Chapter XXV: A Freezing Battle
Like I said, after lunch and some more time training, it's straight to the gym. While we had lunch, I found out more about Mienfoo. Mienfoo is a girl and knows these moves: U-turn, swift, drain punch, and force Palm. U-turn is a move that has Mienfoo attack her target with quick speed and allows her to switch out if she wishes. For swift, she launches little yellow stars at her opponents nothing more. Then there is drain punch; this has Mienfoo's fist glow light green and punches her foe and gains energy from them. And finally, force Palm is a move that has Mienfoo place her hand to her enemy and creates a powerful force at them and could paralyze them.
Once we finished training and returning Archeops to his Poké Ball, Serperior, Zoroark in her original appearance, Emolga, Mienfoo, and I made our way to the Icirrus City gym. When we arrived in it, the temperature dropped a bit. 'Looks like everybody wasn't kidding around about this being an ice-type gym,' I thought to myself while shivering a bit. We all suddenly noticed a man sitting at one end of the icy battlefield with his eyes closed. This man appears to be wearing a blue out fit, blue mask that covers his eyes and some of it is sticking up at the back of his head, and has pale blue hair. Once my team and I got to the other end of the battlefield, the man opened his blue eyes to notice our presence.
"You appear ready to face a gym leader," said the man as he stands up and looks towards me, Serperior, Zoroark, Mienfoo, and Emolga. "Then let's begin," he added! I flinched a bit. All I was going to do was ask if he's seen the gym leader. Before I could think, the man gets out a Poké Ball. "Let's go, Vanillish," he shouted and sent out a large version of Vanillite, but has little ice like arms. I got out my Pokédex to learn more about it.
"Vanillish the Icy Snow Pokémon and the evolved form of Vanillite. Snowy mountains are Vanillish's habitat. During ancient ice age, they moved to the southern areas."
I placed my Pokédex away as I tried to figure out which Pokémon to use. 'I can't use Archeops since he's a rock and flying-type. The same goes for Emolga and Serperior since ice-types are strong against flying and grass-types. So, that leaves me with Zoroark or Mienfoo,' I thought to myself while thinking.
"Zorr," I heard Zoroark say. I looked towards her and saw her nod. It looks like Zoroark wants to go first. So, I nodded.
"Alright Zoroark, do your best," I said to Zoroark. She soon jumped to the battlefield and is now glaring at Vanillish and the man. "Zoroark, use night slash," I soon said! I watched Zoroark's claws turned purple as she charges at Vanillish and attached it with her claws. However, Vanillish got back up.
"Vanillish use frost breath," said the man. Vanillish then breathed out freezing. The air had managed to hit Zoroark, but she immediately snapped out of the air.
"Use foul play," I said to Zoroark! Zoroark nodded as she uses foul play at Vanillish and had succeeded in knocking it out. Vanillish is unable to battle! "Way to go Zoroark," I said to Zoroark happily! I saw Zoroark come back to me and the others with a smile. I patted her head to show how proud I am of her.
I soon saw the man returned his Vanillish and pulled out another Poké Ball. "Go Beartic," he shouted as he sends out a pale blue bear like Pokémon with icy grey eyes and has an ice like beard around its face. I once again pulled out my Pokédex to know more.
"Beartic the Freezing Pokémon. Beartic can make its breath freeze at will. Very able in water, it swims around in northern seas and catches prey."
I placed my Pokédex away and looked towards Mienfoo. She'll be perfect for this battle. "It's your turn Mienfoo. Give it all you got," I said to her. When Mienfoo nodded, she jumped onto the battlefield. "Mienfoo use force Palm," I said to Mienfoo! Mienfoo charges at Beartic. As soon as she placed her palm on Beartic, a powerful force pushed Beartic back and crashed it to a wall. Beartic fell to its knee, but it got back up.
"Beartic use icicle crash," said the man! The Beartic suddenly has icicles appear in its hands and throws them at Mienfoo.
"Watch out Mienfoo," I shouted! But, I was too late since Mienfoo got hit by the icicles and crashed to one of the icy walls. "Mienfoo," I shouted again as I ran to it to check and see if it is alright! "Are you okay?" I asked. I noticed Mienfoo got up and nods as she runs back to the battlefield. I went back to my end of the battlefield so we can continue.
"Now Beartic, use brine," shouted the man! Beartic then launched large water drops towards Mienfoo.
"Dodge it Mienfoo," I said quickly! Mienfoo jumped away as the water splashed to the icy wall. "Now, use drain punch," I added. Mienfoo's fist starts to glow light green and charges at Beartic. She then punched Beartic hard enough to send it crashing to an icicle rock and to the ground. From the look on Beartic's face, it is unable to battle. "Great job Mienfoo," I commented! Mienfoo walked towards me, Serperior, Zoroark, and Emolga As she jumps back into my arms while hugging me. I hugged her back.
"Well done Ashlee," I suddenly heard the man say. Wait, how did he know my name? I looked towards him and noticed a smirk formed on his face. "You have successfully defeated two of my Pokémon," he added as he returned Beartic to its Poké Ball. Once he puts Beartic's Poké Ball away, he pulls out another Poké Ball. "However, I, Brycen: Gym Leader of this city, still have one Pokémon left," he says again.
'This man I'm battling is the gym leader?' I thought to myself with surprise!
"Go Cryogonal," shouted the man, now known as Brycen. Suddenly, a blue snow flake looking Pokémon had appeared with blue dots around its eyes and mouth. I used my Pokédex once more.
"Cryogonal the Crystallizing Pokémon. When Cryogonal's body temperature goes up, it turns into steam and vanishes. When its temperature lowers, it returns to ice."
Once I placed my Pokédex in my pocket, I felt Emolga tap my head. I looked towards him. "What is it Emolga?" I asked.
"Emol emol," Emolga replied as he points to the battlefield. It looks like Emolga wants to battle Cryogonal.
"Are you sure about this Emolga?" I asked Emolga. I'm actually a little worried about this idea. True, Emolga can fly and shock Cryogonal, but he is a flying-type. Ice-types have the advantage over flying-types.
"Emol," replied Emolga as he nodded. I guess it's worth a try, right?
"Okay Emolga, do your best and watch out for the ice attacks Cryogonal uses," I warned Emolga. I watched Emolga nod as he flies off my shoulder and on to the battlefield.
"Cryogonal use aurora beam," said Brycen! Cryogonal soon launced a rainbow color beam at Emolga.
"Dodge and use electro ball," I said to Emolga! Emolga easily dodged the rainbow beam. Once he lands, he uses electro ball at Cryogonal and creates a smoke screen. "Now, use acrobatics," I added! Emolga charges at Cryogonal with great speed and strikes it once the smoke screen faded.
Cryogonal fell the the ground. "Cryogonal are you alright?" Brycen asked to Cryogonal. It gave him a cry as it floats up again. "Now, use frost breath," he then shouts! Cryogonal launches a freezing air of its breath at Emolga. The breath itself had managed to hit emolga as he lands on the ground while shivering from the cold.
"Emolga, are you okay?" I asked Emolga. Emolga nods as it shakes the freezing air away. "Alright, then use thunderbolt," I soon said. Once Emolga gets back on the air, he strikes Cryogonal with his thunderbolt. By doing that, Cryogonal fell to the ground and isn't getting up. We won! "We did it Emolga," I shouted as I ran towards Emolga with Serperior, Zoroark, and Mienfoo. When we got close, Emolga lands on my left shoulder and hugs me. As Mienfoo gon on my other shoulder, I gave Emolga a pat on his head. "You, Mienfoo, and Zoroark did great out there," I said to the three. I then turned to Serperior. "And thank you for cheering," I said to her as Serpeiror smiled.
"What a magnificent friendship," I heard Brycen say. I looked towards him and noticed he is walking towards me and my team. "In honor of your stout heart, I will give you this," he soon said as he got out an ice looking badge and handed it to me.
I smiled and happily took it. "Thanks so much Brycen," I said as I placed the badge in my badge case and put it away. 'Just one more badge to go,' I thought to myself as I smiled to my team. I turned to Brycen and noticed he glared at the entrance of the gym. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Someone is here," replied Brycen. I looked towards the entrance. After a little while, I looked back to Brycen.
"My friends and I will check and see who it is for you," I said to Brycen. I turned to my team to see if they approve. Once they nodded, I started walking to the entrance/exit of the gym with them.
Once my team and I got outside, we saw Bianca and Cheren walking towards us. "Hey Bianca and Cheren," I said to them while waving as they got close.
"Hey Ashlee," shouted Bianca. She also started waving happily as she walked to my team and I with Cheren.
"Hey…" Was all I heard from Cheren. I wonder what's wrong with him. Before I could ask, I noticed Bianca patted Cheren's shoulder that caused him to blush.
"Cheren, cheer up," said Bianca as she hugs Cheren. I noticed Cheren blushing even more. I tried to hold in my laughter a bit since this is getting cute. Cheren has a crush on Bianca. Bianca then released him. "Isn't it nice to see everyone again?" She asked Cheren. Cheren nodded and seemed to be brightened up a little. Bianca suddenly looked towards me now. "Ashlee, I'm going to go to the Pokémon Fan Club. I'm searching for what I want to do and what I can do," she said with excitement.
"And I'll go with her to continue thinking about what Alder told me," said Cheren as he hides his eyes using his glasses and blushing more. I giggled a little. I know why Cheren is up to. After all, I smell love in the air between Cheren and Bianca.
Suddenly, Brycen came out of his gym as he got in the space between me, and my team and Cheren, and Bianca. "Who are you?" asked Brycen as he glared at Bianca and Cheren's direction. Soon, I felt Serperior's body around me and growling with Emolga and Zoroark. What's going on here?
"Who, us?" Bianca asked. "I'm Bianca and this is Cheren," she replies. Brycen soon looked to his left and right. I guess he wasn't talking to Cheren and Bianca. If not them, then who is he talking to?
"I know you are there! Why don't you show yourselves?" Brycen asked. Selves? There's more than one person?
Suddenly, the same three strange ninja men that I saw in my own dimension and in the Chargestone Cave, the Shadow Triad! I stayed close to my team with a little hint of fear. "Impressive, gym leader of Icirrus City. We, the Shadow Triad, are beings of the shadows and not easily noticed," the one on the right said.
"Our mission was to speak only with Ashlee, but so be it," the one at the left said to Brycen with annoyance. He then turned towards me. "Ghettos has a message for you: come to Dragonspiral Tower," he then said. Come to Dragonspiral Tower; but, why?
"It is there that our lord N waits for you," the middle one said. Now, I'm stunned! N is waiting for me; what for?!
"N?! You mean the same guy that we kept running into?" asked Bianca!
"Our mission is complete," the middle one soon said. Brycen stepped forward.
"Dragonspiral Tower?! What's going on? Tell me," demanded Brycen. But, the Shadow Triad vanished before any of us could blink. Brycen then turned to Cheren. "Now, hang on. Young man, if you're here for a gym challenge, hang on for a bit. I've got to head to Dragonspiral Tower," said Brycen!
Cheren soon stood tall. "I'm going too. Dragonspiral Tower is to the north of here right?" Cheren asked. Brycen nodded to reply. Then, Cheren and Brycen started to run towards Dragonspiral Tower.
"Guys, let's go too," I said to my team! I started to run after Cheren and Brycen with Mienfoo and Emolga hanging on to my shoulders. I noticed Bianca, Serperior, and Zoroark decided to follow me. I have a bad feeling about what's happening. All I can hope for is… Well, I hope we're not too late…
Author's note: Cliffhanger time! :,D Dun dun duuuuun! Sorry for the delay. I must say, I am sooo excited for the new Pokémon Sun & Moon to come out! The two trailers were amazing! The more Pokémon the merrier! X3 Which is sort of the reason why it took me a while to update this since I started working on pictures of the new Pokémon introduced... Well, Thanks again for reading everyone! :) I wonder what will happen next? :P