On the snow covered Route 216, wild Meditites and Sneasels play around and toss snowballs at each other, while trainers and non-trainers alike, gear themselves up in their skiing equipments and enjoy a relaxing glide down and across the slightly bumpy slopes, all but one young lady, who stands atop the slope, gazing down from where she is with a pensive look.

The young lady, named Platinum, grips tight onto her poles, and tries to recall all that she has read about skiing. She remembers that the sport involves fastening one's feet onto special boards underneath, and the idea is to slide downhill from a snow covered surface. Her hesitation soon catches the attention of a fellow skier standing a few feet down the slope, who has an Abra on top on his head.

The man calls out to Platinum, and wonders if she is a first timer. Platinum begins to deny and says she knows well about skiing, but then remembers her promise to Dia and Pearl not to lie again, and promptly admits that it is indeed the very first time that she puts on a pair of skiing boots and skis. The skier offers to teach her, but Platinum replies that she has already fully memorized the techniques written in a guidebook for skiing beginners, and says she is ready to give it a go.

The man sweatdrops with a doubtful and slightly worried look, just as Platinum begins reciting the steps to skiing while putting them into action at the same time. First, she must widen her stance to the width of her shoulder, then lean her weight forward and slightly bend her knees, all the while keeping her entire body relaxed and her gaze far ahead. With that, Platinum propels herself downhill, the actual movement causing her heart rate to rise, and the skier bolts with a start as he sees her charging straight towards him.

Platinum: (determined look) Everything is about experience!! Experience!! Skier: We're gonna craaash~!! Teleport!!

The skier's Abra teleports Platinum away just in time, and the skier breathes out a sigh of relief. However, he quickly sees the girl bulleting towards him again from the slope on the left side, and cries out in horror as Abra uses Teleport to avoid the crash once more. This time, Platinum ends up an on even steeper slope, and finds herself gliding swiftly downhill.

The skier grunts that she is reckless beyond imagination, and voices his regret in falling trap to her cuteness before deciding to leave her alone. Platinum tries to call out to the man to help her, but on another thought, believes that she can work it out on her own since she also knows well the way to stop. Trying to angle her skis to create a wedge, the girl manages to slow herself down, but quickly topples over and falls onto her back. She pants to catch her breath on the snow covered ground, and is surprised that she didn't hurt herself at all. She rationalizes that it must be the cushioning effect of the thick snow, but then notices that one pole and ski are missing.

In that instant, she spots those missing gears twirling and spinning in mid-air, probably knocked off during her fall, and watches them land on a jagged ground a few feet ahead of her. Then, to her shock, the jagged piece of ground begins to move, and reveals itself to be a Graveler. The four-armed rock roars with fury from the impact of the pole and ski, and Platinum exclaims that she has accidentally hit a wild Pokemon. The Graveler grabs the pole and ski, and while glaring angrily at the girl, snaps them both into half in front of her.

Platinum tries to calm the Graveler and explains that it was an accident that her ski and pole struck it, but the wild Pokemon would not hear any of it, and summons two more Gravelers hidden in the snow. Seeing the hostile looks on their faces, Platinum knows that their fury has overtaken their minds, and quickly sends out Empoleon. She tells the king penguin that it is not necessary to faint the opponents, and wants to know if it can pacify the situation without causing too much harm.

Empoleon gives its trainer an assuring nod, and gets ready to face the Gravelers. However, one Graveler quickly hurls itself forward and digs its powerful fist into Empoleon's abdomen, causing the king penguin to tumble backwards. Platinum exclaims at the strong jab, and reads from her Pokedex that it is a Hammer Arm. She voices her encouragement to Empoleon, and says Pokemon who have unleashed the attack will be overwhelmed by its power and suffer from a speed drop.

Empoleon braces itself to step forward once again, but the Gravelers gang up on it and deliver and series of Hammer Arms. Gradually, the three wild Pokemon become so slow that Empoleon manages to gain a substantial agility over them. Platinum cries that it is the time to act, and Empoleon performs a somersault to land behind the Gravelers, before swinging its powerful wings to swipe up a rush of snow towards them. The cold snow cools down the Gravelers instantly and causes them to tremble, and after mumbling something quietly between themselves, the three wild Pokemon decide to walk away.

Platinum retrieves Empoleon into its Pokeball, and feels grateful that the crisis has been solved as she takes a seat on the snow. She can see that Empoleon has sustained a considerable amount of injuries from the barrage of attacks, and thanks it for enduring all of that for her, causing the king penguin to put on an embarrassed grin.

Platinum suddenly lets out a sneeze, and begins to feel the cold getting to her. She knows well that it is absurd for her to travel around on the snow in such a thin outfit, but it seems too late to do anything now, as the strength is starting to drain from her body and she finds herself no longer able to move. As the falling snow intensifies into a snowstorm, the girl slips into unconsciousness and collapses onto the ground.

A few moments later, before she is buried in thick snow, a silhouette slowly approaches her from the distance, and picks her up onto its shoulder, revealing itself to be an Abomasnow. The frosted tree Pokemon steadily treads forward, and Platinum gradually regains a slight bit of consciousness, enough for her to realize that she is being carried. She could vaguely see a girl taking lead in front, who seems glad that Platinum is starting to come around. The girl wants to know if Platinum is someone on a journey and where her accommodation is, and Platinum weakly replies that she is staying at the Snowbound Lodge.

As they move along, on a closer look, Platinum can see that the girl isn't wearing very much thicker clothes than she is. The girl laughs that it is why she felt a connection to Platinum and thought of her as a companion when she found her in a thin outfit. She remarks that even in the cold, one can still wear cute and thin clothes with enough focus. Be it fashion, romance, and of course Pokemon, the key is to focus, and everything in life is really about focus. As the girl makes her speech however, she soon realizes that Platinum has slipped into unconsciousness again, and speeds up with Abomasnow.

Later, at the Snowbound Lodge, Platinum slowly awakes and finds herself warmly tucked in a soft bed. The owner of the place, a kind middle-aged woman, enters the room together with her Snorunt with a cup of tea on a tray in hand. She is glad that Platinum seems to be feeling better, and says she was really worried because her body felt so cold to her touch earlier. The woman gives Platinum the tea before motioning towards the doorway, and says the winter outfit she ordered has arrived.

Platinum looks over to see a big red jacket wrapped up in a plastic cover, and thanks the woman as she takes a sip of the tea. The woman remarks that while she understands that skiing is fun, Platinum really shouldn't have ventured out into the cold weather without getting her winter clothes first, and says she will be forced to halt her journey if she falls ill.

The woman recalls that Platinum said she was going to Lake Acuity, and the girl nods her head, wondering where the person who brought her back is. The woman puts on a confused look since she thought Platinum returned on her own, and says she found her by herself and collapsed at the Snowbound Lounge's entrance when she came back from her shopping.

Platinum however, is certain that she was rescued by someone, and calls out Empoleon from its Pokeball to ask if it saw her rescuer. The king penguin looks around the room to figure out a way to explain, and soon spots a poster on the wall, which it quickly points towards. Platinum turns around to take a look, and sees a picture of the exact girl who helped her out, next to the image of a Gym Badge under the heading of 'Come! Challenger!!' and the description that the there are numerous gimmicks inside the gym, where one must destroy balls of snow to proceed.

The woman explains that it is an advertisement of the gym, and Platinum gasps in realization that her rescuer is Candice, the Gymleader of Snowpoint City, also known as the diamond dust girl...

(Original Japanese Jokes)
There are no jokes or Manzai in this chapter.