BW003: Difference between revisions

{{Ash}} is traveling along with {{AP|Pikachu}} as they begin their journey towards [[Striaton City]] and the first [[Unova]] [[Striaton Gym|Gym]], however Ash is finding himself followed by {{an|Iris}}, the young girl he met a couple of days earlier. Tensions rise after Iris and Ash argue about who is following who, which lead to some name calling, when suddenly the {{p|Oshawott}} who helped them save Pikachu and {{TP|Iris|Axew}} from [[Jessie]], [[James]], and {{MTR}} [[BW002|previously]] emerges. Iris is happy that Oshawott has followed her, but it soon becomes clear that he has actually followed Ash when he climbs on his shoulder and shoves Pikachu from his usual spot. Pikachu isn't very happy about this and tries to use {{m|Thunderbolt}} on Oshawott, but Oshawott deflects it with his scalchop, so the attack shocks Ash instead, much to Iris's pleasure.

Iris suggests to Ash that Oshawott wants to travel with him, and Ash agrees as thanks for saving Pikachu and Axew from {{TRT}}. Ash throws a [[Poké Ball]] which hits Oshawott on the head and flies high into the sky...where it ultimately fails to react to the attempted capture. Ash realizes this isn't just any Oshawott, but the same one from [[Professor Juniper]]'s lab and, since he's under her ownership, he can't be captured by another {{pkmn|Trainer}}. At a nearby store, Ash calls Professor Juniper, and the Professor is very relieved to hear that Oshawott is safe. She agrees that Ash can take care of Oshawott and transfers his Poké Ball to him, but warns him to keep his eyes on him due to its tendency to run off. Ash ends the call and prepares to recall Oshawott, but the Sea Otter Pokémon has—as Professor Juniper warned—run away somewhere, leaving Ash and Iris to begin searching for him.

Unfortunately, the search doesn't get very far as the two fall into a pitfall trap that was in the road. They look up and see a young boy named [[Dan]], who explains that trap was dug by a {{p|Sandile}}. At the same time, the Rocket trio fall down a similar pitfall and encounter a Sandile wearing sunglasses. Dan has helped Ash and Iris out of the pitfall by using a rope and explains that he is a young boy helping his [[Dan's father|father]] run a spa resort hotel, although their spa isn't open currently to due the Sandile. There is a flashback to explain that the Sandile wearing sunglasses appeared one day and made the rest of the (usually peaceful) Sandile act irrationally.

Ash then thrusts the challenge of solving this mystery upon himself. He decides that the best thing to do is to replicate what was going on the first time the Sandile first started rampaging. So Ash, Pikachu, and Axew all have a sand bath. Meanwhile, Team Rocket are watching Ash when the Sandile that wears sunglasses turns up, and has been apparently following them since they fell into its trap. Iris reminds Ash that they were originally looking for Oshawott, causing Ash to rise from his bath. But all his stress is relieved when they see Oshawott taking a sand bath just opposite them.

The Sandile wearing sunglasses then burrows towards Ash and friends. It leaps out of the sand and gets ready in battle formation. Dan reveals that it is the Sandile's leader. It then launches an attack and grabs Axew in its mouth. Pikachu readies a Thunderbolt attack but is then stopped by Iris as her Axew would take the damage. The entire team (excluding Dan) then wrestle the Sandile in an attempt to get Axew back. The Sandile only relinquishes its grip on Axew when one of Pikachu's ears tickles the inside of Sandile's nose. Everybody then stumbles back. Sandile takes the opportunity to lash out and manages to grab Pikachu by an arm and Oshawott by his foot. The Sandile begin to run away with the two others until Team Rocket pick up the Sandile using a type of crane.

The Sandile's leader takes its two captors to a certain spot and lets them go, the Pokémon unaware that Ash, Iris, and Dan are watching from afar. It turns out that the Sandile have rounded up other Pokémon ({{p|Patrat}}, {{p|Deerling}}, and {{p|Pidove}}). The Sandile's leader says something and a geyser erupts in the background. The Sandile then herd the gathered Pokémon away from were they are at, leaving Pikachu and Oshawott behind. Quickly, there is a sudden increase in the amount of erupting geysers. Dan makes a comment about how this has never happened before. Dan makes a hypothesis that the Sandile's leader predicted that this event would occur and tried to scare away all of the people and Pokémon so they were safe.

Ash then goes to talk to Pikachu and the Sandile spot him. Then a sequence of massive geysers go off. The Sandile go to confront Ash but as they do the piece of ground that the herded Pokémon were on becomes surrounded by boiling hot water. Under the heat, the rock they are standing on begins to crumble. Ash attempts to rescue the helpless Pokémon but can not reach them. Then one Sandile bites some rock and places its body in a vertical position, and allows another Sandile to climb upon it and bite its tail. This process is repeated with many Sandile. The Sandile then swing themselves down to form a bridge for the stranded Pokémon to climb over to safety. All of the Pokémon are too scared to cross the bridge though so Ash runs over the bridge to give them a pep talk, with Pikachu acting as his translator.  

Just before all of the Pokémon get across, the rock underneath where the end Sandile is standing falls away. Ash then has to grab the end Sandile to stop it from falling into the water. Suddenly, another large geyser goes off and threatens to fall on top of Ash. Oshawott leaps up and uses {{m|Water Gun}} to deflect the falling water, but it begins to fall helplessly towards the boiling water. Ash reaches inside his pocket and draws out Oshawott's Poké Ball. He saves Oshawott from the fall by making it return. Distracted by his heroics, Ash loses his grip on the Sandile, but before it is too late, Iris grabs Ash's wrist and saves him. The Sandile bridge then returned to its vertical state and collapses. For a reward, our heroes are treated to a free treatment at Dan and his father's spa hotel.