Lance in Saffron city

"Thank you, Steven," Vali grinned at him as she gently rubbed between Eevee's ears, "I thought I'd end up losing my temper during that last battle though,"

"Most tend to when faced with Mr. Mime," Sabrina commented as she made her way over, "It would seem our meditation lessons have been helping with more than guarding your mind,"

"Probably," Vali agreed as Sabrina held out the Marsh Badge.

"Here is the Marsh Badge, you've earned it," Sabrina said as Vali stood up and took the badge feeling excitement fill her, "Just two more badges and you'll be able to compete in the League Conference,"

"Thank you for the battle, Sabrina," Vali said as she clenched the badge in her hand, "Do you think we could have another battle before Steven and I leave Saffron? A one on one,"

"Oh?" Sabrina looked at her curiously, "May I ask why?"

Vali offered the gym leader a small frown, "I won the first match on a fluke."

Sabrina gained a look of realization, "I see. You wish to battle again in order to feel that you deserve the badge," Vali nodded firmly, "I do not see a problem with that. I assume you wish to use your Charizard for the battle?"

"He will be a bit irritated with me for not being able to actually be able to battle this time around," Vali explained with a small grimace.

"It would give me a chance to battle with one of the pokemon I received during the exchange," Sabrina mused with a light smile, "Very well, we shall battle tomorrow as I only have one challenger then,"

They spoke a bit more before Steven, Vali, Vulpix, and Eevee left the Saffron City gym. Steven spoke as they walked, "I didn't know Balto knew Toxic."

"I didn't either," Vali replied with a slight smile, "Arwen taught him at some point. I really need to scan everyone to see if they've learned any new moves. Maybe after we get our eighth gym badge, I'll have them teach each other any moves they can learn not to mention hit Celadon to pick up a few more TMs,"

Vali knew that most of her pokemon had moves that each other could learn either natural, through move tutors, or TMs. While the process wouldn't exactly be streamlined and some of her pokemon would probably be missing a few details, it would still allow them to learn the moves. She would have to see if Professor Oak would mind allowing her pokemon to train with his or see if Lt. Surge would mind her learning under him again. If not, she could see if Koga would be willing to let her do a small trial of the offer he gave her.

To Vali's surprise and slight happiness, Lance was actually in Saffron and would be Sabrina's challenger tomorrow. She quickly jumped at the chance to get advice for dealing with Empress. Lance looked over the Bagon who was being held up in the air by one of his Dragonair, "She's definitely prideful."

"Professor Oak's Dragonite kicked her ass when she got frustrated during training and headbutted me into a tree," Vali commented earning a wide-eyed look from Lance, "Dragonite was prepared to kill or maim her for it until I stepped in," She rubbed her ribs where Empress had hit her, "While we managed to reach a compromise of sorts, she is kind of..."

"Struggling to keep from getting her head stuck up her own ass," Lance finished with a small snort as Empress struggled against Dragonair angerly trying to Bite the dragon, "Younger dragons tend to have that problem especially when born in the wild. You might want to have Smaug or Balto beat her into the ground when she gets too big headed,"

Vali inwardly winced having guessed that was the case, but not wanting to actually do that to one of her pokemon, "I figured."

Lance gave her a sympathetic look, "I know it isn't a thought you cherish, but Empress needs to learn that you won't let her get away with pulling this stuff especially while she's so young. Otherwise, she'll turn on you once she's become a Salamence."

Vali took a deep breath as she steeled herself, "I know."

"Other than that, you aren't doing a bad job training her up. Bagon don't have the largest natural move set," Lance looked back at Empress, "For now, I'd suggest working on her jaw strength to teach her Crunch and upgrading that Ember into a Flamethrower. Focus Energy would be a good idea as well,"

"Focus energy would mean having her meditate or something along those lines, right?" Vali clarified since that wasn't a move any of her pokemon actually used.

"Yup," Lance got closer and looked at Empress' paws, "She needs to make the claws on her paws a bit longer and a lot sharper if she's going to learn Dragon Claw while still a Bagon," He backed up after taking a closer look at Empress' all over and motioned for his Dragonair to put the prideful Bagon onto the ground, "She should be able to learn Zen Headbutt pretty soon too. Other than that, she's very healthy and might evolve in a couple of months once you start battling with her in earnest"

Empress attempted to headbutt Lance only to be swatted away by the red haired teen's Dragonair. Dragonair hissed at Empress before turning to nuzzle her trainer cooing over him. Lance reached up to run his hands along her smooth scales. Empress got up with a low growl, but didn't try to attack Lance again. Instead, she stomped over to Vali and glared up at her trainer. Bending down, she rubbed Empress' head, "I get that you don't like being tossed around, but you did try to attack her trainer which means she's well in her right to hit you," Empress let out a low grumble, "Besides, he's helping me figure out what to teach you next."

"Let's trade numbers, Vali," Lance said as he finally finished loving on Dragonair, "This way we'll be able to talk if you're having any trouble with Empress,"

"Sure," Vali stood up and took out her pokenav.

They exchanged numbers before heading back inside after returning their pokemon. Steven looked between them when they entered the lounge, "How'd it go?"

"Empress is definitely a prideful brat, but nothing Vali shouldn't be able to handle so long as she listens to my advice," Lance said as Vali walked over to sit down beside Steven and steal Vulpix back from him.

Vulpix nuzzled into her with a soft bark. Vali scratched behind his ears, "How'd everything go in here?"

"Just fine, Nurse Joy gave me this to give to you," Steven produced a file and held it out to Vali.

Vali looked through it with a soft hum making note that she'd have to up Vulpix's food intake and add a few supplements to it. Nurse Joy cleared Vulpix for some beginning exercises once the white fully vanished from his tail which shouldn't be more than two weeks away. She would need to start making up a training plan for him then. Closing the file, she hugged Vulpix, "You're a healthy boy, aren't you?"

Vulpix barked and wagged his tail enjoying the attention his mother figure was giving him and the fact that he'd made her happy. Lance let out a loud laugh, "He's pretty easy to make happy, huh?"

"So far," Vali looked at Lance, "He can be a pretty big brat sometimes too,"

"All baby pokemon can be," Lance shook his head, "So Cinnabar is next for you two?"

"Yes. We'll probably be stopping by the Research lab while we're there as well," Steven said as he looked at something on his pokenav, "My father wants me to get a feel for the place seeing as we're planning on making a joint project with them,"

Vali settled Vulpix beside her, "Anything interesting happen when you were in Cinnabar, Lance?"

"Not really, you'll have some trouble finding the gym since Blaine got pretty annoyed with being challenged by tourists," Lance grinned a bit, "Let's just say that the battlefield is in a very interesting place and you'll probably never battle anywhere just like it,"

Eyeing the amber eyed red-head, Vali wondered over what he meant before inwardly shrugging since they'd end up finding out soon enough, "Where are you going after Saffron, Lance?"

"I'm going to train for awhile before heading to Viridian," Lance answered as he dropped into the couch opposite of her, "I still have time before needing to get that last badge,"

"You might want to stop by Pallet Town and visit Professor Oak," Vali advised earning a raised eyebrow, "Lectures might not be for everyone, but Professor Oak has trained and still has the loyalty of a Champion level Dragonite not to mention a Charizard. Since you're aiming to be the next Champion of Kanto and Johto, you might find some benefit from learning under him for a little while. Champions don't just battle and take care of threats to the region, they're a big part of the government as well,"

Lance let out a low groan, "I'm going to drown in paperwork, aren't I?"

"Probably since you're planning to be the Champion of two regions rather than one," Vali grinned at him, "And you can't just shove it all off on your Elite Four since they've got a lot of responsibilities as well," Lance actually pouted at her, "If I do end up being one of your Elite Four, I am not doing any of your paperwork,"

"Even if I bribed you with training tips and battles?" Lance asked with wide eyes.

Steven snorted at that, "You'd be better off bribing her with an Amaura or some hard to get fire-type."

"Seriously?" Lance looked at Steven then at Vali, "How the hell would I get an Amaura?"

"That's something you'd need to figure out, Mr. Future Champion of two Regions," Vali took out a brush and began brushing Vulpix's fur earning a low purr-like sound from her not so little fox.