We arrived at Icirrus City. It seemed like a very cheerful town. People were outside enjoying the weather and the weather was really nice. It was cool with a slight breeze. Robin walked up to a man sitting on a bench and asked, "Excuse me, do you know where the Icirrus Gym is located?"
"The gym is located in a cave on the Northern side of town." he said pointing to the north.
"Thank you", said Robin as we continued on our way. Soon enough, we arrived at a well-furnished cave entrance that was labeled the Ice gym.
"I think I should use emboar for this battle, but I promised Fraxure that he could take on this gym. What do you think I should do, John?" Robin asked.
Robin, you don't need a type advantage to do well when you battle. I think you should keep your word and give fraxure a try. I said.
When we entered the cave, we noticed all the ice that was on the floor and on the walls. It was like an igloo, but larger. After walking through a long slippery tunnel, we arrived at a large area where there was a battlefield. The only problem is, the whole floor was ice.
There was a man sitting down, meditating on the other side of the room. We supposed that he was the gym leader.
He didn't seem to notice us, so Robin asked, "Excuse me? Are you the gym leader. My name is Robin and I'm here to challenge this gym."
The man looked up and saw Robin. He got up on his feet and said, "My name is Brycen. Yes, I am the gym leader of this here ice gym. It's been a long time since I had a challenger. Most travelers don't get to this part of the region."
"So, should we get this battle started? Where's the ref?" asked Robin.
Brycen beckoned towards the side and we saw a young man enter the large room. "That is my son, Jared. He will be our ref for today, right son?"
"Yes, I'm fine with that." replied Jared.
"Vanillish, you're up first." said Brycen as he summoned an ice cream looking pokemon on the battlefield.
"Fraxure, I choose you." said Robin.
"A dragon type? You do realized the dragon is weak to ice. A few hits from any of my pokemon and you're fraxure would be beat." warned Brycen.
"I know it's an unorthodox decision, but I made a promise, so I have to use fraxure, right?" she turned toward Fraxure and he nodded.
Jared got to the center of the battlefield and announced, "This will be a three on three battle. When one trainer runs out of pokemon that are able to fight, the other trainer wins. Now, the battle will commence!"
"Fraxure, run up and use metal claw!" shouted Robin.
"So, using the aggressive tactic, eh? Vanillish, dodge." said Brycen. Vanillish did as he was told, but Fraxure was not that narrow minded. Fraxure was aiming past Vanillish, like there was an imaginary target behind the pokemon. As expected, Vanillish jumped backwards at the last second, but Fraxure attack followed through and struck Vanillish.
"Looks like it's my turn to be aggressive. Vanillish, use frost breath!" shouted Brycen.
"Use rock tomb to block the attack!" shouted Robin. Sure enough, Fraxure sent rocks from the ground and formed a rock barrier that prevented the frost breath from make contact. Almost instantaneously, Fraxure used his tail to send a rock from the formation flying at Vanillish. Even Robin didn't notice the attack until it smashed in Vanillish.
"Vanillish is unable to battle." said Jared.
"Wow, Fraxure. Great read." said Robin.
"It seems that you are completely in sync with your pokemon." commented Brycen.
It's true. Now that he mentions it, Fraxure is Robin's newest pokemon, but even so, the two battle like they have been together for a long time. "Cryogonal, you're next!" shouted Brycen.
"Cryogonal, use aura beam!" shouted Brycen as Cryogonal sent out a magenta colored energy beam at Fraxure. The beam was fairly linear, so Fraxure was able to dodge with ease.
"Frost breath, quick!" shouted Brycen as Cryogonal sent out a wave of icy wind toward Fraxure.
It seemed like Fraxure couldn't escape this time, but he was in mid air and the attack was aimed at him. Robin analyzed the situation quickly and said, "Dive down to the floor and keep your head down!" Miraculously, Fraxure folded his arms and legs and dropped down to the floor with great speed. The frost breath flew over his head, for it was aimed up in the air.
"Wow, Fraxure is really fast on his feet." said Brycen
"Fraxure, use rock tomb on Cryogonal!" shouted Robin. With that, Cryogonal was buried under rock.
"That move won't work on Cryogonal. Use rapid spin!" shouted spun his body around with great speed, sending the rocks flying in every direction. Little did he know that Robin was also prepared for that s well. When Cryogonal was free from the rocks, he had no time to react, for Fraxure ran right up in his face while he was distracted freeing himself from the rocks.
"Use Dragon Claw!" shouted Robin. Fraxure struck Cryogonal at point blank with his claw. He sent Cryogonal flying backwards and he crashed in the icy walls.
"Cryogonal is unable to battle." said Jared.
"Beartic, come on out." said Brycen. "I realized I haven't managed to hit Fraxure once, but that will change. Beartic, use Brine!" Beartic created a large amount of water and forced it towards Fraxure.
"Jump up high in the air!" said Robin. Fraxure did as he was told and easily dodged the wave of water. I was confused. That move seemed kind of pointless.
When Fraxure landed back on the ground, he slipped and fell back. "Robin, don't forget that the gym's floor is made of ice. Do you know what happens when you cover an icy floor with water?"
Robin realized Brycen's plan. "You made the floor slippery with the mixture of water and ice, so it would be harder for Fraxure to dodge attacks." said Robin.
"Exactly, Beartic, use icicle crash!" Beartic created icicles that began falling from the ceiling.
"Fraxure, dodge!" shouted Robin. Fraxure tried to dodge, but he kept on slipping on the floor. He managed to slide away from the first icicle that crashed, but was struck by the second. It must've been a critical hit, for Fraxure was struggling to get up.
"Now, finish it off with blizzard!" shouted Brycen. A large blast of iciness was sent towards Fraxure, and there was nowhere to dodge the icy wind caused from Blizzard. With nowhere to go, Fraxure was immersed in the icy move and I could see he couldn't last much longer. Robin probably could have won with her next pokemon, but she was determined to win with Fraxure.
" You can do it, Fraxure! I believe in you. Where's that dragon spirit and determination? You can reach Beartic. I know you have that strength." cheered Robin as she saw Fraxure was having trouble. With the extra motivation, I saw the color change in Fraxure's eye. He began to move towards Beartic step by step, despite the huge icy wind pushing him back.
"Beartic, increase the power of your blizzard!" shouted Brycen. Beartic let out another, larger gust of wind. Even from where I was, I felt cold.
Fraxure didn't seem to be phased by the extra strength in the blizzard, as he began to glow. We watch as every detail of fraxure began to change. We saw as his tail and neck elongated, we saw how his tusks enlarged and his hands and feet grow larger. Finally the evolution was done, and Haxorus was now pushing through the blizzard.
"Keep it up!" shouted Robin.
"Beartic, keep him back!" shouted Brycen.
I was surprised that Haxorus had that much stamina. Now, he was within reach.
"Haxorus, use Guillotine!" shouted Robin as Haxorus let out a large ferocious dragon roar and slammed his ax shaped tusk onto Beartic's head. The blizzard subsided and Beartic collapsed to the floor.
"Beartic is unable to battle! Because Brycen has no more pokemon that are able to battle, Robin is the victor!" said Jared.
Robin jumped up in happiness as she ran over to Haxorus. Haxorus kneeled down on the ground, for he was pretty weak from the battle. He was able to sustain himself in that blizzard for such a long time.
"You were awesome. That was the best I ever did in a gym battle, and it was because of you. You need to rest up. You did so much today. You must be tired." said Robin as she summoned Haxorus back into his pokeball.
Brycen walked over to us. "Robin, you are a one of a kind trainer. I don't think I ever remember someone defeating me without losing a single pokemon, even more so with a pokemon that has a disadvantage." complemented Brycen. "Here. You are way overqualified for the Icicle Badge, but here it is anyways. You need it to get into the league."
"Thank you for the badge. Now, I only have one gym to go." she said with excitement.
"You should definitely go to Opelucid City. Located there is the dragon gym. The gym leader's name is Drayden, and I could fairly say that he is the region's most powerful gym leader. He was almost overqualified to be one. You could say he is on par with Alder, the champion of the region"
"Well, I assume many trainers must have beaten him. That's why there are so many people participating in the league, right?" asked Robin.
"That's where you're wrong. Most people who go to Opelucid end up fighting Drayden's pupil, Iris. Don't get me wrong, Iris is also a talented gym leader, but she does not compare to the dragon master. Iris is the default gym leader. You have to specially request to battle Drayden at that gym. But, I think you have a fighting chance by your performance here today." reassured Brycen.
"Okay. I'll make sure to challenge Drayden at the Opelucid gym." said Robin. Brycen followed us out of the gym to bid us farewell. As we exited the cave, we were in for quite a shock. Team Plasma was there to greet us with guns pointed at us.