When we are training Torterra and Monferno in a battle, we see a Powder Snow hurtles towards us.
"What the?" I gasp as we see that Dawn and Daniel are frozen in ice. "Monferno, use Flamethrower." I say as we break them out of the ice.
"Thanks a lot...just what happened..." Daniel asks while shivering from the cold.
"I don't know, maybe it is an Ice Type Pokemon!" Lillie says with stars in her eyes. "Oh great, not again..." Gladion mutters.
As we decide to go find the Pokemon, Tox and Gladion are tripped by the Grass Knot. "Brother, Tox, are you okay?" Lillie asks.
"Those are Grass Knot...just who is the prankster that did this?" I ask.
"I heard that the laugh is coming from the bush." Daniel says.
As we go to check out, we are trapped by Ingrain. Then we see the Pokemon coming out. "It's a Snover." Lillie says.
"Yeah, didn't Wulfric have a Mega Abomasnow? It is a powerful Ice Type." I say. Just as we use Fire attacks to free ourselves, the Snover decides to approach the group and hugs Lillie, also snuggles her.
"You are so cute." Lillie says. Then Snover lets go of Lillie and picks a Snoverberry off itself for us. We taste it and we are amazed by the taste.
"So you just want to share your berries with us, that's why you stopped us?" Lillie asks as he nods.
Lillie offers Snover to stay a night with us and he agrees, but the next morning, Team Rocket tries to steal the Snover because of its berries. But they are blasting off again in the end.
I ask, "So Snover, do you want to come with us?"
Snover nods and lets himself be caught. Lillie also cheers to have another Ice Type. I guess it is not only her, Alice is also going to be delighted to have a Snover in our team as well.
Snover: The Frost Tree Pokemon: Grass and Ice Type. It lives on snowy mountains. Having had little contact with humans, it is boldly inquisitive.
As we are approaching the Sandalstraw Town, we are training with their Pokemon. My Prinplup is battling against Dawn's Piplup, and mine glows and becomes an Empoleon.
"Alright. You have become stronger." I say.
Empoleon: The Emperor Pokemon: Water and Steel Type. Evolved from Prinplup at LV:36. If anyone were to hurt its pride, it would slash them with wings that can cleave through an ice floe.
But just as we are about to continue, Piplup collapses. Dawn asks, "Piplup, are you okay? You have been acting strange recently..."
Piplup tries to get up and falls again, concerning Dawn and the others.
"Hey, Dee-Dee. Long time." Kenny comes and greets Dawn, while she groans at the nickname.
"You better stop calling me Dee-Dee. So Kenny, you are here for the contest, too?" Dawn asks.
"So you are, too. I have seen the Wallace Cup, congratulations on tying with Ash." Kenny says. "And Ash, you are here to participate, too?"
"Yes. This will be my last one if I win." I say.
Kenny notices Piplup's strange behavior as it starts to glow, he says, "It seems like Piplup is about to evolve into a Prinplup."
"Wow, then he will become stronger." Dawn says. But Piplup braces himself, stopping the evolution and becoming so exhausted to the point of collapse.
"The evolution stops..." Lillie says.
"But we should take it to the Pokemon Center quickly." Tox says.
At the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy checks Piplup as she reassures Dawn that Piplup only needs to rest. "Thank goodness... what a surprise, I have no idea Piplup was about to evolve. Of course, I know this day going to come eventually, but when it happens, it still surprises me." Dawn says.
"Well, it is no surprise since how good you raise him." Kenny says.
"Yeah, congratulations." Lillie says, "Maybe one day your Piplup can become an Empoleon just like ours." Empoleon also agrees.
"Not to mention, Prinplup is double the size of Piplup, you'll have more to show off in Pokémon Contests. I suggest that you need to adapt your battling style just like I did with my Grotle." I say.
"No need to worry, I can do it with Mamoswine and I can do it with Prinplup as well," Dawn says excitedly, which makes everyone worry.
Dawn decides to talk to Piplup, but she isn't like me and those who can listen to Pokemon's voices, she doesn't know that Piplup doesn't want to evolve, and he flees the Pokemon Center.
"Piplup! Wait! Come back!" Dawn's yelling causes us to notice.
We try to find Piplup but to no avail. In the forest, I say, "I get it, it makes sense. Piplup wants nothing to do with evolving, which is why it's using Bide."
"You sure?" Lillie asks.
"And Piplup has been acting like this for a while, that's why Piplup has been using so much energy..." I say.
"One thing for sure, we gotta find Piplup now." Tox says.
Kenny also sends out Prinplup to find Piplup, so we decide to search together. After a while, Kenny and I meet and Kenny says, "I don't see Piplup, do you?"
"No, let's story something else." I say, but then we notice a Bullet Seed attack knocks down Prinplup and Empoleon before two mecha arms grab them.
"Empoleon, Hydro Cannon!" "Prinplup, Bubble Beam!" we both yell, but the hands spin and disorient them as we notice the large mecha.
"No way..." "It's Team Rocket again..." I yell.
When we chase, we find the others and Piplup is also being taken by Team Rocket.
"Give back my Prinplup right now!" "Team Rocket! You're not getting away with this!" We all yell. "Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" But as the Pokemon attacks, the mecha redirects the attack to harm Prinplup and Empoleon.
The mecha deploys tank treads and proceeds to escape, but Dawn spots Piplup and decides to run after the mecha, getting on the side. Dawn notices a hatch-up top and gets in that way.
"Dawn! No!" As we continue to chase after the mecha, it seems that Dawn and Piplup already deal with the machine and now Team Rocket is sent flying once we chase after them.
"I am sorry, Piplup. I won't force you to evolve." Dawn says to him, after getting back to the Pokemon Center and healing our Pokemon, Nurse Joy gives her an Ever Stone and she gives it to Piplup.
The Sandalstraw Contest begins the next day as the three of us enter. The contest starts in the performance round, Jessie disguised as Jessilina is the first entrant and calls Mime Jr. for the Performance Stage. Jessie tells Mime Jr. to use Teeter Dance, and Mime Jr. sits on the floor in seemingly meditation which confuses the Contest Judges and the audience. However, Mime Jr. soon unleashes its stored energy and uses Teeter Dance while on its head.
"Wow, she changed her style." I say.
"Yeah. But I won't lose to her." Kenny says.
Soon it's Kenny's turn, and he calls out his Machoke and tells it to use Focus Energy. This helps Machoke to show off its muscles. An enormous barbell weighing three times Machoke's body weight is lowered onto the stage. Machoke uses Strength to lift it with one arm and switches to the other. Kenny jumps up and handstands on top of the barbell Machoke is holding ending their presentation. The judges love it.
I'm next and I go with Froslass, Froslass uses Mist to cover the field, then uses the Ghostly effects to show off the stage, causing the audience to cheer at the mysterious atmosphere.
Dawn sends out Cherrim and does an opposite show from me, which also gains cheers from the judges and audience. At the stands, Dawn's Mamoswine is watching, Lillie asks, "Mamoswine, so how is it?"
Mamoswine just goes back to sleep, causing Lillie to sweat drop.
The four of us all advance to the next round, Dawn has beaten Jessie with Rapidash, causing her to fume in anger.
Then Dawn is facing Kenny. Dawn uses Rapidash while Kenny uses Prinplup, which is a bad matchup to her. Rapidash is defeated by Prinplup, which causes Dawn to think she was hung up on getting her fifth Ribbon. I decide to tell her that she had done a good job, before facing Kenny in the finals.
I go with Ambipom while Kenny uses Prinplup. Prinplup uses Bubble Beam, while Ambipom hits it back with Focus Punch. Kenny does the same as he tells Prinplup to use Metal Claw. After taking a lot of time to do this, Ambipom uses Swift to end Prinplup, earning me the fifth ribbon.
"I still have a long way to go if I want to beat you." Kenny says.
"Thanks for the compliment." Ash says.
Route 217 is much harsher compared to Route 216, the blizzard is making us unable to see anything. Even still, we have to move forward. When we find a house to rest, we find something for us to use.
"Hey, those are HMs for Rock Climb!" I say.
"We don't have those, right?" Lillie asks as we take one each, and I assume that the Snowpoint Gym is the one that unlocks the hidden move. Once we arrive near the Icy Rock, we decide to have Eevee touch the rock, and now we have a Glaceon with us.
Glaceon: The Fresh Snow Pokemon: Ice Type. Evolve from Eevee by leveing up near Icy Rock or Ice Stone. As a protective technique, it can completely freeze its fur to make its hairs stand like needles.
We then arrive at Acuity Lakefront, and we notice some grunts blocking our path. "Standing guard is a very important assignment!" "I'll make this a success and earn myself a Clefairy!"
And we finally reach Snowpoint City, and we meet up with Zoey. "Hi, you're right on time! It's been a long time haven't it?"
"Yeah, the last time was when we were battling Fantina." I say. "So this town is where you're born, right?"
"Of course, welcome to Snowpoint City." Zoey says as she shows us around the area.
Unexpectedly, Abomasnow ambushes them, though Zoey has Glameow combat it. "Is that a wild Abomasnow?" Tox asks.
"Guess again! Zo-zo and Glameow, welcome back!" We notice a girl sitting on the tree, and Zoey says, "It's always a wild welcome from you, eh? Ms. Senior?"
She leaps from a tree and is fascinated by Dawn's stylish scarf before Zoey pulls her friend away. Then she introduces herself, "Hi, the name is Candice and I'm the Gym Leader of the Snowpoint Gym."
"Snowpoint Gym!" Lillie and I rush to her and I say, "You see, we are here since we want to challenge the gym."
"Wow! We don't have that many gym challengers for so long!" Candice says, "Because we're in the northern part and it is always snowy."
Candice tells us how she's working as a teacher, and she wants us to help her teach a class, it will be a great experience and we can get the gym badge later.
We go into a special class including Jeremiah, a Pokétch company employee who wants to travel with his Skuntank, and we also see Team Rocket in disguise again, I wonder what they're up to this time.
There are some quizzes for us to play with, and even though we know the correct question, we always lose to Jeremiah because of the speed. Then after class, we hear from Zoey about how she met her Glameow on a cold night before she was old enough to be a Pokémon Trainer. Zoey insisted on raising Glameow no matter what, but the school's principal, Mr. Honcho, insisted that Candice help her out. The two agreed to each focus on one area: Zoey concentrated on Contests, while Candice pursued Gym battles.
Team Rocket drops their disguises and decide to steal the school's stored Pokemon, and we decide to send them flying again and we prove Jeremiah that we are good trainers and quiz results aren't everything.
Ash won the fifth ribbon. I hope you like it and the next chapter will be the Snowpoint Gym Battle.
Ash and Lillie's Pokemon:
Charizard x2 (In training), Butterfree x2 (One Pink), Pikachu, Tangela, Lapras, Meganium, Togetic, Espeon, Murkrow, Steelix (Crystal), Sneasel, Mantine, Porygon2, Sceptile, Gardevoir (Shiny), Milotic, Absol, Torterra, Monferno, Empoleon, Staraptor, Bibarel, Kricketune, Luxray, Roserade, Rampardos, Bastiodon, Wormadam x3 (Plant, Sandy, Trash), Mothim, Vespiquen, Pachirisu (Shiny), Floatzel, Cherrim, Gatsrodon x2 (East, West), Ambipom, Drifblim, Lopunny, Mismagius, Glameow, Skuntank, Bronzong, Spiritomb, Gabite, Riolu, Hippowdon, Skorupi, Croagunk, Carnivine, Lumineon, Snover, Magnezone, Lickilicky, Rhyperior, Electivire, Magmortar, Yanmega, Leafeon, Glaceon, Gliscor, Mamoswine, Gallade, Probopass, Dusknoir, Froslass x2, Rotom, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai
Dawn's Pokemon:
Rapidash, Piplup, Pachirisu, Cherrim, Lopunny, Piloswine
Tox's Pokemon:
Roserade, Skuntank, Croagunk
Gladion's Pokemon:
Umbreon, Riolu
Daniel's Pokemon:
Girafarig, Bronzong