. . .Skyla, the flying type user! Skyla returns to the world of Unova with no major changes aesthetically.  However, her gym has undergone a bit of renovation! Instead of the cannon terminal set up that she had in the first installment, her gym is equipped with a labyrinth of mesh catwalks facing jet engines. A powerful gust of wind slices through the gym in timed intervals. If you’re caught in it,  you’ll be sent to the back of the gym to start over in the maze. To avoid this setback, you must guard yourself on certain platforms that contain a protective wall, which shields you from the wind. Of course most if not all platforms have Pokemon trainers waiting to battle you. I actually found this gym quite frustrating at times. This is mostly because I tend to be a tad overzealous with these timed arenas, which leads me to make plenty of timing errors. I was sent to the back of the gym a couple of times before I decided to be patient and walk through it carefully.

Now, onto the gym battle! Skyla has an assortment of mixed flying types at her disposal. In my personal opinion, flying types are a bit of a mixed bag. The decent ones are few and far between, and they usually come equipped with a unique secondary typing (ground and electric are the two that come to mind). There are plenty of mediocre flyers out there like Honchrow, Driftblim and Togekiss. They’re good in their own right, but they’re not that good. Generation five came out with a number of threats to deal with these once popular generation four teammates. Tornadus of the fifth generation is our very first pure flying type and is easily the best in the game (that’s not considered UBER). Hopefully we’ll get more pure flyers in our possible future generations of Pokemon. It’s an interesting type with a lot of potential!

There are plenty of rock, electric and fire types to choose from to help you along with this fight; Crustle, Emboar, Darmanitan, Ampharos, Boldore and Arcanine to name a few. So, choose your poison! I personally went with Ampharos and reigned down the terror of Thunderpunch across her entire team, but that’s just me (it’s my favorite Pokemon, after all).

With that said, Skyla’s team hits too close to home when it comes to mediocrity. It consists of two level 37s; a Swoobat and Skarmory. Her final teammate is a level 39 Swanna. First up is her Swoobat, the psychic/flying type pig with wings. I was so excited when I saw the first pictures of Woobat. . .something as cute as that HAD to be on my team. Then I discovered that not only is it a horrible Pokemon in battle, but it’s final evolution isn’t up to par with its flying brethren. It’s typing is one major issue that lets Swoobat down. It comes tied with multiple common weaknesses and, combined with its poor defenses, makes Swoobat an easy target. Skyla’s Swoobat has a mostly offensive movepool, which is another let down. It’s fantastic base 114 speed and decent support moves make it a prime candidate to aid its teammates. Her Swoobat, however, comes with Acrobatics, Heart Stamp, Assurance and Attract. None of these moves are particularly threatening with the exception of Acrobatics. Skyla’s Swoobat doesn’t come with an item, so the moves power is increased. Add in a extra boost from STAB and you’ve got something that can deal a substantial amount of damage.  Thankfully neutral attacks tend to take Swoobat out in one hit, so you shouldn’t have any trouble knocking it out even after getting hit from an attack.

Next up is her Skarmory, the steel/flying type. Skarmory enters generation five just as amazing as it was in the previous games. Its typing is a blessing since it negates some weaknesses and its stats fit perfectly with his main use; defense. Not to worry, Skyla’s Skarmory comes equipped with everything that Skarmory shouldn’t have; offensive moves. It sports Air Cutter, Steel Wing, Fury Attack and Agility, none of which are particularly threatening. Steel Wing will be its most powerful move, but you can easily resist it with a common fire or water type. Unless you attack Skarmory with a super effective attack like fire or lightening, then you’ll probably KO it in two or three hits. This gives Skarmory the opportunity to damage you a bit, so make sure to bring along a few healing items. Nail it with a powerful fire or lightening attack to KO it quickly!

Lastly you’ll face Skyla’s Swanna, the water/flying type. I personally think that the water/flying dual type is one of the worst in the game. It’s a shame since water is such a great type, but attached with flying brings it a plethora of weaknesses, including a x4 weakness to electric and now a sudden weakness to rock. Not only does Swanna suffer from terrible typing, but it’s just terrible period. It doesn’t excel in anything aside from speed, and even then it’s not the greatest. It does learn a few decent attacks like Hurricane, Brave Bird, Surf,  Scald and Roost, but its movepool lacks diversity. The fact of the matter is that there are just better water and better flying types that completely outclass Swanna. Needless to say, you shouldn’t have a hard time defeating Skyla’s as it’s nothing special. It’ll attack with Air Slash, Roost, Feather Dance and Bubblebeam, none of which are particularly threatening. Roost might prove annoying, but you can remedy its use by KOing Swanna with a single lightening attack.

Challenge mode brings some new attacks, higher levels  and a new teammate for you to face. First of all, Swoobat knows Psychic and Energy Ball instead of Heart Stamp and Assurance. Both of the prior moves are far superior and much more versatile, so make sure you’re not using any water types. Skarmory now holds a Sitrus Berry (it heals a small amount of HP) and is equipped with X-Scissor instead of the useless Fury Attack. I don’t see why you’d be using a grass, psychic or dark type against steel (we’d most likely be using fire, water or electric in this case), so overall Skarmory poses no more of a threat than before. Swanna now has the infinitely more useful Surf instead of Bubble Beam. Also, like Skarmory, it holds a Sitrus Berry. Again, Swanna is at a threat level zero. No need to fret.

Skyla’s new addition is a level 40 Sigilyph, the psychic/flying type. Again, this dual typing is its major downfall since it’s weak to so many common moves. But unlike its gen five counterpart Swoobat, Sigilyph actually has some decent stats and moves at its disposal. It has above average speed and special attack, making it a decent sweeper. It also has a diverse movepool with Roost, Comsic Power and Dream Eater. This particular Sigilyph is equipped with Air Cutter, Psychic, Flash Cannon and Hypnosis. It can get quite annoying especially if it puts you to sleep, so be mindful. Its attacks compliment its decent special attack, so it can cause some damage. Take advantage of one of its numerous weaknesses and take it out before it attacks!