Ivan vs Falkner- Zephyr Badge Challenge

Ivan looked at the field and the blue-haired leader approaching. The battle was over? This was the way that the gym leader would be defeated? Ivan was confused about what was going on exactly. One minute ago, Falkner seemed to be ignoring Ivan. Once Ivan had caught his attention, Falkner started to throw insults. Now, only a minute later, Falkner was admitting defeat and giving Ivan his first badge. Sure, Falkner was still showing off signs of self-imposed superiority with the luck statement, but Falkner started changing his tune.

Ivan took the badge and was staring at it, trying to absorb everything that was going on. Anubis was still crouched down, looking to continue his battle. Meanwhile, Dodger, Rosebud, and Bellsprout were standing behind Ivan looking up admirably at him. "thank you," was all that he could squeak out as he turned around and headed back towards the elevator. He felt as though he was walking in a dream: this feeling of conquering one of Johto's gym leaders was overwhelming.

Ivan and his pokemon descended on the platform elevator to the ground floor. Ivan took a few steps and then froze. He turned around and saw his four un-cased pokemon walking behind him and smiled. He then squatted down on the ground and extended his arms to embrace his pokemon... mainly Dodger and Anubis, who were limping along in the front of the pack.

"We did it!" exclaimed Ivan. "You guys were terrific out there! Thank you for believing in me."

Ivan shot back up to a standing position and made his way back outside. He was feeling a new air of confidence as he emerged from Violet City's gym with his new Zephyr Badge.