Battling an Elder

On the last day that the herd was going to be in the area, Vali found herself challenged by a Rapidash covered in scars with a horn twice what most Rapidash had showing that it was older than any of the ones she'd been near. She looked at the Rapidash as her pokemon stared at it with wide eyes and knew that this was a test. The goal wasn't to beat the Rapidash, but show it what she could do. Nodding, she turned to her pokemon, "Sandshrew, I want you to stay out of this. You're not ready for a battle like this."

Sandshrew looked a bit disappointed, but moved to join Eevee earning a glance from the normal-type. Vali turned to the old Rapidash as Steven asked, "Are you sure you want to do this Vali?"

"Yes. The goal of this battle isn't to win, but rather show the elder what we've got," Vali looked at the elder with a small smile, "I hope you don't mind me having Sandshrew sit out. She's still young and hasn't been training seriously for very long. I'd rather avoid her getting unnecessarily hurt," The Rapidash tossed it's head with a whiny, "Then let's start. Celina, you first my friend," Celina took flight and focused on the elder Rapidash as the area around them cleared, "Start off with Swift,"

Celina quickly released a powerful beam of stars that headed right towards the Elder. The Elder reared before taking off easily dodging the attack. Celina cut off her attack and headed towards the Elder using Aerial Ace mixed with Steel Wing. The Elder took the attack with ease before using how close Celina was to use Take Down on her earning a shriek of pain from the Pidgeotto. Grimacing as Celina was tossed away from the elder from the force of the attack, Vali contemplated what she should do. Even though Celina had settled into her new body and the power it brought her, she was still lacking in the move pool department.

Celina shakily rose into the sky with a defiant shriek and shot another Swift attack towards the Elder before following up with her Steel Wing/Aerial Ace combo. The Elder easily took the attacks and tossed a powerful Flamethrower toward Celina. Celina managed to get away with only a few burns, but they obviously hurt her. Swallowing, Vali called out, "Celina, come back. You've done enough for now," Celina flew back over and shakily landed looking disappointed with herself, "We've still got a lot to do before you're ready to face a pokemon of the Elder's strength, but I know you'll do it," Celina perked up and nodded, "Pikachu, Electro ball. Show the Elder your speed."

Pikachu nodded and raced towards the Elder. He charged up an Electro Ball and sent it towards the Elder before disappearing into his Quick Attack. He shot off Thunder Shocks and got in close with a few Thunder Punches. The Elder took each attack and made a lazy attempt to burn the mouse pokemon with a Flamethrower. Pikachu showed off his cleverness and disappeared into the ground with Dig. The Elder retaliated with Stomp creating a rather odd game of Wack-a-mole with Pikachu as the mole. This continued for a little while as Pikachu took potshots at the elder whenever he could which seemed to amuse the elder just a bit. Eventually, the Elder caught Pikachu with a horn attack to the gut and another Stomp causing the mouse to go flying. Vali reacted quickly and caught Pikachu before he could hit the ground. She grimaced at the blood coming out of the small wound the Elder's horn had caused and quickly handed Pikachu over to Steven, "Please take care of the bleeding and make sure nothings broken."

"I will," Steven held Pikachu carefully in his arms and walked over to where Metagross had the med-kit from her bag sitting.

"Thank you," Vali murmured before looking between Smaug and Balto prompting her starter to walk forward spitting out an ember, "Smaug, Smoke Screen. Hit where you can and don't get cocky. The Elder is on another level from us,"

Smaug nodded flexing his claws with a smirk. Clearly, he liked the idea of facing such a strong opponent if only to see where he stood. Smaug released thick clouds of smoke towards the Elder before rushing forward with his Dual Claw attack. Vali listened to the battle as she bent down to pet Balto. Balto silently stared forward with his ears perked up. Smaug was much like Celina with his somewhat limited move-pool though that was mostly due to the fact that the Charmander-line were somewhat limited when it came to their move-pool. Of all the Kanto starters, it had one of the smallest move-pools though it more than made up for it with the amount of potential power it could have.

Balto whined as the Elder let out a whiny and Smaug was sent flying through the smoke clouds. A swirling mass of fire erupted in the middle of the smoke clearing it away to reveal the Elder. Smaug growled as he pushed himself up and darted forward as he spat out multiple Ember at the Elder. To Vali's surprise, the Ember attacks seemed to be combining into an almost constant stream. Was Smaug getting close to learning Flamethrower? She watched as Smaug's jaws were engulfed in flames as he bit down on one of the Elder's leg. The Elder bucked and sent Smaug flying with a Swift attack to the face. Smaug landed heavily on the ground, but quickly attempted to get up with as a red aura covered his body. Vali quickly made her way over to him, "Smaug, that's enough," Smaug continued to struggle with fire in his eyes, "Smaug, I know you want to keep fighting, but that's enough for now. Please calm down."

Balto made his way over to Smaug and nuzzled the angry lizard. Slowly, Smaug began to calm down and he nodded to Vali with a strained groan. Balto nodded to him before stepping towards the Elder with a determined look on his face. She helped Smaug over to Steven as he said, "I've never seen Smaug's ability activate before."

"We've never run into a situation where it was needed before," Vali helped Smaug sit down, "I'm definitely having them all thoroughly checked at the next pokemon center. The Elder is on par with some of Professor Oak's pokemon if not a bit stronger," She looked at Balto as her Growlithe growled at the Elder and settled into an attack stance, "Balto," Balto's ear flicked towards her, "Do your best. Use everything you have, I know we haven't used Morning Sun much if at all, but I think this situation calls for it. If it gets too much, I want you to back out," Balto nodded with a low growl, "Start off with Ember in Dig and Fire Fang,"

Balto howled before darting forward as he spit out Ember. The Elder dodged the Ember as Balto used Dig. The Elder's ears twitched probably attempting to hear where Balto was. Balto shot out of the ground underneath the Elder and latched onto one of the Rapidash's front legs as the old pokemon attempted to move away. The Elder let out a loud neigh of displeasure and attempted to get Balto off. Balto held on tight until the Elder's leg tossed him into the air and he used Iron Tail as he came down. Balto's Iron tail slammed into the Elder's head which caused the old Rapidash to stumble. Balto sent an Ember towards the Elder as he jumped off and used Dig to reenter the ground. The Elder shook their head wildly for a few seconds before snorting and stamping on the ground. The Elder sent a Flamethrower into the hole Balto had dug which earned a small yelp from the puppy pokemon. Balto shot out of the ground behind the Elder with his Fire Fang charged up only for the Elder to disappear from his sight earning a confused look from the Growlithe.

Balto landed on the ground with a confused look on his face and glanced back at Vali. Vali frowned slightly as she looked around before remembering that Rapidash were able to use Agility, "Underground now!"

Balto shot towards one of the pre-made holes only for the Elder to appear behind him and use Take Down. Balto went flying with a yelp, but managed to correct his body so that he landed on his paws when he began to descend. Balto slid across the ground for a few seconds before coming to a stop. He whined lifting up a paw to reveal that it had been scratched raw. He shook his head lightly before closing his eyes and a golden aura covered his body as the sunlight over him seemed to focus on Balto. When it faded, Balto looked a bit better and lifted his paw to show that it wasn't raw anymore. Vali would be soaking his paws in potions when this was over because even with Morning Sun's healing ability, he had still scratched his paws raw and they were likely hurting him. Balto disappeared into the ground again. The Elder grunted and suddenly there were multiple copies of it. When Balto reappeared with Fire coating his mouth, he paused with wide eyes allowing the Elder to use Take Down on him again. Balto was sent flying towards her and she caught him as the copies of the Elder disappeared. Looking down at Balto, she grimaced at how beaten up he was. She made her way over to Steven and immediately dug out some potions after setting Balto gently onto the ground.

After healing her pokemon, Vali picked up two of her potions while making a mental note that she would need to buy more. She walked over to the Elder who stared at her and she said, "Do you mind if I heal you a bit? These sting, but they'll make it so you're not so injured."

The Elder eyed her before bobbing their head and Vali began healing the worst of the damage her pokemon had done. It was during this that Vali figured out that the Elder was a male. Once she finished helping him, she moved back to her bag and pulled out two Oran berries that she offered to the Elder. The Elder took the berries before disappearing into the herds. She wiped away the sweat coating her brow as Steven commented, "You did pretty good considering how strong he was."

"Yeah," Vali looked over her pokemon and dropped to the ground.

"You okay?" Steven asked her with a frown.

Vali nodded as she gently scratched behind Balto's ears, "I'm fine just a bit disappointed in myself. Even if I didn't try to be cocky, I could have done more to help them during the battle," Balto nuzzled her as Sandshrew walked over and settled on her lap, "The battle just showed me that I need to find a good medium between giving orders and letting my pokemon follow their instincts."

"At least you found that out now while there isn't an opponent that will take advantage of that," Steven offered as he sat down beside her.

"True," Vali looked over her pokemon with a sigh.