Chapter 48:  Reach for the Skies (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

“Aw...” I groaned, as I leaned my head over the side of Beryl’s boat, I felt 
disappointed, “First Fuchsia, and now Cinnabar.  Will I ever find a Gym that’s 
actually open for me?...”  
“Of course we will.” comforted Abby, “Blaine said there was a Gym north west of 
Cinnabar Island.”  
“And what if the Gym Leader sends me away again?” I groaned.  
“Don’t worry Tetsubo, there’s lots of Gyms in the world, we can travel to one 
on this boat.” comforted Emily cheerfully, “It might take a few weeks, but I’m 
sure you can train on the way.”  
“On this little thing?...” I questioned.  
“Maybe not, but I’m sure all those Rocket battles you’ve had would even your 
training time with that of other Pokémon Trainers that don’t have a Rocket 
member chasing them down practically every day...” she offered.  
“I just wanted to battle some Fire Pokémon, go home, and rest and train for two 
months...” I sighed.  
“Look on the bright side, I’ve got an Omanyte now, and you’ve got your very own 
Magmar, a reliable Fire-type for the Pokémon League instead of that nasty 
Charizard.”  
“Its a good thing it can’t hear you say that.” commented Abby, before turning 
to me, “So where were you thinking of going? The Gyms that I know and you don’t 
would be Grey Town, Aquamarine Town and Burnt Town, Emily?...”  
“For me that would be Vandyke City, Crimson City, Jade Town and Burnt Town, 
though the first three are very much out of the way.” she answered.  
“So much for all my schedules.” I moaned.  
“Tetsubo, you seem to have forgotten something.” stated Beryl, “Originally I 
was only supposed to take you to Cinnabar Island and then to Fuchsia Port, now 
that we’re heading out further to search for a Gym, you owe me extra.”  
“Um, could it wait? I mean, I used a lot of credits and I don’t think I can 
afford to give away more at the moment.” I said with uncertainty.  
Beryl seemed to think about things, although it made me nervous in how she’d 
answer, after a few moments, she turned back and said, “Well, we are friends 
now, so its okay, you can pay me back whenever you get the chance, but only 
because you guys helped me to keep my boat long enough to pay off my debts.”  
The boat swerved to the side suddenly and all of us had to grab hold of the 
nearest secure part of the ship.  
“Beryl! This is getting to be a trait of yours!” I shouted.  
“Aw leave it out, I’m not responsible for all the natural disasters in the 
world, I’m doing the best I can!” she yelled back.  
The ship then swayed to the other side, and it appeared to be rotating on its 
own.  
“Um, Beryl?”  
“Uh oh, whirlpool!”  
We couldn’t really do anything but hang on as Beryl guided the ship in all 
sorts of directions, but none seemed to stop it from turning, on the edge of a 
small but growing whirlpool.  
“Hang on, I’m going to have to let go of the wheel for a moment.” she warned.  
“You what?!” I yelled.  
She let go of the wheel and was reaching for her belt, but the ship was shook 
up and she fell back.  
The whole ship was turning at an angle, the deck turning into a slope, I turned 
to the girls, close to the cabin.  
“Girls! Get inside and hold on to something, I’ll call you if we get the option 
to evacuate, but I think Beryl won’t let it come to that.”  
They nodded and hastily went inside, Beryl was reaching for her Pokéballs with 
one hand, the other held tight to the edge of the ship.  
“Almost...”  
The ship turned right sharply and one Pokéball literally flew out of Beryl’s 
hand and went overboard.  
“No!” she shouted, and then recklessly pulled herself over the edge and 
dropped.  
“Beryl!” I shouted, trying to reach a Pokéball of my own but unable to without 
taking a fall myself.  
“FEAR!!!” screamed a high-pitched Pokémon, and Beryl rose up, the retrieved 
Pokéball in her hand and riding a Fearow.  
She dropped off at the ship’s mast and the Fearow flew above, almost stationary 
until it was drawn back inside.  
“Good work Soar, now Go Anchor!”  
The energy from the saved Pokéball flew over the front of the ship and 
disappeared behind it, and although unseen to me, a Pokémon had formed in the 
water.  
I peered over at Beryl and sent a questioning look at her, which was answered 
by a calm demeanour.  
The ship shook again and the sound of metal could be heard, and then the ship 
tilted back the other way, making the deck floor straight, well, straight 
enough to stand on without sliding all the way down anyway.  
The ship shook occasionally, but not strong enough to throw us around, and the 
occasional clanking could be heard.  
“Beryl, what Pokémon was that?” I questioned.  
“Just look over the side and see, its nickname is Anchor, for obvious reasons.” 
she grinned.  
I walked to the side and looked just ahead of the ship and saw a huge 
Blastoise, a chain held in its hands that led back to the ship.  
“Heh.” I chuckled, “Beats the traditional sort, especially when it can pull the 
whole ship around like that.”  
“Don’t get too comfortable, its a strain on him, he’ll just get us out of 
whirlpool territory, and then I’m back on the job.” added Beryl.  
“Oh well, better to have had this sort of service a little than not to have had 
any at all.” I smiled.  
“You insulting my skills as a ship captain?” frowned Beryl slightly.  
“No, just your navigational skills...” I replied.  

Soon we were back in fair and safe waters, at least I think they were, and the 
Blastoise had been recalled.  
The turning of the boat in that whirlpool had seemingly guaranteed us to go in 
the right direction, as many small islands were close by, although all of them 
had tall rocky cliffs that rose high up above us.  
The girls had returned to the deck and kept a look out for anything suspicious 
or helpful.  
“Tetsubo, do you really think we’re anywhere near civilisation? Let alone a Gym 
Leader.” questioned Abby.  
“Hey, I see something, its a signpost.  Beryl, dock there.” requested Emily.  
“You’re kidding, right?” said Beryl.  
“Huh, but-”  
“I’m not going near all those rocks, we do anything wrong, and we’re swimming 
back to Cinnabar Island, well, I wouldn’t, I’d ride my Pokémon, but you get the 
idea.” she explained.  
“But we have to get closer.” I said.  
“Its no problem.” said Beryl, drawing two Pokéballs and aiming them so that the 
energy from them shot into the water before forming into Pokémon.  
“Blast...”  
“Prasss!”  
“Cool, a Lapras...” cheered Emily.  
“Anchor, grab the chain and take a nap, Ferry, I’ve got three people for you to 
carry to that rocky island over there, okay?” she briefed to the Pokémon.  
“Blast...” yawned Anchor, grabbing the ship’s chain and diving underwater, the 
ship jerked a little but remained stationary, the Blastoise most likely 
sleeping on the ocean floor for now.  
“Prasss.” purred the Lapras, tilting its head to the side.  
“Get on you three, I’ll wait here while you check out whatever you have to.” 
said Beryl.  
The girls and I carefully stepped off the ship onto the Water/ Ice Pokémon, and 
then found a comfortable place to sit on the strange saddle-like part of the 
Lapras.  
“We’re ready.” I nodded.  
“Praaasss!” cheered the Pokémon as it shot forward, pulling itself through the 
water with its fins to propel itself towards the isle.  

We dismounted soon after and located the large sign, I despaired at what I 
read:  “For those that wish to challenge the Elite Champion, reach the 
elevator, directly north of here.”  
All our eyes looked ahead of the sign and travelled up the path that led to the 
rocky mountains.  
“You’ve gotta be kidding...” I groaned.  

Despite the reluctance, the fear and quite frankly the sanity that told us not 
to bother, the girls and I made our way up the mountain.  
The sign said nothing about assistance from Pokémon, so we used them.  
Abby had her Hypno float up ahead, and then use the Confusion technique to 
levitate her up each step of the mountain.  
Emily had her Omanyte with her, traded back into her party (since Blaine kindly 
let us phone our sponsors to switch Pokémon, personally, I’d returned my 
Electabuzz and Vileplume for my Charizard and Magmar), but Spiral couldn’t do 
much to help her without my sharing the item that my Staryu was using to help 
me up.  
I had some rope that I’d found back in Terracotta City, the place I’d received 
my seventh Gym Badge from.  
At the time I figured I’d get my last Gym Badge in the Gym that represented my 
home, but after what I thought to be a Gym Battle, I was left feeling extremely 
disappointed.  
After that, Abby and I were joined again by Emily and we spent several weeks 
travelling east.  
We’d temporarily taken responsibility for Bryan’s Pokémon and protected them 
from Rockets for a time, reunited our Nidoran evolution Pokémon with each other 
and let them go free into the wild, battled the last member of the 
Pokelementals, got into a rumble with Bryan’s Pokémon and lived to tell the 
tale (although my Gloom/ Vileplume lost a part of itself in it), helped out 
Conrad and his Farfetch’d and beaten Wesley, a member of a newly discovered 
evil organisation, teamed up with Chad and helped Bert win the girl, teamed up 
with Carrie and Eve to save an ex-Rocket from Burn of the Shadows, hired Beryl 
after saving her ship, helped out in Cinnabar Island but walked away without a 
badge, and finally, come to this place, an apparent Gym that was testing us in 
a different way just for the right to battle, at least I hoped so.  
The whole journey since Terracotta went through my mind, I’m not sure if it 
symbolised my life flashing through my eyes in the face of danger, but it 
helped me get on with the climbing, my determination to win one more Gym Badge 
helping me push myself all the way.  
Twinkill and Spiral had a rope tied tightly around them, Twinkill could spin 
itself upwards and wedge itself in the mountain wall so I could climb up as if 
it were living mountaineering equipment, while Spiral could easily climb it and 
pull Emily up.  

It felt like an hour had passed (at least) before we reached something new, 
instead of a rocky surface, we reached a metal one.  
“At last, we made it up, but you girls really didn’t have to come all the way 
up as well.”  
“And miss seeing you in action? No way! I’d go the extra mile for this.” 
grinned Emily.  
“We may not need the badge, but you do, and we’d like to support you in your 
final Gym Battle.” added Abby.  
“Thanks girls.” I smiled.  
Shortly ahead was the elevator that we’d read about, it wasn’t high tech, but 
it worked.  
Ropes hung on the outside of the metal basket which I alone pulled down to make 
the lift rise up a little.  
By the time we reached the top I wished I hadn’t tried to act so manly, my 
hands were rather sore and grabbing and throwing Pokéballs would be an 
unpleasant experience for the rest of the day.  
The top of the mountain was high above the clouds, and we couldn’t see what 
lied below now, all there was to see was a blanket of fluffy white that 
stretched out far beyond our sight.  
The ground here was natural, but the destination ahead was an eye-opener.  
A huge structure that resembled an old ancient Colosseum at the top, perhaps 
not even that since it looked like an authentic arena, parts were broken and 
the texture showed it hadn’t been repaired or even touched in years.  

When we stepped inside we were immediately rewarded by several clapping hands.  
I looked at the many parts of the stone seats located around the edge of the 
arena and slightly towering over the centre, and then at many men and woman 
wearing white robes at the opposite end of the arena itself.  
“Finally, a challenger that has the courage, skill, strength and trust in his 
Pokémon to brace the hardships of simply reaching this arena.” stated a 
mysterious voice, person unknown, “You’re very determined, but obviously 
lacking a strong Flying Pokémon.”  
“What?” I questioned.  
“I think he means you could have simply flown up here on one of your Pokémon.” 
whispered Emily.  
“Now he tells us.” I muttered, “But Inferno probably wouldn’t have let me, and 
I left my Pidgeot back home.”  
“True, but I’m still impressed you climbed all the way up here, I haven’t had 
many challengers lately, but let’s face it:  There’s no surprise there.” 
continued the voice.  
“Which one of you just said that?” I questioned.  
“None of them.” said the same voice, I tried to scan all of the robed people 
while he talked but didn’t see any lips moving.  
Finally, a unique figure stepped out of the crowd and stood there looking 
extremely cool.  
He had dark spiky hair, dark clothing and a long green cape that hung all the 
way down to his feet.  
My eyes shot open and my mouth hung, so much that the girls were concerned.  
“Tetsubo, you okay?”  
“You’re Lance.  Lance of the Elite Four, the Dragon Master...” I stated 
nervously.  
“And the Pokémon League Champion several times over.” added Lance calmly, “I 
see you’ve heard of me, I’m surprised, I’d have thought all that was before 
your time.”  
“Well, I keep up with all things Pokémon, in fact, I wrote an essay about you 
once.” I said.  
“Pokémon Student, eh? Before we battle, what’s your name?” asked Lance.  
“Tetsubo Capture, Sir.  But I’m a little unsure about all this, I mean, you’re 
a champion, how am I supposed to beat someone like you to earn my final badge?” 
I said with uncertainty.  
“Seven badges, huh? Then I wouldn’t be so worried, I’m not using the same 
Pokémon as I did during my glory days, most of them have passed on, so if you 
have the skill to beat me, you’ll walk out of here with eight badges.” 
explained Lance.  
“Thanks for that Sir.”  
“I don’t deserve to be called Sir, so don’t.  We shall have a three-on-three 
battle, draw your Pokémon.”  
“Will do Sir, I mean Lance.”  
“Go!...”  

End of Chapter 48A  

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Chapter 48B
Back to Story List #41 - #60
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