Iris

Iris as how she appears in the first half of Season 9. Her Gym Leader slogan is "The Girl Who Knows the Hearts of Dragons."

### Affiliation

Harmonic Starlight Skies (ally), Unovian Gym Leaders (Seasons 6 to 8)

### Occupation

Pokémon Trainer, Gym Leader (Seasons 6 to 8), Champion (First half of Season 9)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Eileen Stevens (English)Aoi Yūki (Japanese)

**Iris** (**アイリス** *Iris*) is a Dragon-type Trainer and an aspiring Dragon Master. She is one of the Gym Leaders of Opelucid City's Gym, known officially as the Opelucid Gym, giving out the Legend Badge, in Seasons 6 to 8. Two years later, in the first half of Season 9, she was the Champion of the Unova region's Pokémon League.

## Personality

Iris is said to be a wild girl who likes to swing on vines and eat Berries. Her Pokémon friend Axew travels with her in her hair instead of inside a Poké Ball. She seems to be very hyper on occasions such as climbing up trees very quickly. Iris is very adventurous and bold, oftentimes being the first to suggest something and not being afraid to speak her mind. She is shown to be a quick thinker, such as seen in *A Sandile Gusher of Change!* when she was able to quickly save Ash from falling into boiling hot water when he lost his grip. This becomes a running theme and is again shown in *Here Comes the Trubbish Squad!* and *Minccino-Neat and Tidy!* where she is quickly able to evade oncoming dangers when Ash and Cilan can't. She is very in tune with nature and claims to have a "sixth sense" and follows her instincts often. Despite this she also seems to have a poor sense of direction, occasionally getting the group lost.

She was also a little shy and nervous at times towards others, as seen by her evasive and distinct relationship towards Ash after their first meeting. After their initial encounter Iris would occasionally leave Ash's company for a while before unexpectedly reappearing later, usually surprising Ash in the process. She would continue to follow Ash and this pattern would continue until she was formally asked by him and Cilan to join them on their journey. Also, she was not entirely trusting of Ash when it came to the safety of her Pokémon during battles and often kept secrets from him and Cilan. However, as their time together expanded, she slowly began to open up and trust the two of them in battles as well as revealing her dreams and ambitions. She seems to get along easier with Pokémon, often preferring their company. This was especially true in the past, where her only real friends (besides Shannon) were the Pokémon that lived nearby. This is again made apparent during her time at Opelucid City's academy, where she had a tough time making friends with her classmates.

Iris is an experienced Trainer and has been in many battles in the past. She has been portrayed as a sort of prodigy in the Village of Dragons, and while there she had built up a 99-win streak with her Excadrill before losing to Dragon Master Drayden. These experiences seem to have affected her, as she has a high view of herself and her abilities. Perhaps because of this, Iris typically seems to think of Ash as a little kid and often treats him like a rookie Trainer when he makes simple mistakes, despite that he too has had many adventures and accomplishments in the past. She is also shown to be slightly hypocritical since despite how commonly she refers to Ash's mistakes when she is usually known to make similar mistakes as well. However this critical view of Ash seems to stem from their first meeting, whereupon Ash not only mistook her for her Pokémon Axew, but attempted to try to catch one without battling it first. Her habit of calling out his immaturity and trying to show herself off as more mature also stems from the tough time she had in Opelucid City as a child, where her own childish and immature behavior had kept her from making friends and fitting in. Despite this, she is not above cheering Ash on during Gym matches and battles against other Trainers. Also, her calling Ash a kid has shifted from a critical tone to harmless teasing between the two of them, particularly as Iris comes more to term with her own immaturity.

Iris adores most Pokémon, often hugging them upon first meeting. On some occasions this is shown to be a bit invasive, which normally makes the Pokémon uncomfortable, sometimes causing them to attack her (such as with Ash's Pikachu). She has a particularly strong understanding of Dragon types and tends to be very excitable around them in particular, not showing fear even against a rampaging Druddigon. Because of this strong passion, she aims to become a Dragon Master like so many others from her hometown. The one type she does not like is the Ice type, due to the fact that Ice-type attacks are super effective against Dragon-type Pokémon. Trip mentions that her fear of Ice types based on that is irrational, as Dragon-type moves are super effective against Dragon-type Pokémon as well. Iris shrugged this off, however, and mentioned that she also does not like the cold. Iris is willing to overcome this fear, however, as shown when challenged by Georgia's Beartic and Dawn's Mamoswine.