A fiery battle between Sire and Pup!

After lunch was done, they headed to the lab where everything was set up for the battles that would be going on and the healing that would need to happen afterward. Professor Oak led them to the battlefield that had been set up, "Here we are, Vali, please send out Balto. Steven, would you care to have your Metagross' provide a barrier for us?"

"Of course, Professor," Steven said as he called out his two Metagross and his Claydol.

Vali called out Balto who barked and shivered in excitement when he saw the battlefield. Smiling, she bent down to rub between his ears as Professor Oak released a sharp whistle. Arcanine raced up from the depths of the snow covered Corral and slid to a stop before Professor Oak. She spoke to Balto who was looking at his sire with assessing eyes, "Okay, Balto. Professor Oak and I agreed to give you two your heads for this battle. Show your sire just how far you've come with me," Balto let out a howl of determination and she hugged him, "Good luck, Balto."

Balto licked her cheek earning a soft laugh as Vali let go of him. She rubbed at the spit coating her cheek and Balto raced onto the battlefield. Arcanine nodded to her before joining his pup. Professor Oak spoke as Steven's pokemon moved around the battlefield with Alakazam joining them moments later, "This is a one on one battle between Arcanine and Balto! Do your best the both of you."

Balto got into a ready position as Arcanine did the same. The two looked at one another with narrowed eyes. Ash looked between the two pokemon in confusion, "Why aren't they battling?"

"They're waiting for a signal of some sort," Vali explained as she released her other pokemon to watch the battle.

Vali grabbed Pippin as Smaug did the same with Empress to keep the two from trying to get involved in the battle. Idril and Terra cuddled close to Smaug for warmth with Arwen settling down beside them. Pele followed Arwen's example after a moment making that area devoid of any lingering snow due to her body heat. Eevee settled himself on her shoulders and focused on the battlefield as Balto suddenly Ember. Arcanine let the flaming projectiles hit him and absorbed the fire-type attack with a faint shimmer to his fur. Arcanine retaliated with an Ember of his own and Balto took the attack. This continued for a few moments, Gary gasped softly, "They're communicating."

"Arcanine is getting an understanding of Balto's strength and his will. Balto is getting a better understanding of his sire's power," Vali explained as she watched the exchange, "It's something done in multiple fire-type species though it is mostly seen in the Growlithe-line. Mostly during times like this or when they're looking for a mate,"

Balto cut off his Ember assault and dug into the ground once he'd gotten the information he wanted. Sire was strong, a lot stronger than him though that wasn't surprising. He had only lived a little over half a decade compared to Sire who'd seen at least four decades. Despite the fact he was no longer in his prime, Sire still held enough strength to dominate any who challenged him. He wasn't going to win this battle against Sire, but that wasn't the point. The point of this was to show Sire that he was ready for evolution and the responsibilities that came with leading his pack. While he would one day beat Sire, it was not today.

Bursting out of the ground behind Sire, Balto aimed a Bite to Sire's flank only for the Arcanine to catch him. Powerful jaws clamped around his body making him growl in pain, he began to hit Sire with Iron Tail before being flung away when the Arcanine got annoyed. Sire launched a Flamethrower at him and he allowed it to hit him. The knowledge for the move that he'd been missing finally sank into him and he launched one of his own towards Sire after gathering up the power to do so. Sire let out a pleased bark before darting forward aiming a crackling maw filled at him. Diving back underground to avoid the bite, he cooked up another plan.

Creating copies of himself, Balto left the underground and began to race around Sire. Using Flame Wheel to help confuse Sire, he charged up an Iron Tail to add onto the damage his attack would do. Sire stumbled when he slammed into the Arcanine with more force than usual thanks to his Iron Tail. Using the surprise, he bit down with Bite and used Iron Tail as quickly as he could before being shook off. The Take Down Sire used hurt both from being slammed into by something that weighed a lot more than him and flying through the air to slam into the ground. Forcing himself up and shaking off the damage, he created more copies of himself before disappearing into the safety of the ground.

Balto was proud that he'd managed to surprise Sire enough to stumble giving him time to do more damage, but he knew that the Arcanine likely wouldn't fall for it again. What should he do now? Hit and run tactics would only work for so long with Sire. Protect would probably end up crushed by Sire without much of a problem. Sunny Day would help both of them especially if they used Morning Sun. Calming himself, he knew panicking over this wouldn't help him. Vali would have him keep having his copies providing a smoke-screen and taking pot-shots. While Sire would figure it out and eventually cause more damage to him, he could use that damage via Reversal. Not to mention, Sire would probably end up using more fire-type attacks allowing him to have a base for learning them. Any attacks he learned could be perfected after evolution, he just needed to learn as many as possible during the battle.

Creating more copies of himself, Balto left the underground and began attacking his sire again.

Vali watched her eldest partner be pushed to the limit by his sire. She glanced at Daisy as the eldest Oak grandchild commented, "Balto's a lot stronger."

Humming lightly, Vali refocused on the battle with a pleased smile, "I know."

"I didn't know Balto could use Flamethrower," Steven looked at her in surprise, "I mean his Ember was starting to change, but not enough to be classified as Flamethrower,"

Vali shrugged lightly, "He didn't know how to use Flamethrower before the battle."

"But then how is able to use it now?" Daisy asked with confusion written on her face.

A thought occurred to Vali which made a grin spread across her lips, "The fire," She ignored the confused looks being shot towards her, "Balto is using the fire his sire sends towards him via attacks for to either patch together how to use said attack or create a base to learn it."

"Like how Pichu learn electric attacks from their parents in the wild," Professor Oak said looking at the battle with even more interest, "One of my fellow Professors mentioned something of this nature before, but I hadn't put much stock into it at the time due to my research,"

Vali grinned as Ash shouted, "Balto is awesome!"

"Yes, yes he is," Vali looked at her eldest partner with pride.

Balto stumbled back as the Heat Wave Sire sent at him and panted heavily as sweat coated his body. He was starting to lag even with the boosts Sire gave him whenever he sent fire-type attacks towards him. The pain in his right foreleg where Sire had caught him with Bite was getting worse. The worst damage was from the Take Downs he'd taken. Even when he'd used Morning Sun, it hadn't healed much damage. Sire was barely showing any signs of the match other than the few injuries he'd managed to inflict. He looked at Vali who was watching him with pride and worry. Making a decision, he turned to Sire and barked out that he was done battling and why.

"Why is Balto barking rather than continuing to battle?" Gary asked with confusion written across his face.

Vali smiled as she said, "Because the battle is over," Ash and Gary just continued to look at her in confusion, "Rather than continue to battle and sustain more injuries that would prevent him from protecting his pack if they needed it, Balto is ending the battle to ensure he has the strength to protect his pack just in case. It actually shows that Balto is a good alpha as he understands when to stop fighting."

"Which is why Arcanine wanted to battle Balto in the first place," Professor Oak added causing the two children in the group to focus their confusion on him, "Arcanine is ensuring that his pup has the knowledge and good sense alpha's need to lead their pack before evolving,"

"But isn't Smaug your starter?" Daisy cut in with a frown.

Vali nodded as she set Pippin down, "He is my starter, but Balto is my oldest partner which makes him the leader simply by being around me the longest. If Smaug wanted to, he could've challenged Balto for leadership after evolving, but chose not to," She looked at Smaug, "You're happy letting Balto be the leader, aren't you?" Smaug nodded before spitting out an ember, "So Balto is the alpha and my second in command when it comes to the hierarchy in our family."

"He'll probably become the father figure of your baby pokemon when they hatch," Delia said as Arcanine gave a loud howl.

Everyone focused back on the battlefield where Balto and Arcanine were standing together. Balto joined his Sire in howling. When they stopped, Arcanine bent down his head to grab Balto by the scruff and bring him over to them. Vali took Balto from Arcanine, "I assume this means you approve?"

Arcanine nodded before turning to Professor Oak. Nudging his partner in the chest, Arcanine let out a happy groan when Professor Oak scratched behind his ears. Looking down at her partner, Vali told him, "I'm proud of you, Balto."

Balto licked her cheek with a soft woof. Vali looked at Professor Oak as he said, "Vali, I think Arcanine wants to take Balto under his wing for a few days."

"Do you want to do that?" Vali asked Balto earning a nod and slight wag of his tail, "Alright. When you're done, I'll evolve you,"

"Let's get him healed up then," Professor Oak said prompting Vali to return her pokemon and head into the lab.