Bearing Down Easy! (Japanese: ツンベアーのためいき！Tunbear's Sigh!) is the fourth episode of Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master, the 140th episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,225th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on February 3, 2023, in Canada on June 3, 2023, in South Africa on June 13, 2023, and in the United States on September 8, 2023.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
Our heroes are on a mountain hoping to see Magikarp jumping up a waterfall, but they find the water has been frozen over! It turns out a wild Beartic is responsible—it’s been having trouble using its Ice-type powers, and it accidentally freezes its surroundings when it gets startled. After seeing the sadness in Beartic’s eyes, Ash becomes determined to help with some special training. Beartic becomes frustrated, but when it and Ash fall into a crevasse in the ice, it learns to control its power to return them to safety. Ash declares Beartic an Ice Master, and all the Pokémon who live on the mountain are happy again!
Plot
Ash's team members for this episode
Ash and his friends have arrived to watch the famous Magikarp waterfall climb, with Ash even calling out his Oshawott to see it. However, upon reaching the waterfall, they find out that it has frozen over, meaning that they can't see the waterfall climb. Oshawott and Pikachu both try breaking the ice, but to no avail. In the process, Oshawott slips and his scalchop is sent flying into the nearby woods. Pikachu and Oshawott run after it, and end up not only finding the scalchop, but also a Beartic. Ash and his friends follow and see Beartic as well, with Ash thanking it for finding the scalchop. Unexpectedly, Beartic's following exhale freezes everyone's feet, and it runs away, its breath freezing everything around it. Ash calls out Talonflame for help and has it free everyone from the ice by using its Flame BodyAbility. Ash, having noticed the sadness in Beartic's eyes, figures it needs help, and sends Pikachu, Oshawott, and Talonflame to follow it while he, Brock, and Misty use Snorlax, Incineroar, Forretress, and Starmie to carve a path for themselves through Beartic's ice pillars.
The group eventually catches up with Talonflame, only to see that it and many forest Pokémon have been frozen. Once Incineroar has melted the ice with Fire Blast, the group notices Beartic nearby. Ash and Brock both realize that Beartic doesn't mean to freeze everything around it, and only keeps doing it by accident when it's frightened or scared. Ash expresses his amazement at Beartic's power, likening the potential of its Ice powers to that of Kyurem, and offers to train it to control them. While the training gets underway, Misty and Brock admire Ash's ability to care about and help out every Pokémon he meets.
At first, Beartic tries to use its breath to create an ice chunk, but said chunk ends up exploding, freezing Ash over and requiring Incineroar to thaw him out. For the second attempt, Oshawott tells Beartic to make a scalchop out of ice, which Ash thinks is a good idea. Beartic does as told, but just before the icy scalchop can properly take shape, it deforms and explodes, with Ash's Fire Pokémon narrowly protecting him and his friends from being frozen over. Ash urges Beartic to keep trying, and the next attempt produces a perfect scalchop of ice. However, moments later, the scalchop explodes like the previous attempts, this time spreading ice with such potency that even Talonflame and Incineroar are frozen over. Disheartened by constant failures, Beartic runs off to the nearby frozen lake and starts crying out in sadness, letting out a continuous ice breath into the air as Ash tries to calm it down. Suddenly, the ice beneath them breaks open due to Beartic's power, causing Ash, Pikachu, and Oshawott to fall into the newly formed chasm. Beartic saves Ash from the fall, although he accidentally twists his ankle upon landing. He tells Beartic to climb out with Pikachu and Oshawott, but Beartic insists on taking him along too, so he climbs onto Beartic's back as well.
Beartic starts climbing its way out of the chasm. Suddenly, its grip fails and it starts to fall, but it reacts quickly and creates an icy platform to cut their fall. Ash compliments Beartic on learning to control its powers during a moment of crisis and tells it to repeat the same thing on the other side of the chasm. Beartic does so, creating an ice platform after an ice platform to form an icy staircase that allows them to finally reach Brock, Misty, and the thawed-out Talonflame and Incineroar at the top. While Brock treats Ash's twisted ankle, Beartic demonstrates its new mastery over its ice powers to the nearby forest Pokémon by creating a perfect and stable ice scalchop. At first, the forest Pokémon hesitate, but then, a Bellsprout asks for an ice scalchop of its own, encouraging every other forest Pokémon to make the same request as well. Once the waterfall has thawed out, Beartic joins its new Pokémon friends in watching the Magikarp waterfall climb.
In the Japanese version, when Ash, Pikachu, and Oshawott are frozen by Beartic, all of them are frozen over completely. In all international dubs, including the English dub and Asian language dubs based on the Japanese version, Ash is only partially frozen.
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