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My Victory of Sky City Gym (by Michael Keens/ Exodus)  

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After leaving Tet’, I went back to going it alone, with good reason, I couldn’t 
battle for money with people looking over my shoulder and acting like my second 
conscience.  
Abby knew the truth about my quest as I did about her life, and Tetsubo had got 
a hint of my true purpose, and so staying with them would only slow me down.  

Even though I’d worked really hard to make money through Pokémon Battles, I 
hadn’t made enough to cover my sister’s operation, it was starting to look like 
I’d have to win the Pokémon League after all, and that still wouldn’t be enough 
unless I continued to battle with no goofing off, and no teaming up, it would 
just be me and my Pokémon from now on.  
The reason I bring this up again is because Casey wasn’t doing as good as she 
started out, I’d checked in with the hospital, who told me her life was slowly 
ebbing away, and shortly after the League, there might not be anyone to save, 
just an empty shell.  
I wouldn’t let that happen, if I wasn’t battling for money, I’d be training my 
Pokémon, or resting when it was necessary (when the Pokémon were checking in to 
a Pokémon Centre to rest for the night), I know this might be putting some 
strain on the Pokémon, but they didn’t want to see Casey fade away any more 
than I did, some had offered to help me raise the money for her, others had 
been caught, and adjusted to this lifestyle.  
Casey’s too important to me now that my parents are gone.  

I was enjoying training Dragoon in the skies, trying out aerial manoeuvres, 
strafing, corkscrews, barrel rolls, and loop the loops, flying was important to 
a Dragonite and any skills he could pick up to be used in battle were worth 
training for.  

Meanwhile, a mysterious man sat on a Dragonite of his very own and watched me 
with a dark stare.  
“Could they be as good as... Him?...”  

“Boooargh!” screamed Dragoon happily, we’d come such a long way since Grey Town 
and been through so much, I wouldn’t trade this Pokémon for the world.  
Suddenly something jetted past us and Dragoon stopped and flapped its wings to 
stay stationary.  
The mysterious figures floated down in front of us, a man with dark spiky hair, 
a dark green costume and a green cape was riding a Dragonite of his own.  
“You there, are you a trainer, or do you just like Dragon-type Pokémon?” he 
called out to me.  
“What do you think?” I asked, opening my trenchcoat to reveal the badges and 
Pokéballs attached to the insides.  
“How many badges do you have?” he asked.  
“Seven!” I shouted.  
“In that case, would you be interested in a Gym Battle more challenging than 
anything you’ve faced so far?”  
“Sure.”  
“Then come with me...”  
The Dragonite took off swiftly.  
“Don’t lose him Dragoon.” I said, and he shot down towards the other 
Dragonite.  

We caught up and flew by its side.  
“That Dragonite, I was wondering how powerful it is, and if its as good as 
another I know of.” said the mystery man.  
“I take it you know a Gym Leader in these parts to be saying something like 
that?” I inquired.  
“You could say that, descend now.” ordered the man.  
The thick clouds tore apart as we flew down, and there was a huge arena at the 
top of a study tower in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by rocky mountains 
and rapid waves, access was virtually impossible from below.  
We touched down in the arena.  
“Welcome to Sky City, the training area for the best of the best.” said the 
man.  
I noticed a few people in robes surrounding the arena, it wasn’t odd to have a 
large audience at Pokémon Gym Battles.  
“So, what are you waiting for, introduce me to the Gym Leader.” I said rudely, 
I didn’t have time to spend sitting around.  
“I am Lance, and you?” spoke the man firmly, I should have seen it coming a 
mile away.  
“Scott Addison...  So, You are the Gym Leader, but who were you talking about, 
someone that Dragoon might be as strong as.”  
“Know that its an honour to battle me, I was once one of the Elite Four, 
renowned Pokémon Trainers that tower over regular Gym Leaders, and now we have 
become Gym Leaders ourselves.” pointed out Lance.  
“I am honoured but who do you keep speaking of?” I asked, a little frustrated 
in waiting for my answer.  
“Blacknite.  My original Dragonite.  Months ago he passed away, but he was the 
very best Pokémon around, its been hard to find another that can match up to 
him and I’ve got a suspicion about your Dragonite.” explained Lance at last.  
“But Dragoon just evolved recently, surely he can’t be better than an older 
Dragonite.” I pointed out, I wasn’t prepared to fight a battle I’d never win.  
“The Dragonite I have now should closely match your Dragonite’s level.  I will 
even allow you to choose the restrictions and number of Pokémon.  Don’t worry 
about my judgement, I’ll judge your Dragonite on how powerful it is for its 
age, not in comparison to Blacknite.”  
“You’ve got me going Lance, and I say a one-on-one battle with no limit to 
height will show you what you need to know, with no prior damage or weakening, 
I’m sure you’ll see everything you need to know during the battle.” I said 
energetically.  
“Booargh!” roared Dragoon confidently.  
“Good call, then I choose my own Dragonite, Tiamat.”  
“Bo Borgh!”  
“GO!” we both shouted, and both Dragonites flapped their wings and hovered into 
their positions over the square marks of the Pokémon arena floor.  

“Dragoon! Dragon Rage!”  
“Booargh!!!” he roared, a ball of energy growing in his mouth, which hit the 
floor and turned into a wide tornado.  
“Slam.” said Lance calmly.  
The enemy Dragonite ploughed through the flames bravely, and threw its side 
into Dragoon.  
I noticed what a reckless move this was, Tiamat had several burns since 
Dragon-type moves were somewhat effective against other Dragon-types.  
“Ice Beam!” I shouted.  
Dragoon opened its mouth, and a smaller ball of energy glowed before unleashing 
a beam of ice, which only clipped the opponent as it had flapped its wings and 
rose up into the air, the antennae-like parts on its head glowing with 
electricity.  
“Dragoon! Move! Its gonna use Thunderbolt!”  
Dragoon took to the skies as bolts rained down on his last position, and then 
my Dragon-type attempted a Leer to scare the opponent, but it retaliated by 
unleashing a Thunder Wave.  
“Agility!” I shouted, and in a flash, Dragoon had dived under the sphere, and 
rose up to hit the opponent, by tearing across Tiamat with its wings.  
“Do it again!” I called, and Dragoon buzzed by the second Dragonite several 
times, clipping it with its outstretched wings.  
“Leer.” said Lance.  
“Booargh...” growled the opponent, and Dragoon backed off, but returned the 
look with one of his own, secretly charging another Dragon Rage attack.  
I waited for a moment, and then called out “Now!”  
A sphere of blue flame shot out of Dragoon’s mouth, but also from Tiamat’s.  
Lance and I had thought of the same attack and strategy, which flattered me a 
little.  
Both spheres collided, grew in size, and exploded, filling the air with a 
bright flash and a booming explosion.  
I had to cover my eyes for a moment, but it was soon over.  
“Wing to Wrap attack.” called Lance, and immediately, Tiamat made a pass and 
whacked Dragoon, and then clung to him, wrapping its arms, legs and tail around 
it, but flapping its wings furiously to stay airborne.  
“Hyper Beam!” shouted Lance.  
“Break free!” I shouted, “Use Ice Beam!”  
But the enemy had planned one step ahead, and one hand held Dragoon’s mouth 
shut, Dragoon started to struggle desperately, but Tiamat had a firm grip, and 
a glowing power built up in its mouth and fired...  
A booming explosion followed, along with a thick black cloud covering the area 
in the sky.  
Tiamat came flying out unintentionally, but it flapped its wings and gained 
some control, it had a fair few burns from being so close, and it looked tired 
after expelling such a great deal of energy.  
Dragoon however plummeted fast, in much worse condition, eyes closed and body 
limp.  
“Dragoon! Wake up! You’re gonna get really hurt if you impact! Dragoon! Come 
on! 
I believe in you!...” I shouted.  
“Booargh...” it groaned.  
“That’s it, now just find a little more strength, we can win this, the 
opponent’s not that much worse off...  Now rise!” I called out.  
“Booargh BOOARGH!!!” wailed Dragoon, flapping its wings, at the last moment it 
regained its flight and height.  
“Until the very end, eh?” questioned Lance, “I admire your strength and 
determination, but the victory will go to Tiamat, we’ve travelled around just 
as you have if not further and been through many trials.”  
I didn’t answer him, and turned to Dragoon, flying up and shooting an Ice Beam, 
the most effective type against a Dragon/ Flying combination, but the same went 
for Dragoon.  
The cold ray overwhelmed Tiamat and solidified into hard twisted ice, clinging 
around its body, head and wings like thorny vines.  
“Boooooargh!!!” screamed the opponent, falling a little, and then outstretching 
all of its body to press against and shatter the ice, none the less, the damage 
had been done, so it was okay for us.  
“You’re using Ice attacks again to take a big advantage?” stated 
Lance, “Prepare to get a taste of the cold yourself, Tiamat, Blizzard.”  
“No.” I thought, “Blizzard covers a huge range, and Dragoon’s too weak to take 
a double-whammy of type advantage, but what could prevent it?”  
“Things are about to get really chilly.” smiled Lance.  
“Dragoon!” I shouted, suddenly remembering an attack that might work, “Fire 
Blast!”  
The Ice attack didn’t hit immediately because of Tiamat’s distance, which gave 
Dragoon the chance to fire off a large star-shaped blast of fire that was about 
the same size as he, which shot towards the enemy Dragonite, but this wasn’t 
primarily to hit Tiamat, Dragoon followed behind the fire, which was burning 
through the ice in its path, making it a fine shield.  
The other Dragonite had a look of disbelief and fear as the flames collided 
with it and burrowed into its chest, followed by Dragoon’s Slam attack.  
Tiamat fell back, but quickly discharged a sphere of electricity and hit 
Dragoon with it.  
Thunder Wave:  Dragoon was sparkling with electricity, and it was making it 
difficult to flap his wings and stay in the air.  
Tiamat followed up with a Dragon Rage attack, and Dragoon attempted a dive, but 
he froze up, and was blasted by the blue fireball which grew into a 
mini-twister.  
Lance smiled as did his Dragonite, until Dragoon flew out the top and charged 
up an Ice Beam, which the opponent barely managed to dodge, it was getting 
tired.  
“Dragoon, you think you can go all out like he did?” I called out, being 
cryptic enough to hide the next attack from Lance.  
Dragoon nodded and took in a deep breath, and then was rammed by the enemy 
again.  
I grinned, as Tiamat had guaranteed this attack would catch him, Dragoon blew 
out its own Blizzard attack, and hit the enemy dead on, not freezing it but 
hitting it hard and making it extremely cold and weak.  
“This could be it.” I stated.  
“Its not.” replied Lance.  
Tiamat was wheezing, its strength was gone but its wings were flapping and it 
was determined to go on, it seemed horrible to beat it now, but I had to.  
“Wrap attack!” I shouted, and Dragoon flew behind the other Dragonite and held 
it from behind.  
“Slam.” I said, and Dragoon descended, holding Tiamat’s wings shut so he 
couldn’t fly away, until they reached ground level swiftly and Dragoon threw 
Tiamat down, the speed of the descent powering up the attack.  
Dragoon turned around, and flapped his wings strongly to hover, and then land, 
while the smoke around Tiamat cleared, and he was clearly defeated.  

Lance clapped his hands and the others around the arena followed, Lance 
recalled his Dragonite, and then approached me.  
“That’s one legendary dragon you’ve got there.” said Lance impressed.  
“Um, Dragoon’s not exactly a legend, but he’s the only Dragonite for me.” I 
replied.  
“Hmmmm.” said Lance, “You two work very well together, you remind me of myself 
in my younger days, and my first Dragonite, and we were legends.”  
I liked where this was going, Lance was a very famous trainer, maybe I’d be as 
good as he after my mission, possibly even become a Gym Leader, as I had found 
myself dreaming about.  
“There’s a chance your Pokémon will be strong as Blacknite with the proper 
training.” added Lance.  
“Thank you Lance, coming from you, that means everything.” I said genuinely.  
“You are welcome here any time Scott, once you finish your duties, feel free to 
come back here and train with me.” smiled Lance.  
“Don’t you worry about that, and I’ll make sure Dragoon gets more powerful so 
we can battle again.” I added.  
“Well, nothing else to say but congratulations and here is your Legend Badge.” 
said Lance.  
It was a green disc with two black wings overlapping it that stretched out to 
the sides.  
I opened my trenchcoat to reveal my seven other badges, and attached the last 
one in the bottom right corner.  

Finally, I had my entry to the Pokémon League, which would pretty much make or 
break my goal of saving Casey.  
After all I’ve been through, the intense training, the trials and the 
sacrifices, I know I can go on to win.  
Nothing will stop me from winning, I’ll make sure of that...  

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Chad's Eighth Gym Battle
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