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This episode is essential viewing because: Ash meets Pryce, the 7th Gym Leader.

I kinda missed the first couple of minutes of the show, but when I got to the right TV station, AshCo were at the gym door, but apparently nobody was there. Then a woman in her late fifties named Sheela (sp?) comes up and tells them that the gym leader, Pryce, is out meditating under a waterfall. They are all discussing how impressive this is when suddenly they realize that Sheela is already way ahead of them. She calls out to them impatiently and they all run after her. JessieCo were spying on them and decide to follow them.

AshCo are having a hard time keeping up with Sheela as she keeps jumping from rock to rock. By the time they get to the waterfall, everyone (including JessieCo) is exhausted. Sheela points out Pryce and Ash recognizes him as the old man they had previously met. Misty and Brock are surprised to hear that he is a gym leader, and Ash walks up to him and challenges him to a battle. Pryce recognizes him and gets annoyed with him for still letting Pikachu stay outside of his pokeball. He and Ash argue about how to treat your pokemon and Pryce says that battling with one’s heart will lead to foolish decisions. Ash challenges him again and Pryce accepts, reasoning that perhaps this will teach Ash a lesson. Ash uses Phanpy, whom Pryce easily defeats with Dewgong’s ice beam. Pryce then walks off and Ash starts to chase him. Sheela tells him that it’s dangerous to go into the mountains alone, but Ash is already too far away to hear. JessieCo follow.

Ash is yelling for Pryce to slow down, but Pryce ignores him. Soon he and Pikachu get separated in the thick brush. JessieCo also get separated from each other and are all looking around when they all see Ash at the same time. They then pop out and say their motto, and stop temporarily, surprised to see each other. They then continue and Pikachu shows up. They all start to run at Ash with nets, but then Wobbuffet trips and makes everyone roll along in a cartoon-style ball. JessieCo crash into a rock and Ash and Pikachu run ahead. They come to a cliff and Ash makes a comment on how deep it is. JessieCo then show up and comment on how there’s no place to run. Pryce shows up and calls JessieCo idiots for forcibly stealing another’s pokemon. JessieCo get annoyed at him and say that there the smart kind of idiots and use Wheezing’s smokescreen. Pryce grabs Ash’s arm and tells him to come with him, but just then the ground collapses beneath them and they all start to fall off the cliff. Ash calls out Totodile and Noctowl. Noctowl grabs onto Pryce and Ash holds Totodile while it uses a strong water gun to slow them down. Pikachu is holding onto Ash’s leg. They all land safely and Totodile collapses from using too much energy. Ash is really concerned about Totodile (Noctowl seems fine).

JessieCo are talking about how they should follow them, but everyone seems reluctant. Suddenly Sheela, Misty, and Brock show up and ask them if they’ve seen Ash or Pryce. Jessie and James run off. Meowth yells that he didn’t see them fall off the cliff, and then runs off as well. They all go to the edge of the cliff, and make worried comments about how far of a drop it is. Sheela notices an easier way to get down to the bottom of the canyon and goes to get a rope.

While she’s tying it to a tree, she tells them that Pryce used to treat his pokemon like family, but then started to turn cold to them. Now people call him Icy Pryce because of the way he treats his pokemon and because he specializes in ice types. She is about to tell a story, but then she finishes tying the rope to the tree and asks who wants to climb down first, but neither Brock nor Misty volunteer, and so Sheela goes first. Who’s that pokemon? It’s Magneton!

Pryce uses a special kind of herb to heal Totodile and Ash thanks him. Pryce says that he should thank Ash for saving him, but Ash says that he and his pokemon train together a lot, and that’s why they could react so quickly. Pryce says that he may have a point, but it’s more important to discipline pokemon. Ash asks Pryce if there’s any way he knows of to get out of the canyon, but Pryce hasn’t been here in a while. Suddenly, Pikachu notices something and Pryce recognizes it as the leg bracelet that his piloswine used to wear.

Sheela, Misty and Brock are now at the bottom of the cliff, when Sheela tells the story of how Pryce was particularly close to Piloswine when it just ran away one day. Since then, Pryce has refused to let himself get close to his pokemon.

Pryce tells Ash that he used to be close to his pokemon, like Ash. He and Piloswine were an unbeatable team, until he entered a national competition and Pryce used a magmar. Piloswine was badly hurt by a flamethrower when the trainer orders a fire blast. Pryce gets in front of Piloswine and takes the fire blast in order to protect him. They were both badly injured and in a lot of pain. Pryce apologizes to Piloswine and Piloswine leaves. Pryce says that since then, all of his time with his pokemon has been strictly business, and that’s when people *kindly* started to call him Icy Pryce. They then come upon what looks like an exit, but it’s really a cave full of ice with only a little bit of light in the room. They notice that Piloswine is frozen and Pryce walks up to it and notices a special herb for healing burns. Ash then deducts that Piloswine was getting the herb for Pryce when it ran into trouble. Pryce gets really emotional and Ash uses Cyndaquil’s flamethrower to unfreeze Piloswine and Pikachu’s thunderbolt to help revive it. It doesn’t appear to work and frusterated. Piloswine wakes up just then and Pryce asks if it recognizes him, which it does, but then Piloswine collapses again. Pryce orders it to use rest in order to restore its energy.

Sheela, Pryce, and AshCo eventually find each other again, when JessieCo show up and try to steal Pikachu again. Pryce says that his pokemon owes his life to Pikachu, and they’ll have to get through Piloswine and him in order to steal Pikachu. JessieCo use Arbok and Wheezing, but before they can attack, Piloswine uses take down and fury on them. Jessie and James order them to get back in there. Piloswine finishes them off with a blizzard attack, and Pikachu uses thunderbolt to blast them off again. They all get to the gym and Ash once again challenges Pryce to a battle, but Pryce says that there’s been too much excitement and he’ll battle Ash after a good night’s sleep.

This episode guide has been written by kim rh.

Characters appearing in this episode

Ash

Misty

Brock

Jessie

James

Meowth

Ash's Pikachu

Pokémon appearing in this episode

• Pikachu belonging to Ash
• Meowth

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