章 83: Chapter 081

Alex was sliding across the ice on Lapras's back in the middle of a blizzard, on Route 217.

He had been searching for the Ice Rock on this route for two weeks now. He had transferred his Charmander in Kanto to the Professor's lab as his ship made a stop at Cinnabar Island, as it couldn't handle the cold very well. He had his Magnemite and Lapras with him, and the Nidoking assigned by the Professor also remained with him. He had borrowed a Cloyster from the Professor just in case, and of course he had 12 Eevee for the experiment with him.

He was searching some distance south from Snowpoint City, more specifically the easternmost part of the Route, where the blizzard was especially rough. He remembered that the Ice Rock was to the back of a house hidden among long grass in the games of his previous life. Since the clues from the game helped him find the Moss Rock quite fast in the Petalburg forest, he thought it would do the same here. But he did not find the house until now. Either it was very well hidden, or maybe it was not constructed yet. He asked Cloyster and Lapras to feel where the Ice type energy was very dense, trying to his luck with that method, but failed to get any good result. Meanwhile, he was training his Lapras to quickly slide on ice, while having complete control to make sudden stops and turns. He did this because Lapras had a huge disadvantage in battles on land. Unlike in water, where they could swim and dodge attacks reasonably fast, on land Lapras were basically sitting ducks who had to tank any attack sent their way, as their flippers were not meant to be able to allow them to move well on land. So taking inspiration from an episode of the anime he remembered from his previous life, he decided to train it t quickly and skillfully slide on the ice. He could teach it Ice Beam as soon as it was a little stronger, and then have it freeze the ground using Ice Beam and dodge opponents attacks and move closer for its own by sliding on the ice.

Lapras picked up this skill quite fast, now skill full at sliding on ice, and seemed to be enjoying doing it. Lapras was now at a bottleneck at level 19, and Alex wanted to naturally break through the bottle neck instead of relying on a stimulant, some of which Professor Birch gave him in case he needed to use it on Eevee. He had also trained up 6 of the Eevee to the verge of their bottleneck, and then stopped to prevent them from accidentally breaking through.

As Alex was having Lapras slide down a rather difficult slope, a figure caught up from behind a little distance away, and started gaining on Lapras and Alex.

Lapras seemed to feel competitive, and used its flippers to increase its pace and slide down faster.

The figure followed suit, and both of them started to accelerate and move at insane speeds. Alex held on tight, as it seemed that Lapras was still in control, but was clutching Magnemite's Pokeball with his other hand.

Even though Magnemite's electromagnetic levitation was not enough to support his weight, it was enough to slightly break his fall.

But Lapras did not lose control, and slid past the final stretch, neck and neck with the figure.

The figure then approached Alex and Lapras.

"That was a great race!" yelled the figure, whom Alex could see was a young woman on skies.

"Good morning" greeted Alex politely. "My name is Alex"

"Madison. You don't seem like a skiing enthusiast. What brings you here?" she asked.

"I was trying to find something that I am sure was here, and am still searching. I thought I would train Lapras for a for a bit" replied Alex.

"I have a cabin a little to the west. Would you like to join me for a cup of cocoa and a Pokemon battle?" asked Madison.

"I would, but I really need to find that thing I'm looking for soon. So I will have to pass" said Alex.

"What are you looking for? I am familiar with these parts and maybe able to help" she said.

"Maybe. I am looking for a meter long or so rock that would appear to be made of ice, but is cool to touch instead of cold, and constantly emits a different kind of icy energy" said Alex.

He had asked a few people about the Ice Rock but no one seemed to know.

"Well as it so happens, I did see a rock matching the description you gave me" said Madison.

"Where is it?" asked Alex excitedly.

"Coincidentally, it happens to be a little to the back of my cabin" she said. "Now, are you sure you won't reconsider my offer for cocoa and a Pokemon battle?"