Chapter 31:  Cold and Warm Hearts (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

I slowly opened my eyes, not believing we had survived, my body ached a little 
and I didn’t have the strength to get up right away.  
“Seel?” inquired a Seel looking over me, followed by a woman with purple hair 
in a variety of styles, who felt my head with her warm hand, she wore glasses 
and woolly blue clothing.  
“He’s recovering fast, this is good.”  
I pulled myself up and looked at her, and then at our surroundings.  
We were inside a large frozen cave, but there was a circular hole in the ground 
with steamy water, we’d somehow ended up in a hot spring.  
“Its a good thing you had those Seel with you.” said the woman.  
“Huh?...” I asked, not quite together yet.  
“Seels are known for rescuing people from situations like this, I heard the 
avalanche, these Seels saved you like this one saved me.”  
There was a slightly bigger Seel near the spring, where Scott and Benny were 
located, Scott was asleep and Benny was just now recovering.  
“Miss Prima...  Bjorn and I were so worried about you.” he exclaimed.  
“As you can see, I’m quite alright.” she said softly.  
“Prima...” I juggled the name in my mind, recognising who she was, “Lorelai 
Prima?”  
“That is correct.”  
“You’re one of the Elite Four, one of the best Pokémon Trainers ever.” I 
exclaimed.  
“Yes, and now I’m the Delft Town Gym Leader.” she added.  
Suddenly, getting a badge seemed harder than I thought, I’d already battled one 
of the Elite Four and that was a tough battle.  
Lorelai was well known around the world, not only for her stunning wins at the 
Pokémon League but because of her lessons and teachings, she often travelled to 
teach others about handling Pokémon.  
“I remember you, you came to Pokémon Tech three years ago to give a lecture.” I 
explained.  
“Yes, that’s right, and you...  You’re the student that asked the most 
questions that day.” smiled Lorelai.  
I smiled, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”  
“Miss Prima, how did you survive the avalanche?” asked Benny.  
“This Seel saved me and brought me here, as did the Seel that rescued you.” she 
replied.  
“Those Elites caused Lorelai to become trapped in here...” I growled.  
“Oh don’t worry, I’ve been fine, this hot spring has made being here very 
easy.” 
smiled Lorelai.  
“But you should return to Delft Town.” said Benny concerned, “We could get you 
checked out by Nurse Joy.”  
“I’m sure I’ll be okay.” said Lorelai, but then her stomach grumbled, “But I am 
rather hungry.”  
“So how do we escape, go back up the way we came?” I asked her.  
“I’m afraid not, the path you came down is one of many one-way-only tunnels, 
they’re too slippery to climb but easy to slip down.” explained Lorelai.  
“So we’re trapped...” I groaned.  
“No... way...” said Scott firmly, finding the strength to stand, “Shard can get 
us out.”  
“But its injured by the frozen lake.” I warned.  
“He’s the only one strong enough to burrow through the ice, if we’re stuck 
here, then he’ll definitely get worse, its worth a try.  Everyone stand back.”  
We all stood at the spring as the Onix took most of the space in the cavern.  
“Onnnnixxx...” it groaned.  
“I’m sorry Shard, but if we don’t get out of here, we can’t get you healed, you 
have to burrow through the wall...”  
It looked at Scott and nodded sadly, he wasn’t doing too well.  
“OOONNN!!!” he screamed, and charged forward, his long body started to 
disappear into the icy wall but stopped at the end, its tail was still 
visible.  
“Onnnn...” it shouted and then the tail fell to the floor.  
“Return!” said Scott firmly recalling Shard, “He can’t handle anymore, please 
Tetsubo, we have to get back to town!” pleaded Scott.  
“Don’t worry Scott, we will.” I said confidently, “Digda! Inferno! Armour!”  
“Dig ‘g ‘lett Dig, Dig ‘g ‘lett Dig.”  
“Char.”  
“Rhy...”  
“Guys, we need your help, you all have to work together to break through the 
ice at the end of the tunnel.”  
They nodded, and crawled down the path.  
“Everyone, follow me.” I said, and then went through first.  

At the end, Inferno was breathing flames and Armour was charging the wall, 
Digda wasn’t anywhere to be seen but he was obviously doing his share of the 
work underground.  
Inferno was co-operating today, I guess he didn’t want to be stuck here.  
Since he appeared to be in a good mood, I considered using him in the Gym 
Battle, surely one of the Elite Four would have powerful Pokémon, and Ice-types 
were weak against Fire.  

The cavern broke and the Pokémon cheered, I crawled ahead and it was a small 
drop to a snowless path back to Delft Town.  

Later on, everyone was out, Lorelai breathed the air, “Its so nice to be free.” 
she commented.  
Scott couldn’t wait and ran ahead, “I’ll meet you at the Pokémon Centre!...”  

I arrived shortly after, and Scott was talking to someone with a concerned 
expression, he was using his device and he was in a deep discussion with an 
old-sounding man, I gave my Pokéballs to Nurse Joy along with Abby’s Rhyhorn 
for a refresh, and then sat down.  
I couldn’t help but overhear.  
“Scott, have faith, this is nothing like what happened to your parents, you 
were able to do something about it and I’m sure Shard will be fine.  Don’t beat 
yourself up about those events so long ago, nothing can be changed except for 
the future.”  
“Yes Professor Yew.”  
“You call me up later, and on a videophone rather than that Pokégear, I want to 
see your face when you’re talking about your problems.”  
“Of course.”  
“How goes the money making?”  
“Its slowed down since joining Tetsubo, I should probably leave him and go solo 
again, especially after he finds out about-”  
“I know, but its for a good cause, and you will make up for it, won’t you?”  
“I’ve been doubting that I can win the Pokémon League, and though I should 
never give up, Casey is too important to gamble over, I’m going to raise as 
much as I can, just in case I don’t win, I’ve seen some pretty compassionate 
trainers recently, and I’m not sure if I can beat them all.”  
“I understand, you keep in contact now, y’ hear.”  
I felt like I should know what Scott was talking about, so that I could help 
him, and so I went to talk to him.  
“Scott?...  What happened to your parents?...  And who’s this Casey?” I asked.  
He shot a look at me, I don’t think he liked me listening in, “Casey is none of 
your business, and my parents are dead, I’m afraid Shard might not make it 
either, I could have prevented this...”  
“Scott, you know there was nothing you could do.  Shard is strong, he’ll pull 
through, I’m sure of it, he has a compassionate trainer that cares about him, I 
think that’s worth fighting for.”  
“Shard is my first Pokémon, he’s always been there for me, I should have been 
there for him.”  
“But you were, you prevented him from drowning, I’ve been in the same spot, my 
Staryu was close to death once, Cletus’s Pokémon tried to do it in.”  
“You’re right Tetsubo...  I have to have faith.”  
The doors opened and Bjorn was there, with Abby, who was hurt on her left arm.  
“Abby, are you okay? What happened?!” I asked Bjorn accusingly.  
“It was my fault Tetsubo, you must know the feeling of doing anything for your 
Pokémon’s well-being.” interrupted Abby, and then Bjorn pulled in a toboggan 
with Sparky inside a ball of ice, he carried it to the desk along with a second 
Pokéball, and Abby’s situation was explained to Nurse Joy, who had let Lorelai 
out of her care.  
“Well you two, I suppose you want to battle right away?” smiled Lorelai.  
Scott was still concerned and started asking Joy questions, but Shard hadn’t 
fully recovered yet.  
“I think I’d better go first.  Abby, are you sure you’ll be okay, I could-”  
“Go.” she said pleasantly, “I’ll be fine.”  
I gave her back her Rhyhorn, in the ball though, I’d seen how protective this 
Pokémon was of Abby, and if I nearly lost control and blamed the assistant Gym 
Leader, then I didn’t want to know what Armour might do to him.  
I collected my Pokémon and hurried back up the hill and into the ice cavern 
that was the Gym.  

There, Lorelai stood ready, but without the woolly clothing, now she wore a 
short red top with a blue coat and black skirt with high heels, I guess the 
temperature could be controlled around here.  
“This will be a three-on-three battle.” she said, “Let’s hope you took notes in 
that class of mine.”  
I was vaguely familiar with her Pokémon and I’d need a team of Pokémon that 
could beat Ice and Water-types.  
“I choose Slowbro!”  
“Go! Pollen!”  
“Slow...”  
“Gloom Gloom!”  

“Slowbro, the Hermitcrab Pokémon.  If its tail is bitten by a Shellder, a 
Slowpoke will evolve into Slowbro.  The evolved Shellder likes crunching on 
Slowbro’s tail and the ability to move around on land and Slowbro is able to 
use its front paws to fight better.”  

“Absorb its strength!” I shouted.  
“Gloom!” squealed Pollen pulling some energy away.  
“Slow...” said the Slowbro, not yet registering the pain.  
“Disable.” said Lorelai.  
“Gloo-”  
“Now, use your Confusion attack.” she added firmly, she was a totally different 
person when she was battling, but I suppose the same could be said for me.  
“Bro...”  
Pollen was blasted into the wall by the type advantage attack.  
“Pollen! Use your Stun Spore!”  
“Confusion.”  
The dust was torn apart by the Psychic-type attack.  
“Acid attack!”  
“Gloom!”  
“Withdraw!”  
The Slowbro turned around and blocked the attack with its shell.  
“Head Butt.”  
The Slowbro charged forward with a happy vacant smile and leapt forward, Pollen 
panicked and was knocked to the floor.  
It was an even set up, both Pokémon had a type that could be exploited by the 
opponent, but Slowbro’s Psychic attacks were preventing Pollen from getting 
close.  
“The only sure-fire advantage, is to take advantage of the speed difference...  
Pollen! Petal Dance!”  
“Gloom!!!” he yelled, spinning into a tornado, he then proceeded to spin around 
the Slowbro super fast, confusing it totally.  
“Slow?...  Bro?...  Slow?...”  
“Strike it down!” I shouted.  
“Gloom! Gloom! Gloom! Gloom! GLOOM!!!” yelled Pollen, hitting it three times 
before losing it and succumbing to confusion.  
“Finish it quickly Slowbro, Confusion.”  
“Slow...”  
“Solar Beam!”  
Pollen focused and charged the beam using the reflected light from all around 
the cavern, but the Slowbro’s attack was faster.  
Pollen was shunted into the wall but wouldn’t give in, his eyes were turning to 
spirals occasionally, I had thought that Petal Dance could wipe out the 
Slowbro, I had to be more careful, after Petal Dance was over, Pollen’s match 
could sometimes be guaranteed or compromised by that attack alone, but today he 
was extra psyched, he’d spent quite a lot of time with Blossom, and was itching 
for battle, he was an energetic little Pokémon.  
“Hang in there Pollen, I’ll give you a nice shower and a big lunch after the 
match.” I called out, he needed some incentive in this situation.  
“Gloom...” he breathed, nearly charged, but was thrown into walls another two 
times.  
“GGGLLLOOOOMMM!!!” he squealed firing the large bright beam.  
“Slow?...”  
A huge explosion filled the arena with bright light, and when it faded, the 
Slowbro was standing there.  
“It couldn’t be...” I muttered.  
And then the pain hit it, the shell had already fallen and now the Slowpoke 
side fell to the floor, I should have remembered how long it took them to feel 
pain.  
“Good one Pollen.” I sighed happily.  
“Gloom! Gloom! Gloo-  Oom...”  
It stopped jumping for joy and staggered sideways.  
“Return Pollen.”  
“You’ve got one thing for sure.” said Lorelai proudly, “You understand your 
Pokémon and all about teamwork.”  
“Thank you.”  
“But you still have to prove your combined strength, you’ve only reached the 
tip of the iceberg.  I choose you! Lapras!”  
The huge blue creature landed in the pool and didn’t really have anywhere to 
manoeuvre.  

“Lapras, the Transport Pokémon.  Lapras are gentle and can read the minds of 
humans, they like to ferry people on their back.  Unfortunately, they are on 
the verge of extinction because of heartless hunters.”  

“Then I choose Shockwave!”  
“Bllllrrrzzz!!!” he yelled.  
“Lapras! Ice Beam attack!”  
“Shockwave! Thunderpunch!”  
“Pras!!!”  
“Bllleeehhh!!!”  
Shockwave punched with so much force, that the beam shattered, and sharp icy 
shards pierced the cavern walls.  
“We have the type advantage, and it can’t swim far.” I smiled, “It has nowhere 
to run, Thunderbolt!”  
“Buzzz!!!”  
He charged his fists and outstretched them, the Lapras quickly dived down into 
the water and the bolt exploded on the wall.  
Lorelai smiled, whatever her Pokémon was about to do, it didn’t need orders to 
do so.  
“Um, try your Screech attack, maybe you can scare it out.”  
“BLLLEEEHHH!!!” roared Shockwave in a high pitch, there was a brief rumble, and 
the ground exploded underneath Shockwave and threw him up.  
“Pras!!!” roared the Lapras confidently.  
Shockwave spun uncontrollably and fell onto the floor.  
“Buzz...”  
“Hang in there Shockwave, you’re strong, remember our promise...”  
“Bleh.” he nodded, and picked himself up, the Lapras had more manoeuvrability 
than I gave it credit for.  
“Swift attack!” I shouted.  
“Confuse Ray.” ordered Lorelai.  
“No...”  
The stars deflected the beam and both Pokémon were affected, Shockwave turned 
to me menacingly, again.  
“Fight it Shockwave, you’re looking at the wrong target.”  
He turned back to the Lapras and leapt forward, I smiled, I did not want to 
take on this electrifying Pokémon when it was confused.  
The Lapras was shaking its head.  
“Thunderpunch!”  
“Lap-Pras!!!” squealed the Lapras as shocks went through its body.  
“Seismic Toss!”  
Shockwave struggled and picked up the large Pokémon, and threw it towards 
Lorelai’s side of the arena, it shattered another area of ice and landed in the 
water.  
“Mist.”  
Suddenly the area got cloudy, Lapras was hiding itself.  
“Stay alert Shockwave.”  
The Lapras must have been travelling underwater as Shockwave kept gazing in 
different directions, he fired a Thundershock to the right after a sound 
occurred there, before an Ice Beam hit him from the front, encasing him in ice, 
except for his head.  
I gasped, “Shockwave...”  
“Body Slam!” ordered Lorelai, and the Lapras broke through the ice and rammed 
Shockwave many times.  
The ice shattered, but Shockwave was weakened and very cold.  
“He can’t last, I have to end this.  Of course, Shockwave, use your Thunder 
attack on the water!”  
“Bleh!” he smiled, shooting a confident smile at me, he leapt into the air as 
the Lapras attempted another body slam and then shot off his most powerful 
Electric attack.  
The water glowed as electricity filled it totally, there was no escape for the 
Lapras and it fainted.  
“Lap... Pras...”  
Lorelai gasped, but then smiled as she recalled her Pokémon, I had to do the 
same, Shockwave wouldn’t last against another attack.  
“You’re one of the most challenging trainers I’ve seen, but we’re virtually at 
a draw here, someone will have to break it, that someone, is Jynx!”  
“Jynx...”  

“Jynx, the Humanshape Pokémon.  Its seductive wiggle can cause people to dance 
in unison with it, when it kisses, it induces sleep in people or Pokémon.”  

“An Ice-type.” I thought, “I’ll break this draw alright, but only if I can 
prove that all my Pokémon work as a team.”  
“Char!” shouted Inferno breathing flames, he saw the Jynx and sat down.  
“Inferno, please, I’m a powerful trainer now and I need your help.” I pleaded.  
“Char Char.” he said uncaringly, but stood up.  
I don’t think he was battling for me, but for himself, still, as long as he 
listened to me...  
“Inferno! Flamethrower!”  
“CHAR!!!” he yelled.  
“J-Jynx!” panicked Lorelai’s Jynx as it was engulfed in flames, its blonde hair 
was on fire and she ran towards the nearest pool to put it out.  
“Meleon.” grinned Inferno, and then he evolved.  
He grew taller than myself and sprouted an impressive pair of wings, horns and 
claws.  
“ROOOAAARRR!!!” he screamed out.  

“Charizard, the Flame Pokémon.  This Pokémon’s breath is incredibly hot and is 
known to melt boulders, it grows huge wings upon evolving and gains properties 
of the Flying-type.”  

“Flying-type?!” I spluttered, I was in for it now, Inferno’s early evolution 
could very well cost me the match, Ice attacks were strong against Flying-
types, what lousy timing...  
The Jynx was up now and the final battle had only just begun.  
“Jynx, use your Blizzard!”  
“RAAAAAARR!!!” screamed Inferno as he was consumed by the cold winds, this 
would be tough, this cavern wasn’t big enough to make use of Inferno’s new 
abilities, he was grounded, but his attack power was sure to have grown.  
“Inferno! Smokescreen!”  
He shook his tail and smoke filled the arena.  
“Now, Slash attack!”  
He pulled his head back and shot forward a powerful flame.  
“Inferno, I didn’t say Flamethrower.” I argued.  
“JYNX!!!” screamed the Jynx.  
“Inferno! Use your Leer!”  
He used Fire Spin instead.  
Pokémon Training could really get hard when you least suspected it, why didn’t 
Inferno want to listen to all my instructions?  
“Jynx, use your Psychic attack!”  
“Rrrraaaggghhh!!!” shouted Inferno as he was compressed in the crushing attack, 
he was then dropped in a pool.  
“Use Blizzard!”  
“Inferno...” I groaned.  
He was struggling in the water and the Blizzard covered all the holes in the 
arena with ice.  
“Jynx.” smiled the Jynx, but Inferno burst right through, and underneath the 
Jynx as well.  
His wings were sprouted and he had the Jynx in his grasp.  
“Finish it with Seismic Toss!” I shouted.  
“ROOOOAAARRR!!!” shouted Inferno, flinging her down and following up with a 
Flamethrower that melted the ice around the Jynx.  
She floated above the water moments afterwards, totally out of it.  
“Good work Inferno, Ret-  Agh!” I shouted, ducking a careless victory flame, I 
recalled him the second time.  

“That was a very good match Tetsubo, I can see you’ve come a long way since 
three years ago, except for your Charizard.”  
“What... about it?” I asked.  
“Its obvious it evolved due to different circumstances, it evolved right after 
proving its power selfishly and it looks like you’re going to have to be 
patient with it if you ever want a trustworthy friendship with it.”  
“But what do I do exactly?” I asked, Inferno’s attitude was getting more and 
more difficult, now with his size and strength, just think of the problems and 
dangers.  
“I’ve seen this before, just work with your Charizard in the way you work with 
your other Pokémon, and I’m sure you’ll both understand each other someday.”  
“I will.”  
“Here is the Cold Badge.” she said, handing me a red jewel with five sharp 
icicle-shaped attachments sticking out in upward directions, “I think you’ll 
go far Tetsubo, have you ever thought about teaching?”  
“A little, but I have much more to experience before I can consider passing on 
what I know.”  
“You remind me of when I was young.  Come back here someday.”  
“I promise Lorelai, I will.”  

I returned to the Pokémon Centre, but Scott had already left for the Gym 
Battle, his Onix had turned out just fine, according to Abby.  

After a brief nap, I awakened, and went out to see Abby and Scott, only he 
hadn’t returned yet.  
“Abby, where’s Scott?” I asked.  
“Perhaps he took off without us.” she said, a little too quickly and sure of 
herself though.  
“Abby, Scott was talking to his sponsor earlier, and he mentioned someone 
called Casey, I think she must be why Scott battles for money.”  
“Tetsubo, I don’t approve of eavesdropping.” she said firmly.  
“Yeah, but don’t you want to know what he’s keeping from us, surely we should 
know everything so that we can help him?”  
“No, he doesn’t totally trust us both yet, I think you’re being a little 
selfish, if you want to know so much about him, why aren’t you asking him?” 
said Abby changing her tune, she spoke as if I was in the wrong, she’d 
obviously been talking to Scott, she never accused me of anything like this 
before meeting him.  
“I tried, but he didn’t give me very straight answers, only that he’s an 
orphan.”  
“...”  
Abby was silent.  
“He also said that he might be leaving us, and because of something I’d find 
out about...”  
“Really?” said Abby suspiciously.  
I sat down and decided to organise my bag, clothes, sleeping bag, toiletries, 
books, there was something missing...  
“That little...”  
The only time I’d left this bag out of my sight was back at Duplica’s.  
“Tetsubo?...” asked Abby concerned, as I stormed out of the Pokémon Centre, and 
towards the Gym, but Lorelai was there with Benny and Bjorn.  
“Scott?!” I yelled, and a huge creature flew into the air.  
“I can’t be...  Dragonite?...” I spluttered.  
“Bo Booorrrgghhh!!!” it wailed happily, carrying Scott on its back.  
“Scott! Get down here! Bring back my nugget!”  
He gave me one of his usual smiles and waved his hand lightly before the 
Dragonite shot itself out of sight.  
Abby had caught up and smiled a little, I had a feeling she knew a lot more 
about Scott than I did, but I wouldn’t upset her by asking, they obviously 
trusted each other more than they trusted me, this saddened me of course but 
maybe Abby and Scott would learn to trust me someday.  
I didn’t really need the nugget that much, but it was a nice memento of my 
battle on Nugget Bridge, when Emily, Chad and I worked together and became 
better friends.  
Whoever Casey was, I’m sure Scott would make good use of the nugget, he seemed 
genuine about her needing the money, if anything.  
I’d see Scott for sure in the League, he claimed to need the prize money, but 
if he chose to tell of his past and his link to Casey to me, would I have the 
heart to battle him?...  

End of Chapter 31B  

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