Xander and the others followed Kent onto the main arena. The arena was a smooth rectangle with a line down the center that had two circles in the middle, making it resemble a Pokeball.
Xander stood at one of the long ends of the rectangle while Kent stood at the other. Standing in the middle of one of the long ends was a referee wearing a black gi.
"This will be a Pokemon battle between Trainer Xander and Veilstone Gym Leader Kent. Since the trainer has less than 4 Gym Badges, this battle will be Xander's entire team against 2 Pokemon from Mr. Kent's Gym Battle team.
The battle will be until all the Pokemon under one trainer lose consciousness. Does either trainer have any questions?" the referee turned to Xander to see if he had anything to ask
"Nope. I'm ready to battle," Xander was eager to have his first official battle
The referee turned to Kent who nodded that he was ready as well. With both of them ready, the referee raised his hand before suddenly bringing it down.
"Let the battle... Begin!"
Xander grabbed the familiar ball on his belt and casually tossed it in front of him, summoning Ninetales before him and stunning all of the trainers who were watching the match.
When Xander threw out his Pokeball until it reached the middle of the arena, summoning a humanoid Pokémon with a predominantly pale purple body and brown hips and feet that resembled short pants and shoes in the middle of the field.
[Tyrogue, the Scuffle Pokemon. It is famous for its eagerness to fight and always nurses injuries from challenging larger foes.]
'So that is the Pokemon he sends out first. Looks like this match is mine,' Xander smirked before giving Ninetales her first command.
"Ninetales, go for Control. Once you're ready, you can go Mage," Xander told Ninetales who was sitting in front of him
'Got it. Just watch me,' Ninetales replied, looking at Tyrogue with disdain. Tyrogue glared back at her, ready to test himself against Ninetales.
Cold energy began to gather around Ninetales before she released it in a wave of snow and fog. Soon, the entire field was covered in snow while the air had heavy mist and snow falling from the sky, blocking Tyrogue from seeing anything.
Its species being used to environments like this, Ninetales could see through the weather conditions as if it was a sunny day.
Once she got the field under control, Ninetales unleashed a gust of cold wind from her mouth, firing it in Tyrogue's direction. Tyrogue was unable to see the cold wind coming, getting hit by it directly.
Although the wind did not damage its body too much, Tyrogue could feel his muscles stiffen as a chill ran through its limbs.
Kent looked at the battle and saw that his Pokemon had just been struck with [Icy Wind] and knew that the battle was over for it.
'So that regional Ninetales is an Ice Type. No wonder the other kid was so confident that he would win the bet. It's too bad for him that it seems to be good at setting up the field to suit its moveset.
It used [Snowscape] and [Mist] to block Tyrogue's vision as well as power its own defense. Then it used [Icy Wind] to slow down Tyrogue and give it even more of a disadvantage. The Pokemon I brought with me won't be able to handle it,' Kent knew that Ninetales was already at the level of an Intermediate Pokemon that could take on Gyms with 4-6 badges.
Kent stayed silent as Ninetales unleashed several more Ice moves until Tyrogue was knocked unconscious. Kent pulled out his Pokeball and recalled Tyrogue before sending out another into the snowstorm that Ninetales had created.
"Tyrogue, charge straight in! You need to find that Ninetales if you want a chance!" Kent gave his Tyrogue a command but knew it was useless. The Ninetales most likely had Snow Cloak which would let it blend in more easily in the mist and snowstorm.
"Ninetales, go full Mage," Xander also gave a new order, no longer worried about setting up the field.
'Let's do it!' Ninetales summoned several spears of ice around her, firing them at Tyrogue who was charging forward. The spears struck the Pokemon from the side and knocked it back slightly but it soon recovered and charged in the direction that the spears came from. Unfortunately for Tyrogue, Ninetales had already moved from its position.
When Tyrogue arrived at the position that Ninetales was previously at, more spears of ice arrived from a different location. When these struck it, Tyrogue wasn't able to take the hit and was knocked out of the arena, losing consciousness.
When the referee saw this, he raised his hand and concluded the match.
"Both of the Gym Leader's Pokemon are unable to battle. The winner is Xander and his Ninetales," the referee concluded, a bit surprised that Xander had won so easily. His Ninetales was clearly on a different level and was able to compete at a much higher level.
When the conclusion of the match was decided, Ninetales ended the snowstorm and mist covering the field, revealing her body standing nobly in front of Xander. She looked noble and had a small amount of haughtiness in her eyes but that was washed away when Xander tackled her from behind and hugged her neck.
"We did it, Ninetales! We got our first Gym Badge!" Xander shouted, excited that they had won their first match
'As long as you are happy,' Ninetales responded, leaning into the bug and wrapping her tails around Xander.
The duo stayed like that for a few moments before breaking off from one another. Xander then ran over to Cynthia and was met with an equally eager girl as the two hugged in celebration.
"You did it! You won your first Gym Badge!"Cynthia congratulated Xander wholeheartedly excited that he had won
"Thanks. That means that you're up next," Xander did not forget to remind Cynthia that she was also about to have her battle. "Make sure you win just as beautifully as I did."
Dahlia let the pair hug before she walked over to Xander and pat him on the shoulder.
"Congrats, Xander. You just took the first step to Junior Conference," Dahlia was surprised that Ninetales had won without even using her Fairy moves but that just meant that Xander was already a powerful trainer who was ready to battle stronger gyms in her eyes
"Thanks. I'll be sure to work hard so I can get there," Xander nodded, knowing he was still a long way from actually competing