Chapter 36: Lucas vs. Candice

With the battle over between Team Cosmic, the members of the Snowpoint Gym and the priestesses of the Snowpoint Temple, all that was left to do was pick up the pieces. Though home to a League certified Gym, Snowpoint was still a tiny city with no police force, leaving no one to chase down the members of Cosmic and bring them to justice. The responsibility for sorting through and returning the stolen Pokemon used in the fight was left to the members of Snowpoint's Gym, the only official representatives of the Pokemon League in the city.

In addition to no police, Snowpoint also didn't have a hospital, instead only having a tiny medical facility with few rooms. Despite Lucas' insistence that he was fine and only needed a few days rest, the teen was forced to stay at the doctor's office three days for observation. Lucas felt fine, he only had a few bruises and mild hypothermia after the fight, the worst of the injuries were sustained by Maylene.

Team Cosmic lead an all-out assault against the Snowpoint Temple, intending to storm it and take something held in the shrine's lowest level. Both Lucas and Maylene joined in the fight to stop the group of Pokemon thieves with their violent ideology. When the Snowpoint Leader Candice was about to be hit by the poison of a Seviper, the Veilstone Leader threw herself in front of the attack to save her. In the end Lucas learned from the operation's leader, Major Mathias himself, that the battle, a violent free-for-all between dozens of Pokemon, was merely a distraction for a small group of Cosmic spies to investigate the temple unnoticed. When the Major learned whatever was supposed to be in the temple's depths was nothing but a story, they fell back and disappeared into the snowy forests around the city.

The teen was still confined to his bed, constantly watched by a grim-looking nurse that looked like she did more time than he did, leaving the boy not wanting to risk her bad side. Her constant monitoring prevented him from wandering about, despite his claims he was growing bored and antsy. Lucas once again considered sneaking away to at least visit his Pokemon, banned from the medical facility for hygiene purposes, when he heard someone walking down the hall. The tattooed boy rushed back to the bed and threw himself under the disinfectant-scented covers, only to let out a sigh of relief to see his visitor. It was the Snowpoint Leader, Candice, "Hey Lucas, how are you feeling?"

"Honestly? Fed up. I told the doctors yesterday that I was just fine but Nurse Ratchet out there says I can't leave until at least tomorrow," Lucas replied, giving an irritable side-glance to the door the black-haired girl had just entered, "What about Maylene?"

"I was on my way to see her. I just wanted to see how you were doing first before I checked in on her," Candice explained. There was an apprehensive tone to her voice. Lucas still couldn't figure out why her face looked so familiar. Like the other Gym Leaders of Sinnoh, the teen had never seen them before meeting them, yet he knew he'd seen Candice somewhere before, "Would...would you mind coming with me? I'm a little scared to see her on my own. The doctors told me she was fairly badly hurt,"

Lucas hopped out of bed, "Not a problem. I've been wanting to get out of this bed for a while now, anyway. I'm about to go 'Shining' in this place,"

The doctor's office was small and the hall was short, but Candice seemed to be going as slowly as possible, trying to make the short journey last as long as it could. Lucas kept pace with her to be polite, wondering why she was acting so strangely. With the normally two minute walk looking like it would take a lot closer to ten, Lucas decided to ask something that had been preying on his mind, "What's supposed to be in the Snowpoint Temple? What was it Team Cosmic wanted so badly?"

Candice stopped walking to turn to her male companion, "Regigas,"

"Regigas?"

"Sinnoh legend states that the continents started out as one big block of land, but with ropes on its back, the Pokemon Regigas dragged them apart until the world looked the way it liked. With its task completed, it made its home in Snowpoint to watch the land. It waited and watched so long that it turned to stone, and the temple was built around it to honor its power," the Snowpoint Leader explained.

"That explains why those Cosmic guys said they found a statue. But, they were right, weren't they? It is just a statue, just a legend?"

"It's hard to say," Candice added mysteriously. The idea made Lucas shiver. First he meets Cosmic in Mt Coronet claiming to look for something sleeping in the mountain, only to learn later the peak was supposed to be home to the legendary Pokemon Arceus. Now he learns the attack on the temple was in pursuit of another legendary Pokemon. He had no idea what Team Cosmic's ultimate plan was, but it left him worried. When the two finished stalling as long as humanly possible, they finally arrived at Maylene's door.

The Leader put her hand on the door and hesitated, staring at the wood with a nervous look, not moving any further. Lucas broke the tension, "Would you like me to go first?"

With trembling lips Candice gave a wordless nod. Lucas let out a deep breath and pushed the door open. Maylene seemed asleep in her bed, her arms and chest entirely wrapped in bandages. She had an IV drip of painkillers, with thinner, lighter blankets than what the teen boy was given, barely touching her body. The Seviper did even more damage than Lucas realized. At the temple she was writhing in agony, her eyes rolling back in her head as she went into a seizure. As Candice cried in panic, the tattooed teen did the only thing he could think of by giving her an Antidote normally used for Pokemon. He was so worried about her dying, that at the time he didn't even pay attention to how the poison had mutilated her body.

Lucas gently knocked on the frame of the door. Maylene's eyes fluttered open, "Lucas?" Her eyes immediately flicked to the person behind him, and she sat up so quickly that she winced, "Candice!"

"How are you feeling?" the teen boy continued as he approached her bed, Candice still staying several steps behind him.

"Better," Maylene stated. She tried to smile and flex her arm but the movement released a fresh pain that made her eyes bulge. She then turned her attention back to the other Leader, her face once again getting pink, "I'm just glad nothing happened to you, Candice,"

"How could you do something so stupid!" Candice exploded in anger. Lucas stared at the other girl in disbelief. Maylene's face got even redder.

"When I saw that Seviper was going to attack you, all I could think was, 'I can't let Candice get hurt. She means too much to me. She's too wonderful a,'" Maylene paused suddenly as though she were about to say something she would regret and reselected her word choice, "friend."

"And what about me? Did you even think about me at all when you did that or are you just completely selfish?" Candice was shaking now, her lips trembling even worse. Both Maylene and Lucas stared at the girl in complete, unabashed confusion. The ice Leader reached into the pocket of her stylish white shirt and pulled out Maylene's locket. The Veilstone Leader gasped and reached at her neck, as though she just realized it was missing. Lucas now realized where he had seen Candice's face before. It was her picture in the fighting Leader's locket, "You were worried about me being hurt, but did you ever stop to think how you getting hurt would affect me?," She held the locket forward and snapped it open, "That just maybe I feel the same way, too?"

Maylene's face was so red now that her hair seemed white. She stammered, unable to say anything, looking back to Lucas as though he could help somehow. Suddenly, violently, Candice began to sob, her body and knees shaking so badly shouldn't stand anymore. With her last ounce of strength she moved to Maylene's side and fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around the other girl's chest and buried her head in the girl's pillow, "I was so scared. I was so scared when you hit that door and you got so pale and started shaking. I thought I was going to lose you. Those days you would visit me when you did your stupid training through the stupid snow would be the best days of my life. When we'd talk about Pokemon and Contests and Accessories. How you'd complain about your dad and always have a new set of bandages somewhere on your face every time I saw you, and how adorable you looked with your little smile,"

Candice's racking sobbing continued to get worse and she lost all ability to talk as she clung to the sheets of the bed for some kind of stabilization. Maylene stared, stunned at the other girl's confession. She took a hand and stroked the Leader's black hair, nuzzling her face against the sobbing girl's, small, quiet tears now falling from her own eyes. Lucas gave the two a small smile and wordlessly left the room to give the two Leaders their privacy.

Lucas ended up spending more time in the icy city of Snowpoint than he had in any other city in Sinnoh. After finally being released from the doctor's office and the totalitarian control of the burly nurse, the tattooed teen focused on his original goal: the Snowpoint City Gym Badge. As horrific as the Cosmic battle was, it gave the young man insight into what to expect when facing Candice. His current team needed to be modified, and very vigorously trained. He could no longer afford to rely on luck to carry him through his Gym Matches. If he really wanted to be the Champion, he needed to work harder than he ever had before. After weeks of training, tweaking, developing new strategies and double-guessing, Lucas finally found himself ready for the Gym.

The Snowpoint City Gym was more impressive now that it was open. He could see that the area wasn't flat like a skating rink like he first thought, but rather staggered into several levels. Thick ice appeared on squares, and large balls of snow blocked certain paths. Junior Trainers on skates did lazy twirls and figure eights as they waited for a challenger. Lucas took a deep breath and stepped forward, Gizmo nuzzling him reassuringly in his usual place on the Trainer's shoulder. Ice-types were weak against fire, rock, fighting and steel-types, but pure ice-types were also very rare. A team of just fire-types would do little to stop Candice, nor would a small army of Steel Pokemon. Maylene told him during their match that his strength lied in his ability to think on the fly and leave his opponent guessing as his strategies were always changing. Now as a more mature Trainer, he was ready to put his strength to the test.

Carefully stepping on the first ice square, Lucas skidded at a breakneck pace, crashing into one of the large snowballs and coming face to face with the first of the Junior Trainers. Despite the teen's abrupt appearance, the Junior Trainer took the challenge in stride, "Go! Snover!"

Lucas responded in turn, testing his new strategy, "Go Steelix!"

As the Snover appeared on the field its special ability kicked in. Even though the battle was inside, a pelting hailstorm began. The steel/rock Pokemon flinched from the impact, but kept its eyes on its opponent. The Junior Trainer announced her attack, "Avalanche!"

"Steelix! Flash Cannon!" Lucas' idea had worked. Though the Steelix was damaged by the icy attack of the part grass Pokemon, the Snover was knocked out first.

The following match was similarly short. The next Junior Trainer was a boy in ski goggles whose team was made up of a Snorunt and a Swinub. Once again Lucas relied on his Steelix, keeping his other Pokemon fresh until he could face the Gym Leader. With the next match over, Lucas stepped onto the slick ice and skidded across the Gym floor. With two more Junior Trainers knocked out, only Candice remained.

Having finally figured out the Gym's puzzle with its slick floors, Lucas carefully navigated himself around until he was face to face with the Leader with black pigtails. She smiled warmly at the Trainer, and Lucas replied with a respectful nod, "Welcome, Lucas, to the Snowpoint City Gym. Before we begin I want to thank you for all your help. If you hadn't gone with me to Maylene's room I don't think I could have faced her and finally tell her how I really feel,"

"Not a problem. I'm glad everything worked out," Lucas replied genuinely.

"Even though I am very grateful to you, I want you to know that I must still fight you with all my strength,"

"No, I'm glad. I don't want you to hold anything back. If you took it easy on me, you'd only insult me,"

Now it was Candice's turn to nod respectfully. With their pleasantries over, the real work was about to begin. Candice's warm smile vanished as she stared at her opponent with icy determination, "I am Candice, Leader of the Snowpoint City Gym. Ice-types demonstrate a cruel beauty. They are fast with high special attack, and the ability to cripple an opponent by freezing them solid. Prepare to face the glittering beauty of your defeat! Go! Abomasnow!"

This was what Lucas was waiting for. This far along his Journey Lucas had been working to redefine himself in the eyes of those who knew him best as well as those who judged him on first impressions. Now was the time to show the world not just that he was a worthy Trainer, but one of the greats. If he was serious about becoming a Champion and not just about showing up John, he had to become known for a certain style. With the Gym match, just two badges away from the Elite Four, people would come to know Lucas for his strength, his compassion to his team and his ability to keep his opponents always guessing, "Go! Stella!"

Only a flash of disbelief glimmered behind Candice's eyes as she held onto her frigid battle form when the small normal-type appeared on the field, "Abomasnow! Blizzard!"

"Stella! Hi-Jump Kick!" Lucas replied without hesitation. The tiny Buneary evaded the blast of frigid air and leapt into the air. With a stance and speed similar to Maylene, the Pokemon's small foot collided with the much larger Abomasnow's head.

"Shake it off, Abomashow!" Candice ordered. Though the Pokemon was tiny, she had used an attack that was at a double advantage to the grass-and-ice type. "Use Avalanche!"

"Rock Smash!" Another fighting-type move. Lucas realized that the Buneary's Lucario father gave a powerful set of battle genes to the Pokemon and was prepared to take full advantage of them. Once again Stella jumped up, and kicked the other creature with all her might. Though also hit by the Avalanche attack, the damage to the ice Pokemon was far greater than the Buneary's.

"Woodhammer!" Candice continued, no signs of uncertainty in her face or body language.

Lucas knew he had to be careful. If the attack hit, Stella would surely be knocked out. He knew the Buneary was still speedier, so he called out another attack as soon as he could, "Hi-Jump Kick, one more time!"

As soon as the syllables were uttered, the normal-type obeyed. The Abomasnow's arm came down like a wrecking ball, but in the last second, the Buneary twirled away from the attack and kicked the Pokemon a final time in the head. The tiny Pokemon managed to fully knock out the other creature. Candice recalled the defeated Pokemon and brought her next monster to the field, "Go Glalie!"

"Stella return! Go Steelix!" Lucas shifted gears as soon as the mean-faced snowball appeared before him. Have to keep her guessing. Lucas thought to himself. "Steelix! Flash Cannon!"

The Snowpoint Leader studied the steel-and-rock type carefully before selecting her move. "Glalie! Watergun!"

Lucas figured as much. He knew a powerful Leader like Candice would not just rely on type-based moves for her Pokemon. The damage caused to the Steelix would be high, but as long as the Pokemon was faster, it would survive, "Use Sandstorm!"

The hail that filled the Gym from summoning the Abomasnow was replaced by a whipping wind of sand and gravel. The Glalie winced from the pelting damage, the Steelix unharmed in the sandblasting. Another Flash Cannon finished the job. Lucas had taken out two of Candice's Pokemon without losing any of his own. He couldn't get cocky or comfortably just yet, he knew the Leader still had some surprises up her fashionable sleeve. "Go Froslass!"

Another one of the Pokemon the black-haired girl had used during the great Cosmic fight. Lucas was especially glad he looked into this Pokemon before his battle. This creature was an alternate evolution of the ice-type Snorunt, which could normally evolve into a Glalie like the one he had just defeated. The difference between Glalie and Froslass was fairly significant. Froslass was part ghost-type. Which is why the teen boy was especially glad he trained a Pokemon just for the occasion, "Go Houndoom! Flamethrower!"

Lucas could only hope his rival/friend Morgan would be impressed with his training. Whether the Pokemon knew ghost moves or ice moves would do very little against the dog-like creature with its duel advantage. And any non-type moves would have a hard time hitting such a fast Pokemon. With another Flamethrower and Dark Pulse attack, the Froslass was also down for the count. Now it was down to the Leader's final Pokemon. And as it was summoned to the field the tattooed young man prepared for the switch, "Go Mamoswine!"

Mamoswine could have been particularly problematic for an unprepared Trainer. In addition to its ice attributes, it was also part ground-type. No doubt it knew rock and ground attacks that would sideline any fire, steel or fighting Pokemon summoned to the field. Thankfully for Lucas, he had no such plan to bring out any of those types of creatures. "Go Franky!"

For the first time since the beginning of the battle, Candice's frigid demeanor cracked. She immediately saw Lucas' plan, and was forced to smile over its brilliant simplicity. The Gyrados' water-type attribute would make the ice moves largely ineffective, but it was the Atrocious Pokemon's second attribute that would seal the fate of the Gym battle, its often ignored flying attribute. Being part flying-type, moves like Earthquake couldn't touch the sea-serpent.

"Hydropump!"

"Rock Throw!"

"Surf!" Despite its size and bulk, the Mamoswine was quickly defeated. The match was over, Lucas had won. And he had defeated one of the most powerful Leaders in Sinnoh without losing a single Pokemon.

Candice recalled her limp Mammoth Pokemon and returned to her normal, cheerful, post-match manner, giving her opponent a huge, warm smile, "I'm surprised you didn't use your Charizard for this match,"

"Hotrod wouldn't have had much of an advantage, even if he is a fire-type. I knew a strong Gym Leader like you couldn't be railroaded by just one type," Lucas explained.

"Maylene was right, your style is very special. You do everything in your power to make sure your Pokemon don't get hurt. I had no idea what you would do next or how to counter it," Candice replied, reaching into her pockets to present Lucas with his prizes, "For that you have truly proven you've earned this badge. I am honored to present to you the Icicle Badge. With it you'll be able to use the move Rock Climb outside of battle, and all Pokemon up to level 80 will obey you. I also present you with the TM for the move Avalanche,"

"Thank you," Lucas said simply as he accepted his reward.

"I have met hundreds of Trainers in my time as a Leader here at Snowpoint, as has Maylene and we both agree. We've met the next Champion of the Sinnoh League. I look forward to the day you defeat the current Champion and know that I was part of the path for you to get there. Good luck Lucas, and as I've said before, thank you for absolutely everything you have done for me. The temple, Maylene. Just, thank you," Candice said genuinely. For the first time since the beginning of the battle, Lucas noticed that Maylene, still moving gingerly because of her healing burns, was in the Gym watching from the bleachers that surrounded the ice.

"I do what I can when I see things that need to be done. But I'm afraid it's time for me to move on," Lucas said with his own smile, "See you around lovebirds. And don't do anything I wouldn't do!"