Part One, Chapter Three

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Potow the pidgeot



'How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself,' said the man as we sat down at a table in his backyard. 'My name is Audric.'

'I'm Janet,' I said. 'And this is Sand-Cloud and Gelby.'

Audric nodded. 'I couldn't help noticing your master badge. Did you earn it here in Mildew?'

'Yeah,' I nodded. 'About a year ago.'

'Then you must have met my son Aaron,' smiled Audric. 'He's the flying gym leader, in Cloud City.'

'Oh, really?' I asked. 'Yeah, I remember him. He was pretty tough!'

Audric smiled, nodding. 'Well, he has been around flying pokémon his whole life. After all, I was the flying gym leader before him!'

I stared, shocked. This old man who'd needed us to stop a beedrill for him, who'd congratulated me on my pokémon training even though I hadn't done anything special . . . was a pokémon master, an ex-gym-leader!?

'Wow!' I exclaimed finally.

'I retired six years ago when Aaron became a pokémon master, so that he could take over the gym for me,' said Audric. 'You see, as much as I love flying pokémon, it's not really because I like using them in battle. What I like most about them is their signature trait: their ability to fly!'

'Yeah, that is pretty cool,' I said.

'So tell me, do your flying pokémon know how to fly?' Audric asked.

I blinked. Was he serious? Of course my flying pokémon knew how to fly! He'd seen my pidgeot fly after that beedrill!

'Um . . .' I said. 'Yeah . . .'

Audric smiled, shaking his head. 'Oh, I don't mean flying, I mean, can they use the move Fly?'

'Oh,' I said, feeling stupid. 'No, they can't.'

'I didn't think so,' said Audric. 'I noticed that when you sent your pidgeot off to fight that beedrill, you just let it do its own thing. If it knew the move Fly, it would have been able to carry you with it so that you could control it better.'

'Sounds great,' said Sand-Cloud. 'But no pokémon can learn Fly naturally.'

'Exactly,' said Audric. 'That's why my new job is teaching pokémon to use Fly!'

'You can do that?' I asked, surprised.

'Of course, Janet,' said Gelby. 'That's what HM two does!'

'Oh . . . of course,' I said, trying to cover up my ignorance. I was supposed to be a pokémon master! I didn't want to make myself look incapable in front of Audric, the ex-gym-leader!

'I normally charge for my services,' said Audric. 'But since you helped me out today, I think I owe you. If you'd like to teach any of your flying pokémon to fly, I'd be happy to do it for free!'

'Really?' I said, breaking into a smile. 'How cool!'

Imagine being able to fly on the back of Potow!

'Hey . . .' said Sand-Cloud. 'If we taught some of Janet's flying pokémon to use Fly, would they be able to take us to Aspen, do you think?'

'That's a great idea!' I exclaimed. Just when I thought my chance at competing in the Master Tournament was over . . ..

'But Sand-Cloud, Aspen is halfway across the world!' said Gelby. 'The plane trip alone takes fourteen hours, how do you expect Potow to fly for that long?'

'Well obviously it couldn't take us straight to Aspen,' said Sand-Cloud. 'But if we stopped off a few times along the way, I'm sure we could make it.'

'Are you sure?' I asked. 'Could it really carry us all the way to another continent?'

'I've had plenty of trainers come to me specifically so that they could get to Aspen,' smiled Audric. 'Riding there on a flying pokémon is a lot cheaper than a plane trip, and you don't have to go through that silly quarantine, and it's more fun too!'

'So you think Potow could do it?' I asked, smiling.

'Sure,' nodded Audric. 'I've got a special map made up for trainers who want to go to Aspen. If you stop at Aureate and then at Trefoil you can make it there in four days.'

'Great!' I said excitedly. 'The tournament's on in six days, so we'll make it there in time!'

'So you're going to compete in the Master Tournament, are you?' Audric asked. 'You'll be sure to see my son there.'

'Oh?' I said.

Audric nodded. 'He always goes to compete in the tournaments, a lot of the gym leaders do. You just might come up against him in a battle!'

'That'd sure be interesting,' I said. 'To fight him again, after three years!'

'He's probably a lot better now,' said Sand-Cloud. 'You're gonna have to be careful.'

'I'm sure you'll do fine,' said Audric. 'I'm very impressed with your pidgeot. So, is that the pokémon you'll be teaching to fly?'

I nodded. I knew I could rely on Potow.

'Well, take it out,' said Audric.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out Potow's pokéball. I opened it up and my good old pidgeot appeared.

'Hey Potow,' I smiled. 'How would you like to learn to use Fly?'

Potow looked at me for a moment, as if in thought. Then it puffed out its chest feathers proudly.

'Pidgeot!' it nodded.

I laughed. 'Great. Let's do it!'

'OK Pidgeot,' said Audric, standing up. 'Sorry . . . Potow, isn't it?'

'Pidgeot,' nodded Potow.

'OK Potow,' said Audric. He picked up the strange helmet which he had placed on the table. 'This may feel a little strange, but it'll be over in a few seconds.'

He secured the helmet to Potow's head, and pressed a few buttons. The screen began to flash, and a high-pitched whirring noise broke out. Potow flinched as if in pain, but it was never one to let a little pain get to it.

'Pidgeo . . .' it murmured, and I bit my lip. Although I knew that this had to be perfectly safe, I couldn't help but worry.

'Done!' said Audric, as the whirring slowed to a stop and the screen went blank. I smiled as I watched him press a few more buttons on the helmet, and then pull it off Potow's head.

'Pidgeot!' said Potow, shaking its head. Then it stood up proudly, having learned a new move.

'All right!' said Gelby.

'Well done Potow,' I smiled.

'Don't get too congratulatory,' said Audric. 'We'd better try it out to make sure it worked. How would you like to battle?'

'Battle!?' I exclaimed.

'Of course,' nodded Audric. 'How else do you expect to test your pidgeot's new powers? Although Fly is useful outside of battle, it's also a formidable move inside battle.'

I turned to Potow. 'What do you say?'

'Pidgeot!' nodded Potow.

'All right,' I said. 'Let's do it.'

Audric smiled. 'We'll make it a one-on-one to be fair. We'll use my own battlefield, over there.'

He gestured to the open space which extended off his backyard. I belatedly realised that on the short green grass, a pokémon battlefield was marked out with white spray paint.

'Wow, how cool!' I exclaimed.

'This actually used to be my gym, back in the day,' said Audric, as he began heading towards the battlefield with the rest of us following. 'I eventually had to move it to Cloud City when the Pokémon League told me I wasn't allowed to have a gym so close to the airport. Apparently the noise created a disturbance to the trainer's concentration. But I say that just adds to the challenge!'

I laughed. He had a point; trainers should be tested in all kinds of situations, including having distractions. In the real world of pokémon training, things were never as tame as they were in gym battles.

'All right,' said Audric, as we took our places on either end of the battlefield, Gelby and Sand-Cloud sitting by the sidelines. 'Are you ready?'

'Pidgeot!' nodded Potow, stepping into the arena.

'I guess that's a yes,' I smiled.

'Then let's battle!' said Audric. He took out an ultraball and threw it into the air. 'Skarmory, I choose you!'

'What!?' I exclaimed, blinking in shock as his pokémon materialised into the arena.

'Woah . . .' I heard Gelby breathe.

'I wasn't expecting that!' said Sand-Cloud.

Neither was I, that was for sure. The pokémon that stood before me was a tall, silver bird, covered in metal plates of armour. Its wings and tail were razor-sharp blades, and its pointed talons looked as hard as rock.

I had never seen this pokémon before. I'd been a trainer for four years, a master for one year . . . I'd seen the legendary Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Mewtwo. But I had never seen this pokémon before . . . why?

I took out my pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

'No data available,' it read.

'Well that was useless,' I muttered, shoving it back in my pocket.

'You seem shocked by my skarmory,' said Audric with a chuckle. 'We don't have pokémon like this in Mildew, I know. So I thought it'd be a good opponent for you, considering where you're heading off to. I caught it in Aspen, actually.'

'Aspen . . .' I breathed. Then I smiled. I'd known that Aspen was home to many different species of pokémon to the ones we had here, but I'd let that thought slip my mind when I'd been concentrating on training for the Master Tournament. Now I was more determined than ever to get to Aspen. Not only would I be able to compete in one of the world's most renowned pokémon tournaments, I'd be able to catch some great new pokémon while I was there!

'All right,' I said determinedly, my realisation renewing my energy. 'Potow, this'll be a good training session. We're gonna be facing lots of new pokémon when we get to Aspen, so we'd better get used to it.'

'Pidgeot,' nodded Potow.

'Then let's start,' said Audric. 'Skarmory, Agility!'

'Skar, skar!' said his pokémon, as it broke into a run and shot from side to side, increasing its speed.

But I knew that increased speed wasn't a match for Potow.

'Quick Attack!' I said.

'Pidgeot!' Potow shot into the air and slammed into Skarmory in what seemed like an instant. I smiled. I knew I could always rely on Potow's Quick Attack!

But to my horror, Skarmory just laughed to itself and threw Potow off, seemingly unharmed.

'No way!' I exclaimed. Surely Potow had inflicted more damage than that?

'Oh no!' said Gelby, turning to me. 'Janet, Skarmory is a steel-type!'

'A what type?' I asked, blinking in shock. I turned back to Skarmory, confused. Yes, I'd heard of steel-types . . . but I'd never bothered to learn about them because there weren't any in Mildew. Now I was regretting it. How was I supposed to defeat a steel-type? Normal-type moves obviously weren't very effective against it . . . how could they be, with all that armour? So how could I beat it with a pidgeot?

'Now Skarmory, Leer!' said Audric.

'Skarrr!' growled his pokémon, sneering at Potow. Potow shot its head down to look away but it was too late, its defence was already decreasing from the attack.

'Potow, Sand-Attack!' I said. If I didn't know how to attack Skarmory, I'd just have to keep it from attacking Potow.

'Pidgeot!' said Potow, beating its wings to send a gust of sand straight at Skarmory. The steel pokémon cried out and covered its eyes with a wing.

'Now use Steel Wing!' said Audric.

'Skarmory!' his pokémon flew at Potow and swiped my pidgeot with its wing, knocking it to the ground.

'Pidgeot . . .' growled Potow, pulling itself to its feet.

There's gotta be some way I can beat this thing . . ..

'Potow, use . . .' I thought through its moves, but couldn't figure out a strategy to beat this Skarmory.

'Janet!' called Sand-Cloud. 'Wasn't the whole point of this battle to test out Potow's Fly attack?'

'Oh yeah,' I said, shaking my head to knock myself back to my senses. I'd been so focussed on winning that I'd forgotten the reason we were battling. 'Potow, Fly!'

'Pidgeot!' said Potow, and launched itself into the air, soaring up into the sky.

'Skarmory, quick! Use Drill Peck!' said Audric.

'Skar skar!' said Skarmory, and went to attack Potow, but it was too late; it had already flown out of harm's way.

'Fly is a two-turn attack,' said Gelby. 'The first turn is used to fly up high and evade the opponent, and the second turn is used to cause damage.'

'Well done,' nodded Audric. 'You know a lot about the move considering Janet's never used it before.'

'Well, Gelby's a smart gal,' smiled Sand-Cloud, patting Gelby on the back. The pikachu blushed slightly, and I laughed. I could always rely on her - and Sand-Cloud too - to fill me in on the areas I was weaker on. People found it strange that we were called Team Yellow when I was the only one who was an actual pokémon trainer (Sand-Cloud had one pokémon, but she wasn't registered as a trainer). But the fact was that the two of them helped me out so much that my achievements weren't just mine, they were all of ours.

Smiling, I turned back to the battle. I looked up to where Potow was hovering high in the sky, ready to attack.

'Now, Potow!' I called. 'Attack!'

'Pidgeoooooot!' Potow bolted down from the sky like lightning, hitting Skarmory and knocking it to the ground.

'Skar, skar!' it cried, falling back. That attack had done a bit more damage . . . but by the look on that skarmory's face when it shook its head and stood back up, it still wasn't enough.

'Geot,' muttered Potow, eyeing its opponent. It must have been as uncertain as I was about how to defeat it.

'Skarmory, Steel Wing attack!' called Audric.

'Skarmory!' Skarmory slashed at Potow with its wings once more, and my pidgeot cried out as it was thrown back with a gash down its chest.

'Hang in there Potow!' I said encouragingly. 'Try another Fly attack!'

Skarmory kept its eyes on Potow as my pokémon took to the air again, flying up out of harm's way.

'All right Skarmory,' said Audric. 'Since we can't attack it while it's in the air, let's use Agility again!'

'Skar skar,' said Skarmory, and broke into a quick run around the arena, building up its speed. I watched it as it raced around on its short sturdy legs, waiting for the right moment. Finally, it was right under Potow, and I knew this was my chance.

'Dive now, Potow!' I said quickly.

My pidgeot shot down from the sky and slammed into Skarmory, tackling it to the ground.

'Skarrr!' cried Skarmory, thrashing frantically at the larger bird. It had been caught off guard, and Potow had managed to inflict a critical hit!

'Skarmory, Drill Peck!' said Audric.

'Skar!' growled his pokémon, as its beak began to spin like a drill, and it thrust it into Potow's chest.

'Pidgeot!' cried Potow, falling back in pain. It regained its balance and stood at the ready, but it was puffing . . . I could tell that it was getting weak. I had to finish this Skarmory off quickly.

'Potow, Quick Attack!' I said.

Potow nodded and charged at Skarmory. The attack managed to inflict some more damage, but not as much as I would have liked. With Potow in its weakened state, it was unable to deal any big impacts to its opponent.

'Skarmory, Steel Wing!' said Audric.

His pokémon leapt at Potow and went to slap it with its wings . . . and missed! I smiled. So Potow's Sand-Attack had finally had an effect. Skarmory lost its balance as it swiped at the thin air, and fell flat on its face. Potow chuckled to itself proudly, which only made Audric's pokémon angry. It leapt to its feet and turned to Potow, snarling.

'Quick Attack!' I said, before Skarmory's rage caused it to attack.

'Pidgeot!' Potow flew at Skarmory and slammed against it with its large body . . . but it still wasn't enough. How was a normal-type supposed to defeat a steel-type?

'Drill Peck now, Skarmory!' commanded Audric.

'Skaaaaar!' screeched Skarmory angrily, and charged at Potow with its rapidly spinning beak. It threw itself at my pidgeot and struck it hard, causing a critical hit that blew Potow metres through the air. I watched in shock as my pidgeot collapsed to the ground, defeated.

'No . . .' I breathed, my shoulders slumped. Potow had lost.



~Janet~