"And here we are in Snowpoint," Brock said, looking around at the red-roofed houses dusted with snow. "After growing up here, is everywhere else just way too warm?"

Zoey snorted. "No, we heat our houses and go outside wearing warm clothes. It's quite easy for me to feel a bit chilly in other towns because they don't keep the place warm all the time."

"That makes sense," Brock nodded. "Okay, so… obviously the main reason we're here is so Ash can challenge Candice..."

He frowned. "That's kind of funny. Candice has ice in her name. I wonder if it's nominative determinism."

"Nomina-what?" Ash asked.

"It means that your name suggests what you're going to do for a living," Brock explained. "It's partly just a silly thing because everyone notices the people who fit the stereotype, but nobody notices the people who don't."

It seems a little strange for someone called Brock Slate to point out nominative determinism, when he purports to be a Rock type gym leader.

"Hey, I have Rock types," Brock protested. "Besides, Pewter Gym has been in my family for three generations. That was almost certainly deliberate… but I don't know if Candice was always expected to be an Ice typed gym leader."

"I think we got off topic," Dawn pointed out.

"Yeah, we did," Ash agreed. "Where should we look to find Candice?"

"She works at the Snowpoint Trainers' School," Zoey supplied. "We should probably look for her there."

She waved a hand. "By the way, I didn't tell her you were coming. I kind of want it to be a surprise..."


"All right, everyone," Candice said, smiling. "Quick fire question time, everyone needs to answer a question and explain their answer. Ready?"

The class nodded.

"Okay, first question – what Pokémon type should you use against a Ground type Pokémon?"

A boy raised his hand, and Candice pointed at him.

"Electric type!" he answered.

Candice blinked. "Okay, and can you explain that?"

"Because whatever you do will really surprise the Ground type Pokémon and their trainer," the boy replied. "So if you have a special Pikachu who can shock Ground types, they'll be surprised by that, and if you can use electric attacks to do things other than a head-on attack they'll be surprised by that too because they won't have bothered preparing for it!"

"...I like it," Candice decided. "Good answer."

As the boy smiled proudly, there was a knock at the door.

"Excuse me a moment," Candice asked, and headed over to open the door.

On seeing who was on the other side, she paused for a long count of ten.

"All right, class," she said. "It looks like we've got some surprise visitors. This is my friend Zoey, and she seems to have brought Ash Ketchum with her."

After a moment more thought, she stepped back to let them into the classroom. "I think we'd better hold the rest of that quiz later."


"...so how do you catch your Pokémon?"

"It depends," Ash replied. "I… well, I guess the important bit is that all my Pokémon do want to be with me. A lot of Pokémon are okay working with someone who beat them and captured them, but I think you get much better results from a Pokémon who wanted to be with you in the first place."

Ash shrugged. "Sometimes that means a battle. In fact, it often means a battle. But the important bit is the decision, not the battle."

Someone else raised their hand. "How come you have so many Legendary Pokémon? Most people have, like, none, and other amazing trainers have maybe three tops."

"The answer to that is… kind of complicated," Ash began. "So part of it is that I have crazy luck, both good and bad – I run into a lot of weird situations, so I run into a lot of Legendary Pokémon as well. Another part of it is..."

Ash paused, trying to think of a way to get across what he wanted to get across.

"Well, it's kind of linked to what I said before," he decided on. "Every one of my Legendary Pokémon is different, but what they share is that they've decided I'm not going to abuse the privilege. That means I'm going to train them like my regular Pokémon, I'm not going to have a problem if they need to go and handle their own duties, and it means I'm not going to just use them to win all my battles."

"Having Legendary Pokémon still sounds cool," someone said. "But less cool than it did before."

"It's really worth it," Ash told her. "It's even worth all the trouble – it's cool, yeah, but it's also just kind of humbling. Pokémon like Suicune and Lugia trust me, and I really want to live up to that."

The class was silent for a few seconds.

"Can one of your Pokémon do something cool for us?" asked the next pupil.

I believe I have thought of something, Mewtwo declared. Excuse me, Leader Candice? Would you have any objections to a quick field trip?

"A field trip to where?" Candice asked. "Will it be safe?"

The answer to your second question is yes, Mewtwo replied.

"All right, then," Candice decided. "Let's see this."

About half a second later, the complete contents of the classroom – including the pupils, teacher, visitors, chairs, desks and floorboards, but lacking the walls – was floating over the ocean, just outside Mossdeep in Hoenn.

This is the Mossdeep spaceport, Mewtwo explained, indicating it with his arm. In that building over there are some high powered generators which make it so that Psychic Pokémon can do a lot more.

"Wow!"

"What kind of things?"

Well, for example, this, Mewtwo said.

Then they were on the moon.


"I think they're going to be talking about that class for a long time," Candice said with a smile. "Thanks!"

It was my pleasure.

"Are you sure that was okay?" Dawn asked. "That class was mostly pretty young students."

"Yes, that's my pre-trainer class – and it should be fine," Candice replied. "Mewtwo's got really good PR, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If there's any trouble I'll deal with it."

It is my hope that it will become a common opportunity, not a once in a lifetime one, Mewtwo noted. But that discussion is for another time; I do not want to get in the way of Ash's next gym battle.

"Yeah, speaking of that battle, I was thinking of using rules with four one-on-one battles," Candice said. "And… this is mostly an unofficial request, but no Legendary Pokémon or Mega Evolution please? I don't have any Mega Stones – or a Legendary Pokémon, obviously."

"That should be fine," Ash replied. "Okay, so four Pokémon… Dexter?"

Dexter's projector glowed, and a shimmer appeared in front of Ash's eyes.

"Okay, now that is cool," Candice said, seriously impressed. "I didn't know that Porygon could do that."

"Dexter's third-generation, or… kind of… hold on, this might be confusing," Dawn said, as Ash started waving his hand around to interact with the display. "He's an early Porygon, but he's evolved twice so he's got a lot of capability… I'm not really sure how a digital Pokémon gets more capability through evolving, though. It's the same hardware, right?"

Multithreading, optimization, and – in my case – virtual computing, Dexter stated.

"Virtual computing?" Candice repeated. "I've not heard of that – oh, my gym's this way."

They turned the corner, and Dexter explained. I am doing some of my calculations by reverse-engineering the solution.

"That… makes no sense," Brock protested. "At all."

The equations are a bit complicated, Dexter admitted. But it does work out. How much stranger is it than the fact that Absol, a Pokémon standing next to you, is able to detect the future just because she can?

"That is a good point," Dawn admitted.

"I'd like to see your working," Brock said, and a holoscreen appeared in front of him as well.

"...that's just website code," the Pewter Gym Leader said, after a moment.

Well spotted, not a lot of people see that one.

Dexter switched focus. Ash. What are you doing?

"You didn't tell me how to use this thing," Ash replied, waving his hand around. "I'm sort of guessing."

You've set an alarm for 6AM tomorrow.

"Oh, I'd better turn that off..." Ash said. "Uh… hold on, can you show me all the Pokémon back at Pallet? I'll just point at who I want to use."


"So, welcome to my gym!" Candice announced, waving them into the central hall. "Like it?"

"It looks like an enormous amount of fun," Lucario noted, looking at the four-tiered set of ice rinks – each one with an edge that curved smoothly down into a slide, before levelling out to form the tier below. "Where did the idea for it come from?"

"Honestly, it kind of just… seemed to make sense," Candice replied. "I did have to move the door up a floor, but the rest of the renovation could be done by my Ice-types. That's just solid ice under the higher levels."

"And I guess it all stays cool because you have so many Ice types in here?" Brock guessed.

"Partly," Candice shrugged. "Partly because there's a really big freezer system built into the walls – the waste heat goes to my apartment – and partly just because it's Snowpoint."

"That'd do it," Zoey agreed.

"Okay, Ash Ketchum!" Candice declared, bending down to put some ice skates on. "Pick your first Pokémon!"

With that, she pushed off from the platform on the entrance side of the arena. Sliding down onto the third tier, then onto the second, she skated around in a half circle before using her gathered momentum to skate up back onto the fourth tier – sliding to a halt next to her own Gym Leader's platform.

"I'm ready," Ash said.

"Good!" Candice called back, holding up a Pokéball of her own. "On three… one, two, three!"


Ash's Quilava came out onto the battlefield with a flare of light, and looked around with interest.

"Okay, this is a pretty good setup," she said, flexing her neck a bit. "Let's see what I've got to work with."

A blue-and-white blur shot towards her along the line of the fourth tier, aiming to knock her backwards, and Quilava dodged out of the way before twisting to have a good look at her opponent as they went past.

The blur slowed briefly as it cornered, revealing it to be a ball of spinning icy spikes – an Alolan Sandslash – and Quilava rolled into a ball herself to use Flame Wheel and rocket after it.

Swerving, the Sandslash dropped down two levels and back up one, then jumped into the air and shot towards Quilava with a burst of speed. Quilava matched it, going from Flame Wheel into a Quick Attack, and the two curled-up Pokémon hit one another in a flash of ice and flame that sent them bouncing off.

Quilava was already spinning up again before she landed, hitting the ice with a scree and sending chips of it flying, and she dropped all the way down to the bottom level for a bit of extra speed. That was also where the curve of the sides was the steepest, and Quilava went around it twice completely to build up more speed before cornering sharply and flying into the air.

Sandslash met her halfway through her jump, an Iron Tail flicking out at the Fire-type, and Quilava unleashed a burst of flame to deter Sandslash from getting closer. The Iron Tail changed to an Aqua Tail mid-attack, protecting Sandslash inside a shield of icy water, and the two Pokémon collided again and bounced off one another.

Quilava bounced twice, sliding to a halt on the inclined ice of the fourth-third tier ramp, and uncoiled for a moment to get a look at the situation.

"Okay, this should be different," she said, then balled up again and spindashed off.


The fiery whoosh of Quilava's Flame Wheel at full spin and the humming buzz Sandslash made using Ice Ball filled the air as the two Pokémon tried to gain some kind of advantage, sliding around in circles and biting into the ice to pick up speed or corner faster.

Sparks and little chunks of ice went flying from the battlefield, shredded into snow by their speed – then Quilava shot out into the air, stopped with a burst of flame, and launched herself right back at Sandslash.

The Ice-type dodged out of the way just before she hit, sliding to a halt and turning back on her to try and attack while Quilava was distracted. Quilava surrounded herself in flame to fend the attack off, then boosted out of the way while it was still coming in, and tried uncoiling for long enough to hit Sandslash with a flamethrower – only to find a Focus Blast heading her way, forcing her to ball up again and get out of the way.

Sandslash's stray attack punched a crater into the ice, sending up clouds of dusty ice and snow which was churned further by the high-speed movements of both Pokémon, and Ash glanced up at Candice.

"Are you sure that's going to be okay?" he asked. "That looked like it made kind of a mess."

"It's fine," Candice replied, waving her hand. "The ice is replaceable."

As they spoke, the tempo of the fight increased yet again. Quilava crashed into Sandslash, bounced off, and came back to hit him again two or three times before the two hit the arena again, then began chasing him around the second-lowest level at full speed – cornering recklessly, trying to stay in the sweet-spot where her angle of turn was fastest without sliding off and ascending a level needlessly.

Sandslash dropped down to the lowest level, uncurling briefly to control his slide with his claws, and threw a cloud of Icicle Spears so they would get in Quilava's way. Quilava increased her temperature to just blast through the spearwall, but the same burst of heat also melted some of the ice she was using for traction – making her slide a little higher, a little closer to the potential danger spot where she would skid out and lose control.

"Left turn!" Ash called suddenly.

Quilava followed Ash's instructions, turning further left abruptly – deliberately going into the zone where she slid out onto the third level, spinning around a few times before coming to a halt.

"Get her!" Candice instructed. "Spin up and use Drill Run!"

"Uncoil and get ready to Lava Plume," Ash countered.

Quilava paused briefly, then uncoiled as instructed. She charged up, building up the necessary heat from her firefur patches as she heard Sandslash spinning to full speed, and the ice underneath her softened slightly.

"Lava Plume down and back!" Ash called suddenly.

Quilava spiked her Lava Plume down into the ice, lighting up the whole room with refracted firelight. The ice in the direct path of her attack melted quickly, and some of it boiled – the column of water surrounded by ice acting like a kind of cannon, launching the Fire-type into the air surrounded by a wash of water which covered the battlefield in fog.

Sandslash missed his attack completely, the gout of water throwing off his grip and Quilava no longer being where he was aiming anyway, and he skidded a bit – barely avoiding the hole Quilava had blasted into the ice – before sliding to a slow halt on the fourth level.

"Watch out, she could be-" Candice began, then frowned as the steam and water began to clear – with no sign of Quilava. "...where is she?"

A faint orange glow lit up the ice, and then an Eruption blasted away the space underneath Sandslash – knocking him high into the air and holding him in the central plume of the Eruption for several seconds, before it finally faded away.

"...okay, that was clever," Candice admitted, checking Sandslash had been knocked out before returning the half-Steel-type. "Quilava just went right back into the hole she'd blasted, right?"

"That's right," Ash agreed, as the Fire-type came back out of the hole in question and shook herself dry – looking more than a bit bedraggled – before taking three tries to start her firefur up. "When she did the water cannon thing, there were several things she could have done after that – I trusted her to take the best option."

"I like it," Candice nodded. "Okay, time to pick the next Pokémon you're going to use."

"I'm kind of surprised that you're not moving this somewhere else," Brock said. "That did a lot of damage to your gym."

He indicated the central section. "Like… filling the middle with water."

Candice shrugged. "There is a lot of ice here. I don't mind yet."


Ash made his selection, sending out his Torkoal, and the Fire-type dropped to the surface of the upper layer – some way away from the slowly refreezing area Quilava had torn up with her earlier attack.

Opposite him, Candice sent out her own Pokémon – a sleek, poised Weavile, who materialized balancing on a single claw before slowly coming down into a ready pose.

"This will be interesting," she said. "It looks like it will be a battle of speed versus slowness."

"Yeah, I can do that," Torkoal replied, faint wisps of smoke rising from his nostrils. "You take slow, I'll go fast."

"Amusing," Weavile noted.

Torkoal retracted his limbs, then launched out a massive jet of steam to accelerate down clear to the second level – moving startlingly fast, not least because his high-temperature shell was melting just enough ice that he was skating along on a thin layer of water.

Weavile's eye twitched slightly. "Less amusing."

She gathered herself, and produced half-a-dozen ice shards between her claws. Blurring into a high-speed skating movement around the top layer of the arena, she began flinging them three at a time at Torkoal.

Changing orientation with smaller steam jets, Torkoal spat Embers up at the individual ice kunai headed for him. He missed one, but that one glanced off the ice near him instead of scoring a direct hit.

Heartened by that success, Torkoal rotated like a gun turret to try and hit Weavile with a Flamethrower, but the Dark-type dodged away before the stream of flame reached her.


"How much damage does your gym generally take?" Brock called. "I mean, it's made of ice, and most or all of your Pokémon are Ice-type too, and ice is one of those things that's kind of vulnerable if you hit it with the right kind of attacks… like the attacks people will bring along to handle your Ice-type Pokémon."

"That is true," Candice agreed, raising her voice over the sound of shells and claws sliding over the gym's icy surfaces. "But it's not as bad as it might sound – ice is replaceable."

She shrugged. "I had to make some changes after a girl wrecked the place a while ago, though, so I was thinking about that while I – Weavile, use Avalanche!"

Weavile blurred though the air, flickering aside to avoid Torkoal's Fire Blast attack, and slammed her claws into the side of one of the icy slopes. It creaked, cracked, and just as it was about to fail Weavile backflipped up before pushing at the top of the weakened section.

The whole area crumbled and surged forwards, spreading out in all directions and catching Torkoal by surprise. Weavile ran along the avalanche with her claws glowing a purplish-black, waiting for the moment when the ice-front hit Torkoal, then got in a pair of Night Slashes during the time there was too much ice for him to quickly hit her with a Fire-type attack.

That done, Weavile got clear as quickly as she could – just about managing to get away ahead of an explosion of flame and smoke as Torkoal used a point-blank Fire Blast. The explosion blew ice, ersatz snow and water in all directions, and Torkoal followed it up with a hissing shriek of steam as he accelerated to full speed and chased after Weavile.

The Ice-type skipped across the ice, touching down only long enough to change direction – dodging to the left or right, avoiding the Embers that Torkoal sent towards her.

The shriek of steam suddenly cut off, and Weavile touched down on the highest row of the arena – sliding around with three limbs in contact with the ice, producing a skreeeee sound as she slid around to face towards the centre of the arena.

There was another sudden blast of steam, and Torkoal popped up over the top level – little jets from all four leg-holes adjusting his orientation as he rose.

"Heat Wave!" Ash called.

Torkoal duly did as instructed, blasting the whole area with a Heat Wave. Weavile darted off to the side, a black-red-and-silver blur of motion, and was clipped only by the very edge of the Fire-type attack.

"Get her again!" Ash added, and Torkoal dropped back down onto the slanted surface before spinning, boosting his speed with a jet of steam and racing after Weavile.

This time Weavile went skating towards the section of the arena which Quilava had blown up. She kicked out at the thin crust of ice as she reached it, breaking it to reveal the pool underneath, then made three quick hand gestures and forced a column of water to come rising up out of the hole.

"Surf!" Weavile announced, and sent the column surging at the incoming Torkoal.

Torkoal withdrew into his shell as the wave arrived, and kept it sealed up as he was washed away down into the first and lowest level of the arena.

"Did you get him?" Candice asked, shading her eyes.

There was a bubbling whoosh, and Torkoal blasted out of the water pool again – his steamjets stuttering a bit, but still quite capable of fighting.

"Guess not," Candice added.

"Bombardment!" Ash called.

Torkoal tilted his jets a little, using them to spin rapidly in place in mid-air, and moved his head back out of his shell. After taking a moment to aim right he started using Ember – again and again and again, raining down flaming Embers all over the arena.

None of them got quite far enough to put any of the trainers present at risk, but Weavile had to dodge aside more than once and began using Ice Shard kunai to shoot some of them down. As the barrage went on and on, Weavile's tactics also became more aggressive – aiming her ranged attacks at Torkoal – until she finally jumped into the air and hit him with a Shadow Ball to knock him back to the ground.

Landing with a crunch and flipping right with a burst of steam. Torkoal accelerated again – building up speed on the second level, before popping up onto the third level.

"Watch out," Candice called. "He's going to-"

Torkoal accelerated, and jumped off the ramp from the third level to the fourth. Pushing and flipping with a jet of steam, he lined up and launched a Fire Blast at Weavile.

The Ice-type immediately tried to dodge, skating to the side, only to discover that one of the Embers which Torkoal had bombarded the arena with had melted the ice in the direction she tried to dodge. Reacting quickly, Weavile tried moving in a different direction – but too late, as the Fire Blast hit next to her and blasted her halfway across the arena.

Torkoal dropped back onto the third-level ramp and boosted to full speed, spinning rapidly as he shot out across the open middle of the arena, and hit Weavile with a Flame Wheel just as she was about to land.

The eruption of fire as his move went off hid both Pokémon for a moment, and when it faded Torkoal was staggering around in a circle and Weavile was out cold.


"Right, that's two down," Candice noted. "You're doing pretty well so far, I can see why you've got so many badges."

She returned Weavile, and examined the battlefield. "Hmm… let's see… who to use next?"

Ash withdrew his own Pokémon. "I… actually forgot to ask, do you have a secondary gym challenge?"

"Huh?" Candice replied. "Oh, right – yeah, actually, at the moment it's just that it's obviously hard to fight a battle if your Pokémon keep falling over..."


"Good battle so far, right?" Rockruff asked, wagging her tail.

She looked up at Mewtwo. "Don't you think it's a good battle?"

It certainly is, Mewtwo replied, most of his focus on a piece of paper and a pen. As has become apparent more than once before, Ash's tactical aptitude is considerable and surprising. I'd go so far as to say that his apparently random behaviour is a considerable advantage to him, because it makes it harder to tell what he's actually going to do with a situation he sets up.

"Mm-hmm, that makes sense," Rockruff said, tilting her head to the side. "So like maybe in a battle I'd use a lot of earthmoving techniques, but only reveal I can swim through the ground later on?"

That would be a good example, Mewtwo agreed.

"What's that you're writing, anyway?" Rockruff asked suddenly. "Can I see?"

She crouched, then jumped to try and get a look at the paper. That only let her see a brief snatch, so she tried again – then a third time – before landing with a frown.

"What's a Fermi?" she asked.

The Fermi paradox is the question: why aren't there aliens, and why haven't they shown up yet if there are? Mewtwo answered. I'm taking notes on some questions I want to ask if I get the chance.

"Ask who?" Rockruff frowned. "That Deoxys that Brock's friend Max has visit sometimes?"

No, Arceus, Mewtwo told her. I'm sure he knows – the trick is getting the questions ready ahead of time…


"Have you picked your next Pokémon?" Candice asked.

"Yep!" Ash confirmed, holding up the Pokéball. "Ready?"

"Of course!" Candice agreed, holding up her own Pokéball. "Three, two, one, go!"

Ash's Pokéball opened marginally first, a flash of white light coalescing into Houndoom. The Dark-type Pokémon's claws flashed silver, and he dug them into the icy surface so he didn't slide.

"So, what-" he began, and then Candice' Pokémon came materialized. A big blue Walrein, it did a crash-dive down into the water that had already accumulated in the low centre of the arena and sent water splashing everywhere.

"Right," Ash realized. "So still an Ice-type Pokémon, but one who's good at dealing with the soaked icy surfaces and the water that's been created?"

"Yep!" Candice nodded. "That's just one reason I don't mind people melting my ice!"

"I can see this is going to be interesting," Houndoom said, tail flicking from side to side. "Hey, Ash, what's my best bet for dealing with the water? Let it re-freeze, melt more of it, what?"

"Uh… yeah, I know," Ash replied. "Can you hit the ice really hard?"

"Sure," Houndoom replied.

Walrein poked his head out of the water and used Brine.

Houndoom dodged to the side, paws slipping a little on the damp ice, then flicked his tail across and began creating Beat Up clones. The first one was a Pikachu which appeared for just long enough to be used as a footrest, and the second was a Latios which promptly exploded in a cloud of smoke as the Brine attack smashed it.

Using several more shadow-clones as stepping stones, Houndoom got to about ten feet over the fourth level of the arena – then abruptly stopped creating them, and dropped down to the second level in a single arc.

His paws glowed orange, and he hit with a Rock Smash that shook the stadium a little. Cracking sounds echoed through the arena as fissures spiderwebbed out through the ice, and Ash nodded.

"Good!" he called. "Now, Flame Charge – climb back up to the top level!"

Walrein surged out of the water onto the second level as Houndoom cloaked himself in flame, and charged forwards with an Aqua Tail. The attack knocked into Houndoom, knocking him forwards and producing a yipe of pain, but also giving him the push to rise up to the third level of the arena.

Now safer from attack, Houndoom increased the heat of his Flame Charge until it was a brilliant orange-yellow in colour. The heat meant his paws were melting at least an inch into the ice, and that let the Fire-type get enough grip for a sort of lolloping run around the third layer before making his way up to the fourth.

The water he'd left behind all drained down towards the lowest level of the four-tiered arena, following the cracks and fissures, and Houndoom glanced down to see what was going on before yelping and accelerating as Walrein shot another big Brine attack at him.

"Nice," Candice noted. "I was wondering how you were going to deal with the footing."

She winked. "Now the only problem you have is my Pokémon! Walrein, Hail!"

Walrein honked, and clouds of cool grey and white formed just below the ceiling. They swelled, darkening visibly, then large hailstones began to shower down on the battlefield.

Houndoom formed another trio of Beat Up doubles, but they all exploded into smoke before they had a chance to do anything, and Ash frowned.

"Right… Smokescreen!"

Houndoom nodded briefly, still moving, and coughed out a cloud of black smoke. The smoke spread out without thinning, becoming ominous and opaque and hiding most of the arena – obscuring Houndoom's location and movements from both Walrein and the spectators.

Ash closed his eyes, watching through the smoke and knowing that Houndoom was already using Odor Sleuth to pinpoint Walrein.

"Now!" he called, and Houndoom turned before sliding down one particular damaged part of the slope with a slithering crash. Walrein turned, looking for Houndoom by the sound, but had to fire his Brine attack by sound alone as Houndoom descended from the third layer to the second.

He missed, Houndoom dodging away from the jet of salty water just in time, and Houndoom caught Walrein with a Crunch that made the Ice Break Pokémon shout in pain.

"Head under the water!" Candice called. "Houndoom can only last so long in the hail!"

Walrein mumbled something, then vanished underwater with a splash, and Houndoom turned away to start climbing laboriously back up the slope.

As he went, the Fire-type used a second gout of Smokescreen to replenish his first. This one was much stronger than the previous one, and almost the entire battle area was unseen behind near-impenetrable smoke – leaving only the occasional splash of hailstones falling into water to tell anyone not gifted with Aura what was going on.


"Sometimes I wonder why they don't just broadcast all gym battles, or something," Dawn said brightly. "Then something like this happens, and I sort of remember..."

"Yeah, that and both trainers and gym leaders not wanting to give away all their tricks," Brock nodded. "Imagine how it would have worked if those gyms in Dark City had their trick widely known."

"That's a good point," Dawn agreed.

The two of them looked into the dark, smoky room.

"Can you see anything?"

"Not a thing," Brock replied, listening to the splashes of the occasional hailstone hitting the water.

Something about them sounded a little odd, though..


"Okay, now!" Ash called.

Houndoom barked in reply.

The occasional splash from the hail continued, but a sudden heat flowed through the room – creating updrafts which made the smoke roil and seethe, before flowing rapidly towards the ceiling and dispersing to reveal the arena.

There was no hail – it had gone. What there was, however, was Houndoom flicking hailstones into the water, one at a time, to produce little splash sounds.

And, revealed by the rising smoke, a glowing yellow-white orb – an indoors Sunny Day.

Houndoom stopped flicking hailstones, and broke into a run again – and, as Walrein came to the surface to see what was going on, the canine Fire-type focused the sunlight together into his mouth and used Solarbeam. The blast of greenish-white light lit up the room, refracting dazzlingly through the water and the frosted ice, but that was only the side-scatter – Walrein took a direct hit, which knocked him backwards in the water from the sheer energy of the impact.

Still running, Houndoom dropped a level as he charged up his second Solarbeam. That one didn't hit Walrein quite so hard as the Ice-type dropped back under the water again, but he clearly wasn't happy, and Houndoom briefly switched from Solarbeam to Shadow Ball to hit the hiding Pokémon before going back to Solarbeam and blasting for a third time.

Walrein emerged from the water in a surge of movement, sliding along the slick second level to move sideways more effectively, and hit the pool he'd left with an Ice Beam in a broad circle. It froze more slowly than expected, but it did freeze, and Walrein flicked the result up as a reflective shield to fend off Houndoom's next Solar Beam attack.

"Rain Dance!" Candice called. "It'll shut down his attack!"

Walrein did as instructed, slapping the ground with his fluke, and the wisps of smoke still evident up near the ceiling were replaced with thick black clouds. The rain began a moment later, extinguishing the light of Houndoom's indoor Sunny Day, and he spat a Brine attack up at Houndoom on the third level.

Houndoom released his Solarbeam as it dimmed abruptly, then dodged aside, and almost avoided taking a hit. The Brine hit him on the hindquarters, spinning him halfway around and sending him stumbling and sliding a bit, and Walrein pressed his advantage with a second Brine attack that knocked Houndoom over.

"Okay, Houndoom!" Ash called. "Thunder Fang!"

Candice blinked, surprised, then winced as Houndoom bit the slushy ground with his Thunder Fang attack. The ice layers were so permeated with cracks by this point – and so full of salty water from all the Brine – that the Thunder Fang lit up the arena, dealing Walrein a stunning blow.

Houndoom held his Thunder Fang for several seconds, keeping it going until he had to take a rest, then looked up at Ash. "Did I get him?"

"Don't know..." Ash replied, frowning. "Uh..."

Walrein shook his head, sparks crackling around it, and started to lift himself back upright.

"Guess not," Ash answered.

Houndoom responded by using Beat Up, conjuring copies of Lucario and Absol, and sent both of them down to attack Walrein. The doubles went charging through the rain, moving fast enough to catch Walrein off-guard, and hit him in succession before dissolving into wisps of black smoke.

At the same time, Houndoom produced three more Beat Up clones. Using the copies of Pikachu, Torkoal and Quilava as stepping stones, he jumped into the air to come crashing down on Walrein for a second Thunder Fang.

"Surf!" Candice called, just in time, and both combatants vanished in a crash of water.

When it subsided, pattering down along with the artificial rain, both Pokémon were out for the count.


"Nice work, Houndoom," Ash said, recalling him. "Okay, I guess that means there's just one Pokémon left?"

"Yeah," Candice agreed, returning her own Pokémon. "Already made your pick?"

"Sure have," Ash nodded.

"It's not Lucario, right?" Candice asked. "Because I don't think I have a Pokémon that can take him on."

"No, not Lucario," Ash assured her.

"That's good to know," Candice sighed in relief. "Okay, ready?"

Ash held up his Pokéball, then threw it, and Primeape emerged onto the battlefield just before Candice' own Pokémon did – a Beartic.

"I've always wondered why they aren't Bearctic," Brock said. "You know, like… the word bear, for bear, and the word arctic, which is the icy north."

"Because that's not what they say," Lucario replied. "If they said Bearctic, they'd be Bearctic. But they don't, they say Beartic, which means they're Beartic."

Beartic coughed. "I have a name."

"Oh, what's that?" Brock asked.

"Iorek, as it happens," the Ice-type replied.

"Excuse me, but I was wondering if we were going to be having a battle today," Primeape noted. "Because that's sort of the point."

"Of course," Iorek said. "I'm just waiting for my trainer to tell us we can begin."

"Should we get started?" Ash asked.

"Yep!" Candice agreed. "Begin!"

Iorek used Bulk Up, ice forming over his fur in a kind of white-translucent suit of armour, and he held up an arm to block Primeape's first Mach Punch.

"There we go," he said, swiping at Primeape with Shadow Claw, and knocking the Fighting-type away with a glancing blow.

Sliding a little, Primeape took position before darting back towards Iorek. This time he opened his attack with a quick three-hit combination delivered so fast that they all took place between his reaching punching range and his actually crashing into Iorek, and between them completely halted his momentum.

"Dive!" Candice called. "Into the water!"


"You could have a lot of fun here with a snowboard," Pikachu observed. "You know, under normal conditions."

"Everything being broken is normal conditions around us, isn't it?" Lucario asked. "I think that might have been in the contract."

"Contract?" Absol asked. "What's this about a contract? I never heard anything about a contract."

"That's because the contract specifies that the first rule of the contract is that you don't talk about the contract," Pikachu told her glibly. "The second rule of the contract is that, if it's not your first time here, you have to fight."

"Wait, shouldn't that be your first time?" Absol frowned, then nodded. "Wait, no, I understand. You're making a joke about the time travel thing."

"She's sharp," Pikachu noted.

"Yes, you can see the point on top of her horn," Lucario replied. "I think that should make it obvious."

"Touché..."


Iorek broke the surface of the water, one arm ready to block, and spotted Primeape – tensing, ready to attack if given an opportunity, but not quite just plunging in when Iorek was ready for him.

Swimming back slightly until his hindpaws rested on a submerged pillar of ice, Iorek focused for a moment and opened his jaws.

A blast of Frost Breath came out, condensing into a white bank like mist in the air, and Primeape crouched warily. Then Iorek added a Water Pulse, which shot through the cone of Frost Breath and turned into an ice-skinned projectile.

Primeape reacted automatically, punching it hard enough to shatter it, and the force of his punch sent most of the water – and the ice containing it – flying back towards Iorek, where it splashed off his fur or into the water. The rest went in all other directions, including some which plumed up for a moment before dropping back down onto Primeape.

The Fighting-type scowled, knees tensing, then exploded forwards to land a powerful Cross Chop attack. Iorek raised his arms to block, his icy armour taking much of the impact, but Primeape hit with such fury that the water rippled out from the striking point and Iorek was forced into taking a step back.

Not content with the first blow, Primeape twisted around to use Karate Chop – but that took him a moment longer, giving Iorek time to recover, and the Ice-type blew an Icy Wind attack point-blank into Primeape's face. The blast of cold sent Primeape flipping backwards, away from Iorek, and he was about to splash into the near-freezing water before using a quick Ice Punch to freeze himself a platform.

Iorek slipped under the water, and Primeape jumped clear before Iorek could tip the platform over to soak him more thoroughly.

The Fighting-type landed on the wet ice of the second tier, and Ice Punched the ground again to freeze it enough to provide him a dry platform. There was a moment of stillness, as Primeape waited for an opportunity, then Iorek surged suddenly out of the water with his Bulk-Up generated armour gleaming white.

He swiped at Primeape with a massive paw, an attack which Primeape countered with a high-speed punch, then exhaled out an Icicle Crash to pepper Primeape with sharp icicles. Primeape blocked ten of the icicles in quick succession, his fists blurring through a series of Assurance attacks which got stronger with each blow, then darted up towards the ramp between the second and third levels of the arena.

Ramming a punch into it, Primeape splintered the ice from a single smooth surface into dozens of half-fractured panes. Discarding both his gloves and using his fingers to dig into a crack for leverage, Primeape focused his attention on Iorek before charging right back in for a Close Combat kata.

Iorek used one arm to shield his face, taking the first blow on his forearm instead of his muzzle, and the next few attacks all hit him on the chest or the side – sending cracks through his armour, but not breaking it.

The Beartic growled, his mouth glowing, and used Blizzard – blasting them both with a blizzard of freezing sleet.

Primeape disdained sheltering away from the attack, using Close Combat again and hammering Iorek with a further sequence of shattering Fighting-type attacks, until Ash waved his hand.

"Fall back a bit!" he called.

Primeape kicked Iorek one more time, the blow hitting a greave but making him feel better, then pushed away and jumped up to the third terrace – then the fourth – and gave Ash a flat glower.

"What?" he asked.

"You're looking cold," Ash explained. "I think that's what Iorek is trying to do, he's trying to just endure your attacks until you're too cold."

"Then having me not fight isn't helping!"

"Having you fight like that isn't helping either," Ash replied. "It's tiring you out faster than him. We need to work out something else to do."

"...will this involve punching things?" Primeape asked.

"Well, yeah," Ash replied. "We just need to work out how."

Iorek fired up a Water Pulse, aiming it so it would come down in the rough area he knew Primeape was, and the Fighting-type slid a little to the side to avoid the main splash.

"I'm listening," he said. "But this had better come quickly."

"Right," Ash agreed. "Okay, so… first thing is, just not moving at all is actually going to make things worse, now. You need to move a bit, doing a warm-up instead of an all out burst of motion..."


"How does Ash know so much about muscle exercise?" Ambipom asked. "I remember his way of handling training, it was really kind of based on experience rather than knowledge. If that makes sense."

"I know what you mean by that," Buneary agreed. "But from what Pikachu's said – and I know it's easy to miss, because we didn't experience it, but he did – Ash is now in really good shape, and he got that by training himself. I guess some of that meant he had to look up how to train, and it stuck."

She waved a paw. "A bit."

"Yeah, that's a good point," Ambipom agreed. "And Ash doing crazy things just seems normal, until you realize how strong he has to be personally."

She shook her head. "Then you remember how he recruited a Metagross a few days ago by beating it. It's like it's hard to remember..."

"In fairness, a lot of that is Aura," Buneary said. "And you can theoretically be really strong by using Aura instead of muscles. It's just that exercise means you need to use less Aura, you can use more Aura, and you have more Aura to use."

They both looked up as Primeape stamped a foot. "I'm going to just go straight in and see what happens!"

"...so much for strategy," Buneary chuckled.


Primeape turned on his heel, focused his energy for just a moment, then charged for the lip of the slope and slid down it at speed.

Iorek took a steady stance, feet a few inches deep in cold water as more of the melt from earlier in the battle percolated down to join the pool, and blew a gust of Frost Breath into one paw to set it glowing with icy-blue energy.

He didn't have long to wait, as Primeape came over the lip of the third level and pushed off with a high-speed punch. Iorek countered with a punch of his own, sending a burst of freezing air swirling out from the point of contact, and the ursine Pokémon took a step back before spitting out a blast of Brine.

Primeape dodged to the side, feet flaring blue as he ran across the water surface – sending up a rooster-tail of spray as he did – to dart in and attack Iorek from the side. That attack did a little better, crunching into Iorek's hard icy armour, and Primeape bounced back to use the water as a platform for a sliding stop and a second pounce.

Iorek threw back his head and fired a much more powerful Brine attack into the air, sending cold water raining down all around him. Primeape couldn't avoid taking a few hits, the water slicking down his fur, and he doubled-down by lashing out with a Low Kick to try and knock Iorek over into the water.

The Ice-type slapped at Primeape, managing to cuff him this time, and Primeape went bouncing along the water before braking his slide and taking up a stance again.

Iorek stamped into the water, sending ripples towards Primeape, then used Icicle Crash. Primeape reacted by charging forwards, a spray of water rising up behind him, and punched down towards Iorek's foot.

The moment before he made contact, his fist glowed a bright icy blue.

"Ice Punch!" he announced.

"...what?" Iorek asked, confused, as Primeape used Ice Punch – again and again, in a flurry of quick jabs focused more on attack rate than actual impact. "Why are you..."

Primeape used Ice Punch one final time, then turned around and darted off about halfway across the arena – coming to a rest on one of the ravaged sections which provided good footing.

Once there, the Fighting-type took a deep, singing breath and adopted a stance. Blue Aura seethed up around him, focusing into his body and growing more potent with every second.

"...wait," Candice frowned. "Iorek! Look out!"

Iorek tried to shift, ready to dive into the water to avoid the attack, and found himself unable to move his legs. Blinking, he looked down at the ice that had formed around his legs – then began straining, trying to break his way out.

Primeape crouched, then leapt forwards – all the Aura focusing on his right fist as he came arcing towards Iorek.

The Beartic held up an arm to block, and Primeape punched – his fist moving with incredible speed, breaking the sound barrier and producing a shattering explosion. The ice underneath Iorek shattered into hundreds of pieces, and the blow hurled him backwards into the icy ramp between the second and third tiers – breaking it as well, leaving a Beartic-shaped crater.

Primeape landed, stared at the result, then examined his hand and spoke. "Ow."

Iorek braced himself, heaving his way out of the icy wall, and blinked a few times. Then he looked menacingly at Primeape. "Well?"

"...that's it," Primeape replied. "Master Blow. Tired me out completely."

"Good," Iorek said, and fell forwards with a crash.


"I… think that means you win," Candice said, counting under her breath. "Yep! Nice battle!"

"Aren't you worried about all the damage?" Ash asked. "Normally people are upset when their gym ends up this wrecked."

"It's not," Candice replied with a shrug. "I'll defrost it and resculpt it, which is a bit of a pain, but I was thinking of doing a design with overhead tracks!"

She reached into her pocket. "Oh, here – Candice awards you her Icicle badge!"

"...why did you call yourself Candice like that?" Dawn asked.

"I sometimes think it's kind of fun," Candice shrugged.

Next to Dawn, Zoey finally shut her jaw. "Dawn? You know how you said Ash's gym battles were disruptive? How bad is this on that scale?"

"The building's standing," Lucario told her. "That's not a given these days. One of them got dropped into another universe."


AN:


And back to Gym stuff.