Lost battles and good news

"C'mon, Arwen!" Vali frowned as Arwen reared in an attempt to get the Mankey they were battling off of her back, "Use Flame Wheel to get it off!"

"Shit!" The Mankey's trainer swore as Arwen used Flame Wheel causing Mankey to scream in pain as it was flung off of Arwen, "Mankey, are you okay?!"

The Mankey jumped up with a screech of anger and dove towards the Ponyta as Arwen's Flame Wheel died down. Arwen reared when it rushed towards her before shrieking in pain as the Mankey slammed a fist veiled in dark purple. Arwen was sent skidding to the side, but managed to keep on her hooves though it was quite clear by the sweat coating the Ponyta's body and her harsh breathing that Arwen was on her last legs. The Mankey looked much the same for all of five seconds before being engulfed in the light of evolution. When the glow died down, a Primeape stood in the Mankey's place. Vali cursed, "Damn it."

"Alright, Primate!" The newly evolved pokemon's trainer grinned brightly, "Let's kick that pony's ass! Use Karate Chop!"

"Arwen, Flame Wheel!" Vali shouted knowing that Arwen couldn't take much more of this.

Primeape launched itself forward as it drew back it's glove covered fist as a bluish red aura coated it and Arwen reared before racing forward as flames coated her body. The two collided and the two energies battled for a few moments before sending both pokemon flying with an explosion of smoke. When the smoke died down, Primeape stood up while Arwen was struggling to stand up. Arwen reached the halfway point before crumbling and passing out. The other trainer cheered as he raced over to his newly evolved pokemon while Vali rushed over to Arwen. Dropping down, she began to look over Arwen wanting to make sure nothing was broken. The other trainer cleared his throat, "Hey, that was a nice battle."

"Yeah. Congrats on your pokemon evolving," Vali replied as she glanced towards the guy.

Vali dug out the promise 150 poke and handed it to the guy. He took it, "Thanks. Will Ponyta be alright?"

"She should be since I don't think anything's broken, but a visit to the pokemon center is in order," Vali took out Arwen's pokeball and returned the Ponyta before standing up, "Thanks for the battle,"

"Thank you too!" The other trainer raced off.

Vali shook her head and peered down at Arwen's pokeball. That was the first battle that Arwen had lost since they'd arrived in Celadon, it would be good for the Ponyta in the long run if only ensure she didn't turn arrogant, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth. If only that Mankey hadn't evolved, they might've actually won this battle or tied. She spoke softly, "You did your best, Arwen. Thank you."

Arwen's pokeball shifted and warmed up in her hand before returning to normal. Vali headed to the pokemon center with two things in mind. Get Arwen healed up and call home to see what happened with the whole date thing, she needed some good news to help cope with the loss.

Sirius answered the phone when the call went through, "Hey, Pup! In Celadon, I see."

"Yeah. It's been a lot of fun," Vali said fighting back the urge to just burst out and ask the question she was dying to ask, "I've been waiting to talk with you since I heard that you were home, but it seems like I miss you every single time,"

"It looks like luck isn't exactly on our side," Sirius frowned at her, "Are you alright, Pup? You seem a bit down,"

Vali stared at him in surprise before sigh, "Arwen lost her first battle since we got to Celadon. It was a really close battle and we might've won if it weren't for the other trainer's Mankey evolving. Granted, it looked pretty close and we might've ended up tied," She shook her head, "I know that we've got to lose sometimes and that I should be grateful that it happened during a relatively unimportant battle, but it still stings a bit."

"I can't say I know the feeling since I'm not a pokemon trainer," Sirius smiled at her, "You've got a good way of thinking about it though,"

"So I could use some good news," Vali eyed him with a sly grin, "So did you say yes?"

Sirius gaped at her, "How did you know abou-Ash."

Vali snickered at Sirius' scowl, "Pretty much, he wants us to be a real family not just one by spirit. I do too."

Sirius whined at her, "What is it with you kids and wanting us to be in a relationship?!"

"Because it'll help make you happy," Vali replied as she leaned forward, "Siri, it's time for you to be happy and settle down. You know that's what Mom, Dad, and Mooney would want,"

Sirius smiled lightly, "Yeah, you're right," She gave him an expectant look, "Yes, I told Delia yes."

"It's about fucking time," Vali cheered with a grin, "When's the wedding? Have you made any plans?"

"Not yet, we're mostly enjoying the fact we've made it official," Sirius looked more than a little amused, "I didn't expect you to ask things like that since you're a total tomboy,"

"Doesn't mean I don't enjoy that kind of thing especially when it involves family," Vali definitely felt better now, "So any news on Regulus?"

"He has found a few females and they seem to really like him which means at least one of them will probably end up with an egg from him," Sirius answered earning a grin, "We won't know if he got at least one of them pregnant for about three weeks once mating season ends in a few days,"

"Well keep me posted," Vali couldn't wait to get a Houndour egg.

"Do you think you'll be able to handle it?" Sirius asked her with a slightly worried look on his face.

Vali would have been offended if it wasn't a reasonable question. One of the hardest aspects of being a pokemon trainer started the moment you got a pokemon egg. Protecting and caring for the egg before it hatched then raising the pokemon that came from the egg, you became a parent of something that had instincts you would probably never fully understand and it was up to you to mold them into a great pokemon. The little pokemon would look upon your actions which would shape its entire future. With something like that hanging over your head, a lot of trainers decided not to raise a pokemon from an egg or chose to abandon the baby pokemon. Vali offered Sirius a reassuring smile, "I should be able to handle it. I did raise Idril after I found her and I'm prepared to adapt. If I need any help, I'll consult the nearest Nurse Joy like I'm doing now with the egg I got from that Ninetales. Besides, I wanted this which means I have to suffer the consequences. It'll be a bit hard at first, but I really think I'll be able to do it."

"At the very least, you've thought this through," Sirius turned his head as he heard a shout, "Ash just got back from school. I got to go make sure he does his homework,"

"Remus would probably accuse you of being an impostor if he heard you say that," Vali grinned as Sirius snorted with an eye roll and heard her name on the intercom, "I got to go, Nurse Joy's calling for me. Tell Ash that I'll catch him later and hope he's had a good day at school. Tell Delia that I said congratulations,"

"No problem. Talk to you later, Pup," Sirius replied earning a bright grin.

"Talk to you later, Siri," Vali said before the call cut off and she retrieved her dex.

Arwen was disappointed in herself for losing a battle even if the pokemon she'd lost to had won because it had evolved. Sure, she knew that they probably would've had a draw otherwise, but that didn't take away her disappointment. The worst part of it was that she'd disappointed Vali of all people. She knew that the leader of this odd herd, or pack if you went by Balto's thoughts on the matter, wouldn't hold it against her. Vali wasn't the type of person to punish her pokemon for losing or holding it against them. And yet, she was angry with herself for losing.

Arwen trained hard alongside each member of the herd save for the hurt one who trained beside their herd leader. She put her all into the training especially once she was tired enough to actually focus on what they needed to do. She knew that losing was a big part of life seeing as she'd seen many of her kin try to take over protecting the herd from the master, but losing due to just how diffrent their power levels were. She too had lost against the master when he'd evaluated her just a week before her current herd leader came across their migration. The only difference was that this time actually hurt her. Not physically though the bruises did ache horribly even with Nurse Joy's assistance, it was the emotional pain that hurt.

The knowledge that she'd failed to win for her herd leader left a bad taste in Arwen's mouth. Vali worked hard to make them stronger and push them to their limits as much as possible. Vali took care of them, trained them, and loved them like kin. Vali only asked for them to work hard, protect their herd, get along as best they could, and fight as hard as they could. And what had Arwen done in return? She'd lost a battle that she would've won if she'd been stronger.

Arwen's ears pinned back and she stamped her hoof on the floor in agitation. Arwen froze when she felt the comforting hand of her trainer on her shoulder. Looking at Vali, she was surprised to see the sad smile, "Hey, Arwen. I guess we lost that battle," She kicked the ground and snorted, "It doesn't feel nice at all," She shook her head, "I know that you're disappointed in yourself. I'm disappointed in myself as well," She looked at Vali in shock earning a smile from the trainer, "You thought I was disappointed in you? No way, you did your best after all and I could think of a ton of things that I could've done to help increase our chances of winning," Vali shook her head lightly, "But the thing is, we kind of needed that loss," She snorted in confusion, "I know that doesn't sound right, but we did need to lose. You were getting cocky since you hadn't lost a battle since we arrived in Celadon. I was getting a bit cocky too even though I tried to tell myself that I wasn't," Vali rubbed the back of her neck with a sheepish expression on her face, "Damn, I could've phrased that better or been a bit more clearer," She tossed her head back and nudged Vali wanting her to get on with it, "What I'm trying to say is that we needed this loss to motivate us to work harder. Just because Celadon is a grass-type gym doesn't mean we won't lose if we don't start working even harder, we need to use the our feelings of loss as fuel for our inner flames to become stronger."

Now Vali was speaking her language, Arwen was feeling less of a sting from the loss and even more determined to do better next time.