ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
727: Battling the Leaf Thieves!	733: Kibago Kyushutsu! Aianto no Sokutsu!	Ash: (Insect) Jailbait			Ash's Swadloon evolves; Axew is kidnapped by Iron Ants	Chilling with Carmen Sandiego	If you can't fight your way to victory, seduce your way!

With the Clubsplosion over, today finds the twerps back to doing what they do best - beating the shit out of their cute little semi-sentient quasi-pets! Ash and Iris are training against each other using Swadloon and Emolga respectively. As the battle goes back and forth, Cilan tells a cheering Scraggy and Axew to watch carefully, explaining the strategy of the moves to them as first Ash and Swadloon get the advantage, then Iris and Emolga. Finally the fight seems to have ended when Swadloon is unable to dodge Hidden Power, but Ash insists that it can do it, it can get up.... and it does, and promptly begins to evolve!



To Ash's delight, Swadloon evolves into Leavanny. He checks it out with his Pokédex and happily thanks Emolga for the great battle helping to evolve his Pokémon. Emolga - loving being the center of attention - happily takes the credit, while Leavanny waves a happy hello to Axew and Scraggy, then wanders off to some nearby trees and removes leaves, cutting them up and making little hats for the two toddler-Pokémon!

Axew grabs Scraggy's hat and runs off with it happily, chased by Scraggy while Leavanny makes a hat for Emolga and Pikachu - the former of whom seems less than enthusiastic. Three Sewaddle lower down out of the branches looking miserable in brown and faded leaf-clothes, and Leavanny quickly works up some new leaf clothes for them as well. Ash remembers (!) Burgh's Leavanny doing something similar for his Leavanny when it was still a Sewaddle. He calls out his Pokémon and "introduces" them to Leavanny, explaining that Swadloon evolved. They all seem quite pleased to see the change, though Snivy just sniffs haughtily and pays little attention. Leavanny saunters off again to get some more leaves, Ash calling to it that it has made enough leaves for the day, while Cilan and Iris laugh and Emolga peeks grumpily over Iris' shoulder, not keen at all to be given a little leaf hat to wear.

Soon Tepig and Oshawott have little leaf hats, getting into an argument when Tepig laughs at Oshawott's new clothes. Snivy wants no part of the hats and neither does Emolga, but Cilan and Iris point out that this is Leavanny's way of saying hello. Grumpily they both put them on, and Emolga laughs at Snivy's haughty dignity before leaping away from one of her vine whip attacks. Doing so gives truth to what Iris suggested to Emolga earlier though, as the leaf hat helps her to catch the wind better and sends her soaring backwards in surprise. She gets caught up on a branch and swung around miserably, before Snivy brings her down on a vine whip. The wind brings in another leaf which blows into Axew's face, inspiring Leavanny which immediately slices up more leaves to create a little super-hero costume for Axew to wear, much to the baby dragon's (and Iris'!) delight.



All this excitement seems to be getting to Axew and Scraggy though, who seem to be nodding off. Iris yawns as well and points out that they did get up pretty early, and Cilan suggests that it is siesta time, Iris smugly telling him he means "nap time", possibly unaware that these are one and the same thing. They set up hammocks for the humans and a little blanket for the Pokémon on the ground, and everybody settles in for a pleasant nap, tired of a long day or not going to school or working a goddamn job.

As they slumber though, freakish grey insects converge on the group. They are Durants, ant-looking Pokémon who use their large pincers to grab the stack of leaves that Leavanny has put to the side. Mistaking Axew in his super-hero costume for a particularly large leaf, they grab him two and then scuttle away. Scraggy rolls over in his sleep and opens an eye, spotting that Axew isn't in his customary nearby spot. Panicking, he wakes everyone else and they realise Axew is gone, as are all of Leavanny's collected leaves. They set off in search immediately, Iris sending Emolga ahead on the wind (but not past the stars or in anybody's ear). She is just in time to spot the Durant with Axew on its back heading into a small tunnel in the rocks, and turns back to find the twerps and let them know.

Cilan is pondering why the leaf clothes were taken as well as Axew when Emolga returns. They follow her back to the cave, where they spot another Durant with some leaves heading into the tunnel. Ash checks it out with his Pokédex and learns that they are covered in steel armour for protection. They prepare to enter the tunnel (just big enough for them to all walk upright) but Cilan warns a Durant's nest is like a maze. Leavanny has the solution though, attaching her thread to the entrance and leading them in. Iris recalls Emolga to her Pokéball after a thank you, then they all head in with Leavanny and Scraggy leading the way. Iris warns that the ceiling is low and they should watch their head, and Cilan quietly agrees before walking directly into a low-hanging rock - ha!

They quickly reach a large number of branching tunnels, all with their own side tunnels. All they can think to do is follow the biggest tunnels and they just go straight, but this doesn't seem to get them anywhere. Iris warns them to watch their steps and Cilan agrees... before tripping on a small hole in the ground - ha!

They're getting nowhere fast, Leavanny having to back up and be careful to bring the thread along so they don't end up hopelessly lost. They can't think what to do, but abandoning Axew to his fate is obviously not an option. Cilan starts to thinking at last, remembering that the Durant took Axew along with the leaves, and that Axew was only taken because he was dressed up in leaves - therefore, rather than trying to find the Durants themselves, they can set out bait and bring the Durants to them. How? By dressing up one of them in leaves to attract the Durant!

Iris seems to take this all in stride as she imagines being bundled up in leaves and carried on the back of a particularly large Durant. But when Cilan finishes his explanation and Ash asks which of them is going to be put into a leaf disguise, it isn't Iris who ends up the bait, it's Ash!

I guess the writers got tired of May and Dawn being bait and went a different direction with Iris!

Ash kicks up a little tantrum about it having to be him but Cilan points out he is too tall, and Iris laughs that she'd do it but her hair would get in the way. Leavanny slaps leaves over Ash's face and then Scraggy bounced up and down demanding to get in on the action too. They put Ash and Scraggy - now fully bundled up - into a pile in the midst of the tunnels and hide behind a rock. Before long, two Durant show up and grab them both, slapping them on their backs and scuttling off down one of the side tunnels. Cilan, Iris and Leavanny emerge and begin to follow them, Leavanny using her thread to show them the way back when they find Ash, Scraggy and Axew and break them out.

Ash and Scraggy are finally dumped off of the Durants' backs and onto a big pile of leaves. They look up to get a better look around (luckily it's bright enough to see in this underground tunnel!), and realise they're not just on a big pile of leaves... they're on a HUGE pile of leaves!



They aren't sure what to do next, ducking them when a Durant passes, not wanting to attract any attention. Cilan, Iris and Leavanny arrive and spot Ash and Scraggy atop the leaves, but also several Durants bundling up leaves into compacted balls for them to eat. Iris whispers to Ash, asking if he has spotted Axew, and he and Scraggy look around and discover.... that Axew is still asleep, completely unaware of what is going on! Ash tries to motion for Iris where Axew is, but the movement causes the leaves to shift beneath him and he and Scraggy go rolling down the pile screaming, crashing into the ground and being knocked dizzy momentarily. They lift their heads just in time to spot the Durant spotting them, one of them letting out a cry of alarm that brings the rest of the Durants running, emerging from tunnels ready to protect the precious leaf pile.

Ash and Scraggy let out girlish screams, their leaf costumes falling off of them as they dodge a blast from two Durant. Cilan warns Ash (from behind a rock) that the Durant think they're here to steal their food, and Ash figures there's nothing for it but to fight!

This is probably the conclusion he would have come to regardless of anything else!

Leavanny and Pikachu are attacked, both trying to fight back but finding their attacks blocked by Protect. One Durant charges at Iris who scrambled up the tunnel wall behind her, then flips overhead and lands on the rock between Ash and Cilan. She's pissed off and not putting up with this anymore, calling out Emolga to blast all around with Discharge. Protect blocks this too, as well as an attempted Headbutt from Scraggy, and Ash fumes that they can't get a move past Protect. Cilan has an idea though, they can attack the Durant from two sides at once, and they can't Protect both!

Turns out they can!

The Durants just move back to back as the attacks come, using their hive mentality to protect each other. Ash tries to send in Pikachu with an Iron Tail and Scraggy with a Hi Jump Kick, but the Durants just move aside so the two moves hit each other instead. Pikachu is left on his back while Scraggy hops about clutching his knee in pain and Ash sweatdrops with embarrassment.... he DID make it all the way to the semi-finals of the clubsplosion, after all!

Things are looking back and they're not getting anywhere, in fact Emolga's massive blast of Discharge just ends up hurting the twerps while blasting uselessly against Protect. But this gives Iris an idea..... Emolga's secret weapon, Attract! With a kiss, Emolga blows the attack over all of the Durants, and each male suddenly gets hearts in their eyes as they look with insect-lust up at Emolga..... ewwwww!

Leavanny blasts at the love-struck Durants, watched angrily by the clearly female Durant who was unaffected. An Energy Ball knocks her back though and Emolga uses Hidden Power to clear the Durants around Axew. Iris rushes up onto the leaf pile and digs around frantically for Axew, finding him and holding up his limp body in fear.... till she realises that Axew is STILL asleep! Pikachu Thunderbolts the Durants coming from the tunnel entrances and Scraggy - recovered - uses Hi Jump Kick on another, while Iris rushes down the pile of leaves happily thanking Emolga and recalling her to her Pokéball. They follow Leavanny's thread back to the tunnel entrance, where Iris finally manages to wake up Axew and laugh over how much trouble he was able to cause them while sleeping.

Speaking of waking up, the Durants wake up (or regain consciousness) and look around in concern till they realise to their delight that the precious leaf pile is still there. They happily begin eating, none the wiser for why the weird not-Durants came in and beat them up if they didn't want all that delicious decaying mulch?

As for the twerps? Reunited, they pack up and prepare to head on for Icirrus City, where Ash has a Gym Battle waiting. More importantly than all of that, however.... where the hell is Team Rocket!?!

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