Battle Aftermath

Vali met up with Zaria when they dropped off their pokemon for a check up. Nurse Joy took their pokemon and Vali led the way over to a seating area as Zaria said, "So you're moving on to the semi-finals, huh?"

"Yup," Vali grinned slightly, "It's going to be tough to beat whoever my next opponent is not to mention the next person, but we'll keep on going until we're out for good," She looked at her friend and saw the slight frown, "Zaria, you did awesome out there. Even if we won against you, you put on a really good showing and were a difficult opponent to beat,"

"Kind of hard to believe that," Zaria looked at her hands which were balled up a bit, "We train hard, but sometimes during this Conference its like it was never enough. We kept getting pushed into a wall and Zorua was almost always close to being knocked out. If Murkrow and Nuz were fully evolved, we might not have had such a difficult time, but they aren't," She shook her head, "No, I can't think like that. It's just frustrating to come so close, ya know," Zaria looked at Vali, "I mean we made it into the top 64 which means something, but we nearly didn't,"

"So make it a goal for next time," Vali suggested earning a confused look, "Make that your secondary goal to help become a Dark-type master, you need to either place high or win a Conference. It might mean catching more dark-type pokemon and evolving your current ones if they can. It definitely means training hard, but I know you'll be able to do it. But make that one of your secondary goals that lead up to the big one,"

Zaria stared at her for a few seconds before nodding and smiling lightly, "Alright, but what about you? What are your secondary goals?"

"I can't exactly answer that right now," Vali replied with a slight frown, "Not with Blaine's apprenticeship up in the air and the whole thing with Steven. Once I get an answer from Blaine, I'll be able to tell you,"

Vali thought about the future war and felt her heart clench knowing that Zaria would probably be caught up in it if only by association. One day she would share the information with both Zaria and Lance. But not now when neither really needed to know, she would know when the time came to inform them and hoped it would be awhile yet.

Steven walked into the Pokemon Center and handed over two of his pokeballs to Nurse Joy before walking towards them. Spotting the look on his face, she winced knowing that something had definitely severely annoyed him during his match. Zaria saw her wince and glanced towards Steven, "Ooh, I wonder what happened. He does not look happy at all."

"I'm not sure," Vali frowned softly as Steven reached them, "Steven, what happened? You look severely annoyed,"

"My child of an opponent," Steven answered with disgust coating his tone, "Threw a tantrum when she lost. She barely managed to take out Blastoise and put a scratch on Aggron. How she managed to make it so far, I will never know. The sheer lack of decorum and good sportsmanship she showed was unbelievable," He showed disgust, "And then she had the gall the blame her pokemon for the loss before storming off,"

Vali and Zaria gave Steven looks of sympathy having faced opponents like that before. Everyone ended up facing someone like that at some point and always felt disgusted whenever it happened. The trainers like that either ended up failing out, their pokemon being taken away, their pokemon turning on them, or joining one of the teams that popped up. The last two were worst case scenario and most regions working to prevent that from happening. Steven took a seat next to Vali with a low groan and she patted his arm, "Your next one will be better, I'm betting they'll be a lot tougher and more fun to fight."

"I hope so," Steven smiled slightly before eyeing them curiously, "So how was your battle?"

"Vali won," Zaria sighed softly, "But we gave it our all and managed to take out Elrond, Pele, and Arwen in the process," She grinned slightly, "I've got a secondary goal to work towards underneath my main one thanks to Vali. During my next Conference, we're going to make it past the Top 64,"

"A good goal," Steven nodded his head, "I wish I'd been able to catch it, but I'll definitely watch the replay later. Vali, it looks like we're one step closer to facing one another on the battlefield,"

"Mhmm," Vali felt a bit anxious at the thought, "So it seems," She looked at Zaria, "Are you going to stay until the end of the Conference?"

"Seeing as the League is paying for room and board until the Conference is officially closed, I don't see why not," Zaria smiled lightly, "I definitely want to see who you end up facing between Steven and Lance not to mention who'd win between them,"

Vali nodded in agreement since that battle was bound to be exciting. Steven chuckled softly mood vastly improved since arriving, "I'm glad that you'll be staying staying for a little while longer, Zaria. We should train together."

"Maybe we can improve on your training plan," Vali offered earning a considering look from Zaria, "I saw some stuff that you could improve on during our battle. It was probably the same for you. Since we're not competing against one another, we should definitely get together and help improve each others training plans,"

Zaria grinned at her, "I think that would be a good idea. My pokemon need to become stronger if we're going to reach any of our goals and we'll need all the help we can get. I'd like that, Vali."

"I'm sure our partners will too," Vali offered before looking at Steven, "You in?"

"It sounds like fun," Steven nodded his head lightly, "Though I'll mostly be using it to train up Blastoise, I assume you'll be doing the same with Empress and Aragorn,"

Vali nodded with a slight grin, "Pretty much though Idril definitely needs it as well since she evolved just before the Conference, Empress needs to get used to her body though Lance has been really helping out a lot. Aragorn just needs to play catch up."

"So he's calmed down?" Zaria asked with a curious look on her face.

Vali nodded with a small smile as she ran her fingers over Aragorn's pokeball, "Balto and I had a talk with him. We might need to do it a couple more times, but he should be good for now."

"That's good," Zaria perked up when Nurse Joy called her name, "I've got to go,"

Vali waved her off and Zaria shot towards the pink haired Nurse eager to hear about what was going on with her pokemon. She remembered Sneasel and immediately lost her good mood. Steven looked at her in concern, "Vali?"

"Zaria's Sneasel was burned pretty badly during its match with Arwen," Vali's fingers curled tightly around Aragorn's pokeball feeling some revulsion at the memory, "While it might not have been as bad as it looked, I hate the idea that one of my pokemon caused that kind of damage to a friends," She closed her eyes for the barest hint of a moments and only saw the images of Sneasel's burned form twitching on the ground until Zaria recalled it, "I just...Sneasel looked bad, Steven. A lot of its fur was burned off and what remained..."

Vali cut herself off revulsion twist through her stomach. It was all she could do not to race for the nearest bathroom. An arm curled around her shoulder and she found herself pulled to lean against Steven's side. Steven spoke as she looked up at him in surprise, "I know the feeling all too well even if none of my pokemon are exactly fire-types. Aggron nearly killed an Onix once. Just about ripped it in half because it had attacked us, we'd been in a cave system for a couple days at the time and Aggron was the only one that had any rest. I had been injured and Aggron just snapped," Steven's eyes were slightly distant as he recalled the memory, "I caught the Onix and Nurse Joy managed to save it. It's alive, but has a fear of Aggron despite being larger than him by a good foot," He shook his head and looked at her, "I'm sure Lance has a similar story. I'm sorry about Zaria's Sneasel, but it'll be alright in Nurse Joy's hands."

Vali closed her eyes, "I just wish that we hadn't done it."

"But you couldn't have known and fire being as volatile as it is, it was bound to happen at some point," Steven pointed out, "Battles cause severe damage, Vali. You know this especially when it comes to elements like fire. All you can really do is fight hard and avoid killing your opponent," He shifted slightly, "Zaria, how's Sneasel?"

"He'll recover just fine. The burns were pretty bad, but Nurse Joy can deal with them no problem," Zaria sounded relieved and Vali felt tension slip out of her muscles, "What's with Vali?"

"She's feeling guilty about what happened during the match," Steven answered as Vali opened her eyes, "Though I'm betting Arwen feels worse,"

Vali jerked as she thought about Arwen, "Shit."

"You'll have to wait until Nurse Joy releases her before you're able to do anything about that," Zaria reminded Vali making the fire-type master-in-training slump, "But Arwen should be released pretty soon, she didn't seem to be badly hurt from the battles,"

After getting her pokemon back from Nurse Joy, Vali headed to a secluded area and released Elrond to tell him what happened. Elrond listened quietly before sighing deeply, "I see and understand the dilemma. But it is better that this happened here than somewhere medical attention couldn't be easily gotten down the road, My friend."

"Agreed," Vali murmured as she pulled out Arwen's pokeball, "Translate for me while I try to help out Arwen?"

"Of course," Elrond radiated comfort and confidence.

Vali released Arwen who looked around the clearing in confusion, "Arwen, I wanted to talk with you about today's battle," Arwen's ears flicked back and her head bowed, "Oh Arwen, I know you feel guilty about what happened to Sneasel. I do too," Arwen looked at her in surprise and she sighed softly sitting down, "I put you in the battle wanting to give you a chance to test your strength when I could've just used Smaug or Balto. I could've used Terra or Pippin too. I also could've made better calls during the battle and given you more training before it."

Arwen let out a protesting whiny and Elrond translated, "But you couldn't have known, Vali."

"Neither could you," Vali replied making Arwen draw back a bit with wide eyes, "Sneasel made his choice to hang onto you when your attack was hurting him," She reached out a hand and Arwen slowly made her way over to the fire-type master-in-training, "Arwen, Sneasel will make a full recovery. And sad as I am to say this, we would've ended up in this position at some point down the road only we might not have been so lucky to have medical attention so easily acquired," She rubbed Arwen's neck gently, "I know the guilt is heavy, but all you can really do is apologize to Sneasel when you see him and work hard to ensure that you don't harm those we care for. Okay?"

"Okay," Arwen leaned into her touch, "Did we make it?"

"We made it. I'm not sure who our opponent will be. They'll announce the battles tonight," Vali answered with slipping her arms around Arwen's neck and enjoying the warmth the Ponyta gave off, "We'll have tomorrow to rest and research our opponent. Eager to see who we'll be facing?"

"Yes," Arwen murmured in agreement, "Though if I may request some time before deciding whether or not I'll participate in the next battle?"

"Of course," Vali wouldn't take that away from her, "Take as much time as you'd like,"

Arwen nickered gently and Elrond radiated warm approval.

Vali watched the screen alongside Steven and Lance to see just who their opponents would be. Soon enough all thirty two trainers were matched up, Vali saw that she was matched up with someone named Felix Ulyss. Lance spoke up with a grin, "Whoever wins your match will be facing Steven, Vali."

"Yeah," Vali stared at the screen in shock, "I guess I'll be facing you after my next battle, Steven,"

"But you'll have to beat your opponent first, Vali," Steven reminded her with a soft chuckle.

"I know, but I'm determined to ensure that if I lose this Conference, it'll be against either you or Lance," Vali replied as she looked finally looked away from the screen towards him, "So I'm not going to let this guy beat me. Don't let your opponent beat you either, okay?"

"I won't," Steven shook his head lightly.

Lance let out a bark of laughter and wrapped an arm around their necks, "Alright, guys! Let's make sure we make it through this next round, we have our opponents and the next day to rest and research our opponents. I say we celebrate our won battles with some ice cream."