After the Lecture

Vali's lecture ended up taking two full hours. The longer she spoke, the more at ease she became especially once she'd released Pikachu and Celina. She talked about the things she'd wished she had known before leaving Pallet Town, the stuff she wished that she'd had the foresight to bring along, and things like that. She spoke about how much she enjoyed battling, the pokemon that she'd battled, and the battles that she'd seen. She talked about how traveling could be rough at first and that going camping before she became a trainer would have been nice. And she answered the questions they asked if she knew the answer or was comfortable answering them.

Vali's pokemon put up with the kids touching them though Pikachu quickly took shelter on her shoulder when someone tried to pull on his tail. Smaug kept his tail flame out of reach though none of the kids were stupid enough to try and touch it. When it was time for them to leave, the kids whined and groaned before following their parents out. Vali promised her pokemon that she would pamper them especially since Pidgeotto's feathers were a bit sticky due to one of the kid's having some form of candy on their hands. Steven walked over once everyone had left and said, "You did very good, Vali."

"Once I got started, it got easy. I was a bit anxious in the beginning, but managed to push it back," Vali felt proud of herself.

"You guys did good as well," Steven told her pokemon, "You were patient and didn't snap at the kids which is a really good thing. You definitely deserve the pampering Vali's going to give you,"

Each looked more than a little satisfied at that making Vali laugh softly. Grace came into the room and showed them out after Vali returned Pidgeotto, "You might not think you're good at public speaking, but that went really well. I think you really made some of them realize that pokemon aren't tools, but living breathing beings that have emotions too."

"Thanks. I'm actually kind of glad that I agreed to this," Vali admitted with as her cheeks flushed lightly from the praise, "If I can do more stuff like this, being at the League Conference won't be so hard,"

Grace smiled lightly, "Well, you're always welcome to come and give lectures."

"Maybe," Vali returned her pokemon save for Balto, "Though it'll have to be after I finish the badge run,"

"That would be wonderful," Grace beamed at her before looking at Steven, "Now, shall we go schedule your gym battles?"

"That would be a good idea since you never know when other trainers will be coming," Steven said prompting Vali to nod in agreement.

Grace led the way out of the lecture hall towards the front desk where she settled down at the computer, "Now, you have two choices. Individual double battles or a paired double battle. Which do you two want to do?"

Vali and Steven looked at her in surprise. Vali asked, "We're allowed to do that?"

Grace let out a laugh as she nodded, "We only offer it to those with traveling companions. Seeing as Kanto trains majorly travel alone, we don't often have a chance to make that offer."

Steven looked at her curiously, "Do you want to battle together again?"

Vali thought about it for a moment before turning to Grace, "What are the differences between the two?"

Grace let out a laugh before clicking something and turning the screen towards them. Two videos popped up and began to play, "The video on the left is the individual double battle. It has all the rules of a double battle. The gym leaders would use one pokemon each though the amount would increase if the challenger had more than three gym badges," Vali would admit that the first one seemed interesting and would be something she'd have to try out at some point, "The video on the right is the paired double battle. The gym leaders would use two pokemon each alongside the challengers. The regular gym battle rules apply save for the badge rule," Steven looked just as curious as Vali about that, "Even if all the pokemon you use faint, you'll be given a gym badge if you impress us though that's only if at least one of your pokemon still hasn't fainted as per the usual gym battle rules."

Vali and Steven looked at one another. Vali considered all her options before saying, "It wouldn't be a bad idea and it'll give us more practice battling together."

"I don't mind it," Steven turned to Grace, "We'll do a paired double battle,"

"Alright," Grace turned the computer back to her, "How does 2 0'clock in the afternoon two weeks from now sound?"

"That's perfect," Vali said as they would have time to get their pokemon healed up before the battle if they trained and allow their pokemon ample time to be healed after that.

Grace imputed into the computer after clicking her mouse a few times before turning to them with a pleased grin, "There we go. Thank you both again for giving those lectures and Vali, I look forward to seeing how you do against my girls."

"Me too," Vali inclined her head, "See you tomorrow,"

Steven and Grace offered their own goodbyes before they parted ways. Steven and Vali headed towards the pokemon center with him commenting, "We'll have to practice battling together."

"I'm sure we can find people willing to battle us and our pokemon shouldn't have too much trouble. Who are you going to be using?" Vali asked him curiously.

Steven was quiet for a few moments as he considered his options. Lileep wouldn't do well in this battle despite having a grass-typing what with his rock-typing and the fact that he hadn't participated in many battles against non-wild pokemon. Squirtle wasn't a good option either due to the fact he was a water-type and wouldn't do much damage. Granted, it worked in Squirtle's favor as the water-type pokemon they were going up against wouldn't be able to do much damage with their water based attacks. Vali knew he wouldn't be pulling out Aggron as the Steel-types rock-typing would put it at a disadvantage. Claydol's ground-typing would put it at a disadvantage as well. The only ones on Steven current team that would do anything were Metagross and Skarmory. Steven answered her question after a few moments, "Metagross and Skarmory as they are the most familiar with you. I have a few other pokemon that I could use, but as we're doing a paired battle, I would prefer to keep things simple. If I didn't know how often water-type gyms used floating platforms, I would use Aggron regardless of his rock-typing as he has been trained to resist water-type attacks."

"I'm going to need to teach my fire-types how to resist their type disadvantages, aren't I?" Vali realized earning a nod, "They will not enjoy that,"

Vali would have to do the same for all of her pokemon especially once she started meeting more experienced trainers. If she wanted to be a master, her pokemon needed to learn how to deal with type disadvantages and beat them back. There was a reason it took years to become a master of any single type and why many saw the dream of Pokemon Master to be just that, the amount of training you had to put your pokemon through was immense. You had to build up your pokemon, break them down, and build them up again into something stronger. There were no short-cuts to becoming a master, it wasn't just about the pokemon either. You had to train yourself right alongside them physically, mentally, and emotionally. No one without a bond with their pokemon could ever become a master. It wasn't possible especially since the bond between pokemon and trainer was needed to keep said pokemon from turning on you if they lost themselves to blood-lust. The bond also ensured that no matter what, a pokemon of master class wouldn't take another trainer even if it was traded to someone. Master class pokemon were only loyal to the trainer that brought them to that point, it was suicide for anyone else to command them and why older pokemon were never gifted to new trainers.

Thinking of that, Vali glanced down at Balto as he walked beside her. Balto was almost five years old and that showed with how much control he had over his inner flame. By all logic, he shouldn't listen to her or accept her as his trainer despite Professor Oak giving him to her. And yet, he accepted her as his trainer. She wondered if it had to do with the fact they'd known each other for almost two years before dismissing that. Some children grew up with their parents pokemon, yet said pokemon never listened to them unless the parent was around to agree to the orders. Balto listened to her when by all rights, he shouldn't. She looked at Steven as he touched her shoulder and asked, "Are you okay, Vali?"

"Yeah, why?" Vali looked at him in confusion.

"You were frowning while looking down at Balto," Steven explained looking a bit concerned.

Vali ran a hand through her hair, "A thought occurred to me and I'm trying to make sense of it."

Who knows, Steven might be able to answer her about this. Steven's concern turned into curiosity, "What kind of thought?"

"Older pokemon don't listen to new trainers," Vali said as she stopped walking, "It's only during the pokemon's first year of either being born or caught that you can trade them without having any behavioral problems, right?" Steven nodded as Balto looked up at her in confusion, "Balto is five years old meaning that by all rights, he shouldn't accept me as his trainer. We may have known each other for two years, but kids who've grown up with their parents pokemon will never get them to listen unless the parent was around to agree to the orders or had given the order to obey the child. Even then, the older pokemon will hesitate as the child is not their trainer," Vali bent down and rubbed between Balto's ears, "So with that in mind, why does he listen to me?"

Steven frowned lightly, "That thought never occurred to me, I always thought that Balto was only a year old if not a bit older. You're right, he shouldn't listen to you," Steven looked at Balto as the Growlithe enjoyed her attention, "Perhaps we should have Metagross give us the answer after we eat dinner and you pamper your pokemon?"

Vali hesitated for a moment. In a way, it would mean invading Balto's privacy, but the answer was something she wanted to know. It would eat at her and drive her crazy until she learned what it was. With that in mind, she said, "Alright, but Balto has to agree to it."

"Of course," Steven agreed and they resumed their walk towards the pokemon center.