Lance find's out and the fifth battle Pt. 1

Vali finished her explanation to Lance and the red head stared at her with an unreadable and weighed look in his almost black golden eyes. A deep nervousness slid through her stomach as she waited for him to say anything in response. Steven spoke up after a few moments, "Lance, Vali wasn't allowed to say anything. The only reason I was allowed to know at all was due to traveling with her for a long period of time and needing to know if anything popped up during a high stress situation. I'm sure she was planning on saying something eventually or you would've found out from the League upon ascending to the Champion's seat."

"Any Champions seat," Vali offered earning looks from both males and she winced a bit, "Anyone in the Champion levels, Elite Four levels, Ace and Ranger cores once they reach high enough and pass a certain level of trust. I don't know the exact tests though if certain people aren't trust worthy they'll be left out until they prove themselves,"

"But you would've told me eventually?" Lance's face and voice was carefully blank.

Vali nodded with a regretful expression, "I would've, Lance. It would've been in the future when I felt the time was right, but you would have been one of the few people to be told."

"That's all I needed to hear," Lance's expression brightened and the familiar grin he normally wore returned easing the tension in her gut, "So, can you show me some magic?"

Vali let out a soft laugh filled with relief as her head shook lightly in amusement.

Vali's match against Felix Ulyss was the third of the day and the starting field was Water. She inwardly grimaced at the sight of the water though was semi-pleased by it as well since Felix's known pokemon tended to range between grass, water, ice, and normal-types. He had been in the contest last year falling in the first round, but it only meant he'd had more time to prepare. She ran her fingers over the pokeballs on her waist as Aragorn eyed the water in distrust, "Aragorn, eyes on the opponents unless they're in the water. You need to study them and try to remember the strategies being used, okay?"

Aragorn woofed softly in acknowledgement and settled down firmly to watch their opponents. Vali looked at the opposing trainer. Felix Ulyss was only a year older than her with caramel colored hair and brown eyes. Freckles danced across the bridge of his nose, they sloped across his high cheek bones and were just barely visibly above his trainer's tan. He had an impish smile on his face as his black league cap with it yellow bill was twisted back. He wore a faded orange leather vest with a Gyarados pattern shirt underneath and a pair weather worn khaki shorts. He had on boots and a trainer's belt. The boy raised a hand to her, "Hey, I'm Felix! It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Vali and this is Aragorn," Vali returned with a light smile and wave as Aragorn barked in reply, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Felix. My pokemon and I have been eager to face our next opponent,"

"Yeah," Felix's impish grin widened, "This is going to be so much fun! My guys can't wait to play and have some fun,"

"And with those words, let's get started with the third battle of the day!" The announcer burst out earning a roar from the crowd, "In the green corner, we have crowd favorite, Valkyrie Potter-Black of Pallet Town here in Kanto,"

The crowd roared and Vali waved to them remembering what everyone had said to her, "I hope that today's battle brings you all as much excitement as my others."

"And in the red corner, we have the interesting Felix Ulyss of Cerulean City here in Kanto!" The announcer grinned brightly causing the crowd to cheer again.

Felix gave a fist bump to the crowd, "Glad to be here with you all, my team and I cannot wait to give ya a good show!"

The referee gave the same rules as the last one before giving the command to release their pokemon. as the one to lose the coin toss, she had to send her pokemon out first. Vali eyed Felix for a few moments before deciding to send out Elrond. There was a limit on what pokemon she could pull out without knowing exactly what he had on hand and seeing as they were on the water field, Elrond covered a majority of their problems that Celina couldn't thanks to her lacking variety and Smaug's watery weakness. Felix eyed Elrond carefully before sending out a Quagsire making her inwardly grimace alongside the Alolan Raichu. Elrond spoke as the announcer riled up the crowd, "Thick skinned and dimwitted, we've dealt with this type before."

"We need to end this quick, Elrond," Vali spoke as the Referee shouted out begin, "The battle will be long enough as it is. This one has experience,"

"Quick and efficient, I like it," Elrond murmured in agreement, "The natural defense is going to be annoying though,"

"You'll be able to do it," Vali sent him feelings of encouragement as the battle began with Quagsire spitting out a ton of Mud Shots with more speed than most would expect of its species, "You always do,"

Elrond flashed her a grin as he dodged the rocket like mud that actually caused the psychic shielding to become visible making his grin falter. They both paled a bit and made a mental note that he needed to dodge that. Elrond began working out how to beat their opponent after using Electric Terrain often sending Thunder shocks towards the Quagsire to see how ineffective they really would be. Quagsire shook the attacks off with easy and continued to use Mud Shot with easy going smile seemingly playing with his opponent not even noticing the battle going on around him. It somewhat pissed Vali off though she kept herself calm despite the spark of anger that rose up at the sight and instead used it to fuel the plan. Felix spoke up, "So this is kind of funny, isn't it?"

"Oh?" Vali wondered what he was getting at.

Felix's smile turned into a smirk, "Well ya know, the people came for a big ol' battle and we're just doing little ineffective attacks where nothing really happen."

Vali kept a straight face despite her eyes wanting to narrow and she could feel Elrond's concern at the other trainer's words, "We've just got started and no battle is truly exciting from the start, Felix. But if you want excitement, we'll give you some," She raised a hand, "Elrond, drop him."

Felix let out a laugh as Elrond raced towards Quagsire, "What's he going to do? Your Raichu isn't going to be able to shock Quagsire."

Elrond used a Slam enforced powered Iron Tail into the platform causing it to begin to fall apart earning a shout of surprise from all parties save for Elrond and Vali. Quagsire jumped towards a diffrent platform, but Elrond was ready with a a not quite effective Thunder Punch followed by an Iron Tail to the stomach earning a loud squeal of shocked surprise as he began to fall towards the water. Elrond wisely backed as Quagsire aimed a Mud Shot towards him. As the battle continued with Quagsire falling into the water with a loud splash that probably would've hurt any other pokemon and Elrond proceeded to hit the water with a Thunder Bolt, Vali spoke with a smug grin, "Well Felix, I think this is what the people wanted."

"How did you do that?" Felix asked with a shocked look on his face.

"A girl needs her secrets, Mr. Ulyss," Vali said with a light grin, "The only ones to know will be my friends,"

With a grin, Vali focused back on the battle watching as Quagsire popped out of the water by another platform only to be blasted by Elrond with a Thunder Bolt and hit by an Iron Tail. She chuckled softly as the water/ground-type slipped into the water again with a backwards Mud-shot and frustrated growl. Elrond shocked the water and renewed the Electrical Terrain radiating a cool determination. He spoke as his senses kept an eye on Quagsire, "My attacks are starting to do damage, but it won't be enough to just yet. I might need to use it to truly do damage."

Vali disliked the idea of using so much energy already, but admitted it would be needed if they were to make any true headway against Quagsire, "Very well, my friend. We must take care to ensure it's a direct attack and Quagsire is still in the water otherwise there will be little point."

"Understood," Elrond murmured as his mind began to put together a plan at a pace that she had trouble following.

Elrond used Double Team to confuse Quagsire as he set off the plan and the water/ground-type began using Ice Beam in addition to his Mud Shot. Quagsire slowly got confused and angry as Elrond continued to avoid his attacks while managing to hit him getting ever closer. Elrond sent an Electro Ball into the sky much like he had back during her past match with Zaria. Anytime Quagsire made a certain number of clones disappear, Elrond would increase the number much to the water/ground-types annoyance. He appeared finally got close enough as clouds gathered over head and began drizzle and used a point blank Thunder attack getting them both. With a slight grin, Vali realized that Elrond would be getting some of his energy back from the attack thus wouldn't be suffering as much later on in the battles ahead.

Quagsire was still standing despite the powerful electric-type attack, but it was clearly suffering from the last attack. Burns visibly coated Quagsire's body, the water-ground type's eyes burned with pain filled anger as he slowly rose up from the water and used Mud Shot on Elrond. Elrond dodged the attack and used Electro Ball narrowing his blue eyes, "Hmm, we'll have to work on this one a bit longer. He's made of sterner stuff than most."

The excitement Elrond felt was mutual and they both agreed that this battle was definitely really fun! With a low chuckle, Vali said out loud, "Elrond's really enjoying this, Felix. Quagsire has been raised very well."

"Thank you, but we're not done yet," Felix grinned darkly, "Quagsire, get that mouse!"

Quagsire's pained expression suddenly twisted into a grim smile and he began spitting out icky purple sludge that Vali could smell from her place up on the challengers booth. Elrond dodged making a slight face at the smell and shot off more electrical attack further damaging Quagsire. She wondered at what Felix was planning especially since the water would now be dangerous for his pokemon to enter now. A mental hum of agreement sounded from Elrond as he continued his earlier plan and fired another Electro Ball into the sky to keep the clouds around. He wore down Quagsire until the water/ground-type fell unconscious with one last groan. With a sigh, Felix returned his pokemon as Elrond retreated to her side keeping his eyes focused on their opponent, "I can't help, but wonder what he'll pull out next."

"Be wary, the poison in the water will limit his choices," Vali replied as she eyed Felix watching his fingers trace the pokeballs at his belt.