Pokémon: Battling the Leaf Thieves!

On their way to Icirrus City and Ash’s next Gym battle, Ash and Iris are doing some training with Swadloon and Emolga. The attacks are fast and furious, when suddenly Swadloon evolves into Leavanny! Leavanny’s special talent is making clothes out of leaves for small Pokémon, and Ash’s Leavanny gets right on it! It makes clothes for three wild Sewaddle whose leaves are in tatters, as well as most of our heroes’ Pokémon—though not all of them appreciate the final result. It’s time for a nap after their early-morning start. While everyone is asleep, a group of hungry Durant appears, taking the pile of leaf clothing—and Axew, who’s wearing a stylish leaf mask! Our heroes wake to discover Axew missing, and Emolga figures out what happened and leads them to the cave where the Durant make their nest. It’s a maze of tunnels, and Leavanny attaches its thread to the walls as they walk so they can find their way back. They search for a long while with no luck, but then Cilan comes up with a plan: wrap Ash and Scraggy up in leaves and use them as bait! When the Durant come to drag our leaf-covered heroes away, the others follow, and the Durant lead them to their leaf hoard (and the still-sleeping Axew). Their rescue attempt leads to a fierce fight with these armor-plated Bug types, until Emolga uses its secret weapon: Attract! This takes a number of Durant out of the fighting—enough for our heroes to flee, following Leavanny’s thread trail back out of the cave. Axew finally wakes up safe and sound, and our heroes are on their way to Icirrus City once again.