BW003

A Sandile Gusher of Change! (Japanese: ミジュマル！メグロコ！危機一髪！！ ! ! Close Call!!) is the third episode of the, and the 660th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on September 30, 2010 and in the United States on February 19, 2011.

Blurb
As Ash and Iris continue toward Striaton City, they once again run into Oshawott, who officially joins Ash's Pokémon team! Along the road, they stumble into a deep hole, and are rescued by a boy named Dan. He takes them to his family's resort hotel, where they discover that the hotel's famous hot sand spa has been destroyed by several similar holes.

Dan explains that a group of friendly Sandile often come to the resort to bask in the hot sand, but they've recently started behaving oddly, digging these huge holes and turning hostile toward the guests. To top it off, the leader of the Sandile suddenly appears, grabs Pikachu and Oshawott in its jaws, and runs away with them!

When Ash and friends chase after the Sandile, they discover several geysers beginning to erupt all around the area, trapping many wild Pokémon on a small island in the midst of boiling water. Ash, Iris, and Dan figure out that the Sandile have been trying to save these Pokémon and the hotel's guests by scaring them away from the geysers. When the Sandile form a bridge by locking tails, Ash crosses over to help the frightened wild Pokémon to safety. Iris also pitches in by getting Ash back to solid ground in the nick of time!

Back at the resort, the geysers have flooded the sand bath, turning it into a hot spring. Our heroes can't help but enjoy a little rest and relaxation before resuming their journey through the Unova region!

Plot
is traveling along with as they begin their journey towards Striaton City and the first Unova Gym, however Ash is finding himself followed by, 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 who helped them save Pikachu and  from Jessie, James, and  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 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. 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 catch. Ash realizes this isn't just any Oshawott, but the same starter Oshawott from Professor Juniper's lab and since he's already registered to a Poké Ball, he can't be caught by any. 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 Oshawott due to his 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. At the same time, the Rocket trio falls down a similar pitfall and encounter a Sandile wearing sunglasses. Dan has helped Ash and Iris out of the pitfall with a rope and explains that he is helping his father run a spa resort hotel, although their spa isn't open currently to due the Sandile. Their special attraction feature is a natural hot sand pit, where guests are given a sand bath by covering them with a layer of sand. 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 his 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, with his scalchop on his forehead, taking a sand bath just opposite them. The Sandile wearing sunglasses then burrows towards Ash and friends. He leaps out of the sand and gets ready in battle formation. Dan reveals that he is the Sandile's leader. He then launches an attack and grabs Axew in his 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 his 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 the foot. The Sandile begin to run away with the two others until Team Rocket pick up the Sandile using a type of crane.

Team Rocket start to drive away with the three Pokémon dangling in front of them. In an attempt to get away, Meowth throws a smoke grenade at our heroes. It appears that Team Rocket have finally stolen Pikachu and gotten away with him, until the front left of the crane sinks into the ground. It is made apparent that the Sandile's leader had called upon a mass attack upon Team Rocket. Ash and crew catch up just in time to see the attack unfold. All of the Sandile use at once and Team Rocket are forced to flee. The Sandile's leader is free.

The Sandile's leader takes his 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, several (,, and ). 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 Sandile leader bites some rock and places his body in a vertical position, and allows another Sandile to climb upon him and bite his 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 backing him up.

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 him from falling into the water. Suddenly, another large geyser goes off and threatens to fall on top of Ash. Oshawott leaps up and uses to deflect the falling water, but he begins to fall helplessly towards the boiling water. Ash quickly pulls out Oshawott's Poké Ball and saves his new Pokémon by recalling him. Left with only one arm to hold on, Ash loses his grip on the Sandile, but before it is too late, Iris grabs Ash's wrist and saves him, clinging to the Sandile. The Sandile bridge then returns to its vertical state, pulling the Trainers with them, and collapses. For a reward, our heroes are the first to try out the spa hotel's new hot spring, which was created when the sand pit was filled in by the new thermal springs released from the geysers.

The episode ends on the lead Sandile, having dug himself up nearby from the ground, who laughs.

Major events

 * The from Professor Juniper's laboratory that has been following  joins his team.
 * A wild Sandile begins following Ash.

Pokémon debuts

 * (Sunglasses Sandile)

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Professor Juniper
 * Dan
 * Dan's father
 * Customers
 * Dan's father
 * Customers

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?:
 * (new)
 * (flashback)
 * (sunglasses; debut)
 * (multiple; debut)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)

Trivia

 * Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Unova Starters/Pokédex
 * Fanfare of the Heart replaced The Greatest - Everyday! (BAND VERSION) as the Japanese ending theme.
 * Despite being the third episode, this was the first one to have its title revealed.
 * During the initial airing of the English dub of this episode, the Who's That Pokémon? segment was cut for an unknown reason.

Errors

 * When pushes  off of 's shoulder, his scalchop is missing.
 * At one point in the episode, one of the sunglasses Sandile's teeth is colored the same as his body.
 * When Sandile is holding Pikachu and Oshawott, just before he turns around, Oshawott's nose is the same color as his feet.
 * In a scene where are holding Pikachu, Oshawott, and Sandile, the tip of Meowth's tail is colored white instead of the usual brown.
 * A couple of seconds after the flashback of Oshawott in Professor Juniper's laboratory, the sound of a Poké Ball can be heard, even though nobody was seen sending out a Pokémon.

In other languages
Gefahr im Verzug! (Staffel 14) EP663 BW003 BW003 BW編第3話 精灵宝可梦 超级愿望 第3集