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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · Farewells: Terracotta Town & Pallet Town arc (AG191–AG192) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 46 · English episode 463 · Japanese episode 467 · Bulbapedia code AG191 |
| English title | Once More With Reeling! |
| Japanese title | サトシVSハルカ！ラストバトル！！ Satoshi Tai Haruka! Rasuto Batoru!! — “Satoshi vs. Haruka! Last Battle!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 7 September 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 24 February 2007 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Supāto! (Spurt!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Watashi, Makenai! ~Haruka no Tēma~ (I Won’t Lose! ~Haruka’s Theme~) – Haruka (KAORI.) |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | Pace – The Final Frontier! (AG190) |
| Next episode | Home is Where the Start Is! (AG192) |
Plot episodeCombusken evolves into BlazikenAsh’s first Contest
Once More With Reeling! is the 46th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 463rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 467, Bulbapedia code AG191). It first aired in Japan on 7 September 2006 and in the United States on 24 February 2007. It falls within the season’s Farewells: Terracotta Town & Pallet Town stretch (EP191–EP192).
Synopsis
With the Battle Frontier conquered, the group arrive in Terracotta Town, where their journey is coming to an end: May and Max plan to sail home to Hoenn, Brock to return to Pewter City and Ash to go home to Pallet Town. May spots a notice for an informal Pokémon Contest, and Ash decides to enter too, reasoning that because the event is not officially recognised, he does not need a Contest Pass. He registers Pikachu for the Appeals Round and Sceptile for the battle, while May chooses Eevee and Combusken, and only the top two Coordinators from the appeals will advance. With Nurse Joy judging, Eevee digs holes all over the stage and fires Shadow Balls up through them like fireworks. Ash, cheered on by fans who remember him from the Ever Grande Conference, has Pikachu create rings of electricity with Quick Attack and Thunderbolt and bounce through them on Iron Tail. May takes first place and Ash second, so the final will be between them.
During the break, Team Rocket arrive on a giant parade float shaped like a ship and lure the local Pokémon into a net with food. Ash and May confront them, Sceptile frees the captured Pokémon, and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt hits the trio. But when May calls for Fire Spin, Combusken collapses from exhaustion. Then it begins to glow and evolves into Blaziken, tears straight through Team Rocket’s next net, and destroys the float with its brand-new Blaze Kick, blasting the trio away. In the final, Ash and May shake hands. Blaziken dodges Pound, Bullet Seed and Leaf Blade, costing Ash points, until Sceptile drives it against a wall to land a Pound; Fire Spin burns away Bullet Seed and a missed Sky Uppercut costs May. Leaf Blade and Pound knock Blaziken down, and at the halfway mark the scores are level.
The exchanges stay perfectly balanced, Leaf Blade cancelling Sky Uppercut and Pound cancelling Blaze Kick, and with a minute left the scores are still identical and both Pokémon are exhausted. Then Sceptile’s Overgrow activates and Blaziken’s Blaze answers, the first time one of May’s Pokémon has shown its Ability. With ten seconds remaining, Sceptile fires Solar Beam and Blaziken unleashes Overheat. The two attacks collide in an enormous explosion that hides the scoreboard just as time runs out, and the episode ends with the result of Ash’s first Contest, and of his last battle with May on this journey, still unknown. Max, who had hoped that neither of his friends would have to lose, waits with everyone else for the smoke to clear. It is also the only time Pikachu has ever taken part in a Pokémon Contest.
Major Events
- Terracotta Contest. Ash’s first Contest
- May’s Combusken evolves into Blaziken and learns Blaze Kick
- Overgrow against Blaze
- The final between Sceptile and Blaziken ends with the result unknown
- The only time Pikachu enters a Contest
Captures and evolutions
Combusken → Blaziken#0257 · May · at the Terracotta Contest
Trivia
- The English title plays on "once more with feeling".
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- “Dance of the Bellossom” from the Pokémon the Movie 2000 soundtrack during the appeals
- Alternate cuts of I Won’t Lose! and Spurt!
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.