Ash's Story (Part 5: Modern Sinnoh)

Chapter 66: Focus on Ice

Snowpoint Gym looked like a place that had decided walking was too easy.

The floor beyond the entrance shone with thick ice, polished smooth enough to reflect the lights above it and the nervous faces watching. Huge snowballs sat across the arena like frozen obstacles, and ramps curved around the room in strange angles. One wrong step could send a Trainer sliding into a wall before the battle even started.

The Gym guide waved when Lillie and I entered, smiling like the ice was harmless. "Hey there! How's it going, challengers-to-be?"

I smiled despite the cold morning air. "That floor looks serious."

"That is Snowpoint Gym for you," the guide said proudly. "Slide with enough momentum to smash the snowballs, keep your focus, and reach Candice. Ice-type defenses look solid, but focus can break through anything."

Candice waited somewhere beyond the puzzle, and I could almost feel her energy in the room. Yesterday, she had been a teacher. Today, the whole Gym felt like her classroom, except the lesson came with ice, speed, and bruises.

Pikachu stood beside my boot, tail twitching against the frozen floor.

Pikachu's meaning sparked with excitement. "The floor moves if you trust it too much. It also moves if you do not trust it enough."

"That sounds exactly like a Gym puzzle," I said.

Lillie adjusted her gloves and looked over the ice path. "We should watch each slide before committing. If we lose control here, the puzzle will punish us before Candice does."

Tox watched from the stands with Dawn, Gladion, Daniel, and Zoey. "Falling on ice can cause real injury. Pride is not a brace."

Dawn gave him a sideways look. "Good luck making Ash remember that."

"I heard that," I called from the ice.

Tox did not blink. "Then remember it."

The first slide nearly proved him right. I pushed off too gently, lost speed before the first snowball, and spun into a side wall with Pikachu laughing from a safe patch behind me.

Lillie covered her mouth, but her shoulders shook.

"Very focused," Gladion said from the stands.

"That was practice," I said with forced dignity.

The second time, I pushed harder, lowered my balance, and hit the snowball straight enough to burst through it. Ice chips sprayed around me, and the path opened toward the first trainer.

Ace Trainer Anton waited with a bright grin. "We spend all our time battling in the blizzards of Snowpoint City. We'll show you how it toughened us up!"

His Snover and Glalie were ready for the cold, but Magmortar was ready for them. I kept the battle quick because the Gym puzzle still waited beyond him. Magmortar's controlled flames pushed through the snow, and Anton recalled his Pokémon with a surprised laugh.

"What is with your toughness?" Anton asked.

"Route 217 helped," I said, recalling every frozen step.

Alicia's Tentacruel surprised me most because I had expected the Gym to stay closer to Ice-types. Its slick body slid almost as well as Sneasel, and its Water attacks made the ice even harder to read.

Pikachu waited until Tentacruel committed to a sweep across the floor, then used Iron Tail like a brake against the ice. He twisted, caught his balance, and struck with Thunderbolt before Tentacruel could turn.

Savannah's battle forced Electivire to handle three different rhythms. Pelipper rode the cold air, Golduck used the slick surface like a river, and Glalie tried to turn every dodge into a trap. Electivire won with Discharge only after I stopped asking him to chase.