Episode 35: Niko takes to the sky!
Only days after their surprise meetup with Zinnia at the Weather Institute, Niko and his friends arrived in Fortree City, and it was not exactly what they were expecting.
Fortree City is unique in that all of the houses are treehouses connected by a system of rope bridges that hang in the treetops. Since Fortree City is more naturally preserved than other towns and cities, the residents are able to live closer to wild pokémon, particularly bug and flying types. Niko, still slightly afraid of bugs, found this to be only a little terrifying when they arrived at the pokémon center (one of the few buildings on the ground, but still just as open and welcoming to wild pokémon as any of the other buildings). Needless to say, Niko didn't sleep as well as he had hoped during their first night in the city.
The following day, the group walked to the gym, only to notice that the gym leader—Winona—was out for the day, citing the Feather Carnival.
"What's that, JJ?" Niko asked, turning to his curly blonde friend, who immediately whipped out his pokénav.
"Just some festival to celebrate flying types. Wanna check it out?"
"Sure, why not?" Niko said with confirmation from Brittany and Jake as well. The four walked around the city until they found a large collection of people, pokémon, and carnival-like decorations everywhere.
"Wow…look at all this!" Brittany commented, "They really go all out, don't they?" She said, looking at the various stands, rides, and products lining the main street on the ground of the city. The group walked around for a bit, engaging in different games and attractions. Niko took Jake on one of the flying pokémon rides, despite his fear of heights.
High up in the air on a grass and flying type pokémon called tropius, Niko and Jake surveyed the land below them, seeing not just Fortree City, but the long river to the west, and another one to the east, presumably where they'd head next.
"This is incredible, isn't it, Jake?" Niko asked, trying to hide his fear.
"Uh…y-yeah," Jake said, trying not to look down.
"What, you're scared of heights, too?" Niko asked. Jake nodded nervously, and the older brother commanded the tropius to fly down. It did so, its large, leafed wings flapping powerfully as it slowly descended back to the ground, allowing Niko and Jake to get off of the ride. "Scared of heights, just like your big brother: check!" Niko said, trying to lighten up the conversation. To make up for it, he went and bought some candy for his brother, which seemed to eliminate all fears, at least momentarily.
They later met up with Brittany and JJ, who were busy watching a flying contest. As they reunited, Brittany pointed to one trainer in particular. She was wearing a lavender jumpsuit with a goggle helmet decorated with wings. Long, lavender hair protruded from the back of the helmet, swaying in the wind.
"What, Brittany?" Niko asked.
"She's the gym leader. Winona," The brunette replied. "She's supposedly a master of flying types. And, well, it certainly shows. Looks like she's winning with her skarmory."
Niko watched in awe as his new opponent was swiftly defeating each of her opponents in a race. "Well, guess I have some training to do," He said, turning away and leaving the carnival, his friends still watching the contest.
Later that day, Brittany, JJ, and Jake found Niko near the pokémon center on the edge of the city, with his five pokémon all out and training.
"Taillow, we need to get this aerial ace down, alright?" Niko said, almost desperately. "Winona is going to be a tough opponent, and I need you to be at your absolute best."
The tiny swallow nodded, launching back into the air and diving downwards, its beak glowing and generating curved lines that ran alongside its body. Right before it hit the ground, the swallow shot back up in a curve-like motion.
"Great job!" Niko said, throwing a fist in the air. "Let's try it again!"
Meanwhile, manectric and grovyle were running around, building up their speed, while lairon was practicing iron tail and numel was, well, sleeping.
"I take it things are going well?" Brittany asked.
"I think so," Niko said, turning to his brunette friend. "I feel good about this one. How was the carnival?"
"It was great!" Brittany said, "Listen, we found Winona after the contest and she agreed to battle you first thing in the morning. Will you be ready by then?"
Niko nodded. "Yeah, think so."
The following morning, Niko woke up to his pokémon sleeping either on his bed or right next to it. He got up, dressed, and walked out to the dining room in the pokémon center to get started on his day while waiting for his friends, all of whom were exhausted from walking around at the carnival the previous day. After the usual quick conversation during breakfast, the four trainers made their way to the Fortree Gym, which was on the other side of the city, and seemed to be an exercise in its own right, given the nature of the city's structure.
Niko arrived at the gym, which was roofless and also in the air. There were two primary platforms—one for each battler—and a single set of stands on the challenger's right side. Brittany, Jake, and JJ all walked over to the stands, fearful of looking at the ground fair below them, while Niko stood on his platform.
"Challenger!" A voice bellowed from the other end. "Welcome. I am Winona, leader of the Fortree City gym. You must be Niko, right?"
"Yeah. Niko from Pallet Town!"
"Excellent. Your friends told me about you yesterday. I was looking forward to battling you. How does a four-on-four battle sound?"
"Works for me!"
"Great. Jodie, raise the platform!" Winona called out to her judge, who was standing in front of Niko's friends. Jodie then pressed a small button behind her that raised a platform from the ground to only a few feet below Niko and Winona. "Great. This is for any non-flying pokémon, which I can assume you use?"
"Yes, mostly ground-based pokémon."
"Very well. Let's begin, then! Swellow, I choose you!" Winona shouted, summoning a slightly larger version of taillow, only with two sharp, pointed tails and longer, light teal wings with a more pointed face and beak.
"Manectric, I choose you!" Niko commanded, deciding to bring out his electric type first. "Use howl, and then spark!"
"Swellow, use double team and then quick attack!" Winona commanded. The swallow pokémon duplicated itself several times before divebombing its opponent. Manectric was able to repel most of them with spark, but was still hit in the face with the quick attack, which knocked it back slightly. "Now, use aerial ace!"
"Manectric, wait for it…" Niko said calmly, waiting for swellow to attack. "Now! Use thunderwave!"
Manectric howled out as it released a wave of electricity, hitting the flying type. Aerial ace hit nonetheless, causing manectric to reel back from the damage done.
"Don't give in, manectric! Use spark again!" Niko commanded while a stunned swellow used aerial ace once again. The attacks collided, with aerial ace's 100% accuracy being the saving grace for Winona. "Spark, again!"
"Swellow, aerial ace!" Winona commanded. For a third time, the two attacks collided. However, this time swellow collapsed, unable to take the multiple electric type moves.
"Swellow is unable to battle, manectric wins! Leader Winona will now send out her second pokémon!" Jodie declared.
"Manectric, return," Niko said before Winona could use her next pokémon. "You've done well, get some rest—I'll need you later," He said before pulling out another pokéball. "Grovyle, I choose you!"
"Pelipper, let's go!" Winona commanded. "Use supersonic!"
"Grovyle, dodge the supersonic and use leaf blade!" Niko commanded. The wood gecko, despite several hours of practice, still hadn't mastered leaf blade. But nevertheless Niko was counting on his trusty grass type to pull through once more, like it did in Petalburg City. Unfortunately, grovyle was hit with the supersonic and crashed into the ground.
"Pelipper, use aerial ace!" Winona shouted. The water bird pokémon dove down and slammed into grovyle, who seemed to recover from the confusion rather quickly and began to stand back up until it got hit by the aerial ace and fell on its back.
"Grovyle, get back up and use bullet seed!" Niko commanded. The wood gecko pokémon opened its maw and fired off several rounds of bullet seeds, all blocked by pelipper's protect move, which was simply a sphere around its body that disallowed any move to pass through its protective barrier. Biting his pointer finger, Niko tried to think of something. It's just like Melinda's pelipper…how do I beat this?
"Pelipper, use aerial ace!" Winona commanded.
"Grovyle, slow it down with bullet seed and block the attack with leaf blade!" Niko shouted, hoping his use of two moves would be enough for the wood gecko.
Turns out, it was. The bullet seed temporarily halted the water bird's advances while grovyle prepared its leaf blade. For the first time since its battle with Norman, Niko's grovyle landed leaf blade, collided its right blade with pelipper's beak. Both pokémon repelled backwards several feet from the force of impact.
"Grovyle, rush in with leaf blade again!" Niko shouted, throwing his hand out in a gesture.
"Pelipper, protect!" Winona commanded. Grovyle leapt into the air and nearly landed its leaf blade, but the leaf stopped glowing just before grovyle made contact with pelipper's protective sphere.
"Use bullet seed again!" Niko shouted. Grovyle fired off more bullet seeds and, when the attack finished, pelipper launched down for an aerial ace. "Mega drain!"
Grovyle grabbed onto pelipper's beak as the latter landed its aerial ace. The wood gecko pokémon took damage and gained it back, leaving its health level in limbo. Hearing Niko's final command, it opened fire with bullet seed at close range, repelling pelipper back into the wall below Winona, defeating it.
"Pelipper is unable to battle, grovyle wins!" The judge declared just before grovyle collapsed as well from exhaustion. "My apologies: pelipper and grovyle are both unable to battle. Both trainers will now send out their next pokémon!"
"Skarmory, I choose you!" Winona shouted.
"Numel, let's go!" Niko said, summoning his numb pokémon. "Use ember!"
"Skarmory, use sand attack!" Winona commanded. The armor bird pokémon swooped low to the ground and slapped numel with some sand, negating the ember attack. "Now, use steel wing!"
"Numel, are you alright?" Niko asked as his fire type tried shaking the sand off of its face. "Use ember everywhere!"
Numel fired off fireballs in every direction, nearly hitting Winona at one point. The attack was successful, as skarmory was hit in the wing by one and crashed into the ground.
"Great hit! Use tackle now!" Niko commanded, but underestimated skarmory's speed. The armor bird pokémon quickly recovered and landed an aerial ace before taking another ember from numel, who was now able to see more clearly.
"Skarmory, aerial ace!" Winona commanded. The steel type dove once more, enduring the barrage of embers as it collided powerfully with numel, knocking it back several feet, but ultimately defeating it.
"Numel is unable to battle, skarmory wins! Niko will send out his next pokémon!" Jodie declared.
"Manectric, I choose you!" Niko shouted. "Use spark!"
"Skarmory, use aerial ace!" Winona commanded. The two attacks collided, but manectric was able to land a thunderwave, which momentarily stunned the armor bird pokémon, and allowed manectric to finally practice its shock wave.
"Manectric, use shock wave!" Niko commanded, throwing out his hand in a gesture once more. The discharge pokémon roared out as a ball of lightning appeared above it, constantly raining bolts of lightning across the field, hitting the paralyzed skarmory multiple times. "Now, finish it off with quick attack and spark!"
The electric type howled out as it rushed as its opponent, its fur sparkling with electricity as it collided with skarmory, knocking it out.
"Skarmory is unable to battle, manectric wins!" Jodie stated. "Winona will now send out her final pokémon!"
"Altaria, I choose you!" Winona shouted, summoning a blue bird-like pokémon with a white, puffy cloud surrounding it. Niko pulled out his pokédex to look at this new creature:
"Altaria, the humming pokémon. Dragon and flying type. It hums in a beautiful soprano voice. It flies among white clouds in the blue sky. It launches intensely hot fireballs from its mouth."
"Manectric, use howl and then quick attack!" Niko shouted.
"Altaria, use earthquake!" Winona commanded. The humming pokémon dropped to the ground like a solid lead block and shook the ground violently, catching its opponent off guard and quickly defeating it.
"Manectric is unable to battle, altaria wins!" Jodie stated. "Niko will now send out his final pokémon!"
"Taillow, let's go!" Niko shouted, unsure of his battle now. But he wouldn't let taillow know that. "Use double team!"
"Altaria, dragon dance!" Winona commanded as taillow duplicated itself several times. "Now, use aerial ace!"
"Taillow, aerial ace as well!" Niko cried out. The two attacks collided in the middle of the field, causing taillow to launch backwards into its trainer, nearly knocking the two over. "You alright?" Niko asked, the tiny swallow in his hands.
Taillow nodded, immediately flying back into the battle. It was able to land another aerial ace and a wing attack before altaria belted out a powerful dragonbreath, followed by another aerial ace, to which taillow responded, but was sent hurtling into the ground this time.
"Taillow, you can do this! The battle is depending on you now!" Niko shouted out encouragingly. "Don't give in to the pain, taillow! I know, it hurts. Altaria is powerful, but together we're stronger, and we will win!"
Taillow shot into the sky, high enough that no one could see it. "Altaria, use aerial ace and follow it!" Winona said, watching her dragon type follow its opponent high into the sky.
Moments later, there was a flash of white, and then a small cloud came descending back to the ground in the form of altaria, who crashed into the battlefield, followed by a…swellow?
Did taillow…just evolve? Niko thought to himself. Yeah! Yeah, it did! "That's right, swellow! Great job!"
"Wow! Look at that!" JJ said, "Using the air to his advantage. Good on Niko's part. Now, this swellow…" He said, pulling out his pokédex:
"Swellow, the swallow pokémon. Normal and flying type. A swellow dives upon prey from far above. It never misses its targets. It takes to the skies in search of lands with a warm climate."
"Swellow, let's finish this battle!" Niko cried out, feeling energy flowing through his body. "Use double team!"
"Altaria, dragon dance!" Winona commanded as the humming pokémon began glowing a dark purple and orange color. "Now, dragonbreath!"
"Swellow, aerial ace!" Niko shouted, throwing his hand out once more as a gesture. The multiple copies of the swallow pokémon all rushed towards altaria, who was busy disposing of each in turn with dragonbreath. However, like Niko has done several times before, he commanded swellow to aerial attack it. This time, he knew for certain it wouldn't miss. Swellow crashed into altaria's head, rocketing the humming pokémon into the ground.
"Altaria, use dragonbreath!" Winona commanded, almost desperately. Altaria was about to breathe out a yellow-orange stream of fire, but its head and body fell forward, defeating the dragon type.
"Altaria is unable to battle, swellow wins! The victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!" Jodie stated.
"Woo! Swellow, we did it!" Niko said as the swallow pokémon perched onto his shoulder. "Thanks buddy, you did great out there!"
Swellow nodded happily as Winona, Jodie, and altaria all walked across the battlefield via the stands, where Brittany, JJ, and Jake all stood as well. Niko returned swellow before meeting with the gym leader.
"Niko, as proof that you've beaten me, here's the feather badge!" Winona said, holding out a small wing-shaped badge. The ruffled brown-haired boy took it, smiling at the gym leader, who had a mixture of happiness and disappointment on her face. It was clear that she either didn't battle often, or hated to lose (or both).
"Thanks, Winona. I appreciate the opportunity to battle against you. Best of luck in the future for you, as well."
With that, the group exited the gym, ready to stuff their faces in a congratulatory meal before packing up for their next journey, this time to Niko's seventh gym badge.