Chapter 31 – Fire, Ice, and Lightning
The day after the big party, Trevor left to continue running Rapidash all over Johto. May and I headed for the Mahogany Gym. May told me, "Mahogany's gym leader is Pryce. He specializes in ice type Pokemon." I said, "Then Flamefox and Firestorm are shoe-ins!" She replied, "And it's perfect for me to level up Amber and Fierymane!" The 2 of us entered the gym, accompanied by our fire foxes. Inside, the gym was very cold. "Whoa, who left the freezer opened?" I asked. May said, "It feels like an Arctic front passed through here!" An older man with white hair, who walked with a cane, approached us. "Are you Pryce?" I asked him. He replied, "Yes. Can I help you?" I answered, "I'd… we'd like to challenge you for a Glacier Badge!" He replied, "Okay. Which of you challenges me first?" We looked at each other, and I said, "You can go first, May. I know you're one badge shorter than I am." She asked, "Are you sure?" I replied, "Yeah, go ahead." She said, "Okay, thanks!" We all soon entered Pryce's icy arena. "This will be a 3 on 3 battle, no time limit. Let the battle begin" Pryce said. "Right! Amber, you're up first!" May said. With her pink bow perfectly centered in the curly orange-ish hair on her head, Amber stood ready to battle. I never really realized before how much lighter Amber was compared to my Vulpix – she was more of a light tan than reddish brown. Pryce said, "For my first Pokemon, I choose Seel!" The white, seal-like Pokemon appeared. "Be careful, May! Seel is part water type!" I warned her. She said, "Thanks, Joe! Don't worry, we will!" Pryce shouted, "Seel, start things off with whirlpool!" Seel launched a tornado of water at Amber. "Amber, use your agility to avoid it!" May yelled. Amber was quick, and the water missed her! "Now use flamethrower!" May commanded. Amber launched a powerful stream of flames at Seel, which hit him and did some damage, but he still stood back up, battle ready. "Aurora beam, Seel!" Pryce ordered. "Amber, use dig!" May yelled. Amber quickly burrowed under the ice and the aurora beam missed her! I was quite impressed – May had been training Amber with much more diligence ever since Flamefox defeated Amber in battle, and it seemed like Amber had grown 10 levels since our battle! May was definitely as good, if not a better, trainer than I! Amber burrowed right underneath Seel, and shot up from under the ice, which sent him flying backwards to the ground. Then Amber's body began to glow. "Could it be…?" I asked, looking at Flamefox and Firestorm. They nodded at me, and I said, "May, she's learning fire spin!" To that, May shouted, "Amber, use it!" Amber's body glowed brightly, and her eyes glowed bright white as she released the tornado of flames from her mouth. The flames wrapped around Seel, and once they dispersed, he fell to the ground, defeated! In her first gym battle, Amber hadn't taken a single hit, and she learned a new attack! "Way to go, Amber!" May shouted, and picked up her Vulpix to give her a big hug. "Congratulations, May! Amber is just getting stronger and stronger!" I said to her. Pryce said, "Your Vulpix was very impressive. But next, I choose Dewgong!" The much larger, evolved form of Seel appeared. May put Amber down next to Flamefox, and they nuzzled. Then May took out her next pokeball and said, "Go, Fierymane!" and her Ponyta entered the icy arena. "Dewgong, use aurora beam!" Pryce shouted. "Avoid it with agility, Fierymane!" May commanded. The aurora beam just missed her as she darted out of the way. "Now use stomp!" she ordered. Fierymane kicked Dewgong with her hooves, which sent him flying backwards to the ground! "Dewgong, use surf!" Pryce ordered. Dewgong stood back up and launched torrents of water at Fierymane! "Fierymane, get out of there!" May shouted. The torrents of water were too much for her to avoid and she was hit! She whinnied as she fell to the ground, her flames getting extinguished by the attack. "Fierymane, no!" May yelled. The attack ceased, and Fierymane just lay there, her flames barely burning. May ran over to her Ponyta and hugged her, saying "Fierymane, please just be okay." Pryce said, "It looks like your Ponyta was in over her head." May continued, "Fierymane, I won't make you battle any more this round, okay?" To that, Fierymane lifted her head and stood up. Her flames suddenly began to burn even more intensely! She wasn't ready to give up yet! "Fierymane, do you want to continue to battle?" May asked her. Fierymane nodded and whinnied. She commanded, "Okay, Fierymane, use take down!" I was impressed again. May and her Pokemon seemed to have as strong a bond as me and my Pokemon. But as Fierymane ran at Dewgong, Pryce ordered, "Dewgong, use ice beam!" He launched the ice beam directly at the charging Fierymane and froze her in a block of ice in her tracks! "Fierymane!" May shouted. "Now use head butt!" Pryce shouted. Dewgong launched himself at the frozen Ponyta and hit her, knocking her against the wall, which shattered the ice surrounding her, and she fell to the floor! "May, recall her!" I said. She looked at me, nodded, then pulled out her pokeball and reluctantly said, "Fierymane, return!" Her Ponyta was recalled to her pokeball. Then May pulled out her next pokeball and threw it, shouting, "Go, Raichu!" The pokeball released the large electric mouse. "Launch another ice beam, Dewgong!" Pryce ordered. "Raichu, avoid it with agility!" May shouted. Raichu was fast, and avoided being hit by the attack! "Now use thunder!" she shouted. Raichu released the powerful electric lightning attack and hit Dewgong right on the horn on his head! The Dewgong pulsated with electricity before he crashed to the ground! "Yes! Good work, Raichu!" May shouted, hugging her big electric mouse. "Rai, rai!" he responded back. Pryce said, "This battle isn't over yet! Now I break out the big gun. Jynx, go!" and he released the ice/psychic human female form Pokemon. May commanded, "Raichu, use quick attack!" Raichu ran at Jynx in a blur! "Jynx, use ice punch!" Pryce ordered. Jynx made a fist and punched in Raichu's direction, hitting him with a powerful ice punch before he could even reach her, and he fell backwards onto the floor! "Raichu!" May shouted. Raichu stood right back up. "Good, Raichu! Now use thunderbolt!" May exclaimed. Raichu launched the powerful electric attack, and directly hit Jynx! She stumbled around for a minute, but still stood afterwards. "Jynx, use attract!" Pryce commanded. "Oh no!" May said, as Jynx began swaying back and forth in a hypnotic dance. Raichu's eyes fixated on her and he was motionless, in a trance. "Snap out of it, Raichu!" May shouted at him. It was no good – he stood like a statue, just staring at the dancing Jynx. "Finish it off with a psychic attack!" Pryce shouted. Jynx let out a powerful blast of psychic energy, and Raichu took a direct hit! He was knocked out cold! "Raichu, return!" May shouted, recalling him to his pokeball. She then looked at Amber and said, "It's up to you now, Amber! I know you can do it!" Amber nodded, and the light tan Vulpix re-entered the arena, with her pink bow still perfectly in place, ready to fight! Amber and Jynx stared each other down. "Jynx, use psychic again!" Pryce ordered. "Amber, use your agility to avoid it!" May commanded. But the psychic attack was too powerful, and Amber had nowhere to run. Amber fell as soon as the powerful blast of psychic energy hit her! "Amber!" May shouted, and ran over to her Vulpix. Amber weakly stood back up. Concerned about Amber, I said, "May, she can't take another psychic blast like that!" May petted Amber, looked at me, and said, "I know. But we're not giving up yet!" I was stunned. I think I admired May and Amber at that moment more than I ever had before. "Amber, you can do this! I believe in you!" May said to her in encouragement. I could see the fire in the eyes of both of them – they were both determined to win, no matter the cost! Pryce shouted, "One more psychic attack, Jynx!" May said to Amber, "Okay, time for one of our secret combos! You know what to do, Amber!" "Vulpix!" Amber replied, and she proceeded to use dig! I asked May, "What secret combo? You never said anything to me about a secret combo!" May answered, "That's because it's a secret! If I told you, I'd have to kill you!" and she winked at me! I just stood there, dumbfounded. Jynx launched the psychic blast, but Amber had burrowed under the ground, so the attack missed her! "Now let's finish it off, Amber!" May shouted. Amber shot up from the ice under Jynx, and sent Jynx flying in to air. Once Jynx fell to the ground, Amber launched an intense flamethrower at her! "No!" Pryce shouted. Once the flames had dispersed, the match was over – Jynx was defeated! Amber collapsed to the ground, exhausted. May ran over to pick her up, gave her a big hug, and exclaimed, "Way to go, Amber!" Flamefox, Firestorm, and I walked over to May, and I said, "Great work, May!" Pryce recalled Jynx, then walked over to us, and said, "That was a very impressive battle, young woman! You've earned yourself a Glacier Badge." May took the badge in her hand and said, "Thanks!" Then he said, "I'm taking my Pokemon right over to the Pokemon Center. Would you 2 like to join me?" May said, "Yeah, I want to have mine all healed up for my next battle!" So the 3 of us walked over to the Pokemon Center. Flamefox and Firestorm walked with me, and May carried Amber.
After May's and Pryce's Pokemon had been examined and treated, Nurse Joy said it would be a good idea to let them rest for a day before going into any more battles, but Fierymane was okay to ride. We walked back to Pryce's gym. Pryce said to me, "It looks like our battle will have to wait a day. At the moment, I only have one other ice Pokemon that's ready to battle that I didn't use against May. But I'd rather give you a 3 on 3 battle, as well, to be fair." I said, "That's okay. I guess I can wait. We'll stick around town." Pryce then said, "If you want, you can visit my son, Martin. He lives in the Ice Cave, up in the moutains just out of town." We both looked surprised, and I asked him, "He lives there?" Pryce replied, "Yes, he likes the cold. Gets that from me, I guess. And he's discovered a new ice type Pokemon no one's ever seen before. He's gone into breeding them on his own." May got excited, "A Pokemon breeder, huh? I'm thinking of becoming a Pokemon breeder, too. We should go check it out, Joe!" I said, "Okay. It sounds like fun. We'll go!" Pryce took out a couple of heavy jackets and said, "You're going to need these! Just follow the mountain trail marked Route 44, leading up to the Ice Cave." We said, "Thanks, Pryce!" Then we left the gym, I mounted on Tauros and May mounted on Fierymane, and we headed off for Route 44, Flamefox in my lap, Amber in May's lap, and Firestorm ran beside us. We were on our way to the Ice Cave!