DP174

Last Call — First Round! (Japanese: グランドフェスティバル開幕！炎と氷のアート！！ The Grand Festival Begins! The Art of Flame and Ice!!) is the 174th episode of the, and the 640th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on April 29, 2010 and in the United States on September 18, 2010.

Blurb
The Grand Festival is finally under way, and the air is crackling with excitement! We join our heroes at a meet-and-greet to kick off the event. Many of Dawn's fellow Coordinators are in attendance, and they're all excited to show off their skills. Nando, Zoey, Ursula, and Kenny have all come to compete, as well as Jessilina (who is, of course, Team Rocket's Jessie in disguise). But the real surprise comes when the judges announce Nurse Joy from the Hoenn region and Hearthome City Gym Leader Fantina!

The first round begins with three stages running at once! The girls and Nando all turn in splendid performances, but Kenny tries out a risky combination move that doesn't go so well...

When the final tabulation is revealed, everyone but Kenny has moved on to the second round. Vowing to begin training at once for the next Grand Festival, Kenny cheerfully bids goodbye to Dawn and her friends. He also advises Dawn to make sure she beats "that girl with the Plusle and Minun"—her old rival Ursula, of course!

We leave the Grand Festival as it wraps up its first day. But the second round is coming up quickly!

Plot
, and  reach Lake Valor, where the Grand Festival takes place. The episode begins the night before the Grand Festival. Dawn, Ash, Brock, and the participating Coordinators are gathered in a dining hall enjoying a meal. Meanwhile and the crew of Sinnoh Now are interviewing Coordinators at the party. Rhonda is seen interviewing Nando. Rhonda then asks Dawn if she can interview her, and Dawn agrees, but only after she pauses to check her appearance in her hand mirror. Johanna is seen watching Rhonda and Dawn's interview at home.

After being interviewed, Dawn, along with Ash and Brock, talk with Nando. Nando tells them that he has won seven Gym Badges and thanks the s for encouraging him to pursue both Gym battles and Pokémon Contests. Then, appears from behind Dawn and teases her, calling her "Dee Dee". She brushes off his comment saying that she has gotten over her nickname. Dawn says that she isn't even afraid of and  anymore. At that moment, a Plusle and Minum appear and leap onto Dawn's shoulders. She recognizes the two as Ursula's Pokémon. Ursula approaches the group and comments that she is "counting on Dawn to look bad". After Ursula walks away, Dawn hears Zoey call out to her from across the room. Dawn rushes up to Zoey. Clasping her hand, the two exchange greetings and talk about fulfilling their promise to meet in the final round of the Grand Festival.

Later that night, Dawn stands on a balcony with. She thanks them for their hard work until this point, and also thanks Ash and Brock. She shows them all the Ribbon her mother gave her the day she started her and says that she wants to honor her mother's Ribbon by winning the next day.

In the morning, Ash and his are seen  Draco Meteor outside. Kenny approaches them and is almost hit by Gible's attack. He asks where Dawn is and Ash tells him that Dawn was in their room, apparently freaking out about the performance and her appearance. Kenny and Ash smile and say "that's Dawn alright". In the room, Dawn sits in front of a mirror trying to tame her bedhead. Brock walks into the room with Zoey, whom he brought to help Dawn. Zoey immediately goes to help Dawn brush her hair and tells her to remember to stay calm. Dawn sighs, confessing to Zoey that she envies Zoey's ability to always seem so calm and collected. Zoey reassures Dawn that she too feels nervous, but she instead tries to think of her Pokémon. The two girls smile and say in unison "after all, the Pokémon are the stars".

The Grand Festival begins shortly after. Marian appears on stage, introducing the Contest Judges: Raoul Contesta from the Pokémon Activities Committee, Mr. Sukizo from the Pokémon Fan Club, three Nurse Joy from the Pokémon Centers of, , and Lilycove City, and special guest Fantina, the Hearthome City Gym Leader and a Top Coordinator. Marian explains that there are 108 Coordinators competing, and therefore the Performance Stage will take place on three stages: red, blue, and green. There are two judges per stage. After Fantina gives a brief comment, the Double Performances begin.

Ursula is the first Coordinator to appear. In her portion on the blue stage she starts out with two. She uses Song Seals and it causes musical notes to shoot upward out of the Poké Balls, revealing the Eevee. Dawn never saw Eevee before, so she checks her Pokédex. She starts with having the two use repeatedly with each other. She tells them both to use. Then she tosses a Water Stone and a Fire Stone at each, causing them to evolve into and. During evolution each has a cluster of silver bubbles around it and then as the Evolution stones are caught, one Eevee is caught in a whirl of flames and the small silver bubbles become red bubbles and it evolves into Flareon, whereas the other is covered in a wave of water and its silver bubbles come blue bubbles as it evolves into Vaporeon. The two then fly together and they swirl in the air then fire the bubbles and they land softly on the ground as the bubbles land softly and pop into shimmering light. Again, Dawn checks the Pokédex. Kenny remarks that he never thought of using evolution in an appeal, though Zoey notes that while it looked impressive and Ursula will get high marks, it will only work once.

Nando on the green stage uses and. The two start by floating through the air and spinning together and Altaria goes upward using and Kricketot remains on the ground and uses. The two combine and make the music notes glow. The judges compliment Nando and Ash checks Kricketot on his Pokédex. It says that when Kricketot falls over, its antennae makes a xylophone-like sound. Ash comments that it's just like Nando to use sound during a performance.

Jessilina on the red stage uses and  in the Performance Stage. She has Seviper use to create a circular spiral of smoke around it. She then jumps and flips onto its head without disturbing the Haze. Yanmega uses and aims it directly at Jessilina, causing a brilliant glow. This attack sheds her original Contest outfit, revealing a brand new one beneath it.

After several other s perform, it's Zoey's turn on the blue stage, of which the center opens up to reveal a pool for a water stage. She has use  and then her  blast out of the tank. Gastrodon uses and it fires at Lumineon and the Aqua Ring bursts into a brilliant light. The lights form into three rings that float over the water's surface, which Lumineon jumps through, as well as Gastrodon. The rings then float closer to the surface and flatten out and shoot up whirlwinds of water. Zoey jumps onto the center and her two Pokémon next to her.

In 's performance on the red stage he chooses to use his and. Floatzel starts by using straight up into the air into which Empoleon blasts three shots of  at the Aqua Jet trail and it turns into a large waterfall. Floatzel fires off into the water around himself, which disperses into many beautiful flying discs around the stage. Empoleon then uses and shatters the discs, creating a large colorful mist. To finish, Floatzel uses and Empoleon uses. While Floatzel turns the Whirlpool sideways to face Empoleon, the Flash Cannon blasts into the center, breaking up into droplets of rainbow energy. However, the Flash Cannon is too powerful for him to hold back; the Whirlpool quickly collapses and Floatzel is thrown back.

The final performance is Dawn's portion of the Performance Stage on the green stage, where she uses and. First, using Line Seals that sets off a large blue ribbon that ties itself into a bow and blasts into a shimmering light she sends out Buneary and makes her spin while letting off an. This spinning and Ice Beam combination creates a large, roller-coaster type ice path. Cyndaquil then uses and rolls down the path, melting a trench and creating a slide for Buneary, who follows just behind Cyndaquil. Buneary then charges an Ice Beam and Cyndaquil uses in order to cloak themselves above a large center ice spike. The glow is seen through the SmokeScreen. The smoke is blown away, revealing Buneary to be inside a large Poké Ball of ice with Cyndaquil standing on top. She bows as Cyndaquil, having used its back flames to form flapping wings of fire to clear the smoke, continues to fan, the flames illuminating the ice to give off a brilliant glow and causing sparkling snow to fall.

Marian announces the show of Coordinators that made it through to the second round. It is revealed that Dawn, Nando, Ursula, Zoey, and Jessilina will all advance to the Contest Battles, Kenny, however, will not: he has been eliminated.

The group, along with Zoey, are saying goodbye to Kenny. Dawn is concerned about Kenny leaving, but he says he has to get ready for the next Grand Festival. He says he'll be rooting for Dawn. They say goodbye to him and he walks off.

Major events

 * enters the Sinnoh Grand Festival alongside Zoey and Jessilina.
 * Nando,, and Ursula are revealed to have earned their fifth Ribbons and enter the Grand Festival as well.
 * Nando is revealed to have earned six more Gym Badges and to have obtained a and an.
 * Zoey's is revealed to have evolved into a  while her  is revealed to have evolved into a.
 * Kenny is revealed to have obtained a and his  is revealed to have evolved into an.
 * Ursula is revealed to have obtained two, which she evolves into a and a  during her appeal.
 * Dawn, Nando, Ursula, Zoey, and Jessilina successfully clear the Performance Stage.
 * Kenny fails to make it through to the Battle Stage and is eliminated from the Grand Festival.

Pokémon debuts

 * Kenny's Empoleon

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Nurse Joy (×3)
 * Zoey
 * Ursula
 * Nando
 * Fantina
 * Johanna
 * Sinnoh Now staff
 * Cameraman
 * Assistant
 * Marian
 * Mr. Contesta
 * Mr. Sukizo
 * s
 * Audience
 * Assistant
 * Marian
 * Mr. Contesta
 * Mr. Sukizo
 * s
 * Audience

Pokémon

 * (Zoey's)
 * (Ursula's)
 * (Ursula's)
 * (Ursula's; ×2; both evolve)
 * (Ursula's; newly evolved)
 * (Ursula's; newly evolved)
 * (Nando's)
 * (Nando's)
 * ('s)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Ursula's; newly evolved)
 * (Nando's)
 * (Nando's)
 * ('s)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)

Trivia

 * Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Examination:
 * This is the first episode of the four-part Sinnoh Grand Festival arc.
 * The names of the three stages of the Performance Stage are the same as that of the three original games, and.
 * Despite the fact that and two recurring characters have each owned an  that has gone on to evolve, this episode marks the first time an Eevee is shown evolving onscreen in the, with two Eevee undergoing separate Evolutions.
 * This episode marks the first time a Pokémon is seen evolving in the middle of an appeal, discounting the illusory Johanna evolving her in Malice In Wonderland!.
 * Not marking his brief, non-speaking cameo in A Breed Stampede!, this episode marks the first appearance of Nando since Dawn's Early Night!, 125 episodes ago.
 * This is also the first in-person appearance of Nando that is not animated by 木下和栄 Kazue Kinoshita.
 * Background music from Mewtwo Strikes Back, Spell of the Unown: Entei, Jirachi: Wish Maker, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, and The Rise of Darkrai, as well as the instrumental of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~, are used.
 * isn't seen in their regular uniforms throughout this episode.
 * The English version of this episode aired on the same day came out in Japan.
 * Team Rocket doesn't blast off or recite the during the entire arc.
 * One act of the Performance Stage involved a and a, similar to Saturn's Toxicroak and Jupiter's Skuntank.

Errors

 * Nando's uses  in this episode, a move that Kricketot cannot legally learn (although its  can).
 * When Zoey's Gastrodon first appears, the top of its head is pink instead of brown.
 * Zoey's necklace goes from emerald green to yellow in a few scenes.
 * In the dub, Zoey says that she hasn't seen Nando since the Hearthome Gym. This is incorrect; she should have said she hasn't seen him since the Hearthome City Pokémon Contest, which took place in Dawn's Early Night!.

Dub edits

 * During the performances of everyone before, different pieces of music were used instead of the wild Pokémon theme from the and an instrumental from a Pokémon movie.

In other languages
Das Große Festival beginnt! EP643 DP174 DP174 DP編第174話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第172集