Fortree Gym

A few days after the Weather Institute incident with Team Aqua and Brodie, Ashlyn decided to do some training with her Pokémon. Once training was over, Damini (Shiny Electrike) had evolved into Manectric which made her happy.

==========================

Today the gang had arrived at Fortree City, where Ashlyn could earn her next gym badge. Fortree City was different from other cities because everyone lived in tree houses instead of buildings. Apparently, this city was one of those quiet forest settlements where humans and nature coexist. To Ashlyn and Brock this reminded them of Arborville in Johto because it was nearly the same as Fortree City.

===========================

Ashlyn and the gang headed for the Fortree Gym, which was a temple with a lot of steps. But the gym assistant, Zachary, explained that the gym leader Winona was helping out at the feather carnival. The feather carnival was an annual festival where the people of the city celebrated flying type Pokémon. Apparently flying Pokémon were the favorite Pokémon type of Fortree City. Ashlyn didn't mind waiting for tomorrow to battle Winona; she had a fun time at the carnival, and it gave her enough time to figure out what Pokémon she would use for the gym battle. Ashlyn knew that Winona uses flying type Pokémon, and she owned a Skarmory which was bigger than its normal size; it was big enough for people to ride on it. Winona was a woman, with lavender air, and the pale blue and white clothes she wore made her look like a pilot.

==========================

The next day the whole carnival was over with, and Ashlyn and Winona were at the gym for their battle. The battlefield was located at the top of the gym; it was outside instead of inside. Ashlyn and Winona stood on elevated balconies about the battlefield.

Winona knelt down on one knee and prayed, "Oh great sky above, I ask that you grant us wings. Grant us your power to conquer even the strongest of stormy winds and please," Winona stood up and spread her arms out, "guide to your great blue world and let us share in its infinite power and majesty!"

===========================

"What on earth is she talking about?" May asked.

"Winona probably believes the sky is like a god watching over her." Alain guessed.

"I was thinking the same thing." Brock agreed.

"So she's worshipping the sky?" Max asked.

"It would seem so." Alain replied.

============================

"The match between Fortree Gym Leader, Winona, and the challenger, Ashlyn Ketchum, from Pallet Town, will now begin. This will be a four-on-four Pokémon battle. Each trainer will use four Pokémon and the match ends when all four Pokémon of either opponent are unable to continue battling. The Challenger will attack first, the Challenger will be permitted to make substitutions during the match, the Gym Leader will not." Zachary announced.

"Are you ready to fly, Ashlyn?" Winona asked.

"Ready." Ashlyn replied.

"Altaria, I choose you!" Winona released her Humming Pokémon.

Alataria cooed as it appeared.

"Oh wow it's an Altaria, a dragon and flying type Pokémon." Max beamed.

May looked at Altaria on her Pokédex:

[Altaria the Humming Pokémon. The evolved form of Swablu. It flies gracefully through the sky. Its melodic humming makes you feel like you're in a dream.]

"So my Swablu evolves into that huh?" May sent out her Swablu and told it to watch the battle carefully. "I'll be using you in battles soon Swablu, so pay attention to this."

Swablu chirped as if to say 'okay'.

============================

"Ula, let's go!" Ashlyn sent out Ula the shiny Milotic to battle.

Ula called out as she appeared.

==========================

"So it's a battle between two beautiful Pokémon." May commented.

"Water types aren't usually strong against dragon, but there's no doubt that Ashlyn knows what she's doing." Max stated.

==========================

"Ula, Dragon Pulse!" Ula's body becomes outlined in light green and it releases a pulse off her body.

"Altaria, dodge!" Altaria dodged Ula's attack, "Now Dragon Breath!"

"Mirror Coat!" Ula raises her tail, and a glowing shield appears around her body. Altaria's attack bounced off Ula and struck Altaria.

"Altaria, use Peck!" Altaria, being so fast, was able to peck at Milotic lots of times.

"Use Safeguard, Ula!" Ula glowed green and it stopped Altaria from pecking it anymore, "Now use Blizzard!"

Ula blew a strong blizzard attack and Altaria got hit by it. Being a dragon and flying type Pokémon, Altaria took a lot of damage from that ice move.

"Altaria use your Sky Attack!" Altaria powered up, while a white aura surrounded its body, and then it flew straight into Ula with a direct hit. Ula got hurt by that attack, but she was still willing to fight.

"Altaria, Dragon Breath!" Altaria fires a thick, green beam or a transparent beam of energy with white rings around it from its beak at Ula.

"Ula, Hydro Pump!" Ula blasts a powerful jet of water from her mouth at Altaria.

Ula and Altaria struck each other with their attacks. The two Pokémon panted for a moment, but then Altaria fell to the ground in defeat.

Altaria moaned with swirls in its eyes.

"Altaria is unable to battle! The victory goes to Ula!" Zachary announced.

"Good job, Ula." Ashlyn complimented her Tender Pokémon.

Ula cooed happily at the compliment.

"I have to say, Ashlyn, I'm impressed." Winona returned her Altaria.

"Why thank you." Ashlyn returned Ula.

Winona let out her second Pokémon, "Pelipper, let's fly!"

"Pep!" Pelipper appeared.

Ashlyn let out her next Pokémon, "Come on out, Damini!"

"Tric!" Damini the shiny Manectric appeared.

"Damini, Thunderbolt!" Damini launched her electrical attack.

"Use your Steel Wing, Pelipper!" Pelipper's wings glowed white and then touched the battle ground. At that moment it got hit by Damini's thunderbolt. But it didn't cause a lot of damage.

"Damini, use Swift!" Damini fires multiple yellow stars from in front of her body at Pelipper.

The stars struck Pelipper and Pelipper ended up stopping of using Steel Wing and let go of the ground.

"Use Hydro Pump Pelipper!" Pelipper fired hydro pump at Damini, and she got it by it.

"Use your Thunder Bolt again, Damini!" While still being hit by the hydro pump, Damini fired a thunder bolt attack. The electric attack struck Pelipper very hard this time as it wasn't using steel wing anymore, and it fainted.

"Pelipper~" Pelipper moaned with swirls in its eyes.

"Pelipper is unable to battle! The victory goes to Damini!" Zachary announced.

"Great job, Damini." Ashlyn smiled.

"Manetric." Damini smiled back.

"Well done, Ashlyn. I have to admit that you raised your Manetric well." Winona admitted as she returned Pelipper.

"Thanks." Ashlyn returned Damini.

"But the battle's not over yet. Swellow, time to fly!" Winona released her third Pokémon.

"Swellow!" A shiny Swellow appeared.

Instead of being the normal navy blue and red, this Swellow was green and orange, but the white feathers were still the same. It was easily confirmed that this Swellow is a shiny Pokémon.

"Percy, let's go!" Ashlyn released her third Pokémon.

"Swell!" Percy the Swellow appeared.

"Interesting choice. I look forward to this battle, Ashlyn." Winona said.

"Me too." Ashlyn agreed, "Percy, use Aerial Ace!"

"Swellow, use Aerial Ace as well!" Winoa commanded.

The two Swellows were tackling each other like crazy.

"Okay Swellow use your Hyper Beam!" Swellow releases an orange beam of energy from its beak at Percy.

"Dodge with Quick Attack, Percy!" Thankfully Percy was able to dodge it before the hyper beam attack could hit him.

=================================

"Ashlyn was lucky this time," Brock said, "but that Swellow has better battling experience in the sky than Percy."

May and Max feared that Ashlyn may ending up losing this battle. Even Brock decided that this was a difficult battle for Ashlyn. But Alain had faith that Ashlyn could win.

===================================

Ashlyn had to think of something, or she would lose. Suddenly she noticed something; she realized that the wind was picking up the dust on the battlefield. This gave her a bit of an idea.

"Percy, dive towards the ground!" Percy dived towards the battlefield at full speed and

"Swellow, go after Percy!" Winona's Swellow did the same to go after Percy.

It was like two biplanes heading towards the ground at full speed.

==================================

"They're going to crash!" Max cried.

The gang had no idea what Ashlyn was thinking.

=================================

As soon as the two Swellows headed towards the ground.

"Swellow, use Aerial Ace!" Winona's Swellow becomes engulfed in streaks of white light and flies towards Percy.

"Percy, hit the ground with Wing Attack!" Percy's wings glow white as he flew.

As soon as Percy hit the ground with wing attack, he made a lot of dust fly everywhere, making it look like a sand attack. Because of the dust, Winona's Swellow lost its concentration of its Aerial Ace attack.

"Okay Percy, use Brave Bird!" A blue flame colored aura surrounded Percy and then he tackled Winona's Swellow hard. Winona's Swellow got hit hard by that attack and it fell to the ground, defeated.

"Swellow~" Swellow groaned with swirls in its eyes.

"Swellow is unable to battle! The victory goes to Percy!" Zachary announced.

"That was awesome, Percy!" Ashlyn beamed.

Percy smiled at his trainer, "Swellow."

"Well done, Ashlyn. You're the first trainer who was able to take down my Swellow with that kind of strategy," Winona returned her shiny Swellow, "Now it's time for my pride and joy, Skarmory!"

Skarmory cawed as it appeared in the sky.

Ashlyn returned Percy and let out her next Pokémon, "I see. I'll release my last Pokémon, Aveline!"

Aveline the Rainbow Pokémon cawed as she appeared.

=============================

"No...way...is that Ho-oh?!" Max exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Actually, that's Ho-oh's daughter, Aveline." Brock corrected.

"Wow...she's beautiful." May awed at the Rainbow Pokémon.

"I know, right?" Brock agreed.

===========================

"Amazing..." Winona muttered in amazement.

"Okay, Aveline, use Sunny Day!" Aveline caws at the sky while spreads out her wings which makes the sun much brighter than before. "Now Flamethrower!"

Aveline releases a red-orange stream of fire from her mouth at Skarmory who got slammed by it and it cries out in pain from the attack.

"Skarmory! Are you okay?" Winona called out.

Skarmory nodded to confirm.

"Okay then, use Drill Peck!" Skarmory's beak spins like a drill and flies straight towards Aveline.

"Dodge it!" Aveline dodged Skarmory's attack, "Fire Blast!" Aveline releases a powerful stream of red-yellow fire from her mouth at Skarmory. As the flame travels at Skarmory, the front of the flame forms into a 大-shaped blast.

The blast hits Skarmory who squawked at the attack.

"Skarmory, use Steel Wing!" Skarmory's wings glowed a metallic color and flew straight towards Aveline.

Ashlyn and Aveline waited for Skarmory to come closer to her. Then Ashlyn gave the order.

"Aveline, Sacred Fire!" Aveline releases a gold-rose-colored flame from her beak at the Skarmory which slammed into Skarmory who squawked with surprise at the attack and sent it to the ground, creating a dust cloud.

"Skarmory!" Winona cried out in worry.

When the dust cloud cleared, it showed Skarmory with swirls in its eyes.

Skarmory moaned in pain.

"Skarmory is unable to battle! The victory goes to Aveline! So the winner of this gym battle goes to Ashlyn Ketchum!" Zachary announced.

"You were awesome, Aveline." Ashlyn smiled.

Aveline cooed happily at the compliment.

=====================================

Everyone was on the ground of the gym.

"I have to admit that I had a great time battling your Pokémon. Though I never thought I would battle the legendary bird of the Johto Region." Winona admitted.

"I enjoyed the battle as much as you, Winona." Ashlyn admitted.

"As the gym leader of the Fortree gym, I present you the Feather badge." Winona held out a badge in her hand.

The Feather Badge was white-green colored, and it was the shape of a bird's wing.

"Thank you, Winona." Ashlyn slightly bowed and gently took the badge from Winona's hand.

"Alright! We got the Feather Badge!" Ashlyn posed with Tesla and Aveline.

"Raichu! (Badge number six!)" Tesla cheered.

Aveline crooned with happiness.

==============================

After winning her sixth badge, Ashlyn and her friends now head towards Mossdeep City where Ashlyn can obtain her seventh gym badge.

================================

Pokémon Caught: Mightyena (Lela)(F), Marshtomp (Finn)(M), Shiny Blaziken (Hestia)(F), Kirlia (Miku)(F), Kirlia (Lancelot)(M), Swellow (Percy)(M), Linoone (Ziggy)(M), Grovyle (Kazuki)(M), Beautifly (Willow)(F), Shiny Milotic (Ula)(F), Crawdaunt (Sebastian)(M), Lairon (Hagane)(M), Sableye (Jacinth)(M), Shiny Flygon (Libelle)(F), Shiny Manectric (Damini)(F), Shiny Shelgon (Idris)(F), Torkoal (Shula)(F), Swablu (Alta)(F)