AG160

←	AG159 : Off the Unbeaten Path!

Advanced Generation series

AG161 : Odd Pokémon Out

→

Harley Rides Again

AG160

EP434

ゴンベのデビュー戦！ハーリーと真剣勝負！！
Gonbe's Debut Battle! Harley and Taking the Game Seriously!

First broadcast

Japan	January 19, 2006
United States	October 28, 2006

English themes

Opening	Battle Frontier
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	バトルフロンティア
Ending	GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 ③

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka
Storyboard	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director	浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director	岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane

Screenshots on Filb.de

Harley Rides Again (Japanese: ゴンベのデビュー戦！ハーリーと真剣勝負！！ Gonbe's Debut Battle! Harley and Taking the Game Seriously!) is the 160th episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 434th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on January 19, 2006 and in the United States on October 28, 2006.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

May is preparing for the Pokémon Contest in Wisteria Town when her old rival Harley shows up and vows to beat her. He's even got one more Ribbon than she does! Harley also runs into Team Rocket, who offer to help him beat May if he'll help them steal Pikachu. Harley just laughs and laughs at the idea, infuriating Jessie.

May starts the Contest with a dazzling display from Squirtle, and Harley brings out Ariados for an impressive but scary show. During the appeal, Wobbuffet suddenly falls onto the stage, then runs away. As May and Harley move on to the next round, Pikachu and Ash investigate this odd occurrence. Chasing after Wobbuffet, they find Team Rocket busy stealing Pokémon—Wobbuffet fell onto the stage because it fell out of their balloon. Team Rocket tries to convince Ash they're really big May fans, but Pikachu quickly sends them packing.

Harley and May make it to the Contest finals, and Harley's brought his Octillery. Moves like Constrict and Octazooka hit hard, but Munchlax strikes back with Metronome. Harley has Octillery use Rest to restore its health, so now Munchlax must knock it out before it wakes up! But at the last minute, Octillery wakes up and defeats Munchlax with Octazooka. May's not too upset about her loss, though. She has her next Pokémon Contest to look forward to—and a message from an anonymous admirer. Could it be Drew...

Plot

Ash and his friends finally arrive in Wisteria Town, where May will compete in the Wisteria Contest to try to win her third Ribbon. She practices with her Munchlax by throwing a ball into the air and having Munchlax use Focus Punch to break it, dropping confetti everywhere. Everyone comments on how Munchlax looked cute and strong when it hit the ball. May and Munchlax show confidence that they will win their third Ribbon. Eevee goes up to May and indicates that it wants to be in the Contest, but May tells it they need more practice first. Ash asks May if she has decided whether to use Munchlax in both rounds or not. May says she will go with Squirtle in the appeals round and Munchlax in the battle round.

Brock is excited to be surrounded by several girls who are admiring his Bonsly. Harley appears, much to the group's shock and dislike, and says he would like to hold Bonsly. He then goes over to May and asks her how many Ribbons she has. She shows off both of her Ribbons, but Harley reveals that he has three and says he'll win his fourth in this Contest. As they are both stating that they will be victorious, May is shown as a Munchlax and Harley is shown as an Ariados. May's friends tell her not to get worked up over Harley and to focus on winning the Contest.

Harley runs into Team Rocket at their Pokéblock stand. They say they can provide information for Harley as they state their motto. Team Rocket offer to help Harley beat May in the Contest if he would help them capture Pikachu. He recognizes them as Team Rocket, the bad guys who are always defeated badly by Ash and his friends. Harley laughs hysterically, calling them complete and total losers, and saying he would become a total loser like them if he tried to use any of their help. As Harley leaves, Team Rocket become embarrassed and enraged by his public insults and vow to show him not to mess with them.

At the Contest Hall, Brock tells Eevee to watch May closely as she shows how great Contests really are and what they are about. Lilian introduces Mr. Sukizo, Raoul Contesta, and Nurse Joy as the judges for the Contest. May brings out her Squirtle for the appeals round. Squirtle uses Rapid Spin to spin across the floor horizontally and upright, following it up with a Bubble attack that spins around in the air as Squirtle spins around. May's friends all comment on how well they are doing and how hard she must have practiced. The judges say Squirtle was doing a remarkable job with that combination. Harley says May was doing a good job but he would do so much better. Squirtle uses Ice Beam to break the bubbles and then creates a frozen fountain surrounded by frozen water. The judges comment on how great the whole performance was, particularly the finishing move. In the other appeals, Rhydon used Horn Drill to spin a top on its horn, Camerupt blew a lot of smoke, Machamp juggled, and Magneton used Thunderbolt.

Harley takes the stage and brings out his Ariados, who appears with its back to the audience. Ariados uses Spider Web to take over the whole stage and starts climbing and crawling around on it. Ariados bungee jumps from the top with the string attached to its abdomen. It spins itself around while wrapping itself with string and uses Scary Face to scare everyone. Before finishing off its last move, a Wobbuffet falls from the ceiling and crashes onto the ground. Ariados uses Scary Face to scare Wobbuffet and it runs away. Pikachu, who has been wearing a Japanese outfit while waving fans for support, senses something is up, and runs outside the Contest Hall with Ash in pursuit. The results of the appeals round are in, and May is in first with Harley in second. Harley is not very happy with it and tells May she won't be in the lead for long. May tells Harley she is on her way to winning the whole thing.

The first battle of the Battle Round begins. May's Munchlax goes up against her opponent's Politoed. Munchlax charges up its SolarBeam and fires just before Politoed's Water Gun. SolarBeam takes out Politoed in one hit, allowing May to move on to the next round easily. Meanwhile, Team Rocket are using one of their machines to grab Coordinators' Pokémon, leaving the Coordinators with no idea where they went. Wobbuffet returns to them, but Pikachu and Ash had followed it to the roof. Ash demands to know what they are up to, and Team Rocket claims to be trying to help May win. Ash interrogates them about the stolen Pokémon, which Team Rocket claim is their commission for helping May. Ash doesn't believe them and has Pikachu use Thunderbolt to blast them away. Lillian announces May and Harley as the two Coordinators who will face off in the final round.

Before the match, Lillian says to everyone that because Harley and May have won in the past, this Contest Battle will be of a high level. Harley brings out Octillery while May releases Munchlax. Brock warns that Octillery looks like it should not be messed with. Munchlax uses Focus Punch and Octillery jumps high in the air, lands on top of Munchlax, and uses Constrict. Munchlax tries to use Focus Punch to knock Octillery off of it, but it fails and Octillery uses a powerful Octazooka at point-blank. Munchlax uses SolarBeam, but Octillery's Sludge Bomb hits first and causes an explosion. Near the end of her rope, May takes a risk and has Munchlax use Metronome, which at first appears to do nothing. Harley and Octillery began to laugh at the failed move, but suddenly a powerful Thunder drops down onto Octillery. Even after this lucky break, May is still way behind. Octillery uses Rest to fully heal, alarming May's friends, who tell her to attack before Octillery wakes up at full health. Munchlax uses Tackle, Focus Punch, and another Tackle, but it isn't enough. Octillery awakens and knocks Munchlax out with Octazooka. Harley is declared the winner and acknowledges the crowd after being handed his fourth Ribbon.

Later that day, Munchlax is being fed and May's friends are telling her that she did a great job during the Contest. Meanwhile, Harley says to himself that nice girls finish last. Lillian comes up to May and hands her a flier about the next Contest which will be held on Chrysanthemum Island. Lillian also hands her an envelope and a rose from an unknown sender, who Brock deduces to be Drew. She opens up the envelope and reads the letter. The sender says that he or she looks forward to seeing her again at the Chrysanthemum Contest.

Major events

May enters the Wisteria Contest but is defeated in the final and suffers her first Kanto loss, as well as her first loss to Harley.
Harley is revealed to own an Octillery.
Harley wins his fourth Kanto Ribbon.
May learns from Lilian that the next the Contest will be on Chrysanthemum Island and receives an invitation for the Contest from someone she suspects to be Drew.
May's Munchlax is revealed to know Tackle.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Various Pokémon seen at the Contest

Trivia

This episode's title may come from a reference to a Harley Davidson motor bike. It could also possibly be reference to the film Herbie Rides Again.

Errors

When the camera shows May and Squirtle from behind after their appeal, her skirt is red instead of white.
Lillian said that the Trainer who earns five Ribbons moves on to the Grand Festival, when she should have said Trainers.

Dub edits

In other languages


Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		小卡比獸的出道賽！與哈利的認真比賽！
Dutch		Harley gaat weer van start!
Finnish		Harley ratsastaa jälleen
French		Le retour de Harley
German		Immer wieder Harley!
Italian		Harley colpisce ancora
Spanish	Latin America	Harley ataca de nuevo
Spanish	Spain	Harley ataca de nuevo
Swedish		Harley uppe i sadeln igen