Battling the triplets PT. 1

As Vali pushed open the doors to the gym, she heard one of the triplets say, "But Mom, why do we have to like watch the runt?"

"Because I have to go join your father at the town hall and Mist can't come," Grace sounded more than a little tired, "Stop calling her a runt!"

"Is something wrong?" Vali asked as she entered the lobby where Grace was standing with her daughters.

An orange haired girl around Ash's age was holding onto Grace's hand and looking at the triplets with a frown. Grace turned with a tense smile, "Vali, you're a bit early."

"Just by a few minutes," Vali looked between the Waterflower family, "I can leave and wait another day to battle if today's a bad day,"

"No, no, today is fine," Grace assured Vali, "I have to go to town hall for a little and Misty can't come," She scowled at her triplet daughters, "But my daughter's seem to think they can't watch her at the same time as battling you,"

Vali looked at the three in confusion, "We're going to just be battling one at a time which leaves at least one of you free to watch her."

"But like we don't want to," The middle one, Lily, groaned.

The fact that she shared the same name as her mother left Vali disgusted. She knew that some people didn't do well with kids, but siblings should protect one another even if they didn't like each other. Looking at Misty, she felt the same protective instincts well up in her that had prompted her to claim Ash as her little brother. Making a decision, she offered, "I can watch Misty if you want," Everyone looked at her in surprise, "I have an adoptive younger brother around her age, so it won't be too hard not to mention kid's her age seem to enjoy watching battles. I can always have my Growlithe, Balto, keep her from getting into trouble."

Grace gained a conflicted expression, "I don't know."

"Balto's been keeping Ash from getting into trouble with his friend Gary for awhile. Keeping one little kid out of trouble shouldn't be too hard," Vali offered Grace a warm smile, "I also happen to like little kids too,"

They were easier to deal with than adults most of the time. Balto yipped from her side drawing Misty's attention. Misty stared at the puppy pokemon in surprise, "A Growlithe?"

"His name's Balto," Vali bent down a bit and held out a hand to Misty, "He's one of my partners. My name's Valkyrie Potter though I usually just go by Vali since it's easier to pronounce," Misty looked at her for a few moments before taking her hand and shaking it earning a light grin, "Would you like to pet him?"

"Can I?" Misty looked up at her mother, "Please Mommy,"

Grace's smile turned less tense as she nodded, "Of course."

Balto walked over to Misty and the child began to pet him. Vali showed her how Balto liked to be scratched and what was the best way to get him to melt into a puddle of contented puppy pokemon. Misty giggled as she said, "He's so warm and soft."

"He's a fire-type and they tend to be really warm which is nice when it gets cold out," Vali smiled as Balto licked Misty's cheek.

Grace made a decision as Misty giggled and shrieked. The woman bent down and placed her hand on Misty's head drawing the orange haired child's attention, "Misty, how would you like Vali and Balto to watch you while I go get some stuff done with your father? Vali's going to battle your sisters which mean you would get to watch a battle, but you have to do what Vali says, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy," Misty grinned at her mother before looking at Vali, "Kick my sister's butts, Vali!"

Vali giggled as she nodded and stood up as Balto removed himself from Misty's arms much to the orange haired child's dismay. Grace stood up, "Thank you and good luck with your battles, Vali. It shouldn't take more than thirty minutes to finish everything up."

"It's no trouble at all, Grace," Vali assured the woman.

Grace hugged Misty and murmured for her to be good before gifting her elder daughters one more glare, "You three better be polite."

"Yes, Mom," The three wince a bit at her glare.

Grace nodded before turning and leaving, "I'll be back!"

Steven walked through the doors not even a moment later and asked, "Where is Grace going?"

"She had to do some stuff with her husband at Town Hall. They should be back in thirty minutes," Vali answered before looking down at Misty as the orange haired child tugged her shirt, "Yes, Misty?"

"Who is he?" Misty asked looking at Steven.

"Misty, this is my traveling partner, Steven Stone. Steven, this is Grace's youngest daughter, Misty," Vali introduced as Steven looked at the orange haired child with a raised eyebrow, "I'm watching her since her sister's don't want to,"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Misty," Steven bent down and held a hand out to Misty which the orange haired girl took, "I suppose we'll be watching Vali battle your sisters together,"

"Vali'll kick their big butts!" Misty confidently announced.

Misty's sisters scowled, but didn't say anything about their younger sister's words. Instead, Violet said, "Let's like go battle."

The area that Vali would be facing the triplets in was smaller than she would have thought, but perhaps that was a good thing. There were a total of five floating platforms in the crystal clear in-ground pool of water that took up the middle of the room, Vali didn't smell even the smallest hint of chlorine which was understandable since pokemon had their own way of cleaning the water around them. Water-type pokemon fed off of the bacteria and algae inside the water on top of whatever they usually ate. It was one of the numerous ways that water-type pokemon helped keep the environment healthy.

Steven headed towards the small stands that were set up not far from the pool with Misty and Balto. Steven released Metagross earning a few surprised looks and explained, "I want to make sure we don't get hit with anything. Balto doesn't have much resistance against water-types yet after all."

It was also for the various human's protections since sometimes battles did get out of hand even at their current level. Pikachu in particular was a bit dangerous since he still hasn't fully perfected his Electro-ball and might end up accidentally sending it somewhere he shouldn't. Vali headed towards one of the trainer boxes as Lily headed to the other. Daisy took up the referee's spot while Violet took a seat in the stands. Daisy spoke as they got settled, "This is like where the gym trainers train their pokemon against one another. Do either of you wish to bet any money or anything?"

"No," Vali shook her head lightly as she grabbed Pikachu's pokeball, "This is all about practice after all,"

"Like, the same thing for me," Lily grabbed a pokeball, "Like, one on one okay?"

"Sure," It was her first battle against a water-type pokemon other than Squirtle or that Wingull after all.

"Like this is a one on one battle between like Lily Waterflower of Cerulean City and Like Valkyrie Potter of Pallet Town," Daisy held up a hand, "Like release your pokemon!"

"Like come out and battle Seel!" Lily called out and the sea lion pokemon appeared.

"Come out and battle with me, my friend!" Vali called out and Pikachu appeared earning a few squeals.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked as he looked around. Daisy shook her head, "Like start!"

"Pikachu start out with Thunder Shock," Vali called out earning a soft cry from Pikachu.

Pikachu took a deep breath as he curled in on himself causing electricity to surround him before he released it with a loud cry. Seel let out a cry of pain, but didn't faint. It looked more than a little burned and glared at Pikachu in anger. Lily called out, "Are you like okay, Seel," Seel let out a bark, "Then hit that mouse with some Icy Wind!'

"Pikachu dodge as best you can!" Vali called out as Seel took a deep breath before releasing a frigid burst of wind aimed right at where Pikachu was standing.

Pikachu jumped to a diffrent platform before releasing another Thunder Shock at Seel. Seel dodged most of it which saved it from being knocked out, but its clear that taking even a small dose of Thunder Shock right after being hit by the full power of one was hurting the water-type. Seel shook it off with a bark as Lily called out, "Use Icy Wind again!"

Vali frowned as she called out, "Dodge it-"

Pikachu had already been dodging as she spoke seeing as Seel had released the Icy Wind at a faster pace than before. Pikachu let out a cry of pain as his tail was covered in a thin layer of ice. Vali winced as Misty shouted, "No, Pikachu!"

"Pikachu, knock that ice off with an Iron Tail to the platform!" Vali shouted earning a nod, "When the ice is off, hit that Seel with Thunder Shock again,"

Pikachu's tail lit up with Iron Tail which he drove into the floating platform causing it to shake a bit. The ice was shaken off and Pikachu was charging another Thunder Shock. Lily frowned, "Seel, dodge it as best you can and try Icy Wind again!"

Vali wondered why Lily hadn't tried a diffrent attack yet. Did Lily not train her Seel very much? She pushed away her thoughts as Pikachu released another Thunder Shock and mentally promised herself to teach him Thunder Bolt once he managed to get Electro Ball down as Thunder Shock wasn't as powerful as they needed it to be. Seel let out a pained yelp before falling unconscious from how much electricity had been introduced into it's body. Pikachu panted softly and jumped over the platforms to her as Lily returned Seel and Daisy called out, "Winner Valkyrie Potter and Pikachua."

Lily was teary eyed as she looked at Seel's pokeball. Vali bent down to rub between Pikachu's ears, "Do you want to battle again or take a small break?"

Pikachu thought about it before settling against her legs. Vali nodded before looking at Lily as she said, "G-good battle."

"Lily," Vali might not like the girl very much for scaring Sandshrew but she clearly cared for her Seel, "You might want to think about training Seel a bit more. He has a battling spirit, but his attacks aren't as strong as they could be. See if your mom and dad will let you teach him some TM's or have their pokemon tutor him, you are in a gym after all which means you have access to stuff that us traveling trainers don't until we reach the big time or manage to become part of the League,"

Lily nodded, "I...I might."