//------------------------------// // Ice Cream Syndrome // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Kanto, Pallet Town, Day. Early in the morning the artistic golden sun got up like a baby and started painting the dark black sky into a bright blue sky. The bright looking milky clouds got up from sleep and started travelling around the sky visiting the wonderful environment. The first rays of sunlight lit up every room in Pallet. The dawn chorus of a melodic birdsong drifted in by Pidgey's and Dodrio's. "Dodrio!" The same Dodrio cry woke up every resident of Pallet Town. Some Pidgey's dashed across the azure skies followed by a few Spearows. The small colourful cute Butterfree's danced all around the environment looking for sweet nectar. The flower’s fragrance filled the whole environment making the morning pleasant. Everyone in Pallet Town got up as usual with tired and lazy faces. But once they re-energize themselves, those faces will transform into something brighter. Pallet being a small country town meant that there wasn't much to do other than children playing outside with their Pokemon and the adults listening to Pallet Town's radio station WPOK. And then there's Ash, who always has a lot to do, no matter what. Like always, he's off somewhere in various regions or somewhere in Equestria alongside his partner Pokemon. A knock on the door could be heard from the Ketchum household. Delia went over, responding to whoever was knocking. "Yes? Oh. Twilight. Good morning." "Morning Mrs Ketchum. Is Ash home?" Twilight asked. "Oh, sorry. You just missed him. He went over to Professor Cerise's lab a few minutes ago. But you can catch up before he goes on another research adventure." "Phew. Not too far behind on time then." Twilight let out a sigh of relief. "Do you need to see him about something, perhaps?" "Well, actually...I Was hoping to spend some time with him. You know. Just me and him." Twilight dug her hooves on the ground. "Hmm..." Delia narrowed her eyes. She knew exactly why Twilight wanted this. "I see...Well, you might want to get going before he leaves." "Right! Thank you! Come on you three." Twilight spoke to her Pokemon as they made their way towards Vermillion City. Twilight has been planning on spending quality time with Ash for a long time now. Sure, she's been around him a lot ever since the worlds crossed over, but most of the time, her friends tagged along. She was aiming at making this just between the two of them. Although, their Pokemon was a different story. "It'll just be us two this time. I've been waiting for this moment! And this time, nothing is gonna stop me!" Over at Cerise Labs, Professor Cerise showed Ash and Goh some tickets concerning Unova and their famous Casteliacone. "Casteliacone Supreme?" Both Ash and Goh said in unison, looking at the ticket. "Right. Before the New Year begins, Castelia City's giving out their rarest ice cream and the most critically acclaimed one across every region. The Casteliacone Supreme." "Oooh...What's different about it from a normal Casteliacone?" Ash asked. "Pika?" "That's a mystery. You see, it's so rare that very few people have actually tasted it before. And the ones that have tasted it only get one lick in. And that one lick causes them to be so perplexed and bewildered that they drop the ice cream and completely forget what it tastes like." "That sounds like the ultimate ice cream!" Goh gawked. "You can consider it that. And this is your one chance to try and get a good taste of it. By running the Casteliacone Contest." "Casteliacone Contest?" Ash wondered. "Pikachu?" "Right i-" "Ash!" Twilight interrupted Professor Cerise as she had burst through the doors of the lab, grabbing everyone's attention. "Hm? What's up, Twilight?" Ash turned to her. "Oh, Twilight. How's your role as a fellow professor and your Pokemon Lab coming along?" Professor Cerise asked. "It's going great so far, Professor! Hey Ash. Can I borrow you for a bit?" "Sure. You need something?" Ash followed the alicorn outside of the room whilst Professor Cerise goes on about the Castelia Cone Contest. "Well, Ash. This is a bit of personal thing. You see, it's almost a full year until the day our two worlds crossed over. And before the New Year arrives, I was wondering if we could hang out today until the day ends. You know, just you and me." "Ah, I gotcha." Ash nodded. "I'm up for hanging out. But uh...I kinda wanted to go over to Castelia City and try that Casteliacone Supreme." "That's fine. Castelia City's a good place to hang out. And I could go for some ice cream too." "Awesome! How am I gonna break it to Goh if it's just us two?" "I'll tell him." All of a sudden, Chloe was behind them, hearing the entire conversation go down. "Chloe?!" Twilight yelped. "Were you watching from the beginning??" "Mhm. I'll tell Goh about your little hangout session. You two go along and do whatever it is you're gonna do." "Thanks, Chloe!" Ash thanked her. "Pikachu!" After Chloe told Goh about Ash and Twilight's hangout session, Goh had decided not to interrupt them. So, he'll just go to Unova later by himself. Before this, Twilight hadn't even informed her friends back in Ponyville about her plans for today. Although, she did leave a note behind for them. As for the two trainers, they took the shortcut gateways to reach Castelia. By moving through many gateways, Ash and Twilight arrived at Castelia City. The city which has skyscrapers that pierce even the clouds. They could see how the people of Castelia were all currently competing for this special Casteliacone, just to have a chance to experience its legendary taste. That is if they can remember it afterwards. It wasn't just Castelia City's citizens. People from many regions across the world had gathered here today to ace this contest once they learned about the Casteliacone Supreme being present today. The contest involved an endurance test of seeing who can resist the coldest ice creams. By tasting various Casteliacones with different levels of cold, the aim was to make sure that you do not get many brain freezes. At all. If the contestants get three brain freezes, they're out of here. And unfortunately, many of them did. Casteliacones and their cold levels were just too powerful. Left and right, people were getting disqualified in mere minutes. And some just gave up, unable to withstand even a single brain freeze. The reason for this endurance test was to see who would end up getting the chance to taste the Casteliacone Supreme and actually remember it. Whenever someone does obtain this ultimate ice cream they always forget what it tastes like after the first taste, dropping the ice cream. As such, people are left with this timeless mystery that may never be solved. Out of curiosity, Ash and Twilight went over to see what happens during the contest for the Casteliacone Supreme. What kind of challenges would they have to go through that involved ice cream of all things. "All this for one ice cream?" Twilight spoke. "Is it thattasty?" "It's gotta be. If it's getting everyone this psyched up. I just gotta know what it tastes like!" Ash replied. "Pikachu!" "But if nopony's been able to finish it or even remember what it tastes like, what's the point?" "All the more reason to try it. You don't mind if join in, do you Twilight?" "Go ahead. I actually want to see this." Twilight allowed Ash to take part in this contest. "Yes! Wish me luck, guys." Ash went over to the contest, aiming at tasting that Casteliacone Supreme, and hopefully, he can finish it. Due to the scale of this contest, it could be entered at any time without having to sign up at all. So Ash just went up to it casually, preparing his taste buds for whatever comes his way. Twilight, Pikachu and her Pokemon sat down to spectate Ash and how he performs. The first ice cream was placed in front of him which ended up being the standard Casteliacone. That was easy enough for Ash to finish off in a few minutes. Next, he was giving an even colder Casteliacone with a bit more chill behind it. The way they get these Casteliacones to change in temperature is by having a Vanillish use its icy breath on each cone that is put in front of it. Contestants were dropping on the table like Beautifly's, unable to withstand anymore. The contest had just started only 7 minutes ago and already, a large amount of them just couldn't handle the ramping levels of cold. But the ones who could handle it were powering through these cones, especially Ash. They were determined to know what that Casteliacone Supreme tasted like. The sounds of the spectators and crowd cheering them on could be heard across Castelia along with the cries of Pokemon, supporting their trainers. "Come on, Ash!" Twilight cheered. "Pikapi!" "T-Too cold!" A contestant shuddered, falling on her back. "..T-That's it for me." Another one fell sideways. "I've been around my Glaceon for years...this is.. nothing..." Despite that, he couldn't handle two brain freezes. "Ooh, tough break!" The announcer spoke. "We're down to 50 contestants now! And the ones who've had zero brain freezes are doing exceptionally well! Oh, but look at this kid! He's eating them all in one go! Look at him go!" "I gotta know what it tastes like...I just gotta!" Ash said to himself, devouring all the Casteliacones that came in front of him in one go. Not once did he get a brain freeze. The way he was devouring the Casteliacones made him look like a demon to the contestants as they were frozen in shock. Not by the Casteliacones even. In just 3 minutes, Ash had managed to outpace the best contestants in this contest with his abnormal eating skills. How he managed to power through the cold was because of two things. The first was that Ash has experienced much colder things throughout his journeys and the second was that he kept on thinking about every time Charizard burnt him, holding Infernape in Blaze along with his time in Alola and so on. Not once did he get a brain freeze. The other contestants tried to mimic Ash to catch up, but unfortunately, they didn't have the same resistance to the cold as he did. As a result, they were given horrible brain freezes. Some even had brain freezes so powerful that they fell over from the first one. Ash was far ahead of them at this point as the crowd was now cheering for Ash since he looked like the most promising contestant there was. No one in the history of this contest has managed to finish so many Casteliacones this quickly without having a single brain freeze. Finally, Ash came across the final Casteliacone. The coldest one there was. If he gets past this, the Casteliacone Supreme will be all his. And that's what he did. By digging deep, the trainer dropped the entire ice cream inside of his mouth like he did the others. This one single Casteliacone was powerful enough to give him a slight shock, but nothing he couldn't handle. "Ugh! Success!" Ash slammed his fists on the table. "Oooh! That's all of them finished! Contestant Ash has cleared every last Casteliacone of every cold level!" The announcer gawked. "That's the stuff, Ash!" Twilight wooed. "Pikachu!" "Now...he'll have the glorious opportunity to taste the greatest ice cream, not just in Unova, but the entire world. Whether it'd be Johto, Sinnoh or Galar, this ice cream is legendary! The Casteliacone Supreme!" The time had come to reveal the world's greatest ice cream there is. They gave it a grand entrance by opening up a cooler. Once that cooler opened up, a golden glow illuminated from it as everyone was starstruck. The Casteliacone Supreme. Its appearance had an unidentified flavour on it. One that had never been seen before. But the colouring of it was similar to vanilla. Unlike most ice creams, this one had nothing else on it, but that single flavour. There was no cookie dough, chocolate chip, cherries, nothing. "That's the Casteliacone Supreme?" said Twilight. "Pika..." "Contestant Ash. You are our most capable contestant yet. And you might be the first to tell us all what it tastes like." The announcer spoke as the ice cream was brought over to Ash. "Alright..." Ash grabbed a hold of the cone, feeling the intimidating aura from the ice cream. The entire crowd fell silent, leaning forward in anticipation. Could this be it? After so many years of wondering, the true taste of the Casteliacone Supreme could be revealed to the world. All Ash needed to do was taste it. And so he did. With a single lick, Ash had finally gotten the chance to have a sample of the ice cream's zest. And once he did, his eyes became bug-eyed in an instant. Everyone thought that he was going to drop the ice cream and forget the taste like every other contestant who has made it this far, but that didn't happen. The ice cream was still in Ash's hands. But the look on his face was one of awe. They all wondered if he would recover from that state at all. And then, Ash's eyes returned to normal as he figured out what it tasted like. In fact, this flavour tastes very familiar. "Huh...I've tasted this before." "I beg your pardon?" "This kinda tastes like...a mix of mom's homemade cooking and Brock's jelly-filled donuts!" Ash went to town on the ice cream, enjoying the sweet taste that felt familiar to him. "I have no idea what that means but this is the first time someone has actually managed to tell us what it tastes like! Go into further detail, please!" "Well, it's super sweet. But not too sweet. But it's got a taste similar to that of poffins and the spice of Poke-Puffs! And it's also got that flare from Lava cookies! I can't really continue describing it, but point is, it was worth the wait!" Ash continued to finish off the ice cream. "Finally! After so long! We know what it's like! Although I would've liked to know more..." "Mhm! Can I have some more please?" "You want more?!" "Yep! Just to give to my friends!" Ash grinned, referring to Pikachu, Twilight and the Pokemon. He wanted them to get a taste too if they could. After the contest, and being crowned Champion, Ash gave some extra Casteliacone Supreme's to his friends, just so that they can taste it for themselves. "I think I've figured out why no one was able to get a good taste of it until now." Twilight theorized. "Really?" "Yeah. They didn't finish through the others as quickly as you. Plus, you didn't look like you were struggling at all compared to every other contestant." "Ah, well, I've been through some super cold things before. And super-hot things as well..." Ash chuckled. "Pika." Pikachu tasted the ultimate ice cream, being the next to know what it tasted like. And just like his partner, he couldn't describe the taste but loved it anyway. "Pikachu!" Twilight and her Pokemon did the same. The taste was unlike anything in Equestria. It was really worth coming here first for their hangout. "Say, Ash." "Yeah, Twilight?" "When we get Jirachi's wish off one day. What will become of our future?" "What do you mean?" "Well...if both of our worlds weren't meant to meet in the first place and the timeline's been altered here and there, will we even have the same outcome as the others? For better or for worse?" "Hm...Can't say really. Your world's still got a lot to discover about ours, ya know." "A lot is an understatement." "But, I can say this. Everyone from my world will be here to help yours. Just like how we've been helping Pokemon and they've been helping us for a bunch of years, we'll be there to make sure you all get through it." "You really think so?" "I know so. Pikachu and I help each other non-stop. I've got his back and he's got mine, right buddy?" "Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded with ice cream on his face. "Guess you really do know what to say after all, huh?" Twilight giggled. She looked up to notice something that caught her attention. "Oh, what are those?!" What she was looking at exactly were none other than floating Pokemon balloons. Each of different Pokemon, ranging from Pikachu, Snorlax, Wooper, Meganium, Simisear and more. "That must be the balloons for the new year that they're using," Ash answered "Pikachu..." "Let's watch, Ash!" Twilight used her magic to drag Ash along, almost making him spill his ice cream. "Ah!"Ash wailed, almost losing his balance but Twilight's magic kept him up. The young alicorn went over to see the balloons are more were coming into view. By gazing at these huge creations of helium with various Pokemon of all types, Twilight was enjoying herself so far. First the ice cream contest and now this. And it was until the end of the day that she would carry on hanging out with Ash. Next, they went over to Studio Castelia, which displays and showcases many painting from artists who live in Castelia. Most of them were inspired by the Gym Leader of Castelia, Burgh, as many artists from around Unova come to Castelia just to get some information from the Premier Insect Artist. Twilight had the opportunity to see how artists in the Pokemon world work. Their art was completely different from Equestria's with some similarities here and there. The studio is currently exhibiting works in the motif of legends of the Unova region, which have more to do with the myths of Reshiram and Zekrom, which caught the attention of the young alicorn. "Aren't these...Reshiram and Zekrom?" She went up to a clay sculpture of the two legendaries. "Yeah, that's them." Ash nodded. "I think Reshiram as Truth and Zekrom was Ideals. Is that right, buddy?" "Pika." Pikachu nodded, confirming that Ash as right. "Pokemon of Truth and Ideals...If that's the case, then what does Kyurem stand for?" "Kyurem?" Ash scratched his hair, trying to remember. "Hm...Not sure actually. My Kyurem knowledge only goes so far. But I bet he stands for something awesome." "Pikachu!" They continued their hangout session, visiting the five ocean piers. Liberty Pier, Unity Pier which leads to Unity Tower, Prime Pier, Cruise Dock and Thumb Pier. Next was none other than the Central Plaza also known as the Castelia Central Area, is a park located at the intersection of all the streets in Castelia City. There was a large flowing fountain that is said to bring people and Pokémon together. Which it certainly did. Standing the middle of the plaza were three dancers that the crowd were admiring. Alongside their Panpour, Pansage and Pansear, they were giving the crowd an enjoyable sight. They then stopped by Café Sonata. A small café on the right side of Narrow Street. Many people come to the café to relax after a tiring day of work, and to listen to the Musician's guitar rhythm, who believes that a beautiful melody makes people happy and a sad melody makes people sorrowful. Today was nothing but a happy melody meant to close off the year for those who are anticipating the next one. The duo and their Pokemon went over to Castelia Park. A small area enclosed by buildings. Similar to, but much smaller than the National Park in Johto. Many Wild Pokemon hang out in this park and it's always a recommended spot for trainers to catch a new partner. "Skitty!" A Skitty popped out of the grass, chasing Buneary's tail as it found it compelling. After all, Skitty's attention is drawn by anything that moves. "Bunear!" The Rabbit Pokemon ran around in circles, trying to avoid the Kitten Pokemon's curious and adventurous nature. Five Ducklett's were eating some bread that an old lady gave to each of them when she came by. Out of curiosity, some Rattata's wanted in on the bread as well as they climbed up the old lady's shoulder. Being in Castelia Park was just a nice and warm feeling overall. In fact, being in Castelia, in general, was just great. Eventually, enough time had passed for the sun to reach its closing hours and for the moon to take its place until tomorrow. The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky. The night sky was aglow with bright city lights of all of Castelia City. Ash and Twilight looked up at the blanket of stars that stretched to infinity. During this time, the fireworks would be going off for this world and every region out there. "It's almost time for the fireworks. How about we see the ones here and then the others in Equestria." Ash suggested. "Sounds good to me." Twilight was up for it. The fireworks would take place in the Central Plaza for all to see. There were only 5 minutes left until they go off and a new year arrives for all on both sides. Ash, Twilight and their Pokemon stood at Central Park with everyone else, anticipating the eventual storm of fireworks. The streets of Castelia was surrounded by the happiness and laughter of the anticipating audience. Children and Pokemon danced around before the fireworks would get a chance to outshine them. A countdown began. Starting from 30 seconds. And the same could be said for the other world. Everypony in Ponyville had already gathered around to see their fireworks go off. Twilight and her friends knew that she would be here due to the note she left behind for them. They didn't want to ruin her time with Ash at all. Back at Castelia, the countdown was nearing its end. And so was this year. "3...2...1..." And with the final words spoken, a new year had begun. "New Years is here!" The entire crowd bellowed with all their might. Louder than they bellowed last year. They all looked up to see a silent spark explode into a million dazzling particles of bright lights that filled the beautiful night sky. The feeling of fireworks going off at a time like this was truly infinite. "Beautiful..." Twilight gazed. "Yeah, it sure is." Ash smiled. "Pikachu..." "Espeon..." The Pokemon and their trainers found so much enjoyment in all of this. And with a new year upon them, the adventures they have in store are endless. A year has come to an end. But a new one beings as the journey continues. Chapter 248 End.