What, were you expecting him to win?

Awesome, in this episode Birdy Cephon Altera finally makes her appearance and she defeats Cilan in battle.

...

Wait, that's not Birdy? And you're telling me that it's actually Skyla? Wow, I wonder how I got them mixed up...

I only got the chance to see a little bit. Skyla's voice is....odd.

Awesome episode! We finally get to see Cilan battle another Gym Leader, namely Skyla, although he lost.

I was totally surprised that Skyla would be able to predict the outcome of a battle, without even carrying out an actual battle. I've seen Cilan passionate before, but not so much outraged. His "boring lecture time" never fails to bore me, and it shows he can be assertive, despite his calm, friendly disposition. I have to agree with him and Ash on this one. It's always more interesting to execute a battle to determine a Pokemon/trainer's strength and the outcome of match-ups.

Great episode! Can't wait for the gym battle.

... I hate what the anime did to Skyla, I REALLY hate it. I also hate it when the anime clearly break the game's rules in terms of a move's effect. And wouldn't you know it, both are in this episode and combine with each other to create an even BIGGER hatred! Ash & co. have finally gotten to Mistralton City and are about to enter Mistralton Gym when they're told they need to wait as there are a whole batch of trainers waiting to challenge the Gym. The Gym Leader Skyla, finally arrives and challenges all the trainers to something called "Air Battles" where she imagines how the battles will go and decide whether the challenger wins (and gets a badge) or loses (and gets no badge) without actually battling. This angers both Ash and Cilan (Cilan moreso because he's a Gym Leader) and, after talking with Skyla's grandfather how all this happened, Cilan challenges Skyla to a battle. Can Cilan defeat Skyla and show her that "Air Battles" aren't right? How did all this "Air Battle" nonsense start? Will next episode Ash be able to challenge Skyla to a Gym Battle? And how many laps in knowledge can be found in Skyla's thinking? I can tell you it's more then the number of finger on your hand so let's just see how many:

Battling A Way It Wasn't Meant To Be:
Ash & co. are about to reach Mistralton City when an airplane appears above them and starts doing stunts. When it starts to leave, Ash & co. follow it and it leads them to Mistralton city! Opener, title card, Ash & co. reach the Gym though are confused as it says it's a cargo service (Striaton Gym was a restaurant, Nacrene Gym was a museum/library, Nimbasa Gym was a theme park, and Driftveil Gym was a mine... why are you surprise this Gym has a second function? Ash just wants his Gym Battle so he's about to rush in through the doors but a boy stops him and asks if he's a challenger. Ash tells the boy he is and the boy says that Ash has to wait in line and points to a large group of trainers (oh let me guess, Skyla was in that stunt plane, wasn't she?) explaining they missed the "morning group" and now have to wait with the "afternoon group". Iris asks once again if this is the Gym (while I would point out Ash did have to wait for Elesa to battle Bianca, this is large group of trainers waiting) and Cilan says this Gym has "something new on the menu".

Ash goes up to one of the Gym workers and tells him he's there to challenge the Mistralton Gym when the worker asks him if he has an appointment. The worker explains that Gym battles must be scheduled and sees that they have an opening in the afternoon group so Ash says he'll take it. The worker says he'll need Ash's name so asks for Ash to take out his Pokedex and... is that a QR code?

Sort of makes Social Security numbers feel low tech.

As you see in the picture, a ticket with the #14 prints out (and from what I can count, there was 13 trainers waiting on line minus the by that told Ash about the line so way to go animators, I'm actually impressed).

The stunt plane from before lands and, as I expected, a stripp... er, I mean the Mistralton Gym Leader jumps out: Skyla!

Skyla: HIeei!
Comment: Oh sweet Arceus, SHE'S A DITZ!

Skyla introduces herself (even using her title "The High-Flying Girl") and... WAIT A SECOND! Counting the group of trainers again there are 15 waiting not counting Ash (I'm taking back that complement from before, animators!). Skyla even notes there are 15 trainers (but wait, Ash's ticket says he's 14, did two other trainers arrive just after Ash?) and decides to get the battles started though Ash wonders how she's going to battle all these trainers. Skyla explains to everyone they'll be using three Pokemon sending out a Swoobat (which Ash scans for a THIRD TIME), Unfezant (which they take note of the gender differences), and Swanna (which Ash scans for a second time...). The first trainer is the boy which told Ash he had to wait in line and he sends out a Zebstrika, Boldore, and Emolga as Skyla says they're ready for the "Air Battle" much to Ash & co.'s confusion. Skyla starts thinking and we see Emolga use Thunderbolt on Swoobat and win, Boldore use Rock Edge on Unfezant and win, and Zebstrika use Thunderbolt on Swanna and win as we come out of Skyla's mind.

Skyla: You showed great strength, so you win it.
Ash: Wha?
Comment: You know something stupid just happened when I'm agreeing with Ash...
Iris: That's it?
Cilan: Talk about unusual.
*Skyla hands the trainer a Jet Badge*
Comment: TAUROS MULCH! Really, we're making Skyla the "free Badge handout" Gym Leader? It doesn't even make sense with her character in the games! At least when they did it with Volkner it made sense, he was depressed. However it doesn't look like Skyla is suffering from a mood disorder...

The boy takes his badge and runs off as the next challenger comes up but Ash stops the boy and asks if that was really the Gym Battle and the boy asks Ash if he doesn't know about "Air Battles" (more like "Airhead Battles"). Ash and the boy get distracted by the next challenger's "Air Battle": a girl who's using a Sewaddle, Pansear, and Leavanny (well, this isn't going to end well). We don't even get a visual this time as Skyla just declares the girl a loser saying she doesn't stand a chance with her Bug- and Grass-types (not to mention Pansear would be weak to Swanna's Water-type attacks) and tells her she doesn't get a badge. Ash yells out that they didn't have a battle but the boy tells Ash that "they did" and explains they "battled in Skyla's mind" (not surprised, there seems to be plenty of room in there!). We see more "Air Battles" occur with Skyla saying whether she wins or losses as the boy goes on explaining that Skyla is so "strong" (oh, a describing word for Skyla does start with "st" though it's not "strong") that one look of the challenger's Pokemon she can imagine the battle in her head. Iris says she now knows how Skyla can battle 15 challengers though one look at Cilan's tells you that he isn't happy about these "Air Battles" at all. Skyla says this is the last of the morning group (OH, so this is the morning group, you didn't make that very clear writers...) though Ash says this isn't a Gym Battle and Cilan gets even more angry. The last challenger is a boy using a Cottonee, Foongus, and Munna (yeah, he ain't winning) and Skyla agrees.

Cilan: Of all the ridiculous... STOP THIS!
Comment: CONNOISSEUR SMASH!

Cilan marches forward followed by Ash as Skyla checks in with her workers and they tell her she doesn't have any more battles until the afternoon and they refueled her plane. Skyla says she thinks she has enough time for a quick flight when Ash and Cilan yells her name and when she turns around she sees this:

Ash and Cilan are going to bring down a beatdown!

Ash yells if she calls those Gym Battles and Cilan demands an explanation but Skyla says they're scheduled for the afternoon so they'll talk then saying she's "busy" and then gets in her plane and flies off. Ash says he doesn't want to "battle like that" with a sigh but Cilan's response is more angry with him saying he won't TOLERATE a battle like that and yells out this has got to stop...

NOOOOOOOOOOW!

Like Throwing Leaves Up At The Sky:
An old man walks up to them saying they don't sound too happy (what? No, Cilan only has a fury of a volcano when he's ecstatic!) and Ash asks who he is and he tells them he's Skyla's grandfather, Miles (Tails Prower? Good thing you're here, Sonic is going nuts over there (anyone who gets this wins an internetz point!))! Inside what I presume in the Gym, Miles tells them he was the previous Mistralton Gym Leader but eventually retired to start up his Cargo Delivery Service and Ash rather nastily asks what he thinks of Skyla's "Air Battles" (Ash, he's talking with all three of you for a reason and first explaining he was the previous Gym Leader, care to take a guess why he's talking to you? Jerk). Miles begins to explain that Skyla took her Gym Battles very seriously and they became well known as we get a flashback of Skyla's Unfezant battling a Darumaka and winning. Trainers from all over flocked to Mistralton City to battle her making her busier and busier until she didn't have any time to fly. Miles explains that's when she came up with the idea of "Air Battles" so that she can handle challengers efficiently so she has more time for herself which gets Cilan boiling in his seat until he gets up, slams his hands onto the table, and yells that it's still no excuse which is exactly what Miles told her. Going to another flashback, Skyla tell her grandfather that no one is complaining, if she knows the result why bother, and "sweaty battles" are SO yesterday (so much for her being a "serious battler"). Miles says it might be better for Ash & co. to go to another Gym (I hear their opening a Poison- and Water-type Gym soon) but Ash says he wants to challenge the Mistralton Gym, especially if Skyla is as good as Miles says (Ash, that's what caused this situation in the first place, couldn't you have come up with a more "noble" reason?).
* Take Cilan for example, he says he's a Gym Leader too and he won't stand for this matter of Gym Battling!

(Skyla's Pokemon shall be burned by Cilan's... Grass-types... which are weak to Flying-types... Cilan may I suggest just reporting this to the Pokemon League instead of what I think you're going to do?)

Skyla lands her plane and jumps out asking if everyone is ready for their "battles" but Cilan walks up to her and she says she remembers her from before. Cilan apologizes for his rudeness and introduces himself and mentioning he's the Striaton Gym Leader which gets Skyla excited saying she never met another city's Gym Leader (I always find this odd. Are there no Gym Leader meetings? Tournaments to see who's the strongest Gym Leader? I like how in the games, or at least B&W, all the Gym Leaders seem to know each other if only by their names. I mean, how does Skyla know Cilan isn't lying?). Cilan asks if he could challenge Skyla to a battle which Skyla agrees would be interesting and asks the other trainers if she doesn't mind changing the order which the other trainers say they would love to see two Gym Leaders "battle". So Cilan sends out his Pansage, Stunfisk, and Crustle (cut to Who's That Pokemon, though I think they should have showed both genders of Unfezant instead of just the male) and Skyla has out her Swoobat, Unfezant, and Swanna. Skyla starts the "Air Battle" with her imagining Unfezant using Peck on Pansage, Swanna using BubbleBeam on Crustle, and Swoobat using Round(?) on Stunfisk and declares herself the winner with Ash and Iris putting up a protest. Cilan asks Skyla how can she be sure if she doesn't actually battle (considering she assumes Cilan will use Crustle against Swanna (and she not taking account Crustle's ROCK-type moves) and Stunfisk will lose despite having a type advantage) and Skyla says she's strong and why should she waste time with a real battle if she knows she's going to win (this coming from the Gym Leader who in the games climbed a tower to help a hurt Pokemon, they 180ed her character here!). Cilan asks if they could battle the way he likes to which Skyla agrees to though tells him not to be upset when he loses which Cilan says he won't be (Cilan, PLEASE battle smart and not as she imagined it).

We're inside the Gym's battlefield and Miles (rather uninterestingly) tells everyone the rules of the battle: 3 Pokemon each, winner is the first to knock out all of one side's Pokemon. Cilan's first Pokemon is Pansage (I guess it makes sense, it's technically his weakest Pokemon in this battle) and Skyla chooses Unfez... SWOOBAT (YOU IMAGINED UNFEZANT WINNING THE BATTLE AGAINST PANSAGE! You just went against your own imagining, the main reason why you think battles are unnecessary!). Pansage starts with a Bullet Seed but Swoobat dodges it easily and uses Air Cutter which hits Pansage spinning it around. Pansage tries using Bite but Swoobat just flies to the side and Swoobat finishes Pansage with a Gust, knocking it out.

Iris: Wow, Skyla did it, just like in the air battle.
Comment: NO, Skyla imagined her using Unfezant in the "Air Battle" using Peck on Pansage! Not like you can know that, you didn't see it, but the main point it didn't go the way Skyla imagined it (not to mention she always sees it as her Pokemon winning in one hit).
Skyla: Just as I thought, that's how it goes.
Comment: THE SECOND YOU SENT OUT SWOOBAT YOU PROVED YOUR "AIR BATTLES" MEAN NOTHING!

Cilan's next Pokemon is Crustle and Skyla notes it's both a Bug- and Rock-type as it uses Rock Wrecker and ONE HITS Swoobat (and remember, Swoobat didn't take any hits from Pansage)!

Skyla: I guess I should have expected that with a Rock-type move.
Comment: THERE! RIGHT THERE! Even she just admitted she didn't think (for some reason) that Crustle would use a Rock-type move, thus further making her "Air Battles" mean nothing. WHY IS NO ONE IN THE EPISODE CHEWING HER OUT ABOUT THIS!

Skyla's next Pokemon SHOULD be Swanna as that's what she imagined, but no instead she sends out Unfezant and uses Rock Wrecker which makes a DIRECT HIT TO THE FACE (okay, THAT should have knocked it out! Remember, Rock Wrecker has a power of 150, plus STAB, plus is a weakness which should increase it to 450 POWER!) but Unfezant gets back up and uses Air Slash. Crustle defends itself causing the Air Slash to bounce off as Cilan decides it's "Evaluation Time", much to Iris's annoyance (and mine, Cilan, save the lecture until after the battle where Skyla can't win by attacking you while you're talking and being distracted). Cilan tells Skyla that, as a Gym Leader, she's been doing a poor job at showing what Flying-types have to offer which confuses Skyla and he explains though they're strong Pokemon and have a strong bond there is weakness in the moves she's using (... Air Slash is one of the strongest Flying-type moves with nearly perfect accuracy and the side effect of Flinching). He says there's more to battling then just calling out moves "willy-nilly" and a Gym Leader must measure a challenger's skills (which is why in her imagination she had Swanna using BubbleBeam on Crustle. Cilan the point of the battle is to show that Skyla can't predict how the battle will go, not that she's not using the right moves (since she's not BATTLING anyone)). Cilan tells Skyla when he gives out a Badge it's because he knows a challenger has beaten him successfully and he takes pride because a badge is a symbol of the trainer's skill and their team.

Skyla: But isn't a Badge just a Badge?
Comment: ... Why are you even a Gym Leader if you think that? You essentially just said to those who win your Badges "it means nothing and I don't care". Like what a stripper says about her client. YEAH, I just said that!

Cilan even tells her that thinking cheapens its value and Crustle uses Shell Smash (whouldn't you have saved that until Crustle was in a right spot?) followed by an X-Scissor which hits and knocks out Unfezant. Cilan explains (why is Crustle back in its shell? It uses Shell Smash, it shouldn't be back in it unless Cilan recalls it and sends it back out) he uses Shell Smash to increase Crustle's Attack and Speed to increase X-Scissor's power which normally would be a bad match-up.

Cilan goes on a speech about how losing is sad but it's a delight for Gym Leaders to be beaten by an unexpected move, blahblahblah, here's Skyla's Swanna which Cilan shoudl really switch Crustle out for Stunfisk to prove the point Skyla can't predict battles. But no, Cilan keeps Crustle and tries using Rock Wrecker but Swanna dodges it and uses BubbleBeam which Crustle tries defending against though gets knocked back and Swanna used Brave Bird. Crustle counters with a Shell Smash, letting Swanna hit Crustle's shell while it goes into a X-Scissor but Skyla expected it and Swanna recovers and uses Brave Bird causing a collision which knocks Crustle out.

Skyla: Your Crustle wasn't bad at all, but still, a loss is a loss, so you can't know the outcome without trying. I say, not trying gives the same result. And that's why my "Air Battles" are the way I roll.
Comment: ... excuse me, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't in your "Air Battle" with Cilan it showed you not losing a single one of your Pokemon? Yet here we are, both of you down to your last Pokemon, and Cilan's last Pokemon has a QUADRUPLE TYPE ADVANTAGE against yours! And you not knowing the outcome IS THE ENTIRE POINT OF THIS BATTLE! By your logic, you shouldn't even be doing "Air Battles", you should be doing what Volkner did and give out the Badges in a tray on the front of the Gym. But no, instead you're PREDICTING the outcome of the battle, something you just said you COULDN'T DO, yet you're deciding who wins or loses anyway! Whitney has more common sense then you and SHE'S SUPPOSE TO BE A DITZ!

Cilan says he's going to win this battle to prove no Gym Leader can say such a horrendous statement and sends out Stunfisk who uses Thundershock and hits (math time: Thundershock's Power is 40 + STAB (x1.5) + QUADRUPLE Weakness (x4) = 240 power (not as much as Rock Wrecker did, but still pretty damaging). Also Stunfisk has a pretty good Special Attack and Swanna's lowest stats are its Defence and SPECIAL DEFENSE). Iris notes the massive damage thing though Swanna is okay and Skyla tells Cilan that if he wants to hurt Swanna his Pokemon needs to learn a stronger attack like Thunderbolt (fine, Stunfisk just has to Thundershock spam so it can make up for the damage gap). Swanna uses Hurricane which picks Stunfisk up and Skyla gloats asking if Stunfisk can use Electric-type attacks now (yeah, why shouldn't it? It's not like you did Mud Sport) but instead Stunfisk uses Scold which covered the field in a waterfall of hot water leaving Swanna Burned. At first it looks like Swanna is going to succomb to the Burn but Swanna opens its eyes and uses Aqua Ring which heals its Burn... something that AQUA RING DOESN'T DO (Aqua Ring heals a user of 1/16 of its HP after every turn, that's it! It doesn't heal Status Conditons!)!

Okay, that just proves the writer's are going to have Skyla win so that Ash can come in and teach her the lesson so let's just end this. And to further prove this, Cilan has Stunfisk is MUD BOMB, a GROUND-type attack, on a FLYING-type... Swanna of course dodges it uses Brave Bird which knocks out Stunfisk making Skyla the winner, much to Miles' disappointment.

Skyla: You see? I knew I'd win it from the start!
Comment: ... the battle didn't go as your "Air Battle" did, two of your Pokemon got knocked out, the last battle was a close battle, have said repeatedly that you can't predict an outcome of a battle, and most importantly you cheated because Aqua Ring doesn't heal Status Conditions which will not only have damaged Swanna over time but also decrease its Attack meaning Stunfisk might have been able to survive one... YOU PROVED NOTHING!

Cilan, well...

Don't worry Cilan, even the writer's knew you were going to win thus had to cheat to make Skyla win

To add insult to injury, Skyla says she needs a nap after the battle and CANCELS all the "Air Battles". Ash finally has had enough and tell Skyla that her "Air Battles" are boring and challenges Skyla to a battle. Skyla is about to say something but Miles interupts her saying he wants her to battle Ash. Skyla says that she "proved" (*cough*) her "Air Battles" are "fair and square" and will always end the same but Ash tells her it'll never be the same. Ash tells her when a trainer and Pokemon have to battle they should do it for real and "Air Battles" are just boring (Ash, you're almost there, you just need to word things better). Miles comes in and tells Skyla she said she wouldn't allow Swanna's beatiful white feathers to be smudged (she said that when Stunfisk used Mud Bomb) however as far as he's concerned Swanna's feathers are already smudged.

Skyla: That's quite a thing to say to your granddaughter.
Comment: YOU UNGRATEFUL B****! "Such a thing to say to your granddaughter"? That's such a way to talk to your grandfather, especially with the tone that you used!

Skyla says it's the waste of her time and says Ash wouldn't stand a chance battling her (and being she said that without looking at Ash's Pokemon she pretty much is saying that to all the trainers waiting to battle her). Ash says she doesn't know that unless they battle and Ash sends out his Pokemon (and being they were all from Pokeballs, that means Ash isn't going to use PIKACHU AGAINST THE FLYING-TYPE GYM LEADER) which Skyla says they have very good balance but she'll still win. Ash tells her she won't and it'll be the other way around as the narrator comes in to end the episode with the question whether Skyla will battle Ash next episode or not.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is the same Skyla who along with the other leaders (minus Cilan, Chili, and Cress), hold off Team Plasma's sages so the protagonist can stop N