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After driving away the Team Rocket Trio, Leona's parents prepared to reconnect the hot spring water so Ash and his friends could enjoy the soak.
During this interval, Leona proposed a double battle, suggesting they split into two groups of two.
If this were the past, Dawn would have confidently shouted "No problem, no problem!" and then engaged in a direct duel with Ash and Brock.
But since having a double battle with Ash, Dawn had truly realized just how strong he was.
So when Leona came up with this bad idea for a double battle, Dawn was pulled to her best friend's side with a face full of resistance.
"Dawn, don't be so depressed. Remember that thing from kindergarten? The two of us working together will definitely be fine!"
Leona raised her hands and advised Dawn confidently, then sent out her Swinub.
Seeing that, Brock couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly. "She really is Dawn's friend! Even their way of speaking is almost the same!"
"Yeah!"
Ash nodded in agreement and sent out Chimchar to meet the battle, with Brock's Sudowoodo following closely behind.
Seeing this, Dawn made a bitter face and had to send out Piplup, bracing herself for the battle.
As for the result, it was naturally not hard to predict.
Throughout the match, Ash had the Fire-type Chimchar focus entirely on attacking the Ice-type Swinub.
Although Dawn had Piplup use Water-type moves to intercept Chimchar, Chimchar would use Dig to bypass Piplup's attacks and go straight for Swinub.
Meanwhile, Brock's Sudowoodo began to entangle Piplup despite the type disadvantage, buying time for Ash.
Facing the Water-type moves aimed at Chimchar, Sudowoodo could even use Mimic to fire back the same move.
In short, Swinub lost its ability to battle under Chimchar's repeated strikes.
And Dawn's Piplup also fainted under their combined efforts.
"They're so strong~"
Leona looked at Swinub and Piplup, who had lost their ability to battle one after another, and was momentarily speechless.
"Sigh, Ash's strength is very high. It's hard to beat the two of them!" Dawn, who had already expected the outcome, sighed silently.
Although Dawn still remembered how she and Leona had teamed up as kids to take down a boy who bullied her, the person in front of her was special.
After all, in Hearthome City, she and Ash were the double battle Champions.
After battling alongside Ash a few times, she had clearly realized how powerful he was.
"It seems I'm too weak," Leona said regretfully as she recalled Swinub. "But speaking of which, Dawn, you know Ash very well. Are you two... mmm mmm mmm"
"You jerk, you start talking nonsense as soon as you lose!" Dawn's face instantly flushed red as she covered the other's mouth, giving her no chance to speak.
At the same time, she smiled awkwardly at Ash and Brock.
Only after Leona promised not to speak recklessly did Dawn let go and lead everyone to the hot spring.
Since they were all minors, this bath was naturally a mixed-gender one.
Logically, this should have been another piece of 'fan service' for Ash.
But that wasn't the case.
First of all, Dawn's attire was very conservative.
Compared to her daily outfit, this bath only revealed a few more patches of fair skin.
Secondly, since she was in puberty, her figure hadn't fully developed, being only slightly better than a flat board.
To Ash, this held no attraction at all.
Plus, with Dawn's best friend and his good brother Brock right there, Ash behaved quite properly during the soak.
Time passed, and it soon became evening.
After finishing dinner, Ash didn't return to his room to rest. Instead, he took his Pokémon's Poké Balls and went to the yard for a short training session.
At the same time, he checked their recent practice results to adjust the team's lineup.
After all, the pokémon egg in his hands was about to hatch. In a while, some Pokémon would definitely need to be sent back.
The candidates to be sent back naturally needed to be carefully selected.
For instance, Pikachu and Happiny were impossible to send back.
One was his partner, and the other was a baby who couldn't live independently yet.
Aerodactyl, who was acting like a good boy in front of him, and the honest Steelix also couldn't be sent back for now.
Because both of them were capable of Mega Evolution, they needed to stay by his side for a while longer to build up their bond.
So, excluding those four special Pokémon, he thought long and hard among the other training Pokémon.
After repeated consideration, he set his sights on Staraptor, who had reached its final form, the cold and proud warrior Scizor, and the silly Grotle.
Because Staraptor's combat style had already matured, it didn't need his instruction for skill training; it just needed to go back to the backyard to consult Pidgeot and Swellow.
As for Scizor, a veteran king of the wild, it was time for it to return to where it belonged.
Staying with him, there was basically nothing major for it to do, and there were no powerful Pokémon nearby; it was truly a waste of its talents.
Furthermore, the constantly rising gold coins on his panel were, in a way, hinting something to Ash.
Sending Grotle back was mainly so it could continue practicing taking hits, while also taking over Bulbasaur's duties to give his old friend a brief reprieve.
As for the partners to be swapped in, his original plan was to bring over the'shrimp and crab' duo, Kingler and Corphish.
After all, because of the incident in Baiyang Town, those two had been hastily swapped back.
The training for some of their moves hadn't even started yet.
But a few days ago, Professor Oak had personally called to complain about a certain fellow, forcing him to disrupt his plans and bring over that impatient guy first.
"Eh? It's so late, is Ash still outside training?"
Around 9:00 PM, Leona, who was chatting with Dawn in the room with nothing to do, happened to see Ash training with Pikachu and the other Pokémon through the window.
"It can't be helped, because this guy says even 11:00 PM isn't late!" Dawn spread her hands and shrugged helplessly.
According to him, now was just when the night begins.
"That's really... amazing~" Leona opened her mouth and finally spat out that word as an evaluation.
After all, a Trainer who was both talented and willing to work hard was quite rare.
"Of course~"
Dawn, wearing pink pajamas, walked to the window and watched Ash below. "You know, Ash defeated Elite Four Lucian~ That day, Ash and Pikachu faced..."
Under Leona's playful gaze, Dawn's eyes were fixed on the boy in the baseball cap as she vividly introduced his glorious achievements.
She got so excited that she started gesturing wildly whenever she reached a thrilling moment, causing her best friend Leona to gradually reveal a teasing look.
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