Talks with Steven and the Second battle at Indigo Pt. 1

Steven looked up as Vali walked into the living room of the cottage with a light smile on her face carrying Houndour in her arms with Vulpix on her heels. Elrond floated beside her with a content look on his face revealing that her conversation with Sirius had likely ended on a high note which was good. Smiling at that knowledge, he asked, "A good talk with Sirius?"

"Very good, Sirius would've come in to talk for a bit, but he was called back on our walk back," Vali walked over to the couch and set Houndour down before plopping down on the comfortable cushion beside the hell-hound, "We talked about Lavender Town which reminds me that I have some stuff that I've got to tell you," She looked around, "Where's Lance?"

"Out," Steven frowned slightly wondering what she hadn't told him, "Some late night training with some pokemon he's planing to use later on in the tournament. Why?"

Vali looked both relieved and sad, "Because I was kind of hoping to avoid having to talk about this just a bit longer. I don't like making you worry, but keeping this kind of thing from you would make me a bad friend."

Worry? Steven's heart sank a bit, "Did you get hurt in Lavender Town?"

Vali looked at him in surprise before shaking her head, "No. I didn't get hurt, but I got drained of my magic and inner flames pretty badly," She held up a hand as Steven opened his mouth though he wasn't quite sure what exactly was going to come out of it, "Look the League put a limit on what I'm allowed to tell anyone especially when they're from outside the region, okay? But I can tell you some stuff that I couldn't share before thanks to something that happened recently just let me explain without interrupting because this is absolutely crazy."

The knowledge that Vali wasn't the only one out there with powers like this both made him happy and frightened him a little. Just what kind of roles did these other Bearers have if Vali's was to be a Guide? He looked into Vali's eyes and saw the fear within them though what exactly was she scared of? He wanted to hit himself since she had quite a bit to be scared of since there was a lot that could go wrong, but right now, he needed to ease one of those fears. He reached out and took one of her hands in his, "Well at the very least you won't have to work through any of this alone, right? I'll help where I can. I'm sure the others will if they knew."

Relief filled Vali's eyes, she beamed at him and nodded, "Yeah. It's going to be crazy in a couple of years and we'll have our work cut out for us."

"For now though, we need to get through this tournament," Steven told her with a slight grin, "Have any idea who your opponent will be just yet?"

Vali shook her head, "No. They still haven't sent any message to me. Did they send you one?"

"No," Steven shook his head, "I suppose we'll have to check out the Pokemon Center in the morning,"

"Guess so," Vali leaned back into the couch and Steven got up to sit next to her, "Looks like they're showing more battles from today, do you want to watch?"

"Sure," Steven supposed it would be a good use of time especially if his next opponent was among those shown.

Vali ended up on the water field next which was somewhat annoying, but she decided not let it bother her. She somewhat wished she'd gotten a water-type pokemon, but even if she had gotten on, it probably wouldn't have been tournament ready. Exiting into the sunlight, she looked across the water towards her opponent to find a slim teenager with pale aqua colored hair held up in a high pony tail and light sea green eyes. She wore a light aquamarine top and a sand colored long skirt. She wore a sea shell necklace. The announcer spoke up, "And now the fourth battle today of the water field! On the green side, we have Valkyrie Potter-Black from Pallet Town. On the red side, we have Xion Alius of Summerland in the Fiore Region."

"Not many trainers come from Fiore," Vali commented as Xion released a Seadra which immediately caused her to change plans and switch the pokemon she was going to use.

While the Seadra in the pool did look somewhat newly evolved, water-types weren't quite something Vali was familiar with and this was the Indigo League and she couldn't risk losing so soon on a bet. Picking Elrond's pokeball from her belt, she listened as Xion murmured, "Most don't," Seadra sank into the pool to explore its surroundings rather excitedly, "I however enjoy being a trainer,"

Vali nodded lightly, "Understandable," She reared back a bit, "Come out and battle with me, my friend," Elrond appeared radiating confusion through their bond though appearing unfazed on the outside, "Seadra. Somewhat newly evolved from what I can tell, but not chancing Pippin during the League."

"Understood," Elrond replied as he set up Electric Terrain and used Calm Mind, "Get it out of the water in a hurry?"

"Quickly, I'd prefer to keep the water safe for other pokemon for the moment," Vali replied as Elrond silently dodged Seadra's Hydro Pump, "Your Seadra is quite agile in the water,"

"He's always been a quick guy," Xion replied wish a shrug though her lips tilted downward, "How did you get an Alolan Raichu? They're not native to Kanto,"

"Elrond evolved into one. Simple as that," Vali watched as Elrond managed to catch the Seadra and levitated it out of the water before beginning to shock it as he released it.

Before the Seadra could hit the water, Elrond grabbed it again and lifted it up into the air to begin the process once more until the Seadra fainted. Xion returned her fainted pokemon as the referee shouted, "Victory for green!"

"Who will Xion send out next against Valkyrie's Alolan Raichu?" The Announcer shouted earning cheers.

Xion pulled out a pokeball as she eyed Elrond carefully, "I had wanted to avoid using him until later on in the tournament, but it appears that I need his assistance now."

A Marshtomp appeared making Vali inwardly curse alongside Elrond as the psychic/electric-type muttered, "Well this won't be easy and switching isn't allowed, is it?"

"No, it is not," Vali replied earning a mental sigh, "Do what you can, Elrond. We need to figure out a way to beat this one,"

"We will. We always do," Elrond sent her a smile, "We worked too hard to fall short at this point,"

Vali nodded with a slight grin, "Right."

Elrond dodged the Mud-Slap Marshtomp sent towards him and darted forward catching the Mud Fish pokemon in a psychic grip to use Iron Tail. Marshtomp struggled against the psychic hold as Elrond hit it with Iron Tail and Slam. Marshtomp managed to slip out of Elrond's psychic hold and used Mud Bomb hitting Elrond due to how close to the Mud Fish pokemon he was. Marshtomp dove into the water earning a soft groan from Elrond. Vali's eyes narrowed slightly before she suggested, "Try shocking the water. Even if Marshtomp is immune, it'll still be uncomfortable."

Elrond nodded slowly, "If it'll do something against it, we might be able to be this one."

Determination flared across the bond as Elrond reapplied Electric Terrain before using Thunder on the pool of water, Marshtomp actually lept out of the water with an irritated look on its face and shot a wave of Scald towards Elrond who quickly covered himself with Protect. Elrond locked Marshtomp in a psychic grip and began battering it with Iron Tail once more until it managed to break free. Marshtomp broke free of of Elrond's psychic hold quicker this time and used Sludge Wave. Vali inwardly cursed alongside Elrond as they both muttered, "Time limit."

"We'll need to work quick," Vali said earning a nod before Elrond and their connection both shivered.

Vali inwardly winced at the slight pain that flashed through her mind. Elrond spoke softly, "For your protection, it might be best to cut our connection."

"Not yet," Vali denied immediately as Elrond grabbed Marshtomp again and resumed his attacks which were finally beginning to show some effect though not enough for her to feel confident in winning, "I can deal with the pain for now, Elrond,"

Vali was reluctant to cut their close connection until the last possible moment. With how close they'd become since she'd first caught him back during the first days of her journey when he'd just agreed to become a member of her family, she had quickly become reluctant to lose that connection for even a single moment before she had to. It was the unique connection she shared with Elrond that couldn't be copied with any of her other pokemon after all. Understanding flowed through their connection, Elrond spoke, "Alright, but conversation must be limited. I can't focus on it very well. Holding this one is becoming increasingly difficult, It will take everything I have just to beat this one or rend it close enough for our next pack member to beat it."

"Understood. Do your best, Elrond," Vali sent as much strength as she possibly could through their connection and vowed to see experiment with seeing if her magic would help after the tournament.

Elrond chanced a small smile in her direction before focusing fully on the battle ahead. Elrond kept up the assault with Iron Tail, Slam, and Quick Attack occasionally adding in an electric-type attack. Marshtomp attacked back as it managed to slip out of Elrond's psychic hold with increasing frequency attacking with Mud Bomb, Mud shot, and Mud-Slap. Both pokemon were becoming exhausted though, Elrond was beginning to feel the effects of the poison rather keenly and Marshtomp the strain of having to break free of Elrond's psychic abilities. Vali felt the edges of the connection begin to fray as Elrond began his final attack on Marshtomp and got his pokeball ready to return him seeing as it wouldn't be too long before it would be time for him to rest.

Elrond trapped Marshtomp in a psychic hold once more only this one was much stronger than it had been previously. Elrond coated his tail like usual for Iron Tail only he didn't strike Marshtomp. Instead, he touched the mud-fish pokemon rather firmly and used Thunder. Even with Marshtomp's ground-typing, the move boosted both by Electric Terrain, the fact Marshtomp had recently gone into the water, Marshtomp's own water-type side meant squat against a full-powered Thunder once it was able to get past the ground-type side of things. Marshtomp screamed from the electricity ripping through its body likely one of the first time the pokemon had ever felt the full force of an electric-type attack. Xion's eyes went wide and the other trainer shouted, "What the hell?! How can your Raichu actually shock my Marshtomp?"

"Believing that your pokemon is invincible on typing alone is foolish, a battle is not won on type advantage alone after all," Vali didn't plan on explaining it especially in front of such a large audience.

Elrond ended the attack and barely managed to float back over to platform in front of her before collapsing. He panted heavily shivering and sweating unable to muster the strength to float. He looked at her with a pride filled look, "I've done what I can, but I think our pack can take care of the rest."

"They can. Thank you, my friend. For everything you've done today, you deserve your rest," Vali told him as she returned Elrond earn a roar from the crowd as the Referee made the call and Xion frowned at her, "I'm not going to endanger my pokemon anymore than he has to be when he's poisoned," She took out her next pokeball after setting Elrond's pokeball in it's place on her side, "Come out and battle with me, my friend," No pokemon she had carried the great-type advantage that Elrond had and Vali wasn't really willing to see if Xion had any other surprises up her sleeve in the form of water/ground-types, "Celina," The Pidgeot cried out as she appeared, "Elrond was taken though he took out one of her pokemon and almost managed this other one, so we just need another one. I need you to get this one out of the way. For Elrond, I've decided to not take any chances and rely on luck for this," Celina let out a coo of understanding and determination, "Fast flying, Girl. Take this sucker out,"