Before I begin this chapter I'd like to apologize, I've just noticed that I was kind of stupid in writing this because it changes perspective midchapter...I'm planning on remaking the chapters at some point in time, so I'll fix it then. Until I begin rewriting, beyond this chapter I will be writing in third person. This chapter has a lot of switching though, so I'm sorry.
Chapter 4: Battle in the Sky
Both mine and Steury's heads shot straight up toward the sound. Above us flew a giant bird pokemon. If it would have been standing up straight I'd guess it would be at least eight feet tall, with a wing span of enormous proportions. It's feathers were a beige color, and it's back and the reverse side of the wings was brown. On it's head was a magnificent crest that seemed to flow right down it's back, it was a golden yellow in the middle, and a crimson on each side. The crimson was also shown on it's fan of tail feathers. From it's eyes black streaks shot down it's cheeks. In the middle of it's face was a large beak, that quite frankly I didn't want to get anywhere near. From two stubby legs came clawed feet, not covered in feathers, but in pink flesh. It let out another loud cawing sound, and that's when the Professor and I realized it was heading straight for us.
There was no way we could get out of it's way in time, even if we weren't frozen with fear. The air flowing around it's body actually began to glow a fine white as it increased speed even more, seemingly taking the shape of an arrow. Suddenly it came to a halt, Bringing it's mighty wings upward, and bringing it's nosedive into a hover, about one hundred meters above us. Unfortunately the Professor and I were still in extreme danger, the immediate stop caused the wind to go crazy pulling both of us up toward the ferocious bird above us.
With another violent "Caw" it snatched us out of the air with it's massive claws, completely immobilizing us. I struggled to reach for a pokeball, but it was useless the bird's grip was far too tight. It brought it's feet together, as well as the Professor and I, and with a mighty flap of it's wings we were flying straight upward toward Breeze Town. Both of us were gritting our teeth from pain as we writhed around the pokemon's claws, trying to escape. Though it's actually a good thing it was holding on tight, because personally I didn't want to fall from this high up. The air stream flowing around the pokemon began to glow, and the landscape became a blur to our eyes. We had to be going at least three hundred miles an hour, if not more.
Suddenly I realized something I hadn't noticed. There was someone atop of the bird, riding it. The figure was mysterious, wearing a cloak. Under it I thought that I could see some chainmail and plated armor, like medieval knights wear. It looked familiar somehow, but I couldn't place it. Mere seconds later, the claws clenched even tighter, forcing me to close my eyes in the terrible pain. At the extreme altitude I became short of breath, and finally I slowly slipped out of conciousness.
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I woke up in a daze, confused at where I was. The room was made out of concrete, except for a wall of bars, and a small identical window. Obviously I was in a jail cell. My pokeballs were gone. Around me sat several other figures, their faces grim and hopeless. In one corner I could see Steury whispering to another cell mate. Someone I didn't recognize, his hair had been filled with gel at one point but was now raggedy and dirty. His face was in dire need of a shave. He was wearing a labcoat that matched Steury's.
"Where am I?"I asked, still confused, when a fearful look shot across the face of the others, who "shh'd" me quickly. I could hear footsteps coming from down the hall, and everyone in the cell seemed frantic. They looked as if they were in fear for their lives. The man behind the steps finally revealed himself into view of the cell. It was the same person who had been flying on the giant bird.
The man was very tall, almost seven feet. He was wearing a slate grey hooded cape. I finally realized that the figure had been one of the men who'd accompanied the commander of the Crusaders. Within the face of the cape was complete darkness. Around the neck of the cape was a golden necklace, on the end encased on the gold was a metallic maroon symbol. The symbol was in the shape of an elaborate medieval sword. His torso was clad in silver and black plate armor, all in intricate designs. His upper arms were wrapped in silver chains, while his forearms were contained by strange black armor. It didn't look medieval, it was some piece of technology, and held strange red and blue buttons. His hands were in silver gloves. His legs were clothed the same way as his arms, only the armor on his legs looked like normal armor. He faced the toward the prisoners, some who squealed with fear, and others who were frozen by it.
"Why have you imprisoned Mr. Harper, Sirrus?"an all too familar voice said, addressing the armor clad man. "He is our guest, so release him and his scientist friends as well,"the man continued. It was the voice of the Crusader who'd broken into Sprout's lab. Suddenly Julian remember that he did know the scientist that Steury was talking to, it was none other than Professor Sprout.
"My apologies sir, I couldn't recognize him from the skies, I though that he may be trouble so I brought him here. He's only been here for a few hours, so I haven't done any damage to him," the tall man apologized, bowing toward the other end of the hall. Obviously the man I'd seen in Sprout's lab didn't want to be seen. Sirrus, as the Crusader had called him used a key to unlock the cell bars, and swung them open with ease. Several men in cloaks came from either side of the cell doors and filed in the the cell. Though the door was wide open no prisoner dared to make a move. The cloaked men violently grabbed Sprout, Steury, and I and dragged us out of the room.
I tried to fight against the several men, but their grips were too strong to break. As I past Sirrus I could feel cold eyes staring at me from the darkness of his hood. Somehow the man who'd infiltrated Sprout's lab was gone.
"Get off of me! What's going on?!"I shouted in desperation, but my yells were soon muffled out when one of the cloaked me covered my mouth with their hand. They pulled me to a strange elevator at the end of the hallway, it looked strange in it's surroundings. The entire hall was made of concrete and lit by light from the Cell windows. The elevator looked very modernized, it was a large cylinder, tinted red. The was a black line running down the center, dividing the sides of the door. We were pushed into the elevator as the door slid open, it closed immediately not giving us any time to get away from whatever this elevator was taking us to. The back wall of the round elevator was purely white. There was a strange silver panel on the wall, where the buttons should have been. Suddenly it began ascending. Through the glass walls I could see us rising through the sky itself. It was if the professors and I were flying among the clouds. As we went up I saw Cloud City below us, growing smaller and smaller. Suddenly everything became black as the elevator came to a sudden stop.
The door in front of us slid open, revealing a metallic staircase, with light shining down from the top.
"Long time no see, Jude," Professor Sprout said. He had a habit of saying things at the wrong time.
"This is no time for greetings, Professor..."Steury said. I wasn't sure if they got along well or not. "We have no other choices, so it's up the stairs we go. Just be careful."
"Well then, here goes nothing..."I said with a nervous voice. I was almost shaking as I walked up the stairs, each one clanking loudly. I could hear the two professors walking behind me as well. I looked upward toward the top of the staircase and could see the sky, through the small opening. Finally the final step was taken out of the staircase and I instantly became terrified. We were on a giant steel platform, miles above the ground. Around the perimeter of the platform were giant machines, which I guessed were making the platform stay in the air. The platform had the white lines painted on it, making it a standard battling field. There were spots for two trainers to stand, and in the middle a giant pokeball symbol. I was already standing on one of the trainer's spots, and on the other I could see another hole, most likely another elevator staircase. Once Sprout and Steury had gotten out of the staircase, the floor instantly sealed up, via sliding door. At one side of the field there was a tower, where a Pokemon League referee was standing.
"Welcome to the Breeze Town Gym, Jude," said Steury, standing behind me. "You're not ready for this gym battle yet, so use this." I looked back and Steury was holding a pokeball out to me. I accepted it reluctantly, wanting to use my own pokemon. Though I highly doubted that the gym leader was playing fair either. "Good Luck," he said, as he and Sprout began to walk away.
Finally the gym leader showed himself. A shadowy figure began to rise from the stairs opposite me. A mist like in Sprout's lab began to flow from the staircase, but this time it was light blue.
"I've been waiting to battle you, Julian Harper. The boss says that you're supposed to be strong!" said the figure. His voice was energetic and high pitched. If it were any other circumstance it would have been annoying. Finally the man was entirely out of the staircase, and I could see him clearly. His clothing was Sirrus's but I couldn't be sure if it was him as he wasn't wearing his hood. His hair was crazy looking. It was blonde, but it was done in a...unique way. On each side of his head, his hair was spiked up, like bird wings. All of the hair in the front was brought into one large, beak-like bang. He had a sideways grin on his face, and a fierce look in his eyes. On his left ear he wore a strange earring. It was attached to a silver chain hanging down an inch down from his ear, and it shaped like a wing. The edges were silver, and the center was sky blue. "My name is Sirrus! The new and improved Breeze Town Gym Leader, and proud member of The Crusade! You may know me as your captor, I hope you enjoyed your ride up!" he laughed way too much. And not a normal laugh either, it was a high-pitched hyena laugh. It didn't matter what situation this was, this guy was annoying no matter what. "Now what do you say we have a little fun!"
"The rules we be standard! Each Competitor will use three pokemon, with no substitutions. First competitor with two victories will win the match!" the referee yelled out from his tower. Steury and Sprout stood off to the side of the platform, almost at the edge. Luckily there was a guard rail around the entire field. Though, I was absolutely sure that both Larvitar and Growlith could easily fit through.
"Get ready kid!" Sirrus shouted, placing one of his pokeballs into a slot in the strange armor on his right arm. "Go Skarmory!"he shouted, pressing a button on the machine. A red light beam was shot out of the machine, toward the middle of the field, taking the shape of a large bird. It looked vicious, and was completely coated in metal. It had piercing yellow eyes, and razor sharp claws. I was instantly struck with fear, there was no way I could beat this giant bird. Then suddenly I remembered something from a long time ago, when I was playing at Sprout's lab. I remembered he had a Cyndaquil and an Aron playing together one day, and suddenly Sprout rushed over and picked up the Aron. He said something...
"Woah, Aron. You need to be more careful around Cyndaquil, steel types like you can get hurt by fire types," he said, warning the Aron of Cydaquil's fire attacks.
"Go, Growlithe!"I shouted, hoping that Growlithe's fire had as much advantage as I thought. I picked out his pokeball and threw it against the ground, releasing Growlithe onto the platform.
"Lucky guess, kid. But still, look at that tiny little Growlithe, there's no way it can fight my Skarmory!!" he let out another hyena laugh, and signaled the ref to start the match.
"Battle Start!"the ref shouted, and instantly Skarmory became poised for battle. It jumped back a few feet, and examined it's foe. Suddenly it loosened up, and started chuckling it's name. Shockingly Growlithe showed no fear toward it's frightening opponent. It just stayed down, ready to pounce, growling at it's foe. Skarmory began to slowly walk over to the little dog pokemon, who continued to growl. It brought back one of it's large clawed feet, ready to kick Growlithe right off the platform.
"Growlithe, dodge it!" I shouted, imitating the professional battlers I'd seen on TV. I had no idea what to do.
"Jude, use your pokedex!" Steury's voice shouted from behind me. I remembered the green device he'd given me after I caught Growlithe. I still didn't know how to use it, though. I pulled it out and flipped it open, and aimed it toward the battle. Suddenly the screen lit up, showing a picture of my Growlithe. There was a lot of information displayed on the screen. Lv. 12, Stats: HP: 30, ATK: 13, DEF: 14, SPATK: 20, SPDEF:16, SPD: 21, MOVES: Growl, Tackle, Ember, Bite. and some more. I suddenly realized what Steury was telling me to do, now I knew what moves the Growlithe knew and could tell him what to do. It would obviously take more than just the moves though...I'd have to think on my feet.
"Growlithe, Pounce!" I knew it wasn't an actual move, but it worked well. Growlithe had moved out of the way of Skarmory's foot as I was taking out my pokedex. Skarmory was trying again, getting furiated with the little dog pokemon. Suddenly Growlithe jumped onto Skarmory's giant claw, and hung on, still barking at the bird. "Now use Ember!" Growlithe obeyed me again, shooting a small fireball out of it's mouth at Skarmory's leg. The bird pokemon screeched in pain, trying to shake Growlithe off of it's leg. Growlithe hung on tight, continuing to shoot off more fireballs. The Skarmory's steel body was getting covered with burn marks. Growlithe jumped back off of the claw now that Skarmory was in too much pain to fight back. "Use one more ember, Growlithe! " Another blast of fire was propelled from Growlithe's mouth, hitting Skarmory right in the face, the attack unbalanced Skarmory enough to knock it down. With a loud clang it shook the stadium as it hit the floor.
"You'll pay for that, kid! Now I'm just going to have to take this fight seriously!" yelled Sirrus, "Now Skarmory, get up and use whirlwind!" The Skarmory sucked up the pain from it's burns, and climbed back up from the floor. It flapped it's large crimson wings, creating a powerful wind. Growlithe was knocked right off of it's feet, and sucked up into the air. Skarmor jumped up, and began flying through the air ready to attack Growlithe. It darted through the air, toward the tiny orange dog, but suddenly Growlithe acted on it's own and shot out another ember at the last second. Skarmory was caught off guard, and the ember hit it in the chest, causing it to spin backward. The tiny dog latched itself onto Skarmory's chest with it's claws. Skarmory began to spiral toward's the ground, trying to peck at Growlithe, but it could reach down to it's chest with it's beak. Suddenly Growlithe let go of Skarmory, landing safely on the ground, a confused Skarmory crashed hard into the stadium, actually denting the field.
"Skarmory is unable to battle! Growlithe wins the battle!" the referee shouted, I couldn't believe that I'd actually won my first battle. Though it wasn't over yet, I still had to win another fight, or else I'd lose. And I didn't even want to think about what The Crusade might do if I lost.
"Beginner's luck!"Sirrus shouted, as we both brought back our pokemon. He took Skarmory's pokeball out of the device on his arm, and replaced it with another pokeball. "Go Gligar!" Another red beam fired from the device on his arm, releasing a purple scorpion pokemon. It was odd though, because it had wings that let if fly. The only scorpion pokemon Jude had seen had been on the ground.
Jude aimed his pokedex toward the Gligar, apparently it was a rock and flying type. Jude had no idea what to use against it, Larvitar probably wouldn't be able to fight it well, but he had no idea what was in the pokeball Steury had given him.
"Better save Steury's for last..."Jude said under his breath, reaching for Larvitar's pokeball. "Go, Larvitar!"Jude shouted, sending out his own rock type. Larvitar looked rather confused as to what was going on. Jude remembered that this was his first battle too, but Growlithe obviously got into a lot of fights in the wild. "Larvitar, this is your first real battle, but I know you can do this! We just need to try to beat Gligar, ok?" Larvitar turned around to Jude and nodded. It looked back at Gligar, ready for a fight.
"Battle start!" the ref yelled. Larvitar was confused by the voice, looking around for where it came from. He turned around too quickly, and fell over. Larvitar didn't have a chance against Gligar. It sped through the air, and whipped Larvitar hard with it's tail sending it toppling toward the edge of the stadium.
"Larvitar!"Jude shouted, diving toward Larvitar. Luckily he caught Larvitar before he rolled off of the edge. The poor pokemon was crying from the attack that Gligar had used on it.
"Larvitar is disqualified! Gym Leader Sirrus's Gligar has won the battle in a record breaking three seconds!"the referee shouted to Jude's disbelief. Jude stared blankly for a few seconds before realizing that in an official battle a trainer wasn't allowed to aid his pokemon...which he'd done.
"Come on back, Larvitar...You did your best," Jude said, bringing Larvitar back to his pokeball.
"That was pathetic!"Sirrus shouted, laughing insanely. "Ha, ha! I've never seen something so puny!" he continued, bringing back his Gligar. Jude had had enough of Sirrus.
"Shut up and bring out your last pokemon!" Jude shouted, torn with anger. He obviously didn't like Larvitar being insulted, especially by someone like Sirrus.
"Very well, if that is what you wish,"Sirrus said, immediately stopping his laughter. I suddenly realized what I was probably up against. He still hadn't used the giant pokemon that had captured Steury and I. "Go, Pidgeot!"he shouted, as I clutched Steury's pokeball.
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Please Review, and just noting it will be a while until Chapter 5 is up because I haven't started 6 yet.
*My Claims*

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What a Fool Believes-The Doobie Brothers
Roll with the Changes-REO Speedwagon
Grand Illusion-Styx