I can't waste the whole summer doing nothing, can I? Lately I've been having slight internet problems, but that's over now. Until I can get a sturdy and reliable internet connection, I'll be updating via friends house and data disk from now on. Anyway, due to an idea I had, this chapter is part one of five part gym battle. I had a lot of time on my hands without an internet connection. All aside, I hope you all like it, so, Enjoy!

Chapter 29: Feathery Fury, Part 1: Synchronization Issues

Inside Meritina Town Gym, small, rapid footsteps, along with the sound of rapidly fluttering wings could be heard, as both Scruf and Bluu continued to gain speed; their collision course charge soon coming to an end.

Just as the two Pokemon looked as if they would collide into each other, a smirk made its way onto Katrina's face.

"Now, Bluu! It's special move time!!" She called suddenly.

With the Swablu and Growlithe just moments away from impact, Scruf began growling before leaping toward Bluu with all the momentum he had gained from his short dash, though before the collision, Bluu smirked as well as it's trainer, before vanishing from sight in a blur.

Stunned, confused, and now with no target t o hit, Scruf yelped before losing his balance, and falling to the ground in a heap.

Sky was also very confused. "What kind of attack was that?! A Pokemon can't move that fast using Quick Attack..." He thought still very much confused, but decided their defense was more important. "On guard, Scruf!" He reminded himself and Scruf to stay focused.

Scruf picked himself off the ground and shook his head quickly to shake of any soreness, then went back into a more cautious stance while trying to locate the bird.

"Go!! Use it, Bluu! Aerial Ace!" Katrina shouted out her order.

Scruf flinched as he heard the sound of something approaching him from behind, but before he could turn around, Bluu, now charging at incredible speeds that almost made the Pokemon invisible, and far faster than its first charge, slammed into the Growlithe's side with a huge amount of force.

Scruf let out a painful yelp from the impact, and due to an added amount of turbulence, the Growlithe was sent spiraling to the other side of the arena before he landed on his side.

"What the–!? What just happened!?" Sky called out, so confused his head hurt.

Katrina grinned before she flicked a hand through a lock of her silver hair. "Sorry if that was too much for you, kid."

"Wha...What kind of move was that?!" Sky demanded, 'I hardly saw her Pokemon move...!!'

Katrina smirked again and folded her arms. "Nothing but this Gym – and Winona's – move speciality! You and your Growlithe just experienced what an Ariel Ace can do, firsthand!" Katrina boasted smugly.

"Arial Ace...?" Sky wondered, then growled. Though he was confused on what exactly an Arial Ace was, he was enraged at the smug tone Katrina had taken. "Oh yeah? Well we're not done yet! I'm winning this no matter what!" Sky shouted, unaware Scruf had wobbly begun to stand up and slowly regaining his balance, or that the Growlithe had taken on an injury, a slash on his left leg.

"Yeah! You can do it, Scruf!" Flora cheered encouragingly from the sidelines, to far away to notice the wound.

Scruf looked a little dazed before snapping out of it and noticing his let leg was bleeding slightly. At the first sight of the red liquid, Scruf began to immediately feel extremely queasy and dizzy. Though, Scruf reminded himself this gym battle was imporant to Sky, and quickly shook his head again to clear his mind, then turned round to give Flora a reassuring smile.

"Not bad." Katrina complimented. "Some challengers I get go down after one hit. Guess your not like that, kid!" Katrina said and grinned competitively. "But here's where things get intense! Ariel Ace again, Bluu!" She ordered before Bluu took the air again.

Sky clenched his teeth. "Damnit, not again... Scruf, stop it with Tackle!" he shouted the first counter move he could think of.

While Bluu started another rapid charge for the Growlithe, Scruf once again had very little time to react due to the speed Arial Ace gave Bluu but managed to throw himself, and collide into Bluu, stopping it's charge. Though with a huge difference in speed, Scruf was forced back as Bluu hardly lost any distance at all.

Not as hard of a hit as last time, Scruf managed to quickly collect himself, and skid along the ground with his paws to keep balance, though the turbulence from the attack made it hard to do so. As he stopped, Scruf winced from the cut that he had obtained through the collision, the exertion to his leg making him bleed more, blood slowly dripping and staining the fur on his leg.

"Great, that didn't work... Ember, Scruf!" Sky shouted again, disregarding the fact Scruf was beginning to look tired.

Scruf took a moment to catch his breath, then quickly inhaled as the fiery pressure built up in his chest, followed by exhaling three blazing hot fireballs towards the cotton bird.

Not having any energy left to dodge after two consecutive Arial Aces, two of the fireballs collide with Bluu before the cotton bird cried out in pain. The third fireball kept moving before eventually disbanding in mid-air.

"Drat... Nice move, kid. I guess your Growlithe's moves are as quick as it is! I knew you had the fighter's spirit!" Katrina called enthusiastically. Somehow ignoring of the blow Bluu had taken. Then, she took a moment to settle down before thinking deeply about the battle situation.

'Okay... Bluu's starting to become exhausted...we can't use Ariel Ace much more...' She thought seriously before glancing at the Swablu who was slowly getting back to it's feet, panting heavily.

'She's not use to using it like he is...'

"Don't let your guard down, Scruf!! They can attack again with Ariel Ace as many times as they want!!" Sky shouted his warning to the Growlithe, very much overly dramatic.

A sweat drop appeared on Katrina's forehead.

Unable to recall at themoment Pokemon have limits to their moves and energy, Sky thought his next move over for a only a moment.

"Okay Scruf.. Attack again with...Ember! No, wait! Tackle!" Sky blurted hastily.

"Bluu, use Peck!"

Hearing the mixed commands, Scruf was confused on which move to use and he looked back at Sky questionably, eventually he began a sprint towards Bluu, deciding to go with the last command he heard, and while ignoring the pain that only seemed to be getting worse in his leg. Though Bluu, now steadily back on both talons, stood nearly motionless, with a strangely calm demeanor.

Sky was confused on why both Katrina and Bluu seemedso calm, but then flinched in sudden surprise, recalling the simple fact Bluu could fly.

"Ack!! Scruf, wait! Ember attack!!" Sky called out quickly, failing his arms about in a loony, uncontrolled, panicked way.

Scruf continued to run, but once the Growlithe heard Sky's babbling, he turned around, completely confused and utterly distracted from his attack.

Bluu noticed the Growlithe's perturbed behavior and that he had turned his back to her, and as any other pokemon would, took advantage of it. The Swablu took to the air a moment before Scruf would have hit her, and the Growlithe lost his footing and stumbled again. Then, Bluu perched on Scruf's back, sharp talons resting on his ruffled orange and black back fur, and finally, the cotton bird Pokemon pecked Scruf on the head a multiple times.

Tank stared. "Wow. Talk about embarrassing..." the Mankey commented from the bench with both arms folded. Seeming slight embarrassed himself. "I've been captured... by a nut who can't even order a move right?!"

"Hey, shut up! Sky's our trainer, you know!" Spike snapped in Sky's defense, but he soon realized Tank may have had point. "But... I probably would've messed up with an order like that, too.." Spike admitted, slightly unnerved and now a little nervous about his own match if this was how Sky was going to battle. "...Maybe if I tried really hard, I could use both moves if Sky says something like that!" Spike said energetically all off a sudden. Tank smacked his forhead.

Meanwhile, Pearl looked at Sky questionably, instantly knowing Sky was battling strangely while the brown-haired trainer in the arena hung his head low with embarrassment, which had a dim, sobbing look. "Hey, Sky!" she called out suddenly; catching the saddened trainers attention and he turned around.

"Pull yourself together! You're getting creamed out there!"

This did nothing to cheer up the humiliated trainer.

"Remember to work at a team with your Pokemon! You can't shout out any random order and expect it to work!" Pearl called in a motivational, yet serious tone and Sky couldn't tell if Pearl was trying to motivate him or scold him.

Regardless of which it was, Sky took what Pearl said into consideration and thought deeply about exactly what he was doing; aimlessly staring at the ground while doing so. A feeling of remorse and regret swept over Sky, FINALLY realizing how poorly he was battling with Scruf, all because he let the desire to win cloud his judgement.

"Hey, Scruf..." Sky began lightly, and Scruf ceased to bark at the blue mocking bird and turned to his trainer. "Sorry... I was so caught up with winning, I guess I got overly competitive and screwed up your orders.."

Scruf, not upset in the least, gave an understanding smile and barked cheerily.

"You're not upset..?" Sky thought, slightly bewildered and his expression lifted. "..All right! That means you don't hate me! Now..." Suddenly, turned the opposing Gym Leader on the other side of the arena, with a newly renewed expression of serious determination.

It didn't take long before Katrina noticed the dramatic change in expression; noticing that it wasn't one fed with a blind desire to win, but instead with determination.

The teenage Gym leader grinned. "Well, looks like your serious now!"

"Oh, we've been serious the whole time. Just not like this!" Sky declared loudly once again while grinning.

"Great! Well then, Bluu, get out of sight with one more Ariel Ace!" Katrina ordered with renewed enthusiasm as well and continued the match.

Still airborne, Bluu flapped her wings a few times and ascended to the air before quickly vanishing out of sight in another blur.

Sky began to think quickly, 'Okay... it's using Arial Ace again... we can't track it by sight...' Sky thought while he and Scruf searched for any sign of the small birds whereabouts. Then, an idea hit Sky, 'unless...!!' Sky, once again thought for a moment before coming up with a plan; this time a carefully thought out plan.

"Okay, Scruf! We haven't used this one in battle yet, but now's as good of a time as ever!" Sky called and Scruf nodded, even if he had no idea what move Sky planned to use. "Odor Sleuth!"

Then Scruf, glad he could once again clearly understanding Sky's orders, closed his eyes to focus and concentrated all his attention in his sense of smell to understand the basics of a move he's never used before. And through his effort and the move, Scruf was able to catch an even stronger scent than before of every fragrant of each object, person, and Pokemon in the entire building. And even though faced with a multitude of various scents, Scruf didn't take long before identifying Bluu's unique scent from everything else in the Gym, and began to understand where it was hiding. 'Gotcha. Fleeing to the top of this place won't help you now...' Scruf thought confidently with a smirk

All while Sky remained focused on trying to locate where Bluu would reappear and attack from, since Scruf had to focus on tracking the scent from where he stood.

Silence lasted a little longer in the gym, all waiting for whatever that was to be unfold

"Now, Bluu!" Katrina gave her signal.

After Katrina gave the order, Sky wasn't quick enough to spot where Bluu was going to attack from, but he could feel a slight breeze from his upper-right.

Now with an idea where Bluu would attack from, Sky decided to put his plan into action.

"Turn right and stand completely still, Scruf!" Sky ordered quickly yet confidently.

Sky's entire party, along with Pearl and Katrina were completely stunned. Knowing that by how tired Scruf seemed to be; another hit would cost them the round.

Scruf nodded and obeyed his trainers order before and turned to his right, followed by sitting completely still; all while Bluu approached the Growlithe rapidly from the ceiling behind Sky, though it's speed was lowered from fatigue. Scruf didn't seem worried in the least since he trusted Sky's plan, and his now enhanced sense of smell let him know exactly where Bluu was attacking from.

The charging Swablu quickly began closing the distance between to the two Pokemon as they were moments away from impact, and Sky was trying to perfect the timing for thier attack

"...Okaaay...Now, Scruf! Bite!" Sky gave the signal with a quick, sudden call and hand motion.

At that exact moment, Scruf leapt forward with a vicious snarl, before roughly clamping onto Bluu's left wing in his fangs; stopping the Swablu's charge in it's tracks, though forced Scruf backwards by a few inches.

Bluu let out a cry of pain and tried to fly free, but Scruf 's fangs were deeply clamped in the Swablu's wing.

Katrina was astonished. "...No way... Bluu should be moving to fast for that to work!"

Sky grinned. 'I seriously need a stance...' he thought, finding merely grinning tauntingly unsatisfying.

"First time for everything, I guess! Now, Scruf, show Bluu an grandSLAM!!" Sky ordered and thrust a closed fist forward with confidence.

Pearl stared. "Where'd he get that pun from...?"

Catching onto what Sky meant, Scruf tightened the grip on Bluu's wing, causing more pained bird cries, then forcibly swinging Bluu by it's wing and slamming it into the ground with all speed and force the young Growlithe could muster.

The cotton bird smashed into the solid gym arena floor face-first with a loud, echoing slam; knocking the Swablu unconscious once and for all.

Moments of silence went by, and the referee, Jim, was unaware the first round ended since he was preoccupied with reading a magazine of some sort while leaning a chair he sat in against the wall.

"Wow... that's a really cool car..." Jim glanced up at the arena.

"Huh? Oh crap, it's over?! Aw man... I'm gonna get fired!" He immediately placed the magazine down and rushed up to the arena. "Swabl - "

Katrina cleared her throat while glaring. Dangerously.

"Uh... Bluu, is unable to battle! Round one goes to Sky and Scruf!" Jim announced quickly while pointing a flag towards Sky.

"Yeah!! That was awesome, Scruf!" Sky exclaimed happily and began a slightly ridiculous celebration dance; overjoyed on winning the first round of what was starting to be a difficult battle.

"He did it!!" Flora cheered as well, nearly just as happy as Sky was; simply overjoyed Scruf had won.

"Yeah! Groovy!" Spike cheered enthusiastically, apparently picking up words from Gurdy.

Tank stared. "..What the heck does groovy mean?!"

Spike ignored Tank and was blissfully unaware he was using completely dated phrases. "That was one intense match..." Spike thought aloud, thinking about what his own would be like. "OKAYYY!!! I'M ALL FIRED UP!! I'M GOING TO WIN THIS NEXT ROUND FOR US!!!" Spike declared vigorously and jumped to his feet, a deep fire of determination in his eyes.

Sora was slightly uneasy by the Spike's shouting but knew Spike was just eager to battle. Basically, she was disturbed by the fire. "Oookay... you ARE a water-type, right?"

While in the arena, Katrina had just returned Bluu to its ball, and Scruf was panting out of pure exhaustion, completely worn out. "I... did it...take that... birdy..." he said between breaths, then, the Growlithe collapsed to the ground.

Flora was the first to notice Scruf, "Oh no... Scruf, are you okay?!" she said now highly worried and immediately jumped from the bench she sat on, and dashed into the arena next to Scruf.

Sky finally ceased his celebration dance once Flora dashed past him at mach 6, then finally saw Scruf lying on the ground.

"Huh...? Scruf?! Hey, what's wrong?!" Sky shouted as well and ran towards his Growlithe and knelt next to him and Flora.

Sky examined his exhausted Pokemon and after a short search, noticed a slash on his on his left leg,and it seemed it was bleeding all through the battle.

"He's had this the entire time..." Sky realized, "...and I didn't even notice..." he said, almost hating himself for his irresponsibility.

"Scruf! Are you okay?! Say something!" Flora said worryingly to Scruf.

The Growlithe groaned a little and finally started to stand up, then turned to Flora. "Something..."

"Scruf!" A relieved Flora snuggled against Scruf passionately after knowing he wasn't hurt too badly. "Hey! Don't scare me like that..."

Sky looked at them slightly puzzled, "... I can't understand a word they say..." Sky said, sounding confused and bewildered. He knew what the cuddling meant, but the rest was a mystery to him.

"Well anyway.. your cut's not too serious,Scurf..." Sky said, and pulled off his blue backpack and removed a Super Potion from section of it . "Okay.. This should help... but, it's only fair to warn you, Scruf: Nurse Joy said this medicine stings..." he warned before slowly inching the bottle closer to a now suddenly panicked Scruf.

Scruf gulped, and thought his only hope was to talk his way out. "A-Arf! Bark bark bark! (W-Wait! I feel better now! No need for stingy medicine...)" Scruf tried to convince and began to back away slowly.

Of course, Sky couldn't understand, so instead began carefully spraying the potion onto Scruf's injured leg. The Growlithe winced at first with a low whimper, and made the dreaded, sad puppy face.

"Aw come on.. Don't do that..." Sky said and tried to put on a smile, this only making his job harder.

"Awww! Scruf, you look SO cute right now!" Flora said, indicating the sad face puppy face.

While at the sidelines, Spike folded his arms. "Scruf gets all the attention."

"Yay, verily." Tank agreed archaically and nodded. Though now Spike had no clue what Tank said.

"Hey, kid! Is your Growlithe okay?!" Sky heard Katrina call, she sounded somewhat worried, even.

"Yeah, he's fine," Sky called back cheerily, and finished wrapping a the bandage around Scruf's injured leg.

"Great! So let's continue!" Katrina urged excitedly.

"That, we can!" Sky replied, grinning as always, pointing forward enthusiastically while Flora helped Scruf out of the arena as last time.

"Right! But this one won't be nearly as easy as Bluu was..." Katrina warned with a grin as she pressed a button on a PokeBall before it enlarged with a whirling sound.

"Let's go, Breeze!" Katrina said and threw the Pokeball into the arena. After the flash cleared, a Pokemon that resembled a fairy itself was standing in the battle arena. It's body was pale color of white, it had a miniature set of wings, and red and blue patterns on the mid-section of its body.

"Okay, what's this one called...? Katrina has a lot of cutesy Pokemon..." Sky remarked and pulled out the PokeDex.

"Togetic. The Happiness Pokemon.

Togetic is said to be a Pokemon that brings good fortune. When the Pokemon spots someone who is pure of heart, it is said to share its happiness with that person."

Sky seemed disturbed, and slowly placed the PokeDex away.

Meanwhile, Spike sat on the bench basically trembling with excitement about trying his new move out. He tried to control himself and remain sitting, but found all the excitement was far too great.

"Yes!! It's finally my turn! I'll show you guys what a good battle is all about!" Spike said enthusiastically before dashing towards the arena.

"No, Spike! Wait for Sky to call you!" Sora tried to stop him since Sky never choose to use Spike next, but as always in these situations, Spike ignored her.

"Don't be an idiot, you idiot!! Tank tried to stop him, as well while stretching his arms out in an overdramatizing matter.

"So that's a Togetic, huh?... Okay... I should probably save Spike for last, so let's go Sor - " Sky was interrupted and stopped talking as the energetic Totodile dashed into the arena and stopped in front of him, merrily dancing about and full of energy.

"Huh? Spike?! You go after this round!!" Sky exclaimed, now seeming slightly more panicked.

Spike simply remained dancing while jumping blissfully. Completely unaware he had just wrecked part of his trainer's strategy in one fell swoop.

"So your next Pokemon is a Totodile.." Katrina mistook Spike as who Sky was battling with next.

"No, actually..."

"Great! Let's begin!"

Sky lowered his head in submission and sighed. "Okay.. fine..." he surrendered, and then took a deep breath. "..Well.. let's give it our best shot then, Spike!" Sky said with a sudden burst of energy in his voice, deciding it was at least better to be excited about the match rather than ill-tempered.

Spike nodded excitedly and rapidly then, the hyperactive Totodile turned his gaze towards Breeze while changing to a serious expression.

Though Spike had no idea what exactly his opponent was. "Okay, you fairy.. bird... thing! I'll take you down in five seconds with my new killer move!" Spike proclaimed and took his spot in the arena. Disregarding the fact he didn't know himself what his new move was.

The Togetic Katrina called Breeze, simply giggled lightly while looking toward Spike.

"Oh, I like what I see... Let's have some fun with this, okay, sweetie? You handsome hunk of Pokemon..." the Togetic said in sweet, alluring way before winking directly at Spike.

Spike, was completely stunned. "Wh...WHAT?!" Spike exclaimed loudly in tremendous surprise. That sentence being the last thing he ever expected from someone he had to soon battle.

After both trainers decided on their second Pokemon, Jim prepared to start the match. "Round two is..umm.." He had some trouble remembering the name of Sky's Totodile.

"...Oh, yeah! Spike vs. Breeze! Begin!"


And that concludes the first round and starts the next! Wondering what that ending was about? So was I! Find out what it all means next chapter! And don't forget, reviews make the world go 'round! (Well, no.. not really...but leave a review anyway!)