233: Cold as Pryce
|
|
Cold as Pryce.
A hefty lass in red overalls shows up at the Gym as they call out and knock at the locked door, introducing herself as Sheila. She explains that the Gym Leader - Pryce - goes up to a waterfall each morning to meditate beneath it. She offers to take them to see him and they thank her..... and realise she is already at the horizon crying for them to get a wriggle on. They head off after her, watched from afar by a scheming Team Rocket who were smart enough to figure out if they went to the town's Gym; the twerps would show up eventually.
Sheila zooms ahead of the twerps who struggle to keep up with the surprisingly energetic woman, Sheila laughing that she is just warming up. Eventually they arrive at their destination, Sheila still full of energy but the twerps completely knackered. She points to Pryce, who sits beneath a waterfall.... and it's the bitter old fuck from the last episode!
Ash doesn't care if he is crabby though, he still wants to battle, and he and Sheila approach Pryce as Team Rocket stagger up behind them, also exhausted. Ash says hello to Pryce and says he wants to challenge for a badge, but Pryce seems contemptuous (hey he's the one sitting underneath a waterfall! Invest in a shower old man!), noting Pikachu is STILL sitting on Ash's shoulder and deciding on that basis alone that a battle would be pointless. According to him, Pokemon need to be kept tense and on edge for battling, and a Pokemon with an emotional investment in a human (and the reverse) are useless.
Ash snaps that he is wrong, but grumpy old Pryce replies that he will prove it and calls out his Dewgong. Ash - excited at the prospect of battle - calls out Phanpy which seems very eager, though Misty and Brock point out that Phanpy is kind of.... well, a newborn infant!
Ash doesn't seem to care though and orders a Roll-Out, but Dewgong uses Icebeam and freezes it in place as Brock and Misty point out that Phanpy is a ground type and weak against Ice Types. Pryce snaps that he let his emotions get the best of him and that is why he lost, and that is why a battle is pointless. He walks off and Ash tries to chase him, Team Rocket sighing and heading off after him.
Ash tries to catch Pryce but is called back by Pikachu who has gotten lost in the forest, as has Team Rocket who call out for each other until Jesse and James both independently spot Ash.
"Prepare for trouble!" cries Jesse.
"And make it double!" adds James.
"Oh, hello!" says Jesse, turning to stare at James.
"Hi!" replies James, and then they continue on.
"To protect the world from woodland pests!"
"To capture creatures from their nests!"
"To ensnare Pikachu in my net!"
"And anything else we can get!"
"Jesse!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket grabs the goods at the speed of the light!"
"Surrender to me, give up trying to flee, or we'll fight!"
"Meowth Dat's Right!"
"Wobbuffet!"
Ash snaps they'll never grab Pikachu (which is standing in front of him now) and Team Rocket lunge at him.... and Wobbuffet trips over a rock and sends them all rolling past Ash and Pikachu and into a rock!
Ash and Pikachu take off and find themselves at a cliff edge and Team Rocket show up and demand he hands over Pikachu. But then Pryce shows up, demanding to know what type of idiot tries to forcibly steal another person's Pokemon, and James shouts back how many types are there!?!
Weezing uses Smokescreen and Pryce warns Ash to get behind him, and then they tumble off the side of the cliff. Ash calls out Totodile and Noctowl, and has Noctowl grabs Pryce by the shoulders as Ash grabs Totodile (and Pikachu grabs Ash) and Totodile blasts the ground with Water Gun and slows Ash's descent, allowing him to land safely.
Well that's some cruel bastardisation of physics, right there!
Pryce drops to the ground beside him and notices that Totodile is knocked out, observing that Totodile used up too much energy, while Ash cries out for Totodile to wake up.
Atop the cliff, Jesse, James and Meowth look down and ponder going down after them.... but it is so farrrrr! James blames Meowth for telling him to use Weezing, and Meowth snaps back that if he told him to jump off a bridge, would he do it? James snaps back probably not, and Meowth argues the point, saying he thinks he would. Jesse growls at them to act their age, not their shoe size and then Brock, Misty and Sheila show up and ask why they're on a cliff edge arguing? and have they seen Ash and Pikachu?
Jesse and James cheese it, leaving behind Meowth who gasps that he doesn't know nuttin about Ash, Pikachu and the old man who just fell off the side of the cliff. Misty demands to know what he means as he takes off and they look over the side and call out for Ash and Pryce. Realising they'll have to head down, they make for a gully that they can climb down.
At the base of the cliff, Pryce feeds Totodile a mixture of leaves and berries that cause Totodile's nose to spout smoke before it leaps up and dances with joy. Ash thanks Pryce who thanks him back for helping save him from dying. Ash explains that Totodile and Noctowl deserve the credit, and he only knows how to react because they play together all the time. Pryce admits that Ash might have something there, but points out that as close as they are, he still needs to maintain discipline.
Meanwhile, Sheila is tying a rope to a tree and telling Brock and Misty about how Pryce used to be a really happy-go-lucky guy, but he is now known as Icy Pryce both because he specialises in Ice Types AND because he treats his Pokemon so icily. It didn't use to be that way, and she thinks it was one thing in particular that changed him. What one thing was that? asks Misty and Brock, and she tells them she'll let them know when they get to the bottom, and with that she leaps over the side holding onto the rope as a gaping Misty and Brock watch.
That's one energetic, hefty bitch!
Ash and Pryce have reached a cave while this is going on, and Ash asks how they can get out of this canyon. Pryce replies that he has only been here once, and the tunnel is new to him, probably revealed by Totodile's water gun. Pikachu notices something inside the tunnel, and Pryce picks it up with horror, declaring it is the leg bracelet that used to belong to his Piloswine. Elsewhere, Sheila tells Misty and Brock that Pryce used to have a Piloswine that he treated like family, but then one day it disappeared and since then, he hasn't been the same. Ash is being told the same thing, Pryce admitting he used to be much like Ash as he recalls his days as a young man, when he had a mixture of Ash and Gary's hair and a Piloswine (a kind of cross between a guinea pig and a woolly mammoth). He remembers defeating all kinds of other trainers and Pokemon with Piloswine at his side, including a Golem and Ursaring, until one day he faced off against a Magmar that was trained by an unseen fellow with a very hippyish voice...
MY GOD! THAT MAGMAR WAS DEFEATED YEARS LATER BY A CHARIZARD IN THE VERY HEART OF THE VOLCANO ITSELF!
But on that day Piloswine was beaten by Magmar, with Pryce charging to protect it from a flame attack and getting burned over most of his body. Later that night as a snowstorm raged, he lay bandaged in bed alongside Piloswine and moaned that he tried his best.... but then Piloswine got up and walked out of his life, horrifying Pryce who from that point swore not to open his heart to Pokemon again.
Ash can't understand why it did it, but then spots light up ahead. They rush ahead, but it isn't an exit, it's an ice cave reflecting light from the thin sheen of ice covering the walls.... and then Pryce spots something, a dark shape encased in ice.... it's Piloswine!
They look at it in shock and notice that in its mouth are herbs used to treat burns, and they figure out that it didn't abandon Pryce; it actually was trying to help him get better and then fell off the cliff and got trapped in ice.
Pryce cries in horror as he realises his life has been wasted, and Ash calls out Cyndaquil which melts the ice, then has Pikachu try electric attacks to revive it.
Today is a bad day for science, Gentle Dodgers.
Nothing seems to happen though..... but then Piloswine sniffs the air, then stands and shakes the ice from its fur and stares up at a shocked Pryce. He drops to his knees and asks Piloswine it if remembers him, and he cries out in wonder that friendship really does last forever when it nods its head, shocked that after these long years it remembers him!
Well, for Piloswine it has been 15 minutes, dude.
It jumps up and down in excitement and then staggers on its large feet, and Pryce realises it isn't feeling too well and tells it to use Rest. It glows blue, Pryce explaining to a dim Ash that Rest is a move that Piloswine can use to restore its energy.
Sheila, Misty and Brock approach the cave calling for Pryce and Ash, and the two in question emerge telling them they're okay, though Pryce is more than that, he's extremely excited! He shows off his Piloswine to an excited Sheila (she hasn't seen a guy's Piloswine in years!) and asks it if it remembers her. Indeed it does (apparently she was always a big lass!) and she declares it a miracle, but then Team Rocket interrupt from out of nowhere, declaring that the real miracle is that they haven't caught Pikachu yet. They send out Arbok to attack, but Pryce says they'll have to get by him first, which they don't think is too big a deal, not having seen the "little old man" in action yet. Arbok is sent flying and then Weezing and Arbok rush in for a second attack, only to get frozen by Blizzard from Piloswine and then a Thundershock from Pikachu to send Team Rocket blasting off again, much to everyone¹s delight (except for Team Rocket!).
As the sun sets, Ash begs Pryce to let him battle but Pryce declines, then explains that they've had enough excitement for one day, he can come back the next day and challenge then.
Thus Gentle Dodgers, tomorrow we will at least see Ash the Procrastinator battle for his Seventh Johto League Gym Badge.
| BEST QUOTES |
 "That's enough exercise for the rest of my life!"
|
|
