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After resting for a night at Leona's hot spring inn, morning arrived quickly, and the energetic Ash and his friends were saying their goodbyes to Leona's family.
"Thank you for your hospitality!" X3
"Pikachu~"
Ash and his friends, along with Pikachu, bowed to thank Leona's family.
Leona's parents were extremely hospitable and welcomed them to visit again.
"Dawn, you need to do your best!" Leona said, coming up to Dawn and whispering a reminder.
"Eh, how did you know?" Dawn blushed, not daring to reply loudly.
The only response Dawn received was an eye-roll from her best friend.
After all, Leona wasn't oblivious to feelings; how could she not have noticed?
Putting the girl's speechless response behind her, she waved goodbye, watching Ash and his friends disappear into the distance.
After leaving the hot spring inn, Ash and his friends strode forward under Brock's guidance.
After traveling throughout the morning, they arrived at a city wrapped in greenery. According to the map, their destination, Veilstone City, was just beyond this lush city.
However, they had no intention of continuing forward at this moment.
Because they had been walking for most of the day, the three were somewhat exhausted, and moreover, it was nearing noon, so they needed to eat to replenish their energy.
Therefore, they stayed at the National Park in this city for a picnic.
They also took the opportunity to release all their Pokémon, including Scizor, Grotle, and Staraptor.
Although Ash had already decided to send these three back, since that would be after the Veilstone City Gym, they were still by his side, enjoying a wonderful and leisurely time.
However, Scizor couldn't stay idle; it was still stubbornly training, and it even roped Buizel and Chimchar into it.
There was no need to mention Buizel; it was a battle-hungry individual itself.
As for Chimchar, it was simply tricked by Scizor into training.
After all, Scizor itself had a four-times weakness to Fire, so it wanted to work on dealing with flames.
Then, under the guise of special training to increase skill power, it tricked Chimchar into joining.
"Chimchar is really working hard; the flame on its tail is much stronger than before!" Dawn, unaware of the situation, praised Chimchar.
"It might not necessarily be voluntary effort~" Hearing this, Ash, who was eating a sandwich specially made by Brock, paused and responded with a wry smile.
"However, looking at the state of Chimchar's tail flame, it's very likely close to evolving!"
"Eh, so fast?" Dawn exclaimed in surprise.
Because Chimchar hadn't been in the team for long, it felt too fast to Dawn compared to Pokémon like Staraptor and Grotle.
"Actually, it's not that fast~" Brock swallowed the sandwich he was chewing and added, "Back with Paul, Chimchar went through grueling training."
"That's right. After so long, if Chimchar still couldn't evolve, that would be the truly strange thing!" Ash nodded in agreement with Brock's explanation.
Previously, while with Paul, Chimchar might not have been able to evolve due to hidden injuries accumulated in its body.
But under the treatment of Viridian Power, all the hidden injuries accumulated in its body had been cleared away.
The reason it hadn't evolved yet was simply because he wanted Chimchar to learn moves like Power-Up Punch, Taunt, Nasty Plot, and Torment, which it could master on its own during this period.
Skipping over this topic, Ash picked up another sandwich, ready to feast.
"Gligar~"
But at this moment, sounds suddenly came from the sky, successfully attracting the attention of the three.
"Are those Gligar?" Brock was shocked.
Turning his head, he discovered that the sky above was filled with a dense swarm of Gligar, which was mind-boggling.
Because being able to see a large swarm of Gligar in a human settlement was simply an incredible thing.
"And a Gliscor~"
Ash looked at Pikachu on his shoulder and added vigilantly.
Dawn and Brock immediately noticed that at the very front of these Gligar, there was a Gliscor that was primarily black and somewhat similar to the Gligar.
The Gliscor looked somewhat ferocious, and eyeing the food in their hands, it actually swooped straight down.
"Watch out!" Dawn shouted nervously.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Ash, who had been prepared, immediately commanded Pikachu on his shoulder, and a golden electric current struck the incoming Gliscor.
"Gligar~"
Although it was an Electric-type move, Gliscor instinctively sensed that this attack was actually a threat to it.
Even though it was hard to believe, Gliscor didn't dare to be careless and used X-Scissor, blocking the Thunderbolt with its glowing white pincers.
At the same time, it prepared to ascend, moving away from the somewhat bizarre Pikachu.
"Aqua Jet!"
But Ash wouldn't let the opponent escape; Buizel, having received the command early, had already used Aqua Jet to rush towards Gliscor.
It successfully hit the caught-off-guard Gliscor, causing it to fall from low altitude.
"Psybeam!"
Finally, it followed up with an ice-blue beam, hitting the Gliscor, which was 4x weak to Ice, leaving it with no ability to stand up again.
But the matter didn't end there.
Because above their heads, there was still a massive, dark swarm of Gligar.
"Gligar~" "Gligar~"...
After their leader was captured, the Gligar swarm in the air suddenly became restless, swooping down one after another, targeting Ash and his friends.
"Everyone, fight on your own and take all these guys down!" Seeing the Gligar swarm throwing themselves into the net, Ash's eyes lit up and he shouted.
Because these Gligar were simply walking experience points and gold coins.
"PikachuChuchu"
Hearing this, Pikachu immediately reacted, releasing a terrifying Thunderbolt from the red electric sacs on its cheeks, sweeping away a large swath of Gligar.
"muke~"
The flying Staraptor followed closely behind, directly unleashing its ultimate move, Brave Bird, and combined with its Reckless ability, it rampaged through the Gligar swarm.
The also-flying Aerodactyl opened its bloodthirsty maw to use Ice Fang, taking down a Gligar with every bite.
As for the remaining flightless Pokémon like Pikachu, they could only use the various long-range skills they had mastered to start attacking the opponents.
"Then I'll join in too~"
Seeing the chaotic battle, Dawn threw out Piplup, Buneary, and Pachirisu, the three of them joining the fray.
Seeing this, Brock also sent out Croagunk and Sudowoodo to fight.
After ten minutes of fighting, the ground was littered with a dense swarm of Gligar, all knocked out along with their leader.
"Whew~ finally took care of these guys!" Dawn breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah~"
With the defense of all their Pokémon, they successfully protected the food in their hands.
"Ash, watch out!" Just as Ash was feeling relieved, Brock's voice suddenly came.
"Gliscor~"
Along with it came a sound that was getting closer and closer.
In Ash's bewildered eyes, a Gligar that looked somewhat wise actually fell from the sky, aiming straight for Ash's head.