Skyla

"The Highflying Girl"
Skyla
Species	Human
Hair color	Magenta
Eye color	Blue
Base	Mistaltron City
Voiced by	Laura Stahl (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Skyla is the gym leader of Mistaltron City's Pokémon gym and is the sixth of the Unova region's gym leaders appearing as an opponent in the fifth generation games of the Pokémon series: Pokémon: Black and White Versions as well as their sequels. She specializes in Flying-type Pokémon.

Background

Black/White

Skyla followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, who was a legendary pilot, and she became a cargo pilot operating out of Mistaltron City. She flew cargo out of the city on a daily basis, and she was known for being nice to everyone. Skyla was also good friends with Professor Cedric Juniper, although he often beleaguered her with trips to places such as Kanto and Sinnoh, and she began to grow weary of him making her transport people rather than cargo in the plane. She was also the gym leader of Mistaltron Gym and was excited by battles with skilled trainers. Her gym had a system of cannons that could safely fire people in one or two directions, and challengers had to navigate the cannons to reach her. She designed the cannons herself and considered them to be her pride and joy. Winners of her gym would earn the Jet Badge.

In Pokémon: Black and White Versions, Skyla had just returned from a flight and was talking with Cedric Juniper when Hilbert/Hilda arrived in town. Juniper recognized the trainer from his daughter's description and introduced Skyla to them. She anticipated a battle with Hilbert/Hilda, but first Skyla recalled seeing an injured Pokémon atop Celestial Tower and wanted to take care of it. She suggested that the trainer meet her atop the tower. Skyla was able to reach the tower and healed the Pokémon, at which point it flew away, and there she waited until Hilbert/Hilda arrived. While they were there, Skyla asked Hilbert/Hilda to ring the bell, which was said to reflect the character of the person ringing it. From Hilbert/Hilda's ringing of the bell, Skyla was able to confirm that they were a good person. She re-introduced herself and returned to her gym so that she could welcome them when they came to challenge her.

Hilbert/Hilda eventually reached her and defeated her. The battle made her very happy, and Skyla considered the trainer to be amazing, because for the first time in a while they were able to fight with full strength. She then gave them the Jolt Badge (which she referred to as "hot stuff") as well as TM 62: Arobatics. She also left Hilbert/Hilda with a warning that she had spotted Team Plasma heading through Twist Mountain to Orricus City during her last flight. She was later defeated by both Cheren and Bianca. Bianca returned when she went around gathering all of the gym leaders for help when N's Castle arose at the Pokémon League. Skyla was among the ranks of the group of gym leaders who arrived at N's Castle and held off six of Team Plasma's Seven Sages while Hilbert/Hilda went ahead to confront N.

Skyla would later visit Cynthia at the villa in Undella Town during the summer, where she talked about the thrills of flying, swimsuits and her friendship with Elesa. She also mentioned how easy it was to fly her plane to Sinnoh, but that she preferred having her Pokémon fly her places.

Black 2/White 2

At some point over the next two years, as shown in a Memory Link flashback, Skyla talked with Elesa and helped to inspire her image change after criticizing her bad jokes. In Black 2 and White 2, she remained the leader of the gym and was challenged by an up-and-coming trainer named Nate/Rosa. She said that a battle had not made her happier since two years ago (referring to the challengers from the first Black/White. Outside of battle, she offered her services as a pilot due to Twist Mountain being off-limits and also carried out errands for Aurea Juniper, finding the professor to be much like her father in how she frustrated her. She offered flights to Lentimas Town and later (after the player receives a permit) the Nature Preserve.

Skyla also competed in the Pokémon World Tournament, taking part in the Unova Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert divisions.

Pokémon Roster

In Black and White, she uses the following Pokémon for gym battles:

• Swoobat
• Unfezant
• Swanna

Her roster for gym fights in Black 2 and White 2 is similar, except that she replaces the Unfezant with a Skarmory, and in Challenge Mode she also has a Sigilyph.

For battles in the Pokémon World Tournament, her potential team could contain the following Pokémon:

• Swanna
• Unfezant (Unova Leaders) or Jumpluff (World Leaders/Type Expert)
• Swoobat (Unova Leaders) or Drifblim (World Leaders/Type Expert)
• Archeops
• Braviary
• Mandibuzz

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Skyla and her Swanna appeared as a sync pair that could be recruited through the game's story. There were also two variants of Skyla that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods: the Holiday 2020 variant was first made available in December 2020 and featured Skyla in a red coat reminiscent of Santa Claus while paired with a Togekiss, while the Anniversary 2022 variant was first made available in March 2022 and featured her in a ceremonial outfit while pairing her with Tornadus in its Therian Forme.

In the Main Story, she was featured in the PML Arc's fifth chapter and acted as the second Pokémon Masters League Leader, holding the Freedom Badge. When the player's team found her in the mountains, she had just graciously accepted a defeat from Lear, and she led the player's team to her favorite area in order to take a break before battling. After being defeated, Skyla gave a Freedom Badge to Scottie/Bettie and decided to join their team in order to pursue more fun adventures. Skyla also appeared in the "Shining Star" Story Event, where she helped Elesa with her fashion show and also helped to fight off Team Break. Skyla's holiday variant was featured in the "Deck the Halls" Story Event, in which she helped Erika to decorate a tree, and then they sought to retrieve the decorations after they were blown away. Her other variant was featured in the "Pasio Friendiversary" Story Event, in which she helped May and Raihan with festivities that were held to celebrate Lear and Hoopa's 'friendiversary'. For Skyla's segment, she teamed up with Winona and Kahili in a battle against Elesa, Clemont and Volkner. Tornadus's enhanced speed was apparently a significant factor in Skyla's team winning, and she offered to team up with Lear or Elesa for her next battle. In the "Chef's Heartful Delivery" Story Event, she enlisted Elesa's help in promoting Mistaltron Cargo Service, and Elesa came up with a Palentine's Day campaign in which they would deliver sweets to people. Ultimately they decided to use Mallow's apple pie, and the campaign was a resounding success.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Skyla appeared in several episodes of the Pokémon anime, where she was shown to have a unique way of taking on gym battles. She made challengers make reservations and only allowed fifteen people at a time. The challenges also took on the form of 'Air Battles', where she predicted the winners of battles based on who has the most advantage instead of actually fighting. She was convinced to fight Cilan due to it being a fight between gym leaders, and when she beat him, it reinforced her belief that her Air Battles were accurate. Ash was eventually able to convince her to battle and defeated her, at which point she decided to take gym battles more seriously. Her grandfather, named Miles, also appeared and was shown to disapprove of the Air Battles. It was said that she took on these methods in order to have time to fly her plane.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, she appeared during the Black/White arc with a role similar to that in the game, healing a Pokémon at Celestial Tower and being defeated by Black in a gym battle. She was also shown flying props for a Pokémon Musical in a cargo plane, and she transported the other gym leaders in her plane when they worked together to protect the Dark Stone. However, the gym leaders were all defeated by Team Plasma's Shadow Triad and held captive until the other trainers freed them later in the arc. They then helped in the effort against Team Plasma. She later appeared in the Black 2/White 2 arc, where she helped Elesa to find Cheren's missing students and nearly accidentally hit Looker with her plane in the process.
• In the Pokémon Generations, one episode adapted the Unova gym leaders' fight with Team Plasma at N's Castle from Black/White, with Skyla being shown among the fighters.

Trivia

• Her English name is a play on "skylark", which is a type of bird. Her Japanese name is Huuro, which refers to Japanese words for 'geranium' and 'wind'.
• In Black 2 and White 2, if she wins a tournament fight, she talks about wanting to have a mid-air Pokémon battle with Winona, a Flying-type gym leader from Hoenn who also took part in the tournament.