A/N: Hehe, the chapter title is inspired by Yuma's catchphrase from Yugioh Zexal; "High five the sky".
Thankfully, it wasn't a long trip for our gang to traverse, only taking a day and a half to heal up their Pokemon before walking to find Violet City Southeast of Ecruteak City. And one of the first things they spotted once they were in the city was a looming tower overhead.
"Okay, this is a cool looking skyscraper." Trace nodded.
"Better than I thought it'd be!" Ash praised the tower's visual design.
"It must be interesting to see the inside." Sakura commented. "And to think this will be my first badge!"
"I'm sure you'll do great." Misty told her, which the girl smiled in appreciation.
"Well, let's get started." Trace said as he got out his phone to post a challenge to gym leader Falkner Ishida, which got immediately accepted. "Cool." Putting his phone away, our heroes went inside to hitch a ride on the elevator up to the rooftop. Once they were there, they gasped at how beautiful it was. Sure, the field itself was nothing special, but like the Eterna City gym and Galar's stadium's it had no roof so there was nothing in the sky except the sun, some clouds and... a glider? Someone was hang gliding down in a red and white glider as they came nearer and nearer to the gym floor, until the made a safe landing on the gym leader side, in which Falkner got out of his flying gear.
"Wow, now that's an entrance." Sakura was impressed by how unique it was.
"He certainly lives up to the flying type theme." Trace nodded.
"So you're my challenger, yes?" Falkner asked as he walked up to them.
"Yeah, Trace Keen. We liked your entrance." Trace complimented the gym leader as they shook hands.
"Thank you. There's nothing better than the feeling of flying for me." He then noticed Ash whom had a Pikachu, and was curious. "How come you're not challenging me first? Most trainers think that having electric Pokemon gets them an easy win." He said that part with disdain, which put off Ash and Pikachu as they sweat dropped from his intense gaze.
"Well... uh, I was planning to, but Trace said he wasn't getting to challenge enough gym leaders as of late and said he wanted a turn. Elaine here understood and convinced me to let him battle you. But, it wasn't like I was expecting this to be a walk in the park. We've battled gym leaders who knew how to handle types strong against them so we've prepared that any gym leader." Falkner smiled.
"That's good to hear. Trainers can be arrogant because they have the type advantage, but that isn't everything. At least you four are wiser than most.
"Falkner?" Sakura spoke up, getting the gym leader's attention. "After Trace, I was wondering if we could have a gym match? This will be my first badge." Falkner smiled.
"Two challenges back to back. I've got my work cut out for me. At least you two will be at two different difficulty levels. I'm game. Trace, take your place."
"Thank you." He nodded as he went to his corner. A Rotom Drone appeared.
Welcome, welcome, welcome! You have been approved for an official Pokemon World Coronation Series Normal Class battle! The challengers here are Falkner Ishida from the Violet City Gym vs Trace Keen from Pallet Town! For today's battle, you can choose two Pokemon! When a Pokemon on either side are unable to battle, that side loses! Both challengers bring out your Pokemon!"
"Time to show you the power of flying types! Doduo, go!" Falkner sent out a two headed, brown feather bird with long beaks and black eyes.
"Huh, so he's going with that, huh?" Ash remarked, though Sakura was confused.
"But, how can it fly if it doesn't have wings?"
"Eevee, let's go!" Eevee pounced onto the field.
"Battle begin!"
"Iron Tail!" Eevee went first as she went on the attack with a glowing tail before jumping.
"Dodge with Agility!" Ducking down, it evaded Eevee's attacking by gaining a huge amount of speed, which confused the Evolution Pokemon as she looked behind her. "Keep it up Doduo! Use Fury Attack!" It stopped at a dime and turned around near instantly as it shrieked, proceeding to peck repeatedly at Eevee as she cried out from the repetitive attacks.
"Iron Tail!" Through the insistent pecking, Eevee turned and bashed both heads with the wag of her glowing tail, causing them to back off.
"Don't give up Doduo! Use Double Hit!"
"Jump over them!" Thankfully she didn't take that much damage, so Eevee was able to jump and use the right head as a stepping stone as they tried to attack. "Now use Swift!" Spinning around in mid-air, the Evolution Pokemon created a barrage of golden stars which beat down on the Twin Bird Pokemon's back. It screeched from pain, before collapsing from the attack.
"Whew, we did it." Trace chuckled.
"Eevee!" His partner cheered, but not too much since it wasn't over.
"You showed plenty of spirit Doduo. Return." He recalled his Pokemon before sending out his last Pokemon. "Go, Pidgeotto!" A medium sized bird with brown and cream colored feathers came out, stylized with some crest feathers on its head which were colored pinkish-red.
"Eevee, use Swift!" Jumping to do a front-flip, she sent another barrage of stars heading towards the Bird Pokemon.
"Block it!" Falkner ordered. Pidgeotto crossed its wings to take the blunt of the damage, though it still cooed in discomfort. "Now use Mirror Move!" Its wings glowed white, and thus started flapping its wings to create its own barrage, taking Trace and Eevee by surprise as they gasped in shock. Eevee had to struggle to keep standing as she was pelted by her own attack.
"Eevee, come back!" Trace recalled his Pokemon, to which she ran back to his side. He knelt down to pet her. "You did good Eevee. You just rest for a bit." Standing back up, he told Falkner, "Interesting you have Mirror Move there! Well, here's something that'll be pointless to copy! Corvisquire, go!" Trace sent out his Raven Pokemon, a blue and black feathered bird from Galar. It hawked in a boasting manner. Falkner was impressed as he smiled.
"Interesting. I've never seen such a flying Pokemon in person before."
"You must not see a lot of Galar based Pokemon or trainers then. "Use Hone Claws!" Corvisquire spun around in the air as it gained power, and this glowed with an orange aura.
"Mirror Move!" Pidgeotto mimicked the Raven Pokemon's movement, becoming stronger as a result as well. "Now use Quick Attack!" With incredible speed, the Bird Pokemon flew right into Corvisquire, making him chirp in discomfort.
"Counter with Fury Attack!" While they were in close range, Corvisquire pecked repeatedly at Pidgeotto while he had the chance.
"Blow it away with Gust!" The brown and cream colored bird flapped its wings to push its raven counterpart away, which just gave each of them a chance to attack.
"Use Pluck!"
"Counter with Wing Attack!" Trace and Falkner ordered respectively. The two Pokemon flew at each other with a glowing beak and wings respectively, but Pidgeotto won the class of flying moves as it batted Corvisquire out of the air and landed on the ground hard.
"Corvisquire, return!" Trace recalled his Pokemon, but he was smiling as he complimented his Pokemon. "Thanks. Now I'm certain we'll win. Eevee, let's finish this up."
"Eevee!" She nodded with a determined smile as she pounced back onto the field.
"Hmm." Ash was pleased with how things were going. "He made sure that his weakened Eevee didn't wear itself out against Falkner's Pidgeotto, since it's weakened by Corvisquire."
"He's going to win this!" Sakura was happy for her new friend.
"Use Swift!"
"Blow them away with Gust!" Pidgeotto tried to blow the stars back towards Eevee, but it was too weak so it just sent the stars flying all over, all of them missing the Evolution Pokemon. "Try to use Wing Attack!"
"Iron Tail!" The two Pokemon were on a collision course with each other, white glowing appendages of a wing and tail. Within an instant, they clashed, and both Pokemon landed on the ground facing away from each other. A few seconds passed before Pidgeotto cooed as it collapsed, unable to battle.
"As a result of today's battle, there has been a change in the WCS rankings effective immediately!" The Rotom Drone announced.
"Pidgeotto, are you okay?!" Falkner sounded concerned as he went to his flying Pokemon.
"Way to go Eevee!" Trace praised his Pokemon, whom sat down in exhaustion, but was pleased nonetheless by her success.
"Awesome, he won!" Sakura clapped for his victory.
"Eevee!" Her own Evolution Pokemon agreed.
"Even when Eevee couldn't use half her moves she still pulled through." Elaine was proud for her best friend.
"His Eevee sure is strong." Ash agreed. "And so is Corvisquire to weaken it as much as it could."
"Well, you certainly know how to deal with the high flying grace of Pokemon." Falkner told Trace as he returned his Pidgeotto.
"You ain't too bad yourself." Trace returned with his own compliment as both men shook hands. An assistant came in so that the gym leader could swap Pokemon as he looked towards Sakura.
"Okay, you're up."
"Wish me luck." Sakura told her friends as she went onto the battlefield. Though before Trace could get off said field, Sakura gave him a hug before proceeding. Trace blushed from the brief contact before smiling as he walked to his friends so he could sit down with them. An assistant came in to referee.
"The official Johto League battle between... uh, what's your name miss?"
"I'm Sakura from Ecruteak City."
"Thank you." He coughed before continuing. "The official Johto League battle between the challenger Sakura from Ecruteak City and Falkner the Violet City gym leader will now begin! At stake is the Zephyr Badge! Each will use two Pokemon! Begin the match when ready!"
"Hoothoot, let's go!" He sent out a brown, ball shaped owl with red eyes balancing on one leg.
"Let's show them what we've got Eevee!"
"Eevee!" He nodded as he went onto the field. "Use Tackle!" Eevee went first... and she went fast. So fast that Hoothoot didn't have time to react and was bashed into by the Evolution Pokemon. It went down in one hit, to the surprise of everyone around.
"Hey, is this really your first gym match?!" Falkner called out as he returned his Pokemon. "No first timer takes down a Pokemon that good!" Sakura became worried as she raised her hands up defensively.
"I swear, this is my first! My Eevee must just be stronger than I thought!"
"Hmm. We'll see just how strong. Give us your strongest attack! Pidgey, use Tackle!" A smaller version of Pidgeotto came out, and it began its attack.
"Well, if you say so. Eevee, Take Down!" Eevee charged forth, and he attacked with such force, he sent Pidgey flying past Falkner as it crashed into the wall, having totally not doing any kind of damage at all.
"Uh... Pidgey is unable to battle. The winner is... Sakura." The referee was at a loss of further words.
"Wow, who knew Sakura was that much stronger than the first level gym leader?" Elaine was baffled by her base level strength.
"Her Eevee is tougher than we thought." Ash gulped. Trace didn't say anything as he just wondered how Falkner would react. And at the moment, he wasn't pleased. Returning his Pokemon without a word, he walked up to the nervous Sakura, with Eevee whom has ran to her side.
"What kind of training did you go through to beat us that badly? Your Eevee performed like it was battling for a forth level badge at best."
"I swear, I've spent all my time at Ecruteak where I lived with my sisters! I used to be part of the Kimono Girl tea ceremony dance troupe!" Falkner's eyes widened, before closing them.
"I see. That explains why you're stronger than you should be. Well, by the Pokemon League rules of the match I'm obligated to hand you your badge, but I'd advice that you disclose your power to future gym leaders so that you don't curbstomp them like me. Gym leaders are meant to push their challengers and teach them how to achieve new heights, and it's not fair for them if they don't know how strong you are."
"Okay, I will Falkner. Forgive me and my mistake." She bowed to him out of respect and shame. Falkner sighed.
"It's fine, you at least know now. Good luck in the Johto League." He then handed her the Zephyr Badge.
"Thank you." She took it and sulked to her friends. "Ugh, that was humiliating."
"It's okay Sakura, we all make mistakes." Elaine placed a hand on her right shoulder.
"Yeah, it's not like you were deliberately going to crush him." Ash added as conciliation. Trace put a hand on her left shoulder too.
"Don't worry, you did nothing wrong." Sakura wiped her eyes, before looking back at all of them before smiling sadly.
"Thanks guys." Looking down at her Eevee, he said his name as he tilted his head, wondering what she was thinking. Thinking about it, she asked them, "Hey, can we take a pause on this journey? Right now I only have Eevee. If I want to be like a more proper Pokemon trainer, I need to practice at it. I need to get a feel of it."
"Of course." Elaine agreed. "Heck, we could take the time to capture more Pokemon for ourselves so that we're closer to our final teams. You can get that too."
"Yeah, and besides, we're already in the middle of the 3000s in the WCS rankings." Ash told her. "We could probably use a break so that we can get stronger but have more fun in the meantime."
"Not to mention we can help you learn how to fit in." Trace nodded with a smile. "We'll be there for you all the way." Sakura smiled from their compassion and willingness to help. This was the kind of thing she needed for her journey; kindness and help.
"Thank you."
A/N: Haha, that was interesting. Looks like Sakura got her second lesson of being a Pokemon trainer. So, this does sort of throw a huge monkey wrench in the whole plot. But, this does mean that our protagonists can still grow, catch new Pokemon and meet some interesting people that haven't had a chance to pop up yet. Maybe characters like Trip, Serena, Morrison, May, Alain, Sawyer, Drake from the Orange Islands, Korrina and Bea before their proper matches, Professor Kukui and Marnie while she's still currently in Normal Class and more. If you have suggestions for any of these characters than that would be great. I've also considered on whether or not they could take their pause outside of the main regions and go to one of the smaller ones, like Obliva. I hear it's beautiful when it's not being threatened by a reused "Castle in the Sky" weapon. Haha, I jest, but since we're going completely off script so that Sakura can become stronger, I'm completely open to any ideas that can help Sakura and the gang move along until she's ready. At least until she has a complete team of Espeon, Beautifly, Bellossom, Castform, Solrock and Midday Lycanroc. This story, in the meantime, is now in your hands until we get back on track with my plot, and I'll go with the review that sounds most interesting. Review please.