RS175: New Plot, Odd Lot!

New Plot, Odd Lot! (Japanese: ハーリー＆ロケット団 悪役同盟結成！？, Hepburn: Harley and Team Rocket, The Formation of a Villain Alliance!?) is the 29th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier.

Episode Plot

The heroes came to Mulberry City. May's Pokémon are fine to enter the Contest. Joy tells her that Mulberry City is the last Contest - the Kanto Grand Festival is a month away, making May very nervous. May drinks juice, but still feels nervous. May will be scolded by Drew if she does not win this Contest's ribbon. Ash decides to give May help for this Contest. Suddenly, Harley creeps on May and greets them. He drops his badge case, revealing that he won all 5 ribbons. Harley tells that he does not have to compete, but May certainly has to. May is very angry, and with Ash, goes to train. Brock tells Max Harley has an impact on May - she is not nervous about the fact this is her last Contest.

Combusken uses Fire Spin, while Pikachu dodges. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, but misses. Ash tells May she needs to trust her Pokémon at the Contest and they will trust her as well. Meanwhile, Jessie plans to enter the Contest as Jessiebella. She is confident to win - she will use Meowth. She plans that he will tell jokes to win the Contest, although Meowth wants to show its battle experience, not jokes. Harley comes, telling that he is Jessiebella's fan (although James and Meowth do not want to see this). Harley knows she lost every Contest she entered, but wants to help her - he'll lend his Pokémon to her, as he won all the 5 ribbons. There is one catch - May needs to be eliminated.

James wants to know why the hate for May, so Harley makes a flashback - he was in school and ate lunch. He left a last snack for the end, but a girl that looked like May came and ate the snack. Harley was upset because of this and promised revenge. Jessie feels sorry for Harley and promises to end the threat. Harley sends Cacturne and Banette to give to Jessie. Cacturne is in crush and hugs Jessie. Harley tells it is necessary to defeat May and tells Jessie she should praise her Pokémon - they will praise her back. Inside the building, all the seats are occupied for the last Contest. May sees Lilian presenting the ribbon and makes flashbacks of Drew and Harley. Jessie comes (as Jessiebella) and tells May she will win. May replies that she must win as she has 4 ribbons, to which the other Contestants are pumped up - they have 4 ribbons as well. Still, she sticks to advice Ash gave to her.

Surprisingly, Drew came as well to see the Contest. After some Contestants (which seem to be a tough bunch to handle), Jessie comes. She sends Cacturne and throws a carrot. Using Needle Arm, Cacturne cuts the carrot. Next, Cacturne produces Cotton Spores and pops them with Bullet Seed. The judges are impressed by her skills. Next is May, who sends Combusken, but accidentally falls down. Harley contacts James and Meowth, who have plans to ruin May's performance. Combusken goes to use Mega Kick, but with Ariados' Spider Web Meowth controls, Combusken fails. Pikachu and Ash spot something glowing and go to resolve. She sends a frizbi and orders Combusken to use Sky Uppercut, but Combusken misses. Ash sees Meowth and James foiling May's performance, so orders Pikachu to use Quick Attack, but is stopped by Ariados' Spider Web.

Combusken uses Fire Spin, lighting the Spider Web. Harley demands to know why James and Meowth are not doing anything. Ariados goes to grab Pikachu, but is burned by Fire Spin. Pikachu uses Iron Tail, blasting them off. May throws Frisbee again and Combusken emerges from fire, using Sky Uppercut to throw the Frisbee back. She throws the Frisbee and receives it back with Mega Kick. The judges are impressed by the performance and May is relaxed, but is depressed by the toughness of the preliminaries. Ash, Max and Brock come to tell May Team Rocket foiled May's performance. The screen displays the next Contestants to go to next round. Though it was hard, May (and Jessie) enter the next round. Ash, Max and Brock tell they will keep an eye on Team Rocket's plans.

Harley visits his burned Ariados. Team Rocket feel guilty, but Harley tells them they need to be ruthless to foil May's performance. Jessie has only one thing to do - to eliminate the other twerps.

Trivia

• Director 須藤典彦 Norihiko Sudō is added to the opening credits.
• Harley's Banette's Japanese voice actress in this episode was 西村ちなみ Chinami Nishimura, who is filling in for 大谷育江 Ikue Ohtani.
• A karaoke version of I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~ is used as background music.
• Jessie tells viewers "stay tuned" at the end of episode, instead of the Narrator.
• This is one of the rare instances when one of Team Rocket's members doesn't blast off. Only Meowth and James blast off.
  • Also none of them recite their motto in any form.

Mistakes

• After the announcement of Coordinators who moved onto the second round, Ash's eyes are colored amber instead of brown.
• Harley's Ariados uses Shadow Ball, a move it cannot legally learn.
• When Brock sent out Foretress to get out of the pitfall trap, it's Poké Ball is normal instead of being a Quick Ball.

Gallery

Younger Harley

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May is *really* depressed

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Harley came as well

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Harley's trauma

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Cacturne loves Jessie

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Cacturne used Needle Arm

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Meowth uses the strings to control Combusken

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Jessie has a plan in her mind

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