Episode 38: The Winter Trainer
Niko woke up later than usual the following morning feeling refreshed from the day previous. Looking around at magneton, yanma, and noctowl sleeping on or near his bed, and croconaw resting in an armchair far away, he thought about his gym battle that day against Pryce. Knowing that he would use primarily ice types, Niko had some strategy in mind, but figured that he might have to adjust it depending on what Pryce actually used.
Fay largely felt the same way. He knew for sure which pokémon he wanted to use, but understood that the order in which he used them would have to wait until the battle started.
The group had a late breakfast before proceeding over to the Mahogany gym. Walking inside, they immediately noticed how cold it was. However, they came prepared, and put on some thick sweaters that they bought back in Ecruteak to help them deal with the cold. Moments after they entered the gym, an old-looking man walked in from their right with a cane in his left hand. He was wearing beige slacks and a navy blue overcoat with a white scarf running down both sides of the front. He smirked as he studied the four young trainers.
"Well, hello there," the man said in an oddly cheerful voice. "How may I help you?"
"Oh, hello," Niko said, trying to warm up his hands by rubbing them furiously against one another. "We're here to challenge the Mahogany gym. My name is Niko, and this is Fay, Brittany and JJ."
"All of you want to challenge me?" Pryce said with a look of surprise.
Niko shook his head aggressively. "Oh, no no sir. Just me and Fay!" Niko explained, reaching out his hand to shake Pryce's. "I assume you're the gym leader, then?"
Pryce nodded. "Indeed I am, Niko. Very well. I will move to the other end of the battlefield and we will begin. My grandson occasionally steps in to judge. He's sitting over there, and usually greets my challengers if I'm away. Luckily, I showed up the same time you all did."
Pryce walked over to the other end of the battlefield and turned to face Fay, who would be battling first. "This is a three-on-three battle, understood? You may begin when ready."
Fay nodded, whipping out his first pokémon. "Sudowoodo, you're up!"
Pryce smirked again. "You've come prepared. Very well. Dewgong, I choose you! Use whirlpool!"
"Sudowoodo, dodge and use rock throw!" Fay commanded. Sudowoodo, having observed horsea's ability to use whirlpool in the past, understood how to effectively counter it, and evaded just as the whirlpool landed. The imitation pokémon then conjured a rock above its head and tossed it at the sea lion pokémon.
The attack landed, but dewgong wasn't about to give in to a single move. It launched an aurora beam at sudowoodo, who took the hit but didn't seem too damaged by it. The two pokémon exchanged aurora beams and rock throws, each trying to dodge the other. Half of the gym was a pool, in order to accommodate for dewgong and other water types, and so the sea lion evaded by diving into the water occasionally.
"Dewgong, use icy wind!" Pryce shouted out. Like Jasmine, he was calm at first but quickly got fired up.
"Sudowoodo, brace yourself for the attack!" Fay said, holding his arm up to his eyes to protect them from the cold blast of air. The imitation pokémon stood there, trying to deal with the attack. However, it froze as a result of the attack. "Sudowoodo!"
"Dewgong, finish it off with whirlpool!" Pryce yelled out. The sea lion conjured a whirlpool out of the water and levitated it from the pool as it tossed it in sudowoodo's direction. The attack slammed into the rock type and defeated it.
"Sudowoodo is unable to battle, dewgong wins! Fay will now use his second pokémon!" Pryce's grandson declared.
"Sudowoodo, return. You did great. Flaaffy, you're up! Use thunderwave!"
"Dewgong, use icy wind!" Pryce shouted. He had hoped that icy wind would disrupt the thunderwave, and it seemed to work as he planned. "Now, follow up with aurora beam!"
"Flaaffy, use thundershock!" Fay commanded. The electric attack met the rainbow-colored beam, creating a small explosion in the middle of the field. "Now, use thunderpunch!"
The wool pokémon rushed forward its opponent, leaping into the air, its fist generating wild electricity. Pryce commanded dewgong use icy wind to halt it in midair, but flaaffy still managed to land the attack, punching dewgong in the side of the face. Both pokémon fell into the water, but only one was defeated.
"Dewgong is unable to battle, flaaffy wins! Pryce will send out his second pokémon!"
"Seel, you're up!" Pryce shouted out. "Use aurora beam!"
"Flaaffy, endure the attack!" Fay commanded, still unsure of how he could escape that move. It didn't seem possible, and so riding it out seemed to be the best option. Flaaffy didn't seem too troubled by it, unlike sudowoodo. "Now, use thunderwave!"
"Seel, dive into the water!" Pryce commanded. The sea lion pokémon dove into the pool to avoid the wave of electricity aimed at it. "Now, use aurora beam again!"
"Flaaffy, use thunderpunch!" Fay commanded. The wool pokémon rushed forward once again, its fist lighting up with electricity. However, it took the aurora beam head on, which knocked it back several feet. The electricity in its fist disappeared.
"Seel, use headbutt!" Pryce said. Seel leapt out of the water and onto the field, sliding towards flaaffy. It lowered its head and collided with the wool pokémon as it was getting back up.
"Flaaffy now's your chance! Use thunderpunch!" Fay commanded, throwing his hand out in a gesture. The wool pokémon didn't hesitate as it slammed its fist atop seel's head, effectively knocking out the pokémon.
Pryce smirked though. "Nice job, Fay. Maybe I should have saved dewgong for later. I can see why. Now, however, I think I have you beat. Piloswine, let's go!" The old man shouted out with an unfamiliar fury in his tone. Niko whipped out his pokédex to check out the unfamiliar pokémon:
"Piloswine, the swine pokémon. Ice and ground type. Although its legs are short, its rugged hooves prevent it from slipping, even on icy ground."
"Flaaffy, use flash!" Fay shouted out.
"Piloswine, close your eyes and use blizzard!" Pryce shouted out. The swine pokémon's fur shook rapidly as it created a powerful blizzard move that knocked flaaffy off of its feet, its flash move ineffective. "Now, use take down!"
The ice type rushed forward with incredible speed, colliding with flaaffy and sending it sliding across the portion of the battlefield that was solid. Pryce commanded it use blizzard once again, which effectively finished flaaffy off.
"Flaaffy is unable to battle, piloswine wins! Fay will now send out his third and final pokémon!"
"This should be no surprise. Quilava, I choose you!"
"Hmm. Fire type. Got it," Pryce said, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Quilava, use flame wheel!" Fay commanded.
"Piloswine, detect!" Pryce said calmly. The volcano pokémon slammed into the swine pokémon, only to be bounced backwards, sliding across the field. "Now use take down!"
Piloswine rushed forward at an incredible pace, slamming into quilava before falling back again and using icy wind.
"Quilava, use flame wheel to protect from the icy wind, and run at piloswine!" Fay commanded. Quilava shot forward again, able to evade the icy wind by warming itself up. It slammed into piloswine, nearly knocking both of them into the pool behind them. But piloswine caught quilava in its tusks and threw the volcano pokémon high into the air.
"Piloswine, use blizzard!" Pryce shouted out again. As quilava was in the air, it felt the blizzard and began to freeze. By the time it landed back on the field, it was essentially an ice cube.
Fay scoffed under his breath. This wouldn't be hard to get out of. "Quilava, use ember!"
Unsurprisingly, quilava was able to melt the ice that was holding it in place, the ice quickly turning to water and then to vapor. "Now, use flame wheel!"
"Piloswine, use take down!"
The two pokémon rushed at each other, one at a rapid speed, and the other while on fire. The two collided, creating a small explosion of powdered ice. Once the cloud of ice dissipated, piloswine was on its side, and quilava was just getting back on its feet.
"Piloswine is unable to battle, quilava wins! The victory goes to Fay!" Pryce's grandson declared.
"Great job quilava, I'm very proud of you," Fay said as the volcano pokémon walked back over to its trainer to greet him. Fay returned the fire type as he began to trade places with Niko while Pryce went to go and heal his pokémon for the next battle.
A couple minutes later Pryce walked back to his side of the field with his cane to aid him. He turned to Niko, who it seems was also ready. Pryce smirked, and tossed out his first pokémon.
"Seel, let's go!"
"Magneton, I choose you!" Niko shouted, sending out his trusty magnet pokémon. "Use thunderbolt!"
"Seel, dodge and then use icy wind!" Pryce commanded. The sea lion dove into the water to avoid the bolt of electricity aimed for it and, when it reappeared a moment later, it summoned a chilly air in an attempt to stop magneton. However, it didn't seem to work, and magneton used thunderwave to stop seel in its tracks.
"Magneton, finish it off with thunderbolt!" Niko shouted out. The electric attack successfully landed, shocking the sea lion and causing it to faint.
"Seel is unable to battle, magneton wins! Pryce will send out his second pokémon!"
"Alright then, Niko. Your magneton is strong, I'll give it that. Piloswine, I choose you!" Pryce said calmly in a clear change of strategy. "Use blizzard!"
"Magneton, sonicboom!" Niko commanded. The trio of magnets spun around to generate sonic energy and launched it as the blizzard began to pick up. It slammed into piloswine, but the ground type didn't seem phased. "Use sonicboom again!"
"Is that all you've got?" Pryce asked in a slightly teasing tone. "If so, you're in for some trouble. Piloswine, use detect!"
The swine pokémon blocked the sonicboom and, under Pryce's command, rushed in for a take down. Magneton dodged the take down and used sonicboom again, albeit much weaker though, since it was conjured quicker. Piloswine used detect again, successfully blocking the move, and followed up with blizzard.
Magneton seemed to slow down for this second attack, and after piloswine landed a successful take down, Niko decided to change his strategy as well.
"Magneton, return. Croconaw, I choose you!" Niko shouted, summoning his disobedient pokémon.
"Why is he using croconaw? Doesn't it refuse to listen to him?" Brittany asked. It appeared that neither JJ nor Fay could provide an answer to this, and insisted on continuing to watch the match.
"Croconaw, use whirlpool!" Niko commanded. Instead, the big jaw pokémon turned to its trainer and scoffed, choosing to run over and jump in the pool. However, after realizing how cold the water it, croconaw immediately leapt back out and was intercepted by piloswine, who used take down on it.
The water type looked up at piloswine and growled under its breath. It then ran at the swine pokémon, who dodged its rather feeble attempts at attacking and used detect whenever they were about to. Piloswine eventually used another take down which croconaw struggled to recover from.
"Croconaw, what are you doing?" Niko shouted. "You want to win, don't you?"
Croconaw turned to Niko and scowled at him, then turned to piloswine, who was racing towards the big jaw pokémon once more. With a final take down, croconaw was defeated.
"Croconaw is unable to battle, piloswine wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!" The judge declared.
Niko, furious at both himself and croconaw, took out his third pokéball. "Noctowl, let's go!"
"A flying type? Interesting choice, Niko," Pryce commented, looking up at the large owl. "Piloswine, use blizzard!"
"Noctowl we can fight this! I believe that we can! Use steel wing!" Niko commanded, throwing out a very numb hand in front of him. The owl pokémon dove down at its opponent, braving the gust of cold air as its wings began to glow a light gray color. It collided with piloswine, only to learn that it had used detect to effectively dodge the move.
Niko scowled. This battle wasn't easy. But then again, no one ever told him it would be. He just had to be persevering. "Noctowl, use steel wing again!" He commanded.
Once again, the owl pokémon dove down at piloswine, its wings glowing. This time the attack landed, sending both pokémon sliding across the battlefield. Once the cloud of powdered ice dissipated, noctowl was still standing.
"Piloswine is unable to battle, noctowl wins! Pryce will now send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Dewgong, you're up! Use icy wind!"
"Noctowl, brave the cold air! Use steel wing again!" Niko commanded for a third time. Noctowl attempted to repeat the move, diving into dewgong who unleashed a powerful gust of cold air in its direction. The attack landed, but noctowl's vulnerability to ice type moves ultimately did it in.
"Noctowl is unable to battle, dewgong wins! Niko will now send out his final pokémon!"
"Magneton, let's go!" Niko commanded. He realized that dewgong would be more difficult to defeat than Pryce's seel was, and warned magneton to be more cautious as a result. "Use thunder wave!"
"Evade the move, dewgong! You know the drill!" Pryce shouted. The sea lion leapt into the water once again, evading the thunderwave. It jumped back out of the water onto the icy battlefield and unleashed a powerful aurora beam at magneton, who dodged and retaliated with thunderbolt. The attack hit, but dewgong was far from defeated.
"Magneton, use thunderbolt again!" Niko shouted out. The move hit dewgong in exchange for aurora beam, knocking both pokémon several feet backwards. "Now, finish it off with sonicboom!"
"Dewgong, use rest!" Pryce commanded. The sea lion began to fall asleep, its body emitting a bright white glow, as if it were evolving. "Hmm…now, when dewgong wakes up it will be at full health. It might be checkmate, Niko."
"Maybe so. But not for me. Magneton, use thunderbolt!"
The magnet pokémon vibrated wildly as it unleashed a bolt of electricity at its opponent. Then, on Niko's command, finished off the dewgong with a sonicboom. The sea lion fell backwards, having just woken up prior to the sonicboom landing.
"Dewgong is unable to battle, magneton wins! The victory goes to Niko!" The judge declared.
Niko held his arms out as a tired magneton floated over to embrace its trainer. Fay, Brittany, and JJ joined Niko down at his end of the field while Pryce and his grandson walked across the edge of the battlefield to join them. As he did so, the gym leader pulled out two gym badges from his coat pocket and handed them to Niko and Fay.
"Congrats boys, you have both earned the glacier badge. They say that every gym battle teaches a challenger something new, but I would like to think that they teach gym leaders something new, as well. In this case, I have learned that I need something to counter electric types! Hah!"
Niko and Fay smiled rather sheepishly. Both of their electric types single-handedly defeated two of Pryce's pokémon each. He was correct, but they were certainly to blame for that.
After thanking Pryce for the battle, the group left the gym and walked back to the pokémon center to relax and plan out the next leg of their journey, the destination of which would be Niko and Fay's final gym match in the Johto region.