S09

The territory might be familiar, but even Ash and Brock can find more than a few surprises in their home region of Kanto, like a Pokémon Ranger hot on the cases of two Legendary Pokémon! May’s back on the Contest path, blazing a trail to the Kanto Grand Festival, while Ash seeks out the hidden facilities of the Battle Frontier. If finding them wasn’t hard enough, he’s still got battles with the Frontier Brains to deal with—much tougher than any Gym Leader he’s ever faced.

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

• Ash and his friends meet Ranger Solana, who is searching for an injured Celebi. (AG155)
• Brock enters his first Pokémon Contest at Gardenia Town. (AG167)
• Ash and company runs into Solana again, as they encounter a wild Deoxys. (AG171 - AG172)
• The Kanto Grand Festival takes place at Indigo Plateau. (AG180-AG182)
  • May, Drew, Harley, and Solidad get past the preliminary Appeals Round. (AG180)
  • May defeats Harley in the Contest Battles, putting her in the Top 8. Drew and Solidad also make it to the Top 8. (AG181)
  • May defeats Drew in the quarterfinals but loses to Solidad in the semifinals, finishing in the Top 4. (AG182)
  • Solidad wins the Grand Festival, receiving the Ribbon Cup and becoming a Top Coordinator. (AG182)
• Ash and his friends learn from Professor Oak about Sinnoh, a region located north of Kanto. (AG187)
• May learns that Drew, Harley, and Solidad plan to enter Pokémon Contests in the Johto region. (AG187)
• Ash calls for his Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur for his match against Brandon. (AG189)
• Ash is offered a position as a Frontier Brain, but he declines. (AG190)
• Ash enters his first Pokémon Contest at Terracotta Town. (AG191)
• Ash and his friends go their separate ways. Brock and Max go back home in Pewter City and Petalburg City, respectively. May plans to compete in Johto Pokémon Contests. Ash returns to Pallet Town. (AG192)
• Ash meets up with Gary, who came from Sinnoh. The two have a battle, with Ash's Pikachu losing to Gary's Electivire. (AG192)
• Ash decides to travel to Sinnoh, and leaves all his Pokémon, except Pikachu, at Professor Oak's Laboratory. However, Aipom quickly follows Ash and rejoins him. (AG192)
• Team Rocket continues to follow Ash into Sinnoh. (AG192)

• Battle Frontier is the only English season to have its own ending theme, instead of just a shortened or instrumental version of the opening theme.
• Battle Frontier is the only English season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire not to contain the word "Advanced" in its title.
• This is the first season not to be dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment.
• Battle Frontier is the first English season to consist of less than 52 episodes.
• In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), this season was initially skipped, and the broadcast of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl started immediately after AG145 with the Dutch dub. However, in the Netherlands, Battle Frontier was not skipped.
• This is the first season to premiere on Cartoon Network in the United States, with the final season being Pokémon the Series: XYZ.
• In the Hindi Hungama TV/MarvelHQ dub, the narrator parodies Indian actor Dharmendra in each episode. This practice continues in the Sinnoh and Unova arcs, with his accent becoming less humorous in Unova.
• This is the first anime dub season, and the only one outside of Pokémon: The Series: Diamond and Pearl to not feature any eyecatches at all.