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 Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 396th episode of the Pokémon animated series. 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. As prepares to leave she is 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. After thaws him out, Anthony explains that he was entered in the Hoenn Grand Festival, but he lost his Contest Pass and his Ribbon case to a strange trio. Ash boldly asserts that they will help Anthony track down the thieves.
Meanwhile, Jessie declares that she will win the Grand Festival, with five Ribbons pinned to her top. She imagines being on magazine covers, setting fashion trends, and getting a recording contract. says he would rather be a simple thief with no pressure, and Jessie shakes him violently to remind him who is in charge. James informs 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 questions May’s judgment, though she confidently responds that it was Beautifly’s that got her this far in the first place. Drew and his Pokémon watch the match. Harley invites May to make the first move, and Skitty's becomes Combusken's , pushing back several paces. Assist 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, and 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. After Max alerts Officer Jenny to the situation, Jenny 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 to compete. 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 from the comfort of 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. She informs Harley of the situation, and he replies that he hates the thought of dishonesty around them. Nearby, Jessie has fashioned a decent 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 walks by, Anthony stops her in her tracks and confronts her. Meowth and James, watching from afar, are stunned by the appearance of the real Anthony, as well as Ash and Jenny. Jessie denies being an imposter only for Swalot to use and 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 smashes apart its own with and Swallows the whole lot for a clean finish, earning himself 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 group's horror, Skitty begins to run in circles much 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 performance before he is confronted by Drew. Harley shrugs off his foul play tactic 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 is satisfied. May orders Skitty to finish with , 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 for not following his advice, only for Drew to reveal to her that Harley knew all along that sticking with Assist would end badly for May, and purposely advised her to do so to with the intention of making her lose, with Harley admitting that Drew is correct and telling May that she was a fool for trusting him. Hurt and angry, May questions why Harley would do something so despicable, to which he replies that it was to get revenge on her for defeating him in the Purika City competition. May believes that Harley is unjust in wanting revenge for losing fair and square, but Harley shrugs her off and assures her that she will lose this competition, before shouldering her and walking off. Drew tells May that Harley was right about it being foolish for her to trust him, and that she should instead trust in her own heart and do what she knows is right, before also walking off. May visibly takes this advice to heart.
Back on stage, Vivian Meridian announces the top three finishers from the Appeals Stage - third: Drew and his -using Masquerain. The field is covered in s, which are diverted with Silver Wind, giving Drew a standing ovation and a perfect 100. Harley snidely says it's not 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 calls for 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 her 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.
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* 
====Pokémon debuts====
* 
* 
==Characters==
===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)
===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)
* (Coordinator'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)
* (Coordinator'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)
* (Coordinator'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)
* (Coordinator's)
* (Coordinator's)
* (Coordinator's)
==Trivia==
* There is no Pokémon Trivia Quiz in this episode.
* This episode's English dub title is 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 itself 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===
* 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.
* 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.
* 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 matchups of Coordinators are being shown, the same two Coordinators are matched up twice.
* After Drew's performance, the knot on 's bandanna is missing.
* In the dub, says Butterfly instead of .
AG122 error.png|Vaporeon's missing head fin
AG122 error 1.png|Pokémon is spelled without the accented é
AG122 error 2.png|May's bandanna error
===Dub edits===
* In the English dub, during the montage of Appeals, Drew and May are thinking about how tough the competition is going to be. In the original Japanese version, they don't say anything.
====Pokémon Trainer's Choice====
* Question: Trainers, Which of these Pokémon is a type?
* Choices: , , 
* Answer: OK, Trainers! If you chose Tropius, you were right!
==In other languages==
122
Category:Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
Category:Grand Festival episodes
Category:Episodes focusing on May
Category:Episodes focusing on Drew
Category:Episodes focusing on Harley
de:Trau, schau wem!
es:EP399
fr:AG122
ja:AG編第122話
zh:宝可梦 超世代 第121集