Aftermath continued and the Award's Ceremony

The battle between Lance and Steven was brutal with both sending out their strongest members. The speed all pokemon used strained Vali's eyes constantly and she barely saw certain pokemon at times. Each pokemon held a deadly beauty in its movements and powerful attacks, they savagely ripped at one another without needing a command from their trainers. The barriers around the stands were under constant strain making many fear that they'd buckle even with the League's best psychic pokemon keeping them up. Seeing this battle, Vali knew it was a battle between two future Champions and so did the many others in the stadium that day.

It was close as each pokemon fell one after another. First Lance held the lead then Steven, it was a seemingly never ending cycle until both were on their last pokemon. Dragonite against Metagross. The two pseudo-legendaries fought more power than Vali could remember seeing either use in a match before today. Just as it seemed as if Steven would win, Dragonite managed to pull out a localized Draco Meteor which knocked out Metagross just before Dragonite ended up passing out. With that, Lance was the champion of the 256 Indigo Plateau Conference.

After offering Lance a few words of congratulation, Vali headed outside to where Steven was standing on the deck clenching his fist tightly. She stopped walking as Steven asked, "Not going to stay with Lance and celebrate his win?"

"He's already surrounded by a lot of people," Vali said as she resumed her pace, "He doesn't need another person to celebrate with. You on the other hand could use someone right about now," She reached his side and set a hand on his arm, "Talk to me,"

"I lost against Lance. Again," Steven said as he continued to look out into space, "It was closer this time, but somehow he managed to pull out a win. How in the world did he manage to do it?"

"Because he wanted it more," Vali answered making Steven's head snap towards her and she held up a hand to stop him from talking, "Steven, what were you thinking about during that battle?"

Steven looked slightly confused, but answered her, "I wanted to win against Lance this time and prove that my team was stronger. I really wanted it since we'd be leaving Kanto afterward."

Vali smiled at him, "And that attitude is why you lost," Steven's eyes narrowed at her and he began to look offended, "Look offended all you want, Steven, but in the end, you'll realize I'm right. I've spent a lot of time talking to Lance and it hasn't always been about Empress. And it's because of those talks that I know what I'm talking about, you need to listen to me."

"Alright, so why did Lance want it so much more than me that Dragonite managed to pull off that last Draco Meteor and win?" Steven asked as Vali began pulling him to sit down.

"Lance's dream of uniting Kanto and Johto, Steven," Vali answered earning a disbelieving look, "Lance's passion when it comes to ensuring that they'll never fight each other again is matched by his pokemon especially Dragonite. There's some more personal stuff involved that I'm not privy to, Lance would have to say something about it, but the point is that Lance's dream was on the line during your match. With his dream resonating within each of his pokemon especially Dragonite who's his starter against you who only wanted to prove who was stronger before leaving Kanto, who do you think had more at stake during the match?"

Steven was quiet for a moment before nodding with a sigh, "You're right, Vali," He smiled slightly, "Thank you."

"No problem," Vali leaned back on her hands after letting go of Steven's arm and looking up at the sky, "I'm just glad all this Conference stress will be over with soon enough. I don't know about you, but I'm probably going to sleep for a week after this is over,"

Steven snorted before asking, "So Blaine, huh?"

"Yup, Hoenn?" Vali asked earning a hum in reply, "Crazy how it doesn't feel like an entire year has passed, I still remember the first time I saw you flying on Skarmory,"

"I remember seeing you chase after Balto and wondering if he was your Starter," Steven admitted with a chuckle, "Time sure has passed since that day,"

A companionable silence fell over them and neither broke it for a while. Eventually, Vali said, "Steven, I'll eventually come to Hoenn at some point, but I will."

"I'll be waiting," Steven smiled at her, "And when you do, I'll hopefully be able to give you some kind of tour. Maybe even find you a pokemon,"

Vali grinned at him in reply, "Sounds like a plan."

Delia called them inside for something to eat and they quickly scrambled to do as the woman bid.

The awards ceremony of the Indigo Plateau Conference was somewhat long winded though Vali was surprised to find that she'd come in 3rd rather than 4th. Apparently Aimee Bisset had been completely floored by Lance's Dragonite, the performance ended up dropping her into the 4th place. Kanto tended to have odd rules when it came to deciding how to place their 3rd and 4th ranked competitors. Some years they had a battle between the two and others like this one relied on how the trainer did during their final match. Vali was thankful for it being the later because Steven had quite thoroughly thorn through her pokemon and no one was really able to battle in such a limited time frame even with the medicine that the League was using. Still to find herself in 3rd place was a shock, Vali took her medal with some numbness as she stood on the lowest pedestal and stared at the cheering crowd while carefully plastering a cheerful smile on her face.

President Goodshow made some kind of announcement that she couldn't really hear beyond the buzzing in her ears. The amount of people in the stadium staring at her and the boys was unnerving and this time she didn't have her pokemon to comfort her. She barely managed to keep the smile on her face and was quite thankful when Steven subtle motioned for them to move off of the stage. Steven managed to pierce through the buzzing, "You okay?"

"So many people," Vali said as she rubbed at her ears, "I wish we'd been allowed our pokemon. I was so nervous that I didn't hear any of the words past the first couple of sentences,"

"I'll make a note of that for future references, Miss Potter-Black," President Goodshow said making Vali blush, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you,"

"You as well, Sir," Vali told him as she bowed lightly, "I'm so sorry for not being able to listen to you,"

President Goodshow waved her off with a snort, "Don't worry about it, the speeches I give are pretty much the same thing most years since the League doesn't like me changing things up too much. You didn't miss anything important," He grinned brightly, "Now, I'd love to meet your Vulpix though. Is he really a King?"

Vali released Aragorn as she nodded, "He is. Aragorn, this is President Charles Goodshow. President Goodshow, I'd like you to meet my little king, Aragorn."

Aragorn peered at President Goodshow carefully for a few moments before finally letting out a yip and darting over to meet the man earning a laugh. The man began petting Aragorn and feeding him treats which definitely put the President in Aragorn's good books much to her amusement. Lance and Steven both snorted in amusement as Vali shook her head. Someone came into the room they were in with an Alakazam levitating three boxes behind it. The man was dressed in an Ace uniform and carried himself in a way that said 'don't fuck with me'. He spotted President Goodshow sitting on the floor with Aragorn and Vali right next to him before giving a sigh as while pinching the bridge of his nose, "Sir, you're not supposed to sit on the floor like that. What if there was an attack?"

"If on the off chance my Ace's aren't able to stop said attack, I'm sure Lance, Steven, and Vali would be able to help me up" President Goodshow replied as he looked up at the Ace, "Ah and here are your rewards for getting to this point,"

President Goodshow was easily able to get up on his own which made Vali wonder what the argument was really about. Lance looked at the rewards with some eagerness though he was quick to ask, "President Goodshow, I'm allowed to put off actually challenging to Elite Four for a bit, right?"

"You are, but why would you do that?" President Goodshow asked with a small frown.

"I have a few plans and I know that my team isn't ready to take them on just yet," Lance answered with a slight grin.

"Alright. Just make sure you don't wait longer than two years or this you'll need to go through this process all over again," President Goodshow warned earning a nod from Lance as the Ace had his Alakazam levitate the boxes over to each trainer, "Now in case you didn't know this, everyone that manages to get into the top three of the Conference gets a reward. The money you get is an obvious bonus with Lance getting the most and Vali getting the least of you three. You each get a few ultra balls each, but that isn't that biggest surprise. I'd advise you to look inside the box that you're being given,"

Taking the box, Vali was surprised to find that it was rather light. Opening it, she found a single pokeball and quickly looked up at President Goodshow, "President Goodshow, a pokemon is my reward?"

"For each of you," President Goodshow confirmed with a grin, "It's an open secret that the League will give out pokemon as the Conference reward some years and others something else. What pokemon you've been given is a mystery, I'd suggest trying to find a secluded area and checking it out. They've already been transferred to your trainer id. I look forward to seeing what you do with them," He looked at Vali then at Lance, "Especially you two, I may not have seen Larvitar or Dratini, but I'm sure you've raised them well so far,"

"We have, President Goodshow," Lance told him as he took the pokeball out and cradled it to his chest.

Vali did the same and found her hand surprisingly cold to the touch though it was actually kind of soothing. She rubbed her fingers over the premier ball as President Goodshow said, "Well get going all of you. The Closing Ceremony will be in four hours and you'll have until tomorrow to leave the Indigo Plateau. It's been wonderful to meet you and as much as I'd love to spend more time with you, I've got things to do."

"We understand, Sir," Steven said as he peered at the premier ball in his hand curiously.

They left the room with Vali returning Aragorn and Lance asked, "So what do you think about all this?"

"It's odd," Steven said as he hooked the new pokeball to his waist, "We don't have anything like this in Hoenn. The thought that they'd give us a pokemon on the spot is odd,"

"True, but what do you think they've given us?" Lance asked holding up his premier ball, "Mine feels like a dragon-type of some kind,"

"Mine actually feels cold," Vali said earning a surprised look, "Not as cold as the ice-type pokeballs I've handled for Professor Oak at the ranch, it's more along the lines of the water-types. I'm guessing they've given me a water-type of some kind. I'd say they'd give us a pokemon of our type, but then mine discredits that theory,"

"Mine feels like static," Steven said earning a soft hum from Vali, "We could check our pokedex's,"

Lance snorted softly as he wrapped an arm around Steven's shoulder, "Why do that when we could have more fun in finding out what our partners are when we finally release them?"

Steven rolled his eyes, "I just think it'd be more pragmatic if we took the time to see what they were before."