Chapter XX: The Celestial Tower

My team and I had done a lot of training before we left Chargestone Cave especially Archen. That little guy had just learned two new moves. Dragonbreath is a move a little similar to a flamethrower, but it's purple-pink instead of red, orange, and yellow according to Professor Juniper. She said that move can sometimes paralyze his opponents. Archen also learned crunch which is a little similar to bite, but more powerful.

When we finished training, my team, Emolga, Archen, Zoroark, and I, had decided to part ways with the professor and Bianca. Once we got out of Chargestone Cave, we had already arrived to a city called Mistralton City. Clay said this city has the next gym so we should be near the gym. We then noticed a man with tan hair and wearing a yellow shirt and brown jeans walking with a woman who has red hair and blue eyes and wearing a blue shirt and shorts and has a blue flower like pin that's holding her hair up. The man soon noticed me and my team and gave us a look like he knows us. He then came walking toward us which got me nervous.

"Oh, hey! Ashlee right?" the man asked. I was shocked. How does he know my name? "Let me see your Pokédex for a moment please," he said as he held his hand out. Hesitantly, I handed my Pokédex to the man and watched him go through my Pokédex. "Hmm… Interesting, you've caught a fossil Pokémon," stated the man with excitement. He soon looked at us and chuckled a little. "Excuse me! I was a little excited and forgot my manners. My name is Juniper, too! Cedric Juniper," he introduced himself. Wow, I didn't think there was another Juniper. "Heh! The professor who gave you the Pokédex is my daughter," he added!

Now, that makes sense! "Oh, I see. Well, it's nice to meet you," I replied with a smile. This is indeed a surprise. I never thought I could meet Professor Juniper's dad.

"My daughter has told me a lot about you. It really makes my day to meet you," said Cedric with excitement! I felt a little embarrassed, but I didn't let him notice. Just then the same woman Cedric was with came walking towards us.

"Professor, who's that trainer?" asked the woman and she looks towards me. Cedric then looked to the woman and chuckled a little again.

"Oh! I forgot my introductions! Skyla, this is a friend of my daughter's. Ashlee is traveling around Unova to find her way back," said Cedric as he introduced me to the woman- or Skyla. Skyla then looked shocked as she glanced towards me.

"Ahh, so you're Ashlee! The professor's daughter has already contacted me about your problem. And if you're here, that means you'll be challenging the gym! Oh boy! I'm looking forward to it," said Skyla with a smile.

I looked to Skyla with surprise. 'So, Skyla is the gym leader?' I thought to myself as I looked to Skyla.

"That's right, Ashlee," I heard Cedric say. I turned to Cedric. "You should challenge this gym! If nothing else, this gym is really out there!" said Cedric with a smile. He then turned to Skyla. "See you, Skyla. If something comes up again, I'll let you know," he said to Skyla. This caused Skyla to have a sweat drop.

"Professor, my plane is a cargo plane! It carries cargo, not people! And you're talking as if places like Kanto and Sinnoh are right around the corner," Skyla said with a frown.

Cedric had his hand on Skyla's shoulder. "Aww Skyla. If you keep frowning, your face might freeze like that, and that'd be a shame. People and Pokémon, we all have to help each other," said Cedric to cheer up Skyla! It seemed to work since Skyla gave out a small smile. "See you later," he soon added as he leaves.

Once Cedric is out of sight, I heard Skyla sigh. "Sheesh! It's hard to believe a happy-go-lucky guy like that could be a world-renowned Pokémon Professor," I heard her say quietly. I looked towards her and then see her smile at me. "Heads-up, Ashlee. As a gym leader, I'd be happy to have you challenge the gym, but there's something I need to take care of first," she said to me.

I gave her a curious look. "What is it?" I asked curiously. I saw Skyla look up at something tall. So, I looked at it too.

"Just now as I was flying the cargo plane, I saw something on top of the Celestial Tower," explained Skyla.

I gave her a confused look. "Celestial Tower?" I said to Skyla with more confusion.

"I'm sure that it's a sick Pokémon! It if is, I can't just leave it up there! I have to look into this right away," Skyla said with worry.

I nodded in agreement. "We'll come with you! We want to help it out as well," I said to Skyla. I heard Zoroark, Servine, Emolga, and Archen cry out in agreement.

"Alright then, lets go," Skyla says out loud! She then starts running off. My team and I followed after her.

We've had several troubles getting to the top of Celestial Tower. For starters, we kept running into a bunch of Litwick. Litwicks look like candles, but are ghost-like alive; their flames are purple instead of orange or yellow. Sometimes, we ran into Elgyem. Elgyem are alien like Pokémon; their fingers are red, yellow, and green as their body are light pale blue. I fought off of most of them so that way Skyla can get to the injured Pokémon in time. Once I arrived at the top with my team, we noticed Skyla taking care of a bird like Pokémon with black, gray, and dark gray feathers, yellow beak, and eyes, and red feet and eye liner. I got out my Pokédex to learn more.

"Tranquill the wild Pigeon Pokémon. Thranquill can return to its trainer's location regardless of the distance separating them."

"Here you go little guy," I heard Skyla say to the Tranquill as she gives it an oran berry and healed it using a pink-white bottle. Once she did that, the Tranquill squawked at Skyla to say thanks and flies off. I watched Tranquill fly off and looked at Skyla.

"Is Tranquill gonna be alright?" I asked with worry. I saw Skyla gave me a smile.

"Don't worry, it'll be just fine. I gave it an Oran Berry and healed it using the Hyper Potion," replied Skyla as she giggled. "Don't I have great I sight? No matter how far away things are, a Pilot's eyes can see them," she said with pride. "Oh yeah," she shouted as she looks towards me! "Since you've come this far, why don't you ring the bell?" she soon asked. I gave her a surprised look as she turns to the bell. "Celestial Tower's bell is for soothing the spirits of Pokémon. Also, the character of the person ringing the bell is reflected in its sound," she explains about the bell. I looked to my Pokémon and noticed they nodded.

I nodded back. "Okay then, I will," I said as I smiled. I walked to the bell and looked at it as I held its string in my hand. 'I wonder what sound it'll make?' I thought to myself. I then took a deep breath. 'Well, here goes,' I added as I pulled the string and released it. The bell rang a beautiful sound through the entire tower. It was lovely.

"What a pretty sound," I heard Skyla say behind me. I turned towards Skyla. "Ashlee, you are a kind and strong person. It's that kind of sound," she added with a wider smile. I looked surprised and turned to my Pokémon. It seems they are nodding to show they agree.

I blushed a bit in embarrassment and smiled. "Thanks you guys," I said as I continued to feel embarrassed.

"Let me tell you more about me, Ashlee," said Skyla as she stood up tall. I looked towards her to show I'm listening. "I'm Skyla, leader of the Mistralton's Pokémon Gym. I use flying-type Pokémon. I'll make sure our battle flies high," she said! She then tries to walk off; however, another Elgyem had appeared and is about to attack her from behind. I have to ack quickly!

"Archen, use crunch to stop the Elgyem!" I said to Archen. Archen squawked as he hops off of Zoroark's shoulder and is about to attack Elgyem, but the alien Pokémon teleported away and is floating above us. I noticed Archen looking mad at Elgyem. He squawked at the Pokémon. The Elgyem started to give Archen a teasing expression until Archen squawked more and started to glow blue. This shocked me, Skyla, and the others as we watched Archen. Everything of Archen grew bigger. His, body, neck, tail, wings, and legs all grew. Archen soon stopped glowing to reveal his new look as he screeched out.

"Wow Ashlee! Your Archen evolved into Archeops," shouted Skyla with excitement. An Archeops? I immediately used my Pokédex, once again, to know more.

"Archeops the First Bird Pokémon and the evolved form of Archen. Archeops are intelligent and will cooperate to catch prey. From the ground, they use a running start to take flight."

"This is amazing Archeops," I said to Archen, who is now Archeops. I noticed Archeops suddenly lowered down and looked towards me. I gave him a confused look; however once Archeops looked at his back and back at me, I shivered as I figured out what he wants me to do. He wants me to get on his back! I don't like heights!

"Zorooa," I heard Zoroark growl softly as I felth her paw on my shoulder. I looked to her and noticed she nodded. I soon saw my other Pokémon nodding as well. I took a deep breath and got on Archeops. Once that's done, Zoroark, Servine, and Emolga got on with me. I smiled to them.

I then looked to Skyla. "Skyla, you leave Elgyem to us. You go back to the gym," I said to Skyla. I watched her nod as she ran off. I looked to Archeops. "Lets go," I said and held on to Archeops! Everyone else held on as well as Archeops runs and then flies up. I held on tight as I shivered a little. I took a look ahead and saw Elgyem about to use a move. "Dodge it Archeops," I shouted and felt Archeops fly down to dodge a pink beam. "Now use dragon breath," I added.

"Arr," screeched Arceops as he launches a dragon breath attack at Elgyem. The attack successfully hit the Pokémon; but, it only made Elgyem mad.

"There has to be something else we can try that won't allow us to get close to it," I mumbled out of my thoughts. It was soon answered when Zoroark, Servine, Emolga, and I see stones flying around us and Archeops. Archeops soon screeched as the stones now fly towards Elgyem. I recognize that move! That's something first learned in my Diamond and Platinum game, Stone Edge! We then noticed Elgyem vanished once the attack was done. I guess that means we won!

"Great job Archeops," I said to Archeops as I pet his head! I can hear him purring which made me smile. I remembered what we told Skyla and looked to Archeops. "Hey Archeops, can you fly us to Mistralton City?" I asked. I heard him screech in agreement. Then, Archeops starts flying off back to Mistralton City.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! Long time no update huh? I am sooo sorry about that! I was so busy with college and playing my Alpha Sapphire that I forgot about this. ;w; To make it up, I'll up date a bit more for these 3 weeks. So, be expecting a bit more updating. Although, I can't promise that this story will be done by then. We're only half way done. :P Well, see you guys in the next update. :)