Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or Harry Potter
BloodyKitsune: Okay my friends! It has come time for another chapter! I have also come with a small question for you all. What do you think Vali's Animagus form is? I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
Reviews:
mr. bumpity: My name on Ao3 is the same as over here.
Jostanos:Hey Jos, the fates of their pokemon will be revealed later on though one specific one will be revealed in this chapter if you focus enough!
Chapter Seven
Hearing the high pitch whine of her pokenav woke Vali in an instant, she quickly shut it off before the boys could even begin to stir though Ash's Pikachu gave her a dirty look. She ignored him while getting out of bed with her rapidly stirring pokemon. She checked her pokenav for any messages and was not surprised to see one from Lance for a mandatory meeting in an hour. The unsaid threat layering each word was a bit amusing and definitely directed at certain Gym Leaders who tended to avoid their meetings now a days. Shaking her head, she began getting ready for the day and prepped her laptop for the meeting.
By the time room service had arrived with food for herself and her pokemon, it was time for the meeting. Logging in via the link, Vali took a sip from her coffee and waved to Erika as the grass-type Gym leader yawned out, "Morning, Vali."
"Morning," Vali propped her head up on a palm as more people popped up including her fellow Elites, "Looks like everyone's showing up, huh?"
"We had to, Brat," Blaine eyed her with a frown, "With the threat in those words, you'd actually have to be crazy not to show up,"
"Though," Surge smirked at her, "I get the feeling you know exactly why Lance called us all here,"
As gym leaders from even Johto started to appear, Vali smirked at him, "Why Surge, you wound me," She raised her coffee cup, "For thinking I'd reveal anything before the main event."
Snorts echoed through various monitors, Agatha cackled as one of her Gengar pressed it's face into the camera, "You damn brat! You know exactly what this is about!"
Rather than answer, Vali took a long sip of her coffee in reply with only earned another cackle. Surge and Blaine snorted as the Gym Leaders all shared looks of confusion. When the three Cerulean Gym Leaders appeared alongside the eldest son of Flint, Brock, she tilted her head feeling a bit of surprise seeing as those four were technically still on a probationary period as Gym Leaders. Giovanni finally dropped into the meeting with Lance appearing soon after alongside the rest of the Elite Four for both Johto and Kanto. Leaning back against her seat, she met Lance's eyes as everyone's conversations cut off at once.
Lance spoke after a moment of silence, "Good of everyone to show up," She inwardly snickered at the pregnant pause that followed since several of them had skipped a couple meetings for no apparent reason as of late, "Now, I want to make something very clear. I don't care if your a full Gym Leader or not," She understood why the four probationary Gym Leaders were there now, "Upon being brought into your positions, you all agreed to take on certain responsibilities as per your status as either a Gym Leader or Elite Four member. Normally, I would be willing to overlook things to a certain extent and have in the past as I know everyone is busy especially those of you who have tasks outside your normal functions," Everyone began frowning and looking at one another in confusion, "But as of yesterday, it appears I can no longer do so," He scowled and looked at Vali, "Vali, please give your version of the events that took place yesterday."
Realizing immediately what he wanted her to speak about, Vali inwardly groaned at being put on 'speaker' essentially, but rolled with it. Setting down her coffee, she leaned forward a bit as everyone focused on her, "To put everything I'm about to say in perspective, you all know I've been put on a 'temporary' leave of absence...A vacation if you will, as my brothers have finally started their journeys. While I expected things to be somewhat out of the norm what with my luck combining with my younger brother's, we had a very big problem occur while I had gone to do some business. I won't go into what I'd gone to do, but my brothers were put into danger by a group of pokemon thieves belonging to the Rocket organization-"
"Rockets?!" Came from multiple screens.
It took a couple minutes for everyone to calm down enough for Vali to continue. She looked straight at Giovanni, "Tell me, Giovanni, why were there Rockets in your city? Why were there pokemon thieves? And don't bullshit with me about it being a one time thing, I've looked into some reports and apparently this has been happening for months."
Shocked gasps echoed through the air, everyone's focus went to the supposed strongest Gym Leader in Kanto. Giovanni looked back at her stone faced and wordless. Lance spoke with a hard look on his face, "Well, Giovanni? What's going on? Why haven't you dealt with this?"
"If you must know, I have been quite busy with a few projects outside of my city and was not actually within Viridian City until this morning," Giovanni replied without showing an ounce of emotion, "As it stands, I only just became aware of the problem an hour ago when my gym trainers informed me. Apparently, they were attempting to deal with it on their own without my involvement due to how busy I'd been,"
"I see," Lance narrowed his eyes.
Something stank heavily to Vali in this situation and it was the Magikarp oil laced food Balto was eating not too far away from her, she bit back the retort that wanted to leave her. Giovanni continued to speak, "As it stands, I will begin a thorough overhaul of my city now that I've returned and ensure that any problematic sorts are rooted out. I apologize that your siblings were affected by my apparent oversight in this matter, Valkyrie."
"See that you do," Lance shook his head with a slight scowl while Vali inclined her head towards Giovanni without a word, "But this wasn't just to speak with you about the incident," He looked at each of them with a stern frown, "If this happened in Viridian, it might happen in your own Cities as the Rockets will have likely taken his 'inaction' and oversight as a reason to become bold. I don't want take any chances of that happening. Whether your in Kanto or Johto, you need to be ready for a full on assult. Elite Four Members, I want you wandering around both regions to offer an extra layer of protection unless you're on a mission,"
"Right," Was muttered throughout the video call with many of the younger Gym Leaders looking nervous.
"If I'm able to," Vali spoke up earning everyone attention, "I will be able to offer support while I'm on vacation, but please remember that I'll be with my younger brothers,"
"Thanks, Vali," Many of those who in Kanto who looked a bit nervous were less so now.
"That reminds me, Vali," Erika smiled at her, "How is Gary's Bell doing?"
Glancing towards Lance and seeing that he was more relaxed now, Vali smiled back at Erika and began to speak about how heathy Gary's Weepinbell was. Some of the other Elites and Gym Leaders logged off after realizing that the main part of the meeting was done, she inwardly shook her head at the sight of Giovanni silently doing so without a goodbye. She leaned back in her chair as Sabrina disappeared from the meeting with a murmured goodbye. Eventually though, she gave her goodbyes and drank the last of her coffee.
"So we're good to leave the city?" Ash asked Vali curiously over a plate piled high with pancakes.
Nodding as she looked up from some photo's she'd been sent by her editor, Vali smiled at him, "Yup. The detective running the case said you two are good to leave since Clarity will be staying in town though with how clean cut everything is he doubts you two will be needed. If anything, you two might need to give a pair of video statements of the events at some point should those three Rockets really try to drag things out too badly."
"Video statements?" Gary frowned at her, "Like...for court?"
Nodding her head, Vali grabbed the smoothie she'd been drinking, "Even if things are cut and dry, you two still participated in a battle against three criminals. Seeing as you're both thirteen, they can't exactly force you to sit in front of a full court if this is dragged into a court room as you're considered minors still despite being trainers. Once you turn sixteen though, you'll be an adult."
"Seriously?" Ash jolted a bit.
Vali blinked a little, "You didn't know?"
"No," Gary shook his head, "I only knew about the whole courts thing not...not the adult thing,"
Running a hand through her hair, Vali closed her laptop and looked at both boys, "Technically, you aren't exactly full on adults at sixteen. You're able to own your own house, buy a car, participate in court hearings fully, and join various affiliated operations like the Ranger Corps. Once you turn nineteen, you're able to drink, smoke, and do anything else an actual adult does. You can get married to, but only rich people really do."
"Okay..." Ash shook his head with a confused look, "Wait, you were participating in ranger operations when you'd been fifteen!"
"I was an Elite Four member which got me a pass," Vali had a lot of technicalities during those days, "But if it's an emergency, you can technically participate in any operations. Only if it's an emergency,"
"Gotcha," Gary frowned a bit, "So...Those video statements...are they...difficult?"
"Can be," Vali offered him a comforting smile, "But you just need to tell the truth, Gar. And you'll be able to have one pokemon with you, I always had Balto or Thorin with me since they were always leery of Elrond,"
"Because they wanted to make sure he wouldn't tamper with the evidence or feed you answers?" Gary asked earning a nod, "That's dumb,"
"Yes, but it's happened before," Vali shook her head, "We had a kid come in with an Natu who Will caught sneaking her information. She'd apparently murdered two of her classmates with the bird's help and just barely managed to cover it up. The kid almost managed to blame it entirely on her babysitter and might've managed to get away with it had the Natu not been with her during that video statement,"
"Seriously?" Ash looked a bit spooked.
Wincing a bit, Vali rubbed the back of her neck, "Not the best topic considering what happened yesterday, but yeah. I just found out a couple days back she was dealing with a severe split personality same with the Natu. Kid was only nine while the Natu," She grimaced a bit, "Damn bird turned out to be the same age as Balto. Only reason it hadn't evolved was due to an accident with an everstone."
"What happened to them?" Gary asked with a slightly pale face.
"Kid's locked up in a psych ward and getting visited by Sabrina every couple of days. With hope, she should be able to find some kind of balance with a lack of murderous impulses at some point though I can't say if it'll truly happen," Vali shrugged her shoulders, "Sabrina is the psychic after all. As for the Natu," She grimaced heavily, "A pokemon like that who has apparently killed quite a few times and was planning to do the same to his supposed mistress, yeah..." She saw her brothers blanche, "He's dead and his body's being examined in hopes of figuring out if this was caused by the everstone or something else. Either way, he won't be a danger to anyone else,"
"D-damn," Gary shivered and reached to grab his cup, "I feel almost bad for the girl who lost her pokemon, but..."
"I'm kind of glad we don't have a murderous Natu about to come after us," Ash finished with a shudder.
About to say something to comfort the two, Vali closed her mouth as the room's phone rang. Standing up, she went to grab it as the boys looked at the phone in confusion. Answering it, she spoke warmly, "Hello?"
"Miss Potter-Black?" The front desk person spoke, "This is Mark from the front desk,"
"How can I help you, Mark?" Vali tilted her head.
"There is a courier here from the Viridian City Gym," Mark answered earning a raised eyebrow from Vali, "He...Well, Miss, he has a package for you. I told him to drop it with me, but he won't,"
Rolling her eyes, Vali told Mark, "I'll be down in a few moments. Please inform him of that."
With that, Vali hung up the phone and turned to her brothers who were looking at her curiously. Ash put down his fork, "Sis, who's downstairs?"
"Not too sure, I do know that I'll be seeing Giovanni before we leave the city," Vali started heading towards the door, "Finish eating your breakfast and start packing up, you two. Balto, I'm leaving you in charge,"
Balto barked in agreement as Vali reached the door. Elrond floated by her shoulders while Thorin pressed himself against her left leg. Leaving the room, she headed downstairs and quickly found a rather mousy looking man holding what looked to be a large box standing before the front desk. Walking towards the man, she cleared her throat and mentally snorted as the man jumped almost a foot into the air. He about squeaked much to her amusement. Elrond muttered softly, "And this man works for Giovanni? He'd have a heart attack under Surge."
'Indeed,' Vali mentally snickered before speaking out loud in a somewhat bored tone, "You apparently have a package for me?"
"A-ah you're Valkyrie Potter-Black?" The man asked as he spun around to face her.
Nodding with her arms crossed, Vali raised an eyebrow at him, "I am. May I ask what Giovanni is having you drop off?"
"I have no idea, Ma'am," The man shook his head and held the box out to her, "He just asked that this be delivered to you. He only said that it would make up for the problem from yesterday,"
Eyes narrowing as she slowly took the box from the man, Vali was a little surprised by how heavy it was. She told the man, "Please inform Giovanni that I will be by his gym in an hour or so."
Jolting back, the man looked a bit hesitant as he nodded, "Y-yes, Ma'am."
The man quickly left without another word and Vali began heading back to her room. She frowned a bit as Elrond muttered, "I wonder what's in the box."
'Given that it's Giovanni, we won't know until we've opened it,' Vali muttered softly.
Elrond opened the door for Vali once they'd reached her room and they found the that the boys had finished their breakfast. Both Ash and Gary paused in the middle of packing, Gary spoke with wide eyes, "What's that?"
"No idea," Vali headed to the coffee table, "With it being from Giovanni, I'm highly reluctant to accept it,"
"How come?" Ash asked with a frown, "He's a Gym Leader,"
"He's always given me a strange feeling," Vali tried to explain why she'd never liked Giovanni compared to every other Gym Leader she'd been around, "He just...I can't quite explain it other than that, Ash,"
"So...are you going to give it back without opening it?" Gary asked with a frown.
Vali set the box down as she reached the coffee table and shook her head, "You two get to decide thanks to how he worded his message," She snorted at their sounds of shock, "He apparently said, 'It would make up for the problem from yesterday'. I assume he means to make up for the fact you two got caught up in the whole Rocket incident."
"Oh right!" Gary snapped his fingers, "Because Gym Leaders are supposed to prevent things like that from happening or at least be there to keep civilians like us from getting to deep into things,"
"Right," Vali nodded her head and waved a hand at the box as she sat down on the couch, "So...what do you two want to do?"
Ash bit his bottom lip and looked at the box, "I...kind of want to open it."
"Same," Gary admitted with a slightly sheepish expression, "It's like a secret Santa present, ya know?"
Shaking her head with a small snort, Vali told them, "Then open it. You don't get gifts from Gym Leaders every day after all."
And despite what most might think, the two boys didn't get gifts from any of the Gym Leaders or Elites they were in contact with very often if at all. In the minds of the high profile pokemon trainers that knew the two boys, it was better if Ash and Gary worked for everything they had just like any other trainer. Sure, Vali, Steven, and Lance might've ensured they had the best possible gear to start out with. It was just to ensure the two didn't get themselves killed right away even if she was right there with them. That was the only thing they'd helped out with, it didn't make sense to do anything else as the boys were just starting out right now and didn't actually need anything else especially with only a couple pokemon each.
Walking over to the card board box, Ash and Gary carefully pulled it open with slightly eager expressions that turned into shocked filled ones moments later. Sitting up straight at the sight, Vali opened her mouth to speak when Elrond spoke, "Eggs. Giovanni gave them pokemon eggs."
"Eggs?" Ash murmured softly as he reached into the cardboard box and pulled out an egg case.
Gary did the same revealing a pair of eggs that were somewhat familiar to Vali if only due to her work with Gold and because of Lance. One egg was a dark sandy brown with red and black lines that curled in almost a belly-like pattern. The other was a ruddy orange color with white splotches. Exasperation and irritation bolted through her as Gary held up the one egg she knew exactly what it was due to a certain Dragon taming champion, he looked at her, "Vali...he gave us pokemon eggs...are we even allowed to have these right now?"
"I need to make a few calls," Vali's eyebrow twitched even as she struggled to keep her voice steady, "For now, you two need to keep packing and put those egg cases on the table,"
"Vali? Are you..." Ash hesitated for a moment, "Are you angry?"
"With you two? Never," Vali smiled at him, "With Giovanni? I'm irritated. I'll be back in a couple minutes. We're stopping by the gym on our way out of town,"
With that said, Vali grabbed her pokenav and left the room glad that she'd packed before the two boys had woken. She'd only need to get her laptop packed up. Elrond and Thorin joined her as she headed to the rooftop where it was quiet. Dialing up Lance's number, it took a few moments before he answered, "Val-"
"Dragon-boy, Giovanni apparently thinks giving my little brothers pokemon eggs is a good way to buy his way into my good books," Vali cut him off before he could finish his greeting, "I know one of the pokemon he's given my brother's is a fucking Trapinch,"
"I see," Lance was quiet for a moment, "Are you returning the eggs to him?"
"I want to," Vali headed to the railing with a slight scowl, "Taking anything from Giovanni has always made me feel...Ugh," She shuddered, "But leaving those two pokemon in his hands..."
"I know..." Lance sighed into the line, "Keep the pokemon, Ash and Gary are allowed one egg. It will look good on their records if they're able to handle raising a difficult pokemon like from the Trapinch-line. Do you know what the other pokemon is?"
Shaking her head, Vali replied, "Not exactly, I know from the coloring of it's egg it'll be mainly dark sandy brown with red and black somewhere on it's body. I've got the feeling that I know which pokemon it is, but it's just not coming to mind."
"Well, we'll find out when it hatches," Lance chuckled softly, "For now, you help them care for those eggs and maybe get some tips from Gold since you're in contact with him,"
"That'll be the plan now," Vali ran a hand through her hair, "But I'm glad that I called you, I think Giovanni's hiding things from us, Lance. I know that I've said it before," She looked out at the horizon towards the Viridian forest, "But with everything going on and how he was acting during our meeting...Hell, during the last couple meetings we've had! I just can't shake the feeling that he's doing something that we're not seeing,"
Lance was quiet for awhile and Vali's stomach twisted nervously. Thorin leaned heavily against her leg which helped a bit. She bent down to run her fingers along his poof of blonde fur earning a low groan of pleasure. Lance finally spoke with a slightly grave tone, "I'd ask if you were sure, but you're not one to bring things like this up without being sure, Vali. I...I don't like not trusting our fellow Elites and Gym Leaders. They're the back bone of our League, our Region...If one of them is dirty, we might have more..."
"Lance..." Vali closed her eyes, "Do you want me...do you want me to speak with my people and get them to start digging?"
There was a pause before Lance spoke in a tone that had Vali's spine stiffening, she stood up straight as the energy within her veins seemed to vibrate. Lance's voice was steady and she could almost see the fire in his eyes, "Fire Empress Valkyrie Potter-Black, I order you as Champion of Kanto and Johto to investigate your fellow Elites and Gym Leaders for corruption. I give you leave to use any method necessary to discover their treachery. Should they be found guilty, I want the evidence brought to me and only me. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir," Vali bowed her head despite Lance not being there.
"Do you accept this mission, Fire Empress Valkyrie Potter-Black?" Lance asked in a grave tone.
"I, Fire Empress Valkyrie Potter-Black, accept this mission and all it's burdens," Vali answered in the same grave tone.
There was a deep gusty sigh from Lance and Vali slowly relaxed out of her straightened position, he spoke with a slight groan, "Fuck, I hope we don't find much, Vali."
"Me too," Vali while her mind whirled with various plans on how to go about the new mission she'd been given.
"Vali," Lance sounded tired, "I...When this is all over, we are getting fucking drunk. I don't give two shits about what the hell is going on at the time. We are so getting drunk,"
Letting out a bark of laughter, Vali shook her head, "For once, I think I'll actually agree to it because this is going to be a pain in the damn ass."
Walking with Ash and Gary into the Viridian City Gym was somewhat interesting, Vali saw the receptionist jerk a bit as she walked through the doors. The man paled a bit, "E-elite four V-Valkyrie! W-what brings you here?"
"I'm here to speak with Giovanni," Vali informed the man crossing her arms as Ash and Gary stood behind her.
"I-I-uh," The man typed something on his computer, "You're not on the schedule,"
"I wouldn't be," Vali smiled darkly, "But I'm sure he'll make an exception considering the events that occurred yesterday,"
"I-" The man started shaking his head.
"Miss Potter-Black," A woman wearing a suit and carrying a clipboard walked into the reception room, "Mister Sakaki will see you now. Your...Younger brothers can wait out here,"
Narrowing her eyes at the woman, Vali turned her head to look at Ash and Gary, "Ash, Gary," The two looked at her, "Go grab any last minute supplies you think we'll need from the Pokemart," She tossed Gary a copy of her card earning a wide-eyed look from the boy, "This shouldn't take too long."
"But Vali-" The two tried to protest.
"Just do it," Vali gave them a serious look earning a pair of worried looks.
"A-alright," Ash nodded slowly and began pulling Gary away.
Once the two boys had left, Vali followed the woman who she was beginning to think was Giovanni's secretary deeper into the gym. They made their way into a rather fancy looking office with plush furniture where every single item radiated an air of wealth. Giovanni sat behind a rather large desk made of what looked to be marble while his Persian laid on one of the fanciest pet bed's that she damn well knew usually went for well over a hundred thousand poke each. The secretary bowed lightly, "Sir, Miss Potter-Black is here."
"Thank you, Malsey," Giovanni didn't bother to look up from the paperwork cluttering his desk, "You may leave for the moment,"
"As you wish," Malsey bowed again and left them.
Vali spoke as she narrowed her eyes at the man, "You gave my brother pokemon eggs."
"I did," Giovanni continued to work on his paperwork, "Given their status as new trainers, I felt they might due well with more pokemon though given what I read on their files, they could not have any existing pokemon outside of a single capture. So a pokemon egg for each boy was something I decided on,"
"You didn't ask," Vali bit back the urge to snarl at him.
"No, I didn't," Giovanni looked up at her, "I will not offer you an apology, Valkyrie. I've already admitted that there was a problem in my city. A problem that unfortunately your brothers were forced to get involved in. It was luck they were not harmed in the process,"
"Luck and my Houndoom," Vali's hands felt hot as her inner fire flickered against the surface with the anger that surged within.
"A Houndoom that mortally wounded a pokemon yesterday," Giovanni put down his pen and steepled his fingers together, "From the reports, the Scizor will be lucky to keep that arm if it survives at all," Vali felt a bit of vindictive satisfaction and wondered why Giovanni was even bringing this up, "Tell me, what would the public think of their darling Elite for having such a dangerous pokemon on her team?"
Oh, a play at her public image? Vali felt a bolt of amusement run through her. She let out a breathy chuckle and was a little amused by the slight widening of Giovanni's eyes. She grinned slowly at the man across from her, "Giovanni, Eowyn has done far worse as have many of my pokemon. The public adores each and every single one of them. Eowyn's public image wouldn't be damaged in this instance. Not when it comes out that those thugs were threatening a poor nurse," She lost her grin and hissed at the man, "I don't know what the fuck you want to try with me, Giovanni. I don't give two shits either. I don't trust you to be frank," She bared her teeth at the man as Elrond and Thorin snarled at him, "But what I do know is that if you try anything, I will do the same back."
"Is that a threat?" Giovanni demanded as his Persian stood up with a low growl.
Letting out a dark chuckle, Vali let a bit of her inner fire show making him jerk back and Persian flinch. She hissed out, "You know me, Giovanni. I don't make threats. I make promises."
Giovanni's throat bobbed a bit, "Promises?"
"Exactly," Vali's eyes narrowed at him, "Leave my fucking brothers and family out of whatever your planning, Giovanni Sakaki,"
With that said, Vali turned and left the 'Strongest' Gym Leader alone having said her peace. Elrond spoke as they headed out of the Viridian City Gym, "He was actually about to blackmail you."
'He was,' Vali snorted at the thought with an eyeroll, 'A pathetic attempt at it too,'
"Especially considering the fact I'd disabled all electronics within his office save for your pokenav the minute we'd entered," Elrond chuckled making her grin a bit, "There were quite a few recording devices activated, I do believe he was hoping to get a recording of you speaking something incriminating. I even disabled his Porygon,"
'Which is something we'll need to tell Lance about,' Vali shook her head, 'I am somewhat stunned that he actually tried to blackmail me, but given how close I am to Lance...'
"We can't be too surprised," Elrond shook his head as they left the Gym proper and began heading towards the Pokemart, "For now, we need to focus on getting out of Viridian and contacting our network about the investigation that has now been launched,"
'Indeed,' Vali ran a hand through her hair, 'This is going to get somewhat complicated even if it's needed,'
Walking through the Pokemart, Ash and Gary stocked up as Vali had wished though both of them were feeling a bit sulky about it. Ash looked at Gary as the other boy tossed a six pack of antidotes into the basket they'd grabbed. Gary spoke as they headed into the berry aisle, "I know that it's League Business, but she could have at least sent us this way before we got to the damn Gym."
"She probably wasn't expecting us to be sent away," Ash tried to soothe Gary even if he was feeling just as disgruntled about the event.
"I just..." Gary growled in annoyance as he grabbed a bushel of Oran berries, "What was the point of us going to the Gym?"
"I don't know," Ash shook his head.
"The point of you going to the Gym was to be seen," Vali answered from behind them making the two jump.
It was only thanks to Elrond's quick reflexes with his psychic abilities that their basket was saved. The two spun around to look at Vali as Elrond float the basket to her. Gary quickly handed her back the card seeing as they hadn't finished shopping just yet. She began looking through what they'd grabbed as Gary asked, "Seen? Why would we need to be seen?"
"A couple reasons, but mostly due to the gift you were given," Vali explained earning a pair of confused looks as Ash didn't quite understand the implications, "See Giovanni giving you a gift, has quite a few implications especially as you two are just starting out. If it'd been Surge or Blaine, you two would be fine as you'd been around them quite a bit growing up. The public is probably expecting them to gift you a pokemon at some point,"
"I don't..." Ash didn't understand it still.
"If we got a pokemon from a Gym Leader we've never met before with a type that isn't from our current line-up, people are going to expect us to start specializing or apprenticing under that Gym Leader," Gary breathed making Ash jolt.
"Among other things," Vali scowled slightly, "It doesn't help that neither of your fathers are in view," Ash and Gary both bristled, "Gary has a pass though seeing as he's Professor Oak's Grandson and that's a somewhat known fact. Ash though-"
"He's not even-" Ash started to protest.
"I know and so does everyone who matters," Vali shushed him as he started to get loud, "Ashy," She laid a calming hand on his shoulder, "I've dealt with it, so calm down," He nodded slowly and took a deep breath to calm down, "For now, you two need to focus on raising up those two pokemon as best you're able to. I'll help where I can, but with all baby pokemon, you'll be doing the brunt of it,"
"O-oh kay," Gary and Ash nodded slowly.
"For now, we need to pick up a couple of things that I know we'll need just in case those eggs hatch while we're on the road," Vali began leading them through the aisles, "And then we'll leave Viridian City for Pewter,"
Leaving Viridian City felt like something was loosening in her chest, Vali released a deep sigh as they began heading for the forest ahead of them. Gary and Ash carried their Egg cases as their pokemon walked with them. Elrond spoke as they slowly made their way towards the bug/poison-type infested forest, "We'll tell them about your animagus form, right."
'Once we stop for the night,' Vali decided as a bolt of anxiety ripped away the calm that had been settling over her, 'I...It's time, huh?'
"It is," Elrond hugged her, "It'll be just fine,"
Letting out a weak mental laugh, Vali tried to smile though doubted her lips even twitched. As the first trees and Caterpie began to pass them by, she muttered softly out loud, "I...I hope your right, Eli."
Ash's Team:
1. Pidgeotto
Female
2. Pikachu
Male
Gary's Team:
1. Weepinbell
Male
2. Squirtle
Male
Vali's present team:
1. Balto/ Arcanine
Male
2. Smaug/ Charizard
Male
3. Elrond/ Alolan-Raichu
Male
4. Eowyn/ Houndoom
Female
5. Aragorn/ Vulpix-King-Gene
Male
6. Pele/ Camerupt
Female
7. Celina/ Pidgeot
Female
8. Thorin/ Flareon
Male
9. Arwen/ Rapidash
Female
10. Galadrial/ Chandelure
Female
11. Nazgul/ Gengar-Shiny
Male
12. Irmo/ Pyroar
Male
13. Ortho/ Furret
Male
14. Noldor/ Smeargle
Male
15. Terra/ Tyranitar
Female
16. Empress/ Salamence
Female
17. Idril/ Sandslash-Shiny
Female
18. Pippin/ Luxray
Male
19. Bombur/ Dewgong
Male
20. Balrog/ Magmar
Male
21. Khione/ Aurorus
Female
22. Rosie/ Meganium
Female
23. Balin/ Typhlosion
Male
24. Disa/ Jolteon
Female
25. Absol
Male