Episode list

After winning at the Mauville gym against Wattson and earning the Dynamo Badge, Ash and the gang decide to travel to Fallabor Town for May's next Pokemon Contest and then to Lavaridge Town for Ash's next gym battle. While traveling, the gang stumbles upon a watermelon field. This gives Ash an idea to teach Treecko how to use Bullet Seed, ever since that battle with Shiftry (Season 6, Episode 37), by spitting watermelon seeds for practice. Suddenly a Grovyle attacks the group as a misunderstanding. The girl then apologizes for her mistake and shows them around the field. Team Rocket then appears to steal the watermelons from the field. Grovyle tries to fire bullet seed but they sealed up its mouth with some tape. So it's all up to Treecko. Ash believes that Treecko can use Bullet Seed, so it tries but fails. The second time around it works and sends Team Rocket to blast off again. In the end, Ash spits seeds towards Treecko and makes it mad and uses Bullet Seed.

Ash and friends have the good fortune of passing through a small town just prior to the opening of a summer festival in which Illumise and Volbeat perform a dazzling light dance. Despite their impeccable timing, however, it seems they may not be able to enjoy the show when the male half of the performing duo falls head over heels in love with his partner and grows too nervous to perform in front of her. With the festival just hours away, May takes it upon herself to coach this young trainer in the ways of love.

As Ash and friends rush along a mountain path toward the town where the next Pokémon Contest will be hosted, a tremendous shape comes suddenly crashing down on them from above. They soon realize it to be a Bagon--a Pokémon whose head is as hard as steel. Needless to say, this is the last Pokémon one would want to see falling quickly toward one from above. Before Ash engages the Pokémon in battle, however, it's trainer shows up and explains that her Bagon is cliff diving simply because it dreams of flying, though this won't be a possibility until it evolves twice. Always suckers for an impossible dream, Ash and friends promise to do what they can to help.

Misty returns! But Team Rocket instantly kidnaps her and Togepi and brings them to the Mirage Kingdom, where a man named Hanson plans to use Togepi to gain the throne.

The gang make one last stand against Hanson before he uses Togepi to gain the throne.

Ash and friends get more than they bargain for when supplies run low and they accept a meal invitation from a family of strangers. It turns out the family are incredibly enthusiastic in their support of a son who recently left home with visions of greatness as a Pokémon Champion. As a tribute of sorts to this son, they engage in as many Pokémon battles as they can themselves. Their enthusiasm makes them formidable opponents as they face Ash, Brock, and Max--who borrows one of Ash's Pokémon for the occasion--in four on four contest. Things grow all the more complicated when this favorite son, having lost his dreams of glory, returns home, unwittingly bringing Team Rocket along with him.

When Brock suggests a pit stop in an out-of-the-way Pokémon laboratory, no one suspects his real motive. Reading an article about the Pokémon aromatherapy experiments held in the facility, he had been immediately smitten by the attractive researcher who runs it. Brock is no luckier in love today than might be expected, though, and the outing becomes more educational than romantic as he and his friends tour the aromatherapy research facility. Above and beyond any continuing experiments, the greatest aromatherapy testimonial comes when a mixture of fragrances alone cures completely an ailing Skitty May had just found. When Team Rocket arrives on the scene, however, they quickly put an end to an relatively uneventful day, stealing both the lab's fragrance reserves and Misty's Skitty.

Ash and the gang head towards Fallarbor Town, when suddenly a Zangoose appears and seems to be vicious. They also see Nicolai wearing a Zangoose costume. He tries to capture it and succeeds. Since Team Rocket's Jesse owns a Seviper, they are both rivals in nature. Will Zangoose prevail over Seviper or will the tables be turned?

Max meets up with another Pokémon enthusiast who goes by the same name, but despite their shared interests and shared name, the two get off to a rocky start. As they continue to bicker, Team Rocket launches a surprise attack, separating May, Max, and this new Max--the youngest and least experienced Pokémon trainers--from their friends. Without Ash and Brock to protect them, these children nonetheless work to find their new acquaintance's missing Surskit before Team Rocket does.

The gang finally arrives in Fallarbor Town to begin the Pokemon Contest. While there, May meets a new coordinator named Grace as well as her Pokemon, Medicham. She also finds out that Drew is entering and sees that he has three ribbons. The next day the coordinators gather. What will be the outcome of the Fallarbor Town Pokemon Contest?

May finally reaches the Fallarbor Pokémon contest, but her hopes are initially dampened when a mysterious, redheaded trainer bearing a strong resemblance to a certain member of Team Rocket steals the show with a nearly flawless performance. When Brock's hunch that this contestant's performance isn't all above board proves true, Jessie shows her true colors, opting to face Ash and friends in outright Pokémon battle. Team Rocket is quickly defeated, but for May the true challenge is just beginning, as she moves on to the next stage, hoping to somehow earn her first Pokémon Contest victory ribbon while facing a host of seasoned adversaries.

As they press forward toward the next gym, fate reunites Ash and friends with Thatcher, who since their last meeting has been inspired to employ his Plusle and Minun in enhancing Pokémon battles by enthusiastically cheering on the battlers involved. When he actually witnesses Thatcher and other pep squad members at work, however, Max keenly suspects that they are being misled to not simply cheer competitors on, but actually breach official rules by misusing the abilities of their various Pokémon from the sidelines.

May's Skitty could hardly choose a less opportune time to misbehave, when it lets itself out and draws the ire of local Slugma and Numel just as Ash and friends pass through the infamous Fiery Path. Fortunately, a local shows up to guide them past the dangers of the Path, ably using her Sentret to direct a group of Numel that is under her care. While Ash and friends enjoy her hospitality and the placid life on her Numel ranch, however, Team Rocket lurks in the background with dreams of capturing and taking advantage of the Numel's ability to create nearly limitless heat, selling them into lives of servitude.

Our young heroes face one last challenge--a high-altitude crossing--before reaching the next gym in Fallarbor. Greeted by a welcome committee promising a free tour of the area, Ash and friends first celebrate their good fortune. These guides, however, reveal first their ineptitude, then their ill will, and finally their true identity--as Team Rocket--but only as parallel plots by Teams Aqua and Magma trap Ash and party high above the valley below, making Jessie, James, and Meowth the least of their concerns.

Ash and friends arrive in Lavaridge Town and meet Flannery, who just became the Gym Leader after her grandfather left to write poetry. Meanwhile, Team Rocket show up in disguise to help clean the battle field and steal her Torkoal.

Ash begins his gym battle with Flannery.

Brock falls in love at first sight with a beautiful trainer he chances to meet in the course of travel. When he learns that she is desperately seeking a lost Spinda that she credits with bringing her many years of good fortune, he quickly volunteers himself and friends to help in the search--forgetting the fact that they had been rushing toward the next Hoenn gym. As her willful Spinda continues to flee farther and farther ahead, Team Rocket shows up to complicate the search even further as they seek this 'lucky' Spinda for themselves. Where might this Spinda lead Ash and friends, and might Brock finally find love at the end of this long mountain path?

A wrong turn lands Ash and friends in a dangerous valley inhabited by territorial Magnemite, Magneton, and Steelix. Hesitant to retrace their steps, however, our heroes forge bravely on toward the next gym. Fortunately, a wild Torkoal caught in the same predicament aids them as they battle their way out of the valley.

When Ash pits his newly-captured Torkoal in a rematch against Wattson's newly-evolved Manectric, who will emerge victorious?

When a surprise attack from Team Rocket injures May's Skitty and there isn't a Pokémon Center to be found in the area, May turns instead to a local practitioner of Pokémon Massage. To the surprise of all, using massage techniques alone, the therapist is able to heal May's Skitty completely. Shortly thereafter, Ash and friends see their chance to repay this therapist, when Team Rocket kidnaps her Delcatty, planning to present their boss with a Skitty & Delcatty evolutionary set.

A distressed mother enlists Ash and friends to find the true identity of a mysterious Pokémon Coordinator she believes is leading her son astray. When they realize, however, that her son is in fact this very coordinator, hiding behind a mask only because his mother refuses to understand his love for Pokémon, these young Pokémon trainers must abandon their original mission and help this eager Pokémon Coordinator attain his goal of entering a local Pokémon contest against his mother's wishes.

While May focuses on winning her third Pokémon Contest, the rest of her group concentrate on helping their newfound friend maintain his secret identity so that he can compete without interference from his mother--who staunchly opposes his having any contact with Pokémon. When Jessie, using a false identity, enters the contest and makes a surprisingly strong showing, both May and her friend must struggle to keep from being ousted. Meanwhile, having gotten wind that her son has entered the Pokémon Contest, this friend's mother heads directly to the contest arena herself.

Low on water, our heroes stop by a small village hoping to refill their canteens at a world-famous spring. On arrival, however, they learn that the spring has recently run dry, an event the locals blame on the Solrock that mysteriously showed up in the area only days before. Ash and friends refuse to believe that this Solrock, which had help them out in a time of need, could be responsible for the drought. Teaming up with a local researcher, who is likewise searching for a more scientific explanation, these young Pokémon trainers set out to clear Solrock's name.

Ash and friends discover a Swablu that had been injured and separated from its flock during a massive migration. Even after May nurses it back to health, however, it refuses to fly. These young Pokémon trainers and their Pokémon work together to help Swablu overcome its post-trauma lack of confidence, but little do they know Team Rocket have their own plans for the Pokémon.

Facing another in a long string of Gulpin invasions that had cost them years worth of food stores, a small village decides to call in a Gulpin expert. Though the professor's high-tech answer to the Gulpin question at first drives them back, these Pokémon soon regroup and continue their charge toward the food storehouse at the center of the village. Fortunately, Ash and friends chance across this troubled community with impeccable timing. If only they and their Pokémon prove strong enough to hold back droves of tenacious Gulpin.

Ash is enjoying a friendly Pokémon battle with a trainer he chanced to meet on the road, when his opponent's Loudred evolves into an Exploud just as his Treecko evolves unexpectedly into a Grovyle. In a further coincidence, Ash and friends soon encounter yet another Exploud--but just in time to witness Team Rocket capturing it, by cheat, rather than Pokémon battle.

Feeling that it's lost its place in the limelight to the newly-evolved Grovyle, Corphish grows more and more uncontent. When it loses to a trainer met on the road and his Ludicolo, this is the final straw. Corphish breaks away from Ash and company, striking out on its own. Unbeknownst to Ash, who assumes Corphish to be simply throwing a tantrum, it is in fact seeking out the same Ludicolo for a rematch. When it catches up to the trainer, however, it finds Ludicolo already in the clutches of Team Rocket. Without any guidance from Ash, can Corphish do anything to save this Pokémon?

When Ash and friends arrive in the last town before Petalburg City, they find that the Petalburg Gym leader, Norman, is riding a recent wave of popularity in town. While this turns out to be good news for his children, May and Max, who become instant celebrities, Ash is far less fortunate. Hearing that he means to challenge the gym leader they hold as a hero, the locals begin challenging Ash one by one. Once Ash is completely exhausted by an endless string of battles, Team Rocket arrives, hoping to make the most of the situation.

Ash and the gang think Norman has dumped his wife Caroline when he flirts with Nurse Joy.

Having finally reached Petalburg City, where he hopes to earn his fifth Hoenn badge, Ash wastes no time challenging the gym leader, Norman, to a rematch. Meanwhile, May and Max watch from the sidelines, conflicted as to whether to root for their father the gym leader, or Ash, their friend and traveling companion. Though Ash gets off to a strong start, he quickly learns that there is more to the gym leader's strategy than meets the eye. By alternating between vastly different Pokémon, Norman confuses and exhausts one of Ash's Pokémon after another.

When Professor Oak makes a surprise appearance in Hoenn, bringing along Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, Ash joins forces with them to battle Team Rocket.

An unusual encounter with a Pokémon battling duo leads to an even more unusual partnership. When two trainers challenge Ash and May to a Pokémon tag battle, these two accept with little thought for how to coordinate this joint effort. The resulting lack of teamwork leads to a quick victory for their challengers. When virtually the same thing happens to Jessie and James of Team Rocket, old differences are put aside, as Ash and James pair up against May and Jessie in a battle of the sexes.

When May accidentally enters a forbidden spot where only grass Pokémon live, she quickly befriends a friendly Bulbasaur.

James hatches a plan to steal the Pokémon of unwitting trainers by sabotaging the Pokeball transporter in a local Pokémon Center. Ash is unfortunate enough to choose this very Center to have Professor Oak send him his Bulbasaur so that it can interact with May's new Bulbasaur. Just as Ash realizes the Pokeball "transported" to him to be a fake, a host of other trainers approach Nurse Joy with the same complaint. Realizing that the real Pokeballs are being siphoned off to another location, Joy, Ash, and friends quickly track down Team Rocket, but only as they make their escape, accidentally dropping one sole Pokeball--containing Ash's Bulbasaur--as they fly off. Ash and May's two Bulbasaur quickly become fast friends, but will their teamwork be enough to recover all the stolen Pokémon from Team Rocket?

A whiscash snags Ashes badges as they stop to take a break near a lake. Ash and the gang meet a local fishing "legend" that helps to try to get Ashes badges back.

When a thick fog separates Ash from his traveling companions, he chances into a young Pokémon trainer and her Baltoy on their way to a set of ancient ruins that are said to house the most valuable treasure in the universe. Never one to turn his nose up at the possibility of adventure, Ash volunteers to guide the girl to a mysterious woman he had seen earlier and who, this girl believe, may know more about the ruins.

Ash and friends make an unplanned stop when they discover a Pokémon Contest about to be opened the following day. May is anxious to enter, but must quickly decide which Pokémon to use in competition against coordinators who've been preparing for this Contest for weeks. A local mothers' circle of Pokémon Enthusiasts recognizes May as a famous gym leader's daughter and welcomes her into the contest, but one of this circle's own members may prove to be May's most difficult competition.

After earning two ribbons in a row, May enters her next Pokémon Contest only too confident of an easy victory. She wins in the first round, but in the second this overconfidence begins to catch up with her. Losing to the same humble coordinator she had been self-assuredly advising thus far, May wonders if perhaps there's more to Pokémon Contests than can be learned through a victory or two. Turning over a new leaf, a kinder, gentler May cheers her last opponent on in the final round.

Ash and friends chance into a Spoink that has lost the large pearl that usually adorns its head. The life force of these Pokémon, they learn, quickly dwindles when they're separated from their pearls. Anxious to save this unfortunate Pokémon before it's too late, they quickly set out in search of the pearl, mistakenly gathering numerous spherical baubles--and Pokémon--along the way.

May and Ash enter their favorite flying Pokémon in a unique sporting competition, wherein players must collect rings hung from floating balloons and then race to hang them from a goalpost hook. Learning of this bizarre sport, Jessie and Meowth of Team Rocket are nonplussed, but James instantly recalls days of hard training under one of the masters of this little-known art. James anxiously enters alongside Ash and May, but can this erstwhile villain be trusted to play fair?

Team Rocket's incessant bickering is nothing new, but today May and Max also take their usual sibling rivalry to the next level. When these young trainers are lost along with Team Rocket in a seemingly abandoned mansion, tempters flare even higher--yet repeatedly quell for no apparent reason. Only when a particularly bitter argument sends Max off on his own, does he learn that a Shuppet, using a psychic technique, had been soothing everyone's nerves. It will take more than mind control, however, to get Max and May to make amends.

Ash and friends--with Team Rocket hot on their tail--wander into a wood known as the Shroomish Forest. Hungry and destitute as ever, Team Rocket quickly begin gorging themselves on the plentiful fruits they find there, against the protests of several Shroomish. When these Shroomish evolve into Breloom, however, they not only gain Team Rocket's attention, but threaten the balance of the entire forest with their ensuing rage.

A meteorological station is under attack by both Teams Aqua and Magma, who hope to capture the powerful Pokémon, Castform, which is able to control the weather at will. To make matters worse, when Ash and friends arrive at the station, they bring Team Rocket hot on their tail. Can a handful of young Pokémon trainers and this mysterious new Pokémon possibly prove to be a match for three powerful crime syndicates?

Ash and friends finally arrive in Fortree City, a town whose residents hold great respect for the skies above, even building their homes high up in the trees to live within the sky they so revere. This sky worship works to Ash's disadvantage however when he challenges the gym leader to a battle only to learn that the gym is closed for an annual sky festival. Disappointed, they head to view this festival, even as Team Rocket approaches with a goal of their own--capturing the Pokémon at the festival for themselves. For James, the festival brings back fond memories of a Chimecho he had once wanted as a boy.

Ash faces Winona, the gym leader in Fortree City, in hopes of winning a Feather Badge, his sixth in the Hoenn Region. Winona quickly brings out the big guns, Attacking with a powerful Altaria. Ash's Grovyle, however, proves, with speed and endurance, to be the better battler. But Winona's next choice proves more formidable: her Pelipper defeats Grovyle without missing a breath, and quickly lays into Pikachu. Meanwhile, Team Rocket to raid the gym and interrupt the battle.

Ash and friends assist a fellow traveler whose Camerupt had gotten bogged down making a dangerous river crossing. When they learn the young man was carrying movie reels and projection equipment to bring the art of the moving picture to remote towns without theatres, Ash and friends, recollecting pleasant theatre experiences of their own, decide to help him reach the next town on his route.

When the residents of a remote town begin behaving strangely, it is unclear whether a meteorite crash, the appearance of a mysterious Pokémon known as Lunatone, or perhaps both are to blame. Anxious to solve this mystery and restore the town to sanity, Ash and friends set out in search of both the meteorite and this Lunatone. Meanwhile, both Team Rocket and an odd band of conspiracy theorists seeking to put their stamp on any and all Pokémon mysteries converge on the same spot.

Ash and friends make a quick detour to go sightseeing in a banana grove famous for the many Slakoth that live there. When they arrive, however, they learn that a marauding Snorlax has invaded and begun quickly devouring the bananas in between naps. Having some experience dealing with these troublesome Pokémon, Ash volunteers to help. His task is complicated, however, by the Snorlax's mastery of Yawn, an attack that puts all listeners in the vicinity to sleep. If this Snorlax isn't dealt with quickly, the grove's reserve of bananas will be completely devoured.

Yet another Team Rocket plot fails to go off quite as planned, but this time the error works to their advantage. When their latest overwrought invention explodes, the ensuing shockwave not only sends the team of villains flying off into the horizon, but also wipes Pikachu's memory clean. As Meowth is the first one to stumble onto Pikachu and learn of its plight, he quickly turns the situation to his advantage, informing Pikachu that it is a long-standing, loyal member of Team Rocket and that Ash is his sworn enemy.

Ash and friends arrive in Lilycove City, where May quickly sets to studying the art of Pokéblock preparation under a local master, a craft said to be key to successful Pokémon coordinating. Meanwhile, Ash also prepares for his upcoming gym battle under the tutelage of a wizened instructor who promises to have Ash's Swellow performing a masterful Aerial Ace in no time at all.