We arrived at the Gym of Opelucid City. The building was quite large and the entrance was ornamented with two stone dragon heads. One problem. I couldn't fit through the door.
"Know what, John. Let me go inside first." said Robin. I stayed at the entrance as Robin walked into the gym. There was a girl there, sitting on the opposite side of the battlefield.
"Hello, are you the gym leader?" asked Robin.
"Yes, my name is Iris. You will be challenging me for the badge of this gym" said the girl as she jumped up off the ground.
"Um, actually, I'm looking for Drayden." said Robin. "Do you know where I could find him?"
"Oh, Drayden you say? You want to battle him? I have to warn you, Drayden is a dragon master. He is very skilled in the art of battling with dragons, and it's been a long time since he had lost to anyone. Are you sure you want to challenge Drayden?" asked Iris.
"Yes. I will take that challenge." said Robin.
"Well, Drayden isn't here right now." said Iris. "Right now he is training with his pokemon at a cave at the South side of town. You should walk down there and see if you find him."
"Ok, thank you." said Robin as we left the gym. Thank god I did not have to battle in there, for I didn't know how I was suppose to get in.
Robin hopped onto my back. What are you doing? I asked.
"I'm tired. Just take me to the cave." said Robin. I slithered down the city roads and I still had to get use to all the people staring at me. As we left the city, we approached a lake. There on the other side was a cave.
"Good thing that you're a Gyarados now. Use surf so we can swim across this body of water." said Robin. I dove into the water, making sure to purposely splash some water onto Robin. "Hey!" Robin said.
I swam across to the other side and Robin hopped off my back. She walked to the cave entrance and asked, "Hello? Drayden, are you in there?"
Before a long, a tall, old man appeared from the darkness. Following him was a salamence, garchomp, and haxorus. The man said, "Yes? I am Drayden. What is your name?"
"I'm Robin. I was told to come here by your pupil, Iris(no pun intended). I was there to challenge the Opelucid gym, but I wanted to battle you." said Robin.
"You specifically requested to battle me?" asked Drayden interested. "Ok, I accept your request. Let us battle." We moved to a large clearing where there weren't lots of trees.
"Um, drayden? There doesn't seem to be a ref." said Robin.
"We don't need one. I can judge whether or not either of our pokemon can continue to battle. Trust me, Robin. I will be fair about that." he said.
"Ok, then let's get this started." urged Robin.
Drayden summoned his three dragon pokemon back into his pokeball. "I will be using the same pokemon that iris uses for challengers." said Drayden. "Fraxure, you're up first."
"Braviary, I choose you!" said Robin. "Go in, quick, for a wing attack!"
Braviary dove towards Fraxure with great speed.
"Fraxure, dodge by jumping straight up into the air." said Drayden. At the last second, when Braviary was about to make contact, Fraxure leaped up into the air.
Robin anticipated this. "Fraxure has a disadvantage in the air! Follow him up and use wing attack again!" shouted Robin. Braviary flew up toward the Fraxure and struck him with a direct blow.
"Fraxure, grab onto Braviary's wing!" said Drayden. Fraxure did as he was told and Braviary was caught by surprise. "Throw braviary down to the ground!" shouted Drayden. The fraxure flung Braviary down towards the earth and she hit the ground with a loud crack, sending dust in the air.
"Braviary!" shouted Robin.
Drayden did not stop coming with attacks. "Fraxure, use giga impact!" Fraxure shot towards the ground where Braviary had collided and created another loud sounding impact. After the dust subsided, Robin saw that Braviary was out cold.
I realized that Drayden was quite the analyzer. Robin had the advantage in speed, but she should of exploited that by using far ranged attacks. The moment Braviary was within the reach of Fraxure, it was done for.
"It seems that your Braviary is unable to battle. You should call in your next pokemon." said Drayden.
"Alright, Emboar, come on out!" said Robin.
Drayden didn't hesitate to start. "Fraxure, use aerial ace!"
Robin was cut off guard. "Emboar, um, try to dodge!" shouted Robin. She seemed to have forgot that emboar was very slow. Emboar couldn't dodge in time and was struck by the aerial ace. It was effective, but he still had a lot of fight left.
Robin, use emboars strength. He might not be fast, but you can attack when Fraxure comes towards him. I told Robin.
"Alright. Emboar, use flamethrower." said Robin. Emboar shot a stream of fire at Fraxure.
"Fraxure, dodge that fire and use dragon claw!" shouted Drayden. Fraxure moved with great skill, avoiding the stream of fire, while also closing the distance between Emboar and himself. When Fraxure was within reach, he jumped up into the air and prepared for dragon claw.
"Now!, Emboar, use Brick Break!" shouted Robin. When Emboar went to swing at the Fraxure, he missed.
"What?" said Robin confused. It appears that the dragon claw was distraction. When Fraxure jumped up in the air, instead of landing in front of Emboar like Robin expected, he landed behind him. Now, Fraxure had a direct shot at emboar and there was no way Emboar could react in time.
"Emboar, use heat crash!" shouted Robin. Without wondering why, Emboar released a large wave of fire energy that blasted in all directions, and because Fraxure was so close to emboar and he weighed much less than Emboar did, the heat crash did heavy damage and sent Fraxure flying across the field.
"It seems that my Fraxure is unable to battle." said Drayden as he summoned him back into his pokeball. "Ok, Druddigon, you're up!"
"Emboar, use flamethrower!"shouted Robin.
"Druddigon, counter with your flamethrower!" shouted Drayden.
The two pokemons' flamethrowers collided with one another. It was contest between who had the stronger flamethrower. There was one problem though. Robin could see that Emboar was becoming tired.
"Emboar, use scald!" shouted Robin. Scald was a water move that Emboar learned. Because water beats fire, Emboar's stream of hot water penetrated Druddigon's flamethrower, causing the two moves to cancel out and steam to form. I couldn't see anything, but Robin knew the location of Druddigon.
"Emboar, charge straight up ahead and use Head Smash!" Emboar charged into the steam and we heard a loud crack of two skulls crashing together. When the steam dissipated, I was shocked to see Emboar knocked out while Druddigon was still able to battle.
"Wait? What happened?" asked Robin confused.
"Rock Smash is a move that is very damage dealing, but it also does a lot of damage to yourself. Combined with the fact that druddigon has rough skin, your Emboar took a lot of damage when he went head on with Druddigon. But that is not to say it was futile, for you did a lot of damage to more Druddigon.
As Robin looked closer, she noticed that Druddigon did seem to be damaged. Robin summoned Emboar back into his pokeball. Robin thought long and hard what pokemon she should use last. This was an important decision. Then, she looked up towards me.
"Hey, John. Do you want to battle?" asked Robin.
Of course. I said as I slithered onto the stage. When I was facing Druddigon, I realized that size might not be an advantage. Druddigon was smaller than me, which meant that he was a smaller target, while I was a larger target.
"Use Night Slash!" shouted Drayden as Druddigon jumped up for an attack.
"John, use Hydro pump!" shouted Robin. I aimed toward Druddigon and blasted a thick stream of water at him.
The hydro pump acted as a threat, for Druddigon moved away from me as I attacked. He realized that he needed to make sure none of my moves hit him.
"Alright, Druddigon, use double team." said Drayden. I took me a moment to compute what was happening. Druddigon began created after images of himself and they were all situated around me. There were now four druddigons on the field, and I had no idea which one was which.
"John, use aqua tail and sweep it around you in a circular motion!" shouted Robin. I figured out what her motive was. I did as I was told and swung my tail around, none tried to dodge except for the one on the left. He jumped up dodging my tail. That's the real one!
Without a second to spare, I lounged at the dodging Druddigon and chomped down on his body with ice fang. Druddigon fell to the ground and was unconscious.
"I admire the way you think fast on your feet" complemented Drayden. "Now it's time for my last pokemon. Haxorus, come on out!" shouted Drayden. Haxorus appeared on the field and he looked very aggressive and ready for a fight.
"Haxorus, use outrage!" shouted Drayden. Haxorus body glowed red as it leaped towards me and struck me right on the neck. I didn't even see the attack coming. I was forced back a bit and felt pain rush through my body. I was still able to fight, but I needed to make sure not to be careless anymore.
"Gyarados, go up for an ice fang!" shouted Robin. Before I went for the attack, I moved slowly around Haxorus trying to read him. He was also trying to read me.
"If your Gyarados won't go with the attack, then I will. Haxorus, use slash!" shouted Drayden. Haxorus pounced at me with his claws out stretched. Robin might not have commanded what I did next, but I felt it was necessary. Way before Haxorus was within range of me, I use my tail and latched onto Haxorus's body. He struggled in confusion as I coiled my body around him, trapping him in my grasp.
This is when I went down for the ice fang and landed the hit. It was effective, but Haxorus was not going down that easily.
"Haxorus, use Guillotine." said Drayden.
"John, quick! Get away from Haxorus!" shouted Robin. I heard Drayden's command and I acknowledged that I had Guillotine was a one shot KO. I thought for a moment. If I were to try and release him to get distance, there is no way I would be able to dodge the axes on his head. It would take too much time for me to uncoil. Haxorus could use that time to strike.
Instead, I squeezed Haxorus even harder, making sure that he couldn't even move his head. It worked. He was completely immobile. He could not even turn his neck to hit me with Guillotine.
"Use Dragon Dance!" shouted Drayden. Haxorus began to glow red and as he was storing up energy. I realized that Drayden wanted Haxorus to gain enough energy so he could break free from my grasp. But then it came to me how I could easily finish the battle. I looked towards Robin and she seemed to read what I had in mind.
I released my grasp on Haxorus while he was storing up energy and this made both Drayden and Haxorus drop their guard. They were surprised that I gave up my advantage.
"Use Dragon Tail!" shouted Robin. Once my tail was free from being wrapped around Haxorus, I quickly slammed it down upon his head, sending him collapsing onto the ground. There was a long moment of silence until Robin and I realized that we had won the battle. Haxorus was knocked out cold.
"Yes! Yes! You did it John! We defeated Drayden!" shouted Robin happily.
Drayden stared in surprise, and then he gained his composure and summoned Haxorus back into his pokeball. "Robin, that was truly an amazing battle. You and your pokemon were completely in sync. I never would have known you had this much potential Robin." said Drayden.
Drayden walked up to Robin and pulled something out of his pocket. It was the legend badge. "Here, Robin. You fully deserve this badge to prove your victory against me. Most people have this badge from defeating Iris, but this badge truly means that you had defeated a dragon master." said Drayden.
"Wow, thank you. Drayden." said Robin.
"It's been a long time since a challenger had defeated me. But, Robin. Why did you decide to battle me? You could have battled Iris and you would have won with ease." said Drayden.
"Well, Brycen informed me that you were the true gym leader." said Robin. She paused for a second realizing her real answer. "And because I wanted to take a challenge and enhance my battling skills."
"Robin, you truly are a unique trainer." said Drayden.
"And also, this is my last badge. Now I can go to the Unova League!" said Robin excitedly.
"Really?" asked Drayden. "You are more than ready for the league. I wish you luck and the very best at the championships."
"Thank you." said Robin. " I will try my best. I heard there are a lot of challenging trainers at the league."
"Yes, that is true. But with someone with skills like you, you would do great in the league." said Drayden. We bid Drayden farewell as we continued on our way. As we were on the main road again, Robin hopped on me and said, "Hey, John. I am the luckiest trainer in the world to bump into you back in Nuvema Town. Thank you for being such a great companion."
I didn't know how to respond to the compliment. My face began to turn red and Robin noticed for the first time. "Are you blushing?" teased Robin.
No...No I'm not! I said defensively. Robin laughed at how embarrassed I was. When she finally settled down, she looked on ahead.
"Well, let's hurry to our next stop. And it could be our last stop too." said Robin. "Unova League, here we come!"