette and Cacturne against May's Beautifly and Bulbasaur. May's team gets in the first hits, but Harley makes a comeback and it takes some quick thinking for May to beat Harley and move onto the semifinals.

Elsewhere, Jessie wants to impersonate a coordinator and sneak into the competition. Team Rocket decides to kidnap Robert, but Ash interrupts them as they make their move. Snorunt is hit by Team Rocket's Pokémon and evolves into a Glalie! Jessie thinks it's adorable, James thinks it's creepy, but either way, Glalie easily sends them packing.

Back on the stage, May defeats Anthony's Pinsir and Combusken, but her next opponent will be an even greater challenge: Drew! And Drew has brought a Flygon he trained especially for the competition. Flygon and Roselia are up against Combusken and Skitty. It's a close fight but Roselia hits May's Pokémon with Stun Spore, followed by a Steel Wing from Flygon, and takes the win.

Now it's Drew and Robert in the finals. To May's surprise, Robert earns the victory and wins the Festival. But Drew isn't upset—that night, even though there's a party, he goes right back to training. Impressed by his example, May sets her sights on next year's Grand Festival!

Plot

Harley starts hisbattle withMay by having hisBanette useScreech, while hisCacturne usesBullet Seed. Both hit their marks and lower May's points. May hasBulbasaur attack withVine Whip; Harley's Pokémon try to dodge it, but Bulbasaur grabs onto their legs. Beautifly usesSilver Wind that lowers Harley's points. Bulbasaur releases its grip on Cacturne and Banette, which sends them both spinning. Beautifly whips up another Silver Wind, accelerating the spinning and leaving both of Harley's Pokémon dizzy. The dazzling combination earns high praise from the judges as Harley's points fall below half. May calls for Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip again, but Banette counters withTorment, halting the attack cold.Ash is confused why Bulbasaur stopped, leavingMax to explain that Torment blocks your opponent from using the same move twice in a row, leavingBrock to comment that May must now mix things up.

Cacturne firesPin Missile at Bulbasaur, but Beautifly carries Bulbasaur high into the air, leaving Harley's attack a miss. Banette firesWill-O-Wisp, which manages to score a hit on both of May's Pokémon, but Bulbasaur usesPetal Dance, which combines with Will-O-Wisp to create sparkling dust all over the field, costing Harley more points. Cacturne retaliates with another Pin Missile which begins shredding the petals, but Bulbasaur and Beautifly are unharmed, and they retaliate with a Silver Wind and Razor Leaf combination that knocks out both Cacturne and Banette. Harley's points drop to zero as a result, and May moves on to the next stage. As he storms off in defeat, Harley tellsDrew that he's probably happy to see him lose to May. Drew responds that May was just better than him, and Harley declares that he will be happy once he sees both of them lose.

Meanwhile,Jessie is still set on becomingTop Coordinator even without anyRibbons.James suggests thatRobert is their best chance, and they watch as he steps outside before ambushing him with a rope cannon. Ash arrives and hasPikachu useThunderbolt to free Robert from the rope.Team Rocket recites theirmotto before calling outCacnea andDustox to attack.Snorunt tries to useIce Beam. but it fails while everyone laughs at it, with James calling it a "Nice Beam". Robert gives Snorunt some encouragement and advises it to focus its energy in its head to be able to aim Ice Beam properly. Cacnea uses Pin Missile and Dustox usesPsybeam towards Pikachu, but Snorunt jumps in front to take the hit and evolves intoGlalie. Ash scans Glalie with thePokédex. James and Meowth are unsettled by Glalie's fierce glare, but Jessie oddly finds Glalie beautiful. Robert suggests to Ash to test out Glalie's Ice Beam. Glalie follows suit, using Ice Beam to freeze Team Rocket and send them blasting off. Jessie is angered that her dreams of becoming Top Coordinator have been shattered yet again, to which Meowth sarcastically replies that if shereally wants something to be shattered to wait until they land.

In the second stage and with thirty seconds remaining,May's Combusken and Bulbasaur face off againstAnthony withSwalot andPinsir. Anthony has only one-fourths of his score while May still has half of hers. Combusken tries to usePeck but Pinsir emerges from Swalot's mouth to pinch Combusken's beak shut. Time runs out, but May has the most points remaining and moves on to the third stage. Anthony respectfully congratulates May on the win and wishes her luck in the next stage. The third stage match ups are soon revealed, and May will face off against Drew.

In the third stage, May chooses Combusken andSkitty while Drew selectsRoselia andFlygon. Brock and Max are stunned by Drew's newest Pokémon while Ash looks it up in his Pokédex. May is surprised to see a Flygon, and Drew remarks that this match is its debut appearance, stating he raised Flygon specifically to battle against May in the Grand Festival. Roselia begins with a sparkling Petal Dance while Flygon flies right through it to attack. Skitty counters withAssist which comes out asFire Spin and burns the opponents' combination. Combusken usesSky Uppercut but misses its target and falls back onto Skitty. Flygon usesFlamethrower and Roselia unleashes aSolar Beam towards their opponents while May has Combusken use Fire Spin to push the combined attacks away. The failure of his massive attack combination costs Drew serious points, putting May in the lead. Combusken uses Fire Spin again while Flygon counters withSandstorm which blows the attack away. Skitty aims aBlizzard, though Roselia jumps on top of Flygon to fly away and dodge it. May's points suffer from having both of her attacks fail.

Putting her trust in its unpredictability, May orders an Assist attack from Skitty, which turns into a Vine Whip, but it misses Flygon. Undeterred, May declares Vine Whip to be just what she needs, and orders Combusken use the Vine Whip to jump high into the air. Roselia calls for aMagical Leaf which Skitty blows away withBlizzard. Flygon uses Flamethrower, but it is exactly what May wanted to happen. May has Combusken dive into the flames towards Flygon and smashes it with Sky Uppercut.Caroline is overcome with joy at seeing her daughter work so well with Pokémon.Vivian gives May praise whileNorman watches fromPetalburg City with pride. However, with little time and Drew still holding the lead, May can only hope for a knockout to win the round. She calls for Skitty to useTackle and Combusken to useQuick Attack. Roselia replies with aStun Spore that hits andparalyses the pair. Flygon finishes the match off withSteel Wing. The five minutes is up, and Drew is declared the winner. May is upset by the loss but puts on a brave face as she checks on her Pokémon. The crowd begins cheering for May and her wonderful performance, though the applause infuriates Harley who declares that there is no justice in the world.

Drew faces Robert in the final stage, and he is losing by a lot of points.Milotic usesTwister whileClaydol rushes through the Twister and attacks Masquerain and Roselia withHyper Beam, before Milotic finished them off withIron Tail. With the win, Robert becomes a Top Coordinator and wins the covetedRibbon Cup. During the awards ceremony, May says to Drew that she's sorry he lost, but Drew isn't bothered by the loss and tells her that it seems to him there will always be someone better.

Later that night, an after-party takes place to celebrate the conclusion of theHoenn Grand Festival. May sits down after eating a lot, looks behind her and wonders where the flashing lights are coming from. She locates the source, and it is Drew continuing to practice his Contest techniques. Drew remarks that Robert is also training so no one will get ahead of him, hence why he became the Top Coordinator. Drew explains that if May wants to become a Top Coordinator, she has to keep practicing and getting better. He admits that he looks forward to the next Grand Festival and also expects May to be there. He promptly walks off, leaving May speechless. Ash offers May a vanilla ice cream cone but startles her in the process. Caroline realizes the pair were momentarily alone and suggests there might be a romantic connection. May sharply reminds her that she and Drew are just friends. She admits that Drew did give her something to consider however, admitting that she is planning on not giving up until she becomes a Top Coordinator. Caroline is very proud of her daughter's new ambition but reminds May that now she has to support Ash as he tries to become the nextHoenn League Champion.

Major events

• May wins her battle againstHarley and advances to the second round of theBattle Stage.
• Robert is revealed to own aClaydol.
• Ash'sSnoruntevolves intoGlalie and mastersIce Beam.
• May defeatsAnthony and advances to the quarterfinals.
• Drew also advances to the quarterfinals.
• Drew is revealed to have obtained aFlygon.
• Drew defeats May in the quarterfinals and advances to the semifinals.
• Drew and Robert defeat their opponents in the semifinals and advance to the finals.
• Robert defeats Drew in the finals, winning theHoenn Grand Festival.
• Robert receives theRibbon Cup and becomes aTop Coordinator.

For a list of all major events inPokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, please see thetimeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Glalie (Ash's)

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• May
• Brock
• Max
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy (×3)
• Norman
• Drew
• Harley
• Caroline
• Vivian Meridian
• Raoul Contesta
• Mr. Sukizo
• Anthony
• Robert
• Coordinators

Pokémon

Pokémon Trainer's Choice:Golem

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Chimecho (James's)
• Snorunt (Ash's; evolves)
• Glalie (Ash's; newly evolved; debut)
• Combusken (May's)
• Beautifly (May's)
• Skitty (May's)
• Bulbasaur (May's)
• Munchlax (May's)
• Dustox (Jessie's)
• Cacnea (James's)
• Roselia (Drew's)
• Masquerain (Drew's)
• Flygon (Drew's)
• Milotic (Robert's)
• Claydol (Robert's)
• Cacturne (Harley's)
• Banette (Harley's)
• Swalot (Anthony's)
• Pinsir (Anthony's)

Trivia

• This episode concludes the three-partHoenn Grand Festival arc.
• This is the last episode in whichDrew's Roselia keeps its Japanese voice in the Englishdub.
• The episode's English dub title is most likely a reference toGeorge Gershwin's famous compositionRhapsody in Blue.
• Advance Adventure,Ready Go!,OK!, and music fromMewtwo Strikes Back are used as background music.

Errors

• During thebattle betweenMay andHarley,Brock says that "Bulbasaur cannot useVine Whip forawhile now", afterBanette usesTorment. Torment only prevents a Pokémon from using the same move twice in a row.
• In one part of the episode, May says "Combusken, use jump!", which is not a move.
• After defeating Harley,Vivian Meridian says that May will be moving on to the semifinals, but in reality, she was moving on to the Top 16.
• WhenDrew is watching May and Harley's battle, the time counter goes from 4:01 to 3:00 to 3:59.

Dub edits

• In the original Japanese version, Banette andCacturne's eyes turn into X's after being spun around. In the English dub, their eyes were changed to sideways-facing arrows. This also occurs withCacnea whenTeam Rocket is blasted off.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

• Question: Trainers, what is the final Evolution ofGeodude?
• Choices:Dugtrio,Golem,Regirock
• Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Golem, you were right!

In other languages

This episode article is part ofProject Anime, aBulbapedia project that covers all aspects ofPokémon animation.

• Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire episodes
• Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
• Episodes storyboarded by Kazuhiro Ōyama
• Episodes directed by Norihiko Nagahama
• Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
• Grand Festival episodes
• Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon evolves
• Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon masters a move
• Episodes focusing on May
• Episodes focusing on Drew
• Episodes focusing on Harley