AG121

Hi Ho Silver Wind! (Japanese: 開幕！グランドフェスティバル①！！  Begin! Grand Festival (1)!!) is the 121st episode of the, and the 395th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 7, 2005 and in the United States on February 18, 2006.

Blurb
May has arrived in Slateport City for the Grand Festival. Her mother, Caroline, has come to cheer her on, and her friends sent notes to wish her luck. With 247 competitors in the preliminary matches and only 64 slots in the main competition round, May will need more than just luck—especially when Drew and Harley are among the competitors, too!

Harley is friendly towards May, but her friends are suspicious of the advice he gives her. Meanwhile, Team Rocket has dressed James up as Norman and offers free counseling sessions. When Trainers show up, their Pokémon are stolen! Harley sees this and drags May off to see "Norman." When she and her friends see the false Norman, Team Rocket's number is up.

With Team Rocket's plan foiled, it's back to the competition. May uses Silver Wind just as Harley suggested, and it works great. She advances to the next round along with Harley and Drew. But Drew is still skeptical of Harley's motives as they prepare for the main competition.

Plot
After all of the hard and earning Ribbons, 's long-awaited moment has come. She's arrived at Slateport City for the Pokémon Contest Grand Festival, and is just taking a step into the Contest Hall to register. At the front desk, she signs her Pokémon and all five of her Ribbons in, and the receptionist gives her a ticket, and a guidebook for the Festival rules as they are a bit different. The receptionist explains that the guidebook has all of the rules, maps of the stadium, and restaurant locations.

Everyone goes to their dorm rooms and notices how big they are and that they look like a hotel instead. May is greeted by a surprise guest - her mom. May asks her mom if her dad was going to be there but he couldn't make it simply because he's too busy at the Gym, which is getting quite a lot of challengers. But, she says he'll be watching her on TV and not missing a single moment. tells Caroline that he has been making sure they eat healthy meals just as she suggested. points out to May that her room has a cool view of the ocean.

As Caroline delivers May her mail, she receives a surprise. A letter from of Lilycove City! Then, Brock finds one from Savannah and her daughter Sandra from Rubello Town... as well as everyone else. They all couldn't make it in time for the festival this year, but they do remember May and are all supporting her. May starts shaking out of nervousness about the Grand Festival, but she remembers that everyone is supporting her and because of that she shouldn't be afraid. May asks Brock about the rules that are in the guidebook. Just like in Rubello Town, which instituted "Grand Festival rules", different Pokémon are to be used in various rounds, and just like any normal Contest it has preliminary matches, followed by the main Contest matches. 247 s compete in the preliminary matches but only 64 Coordinators move on to the main Contest matches. Brock suggests to May that she should practice to prepare for the preliminary rounds and she agrees.

Outside, are pulling one of their old tricks again. They're disguised as Norman and his manager, and making autographs as usual. One kid is interested in an autograph though as he comes up, they start to say their motto, but don't give themselves away since the twerps aren't around yet. He's about to take out his autograph book, but they give a whole stack of posters that say he must attend a Pokémon counseling session just to get an autograph. As she is telling the kid this, and  are going around with a sign to advertise the counseling session. He asks her if she is Norman's mother. Jessie yells at the boy for suggesting that, says she is his manager, and James has to restrain her. James tells the kids that if they come to the counseling session that he would give them plenty of advice on how to raise their Pokémon. The whole fan crowd is getting excited over Norman himself giving advice. says that because they are all good Pokémon Trainers, that they have a lot of strong Pokémon that Team Rocket can steal from them.

Meanwhile, where the other Coordinators are practicing, everyone observes a Coordinator working with his and another working with their. May suggests to her mom that she show her all of her Pokémon that she caught. She shows all her captured Pokémon to Caroline, who comments on how good they are, showing particular fondness to because of its elegance. Not wanting to be left out, Ash decides to continue training with his to perfect its, unfortunately freezing Ash in the process. Snorunt finds this very funny. , who was hiding behind May because of the wild Ice Beam, then spots another Trainer feeding Pokéblock to his and swiftly moves over and intercepts the next block before the Zigzagoon could catch it. May apologizes, but the Trainer does not get angry, saying he has plenty of Pokéblock. Max then gives Munchlax some of May's Pink Surprise which promptly fills Munchlax up before it falls asleep. Caroline is not surprised, saying that the rumors of Munchlax's appetite must be true. May tells her that Munchlax also likes to run off so they have to keep a close eye on it all of the time.

Meanwhile, another figure makes an appearance with a, and May looks over and sees that it is Drew. May runs over and begins boasting about her skill as a Trainer. Drew, confident as ever, says that just saying something doesn't make it so. May gets annoyed and begins to yell at Drew, but she shuts up when Drew presents her with a rose. Drew then congratulates her on reaching the Grand Festival, but on her enthusiasm, he then goes on to say that enthusiasm cannot replace pure talent. May gets annoyed and looks about to yell at Drew before stopping herself, saying that Drew will change his tone when he sees her in the Grand Festival.

Just then Harley makes an appearance, and runs over to May. None of the group are happy to see him, especially not May. Caroline suggests that he is another one of May's friends that she met but Max explains to her that he was the one that cheated before and is not their friend. However Harley appears to have turned over a new leaf, and is very apologetic about his behavior in their last encounter. May is speechless, and Harley begs for forgiveness. May, a little confused, agrees to forgive Harley, who is overjoyed and May looks a little frightened at his intense manner. Max calls Harley a "weirdo" and Ash doesn't trust him, however Caroline seems to believe he is sincere. Harley then spots the red rose in May's hands and asks if it is from this young man, but when Drew is introduced Harley seems to recognize the name and begins giving him a lot of compliments, saying that Trainers are all gunning for him and saying he is the one to beat. Brock comments about Harley's behavior, saying that he is "laying it on a little thick". Harley is surprised that May has such powerful friends, but May says that they aren't really friends and that Drew mostly makes fun of her, however Harley doesn't believe it, saying that he wouldn't have given her a rose if that were the case. He then begins to suspect a love interest between May and Drew, and May gets very embarrassed. Harley laughs and appears satisfied that he was right, then taking a picture of Drew, who appears confused about the whole thing. Harley then says goodbye and May looks dumbstruck. Drew also leaves, having a disgusted look on his face and leaving May on her own in the road. May begins to protest to Drew but he gets too far away. May says that Harley speaks so much she isn't sure whether to believe him. Max supports her, saying that Harley is "as big a phoney as they come" and May agrees with him. As Harley is walking away from them, he says to himself that he will soon get his revenge on May.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is having their Pokémon counseling session and are assessing a Trainer's. James comments that Espeon has been raised very well and that he can raise her to become even stronger. The Trainer agrees and asks him to take his Espeon and make it stronger. Several other Trainers ask about their Pokémon too as Harley looks on in amazement of the sight of seeing Norman. Jessie brings Espeon back and locks it in a cage. Meowth suggests to Jessie that they make a run for it with the Pokémon they have already stolen but Jessie wants to gather as many Pokémon as they can, so they decide to keep on stealing more Pokémon.

May begins her Grand Festival training by working with her Beautifly. Beautify flies high into they air sparkling very beautifully as everyone comments that it is the most it has ever shined and sparkled. Brock suggests that the special meals he prepared for Beautifly really paid off. Beautifly also worked on its which also looks much improved as well. Harley suggests to May that she should only use Silver Wind all of the way through the preliminary competition matches and that the judges will just have to admire how great the performance is. Everyone else is still unsure whether Harley has really changed but Brock says that they should still give him a chance. Drew advises May that she shouldn't rely on only Silver Wind through the preliminary competition matches because they are supposed to show a variety and not just different way of using one attack. Harley tells May not to listen to Drew because he is jealous and suggests that he take her to see Norman since he has more extensive knowledge. May asks how that is possible since Norman isn't really there while Harley shows her the flyer that talks about the Pokémon counseling session that Norman is supposedly doing.

May and the others go to the counseling session where James is assessing an and he suggests to take it and make it become stronger. Caroline says that Norman would never say anything like that which makes the supposed Norman a fake. Ash confronts them about who they really are. James says to Ash that he should be careful about who he is calling a faker and that he is real while May tells James that he is not her father. May has Beautifly use Silver Wind to reveal their true identities as Team Rocket. Team Rocket makes their get away in a helicopter-like machine. Pikachu uses to break the machine and free all of the Pokémon. Beautifly uses Silver Wind to bring them back to the ground safely. All of the Trainers thank Ash and May while saying that they are heroes for saving their Pokémon. Harley comments to May that Beautifly's Silver Wind is much better and getting stronger while May says that she now has more confidence in it and will rely on Silver Wind to breeze through the preliminary rounds. Drew has a worried expression on his face as he hears about May sticking to her plan to only use Silver Wind.

The Grand Festival begins with a Zigzagoon using, 's sparkling as it comes out of its , Drew's Roselia using  while spinning, and Harley's  using  for their performances. Harley reminds May to rely on her Beautifly's Silver Wind for the preliminary rounds, and she tells him that she will do it. May brings out Beautifly who sparkles brightly before using Silver Wind towards the sun which creates shiny sparkles falling to the ground. May receives an 88 score which was better than Harley's 84 and less than Drew's 95 score. Harley congratulates Drew and says that he knew that he would make it to the next round while Drew doesn't believe him. May's friends congratulate her on a job well done while Harley comes up to them and congratulates her as well, reminding her to keep using Silver Wind. May says she will continue using Silver Wind. The results are revealed showing that Drew is in third place, May in 48th place, and Harley also made it through.

Major events

 * Harley and are revealed to have five  Ribbons each.
 * Drew and Harley meet each other for the first time.
 * , Drew, Harley, and Robert enter the Hoenn Grand Festival and get past the first round.

Humans

 * Max
 * Caroline
 * Jessie
 * James
 * Drew
 * Harley
 * s
 * Contest Judges
 * Harley
 * s
 * Contest Judges
 * Contest Judges

Pokémon
Pokémon Trainer's Choice:


 * ('s)
 * (Coordinator's)
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 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's; multiple)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
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 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (Coordinator's)
 * (cameo in visualization)
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 * (cameo in visualization)
 * (Coordinator's)
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 * (cameo in visualization)
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Trivia

 * There was no Pokémon Trivia Quiz when this episode first aired, marking the first absence since the segment was introduced.
 * This episode begins the three-part Hoenn Grand Festival arc.
 * The English dub title of this episode is taken from 's catchphrase, sharing its source with Hi Ho Silver... Away! from the Johto saga.
 * It could alternatively be based on the song .
 * When blasts off, James's Chimecho is shown to have a face similar to that of a.
 * This is an instance when the original music of Team Rocket's first motto is heard during the.

Errors

 * The in the cage appears to be smaller than the average for its species.
 * Throughout the episode, appears to be darker, but not constantly.

Pokémon Trainer's Choice

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

In other languages
Mehr Schein als sein? EP398 AG121 AG編第121話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第120集