Talks of snowball fights and a little dragon's rage

Ash and Gary quickly lightened the mood by announcing that they should all go get ready for the annual snow-ball fight. Professor Oak took the carving from Vali with her permission planning to try and find out what else had been written on the back. Delia announced her intention of staying out of the snow-ball fight while Sirius decided that he would be joining the boys' team. Steven, Vali, and Daisy would be against the three children. Sirius gave Vali a pout when he heard her group him with the two five year olds, "Pup!"

"You're an overgrown man-child, Siri," Vali grinned at him, "Of course we're going to group you with the actual children, Padfoot,"

"This means war," Sirius growled at her.

"Bring it on, Darling Godfather o'mine," Vali's grin widened even further.

Delia cleared her throat, "Go get dressed, you two."

"Yes, ma'am," The two chirp at the woman.

Vali went to her room and got ready to go outside. Vulpix would be staying with Delia, Idril, Terra, Empress, and Celina as they didn't enjoy the cold weather. He wasn't exactly happy, but not being allowed outside at the moment limited his options. Pulling on her jacket, she heard a knock on the door and turned to find Steven, "Steven, I..." She looked down slightly, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about that other vision."

"I'm not exactly happy about it, but I understand why you did it," Steven said as he walked into her room, "Was it worse than the others?"

Vali shook her head, "Not really, it was more odd than anything else."

"Odd?" Steven looked at her curiously, "What do you mean by odd?"

Vali tried to think of a way to explain it, "A woman, she kind of looked like me only with red hair, looked over a battlefield from a nearby cliff. An army of pokemon and people marched forward below. She carried a black staff topped with one of those stones we found carved into the shape of a sun," She felt a faint amount of pain but not as much as the other visions she's had in the past, "I saw another black staff in my mind though I can't tell if it was wood or metal. It was taller than me and topped with one of those stones carved into a perfect circle only it turned a fiery red. I can't explain it, but somehow I know that I'm meant to have it."

Steven looked shocked at the amount of information she was able to give him, "Anything else you can tell me?"

"Somehow I know it was a war was going on and the woman had tried to stop it," Vali closed her eyes as the words came to her, "Despite how much she didn't want to fight and had done her best to protest, the war was happening. Knowing that neither side would stop fighting unless forced, she summoned a pokemon, a legendary of some kind, and had it raze the battlefield,"

Vali opened her eyes as she swallowed thickly. Steven looked a bit pale, "She summoned a legendary pokemon to kill them."

"Yeah," Vali shook her head lightly.

"You said it wasn't worse than the others," Steven murmured in a soft tone.

Vali closed her eyes, "I didn't have to walk among the flames and watch as they devoured everything it came across."

Steven sucked in a harsh breath, "Vali..."

"Like I said, it wasn't as bad as my visions sometimes are," Vali offered him a weak smile, "You should go get ready for the snow-ball fight,"

"Vali," Steven reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, "If you need to talk about it, I'm here for you. We're friends after all,"

Warmth filled her at those words, Vali nodded to Steven with a small smile, "I'll try though there is a limit of what I'll likely be able to say."

"That's all I ask," Steven squeezed her shoulder then smiled lightly, "Now, we have a three children to beat, don't we?"

Letting out a laugh, Vali nodded and Steven left to go get ready. She watched him go before shutting the door and leaning against it. A warm nose pressed into her cheek and she looked into Balto's eyes. Smiling a bit wider, she murmured, "I'm glad that I ended up in this world, Balto. If it means gaining a family and friends like I have, I do have to wonder how my old friends are doing."

Once Christmas was over, Vali and her pokemon began pushing themselves to their limits. Dragonite proved to be an asset as it allowed Vali to finally make way training Empress and bonding with the little dragon. Empress was as stubborn as her trainer could be which was the main reason they butted heads so much; however, she hadn't learned how to temper her stubbornness. Learning how to temper her stubbornness was rough, Dragonite wasn't the most gentle teacher and could be quite impatient. The amount of times Vali had to pull the little dragon from holes in the ground left the fire-type master-in-training a bit irritated though she made sure not to show it around the Bagon. Finally, the little dragon's temper exploded and she headbutted her trainer into a tree.

Empress let out a startled yelp when Dragonite tossed her into another boulder with enough strength to leave the little dragon dazed. By the time Empress recovered, she was being punched through the boulder into another one. Dragonite roared in fury and the little dragon understood that she'd crossed a line that she shouldn't have. Despite how mind boggling it was, Vali was a treasure for the elder dragon and she'd injured the fire-type master-in-training for no actual reason other than being too damn stubborn to listen to the advice her trainer was offering. Closing her eyes, she accepted the punishment that Dragonite was giving her.

When the next blow hadn't come, Empress opened her eyes and widened them at the sight of Vali standing in front of her. The fire-type master-in-training held up her hands, "Enough, Dragonite. Empress understands that she's done something wrong."

Dragonite growled, but stopped attacking. Vali turned towards Empress and smiled weakly, "How about we get you to Professor Oak and take a break from training today?"

Empress looked at her trainer in confusion. Why wasn't Vali angry at her? She'd headbutted the girl into a tree for Arceus' sake, so why wasn't she angry? Vali bent down and rubbed her hardened skull, "Empress, you don't understand why I'm not angry, do you?" She nodded with a little reluctance, "I could never be truly angry at one of my pokemon since you're mine. Getting angry for something as simple as you attacking me during the height of your emotions would be stupid, you're a young pokemon that's quite hot-headed sometimes and stubborn. It's a lot like how I used to be," She looked at her trainer in confusion, "I'm still hot-headed sometimes and being stubborn is something that pretty much runs in the family according to Siri. Thing is, my hot-hotheadedness got me into a lot of trouble back when I was going to this school. It nearly got my old friends and I killed quite a few times. Granted, it got me into the situation that led to Sirius and I coming to this world," Vali shook her head lightly with a soft laugh, "But all those times I nearly got myself and those I cared about killed plus my pokemon journey so far all taught me one thing, I will only risk the lives of not only myself, but those I care about if I continue down that path," Vali bent down until their heads were level with one another and stared into her eyes, "Empress, you will not reach your goal at this rate. If you can't work together with me and the rest of our family, you'll lose out on becoming the most powerful Salamence in the world. I want to see each of our family reach their goals, but they won't be able to do that alone. They'll need you to help them just as much as each other and me," Vali held out a hand to her and she looked at the appendage with wide eyes, "Let's try this again, Empress. As a team."

Empress slowly took the appendage and Vali offered her a slight grin, "I'll try to do better by you, Empress, so long as you do the same."

Nodding as determination filled her, Empress realized that she'd chosen the right trainer to be her partner. No, she'd known that already, but had been too blinded by her stubbornness and arrogance to fully realize it. This strange human was far too patient and way too friendly for her own good, she was going to have to watch over her trainer if only to ensure that no one took advantage of her.