After tying in the contest, May decides that she will head to Johto alone. After she and Max head back to Hoenn on a ship, Ash and Brock must depart as well. On the way back to Pallet, Ash runs into Gary and his Electivire, a new Pokémon. Gary refuses to battle and leaves. Ash finally arrives home and is greeted by the usual homecoming party. Finally Gary decides to battle with Ash. After losing to Gary, Ash leaves all his Pokémon except Pikachu and Aipom (who sneaks along) at Oak’s Lab and heads to the Sinnoh region.

Ash and friends arrive in Terracotta Town, the town where May and Max will board a ship back home to Hoenn, and where Brock will leave for Pewter City. There is a festival going on and a Pokémon Contest is being held. May and shockingly Ash decide to enter it. May and Ash win first and second place and will now face each other in the final round. During the contest break, May’s Combusken evolves into Blaziken! After sending Team Rocket flying, Ash and May face off in the final round using Sceptile and Blaziken.

Ash continues his battle against Brandon. With faith in his Bulbasaur, Ash manages to finally beat Dusclops. Then, Squirtle faces off against the speedy Ninjask and manages to pull off a narrow win. Squirtle isn’t so lucky when he faces down Solrock. Solrock defeats Squirtle and the Bulbasaur and Solrock knock each other out. Then, it comes down to the final battle: Pikachu vs. Regice. Will Ash win and become the Battle Frontier champion?

Ash trades in some of his old Pokémon and brings Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Squirtle back. They head up into the mountains for a little training and reminiscing of the past. After stopping yet another Pikachu stealing attempt from Team Rocket, Ash runs into Brandon who is impressed by the four Pokémon. Brandon declares a 4-on-4 battle this time so he can see the true strength of the four. Ash agrees and the next day the battle begins. Brandon chooses Dusclops and Ash chooses Charizard. Will he finally be able to win?

Ash finally begins his training for his rematch. Meanwhile, Nurse Joy comes down with the flu. In the woods, Team Rocket finally makes it back to Fennel Valley after being attacked by Harley’s Cacturne. When trying to chose a path at a fork in the road, they cause a Gloom to use stun spore on an Electrode, which rolls down the hill and explodes on the front of bus carrying pokémon. With Nurse Joy sick, Brock and Professor Oak must take care of all these pokémon while Ash helps Matt get his Bagon back after it runs off. Team Rocket, in the meantime, decides to steal all the pokémon.

After losing to Brandon again, Ash begins to lose hope and feel blue. Meanwhile, May is still thinking about her defeat against Solidad at the Grand Festival. Even the return of Beautifly and Skitty doesn’t seem to help. Then Professor Oak shows up with some gifts for Ash. Inside is a poster with Ash’s Pokémon’s hands and feet on it and the word fight across it, a lunch from his mom, a lure from Misty, and a postcard from Gary who is in the Sinnoh Region. The party gets bigger when Drew and Harley show up. Drew challenges May to a match, in which he will use his new Butterfree. Will this battle be able to snap May back into reality?

Ash and friends finally arrive in Fennel Valley for Ash’s rematch with Brandon. Ash decides to do some training before his match, but May does not want to, so Ash agrees to battle Nurse Joy and Chansey. After taking their hats off Nurse Joy and Chansey become a fierce team and beat Corphish. After the battle, Ash goes to the ruins to find Brandon and he finds Brandon in a chamber working on a puzzle. Brandon agrees to battle the next day, and he plans to use Registeel. Ash calls Professor Oak and switches Aipom for Torkoal. The next day the battle begins. This time Ash manages to put up more of a challenge to Brandon, but will it be enough to beat him and Registeel?

On the way to the Battle Pyramid, Ash and friends are attacked by a wild Weavile and Aipom is seriously injured. They find out that this has happened to many trainers lately. They decide to help a man named Kerrigan to find out why this exiled Weavile is attacking people, but they must also take care or Team Rocket who is gunning for Weavile!

On the way to the Battle Pyramid, Ash and friends run into a girl named Ada and her Chatot. Ada tells them that see is planning on competing in the Comedy Grand Prix. However, her Chatot keeps flying away during the day and coming back and night, and saying strange things. They decide to follow Chatot and they find out that it goes to a children’s hospital everybody. When Ada explains that her and Chatot must leave, a girl named Corina gets mad. In order to cheer her up, Ada decides to practice her act in front of the kids. However, Team Rocket wants to steal Chatot!

On the way to Fennel Valley and the Battle Pyramid, Ash and friends stop for lunch. After they are done eating, Aipom tries to show Ash the flowers it gathered, but when Pikachu jumps on Ash’s shoulder, Aipom gets jealous, grabs Ash’s hat, and runs off. Ash, Pikachu, and Brock run off after it and wind up in a village where people are stretching. A boy named Hank explains that they are about to compete in a contest to decide who will be the king of their village for the next year. As the contest begins, Aipom comes by, takes the crown, and runs off into the woods, and everyone gives chase. In the woods Aipom puts the crown on and it gets stuck to her head! Now Ash must catch up with Aipom and remove the crown before the people of the village or Team Rocket get a hold of it!