Chapter Disclaimer: In a highly contested race, Ice gets the nod to start the 2nd quarter.
Ship: SnowballShipper

The Heat in the Snowpoint Queen

Ash lied on a warm patch of dirt in Snowpoint City. He was upset about how Candice ran her classroom and how an upstart humiliated him. He portrayed himself as a wise kid. How could this have happened? "This stinks!" he growled at himself. He was so mad at what happened, he never detected Brock coming by.

"You still mad about the test?" he wondered. Ash heard and darted his head away, confirming Brock's suspicions. "Yep. Still mad." Brock sat down by his longtime buddy. "You know, the classroom isn't your place to be. You're still a genius on the battlefield despite the early onset of going full on without knowing what your opponent has in store." Ash lofted a soft moan, almost wanting to trust Brock's word.

"I know! I know!" Ash wanted to forget about that test. Brock had an idea.

"Why don't you talk to her about getting a retest alone with her? It may work out better the second time around and you don't have to be quick about answering." True, he could do that...but he wanted to battle Candice for the Icicle Badge she has.

"I came here to battle Candice, not be lectured by her!" Finally, Ash walked off. Good chance he's going to confront Candice and ask for that battle. If so...why was he walking toward the city limits? Far off, Ash punched his fist into a snow-covered tree...only to knock the snow onto him. Boy, today's not a good day for Ash. "Why me?" Before being frozen in the snowy weight, Candice came by and dug Ash out. Now he was freezing quite a bit.

"Ash, are you okay?" she asked. Ash shook his head, possibly still upset with her testing. "Hey, look. Let's grab some hot cocoa to calm us down?" Best idea at the moment.

"Okay." Reaching the school, Candice made the hot chocolate and given a cup to Ash. "Thanks." After the first sip, Ash relaxed.

"I think it's a good idea to let Dawn and Zo-Zo play in the shed with our Glameow." Her Glameow?

"You mean Zoey isn't Glameow's real owner?"

"Technically, no. You see, Zoey and I raised Glameow when it was still a tiny kitten." Must have been some time ago. "One day, Zo-Zo was walking through the city on an errand when she came across the Glameow discarded. She couldn't leave the cat to freeze out here. So she brought it over to the shed where we would raise it together until she was old enough." Old enough to be a trainer. Ash seemed cleared at the long going mystery of the friendship between Candice and Zoey.

"You and Zoey did a lot to raise Glameow."

"You don't know the half of it." For some reason, Ash wanted to change the subject.

"You know, Candice. I may not have used the right words." Right words?

"What do you mean?" Yeah, Ash, tell us.

"I said to your class 'The best defense is a good offense.' That's not usually my style." Candice seemed stunned. She didn't think Ash was lying when confronting the class.

"You saw how everyone reacted. They supported your following." To Ash, it wasn't the one he followed.

"I was nervous facing your class. I didn't know how to properly address it." Blame nervousness, good idea. Candice wondered if there was another piece of advice Ash could've used.

"Well, if you had to do it again, what would you have said?" Ash thought hard, wondering if there was something he's followed for the while.

"I guess when it comes to battle, never rely only on the Pokémon's abilities. Sometimes you need to break out of the box and try all new alternatives to attain victory other than cheating."Candice was rather awed with the new follow. It was as if to say never assume a battle is basic.

"After hearing about some of your Gym Battles from Dawn, I think that's your real calling card. It also means I gotta be careful tomorrow when we battle." Ash agreed. Suddenly, the alarm blared. Ash and Candice knew that something was wrong. They raced out, regrouping with Dawn, Brock, Zoey, Pikachu and Glameow. They find Jeremiah struggling with Team Rocket's Jessie, James and Meowth. His Skuntank was wrapped in James' Carnivine's Vine Whip. The man in the business suit was panicking. "Jeremiah!" Now, Team Rocket showed panic.

"The twerps!" The Rockets shrieked. Ash and Candice released Abomasnow and Buizel. That's when Dawn noticed the sacks they were taking.

"Alright, what's in the bags?" she questioned. Jessie began to act defiant.

"None of your twerpy business!" she snapped. Sure, she wouldn't answer but Jeremiah allowed his mouth to move.

"They've stolen the Pokéballs from the storage room!" he shouted for help. The kids knew what they needed to do: retrieve the Pokéballs.

"Big mouth! Seviper, Haze!" Jessie called as she released her zigzag snake who spat out toxic smoke. Ash and Candice knew what was needed.

"Abomasnow, Blizzard!" Candice ordered her giant snow beast. Abomasnow breathed out a freezing gust of snowy air, blowing away the haze...and exposing the Rockets trying to escape. Ash's turn.

"Buizel, Aqua Jet!" Ash commanded. Buizel surrounded itself in water and fired the stream at the bad team. Suddenly, Buizel's Aqua Jet was starting to freeze up. Either Ash forgot that Abomasnow's Blizzard was still active...or that was the plan. Zoey was shocked with what Ash was using. Buizel was now coated in ice streaming at Team Rocket.

"Ash has perfected Ice Aqua Jet?" she awed. The Ice Aqua Jet slammed into the Rockets, sending them skyward and dropping the payload of Pokéballs.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" the Rockets screamed as they left over the horizon. Served them right!

"Oh, no!" Candice screeched. "The Pokéballs!" Dawn stood up with Piplup, ready to catch the falling balls.

"Piplup, Whirlpool!" she called out. Piplup blew out a swirling splash of water, catching each ball that fell from the Rockets' grips. The balls were returned to the head of the school as everyone grasped the feel of victory via Team Rocket's defeat.

"Way to go, you guys!" Brock cheered. As they celebrated, Jeremiah came over to Ash.

"Hey, Ash," he spoke up. "Sorry about before, I was overzealous about Candice's next opponent." Ash smiled, not worried about the testing earlier.

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged off the apology. "I just need to focus on tomorrow's gym battle." Candice was the next to confront the main hero.

"I was thinking," she began. "Maybe I should just give you the Icicle Badge. How about it?" Just like that? Ash didn't need to battle Abomasnow and her other Pokémon? Ash felt humbled but he knew this wasn't the way to go.

"Candice, I can't really accept your gym badge like that! I'd rather battle for it." Candice respected his wish to earn it the proper way.

"I suppose you need to rejuvenate the kiai. I guess this is the only other item I can give." That's when she bent down and...SMACK! Everyone awed Candice's long kiss to Ash...except Brock. He couldn't believe someone like Ash would get a kiss before him. He did have something to break it up.

"Croagunk, Poison Jab!" Brock called out before Croagunk's eerie purple fingers jabbed...into Brock? The Poison Jab left Brock paralyzed...and bewildered. "Why did he use it on me? No fair!" Croagunk dragged Brock away...much to the girls' stunned chagrin.

"I don't know what's more miserable, Brock jealousy of Ash's reward or Croagunk's back stab?" Dawn debated.

"Don't you mean back jabbed?" Zoey joked. Ash would battle Candice for the Icicle Badge but first...let's hope the kiss is broken sometime soon...otherwise her kiss would freeze over.

END of ICE

(Sorry if it was short. Keep up the voting. Right now it's a tie with Flying and Psychic.)