The Outdoor Hot Spring and Gligar!

Dawn had a childhood friend she grew up playing with, ever since their kindergarten days.

Her name was Leona.

Now, Dawn was bringing Ash and Anabel to visit Leona's house nearby.

As it happened, Leona was home — and she had three adorable little Swinub with her, all fluffy and super cute. When the trio arrived, Leona was out on the grassy field, seemingly training or playing with the Swinub.

"Heeey! Leona —it's been forever!"

"Huh? No way! Is that you, Dee Dee Dancer Dawn?!"

"Ughhh, I told you not to call me that anymore!"

The two girls laughed and ran into each other's arms, clearly overjoyed to reunite.

After introducing Ash and Anabel, Dawn eagerly brought up the idea of taking a dip in Leona's famous outdoor hot spring.

"Ahh, about that…" Leona scratched her cheek awkwardly. "I'd love to let you guys use it, but our 'Hot Spring' is having a bit of an issue right now. I'm afraid we might not be able to soak today…"

Leona then explained the situation to everyone.

Her family's hot spring was fed by a natural spring at the top of the mountain, connected via a long pipe system. But for the past few days, the hot water just… stopped flowing.

They weren't sure if the source had dried up or if the pipe was blocked. Leona's parents had already gone up the mountain to investigate.

In the meantime, Leona was trying a backup plan: her three Swinub had great noses for sniffing out mushrooms they loved to eat — and those mushrooms often grew near hidden hot spring spots. If they could find one, maybe they could get hot water flowing again.

"Well then, let us help out too!" Dawn offered enthusiastically.

But Ash shook his head, arms crossed.

"No need. I have a hunch... This smells like Team Rocket. If we follow the water pipe uphill, we'll probably find where the trouble started."

"Pikapi!" Pikachu agreed with a determined nod. Team Rocket had been suspiciously quiet lately — it made perfect sense that they'd cooked up something here.

With that, the group decided to follow Ash's plan and trace the pipe up into the mountains.

…

"Heave-ho! Team Rocket's workin' hard, you know!"

"Heave-ho! Labor never ends for Team Rocket!"

"That's right, nya~!"

Jessie, James, and Meowth had ended up here. When they stumbled across news of a mountain hot spring, their criminal minds fired up instantly.

Turns out they were the ones who hijacked Leona's hot spring line.

Not only had they blocked the original pipeline, they'd even dug out their own secret spa.

"We're gonna rake in the dough with this outdoor resort!"

"Yeah, we'll be rich, nya! We just need to—"

Before James could finish his thought, Ash and the others appeared at the scene, having followed the pipe trail directly to their hideout.

"Team Rocket. You've really got nothing better to do, huh?"

"So you were the ones who messed with our hot spring!" Leona shouted angrily. "I'll never forgive you! Swinub, let's go!"

The trio of Swinub squealed in agreement and glared at Meowth with righteous fury.

"Hah! I knew I heard familiar voices!"

"And so we arrived at light-speed!"

"By the wind's will, we—"

"Enough already!"

Before Team Rocket could finish their motto, Leona yelled, "Swinub, Blizzard!"

BOOM! A wave of freezing wind shot out and instantly froze all three members of Team Rocket into a solid ice block.

"Grotle, finish this up with Energy Ball!"

"Rooaar!"

TSSSHHH!! The Energy Ball slammed into the frozen block, exploding it into icy shards and sending Team Rocket soaring into the sky.

"This kid just keeps getting stronger..."

"We can't even finish a single line of our motto anymore!"

"I'm so sick of this, nya…"

As they were launched sky-high, Team Rocket looked down at the hot spring they'd worked so hard to steal — now returned to its rightful owner.

"What a miserable feeling…"

Ding!

Gone in a sparkle.

"Tch. They'd been quiet for so long, I thought maybe they'd finally turned over a new leaf," Ash muttered.

"Piplup!" Dawn and her partner gave a collective sigh as they watched the familiar trio vanish into the distance.

With Team Rocket out of the picture and the water flowing again, Leona's family's outdoor hot spring was back in business.

Since it was a mixed bath, though, there were… limitations on what they could do.

Dawn and Anabel both turned a little red in the face, nervously slipping into the spring alongside Ash.

Especially Anabel.

Once in the water, she hugged herself tightly and didn't dare let go.

"Hey, Anabel, what's up?" Dawn asked curiously.

Anabel didn't reply.

So Dawn gently pulled her arms apart — and that's when the problem floated right up. Due to a certain "buoyancy issue," Anabel immediately started drifting, her feet unable to even touch the bottom of the hot spring.

Dawn: "…"

Anabel: "…"

Dawn glanced down at herself, then back at Anabel.

"Okay… yeah. Anabel-sis is… stacked."

The awkward but innocent moment left both girls flustered and wordless. They quickly changed the subject, redirecting their focus to the Pokémon soaking nearby.

Aside from Tyranitar, Charizard, and Monferno — who couldn't enter for obvious reasons — the rest of Ash's and Dawn's Pokémon were enjoying the hot spring just fine.

But good times never last forever.

After resting and relaxing at Leona's place, the trio set out again on their journey.

Next stop: Veilstone City.

However, the first town they reached after leaving Leona's place suddenly had Ash wide-eyed with excitement.

If he wasn't mistaken, this town was the same one from the original timeline — the place where a bunch of wild Gligar were causing trouble!

And one of them, in particular — the super cute, quirky, and promising Gligar — was waiting here!

Sure enough, once they entered the town, it was clear something was wrong. The streets were quiet, eerily so — barely any pedestrians in sight.

At the Pokémon Center, they found both Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny already in a state of crisis.

The cause? A Gliscor… and a swarm of Gligar.

"Our town was hit by a huge storm recently," Nurse Joy explained. "During the chaos, a wild Gliscor was swept in from a nearby forest and ended up here."

"Gliscor usually can't fly," Officer Jenny added. "It glides on wind currents and emits special vibrations to help it avoid obstacles."

"But in a city full of skyscrapers and hard walls, those vibrations keep bouncing back — it's throwing off its flight path. And worse, the signals attracted a bunch of Gligar from the forest. Now they're all scouring the town for food."

"We're trying to come up with a plan, but... maybe you skilled trainers have some ideas?"

Ash's eyes lit up.

That Gligar — the one with potential — had to be in that group. This could be his chance.

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T/N:

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