AG122

Deceit and Assist (Japanese: 熱闘！グランドフェスティバル②！！ Fierce Fighting! Grand Festival (2)!!) is the 122nd episode of the, and the 396th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 7, 2005 and in the United States on February 25, 2006.

Blurb
The Grand Festival is underway in Slateport. Harley asks May if they can train together for the main competition, and May agrees. She's not the only one training; Ash is also training Snorunt, but its Ice Beam hits a Pokémon coordinator named Anthony. Anthony was planning to compete in the Grand Festival with his Swalot... until three people stole his ribbons!

The first round of the main competition begins with single Pokémon performances. Harley shows off his scary Banette as Jessie prepares to take the stage—as Anthony! She took his ribbons and disguised herself as him, but Officer Jenny, Ash, and the real Anthony are all waiting for her. Before she can get in a fight, James and Meowth exercise the better part of valor and drag her away.

Now it's May's turn. Following Harley's advice, she has Skitty use Assist over and over, until Skitty performs a Petal Dance and confuses itself! Harley is delighted; Drew, who overhears him, is not. May orders Skitty to Double Slap itself back to normal and finish off with an impressive Blizzard. She apologizes to Harley for going against his advice, but Drew reveals that Harley was only pretending to be her friend to sabotage her.

Drew and his Masquerain receive perfect scores for their performance, as does Robert and his Milotic. May just makes it into the second round, where she'll face Harley in a double-battle!

Plot
Nurse Joy returns, all fully healed after their check-up. asks for a check up of his own, but Nurse Joy simply walks away, leaving Brock dejected. walks away only to be approached by Harley, who asks if they can together. May agrees, asserting that a partner will make practice easier.

Drew is his  and  when Brock leads May, Harley, and Caroline past, explaining that she will need to get her Pokémon ready for the next stage of the Grand Festival, which consists of two-on-two Contest Battles. May is initially surprised but becomes confident that they will prevail. Meanwhile, on the beach, Ash, Max, and are preparing to train  again, but as the targets are finished, Snorunt sneezes and fires dozens of small ice beams at a nearby. Swalot's Trainer desperately leaps in front of his Pokémon, and his backside is frozen solid. thaws him out, and he introduces himself as. Anthony is impressed by Snorunt's Ice Beam, but surprised that Ash is not entering himself. Anthony says that he was entering, but he lost his Contest Pass and his Ribbon case to a strange trio. He cannot be sure they robbed him, he did not have them after he saw them. Ash boldly asserts that they will help Anthony track down the thieves.

Jessie is gloating, five Ribbons pinned to her top. She boasts about how she will become the winner of the Grand Festival, and tells James that a Top Coordinator is almost as good as a talk show host in terms of fame. She will be on magazine covers, she will set fashion trends, and she will be given a recording contract regardless of whether she can sing or not. says he would rather be a simple thief with no pressure, and Jessie shakes him violently and yells about how she will become the Top Coordinator whether he likes it or not. James reminds Jessie that using the stolen Contest Pass will result in Anthony's face being the one on the cover, which Jessie had forgotten.

May asks, , , and which of them wants to team up with  for their first practice, with the latter three cheering excitedly while Munchlax sleeps. May asks Harley if the others can take it in turns, which he says is fine, and May picks Skitty to go first. Brock asks if she is positive that Beautifly is the right choice, which she confidently responds to by saying got her this far in the first place. Drew, Masquerain, and Roselia are nearby watching.

Harley invites May to make the first move, and Skitty's becomes Combusken's, pushing  back several paces. Assist then becomes Silver Wind, which causes Harley to run over and seize May's hand, complimenting her on the move. Harley asserts that Beautifly's Silver Wind and Skitty's Assist could pull off an unbeatable appeal. May is unsure, saying that Assist is too unpredictable to place her faith in. Harley reassures her that the appeal of Assist is its unpredictability, that the judges would never penalize her for messing it up, and that her Pokémon are all so great that it does not matter anyway. May agrees with Harley, choosing to use Skitty instead of Beautifly in the first round. Caroline thinks the strategy is risky, and Drew agrees as he walks off.

Ash, Pikachu, and Anthony have had no luck finding the thieves, but Max tells Officer Jenny the story and she reassures Anthony that he can still compete if he reports to the main office. However, Anthony is too devastated by the loss of his Ribbons and says that he would not have the confidence to compete without them. Ash knows how he feels, as it would be the equivalent of losing his Gym Badges. Max pipes up and realizes that with Anthony's Contest Pass also stolen, the thief must be planning to enter and all they need to do is check for someone whose picture and face do not match. Ash, Anthony, and Jenny agree to the plan, and Jenny tells them all to get to the main stage.

The main competition round is opened, with 64 semi-finalists out of the original 247. Ash, Anthony, Jenny, Swalot, and Pikachu are watching the corridor while Norman,, , and Erica, Timmy Grimm, , Dr. Abby, Savannah and Sandra watch the competition in their respective homes. Vivian Meridian introduces the panel of judges, formed by Raoul Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and three Nurse Joy. As usual, Brock declares his love at the top of his lungs, much to the surprise of Caroline and the chagrin of Max, who yanks him back into his seat. Side-stage, May is helping search for the thief and explains to Harley what happened. Harley says that he hates the thought of dishonesty around them. Nearby, Jessie has fashioned a fair Anthony costume and plans to enter in his likeness, revealing her true identity later.

The main Appeals Round begins with a 's, before giving way to Harley and his , who terrifies Vivian and even May side stage with its malicious smile. Banette uses and then strikes itself with, scoring 89 out of 100. Several other s score well, an, a , , , , and all scoring in the high seventies and eighties. Drew and May both show their confidence for moving on.

Vivian calls Anthony, while Ash, Jenny, and the real Anthony watch from the shadows for who comes out. Jessie in her best impression of a male voice, comes jogging down the corridor. As Jessie makes to move past, Anthony stops her in her tracks and confronts her. Meowth and James, watching from afar, are staggered by the appearance of the real Anthony, as well as Ash and Jenny. Jessie denies being an imposter only for Swalot to use on Jessie, then, spitting out a now costume-less Jessie. Jenny orders her under arrest, only for Jessie to challenge her. However, before she can call out a Pokémon, James and Meowth, afraid of prison, seize her arms and drag her away.

Anthony takes his place on stage with an impressive appeal by using Swalot's fluid body for an impressive entry. It then smashes apart its own with  and Swallows the whole lot for a clean finish and 82 points. May comes out next, and sends out her Skitty to great applause. She orders Assist to successfully produce Silver Wind, then follows up with a range of other attacks which impresses Mr. Sukizo, but Raoul Contesta is not thrilled as Skitty is not showing its own attributes off. However, when Assist becomes, May is thrown off because she did not realize that any of her Pokémon knew Solar Beam. Caroline wonders if Solar Beam belongs to Munchlax, who is sleeping on her lap. May jumps back into action with an Assist that results in Petal Dance, which looks good but leaves Skitty. Much to the gang's horror, Skitty begins to run in circles to the audience's amusement. May has no idea how to get Skitty back on track, as she does not want to risk Assist again.

Backstage, Harley is gleeful at May's disastrous round, and is confronted by Drew, who suspected all along that Harley was sabotaging May. Harley shrugs off his foul play as competition. Back on stage, May is still torn and thinks Harley had her best interests at heart, but decides to ignore his advice and tell Skitty to use on itself, breaking it out of confusion. Harley is horrified, but Drew satisfied. May orders Skitty to finish with Blizzard, creating a towering fortress of ice. May scores 79, which has the group in doubt as to whether she can advance.

Backstage, May apologizes to Harley, only for Drew to tell her the truth. Harley shrugs it off, saying that if Drew had kept his mouth shut it would have worked. May is angry and hurt, and Harley explains that he wanted revenge for her defeating him in the Purika City competition. May complains that she won fair and square, but Harley replies that she only thinks so because she won. Either way, she will not be advancing with only a 79. He shoulders past her and walks away. Drew scolds May and agrees with Harley that she should not listen to other people's advice - she should only do what she knows in her heart is right. This telling off hurts May more than anything Harley had done.

Back on stage, Vivian Meridian announces the top three finishers from the Appeals Stage - third: Drew and his -using Masquerain. The field is then covered in s, which are diverted with Silver Wind, giving Drew a standing ovation and a perfect 100. Harley snidely says it's no great, but Ash and Caroline are both amazed. First place and his  also advance with a perfect score. The top thirty-two are announced. Robert and Drew easily make it through with Harley, and May scrapes through as well. The Coordinators who moved on are paired up for the Double Contest Battles and May is matched with Harley.

On the beach that night, Jessie plans to move on to Plan C - no matter what, she is going to be in the Contest. The next day, Harley and May kick off the first lot of Double Contest Battles - Harley's Cacturne and Banette against May's Bulbasaur and Beautifly. May asks Harley to make a fair battle, but Harley's only response is that they have different views of fairness. Finally, May says that she is willing to play rough if that's what it takes to beat Harley.

Major events

 * Harley is revealed to own a.
 * May's Skitty reveals via that  knows.
 * , Drew, Harley, and advance to the Battle Stage of the Hoenn Grand Festival.
 * May starts her battle with Harley in the first round of the Battle Stage.

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Nurse Joy (×3)
 * Officer Jenny
 * Norman
 * Drew
 * Harley
 * Caroline
 * Vivian Meridian
 * Raoul Contesta
 * Mr. Sukizo
 * Erica
 * Savannah
 * Sandra
 * Timmy Grimm
 * Dr. Abby
 * s
 * Jessie's fans (fantasy)
 * Erica
 * Savannah
 * Sandra
 * Timmy Grimm
 * Dr. Abby
 * s
 * Jessie's fans (fantasy)
 * s
 * Jessie's fans (fantasy)

Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice:
 * (fantasy)
 * (Norman's)
 * (Norman's)
 * (Drew's)
 * (Harley's; debut)
 * ('s; debut)
 * ('s)
 * (Timmy's)
 * (Dr. Abby's; Johnny)
 * ('s)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
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Trivia

 * There is no Pokémon Trivia Quiz in this episode.
 * This episode's title may be a pun on the phrase "cease and desist".
 * The microphones used by the three Nurse Joy resemble the marker used by.
 * Advance Adventure and music from Mewtwo Strikes Back is used.
 * Although May's Skitty's reveals that  knows  in this episode, Munchlax would not use the move until May's Egg-Cellent Adventure, 28 episodes later.
 * This episode is featured on Volume 17: Skitty from Viz Media's series.
 * does not recite their or blast off in this episode.

Errors

 * In the dub,  says Butterfly instead of.
 * After checks  on his Pokédex, he puts it back in his pocket. A little while later, when he puts his hand out, his Pokédex is still in his hand.
 * In the scene where the other s are showing off their Pokémon, a Coordinator's is missing its circular head fin.
 * When the randomized Battle Stage match ups of Coordinators are being shown, the same two Coordinators are matched up twice.
 * While Jessie is imagining herself on the cover of a magazine for winning the Grand Festival, the magazine's title is spelled "Pokemon", without the accented é.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

 * Question: Trainers, Which of these Pokémon is a ?
 * Choices:, ,
 * Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose, you were right!

In other languages
Trau, schau wem! EP399 AG122 AG編第122話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第121集