AG073

Grass Hysteria! (Japanese: 禁断の森の王者！フシギバナ！！ King of the Forbidden Forest! !!) is the 73rd episode of the, and the 347th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 22, 2004 and in the United States on April 9, 2005.

Blurb
Ash and friends are lost in a forest when they are attacked by a Skarmory that kidnaps May. It drops May on the other side of a tall fence, and several hooded men prevent Ash, Brock, and Max from pursuing.

The Skarmory drops May on the ground, where she saves a Bulbasaur from falling off a cliff. A group of Grass-type Pokémon angrily attack May, but she drives them back with Torchic's Ember attack.

The hooded men explain to the guys that the Grass-type Pokémon will attack any human that trespasses, because people damaged the forest trying to catch Grass-type Pokémon. The guys decide saving May is more important, and Ash manages to get over the fence.

A group of Grass-types corner May, and Ash swoops in and has Pikachu clear a path. The two kids run for it, but get cornered again. A Venusaur arrives and orders the other Pokémon to back off, accompanied by the Bulbasaur that May helped.

May begins to befriend the Bulbasaur, but Team Rocket arrives, trying to catch Grass-types with their robot. May gets caught inside the robot as well, and helps all the Pokémon break free. The Venusaur uses Solarbeam to blast the robot away.

Reunited in the end, the kids get ready to depart the forest, with one new addition—the Bulbasaur decides to join May on her journey.

Plot
and find themselves lost on the road to Fortree City when they wander into an uncharted area of Hoenn. To make matters worse neither 's compass nor Max's PokéNav seem to function correctly. Suddenly a wild comes swooping down. Ash and his friends run away, but 's pops out of its Poké Ball and appears right in the Skarmory's path. May grabs Skitty, but before she can get away the Skarmory latches onto her waistpack and flies away with her. Ash, Brock, and Max follow it as best they can, but run into a large wooden wall, guarded by two cloaked men. The men tell them that beyond lies the Forbidden Forest, an area where humans aren't allowed. After hearing about their situation, the men lead Ash and his friends to their village. There they meet the village leader Old Man Obee. Obee listens to their story, and calls a town meeting, where he discusses whether or not they should let Ash and his friends go into the forest to rescue May. While they're distracted, Ash takes the opportunity to sneak into the forest, leaving Brock and Max behind.

Meanwhile, the Skarmory drops May on top of a mountain. While looking for a way down, she notices a wild on the edge of a cliff trying to pick some flowers with. Suddenly the Bulbasaur loses her footing, but May is able to grab her before she falls off the edge of the cliff. Surprised to see a human, the Bulbasaur is cautious at first, but after May reassures her that she means no harm, she quickly warms up to her. However, before she can get too close to Bulbasaur, several wild Grass-Pokémon appear and start attacking her. Realizing she's in danger, May calls out who clears an escape route with. She runs down the mountain and into the forest, dodging attacks from wild Grass-Pokémon left and right. However she soon finds herself cornered against a tree. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, Ash appears with and opens a path with. The two continue to flee, the Grass-type Pokémon still chasing them.

Back in the village, Old Man Obee tells Brock and Max that the Forbidden Forest is a sanctuary for Grass Pokémon. So many Trainers used to come to the area to capture the Pokémon there that the Pokémon eventually become hostile towards humans. Wanting to protect the Pokémon, the villagers built a giant wall around the Forest, and set up guards to keep anybody from getting inside. Obee explains that the area has strange magnetic properties, which is why Max's PokéNav and Brock's compass weren't working. He then tells them that the villagers have reached a consensus, and have agreed to help Brock and Max find their lost friends. Opening up the gates, he begins to track May and Ash using several. They enter the forest, unaware that was eavesdropping on the conversation. They decide that they'll sneak into the forest as well, and steal all of the Grass-type Pokémon there for.

Deep in the forest, Ash and May find themselves trapped on the edge of a cliff. However, the Pokémon chasing them suddenly stop, when a large appears, with the Bulbasaur May helped earlier next to it. The Venusaur commands the other Pokémon to stop their attack, and beckons Ash and May to follow it into the forest. Hidden nearby, Jessie and James listen as translates for Venusaur. Apparently, the Bulbasaur May saved was the Venusaur's child, and by saving her May proved that she wasn't a dangerous human. Jessie realizes that the Venusaur must be the leader of all the Grass-type Pokémon, and decides that catching it should be their primary mission. Ash and May follow Venusaur to the center of the forest, where they find a beautiful spring. Bulbasaur appears, and gives May some of the flowers she picked earlier. She grabs hold of May with Vine Whip, and leads her and Ash around the forest. Soon they arrive on top of a cliff, where May notices a city in the distance. Realizing that Bulbasaur has never been outside of the forest, May begins to tell her about all of the things that she has seen on her journey. Ash, May, and Bulbasaur play together for a while, until Ash realizes that Brock and Max must be worried about them. As the two prepare to head out of the forest, several Grass-type Pokémon come running past them in fear. Looking around, they spy Team Rocket, using a large robot to scoop up and capture the wild Pokémon.

Ash orders Pikachu to attack the robot, but his attack is deflected by it. Venusaur soon arrives, and begins to battle as well. However Team Rocket's robot is too strong even for it. Knocking Venusaur away, the robot grabs Bulbasaur and May, and tosses them into a large sack on its back. However, before they can get away, Old Man Obee, Brock, and Max appear with several villagers. Using Poochyena's, Old Man Obee is able to stun the robot. Finally, Venusaur's causes the robot to explode, and sends Team Rocket blasting off again. With Ash's and his friends reunited, they all prepare to leave the forest. May bids a tearful farewell to Bulbasaur, however at the last moment Bulbasaur decides to leave the forest and go with her. Waving goodbye to her friends in the forest, is welcomed by Ash and his friends as the newest member of their group.

Major events

 * catches a.

Pokémon debuts

 * May's Bulbasaur

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Old Man Obee
 * Forbidden Forest guards
 * James
 * Old Man Obee
 * Forbidden Forest guards

Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice:
 * (new)
 * (Old Man Obee's; ×3)
 * (King of the Forbidden Forest)
 * (new)
 * (Old Man Obee's; ×3)
 * (King of the Forbidden Forest)
 * (Old Man Obee's; ×3)
 * (King of the Forbidden Forest)

Trivia

 * Advance Adventure is used as background music.
 * The title is based on the phrase "".
 * This episode is featured on the Volume 1: Grass copy of Pokémon Elements.
 * This episode introduces a whole new 4Kids Entertainment logo, replacing the previous logo since Princess vs. Princess in the first season. Originally, the logo had "Entertainment" on the bottom of the logo. However, the last episode of season 7 and the following season replaces this variant with the "TV" variant of the logo.
 * When the machine gets out of hand, shouts "James! Stop this crazy thing!", a reference to George's famous catchprase in . The same reference happened in an earlier episode.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

 * Question: Trainers, which one of these Pokémon evolves into ?
 * Choices:, ,
 * Answer: Ok, Trainers! If you chose, you were right!