Edwin sighed as he entered the gym. The atmosphere was no less humid than it was the last time he visited, and even though he had left his orange jacket back at his room in the pokemon center, he still felt the effects of the jungle heat. His swampert croaked deeply beside him. Poseidon had evolved after hours of training in the unforgiving heat and humidity of the jungle, and most of his injuries had healed over the course of the week. Edwin's team in general was far more healthy than it had been coming out of Petalburg, and he was glad for it as he had a daunting task ahead of him.

Winona was not known to be a particularly difficult leader, but she was no pushover either. Edwin had done his research before the battle, and he had informed his pokemon about the flying-type leader's tactics as well. He felt adequately prepared, but he still got a little bit nervous before every gym battle. One of the gym trainers walked Edwin over to the plain-looking battlefield, and he returned Poseidon as he awaited Winona.

After a few minutes, Winona appeared on the other side of the battlefield with three pokeballs clipped to her belt. Winona wore a strange looking blue and white aviation suit, complete with a blue flying cap. She seemed pretty, with her matching lavender eyes and hair and her long eyelashes, but Edwin was slightly put off by her weird garb. The two trainers made their way to the center of the battlefield where they shook hands and exchanged greetings.

On the way back to his corner, Edwin turned to look at the stands and saw the small audience present for his battle. The spectators consisted of a handful of gym trainers, and Edwin suspected that they were there to watch Winona and did not care at all how he fared. As Edwin returned to his side of the field, the referee began explaining the rules of the gym battle.

Edwin had heard the rules many times by now, but he listened anyway. The referee gave some background information about Edwin and declared that this would be a Level Six Battle since Edwin already had five badges. This was mostly for the crowd, as Winona had no doubt known all of this information beforehand. The referee introduced Winona and then went on to explain that each battle would continue until one pokemon was knocked out, recalled, or killed. He also said that there would be no substitutions, and that the battle would be three-on-three, as had been decided beforehand. He declared that Winona would send out her pokemon first, and then yelled for the battle to begin.

Winona's first pokemon was a swellow, a common bird pokemon in Hoenn. Edwin smiled and sent out Ajax, his electabuzz. The yellow pokemon began sparking and growling upon release, and he flexed his biceps as he crackled with electricity.

Edwin had a strategy in mind that would allow him to win with only two pokemon. Winona was the traditional sixth gym leader in the Hoenn circuit, and Edwin was facing her as his sixth badge as well. This meant that the team Winona used against the trainers with five badges was fairly predictable as so many trainers challenged her as their sixth gym leader. Edwin was able to find this team easily, and he had drawn up a plan in preparation.

He figured that Winona would use a swellow, an altaria, and one other flying type. Winona's signature pokemon was her altaria named Skylirr, and though Edwin knew that Skylirr was too powerful to face a five-badge trainer, he also knew that Winona would still use an altaria as her trump card against him. The altaria would be sent out last, as expected from any gym leader who used his or her signature pokemon. He also knew about the swellow because it was so common in Hoenn, and it would probably be the "easy" opponent in his match. Gym leaders usually used one pokemon that shouldn't be too difficult for the challenger to beat.

To sum up, Edwin knew that Winona would use her swellow first and her altaria last, with another pokemon (a pelipper, a skarmory, a tropius, or a noctowl) in between. Edwin figured that he would use Ajax as his opener to easily dispatch the swellow and either knockout or at least damage the next pokemon. He would then send out Poseidon, his strongest, against the altaria. Poseidon would hopefully be able to beat the dragon bird, but if he was overcome, then Edwin would send out his pidgeotto to finish the weakened altaria.

The battle started immediately, and Winona ordered her swellow to fly. The dark blue and red bird flapped its wings and flew into the air with a squawk.

"Shoot it out of the air with a thunderbolt." Edwin grimaced as Ajax's attack went wide and missed the swellow completely. Ajax never was good at long distance attacks, and Edwin realized that Winona would be in the air a lot and that he would need to rely on long-range strikes. I thought up all this strategy and failed to take into account the fact that these things can fucking fly. Edwin felt like slapping himself.

"Dive bomb it." Winona's voice was calm and confident, but Edwin snapped out of his self-hate as he realized that the gym leader had made a mistake. As the bird came close to Ajax, Edwin yelled out his next command.

"Thunderpunch!" The electabuzz shot out his fist and knocked the swellow clear out of the air and sent electricity through the bird's wings. "Get on top of it, Ajax! Thunderpunch it until it can't move, and don't let it get back into the air!"

One benefit of electric attacks was that the victim would be slow to recover due to the jolts of electricity coursing through its veins, and this allowed Ajax to jump on top of the faster swellow and begin thrashing it with his fists of electricity. Winona recalled her pokemon; there was nothing she could do for the bird once Ajax had it pinned. Edwin allowed himself another smile. Winona had definitely gone easy on him for that first matchup, but swellow were not masters of long-range attacks either. A quick, close-range attack was Winona's only option, no matter how bad of an option it was.

Edwin's grin grew even wider when he saw Winona's next pokemon. A pelipper appeared from Winona's pokeball with a loud caw, and Ajax beat his fists against his chest, sending electricity flying from the static fur.

"To the air. Get above the electabuzz." The pelipper took flight and began flapping towards Ajax. Edwin waited till the pelipper was directly above Ajax, and then shouted "Thunderbolt!" as the same time Winona yelled "Spit up!"

Even Ajax could not fail at shooting electricity straight upwards, and Edwin watched with satisfaction as the pelipper was shocked by the electabuzz's attack. However, before the pelipper was electrified, it managed to release a downpour of digested material and other substances right onto Ajax's head. Though the pelipper was sent to the ground, clearly knocked out, Ajax was also taken out by the pelipper's attack.

Edwin recalled his electabuzz and wondered whether Winona's move was even legal. The pelipper had clearly stockpiled a lot before the battle, and Winona only needed one move to unleash the energy-infused pile of digested material. As Edwin brought out Poseidon's pokeball, he realized what Winona had done. She had used swellow's dive bomb to judge Edwin's tactics. Once she saw that Ajax would wait for the attack to come instead of immediately counterattacking, she knew that the Edwin would let the pelipper come to Ajax before he unleashed an attack of his own. This allowed Winona a sure fire way of taking out Ajax, as electric pokemon were dangerous to a flying-type trainer. Though she had lost two pokemon already, something told Edwin that Winona was not giving up yet.

Poseidon and the altaria entered the battlefield at the same time, one roaring a challenge while the other chirped in excitement. Edwin was not worried, as he had another pokemon in reserve even if Poseidon was knocked out.

"Cotton guard," Winona ordered. Altaria fluffed up its feathers and seemed to grow in size. Smart, thought Edwin. Swampert were known for their immense physical strength, and cotton guard would greatly raise the altaria's defense.

"Water gun," Edwin called out. The attack hit the altaria straight in the face, but the dragon bird only chirped in annoyance before flapping its fluffy wings and ascending to the air. The altaria then shot out a purple-green flame which hit Poseidon, who shrugged it off with a roar.

Edwin thought quickly. Poseidon had no way of reaching the altaria as long as it was in the air, so he first needed to ground it. But how? As Edwin thought up a strategy, Poseidon continued to be peppered with dragon breath attacks.

"Surf!" Edwin called out, and Poseidon let out an explosion of water from his mouth which slammed into the altaria. Surf was weaker without an actual source of water nearby, and as a result, the altaria only chirped with distress and flapped its wings violently as the water hit it. It stayed airborne. Poseidon continued to be hit with dragon breath attacks, and Edwin cursed. Suddenly, Winona called for the altaria to dive bomb Poseidon. Edwin could not believe it. Winona had made the same mistake twice.

"Slam it into the ground, Poseidon!" Edwin yelled, but then sucked in his breath as he saw why Winona had ordered a dive bomb. Poseidon was frozen in place, unable to move due to paralysis from the dragonbreath attacks. Edwin cringed as the altaria slammed into Poseidon and then continued to assault him with its dragon breath from the air. Edwin cursed again and recalled Poseidon. There was nothing the swampert could do in that situation. Edwin tossed his last pokeball into the air and released his pidgeotto, Elric.

The bird pokemon took to the air immediately and let out a "caw!" Elric's wing injury had largely healed, and he was able to fly with relative comfort. The pidgeotto was large and robust, and Edwin suspected that he would soon evolve as well. Even so, Edwin wondered whether Elric would be able to take out Winona's altaria. The dragon bird had barely been touched by Poseidon, and Edwin had hoped that if Elric was even sent out, he would only have to face an extremely weak altaria.

"Dragon breath from a distance, and claw it up if it gets too close," Winona ordered. Edwin decided that he would also have to fight from a distance. The altaria's defense was still enhanced, and if it came down to talons and scratching, altaria would most definitely win.

"Twister," Edwin told his pokemon. Elric began flapping his wings and sent out a small twister towards the altaria, and this attack actually caused the gym leader's pokemon to cry out in pain. The altaria sent a dragon breath attack as payback, but Elric easily avoided it. He was much better at dodging than Poseidon was.

"Speed in close, Elric." The pidgeotto flew straight towards the altaria, and the dragon bird made no move to evade. Edwin smirked. Winona had come to the same conclusion as he had: altaria would win in close quarters combat.

Unfortunately for her, Edwin had something different in mind. "Feather dance," he commanded. Elric shed some feathers and then blew them towards the altaria with a gust, causing the dragon bird's attack to lower. The feathers would simultaneously distract and calm the other bird, therefore hampering its attacking abilities.

"Now, steel wing followed by a twister." Elric's wings hardened like steel and slammed into the altaria as it struggled with the feathers. Before the dragon bird had a chance to recover, Elric sent a twister its way and caused it to lose its ability to stay in the air. As the altaria fell to the ground, Edwin shouted.

"Steel wing it as it falls! Don't make its descent a pleasant one." Winona could do nothing but watch as her altaria was buffeted with hardened wings as it fell to the ground. The bird dragon eventually hit the ground with a crash, and Elric landed across from it as it struggled to get up. The pidgeotto was breathing heavily, exhausted from the repeated steel wings.

"Roost," Winona said.

"No!" Yelled Edwin. "Quick attack! Now!" Despite his exhaustion, Elric sped across the field and slammed into the altaria before it could begin resting. The cotton guard had mostly worn off by now, and as a result, the dragon bird could not take the hit and collapsed. A red beam of light absorbed the altaria into its pokeball, and Elric collapsed to the ground moments after the referee declared Edwin the winner of the battle. Edwin recalled his pidgeotto and grinned. He walked to the center of the battlefield and shook Winona's hand.

"Good battle," she said. "Now if you'll follow me, I'll have your badge for you." Edwin followed Winona into her office in the back of the gym, just past the battlefields. The room was spacious, but the thing Edwin appreciated the most was the presence of a ceiling fan.

Winona handed him a silver badge in the shape of a bird's wing. "It's called the Feather Badge," she told him. "So, are you heading to Mosdeep next?"

"I actually already have the badge from there. I just have Petalburg and Sootopolis left."

Winona then handed Edwin a package containing a small computer chip. "It's the technical machine 'aerial ace.' You didn't see it in action today, but it's a pretty useful move. Since you already had five badges, I'm assuming you know how to use one."

Edwin nodded. "Thanks." With that, Winona blinked her long eyelashes and wished him well on his journey. Edwin was almost sorry to leave the cool room and go back into the hot and humid atmosphere of Fortree, but he then remembered that he had two jobs to do in the city. He still had not found Faustina.

Edwin checked his phone again and found that Faustina still had not responded to his messages. He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked back to the pokemon center. He resigned himself to the fact that Faustina had only been using him, and that she had abandoned him forever now. He could come up with no other reason why Faustina was ignoring him. Unless she's dead or injured. Edwin doubted that possibility, though. Faustina was a stronger trainer than he was, and she could handle herself.

Edwin walked through the doors of the doors of the pokemon center and handed over paths balls of the three pokemon he had used in the battle. He then decided to go out into the city and see if he could find anything.

It was sunset when Edwin returned to the pokemon center, and he had yet to find anything regarding his missing traveling companion. As he picked up his pokemon and walked up the steps to his room, he decided that he would give up trying to find Faustina. If she doesn't want to be found, then there's no way I can change her mind, he thought. He quickly pushed thoughts of her out of his head. He had just won his sixth gym badge, and he wasn't about to let anything ruin his celebration. Edwin released all six of his pokemon into his room.

"As some of you already know, we have just won our sixth badge!" Cries of excitement and delight followed his announcement. "Now, give it up for our three brave warriors, Ajax, Poseidon, and Elric!"

Shira and Revina offered congratulations to the three who had fought in the battle. Ajax flexed his muscles and beat his fists together haughtily, Poseidon croaked in appreciation, and Elric preened with pride. However, Edwin's ninetales, Elena, simply jumped up onto the bed and went to sleep, not caring about the the team's victory. Edwin expected as much from her.

"Our next move will be to travel to Lilycove City and then catch a boat to Sootopolis," Edwin explained. After that, we can face Norman again. And next time, I know we'll win." Shira barked in agreement, and Ajax stomped his feet in anticipation. "For now though, let's just enjoy the night."

Edwin had bought food from the marketplace for his pokemon and himself; roasted tailow, fried magikarp, grilled and seasoned carvanah, fresh tropius bananas, and a variety of tropical drinks were among the dishes he brought. He turned on the television and flipped between a rerun of a tournament match from last year and a soccer game, though mainly he just talked and joked around with his pokemon. Even though he couldn't fully understand them, he still found that communicating with them was sometimes easier than talking with other humans. Edwin walked over to Elric, who was intently watching the soccer match.

"So you're a fan of soccer now?" He asked the bird pokemon jokingly. Elric chirped in reply, indicating that he was in fact enjoying the game. "Nice job today, by the way. Those steel wings were so powerful I could hear the smacks even from where I was standing." Elric fluffed himself up and chirped proudly.

"I can tell you're getting stronger, and you're a lot bigger from when you first evolved. Maybe you can even fly me places now." The pidgeotto looked at him in horror and shook his head vigorously. Edwin laughed. "I know, I know, I was only joking. Maybe after you evolve."

Elric chirped as one of the teams on television scored a goal in stoppage time, ending the stalemate and winning the game. Edwin patted the bird on the back and then headed over to his bed where his ninetales was sleeping. He poked her gingerly, and she stirred awake.

"You mind getting off my bed? I need to sleep too, you know." Elena glared at him but did get off the bed. She stalked over to a corner of the room and curled up again.

"Hey, Poseidon, can you get the lights? I think we should get some rest now," Edwin said. The swampert let out a deep croak and flipped the light switch. It took a few minutes for his pokemon to settle down and find a spot to sleep, but everyone eventually found a place to rest and everything went quiet. Shira was curled up beside Edwin, Poseidon rested on the ground next to his bed, Revina lay down on the desk, Elric was perched on top of the chair by the desk, Ajax was slumped over in a corner of the room, and Elena was curled up in her own corner, farthest away from the others.

As he and his pokemon drifted off to sleep, Edwin once again found his thoughts wandering to Faustina. He had decided to give up his search, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Nevertheless, he shifted his thoughts to those of Lilycove and Sootopolis. Lilycove was a beautiful city, and it would be a welcome stop before he had to go on to his next gym battle. Sootopolis was rumored to be the hardest gym in Hoenn, as it was run by the former Hoenn Champion, Wallace. Even so, Edwin was excited that he was getting closer to being able to enter the Hoenn League. Sleep took hold of Edwin, dreams of victory and greatness shielding his mind from Faustina.

Dex entry #334: altaria

"We heard a beautiful melody, and we stopped to listen. It was amazing: sadness, joy, heartbreak, and hope all wrapped up into one tune. It was so calming that we didn't even set up camp before we drifted off to sleep. When I awoke, I found that my two companions were both dead. Something had scratched them up and cooked them with a flame of some sort, and pieces of flesh were torn off their bodies. It was then that I realized we had wandered into an altaria's lair." - Police statement from Verdanturf Town given by an anonymous hiker

Altaria are dragon and flying type pokemon whose feathers and wings closely resemble white cumulus clouds. These pokemon live in the mountain ranges of Hoenn and can rarely be found in the mountains in a few other parts of the world. Altaria are excellent singers, and they sing in a soprano voice that can be both beautiful and deadly. Altaria's song can be used to soothe babies and put even the noisiest children to sleep, but its music can also be used to knock out enemy pokemon and sometimes, under prolonged exposure, kill them. Luckily, altaria tend to leave humans alone and prefer to run away rather than fight. However, if absolutely necessary, altaria will attack and kill hikers and trainers who stray into their territory. Altaria are considered a level three threat on the Pokemon Threat Scale.