Joseph Stone and the third battle Pt. 1

Vali slipped outside as dinner drew to a close with Lance and Zaria offering to do the dishes. All of the pokemon were settled down rather contentedly outside save for those that could actually fit inside the cottage. They greeted her somewhat lazily from their various positions not wanting to get up as the meal they'd been fed settled. She greeted them in return before settling beside Balto leaning against his side and closing her eyes taking a moment to decompress from the days stress. Smaug's head settled on her shoulder a moment later and she reached up to lay a hand on his nose taking the comfort he was readily offering without a word. There was little doubt in her mind that things were going to be heating up soon enough, the competition was going to get even tougher and there was no telling just what exactly their opponents were going to be pulling out against them.

Smaug let out a soft growl and she opened her eyes to find Joseph Stone standing not far away. He held up a hand, "Easy there, Charizard, I don't intend to cause any harm to your trainer."

"He won't hurt me, Smaug. He's Steven's father. Sire," Vali told him as she moved her hand up to rub soothing circles underneath the base of his right horn earning a low groan from the Charizard, "Joseph, don't feel too bad, he was just giving me a small warning that you were there. I was a bit too deep in my thoughts,"

"Understandable given that the Conference is drawing into it's third day and this is your first one," Joseph looked over Smaug with a light smile, "He's a wonderful specimen for one that's still under a year old. Not a bad growth rate, I do notice a bit of scarring on his left wing,"

"My gym battle at the Cinnabar Gym didn't come without cost," Vali grimaced as she remembered Smaug's rage.

Smaug released a soft growl his wings shifting slightly only to settle as she increased the pressure of her fingers and Balto let out a low rumble. Joseph was quiet and Vali almost forgot about him as she worked in time with Balto to calm Smaug. The Devon Corp president spoke, "I wanted to speak with you alone, Vali," She froze a bit wondering if Joseph was going to try and warn her away, "I'm not going to try and dismiss the friendship that you two have created. A rather pointless endeavor given that you've traveled together for so long and clearly care about one another," Joseph smiled softly, "In fact, I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Vali looked at him in confusion, "Joseph, what do you mean?"

Joseph ran a hand through his hair looking a bit worn, "Steven has no doubt told you that we do not see eye-to-eye on certain matters. But he probably hasn't told you that it goes a bit further than that, a lot further though it mostly extends to his youth," The elder Stone seemed to age and looked somewhat ashamed, "For all that he may look like me, he carries much of his mother and that often made things tense between us. As he got older, it got better between us and we managed to make amends, but it wasn't until his journey that this truly happened."

Vali still didn't understand why he thanked her, "But why thank me?"

"Because Steven's always been more interested in stones and pokemon than humans," Joseph explained in an amused tone, "He could emphasize rather well, but there was always a barrier. With you, the barrier has thinned almost completely to the point its vanished. He's much warmer and interacts with others much better," Joseph smiled lightly at Vali as she flushed, "And we've become closer thanks to you,"

"I didn't really do anything," Vali protested earning a soft laugh.

"You didn't have to," Joseph's smile grew softer and warmer, "I've been watching your interactions with both people and pokemon. It's told me quite a bit about how you've managed to get my son to become more open," He gestured to Smaug and Balto, "You opened your heart to them. Giving everything you possibly could to them leaving nothing, I believe that you've done the same to my son showing him how to become just a bit more open. To those who you care for or that do not show themselves to be bad, you're open allowing them to see a portion of your light. But you're just as capable of burning those that prove to be bad and causing harm, you will only show them the shadows within,"

Vali opened her mouth before closing it as she considered Joseph's words carefully. The man was observant, but to get as far as he did, you had to be. Slowly nodding, she told him, "That sounds about right."

"Don't ever change, Vali, but don't let yours shadows consume that light. It would be a shame if they managed to consume it," Joseph told her.

Vali shook her head lightly, "I don't plan on it. After all, you cannot have shadows without light nor vise versa. I learned that a long time ago," She heard a beep come from her pokenav and check it seeing a message from Delia prompting her to look at Joseph , "Joseph, could I request something of you?"

"You can try, but I'm not sure if it'll be something I can do," Joseph warned her.

Vali headed out onto Ice field for her third battle of the Conference feeling a sense of nervousness run through her. This would be the first time she'd have no real idea of how to use the battlefield outside of some scarce practice, but that would change once certain pokemon would be unveiled. She looked at the glistening field of ice and felt a bit bad about what she was going to do. Looking towards the other trainers box, she spotted her opponent who had a Helioptile sitting on his shoulder. He grinned brightly as the crowd cheered at him and waved as the Helioptile on his shoulder did the same. He wore a light grey t-shirt with a black Meowth tribal design on the front and a black pair of cargo pants. He wore a pair of red tennis shoes and black lined red finger-less gloves. He had dark brown hair and black eyes. He was lightly tanned and had a scar running underneath his right eye. The announcer shouted, "And now the start of the first battle of the Ice Field! On the green side of the field, we have Arthur Eight of Lumiose City in Kalos. On the red side of the field, we have Valkyrie Potter-Black of Pallet Town!"

"It's a pleasure to finally find myself against you, Miss Valkyrie," Arthur called out across the battlefield with a grin as he pulled a pokeball from his belt, "The rumors I've heard and even the little bits I've managed to see from the your battles have led me to be quite interested in battling you myself,"

"I apologize for being unable to say the same," Vali replied earning a small frown, "But then again, I've had quite a bit on my mind lately and have been unable to focus as much as I'd like. I apologize if you find my lack of knowledge rude,"

"I see," Arthur shook his head, "No matter. My pokemon and I shall ensure that our strength is known by the end of this battle as we move onto the next round," He grinned brightly, "Let's make use of this field my friend, Abomasnow!"

Vali stared at the large ice/grass-type pokemon with some sense of shock. For all that it would be a semi-easier battle on her than what most would probably believe given her past showing for the tournament, the pokemon was definitely not something anyone could underestimate. Snowy white and emerald green fur coated in ice crystals combined with the chilly air that filled the air as soon as the pokemon was released onto the field brought to mind the frost covered forest surrounding Pallet town upon her arrival in this world all those years ago, she truly felt like a child compared to the tall pokemon. The sudden reminder of that day caused her to grip the pokeball in her hand just a bit tighter making the metal bite into the meat of her palm just a bit. Using the slight sting to ground herself and mentally promise to speak with Rodrick since the man was Sirius' therapist, she released Smaug calling out, "Come out and battle with me, my friend!"

"A Charizard," Arthur murmured looking at Smaug with some awe as Smaug took off into the air, "Your starter?"

"That he is, Smaug's the second oldest member of my pokemon family. You'll be meeting the first later on," Vali promised as Smaug started off the battle by diving in low, "Smaug, Burning Cloud!"

Smaug began using Smokescreen much to Arthur's confusion. Arthur quickly shook it off, "No matter your use of such a useless move, Abomasnow, use Razor Leaf! Wide Spread to hit it."

Abomasnow let out a loud roar of agreement and razor sharp leaves began flying out of Smaug's smoke. Smaug activated the second part of their strategy. Burning Cloud came in technically three parts. The Smokescreen was actually coated in just the slightest amount of toxic making it flammable. Smaug spent the first part coating the Smokescreen and the second part spreading it. Smaug was slowly learning to condense the two parts into one, so she tended to consider them one part. Smaug hurried from the smoke with a few small cuts and released a Flamethrower into the cloud of Smokescreen. Arthur didn't realize the danger until too late. When the fire-ball cleared away, Abomasnow was heavily burned though still able to battle while the field where the cloud had been was now mostly water. Smaug let out a loud smug sounding roar earning a small eye-roll from her, "Smaug, now is not the time to sound so smug, we've still got a battle to fight. Arthur's pokemon can still fight and unless he return's him, you're still going to be battling Abomasnow. Besides, it only looks like the top two layers of fur and frost were burned."

"You're definitely one for unique moves," Arthur commented looking torn between annoyed and excited as Smaug geared up for another attack, "But that doesn't mean much, Abomasnow, Blizzard!"

"Sunny Day!" Vali shouted in return and the two attacks cancelled each other out with Smaug sending up another Sunny Day earning a small frown from Arthur, "You assumed just because one of my pokemon didn't know it, my others didn't. It's a bad assumption. I'd suggest not assuming anything when it comes to me, Arthur. Smaug, hit hard and fast. This guy's going to have a tough body with thick fat, a lot of fire-power is needed!"

Smaug roared in acknowledgement and released another more powerful gout of flames that seared through the air towards Abomasnow. The ice/grass-type let out a loud growl and blocked the attack with what could have been either an over powered Powder Snow or Icy Wind. Smaug got in close showing Abomasnow that his attacks weren't limited to just Flamethrower though it was definitely one of the more effective of his fire-type attacks. The modified Flame Burst still wasn't ready for battle and Flare Blitz was so far from battle ready it wasn't even funny. Smaug pulled backwards and retreated into the sky releasing another cloud of Smokescreen after a little while likely causing more than a little confusion. As a rule among those with Charizard, they did not retreat or surrender even when the battle seemed to be all but lost unless the trainer was experienced.

Arthur shouted to his Abomasnow, "Get out of the Smokescreen now, Abomasnow!"

Vali mentally shook her head at the fact he thought Smaug would use the same trick twice in a row. For all the temptation would be there, they would do that in the same battle against the same opponent. Rather than say such a thing, she looked towards Smaug and nodded as he glanced down towards her. He grinned at her and sped towards Abomasnow who was leaving the smoke cloud. With steel coating his wings to protect them, he slammed into Abomasnow with fire coiling from his maw and a loud crash echoed through the air as both went tumbling into the cloud of black smoke earning shouts of shock.

Loud crashes continued to echo through the air, the cloud of smoke was pierced by streams of fire, ice, and grass as the two pokemon within fought. Smaug had become a master within the smoke though whereas Abomasnow was completely blind especially with her Charizard continuously renewing the smoke likely adding Toxic into the mixture. The black smoke began to dissipate as the sounds stopped completely and Abomasnow was revealed to be unconscious. Smaug looked a bit worse for wear with more cuts than he'd had before and some serious looking bruises though nothing outwardly worrying. He seemed rather pleased with himself though. She looked at him with a small frown, "Smaug, are you okay to continue?" Smaug nodded with a snort and spat out an ember of flame towards the ground while giving the Abomasnow a look of acknowledgement, "Was it a good fight?" Smaug nodded again an she smiled, "I'm glad," She looked at the battlefield that looked a bit worse for wear, "You did a lot of damage to the battlefield, Big guy. But that's the price for a good battle."