Glacier Badge

The next day it was now time for Ash to battle Pryce and earn his seventh gym badge.

"Okay." Ash said. "I'm ready now."

He and the others were walking back to the Mahogany Gym.

"You better watch out for Piloswine Ash." Brock advised. "I mean I know Pryce and Piloswine were separated for forty years, but Sheila told us that he and Piloswine were really tough opponents."

"I know Brock." Ash said. "But I have the perfect Pokemon to deal with Piloswine."

"Oh." Brock replied.

He, Misty and Tomo couldn't wait to see Ash's strategy.

Pryce was at the gym, tending to his ice type Pokemon. Outside the gym were small pools of ice for his ice type Pokemon to roam around in. Aside from Piloswine and Dewgong, Pryce had a couple Seel, a Cloyster and a couple Shellder, a Lapras and a Jynx with a couple Smoochum. He even had a couple Swinub. Sheila was in the gym too, seeing how Pryce and his Pokemon were doing.

"Seeing you tend to Piloswine like this brings me back to our younger years." She said.

"Me too." Pryce added. "And I have Ash to thank for this."

Sheila agreed.

Just then Ash and the others arrived at the gym. Pryce greeted the gang and couldn't wait to battle Ash. Misty asked how their son and daughter reacted when Pryce told them about Piloswine.

"They were happy about their dad finding Piloswine." Sheila said. "And they are coming here tomorrow along with their children to see Piloswine."

"Glad to hear that." Misty said.

Pryce led the gang to the battlefield inside the gym. The battlefield was an ice rink with a little pool and lots of blocks of ice.

"Wow, what a battlefield." Ash said.

"Since I own a ice type gym, I like to make it icy." Pryce said.

Ash couldn't wait to get the battle started and walked onto his side of the battlefield, while Pryce walked onto his side. Tomo, Misty and Brock stood behind Ash and Sheila took her place as the referee at the side.

Now the match had begun. Pryce sent out Dewgong to battle and Ash called out Hitmontop to battle.

"Be careful on the battlefield Hitmontop." Ash said. "The ice will be very slippery."

Hitmontop nodded in understanding.

Pryce ordered his Dewgong to use Ice Beam and Dewgong fired a beam of ice at Hitmontop. Ash told Hitmontop to use Double Team to avoid being struck by the icy beam.

The idea worked; the Ice Beam attack only hit one of the copies.

"Clever Ash, but it's not good enough. Use Blizzard Dewgong." Pryce said.

Dewgong fired a Blizzard attack at the copies and the copies vanished one by one.

"Quick jump into the water." Ash said.

The real Hitmontop jumped into the pool just in time to dodge the Blizzard attack.

"Using the pool was a good strategy for Hitmontop to dodge the Blizzard attack." Brock said.

"I'm glad that Hitmontop knows how to swim even though it's not a water type Pokemon." Misty said.

Pryce had Dewgong dive into the pool and use Headbutt on Hitmontop. Tomo, Misty and Brock feared that this could be trouble, because Dewgong's horn wasn't something to underestimate, especially in the water. But Ash stayed calm.

"Now use Close Combat." He told Hitmontop.

Hitmontop punched and kicked very quick and hard, and Dewgong got punched out of the water.

"No Dewgong!" Pryce shouted.

"Now finish it off with Gyro Ball." Ash said.

Hitmontop began to spin really fast with it's arms and legs glowing blue and then Hitmontop spun into Dewgong. Dewgong got pushed back into a block of ice and then it fainted.

"Dewgong is unable to battle." Sheila said. "This battle goes to Hitmontop."

Ash and Hitmontop were happy with their first victory. Tomo, Misty and Brock were happy for them too. Brock explained that Close Combat was a fighting type move and Gyro Ball was a steel type move, which is why they were extremely effective on Dewgong.

"Trust Ash to use the right Pokemon for these battles." Misty said.

Pryce returned Dewgong.

"You did well, my friend." He said.

Because they found Piloswine, Pryce had started treating his Pokemon like friends again.

"I can tell Ash that you and your Pokemon have a lot of trust in each other. And that your bond is very strong."

"I wasn't making it up yesterday when I said my Pokemon and I were best friends Pryce." Ash said.

Pryce smiled in agreement and even Sheila could see the strong bond between Ash and his Pokemon.

Pryce sent out his next Pokemon; a Piloswine.

"I had a feeling that he would use Piloswine." Ash said. "Be careful Hitmontop, Piloswine may be tough to beat."

Hitmontop got ready to fight.

Misty wondered how well Piloswine would do because of the pool. Brock explained that Piloswine was also a ground type Pokemon, so it would be weak against water.

"I wonder what will happen?" Tomo said.

Pryce ordered Piloswine to use Blizzard. The blizzard was thick and strong and it was hard to see what was going on.

"Now Piloswine use Take Down." Pryce said.

Piloswine charged at Hitmontop and tackled him really hard. Hitmontop got tackled into a ice block and fainted.

"Hitmontop is unable to battle." Sheila said. "This battle goes to Piloswine."

Misty couldn't believe Piloswine could use Take Down with the pool in the way. But then she and the others noticed that the pool was covered in ice.

"Blizzard must have done that." Brock said. "And now Piloswine can move anywhere it wants on the ice field."

Ash returned Hitmontop and sent Scizor out.

"Scizor's a good choice." Brock said. "Since it's a steel type Pokemon, Piloswine's ice type moves won't do much damage to it."

"Yeah and steel type Pokemon have a type advantage over ice type Pokemon." Misty said.

Ash told Scizor to fly over the battlefield, so he wouldn't have trouble on the icy field.

"Sorry Pryce." He said. "But I came prepared just in case I would have to deal with a slippery ice field."

Pryce smiled.

"I'm impressed that you were prepared Ash." He said. "But Piloswine and I aren't going to be thrown off by this. Piloswine use Blizzard."

Piloswine fired a Blizzard attack at Scizor, but Ash ordered Scizor to counter it with Flash Cannon and Flash Cannon broke the blizzard apart.

"Great Scizor, now use Steel Wing." Ash said.

Scizor flew towards Piloswine with his wings glowing white and then he struck Piloswine with his Steel Wing attack.

"Piloswine use Rest." Pryce said.

Piloswine went to sleep and began to heal himself.

"Quick Scizor use Bullet Punch." Ash said.

Scizor rushed over to Piloswine with his pincers glowing white and then he punched Piloswine hard.

"No Piloswine." Pryce said.

Piloswine then woke up.

"Quick use Fury Attack." Pryce said.

Piloswine hit Scizor hard with Fury Attack.

"Fight back with Iron Head Scizor." Ash said.

The top of Scizor's head glowed white and then headbutted Piloswine hard.

After a lot of attacks Scizor and Piloswine were still willing to fight.

"This is some battle." Brock said. "Both Piloswine and Scizor still have the will to fight."

"Yeah and Piloswine is putting up a real fight even though it hasn't battled for forty years." Misty observed.

"This is exciting." Tomo said.

Ash and Pryce were really enjoying this gym battle. Pryce ordered his Piloswine to use Take Down and Ash ordered Scizor to use Bullet Punch. After the tackling and punching, Ash was about to issue another command to Scizor. But then Pryce threw in the towel, which meant he was forfeiting the match. And since Pryce forfeited the battle, Ash was the winner of the gym battle. Pryce explained that the reason he forfeited was because he didn't want Piloswine to be injured more than it already was, especially after spending the last forty years frozen in a block of ice. Ash knew what he meant.

Pryce and Piloswine walked over to Ash.

"Ash in all my years as a trainer, I have never had a battle with a trainer like you." He said. "I found your strength as a Pokemon trainer really remarkable."

"Thank you Pryce." Ash said. "And I had a great time battling your Piloswine."

Pryce took something out of his pocket.

"Ash because of your victory I present to you the Glacier Badge."

The Glacier Badge was a light blue and white colored badge shaped like a hexagon with a snowflake design. Ash thanked Pryce and accepted it.

"Only one more gym badge to go." He smiled.

After the gym battle was over, the gang got ready to leave Mahogany Town.

"Thanks again Ash for helping me find my long lost Piloswine and for also helping me shed my cold personality towards Pokemon and humans." Pryce said.

"Think nothing of it." Ash said. "I'm glad I was able to help."

"Well I wish you luck on the rest of your journey Ash." Pryce said, shaking his hand.

The gang said goodbye to Pryce and Sheila before leaving Mahogany Town.