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Ash and co are heading for Rustboro City. Max comments that it isn't far anymore and when they head over a hill they notice a field with a building in the middle. Ash thinks they are in Rustboro and says hes going to head straight for the gym, but Max says Rustboro is on the other side of this field. Ás they walk along they notice various people who train their treat their pokemon with care and some train with them. Ash wonders what's going on and Max informs him that they're preparing for a Pokemon Contest. He points up to the sign on the building and it says Pokemon Contest. May is intrigued when she is suddenly bashed in the face by a Beautifly! She gets up from the ground and Beautifly flutters and lands on May's head as Ash checks it with his pokedex. May tries to shake it off but it won't go and Ash starts to laugh. Suddenly, a boy and a girl, along with a Venomoth run up. Brock sees her and begins to flirt, but Beautifly flutters from May's head and smashes itself down on Brock.

The girl became nervous and apologizes for her Beautifly's behavior. Max runs up and asks the girl if she plans to be in the contest with her Beautifly and she says she is. The boy then adds in that he and Venomoth will also compete. The girl then introduces herself as Janet and the boy as Chaz. Ash then asks what kind of competition it is and Janet explains that unlike normal contests that involve battling it out for victories, this is a Pokemon Ribbon Contest to see which Pokemon have the greatest looking attacks. May is very intrigued by this, and Janet and Chaz both show her their ribbons that they have already won. May is so excited and wants to sign up, so the 2 take them into the building.

Inside the building we also find Team Rocket. Jessie hands her qualification card to the attendant and tells her to sign her up. The attendant says the contest is full and Jessie becomes depressed by that. James suggests they try again next year, but he just annoys Jessie further. The attendant then says she may be able to squeeze Jessie in if it means that much to her, and she happily accepts the offer.

A little while later, Ash and co then enter and May tells the attendant she would like to sign up, but the attendant informs he that they can't possibly accept any more competitors, which makes May depressed. Janet asks her if they could sign up as her assistants and the attendant says that would be fine. Outside, Ash and co examine their assistant cards. May is still a little depressed at not being able to enter and she becomes more annoyed when Beautifly again lands on her head. Max then tells her she should be happy, as she'll still be able to be in the contest. May cheers up at this and Janet explains that as her assistant, May may come on stage with her and help show off Beautifly. Nearby, Chaz feeds his Venomoth. Brock walks up and Chaz explains that he made his own recipe for Pokemon food that helps a Pokemon's attacks look better. Brock decides to try some, and Chaz hands him some colored cubes.

He explains that he too makes Pokemon food while he takes a bite. Janet then walks up and explains to Brock that she and Chaz spend a lot of time making their Pokemon's attacks more beautiful then ever, and she explains that she has trained Beautifly to do a variety of attacks. Max looks at Beautifly and its wings glow and Max compliments on how well its wings looked like. It then starts flutter in circles around him. Max wonders what he's doing and Janet explains that Beautifly thanks Max for his compliment. Chaz then asks Ash if he plans to challenge the gym leader in Rustboro City and Ash explains that they are on their way there. Chaz says Ash may have a tough time if he uses Pikachu and Ash wonders why. Chaz tells him that the Gym Leader uses rock type pokemon. And that Pikachu's electricity may not have enough power to hurt them. Max then comments that May will have some trouble too since Torchic is a fire type pokemon. Chaz then offers to help Pikachu learning a strong attack that should help out Ash and Ash gladly accepts. Max asks May what she plans on doing, but she comments that she'll figure something out.

In the middle of a field, Chaz tells Ash that he wants to teach Pikachu iron tail, and he has his Sentret demonstrate the attack by using it to smash a rock. Ash is impressed and Chaz says it is a steel type attack which should smash the rock Pokemon at the Rustboro Gym, but takes great training to teach it. Ash says he's ready and Chaz ties a small rock to Pikachu's tail. Ash begins to do push-ups while Pikachu uses only it's tail to lift the rock. Ash notices Pikachu is having trouble and tells it not to give up.

In the meanwhile, Jessie reads some information about contests in a guidebook. Meowth and James ask her why she is so interested in it and she exclaims that she wants to be a winner for a change, and if they win it'll be one small step to them leading an entire Rocket squad and fame. James and Meowth are becoming excited.

That day, the contest begins. The announcer stands on stage with 3 judges behind him and introduces them to the public. He explains that each trainer will have a set time to show off their Pokemon's attacks and the judges will rate them on a scale of 10, with 10 being the best. Brock, May, and Max watch from a monitor as the announcer holds up a pink ribbon and announces that this will be the prize.May is astonished by it and gazes at it. He then places it away and the first trainer begins. He releases a Jynx, and it begins to show off. May and Max watch many trainers show off their Pokemon as Janet explains that each trainer does a series of attacks and tricks with their Pokemon and the final scores that the judges give them are combined to form one final score.

Outside, Ash throws some pink balls at Pikachu and its every ball with its tail. Taillow then tackles a tree, causing some berries to fall out of it but Pikachu blocks them again with his tail. Pikachu even manages to block Treecko's twig as he throws it at Pikachu. Then Pikachu's tail begins to glow and Ash realizes that Pikachu has learned iron tail! He thanks his other pokemon for helping and then he looks up at the monitor to see Chaz and his Venomoth performing. He watches as Venomoth uses psychic to lift a glass tea set without breaking anything. Ash suddenly realizes that he forgot all about the competition and runs inside to watch it. When he arrives, Chaz and his Venomoth thank the fans and step off the stage. Ash notices that he had 2 perfect scores and one 9.5 and he knows Janet will have a tough time beating him.

Janet, Max and May now step up on the stage and Janet releases her Beautifly. It starts off by using its morning sun. May thinks it's beautiful as the light fills the room. Together with Max, May throws some discs into the air and Beautifly uses string shot to break every disc. Janet then finishes it off with a silver wind attack and a strange powder starts to circle around Beautifly and then releases thousands of tiny silver particles. It then lands on Janet's hand and the audience goes wild. The judges each give it a perfect score, making Janet the best scorer so far! Ash enters the green room and congratulates May and Janet on their win as Janet thanks May and Max for their help.

In the meanwhile, the next competitors are Team Rocket in disguise. Jessie wants to start by ordering for many attacks but none of the attacks are known by Seviper which make Meowth and James sigh. Meowth explains that Seviper doesn't know that much attack and James adds in that it could just have some stage fright. Jessie becomes frustrated and names a few more attacks which makes Seviper sweat even more. The audience starts to boo and Meowth suggests just to use poison tail. Seviper shows off his poison tail and uses it on her. She blasts off through the ceiling and the judge gives her a score of 0 points. May and max are surprised that somebody could get that low of a score.

The announcer then states that the 4 competitors will now battle each other to determine the final champion. Janet and Chaz each face different opponents and wish each other luck. May is sure Beautifly will win as Max is happy to see some good contest battles. In the forest, Jessie hugs Seviper while its crying. She thanks it for doing its best even with stage fright and a limited attack status. James and Meowth are shocked she isn't killing it for loosing, and she says they can just go back and steal the Pokemon. The Pokemon Contest has now come down to Janet vs Chaz. Ash and Max can hardly wait while May is rooting for Beautifly and Janet. Brock thinks this will be an interesting match and it begins.

The timer starts as 5 minutes and Venomoth uses stun spore while Beautifly starts to blow the spore away. Max notices Chaz score go a little higher as his stun spore was more accurate. Brock notices the judges at intently watching the battle for not just who wins, but who uses the greatest attacks while battling. Beautifly then tries an absorb on Venomoth, which scores a direct hit and takes part of Chaz's score away, but Venomoth then uses psybeam, smashing Beautifly to the ground and taking half of Janet's points down. Janet tells Beautifly to use morning sun, which revives it in a beautiful and bright light. This causes Chaz's points to go down as May watches the light amazed and Janet's score goes up a bit. The light goes down and Venomoth fires a psybeam at Beautifly, but it counters with absorb, creating an explosion in the middle. The time limit is just about to go out, and both Pokemon do a recovering move at the end. The judges add the last minute attack scores to the board and Janet's is higher by a little bit! Ash and co cheer as the announcer calls Janet the winner. Beautifly lands on her hand and she thanks it. Chaz walks up and congratulates her on a great job and suddenly, Jessie and James appear on stage dressed up.

They comment on how great Beautifly was and the announcer wants to know what they want. Jessie snatches the microphone and says they are hear to congratulate the winner. James hands Janet a bouquet of roses, but it suddenly erupts in smoke. Chaz smashes the flowers out of her hands, exclaiming it's a trap as Team Rocket does their motto. When the smoke clears, Team Rocket has captured both Venomoth and Beautifly in nets. May asks what they want with those Pokemon and Jessie says they are going to use them to win ribbons. Chaz says he won't let them and Janet and him prepare to get them back, but Jessie calls out Seviper. Ash thinks fast and tells Pikachu to use iron tail. Chaz is surprised that Pikachu has already learned it and Pikachu's tail begins to glow but it suddenly goes out.

Everyone stares for a second and Seviper heads for Pikachu and May calls out her Torchic. It tackles Seviper and uses ember to cut the net. Beautifly and Venomoth are free and they blast Team Rocket off with their whirlwind. The announcer then gives Janet the pink Ribbon and she shows it to May and Max. May thinks it's beautiful and hopes to win one of her own someday. Chaz then laughs and tells Ash he and Pikachu should continue to practice that iron tail attack and they'll eventually get it and Ash agrees. Janet then hands the ribbon to May and she holds it up high for the audience to see...

This episode guide has been written by shinymay.

Characters appearing in this episode

Ash

Brock

Max

May

Jessie

James

Meowth

Ash's Pikachu

Pokémon appearing in this episode

• Pikachu belonging to Ash
• Meowth