Pros and Con Artists (LAoPtS)

Plot
Ash and his friends arrive at Fallarbor Town, where May will participate in her second Pokémon Contest. May is far more confident than last time that she and Beautifly will win. As they enter the Contest Hall, Brock finds himself surrounded by beautiful girls and May becomes nervous about all the competition. They take particular interest in a Medicham which is practicing its Meditate. Suddenly various objects around the room begin to float, including Max's glasses and even Pikachu. Medicham's Trainer, Grace, tells it to stop and apologizes for its burst of psychic energy. Everything falls back to the ground and Brock immediately falls in love with Grace, though Max quickly pulls him away by the ear. May apologizes for Brock, saying that he does that with every beautiful girl, and Grace begins laughing hysterically in embarrassment, accidentally shoving May over.

The group and Grace have dinner, where it is revealed that Grace already has three Ribbons. May gets nervous again, but Grace tries to cheer her up by saying that the Coordinator with the most experience won't necessarily win, it can just as easily come down to who they're facing and luck, but a Coordinator will never be able to win until they learn how to use their Pokémon's power completely. Unfortunately May still feels nervous, so Grace offers to show May some of Medicham's moves. Outside, Grace sends out her Medicham and shows off its Ice Punch, then combines it with Psychic for a sparkling display. May hadn't even considered combining moves before, so the next day tries it with her Beautifly, having it use Silver Wind, then Tackle. Unfortunately May can't make up her mind and quickly tells it to use Gust instead, then changes again to String Shot. All of this just ends with Beautifly getting tangled in its own String Shot. May's rival Drew shows up in time to witness this, and comments on May's indecisiveness. Drew then asks how many Ribbons May has won, knowing that the answer is zero. May fires back with the same question, but it backfires on her as Drew reveals that he has earned three Contest Ribbons.

Elsewhere, Team Rocket are trying another con by convincing a passerby that they have a secret Ribbon-winning product. The man is intrigued and can't wait to buy what they have, so Jessie and James guide him through to their alleyway store, “Dr Crock’s Pokéblock Shop”. Meowth has him swear to secrecy, before unleashing his spiel onto the customer. Meowth then tries to sell the man silver and gold colored Pokéblocks, saying that the gold blocks raise a Pokémon's "coolness", while the silver blocks raise their "charismatic-tism". Using Wobbuffet, Jessie and James pose as satisfied customers and convince the man that they really work, when in reality they are just regular Pokéblocks that have been painted. The man rushes off thrilled with his purchase.

Back inside the Contest Hall, Ash, Brock, and Max notice Drew, who thinks that the three are afraid because they're not entering the Contest. Ash says they're not, so Drew challenges them to a Pokémon battle to prove it. Outside, Ash uses Taillow and has it use Quick Attack against Drew's Roselia. Roselia counters with Magical Leaf, which Taillow dodges. Roselia tries again with Petal Dance, and Taillow dodges it. Taillow goes in for a Peck, but Roselia defends with Stun Spore, finally managing to hit Taillow. As Taillow falls towards the ground, Roselia ends the match with a well-aimed Solar Beam. May is in disbelief that Ash lost the match, though Drew admits that a Trainer and their Pokémon must be on the same wavelength to win. Overnight, May becomes increasingly discouraged about the upcoming Contest as she mulls over Grace and Drew's words of advice.

Team Rocket's con continues to thrive the following day, and May thinks that if she buys one of their Pokéblocks, she won't have to worry about Beautifly winning. However, Grace arrives and is immediately suspicious. The trio isn't able to answer Grace's question about what Berries were used to make the Pokéblocks, so Grace blows their con and tells everyone that real Coordinators shouldn't rely on miracle products and should be mixing their own Pokéblocks anyway. May realizes she's right, and falls to her knees in despair. Grace has her Medicham use Psychic to further reveal Team Rocket's scam, and they try to take off in their balloon. As they leave, they steal May's Beautifly, Grace's Medicham, a Teddiursa, a Marill, and a Wigglytuff. Medicham uses Psychic to free the stolen Pokémon, then Beautifly uses String Shot to stop their balloon from leaving. James has his Cacnea use Pin Missile to break the thread. Jessie has Seviper retaliate with Poison Tail, but Medicham stops it with its High Jump Kick. Beautifly dodges Cacnea's Pin Missile and hits it with Tackle, while Medicham blasts Team Rocket off with an Ice Punch. Afterwards, the competing Coordinators, including May, stand on the stage as the Fallarbor Contest is about to get underway.

Major events

 * Ash and his friends arrive in Fallarbor Town and meet up with Drew again.
 * Ash has a battle against Drew and loses.
 * Drew is revealed to have earned three Contest Ribbons already.