Talks with a little brother

On the next Saturday, Delia brought Ash to Viridian for the day while she got whatever was needed at the house. Vali decided to have some fun with Ash and took him around Viridian. They ended up seeing a movie and got some ice cream. She led Ash over to the pool with the Poliwag and took a seat by the water. Her pokemon began to play around with Eevee settling beside her and Celina taking flight with Pidgey following. The two had reached some sort of agreement about training though Elrond didn't relay what it all entailed. Elrond made sure Vulpix, Arwen, and Pele didn't wander off. Balto laid down behind Vali and closed his eyes with a low sigh clearly enjoying the time he'd get to nap as working on those high powered attacks had left him quite tired. Ash looked at the Poliwag playing in the pond, "Hey, Vali?"

"Hmm?" Vali glanced at him as she took a lick of her birthday cake flavored ice cream.

"When you became a trainer, were you ever worried about your pokemon not being strong enough?" Ash asked with a slight frown.

Vali shook her head, "No, not really. I was more worried about not being able to bring their true strength out or not being strong enough to support them," She looked at him curiously, "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that Gary and I had a battle," Ash explained with a slight frown, "Even though Pidgey and I have been together longer, he still won with Bellsprout," He looked a bit sullen, "I mean we had the type advantage too,"

"Ash, type advantage doesn't always secure a win. I won my first gym battle with two fire-types after all and the gym leader was using rock-types," Vali pointed out before licking at her ice cream again, "You also need to consider something. Were you playing to her strengths?"

"Strengths? You mean Pidgey's attacks being strong?" Ash asked as his nose scrunched up in confusion.

Vali snorted softly, "Not that kind of strength, I meant what Pidgey's good at. Pidgey is a fast flyer, right?" Ash nodded slowly, "So you use her speed to your advantage by dodging attacks and striking quickly, the Pidgey-line are fast especially when trained well. Did you do that?"

Ash shook his head, "No, I had her attack Bellsprout."

"Let me guess, she took one too many hits and went down?" Ash looked a bit guilty as he nodded, "That's expected,"

"How come?" Ash looked slightly annoyed, "Is it because I suck at training her?"

"No, Ash," Vali denied having seen him train Pidgey, "You're doing very well at training her. What I meant is that you're focusing on power and endurance when battling,"

"So?" Ash's nose scrunched up.

Vali finished her ice cream before answering, "Pidgey isn't built for that, Ash. The Pidgey-line are built for speed especially in their lower evolutions. Enduring repeated attacks and fighting back are for a pokemon like Terra. The Pidgey-line aren't built to become tanks, Ash, and you're trying to make Pidgey into one."

"Oh," Ash looked down at his ice cream.

"Ash, that doesn't mean you're doing a bad job," Ash opened his mouth to argue only to stop when she held up a hand, "Pidgey has a lot of power in her attacks which is a good thing especially once she reaches Pidgeot. What I'm trying to say is that you need to stop rushing in when battling and focus on what Pidgey can actually do not what you want her to do,"

"So focus on speed?" Ash asked as he looked at her.

Vali nodded with a slight grin, "Yes, but don't let your other training fall to the wayside. Work on Accuracy as well, Pidgey will need it."

Ash gained a determined look on his face, "Alright! We'll do that and kick Gary's butt next time we battle."

Both of them let out shocked yelps when one of the Poliwag sprayed them with water, Balto jumping up with a low growl earning a squeak of surprise from the Poliwag in question. Eevee glared at Poliwag as he began to shake off the water and bared his fangs. Vali spat out the water that had ended up in her mouth as her pokemon began to chase around the surprisingly agile water-type. She stood up feeling glad that her things were at the pokemon center and her pokenav was waterproof. Ash got up shaking his head like a dog as she said, "Well that happened."

"Why'd it do that?" Ash asked as he stopped shaking his head.

"No idea," Vali focused on her pokemon as she shouted, "Guys, go easy on it. Poliwag didn't mean anything by it," The Poliwag nodded quickly letting out a few sharp warbling gurgles in agreement, "See," No one looked convinced, "Please just settle down, it's a bit of water that's all,"

It was a mud and water coated Vali that returned an equally messy Ash to Delia with Pidgey and Celina being the only ones that hadn't gotten involved in the ensuing water fight that had developed due to a mischievous group of Poliwag. Thankfully none of her pokemon took any real exception to it, they had enjoyed the whole debacle after a little while. It did mean everyone would be getting a thorough cleaning once Vali had gotten somewhat cleaned up. Delia giggled softly, "You guys look like you've had a lot of fun."

"Vali took me to get ice cream after we watched the movie," Ash grinned brightly his earlier bout of negative thinking already a thing of the past, "We got into a water war with some Poliwag,"

"Did you?" Delia asked with a smile, "That would explain things," She looked at Vali, "We should get going though. Alakazam already took the groceries home and is probably looking forward to resting,"

"That's fine, I had a good time," Vali just really wanted a shower, "See you two next week?"

"You should come home at some point this week," Delia suggested as Alakazam appeared, "To enjoy some home cooked food,"

Vali nodded already looking forward to it, "Sure, we'll discuss details later."

"We'll talk soon," Delia said as Alakazam grabbed her shoulder.

Alakazam grabbed Ash's shoulder as Vali told the boy, "Remember what I said, Ash. Strength is worthless without a plan and the ability to use it."

"I will, Vali," Ash's eyes gleamed with determination as Pidgey settled somewhat reluctantly on his shoulder.

Vali waved as Alakazam nodded to her before disappearing with Delia, Ash, and Pidgey. She headed into the pokemon center and got cleaned up before helping her pokemon do the same.