Recaps

Xia You defeats Steven Stone and Dara, then continues his journey with May, Ash, Max, and Brock as May earns her first Kanto Ribbon Medal. The group parts ways with Ash, and May accepts Daimi’s challenge at a Pokémon Egg farm.

• Xia You sparred with Mewtwo using Black Rayquaza and Deoxys, then left after asking Mewtwo to wait for a future message.
• Xia You defeated Steven Stone’s Salamence and Charizard with Gardevoir and Gengar, won the Tactics Symbol, and welcomed May as a traveling companion.
• Xia You and May visited Erika in Celadon City, where May discovered Celebi, then traveled to Professor Oak’s Laboratory and helped May choose Squirtle.
• Xia You and Ash defeated Dara’s Articuno with their own Articuno and Charizard, earning Knowledge Badges at the Battle Factory.
• May competed in the Saffron Contest, defeated Harley and Jessie, and won her first Kanto Ribbon Medal after Team Rocket disrupted the final match.
• Xia You and May left Saffron City for the Battle Palace while Ash, Max, and Brock headed to the Battle Arena, then met Daimi at her family’s Pokémon Egg farm.
• Daimi challenged May to prove she could become an outstanding Coordinator without traveling, and selected Munchlax for a battle against her Vileplume.

May earned several Kanto Contest ribbons while traveling with Xia You, who also defeated Frontier Brains Yujin and Lucy. After they handled a Pokémon Ranger incident and exposed Liuna’s attacks, Xia You began his Battle Tower challenge against Anabel, with their final Pokémon still battling.

• May decided to begin traveling after Xia You encouraged her, and Daimi gave her an Eevee Egg before she and Xia You left the farm.
• May won the Guiluba Contest with Combusken, then Xia You defeated Yujin’s team in a forest-wide battle and earned the Spirits Badge.
• Xia You and May completed Zaoyu Town’s orienteering race together, and May won the Tamamo Contest by using Munchlax to carry Harley’s sleeping Octillery out of bounds.
• Xia You and May helped a wild Celebi recover from an injury, then Xia You defeated Lucy’s Milotic and Seviper to earn the Luck Badge.
• May’s egg hatched into an Eevee, and Xia You exposed Liuna as the person controlling Red Lightning, a Scizor that had attacked Trainers and Pokémon.
• May won the Liudaomu Contest with Munchlax, earning her fourth ribbon, while Brock abandoned his attempt to become a Coordinator after losing the final.
• Xia You began his Battle Tower challenge against Anabel, defeating her Alakazam before both Metagross knocked each other out.
• Xia You and Anabel sent out Scizor and Espeon for the deciding round, and Anabel’s Psychic shattered one of Scizor’s Double Team images while she searched for the real one.

Xia You and May traveled from the Kouki Contest to Ecruteak City, where Xia You overcame the King of Pokélantis, claimed victory at Charizard Canyon, and captured Entei and a Snowman Snorlax. The arc left Eevee weighing its possible evolutions as Xiaoyu prepared to use aphrodisiac-laced sake to pursue Xia You.

• May won the Kouki Contest with Squirtle, earned her fifth Ribbon Medal, and qualified for the Grand Festival after Team Rocket escaped with Harley’s Banette.
• Xia You helped Hinata free a wild Deoxys from a meteorite, ending the geomagnetic anomaly that had disrupted the forest.
• Xia You and May explored the Pokélantis ruins, where Gengar destroyed the King’s soul, before Scott met them outside the Battle Pyramid.
• Xia You’s Charizard defeated the strongest Charizard at Charizard Canyon and received a Charizard X Evolution Stone from Kiko.
• Xia You Mega Evolved Charizard to defeat and capture Entei, then continued toward the Whirl Islands with May.
• Xia You and May sheltered aboard Lujia’s research vessel during a storm, then Xia You caught a Totem Snowman Snorlax on an iceberg.
• The Ecruteak Five discussed Eevee’s possible evolutions with Xia You, while Xiaomei and Sakura helped May practice for Contests.
• Xiaotao caught Xiaoyu preparing aphrodisiac-laced sake to seduce Xia You, but Gengar secretly spread it among all the sake bottles.

Xia You reunited with Ho-Oh, received its blessing, and continued to the Grand Festival, where May advanced to the final after defeating Harley and Drew. May’s final against Saori began with Saori taking control, and Xia You expected May to lose despite her fighting hard.

• Xiaoyu’s drugged sake led to Xia You spending the night with her and her sisters, and the next day Xia You accepted Xiaoyu as his partner and promised to take responsibility for the sisters.
• Xia You gave Entei, Suicune, and Raikou to Xiaojuan, Xiaotao, and Xiaoyu, then used the Clear Bell and the Legendary Beasts’ hairs to summon Ho-Oh at Ecruteak City’s Bell Tower.
• Xia You challenged Ho-Oh with Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, and Ho-Oh passed him its test, gave him a feather blessing, and departed after telling him to endure its power.
• Xia You and May left the sisters and traveled to the Grand Festival, where Xia You evolved Eevee into Umbreon and May prepared to compete.
• May placed twenty-first in the preliminary round, then earned the highest score in the first appeal round with Munchlax and advanced among the final sixteen.
• May defeated Harley in the second round and Drew in the quarterfinals, and Combusken evolved into Blaziken after her victory.
• May and Saori reached the final, where Saori’s Slowbro and Pidgeot blunted May’s opening attacks, and Xia You told Ash, Max, and Brock that May was likely to lose.