Unova Journey

Chapter 37 - Powerful Acting

The group headed to the Icirrus City Gym after eating breakfast the next morning. Kyra knew that Brycen would be a challenge, the three pokémon she was planning to use were her best counter to Ice Types, but she was still nervous.

Nate and Willow were both looking forward to the battle too, despite not being too big of a fan of the movies, they could tell Brycen was a powerful trainer.

Brycen was waiting outside the Gym with Beartic, he too was excited for the battles ahead. Beartic was on the lookout for Kyra's Lucario, he had been looking forward to battling her since they first met.

"Welcome to the Iccirus City Gym, Beartic and I have been waiting for you," Brycen said as the group came over.

"We're looking forward to the battles. Three on three I assume," Kyra replied, managing to filter her excitement into determination to battle well.

Brycen nodded, "I'll battle you last if that's alright, Beartic likes to work himself up before a battle against a pokémon as strong as your Lucario is."

Nate and Willow didn't mind going first, both of them has done some training yesterday and wanted to try out their new strategies.

Nate went first, using the trio of Emboar, his newly evolved Cofagrigus, and Excadrill. Lucario had naturally been aggressive when she saw Cofagrigus, Kyra managed to calm her down and in between Nate and Willow's battle helped her see that Nate's Cofagrigus wouldn't hurt her. Nate had done well in taking on Brycen's pokémon, despite Brycen having put up a good fight.

Next up was Willow, she was slightly less confident than Nate had been, but she wasn't going to let it faze her too much. Leading with her newly evolved Lampent from the Litwick she had caught in the Celestial Tower, she managed to take down two of Brycen's three pokémon with relative ease. Willow's sudden burst of confidence however had in fact been her near downfall, both Lampent and her newly evolved Musharna going down to Beartic's sheer power. Down to their last pokémon each, Willow sent out her Liepard and they managed to pull the battle out into a draw. Brycen was impressed with Willow's technique and let her have her Gym Badge.

Now came the battle Brycen had been most looking forward to. Kyra.

Kyra and Lucario walked to the battle field whilst Brycen healed up his three pokémon, leading Kyra to believe that Brycen would use the same three again. Even then, she couldn't rely on that totally, Brycen could very easily take her by surprise should he need to.

"We'll send our pokémon out at the same time. You may be put at a disadvantage, but it's somewhat preparing you for the unpredictability of Kyurem. Does that work for you?" Brycen suggested.

Kyra nodded and had her first pokéball at the ready. Although Darmanitan would make for a good lead, she couldn't be sure that Brycen wouldn't have coverage against Fire Types. Gothy was the better choice.

Gothy came out from her pokéball as Brycen sent out his usual lead of Vanillish, the pokémon Kyra hoped she wouldn't see. It wasn't as if Vanillish was all that strong of a pokémon, but he did still have a move Kyra was worried about. Astonish. Not only would it land super effective damage, it also had the chance to flinch Gothy. Kyra had to make sure she and Gothy attacked first wherever possible.

"Alright Gothy, let's start off with Shadow Ball!" Kyra called, making sure she got in the first move.

Gothy remembered her last major training session with Kyra and focused on her accuracy, putting her effort into making sure Shadow Ball would hit its target. The ice on the battle field made her feet slip around a bit, but it wasn't enough to stop her.

Brycen and Vanillish were taken aback the speed of Gothy's Shadow Ball, the attack already having hit its mark before Brycen had chance to even think of a counter. Kyra had trained her pokémon well.