Pokemon thoughts and a competition in the air

Celina had been quite busy since leaving and Vali suspected that she'd been training with the other flying types currently at the Corral. The Pidgeotto was far faster than she had been before and more skilled when it came to aerial maneuvers. When she checked Celina's pokedex entry, she found herself very proud of the Pidgeotto. Celina knew Feather Dance, Aerial Ace, and Air Slash. She was working on Agility which would definitely benefit them later on. Once she got it down, she would teach Vali's other pokemon who were able to learn it if they didn't learn it on their own.

With the knowledge that Celina was so close to evolution, Vali spent a lot of one on one time with the Pidgeotto. When it came to the final evolution of any pokemon, you had to have a strong bond with them in order to keep them from turning on you. The only pokemon that it didn't usually occur in were the starter pokemon of each region which was the main reason they were given to ten year olds just starting out. Then again, they were likely to turn on you if you were stupid enough to abuse them or they were of bad breeding. She made sure the rest of her pokemon understood what was going on and made sure they knew that she would be doing the same thing with each of them when they started reaching their final evolutions as well. By looking at Smaug, she knew he would be the next one to evolve if he had anything to say about it.

Smaug stared at Celina with jealousy burning in his heart. He had missed the bird quite a bit while she was gone, but he was jealous of her. She was so close to evolution when he still needed a good push before he reached that level. It wasn't that he'd been lax in his training. Vali ensured that they trained hard and were healed up for more training the next day. And yet, she was ahead of him despite being the weakest member of the team until the little ones had joined them. It grated on his fire-type and Charmeleon pride that the bird was going to evolve before him.

Smaug knew he shouldn't be as jealous as he was. Celina had worked her tail feathers off to become as strong as she was. She did it for their trainer and their family which was a great goal that he could respect. And yet, he was jealous about not being able to evolve before her especially since they evolved around the same time before. A distant part of him wanted to blame Vali for not being able to get him to evolve sooner, but he quashed it with a small growl of anger. It wasn't Vali's fault that he hadn't evolved yet. Celina had the advantage of being around other flying-types able to give her advice on what to do and that went a long way in helping her grow as strong as she was without Vali being around. If he had more fire-types around than just Balto, he probably would've grown as much as she had.

What Smaug needed was to throw himself further into his training and battle more often to gain the experience needed to evolve. If he worked hard, he could probably evolve before or during their next gym battle. He grinned at the thought of evolving in the middle of battle once again. It made his heart beat quicken and the fire in his core burn hotter. And once Celina evolved, Vali would focus on everyone again and he could get her to use him more often in battles.

The tournaments in Celadon didn't always involve battling or anything of the sort. Some heavily resembled contests from regions like Hoenn and Sinnoh, they were mostly started by trainers that had traveled to those regions in hopes of bringing the contest circuit to Kanto. If it became popular enough, the dream of having the contest circuit in Kanto would become a reality as the League was always looking for more ways to bring in money. One of the tournaments Vali was participating in was a triannual flying-type competition that involved aerial battles and showing off the flying-types ability to move in the air. While Steven was interested in the tournament, Skarmory wasn't interested in flying with any of the other pokemon outside of Celina, so he was out of options at the moment seeing as the steel bird was his only flying-type at the moment.

A majority of the competition involved skirmishes between up to eight pokemon at a time. Considering the fact that there were around 88 flying-type pokemon involved this time, they had to move the competition to one of the large fields set aside for pokemon racing which was another thing Vali was planning on checking out if only to give Arwen a proper outlet for her almost endless energy. A group of psychic type pokemon mostly Mr. Mime with a couple members of the Abra-line thrown in created a proper barrier for both trainers and observers to safely watch the competition. One of the things emphasized by the competition was the lack of instruction by trainers once their pokemon were in the air. As Vali's pokemon usually weren't given instructions unless she saw something they didn't or thought of a new strategy, Celina would be perfectly fine especially since she hadn't had much instruction from Vali since being sent to the lab.

Celina looked at the current skirmish going on with sharp eyes as Vali said, "Since you'll be participating in more than one skirmish, I want you to try to let them take each other out. If you see an opening, go for it, but don't exhaust yourself," Celina nodded as she looked at her trainer, "I know you'll beat most if not all of these guys, but don't get too cocky. If something happens or you strain something, I want you to land, okay?" Celina nodded earning a warm smile from Vali as she rubbed the Pidgeotto's breast feathers, "Do your best, Celina. I don't care if you win or lose so long you enjoy yourself."

Celina let out a trilling coo as she nuzzled Vali's chest. A boom from above followed by gasps caused both of them to look up. One of the five Pidgeot in the competition was falling from the sky with a clearly broken wing and blood dripping from multiple scratches. A Staraptor with the telltale blue static recoil of a Brave Bird shivered in the sky above it clearly the one responsible for the Pidgeot's current state. Vali's lips pulled into a grimace as the Pidgeot's trainer fumbled with his pokeball in shock which allowed for the great bird's injuries to become even more severe when it hit the ground harshly. Thankfully, Pidgeot was already knocked out otherwise the pain it was in would be excruciating since it landed on its broken wing. If the trainer managed to get it to the pokemon center quickly, Pidgeot might be able to keep flying if the damage wasn't that bad.

Vali heard a loud shriek of pain followed by the sound of a heavy body hitting the ground with a wet thud. Looking towards the source as terrible shrieks echoed through the air, the Staraptor laid on the ground twitching in agony with its wings at odd angle. She felt her stomach rebel at the sight of its right wing which looked like something had tried to tear it off. The jagged white edges of bone could be seen among the blood. A glance at the sky showed a Fearow with a crimson stained beak and talons crowing in joy before it began to look for its next victim. Off to the side, a few of the other rookie trainers were painting the ground with their lunches.

Vali took her eyes off the scene before her as she covered her mouth. She looked at Celina, "Please be careful."

Celina nodded to Vali as the skirmish came to an end. The trainer of the Fearow was removed from the competition due to the fact she hadn't curbed her pokemon's sadistic tendencies. The fact that she hadn't looked the least bit surprised by her pokemon's actions or seemed to care that it had likely ended the life of its opponent made a shiver go down Vali's spine.

Thankfully, no other pokemon seemed to share the Fearow's idea of how battles like this were supposed to go. There were broken bones and more than a few scratches, it was a battle after all, but there weren't any mutilations or chances of never being able to fly again. Celina did fairly well with Vali's strategy and showed of just how much she liked using Feather Dance. With the amount of wind being kicked up by the presence of so many flying-types, the feathers were blown around for awhile. Vali ended up collecting a few both from Celina and from the feathered pokemon. One of the things she liked about this competition was how the pokemon involved could only use flying-type moves. As a result, the pokemon had to be clever and good at manipulating their innate energies.

Vali's usual hit and run strategy proved very useful to Celina seeing as she managed to take out more than one distracted pokemon. If the pokemon didn't get taken out, she got it to think that one of the others had attacked it leading to some interesting fights if said pokemon were partners. The other trainers cursed when they realized what Celina was doing, but there wasn't anything they could really do. In battles with multiple pokemon involved, it was hard for those fighting to focus on anything other than attacking and defending themselves.

Celina being a fast flyer ensured that those attempting to take her out early couldn't hit her. Either the attacks completely missed or managed to hit a less than pleased flying-type that hadn't been paying attention. More than one attacker had found themselves in hot water, a few other Pidgeotto or Pidgeot ended up being taken out fairly early because of it. Needless to say, Vali was very happy and made sure the Pidgeotto knew she'd be getting a special meal for doing so well.

It was during the last skirmish when a second Staraptor managed to hit Celina with a Brave Bird that the Pidgeotto evolved. Upon evolving, Celina had taken out the Staraptor with Wing Attack which she hadn't known before the skirmishes before returning to the ground breathing hard. Vali took to the field where Celina had landed while all movement stopped as many gaped at the newly evolved pokemon. Vali called out to her, "Celina!" The newly evolved Pidgeot focused on her with a piercing gaze, "You did wonderfully and even evolved. Well done!"

Vali stopped a few steps from Celina. It was far enough that Celina would have to reach out to attack her which would give the witch enough time to get out of the way should the Pidgeot decide to attack. It was close enough that Celina knew she wasn't afraid of the Pidgeot attacking her. There a few tense moments as Celina judged Vali's worthiness to be her trainer before the Pidgeot stepped closer and practically collapsed against her. She gently rubbed Celina's breast feathers which were close enough that she could lay her head on the Pidgeot's chest without having to bed down. She spoke softly as the newly evolved Pidgeot leaned heavily on her, "I'm going to return you and get you checked out by Nurse Joy. After that, we'll have a really good meal together and get you used to your new body."

Celina let out a low trill and moved enough to let Vali return her. Moving back towards where Steven and Zaria were standing together, she found quite a few other trainers either offering her congratulations, thanking her for the battles, or being asked if she wanted to trade her Pidgeot. The first two were politely smiled at as she shook their hands. Those apart of the last one were given cold glares that made them freeze and sweat, she made it very clear in a hissed tone that she wouldn't be taking any offers. With Balto and Smaug growling at her side, it led to many backing up in fear as they nodded hurriedly.

Zaria was laughing when Vali reached them while Steven shook his head in amusement. Zaria gasped out, "You scared the shit out of them."

"They deserved it for daring to ask me such a stupid thing," Vali would never trade any of her pokemon if she could help it.

Sure, Vali would eventually need to do so in order to evolve the Magmar she eventually got into a Magmortar when the time was right, but that was it. Steven offered her a light smile, "Shall we go to the pokemon center and get Celina checked out?"

"Mhmm," Vali nodded as she began to walk.