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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · Mulberry, Pewter & the Battle Pyramid arc (AG173–AG179) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 29 · English episode 446 · Japanese episode 450 · Bulbapedia code AG174 |
| English title | New Plot, Odd Lot! |
| Japanese title | ハーリー＆ロケット団！悪役同盟結成！？ Hārī ando Roketto-dan! Akuyaku Dōmei Kessei!? — “Harley & Rocket-dan! Formation of a Villainous Alliance!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 27 April 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 29 November 2006 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Supāto! (Spurt!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Watashi, Makenai! ~Haruka no Tēma~ (I Won’t Lose! ~Haruka’s Theme~) – Haruka (KAORI.) |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | All That Glitters is Not Golden! (AG173) |
| Next episode | Going for Choke! (AG175) |
Plot episodeMulberry ContestHarley allies with Team Rocket
New Plot, Odd Lot! is the 29th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 446th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 450, Bulbapedia code AG174). It first aired in Japan on 27 April 2006 and in the United States on 29 November 2006. It falls within the season’s Mulberry, Pewter & the Battle Pyramid stretch (EP173–EP179).
Synopsis
At the Mulberry City Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy reminds May that this is the last Contest before the Kanto Grand Festival, which begins in a month, so it is her final chance to earn a fifth Ribbon. As the pressure sinks in, Harley strolls up and “accidentally” drops his Ribbon case at her feet, and May finds he already has all five. Furious at his gloating, she sends Ash outside to train while she prepares. Jessie, meanwhile, unveils her expensive Jessiebelle costume and picks Meowth as her partner, but his chattering ruins her planned comedy routine. Then Harley appears, grabs her hand and gushes that he is Jessiebelle’s biggest fan. He offers to help Team Rocket beat May, explaining his grudge with a story from his school days, when a girl who looked like May snatched the last Octillery-shaped snack from under his nose and walked off smiling. Moved to tears, Jessie accepts, and Harley lends her his Cacturne and Banette.
Lilian introduces the judges and the final Ribbon on offer, while Drew watches quietly from the stands. After appeals from an Altaria, a Clamperl and a Koffing, Jessie and Cacturne slice a vegetable with Cut and create a glittering display of Cotton Spore and Bullet Seed, earning the judges’ approval and Harley’s applause. When May’s turn comes, she slips as she throws her Poké Ball, and keeps stumbling: up in the rafters, James and Meowth are using Harley’s Ariados to trip May and Combusken with strands of web. Pikachu spots the threads and alerts Ash, and the two climb up to find them. Ariados pins Pikachu to the railing with String Shot, but down on stage Combusken’s Fire Spin catches the webs and turns them into a dazzling display that delights the judges and infuriates Harley.
The flames race up the webbing to the ceiling and engulf Ariados, and while James and Meowth try to beat out the fire, the burning threads release Pikachu, whose Iron Tail sends James, Meowth and Ariados through the roof. Below, May throws a frisbee into the air, and Combusken catches it with Sky Uppercut and Mega Kick before landing gracefully to the judges’ praise. Backstage, May worries that her appeal was not good enough until Ash tells her what Team Rocket were up to. Lilian then announces the eight Coordinators moving on to the Contest Battles, and both May and Jessie are among them. Harley scolds the Rocket trio for failing to knock May out, recalls his Ariados and stalks off, while Jessie vows to finish May off herself.
Major Events
- Mulberry Contest, part 1. Harley already has five Ribbons
- He allies with Team Rocket and lends Jessiebelle his Cacturne and Banette
- James and Meowth trip May with Ariados’s webs
- Combusken’s Fire Spin turns them into a dazzling appeal
- May and Jessie reach the Top 8
- The Contest theme is kept in the English dub for the first time
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Harley’s “Haruka boys” become “boy toys”
- The Pokémon Contest theme kept in the English dub for the first time
- A karaoke I Won’t Lose! as background music
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.