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| Season | Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies (Season 15) · Twist Mountain to Icirrus City arc (BW074–BW079) |
| Episode | Season 15, episode 26 · English episode 727 · Japanese episode 732 · Bulbapedia code BW074 |
| English title | Battling the Leaf Thieves! |
| Japanese title | キバゴ救出！アイアントの巣窟！！ Kibago Kyūshutsu! Aianto no Sōkutsu!! — “Rescue Kibago! Aiant’s Nest!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 12 April 2012 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 11 August 2012 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Besuto Uisshu! (Best Wishes!) – Rica Matsumoto · Nanairo Āchi (Seven-colored Arch) – Pokémon BW Choral Gang |
| English opening | Rival Destinies – Alex Nackman & Kathryn Raio |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Durant (US) |
| Previous episode | Commanding the Clubsplosion Crown! (BW073) |
| Next episode | A Restoration Confrontation! Part 1 (BW075) |
Plot episodeSwadloon evolves into Leavanny
Battling the Leaf Thieves! is the 26th episode of Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies, the fifteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 727th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 732, Bulbapedia code BW074). It first aired in Japan on 12 April 2012 and in the United States on 11 August 2012. It falls within the season’s Twist Mountain to Icirrus City stretch (EP74–EP79).
Synopsis
Ash’s Swadloon evolves into Leavanny, and its new sewing skills help the group rescue Axew from a nest of leaf-stealing Durant. During a practice battle on the road to Icirrus City, Iris’s Emolga knocks Swadloon down with Discharge and Hidden Power, and Swadloon glows and evolves, to everyone’s surprise.
Leavanny immediately cuts and stitches leaf outfits for its friends and for three wild Sewaddle with torn clothes, as Burgh’s Leavanny once did; Axew and Scraggy love theirs, Oshawott and Tepig squabble in theirs, and Snivy and Emolga are less impressed. While everyone naps, a band of Durant steals the leaves and carries off Axew, still asleep in its outfit.
Emolga tracks the Durant to their den, and Leavanny lays a thread through the tunnels to mark the way back. At Cilan’s suggestion Ash and Scraggy wrap themselves in leaves so the Durant will carry them to their hoard, where Axew lies sleeping. The Durant block every attack with Protect until Emolga’s Attract infatuates most of them, and Iris grabs Axew. Following Leavanny’s thread, the group escapes as the Durant return to their feast.
Major Events
- Swadloon evolves into Leavanny. Ash’s first friendship evolution
- Leaf outfits
- Durant steal Axew
- The last of twelve episodes without Team Rocket, their longest absence as main characters
- Durant’s TV debut
Pokémon making their anime debut
Durant#0632 · BW074
Captures and evolutions
Swadloon → Leavanny#0542 · Ash · in a practice battle, his first friendship evolution
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Unova storyline.
Part of our Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.