Excited to enter her first Pokémon Contest in the Kanto region, May learns of several new rules that promise to make contests and contest battles even more strategically challenging. Max and May are particularly dubious of the warm greeting they receive from Harley, who had previously deceived May on several occasions. Seeing Harley dedicatedly volunteer at the local Pokémon Center, however, May decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. But this is yet again an err in judgment: Harley is determined to keep May from registering for the contest until after the deadline has passed.