Cinnabar Gym Battle Pt 2

Vali weighed her options before sending out Smaug who eyed the odd pokemon carefully, "Smaug, Pele managed to win the first two battles, but fainted due to exhaustion. I'm not sure how exactly we're going to battle this one, so be careful. Any gases it releases need to be blown away. Use Dragon Pulse and Dragon Rage, I doubt any fire-type attacks would actually work against it. Wing Attack too if you need a break from using your Dragon-type attacks," Smaug nodded spitting out an Ember before taking to the air, "We can do this."

While she was a bit disappointed at not facing one of Blaine's Ninetales or Arcanine, Vali knew that they'd probably be faced with one at some point soon. She hadn't actually seen a Slugma or Magcargo in real life before mostly because they were some of the pokemon that Professor Oak kept strictly within their pokeballs unless using an area deep within the Ranch's paddock that was off-limits to everyone save for the senior aids. Looking the Magcargo over, she had to admit that it was a perfect pokemon for someone like Blaine who lived in an area with a volcano. Magcargo immediately started using Harden and Smog though Smaug blew the poisonous cloud out of the battlefield immediately. Smaug retaliated with Dragon Pulse which was the easier of the two dragon-type attacks he knew and the one that didn't actually take a lot of energy to use unless he was pumping a lot of power into the move.

Blaine whistled as Smaug pretty much sent off a barrage of Dragon Pulses, "That Charizard of yours is definitely something if he an use Dragon Pulse in such a way."

"We've trained hard with it," Vali grinned at the Gym Leader, "We train hard with all our attacks working to perfect them no matter what,"

"A good philosophy," Blaine nodded to her before calling out, "Magcargo, Sandstorm!"

As Magcargo did as its trainer bid, Vali pulled on her goggles and scarf while shouting, "Smaug, use Flamethrower on the sand when it's too much and start putting in more power!"

Smaug roared as he upped his attack sacrificing his barrage for something stronger that actually managed to send Magcargo skidding back with an explosion. Magcargo let out an angry cry and used Smack Down. Despite the poor visibility caused by the Sandstorm, Smaug managed to avoid the large rock sent at him before using Dragon Rage which slammed into Magcargo earning a cry of pain. When Smaug let up on the attack, Magcargo retaliated with Rock Thrower and increased the Sandstorm. Soon enough it became hard to see even with her goggles, Vali could barely make out Smaug's attacking form amid the sand safe for when he used Flamethrower to get a small break from the sandstorm buffeting him.

A loud snarling roar echoed through the air rather suddenly followed by the battlefield becoming engulfed in the tell-tale green flame-like attack of Dragon Rage. The psychic barriers shielding the her shuddered horribly and the ground beneath her feet rumbled a bit showing just how powerful the attack was. When the attack faded taking away the sandstorm with it, Magcargo was clearly unconscious and Vali was able to see just what had caused Smaug to become pissed enough to release an attack like that. Smaug's right wing was clearly broken and his left torn in a few places. A multitude of cuts covered his body dripping blood. Smaug glared at the unconscious Magcargo with slitted pupils. She choked back the sound that wanted to leave her at the sight of him. Swallowing heavily, she called out, "Smaug!" Smaug didn't look away from the fallen Magcargo and snarled at Blaine when the Gym Leader returned him, "Smaug!" The second call seemed to get through the rage and he turned to her, "Smaug, you're hurt and are probably in a lot of pain right now. I'm going to return you and get you to Nurse Joy at the first possible moment. Okay?" Smaug eyed her as his pupils slowly returned to normal and pain filled his eyes moments later, "Please."

Smaug nodded and Vali returned him whispering her promise to him. The ball in her hand pulsed warmly before going cold as suspended animation took hold. Placing Smaug's pokeball at it's place, she saw Blaine release an Ninetales though not the one that she'd seen the first time. She sent out Elrond who connected their minds upon his release. He winced as her mind went over how the battles had gone, "I will make this as quick as possible though it is likely Balto will need to take over mostly due to the heat being a bit much for me."

'Do what you can,' Vali replied as she called out, "Elrond, Electric Terrain and Double Team. Everything else is up to you, my friend."

Elrond nodded as he set up Electrical Terrain and created copies of himself before promptly releasing electrical hell on his opponent. Blaine's Ninetales jumped to its feet from the seated position it had taken and began dodging the attacks sent its way as best it could. Vali offered up suggestions as Elrond worked on wearing down Ninetails who was trying to barbecue him. Thanks to training with Smaug who tended to try the same with anyone save for her and Balto when annoyed, Elrond dodged the attacks sent his way quite well. Ninetales snarled as Elrond hit it with Thunder Wave followed by a Thunder Bolt which he boosted by renewing Electrical Terrain. Despite the electricity playing merry hell on it's nerves, Ninetales managed to hit Elrond with Payback causing the Alolan Raichu quite a bit of pain that almost knocked him out.

Elrond retaliated with a close Thunder Punch boosted by Agility that sent Ninetales skidding backwards. Vali knew that if Ninetales managed to hit Elrond with anymore dark-type or ghost-type attacks, he'd be out of the count. Despite what Elrond had said, she knew he could win this battle, but the question was how. Even though Ninetales had taken a lot of damage from the attacks that had hit it over the course of the battle, it only looked a little worse for wear. Thinking over the rules of the battle and the previous battles, a plan formed in her mind and she mentally called out, 'Elrond, pick it up with Psychic and force it over the edge. If we can just get it over the edge, we'll win the battle. It might try to use a dark or ghost-type move to disrupt your psychic which means you need to be ready to spam attacks at it again. I know this is rough on you given that you've already been hurt once this battle, but I know you can win this.'

Elrond read over the plan and nodded with a determined gleam in his eyes. Ninetales yelped and began fighting against the psychic hold as Elrond lifted it off the ground. Blaine realized what was going on the moment Ninetales began floating towards the edge of the battlefield and burst out laughing, "Not a bad plan, but that Alolan Raichu of yours still needs quite a bit of work when it comes to lifting things with Psychic. Ninetales, Payback!"

Ninetales did as it's trainer bid causing the psychic hold on it to falter and dropped to the ground. Before it could attack, Elrond unleashed a Thunder Wave and Electro Ball disrupting the attack as Ninetales dodged. The moment the dark-type move faded saw Elrond grabbing Ninetales again slowly, but surely pushing it towards the edge. Ninetales kept disrupting the psychic-hold, but Elrond pushed himself to ignore the slight pain the dark-type moves' energy caused him. Finally, Elrond launched one last Thunder Bolt at Ninetales when it was right near the edge and sent it flying off the platform. Blaine returned his Ninetales as the referee called out her victory while Elrond floated over to her. Vali hugged Elrond gently pressing a kiss to her forehead as he murmured, "That was absolutely exhausting."

'You did perfectly, Elrond,' Vali grinned at him, 'I'm definitely giving you extra berries and a thorough grooming,'

Elrond smiled weakly at her, "I look forward to it, but please return me as my mind definitely needs some rest after that. We will need to work on my psychic abilities that much more."

'We will,' Vali promised as she took out Elrond's pokeball, "Enjoy your rest, my friend,"

Leaving the battlefield behind, Vali met Blaine in the lobby of his hotel and they shook hands as he presented her with the second to last badge she needed to enter the Conference, "Vali, I present you with the Volcano Badge. You definitely earned it."

"Thank you, Blaine," Vali took her badge, "I couldn't have done it without my friends though,"

Blaine grinned at her, "It was definitely one of the more interesting battles I've had in quite awhile. I look forward to seeing your performance at the Conference."

"We'll do our best," Vali promised him.

"Now off you two go, you'd best get your pokemon checked out especially if you want to participate in that doubles tournament," Blaine waved at them and moved to the front desk.

Vali grinned as they left the gym, "One more to go."

"And it'll probably be a bit difficult for you given that the last one deals with ground types," Steven commented as they walked.

"True enough, but we'll get through it like we do with everything else," Vali patted her pokeballs feeling them warm beneath her fingers briefly, "We'll get that done and focus on getting ready for the Conference," She looked at Steven curiously, "You're still planning on going through Mount Moon again, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Steven nodded with a slight smile on his lips, "I'm really interested in seeing if I might be able to find the Legendary Moonstone and maybe some more fossils to take back home with me,"

"You'll probably find a lot of strong pokemon deeper in the mountain," Vali thought back to that series of lectures Professor Oak had given on Mount Moon before Christmas last year, "But you'll have to be really careful of the Onix living there too, they're apparently huge though not to the point of Mount Hideaway. You might end up finding a Steelix there too. When we get to Pallet Town, you should talk to Professor Oak. He did a series of lectures about Mount Moon last year before Christmas and will probably be able to give you a good idea of what to expect,"

"I definitely will speak with him when we get to Pallet Town," Steven decided as they entered the town proper and headed for the Pokemon Center, "How long do you want to stay in Pallet Town?"

Vali thought it over before saying, "A week. It'll give everyone a chance to relax and get reacquainted with one another. Not to mention give Smaug some time to relax after getting his wings damaged."

Wincing at that, Vali pressed a hand to Smaug's pokeball mentally apologizing to him for letting something like that happen even if she couldn't actually control it. Smaug's ball warmed gently as if reassuring her that everything was alright.