Pokémon: Battle Frontier is the ninth season of Pokémon and the fourth and final season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation (ポケットモンスター アドバンスジェネレーション, Poketto Monsutā Adobansu Jenerēshon). It originally aired in Japan from October 6, 2005 to September 14, 2006 on TV Tokyo, and in the United States from September 9, 2006 to March 3, 2007 on Cartoon Network. Set in the fictional Kanto region, the season follows the adventures of the ten-year-old Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum and his electric mouse partner Pikachu as they collect Frontier Symbols from Frontier Brains in the Battle Frontier. Along the way, they are joined by Brock, the leader of the Pewter City Gym, as well as the Pokémon coordinator May and her brother Max, as May collects Ribbons from Pokémon Contests so she can compete in the Kanto Grand Festival. The episodes were directed by Masamitsu Hidaka and Norihiko Sudo, and were produced by the animation studio OLM. The Japanese opening songs are "Battle Frontier" (バトルフロンチア, Batoru Furontia) by Akina Takaya for 20 episodes, and "Spurt!" (スパート!, Supāto!) by Rika Matsumoto for 27 episodes. The ending songs are "Pokemon Counting Song" (ポケモンかぞえうた, Pokémon Kazoe Uta) by Akiko Kanazawa for 4 episodes, "GLORY DAY ~That Shining Day~" (GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜, GLORY DAY ~Kagayaku Sono Hi~) by GARDEN for 23 episodes, and "I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~" (私、負けない! ~ハルカのテーマ~, Watashi, Makenai! Haruka no Tēma~) by Kaori Suzuki for 20 episodes. The English opening song is "Battle Frontier" by Jason Appleton. The ending song is "Go Pokémon Go! (Rap)" by Sam Milby ft. Juan Antonio De la Paz. This is the first season of Pokémon to be localized into English by Pokémon USA and TAJ Productions after 4Kids Entertainment's contract wasn't renewed. It was also the first season to premiere on Cartoon Network since 2002; it began airing on September 9, 2006, and ended on March 3, 2007.