Steven's thoughts and before their gym battle

When Steven arrived at the area Vali had chosen to train at today, he hadn't been expecting Metagross and her to be talking about something that sounded really scientific in nature. It wasn't that Vali was stupid, but he just didn't expect her to share a scientific discussion with anyone. It was a bit bizarre and made him wonder if he'd hit his head at some point. He didn't really want to interrupt the two especially since this was the most Metagross had been excited since they'd left Hoenn, but it was about time everyone got something to eat. Walking over to them, he called out, "Vali, I take it your training has been productive today?"

Vali jumped slightly with a small squeak that had him smiling as she whipped around to look at him. Metagross made that metallic crackling sound that he'd figured out was the way the species laughed. Vali shot his pokemon a glare before looking back at him, "I think so. Did Squirtle evolve?"

"Yes and are you aware its lunch time?" Steven asked earning a wide eyed look.

Vali scrambled to find her watch before muttering a soft curse under her breath, "I guess it is. I should return everyone so we can go get something to eat."

"Just call them over here," Steven lifted up the picnic basket he'd picked up, "I brought lunch for everyone,"

Soon enough, all of Vali's pokemon had joined them while he'd called out Aggron and Lileep. Wartortle was currently staying at the pokemon center while Nurse Joy looked him over very thoroughly due to the fact the pokemon they'd been battling at the time was an Elekid and had managed to get a lot of hits in on Wartortle before he'd managed to evolve. Vali winced in sympathy as he told the story and said, "I hope he'll be okay. Being hit by a lot of electricity on top of evolving must have hurt him a lot, I don't want to think about what would happen if he had nerve damage."

Steven winced at that and prayed that Wartortle didn't have any nerve damage. Electric-types were known for causing nerve damage by complete accident during battles and even outside of them. The only species that had the smallest rate of causing nerve damage was the Pichu-line and even then, it could be very serious if it happened. Nurse Joys and those working with them could do a lot, but even they couldn't fully heal nerve damage if it was bad enough. Shaking his head lightly, he asked, "What brought on the discussion you were having with Metagross?"

"Originally, I was asking them about my inner flame," Vali took a drink from one of the three water bottles he'd gotten for her knowing she would need them, "Eventually, we ended up discussing the fact that all fire-types have to have their inner flame awakened. From there, it kind of spiraled into a discussion on why an egg generally happens to hatch into the female parent," Vali flushed lightly, "I guess we got a bit carried away though I have a lot to tell Professor Oak the next time I call him,"

"At this rate, he's going to have you write a journal of the stuff you find out," Steven chuckled earning a soft laugh from Vali.

"That's probably what's going to happen which is why I should buy some journals to write it down all the things I find out and send them via post to the Professor every time we hit a city," Vali smiled lightly as she finished laughing, "Who knows, he might have me write a research paper or something,"

Vali visibly shuddered and Steven couldn't blame her one bit. He knew exactly how evil research papers were since he'd written two of them about the discoveries he'd made inside Granite Cave. He had a feeling that Vali would end up writing more than one which would benefit her greatly when she finished her journey. Pokemon master's wrote quite a few research papers over the course of their life-time whether on the subject of their pokemon, the type they chose to master, or just things they enjoyed. At the moment, Agatha of the Kanto Elite Four had already written over 50 research papers and was considered the foremost ghost-type expert to date.

"Alright, Celina," Vali grinned at her after she'd finished showing her trainer that she'd finally learned Swift, "Now we're going to work on Twister, but do something a bit differently this time," Celina looked at her in confusion though listened to her words, "Focus on the energy around you and try to find the dragon-type energy,"

Celina looked a bit dubious at the suggestion since she hadn't really found any before, but followed her trainer's instructions. Closing her eyes, the Pidgeotto focused on the energy around her. As a flying-type, she was able to feel the energy of those around her via their movements stirring up the air. She picked up the feeling of the alpha of their flock attempting to utilize the limited fighting-type energy within his body. She could feel the lizard working to complete Fire Fang and the fire-type energy that was slowly, but surely working to obey him. She felt the electric mouse digging around with the ground mouse. She felt the psychic-type energy radiating off of Skarmory's two gender-less teammates. She felt the steel-type energy of the mass of steel and Skarmory. She even felt the odd grass and rock-type's energy as he worked to comply to his own trainers orders. And lastly, she felt her trainer comfortingly warm energy shift around a bit showing that she was eager to see Celina succeed.

Taking a deep breath to push those distractions away, Celina felt out the energy of the earth and air that wasn't being disturbed by her flock and their friends. Immediatly, she felt the dragon-type energy that had been evading her since she'd been set to learning Twister. The ancient and wild energy that danced with the air particles finally showed itself to her. She shivered slightly at the draconian energy that was as wild as the wind and screamed defiance against any attempt to tame it. She could respect the power of the dragons that wielded such an energy, but she wouldn't let it evade her again. Vali wanted her to learn how to wield the energy and she would do it!

Using her flying and normal-type energy together, Celina slowly and carefully directed the draconian energy to her. She didn't force it yet otherwise it would slide from her grasp before she could use it. Slowly, but surely, the energy got where she wanted it though as soon as enough was there, it broke free of her grasp. Instead of being angry, she mentally grinned and opened her eyes. She knew what to do now and had her trainer to thank for it. Vali looked at her eagerly and she laid her head on Vali's shoulder trilling softly as Steven commented, "I believe that she's found the dragon-type energy."

Celina trilled to show her agreement making Vali grin and wrap her arms gently around the Pidgeotto's neck, "Good job, Celina. Now we just need to work on using it."

Celina's chest puffed up as pride filled her. She would not be letting her trainer down!

Vali headed to see Nurse Joy after eating breakfast two days before the gym battle. Nurse Joy checked over Sandshrew with a light smile before saying, "Sandshrew can start light training and in a week, you should be able to train her as much as your other pokemon. I just hope you'll take it a little easier on her because she is still young."

"Of course and thank you, Nurse Joy," Vali picked up Sandshrew and rubbed her stomach earning a coo of pleasure from the little one, "Looks like you're going to start battling soon, Sandshrew,"

Sandshrew nuzzled her lightly as Nurse Joy laughed softly, "I'm happy to help, Vali."

On the day of the gym battle, Vali decided against doing any last minute training. Instead, she had her pokemon stretching and getting ready for what was to come. She had Nurse Joy check over both Pikachu and Celina yesterday to make sure they were good to go. Both of them were as healthy as could be at the moment, they were ready for whatever was going to come their way. She gave them both the same pep talk she'd given Smaug and Balto before their own first gym battle. At a quarter to 2, they met up with Steven and headed towards the gym.

Steven glanced at her as they walked, "Nervous?"

"Just a bit, but I know we can win this," Vali smiled brightly as Balto barked in agreement beside her, "We've been working hard the last two weeks. Celina has more attack options and Pikachu's Thunder Shock is a lot more powerful now. While we might not have managed to learn Thunder Bolt or Twister yet, we still managed a lot," She looked at him, "Are you nervous?"

"Just a bit, but I'm always a little nervous before a League sanctioned battle," Steven replied with a chuckle as they reached the gym.

They entered and Misty came rushing up, "Vali! Balto! Steven!"

"Hey, Misty," Vali bent down and caught the orangette with a warm smile, "How are you today?"

"Excited! I can't wait to see the battle," Misty hugged her around the neck, "Do you think you'll win today?"

"I hope that we do and I believe in my pokemon," Vali answered as she let go of Misty to stand up.

Grace walked out with a bright smile, "Ready to go, you two?"

Vali and Steven nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Follow me," Grace said and they followed her through the gym towards the biggest pool in the entire building.