Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or Harry Potter
BloodyKitsune: Here is chapter three, I hope you all enjoy it! It is shorter than the last chapter, but I thought an early Christmas present was in order.
Chapter Three
Staring at the ginger haired girl that was apparently trying to claim the river, Ash couldn't believe someone was really that stupid to try and claim a river on an official League route as their property. Scowling slightly, he went to speak only for Gary to begin dressing down the girl who couldn't be more than a year or two older than them, "Are you seriously ignoring the League by-laws? No one has any right to claim any properties on any official League routes unless granted specific permission. Even then, you would have to be an Elite level trainer or have found a rare pokemon's breeding grounds just to get permission. Seeing as this is Route One, Professor Oak would have any claim before some rando like you."
The girl's face turned bright red and she glared at Gary though it honestly looked pathetic next to one of Smaug's glares after the Charizard was woken from a nap. She snapped at his best friend, "What would some little kid know?!"
Rolling his eyes, Ash replied, "One: We both read the by-laws just like any other beginner trainer. Two: We're only a year or two younger than you not little kids," He glanced at Gary and earned a nod before continuing, "And three: Gary is the Grandson of Professor Oak. He knows exactly what his Grandfather has claim of."
The girl promptly paled and took a step back making Ash roll his eyes before his eyes widened as she began to topple into the river as the ground under her began to break. Darting forward, he grabbed the girl as she shouted, "Woah!"
"Easy," Ash pulled her back with a shake of his head, "You need to be more careful,"
"Let go of me," The girl snapped at him earning a snort as he did so, "Still, you two probably don't even have the proper equipment for-"
"We do, but we're not here to fish," Gary brushed past her to start filling their water bottles, "So why don't you buzz off? You probably already scar-"
All of them froze as the water in the river burst outward in a torrent revealing a large Gyarados that glared at them with malice. Gary stumbled back away from the river as Ash whispered, "We need to move away sl-"
"Ah!" Misty screamed and took off running without bothering to grab her equipment.
Ash and Gary cursed as the Gyarados roared in anger shooting high powered water guns towards them. Letting out a loud howl, Eowyn darted forward to engage the beast with a shadowy Flamethrower. Both boys quickly backed away as Eowyn launched herself into the air above the large sea-serpent, an aura of electricity glowed along her fangs as she slammed into the serpent's crest earning a loud cry of pain. The Gyarados shook wildly as arch's of electricity rolls off of Ewoyn's fangs while a secondary array of shadowy energy energy seemed to make her teeth sink in deeper. With a loud snap, a portion of the Gyarados' crest snapped off in Ewoyn's mouth in a violent splatter of blood and a roar of agony.
Eowyn flipped off the Gyarados' damaged crest with the piece she'd broken off and bowed down with a dark growl in front of them glaring at the Gyarados. The beast roared in anger, but didn't attack. Both of them jolted as Vali's voice came from behind them, she sounded angry, "You attacked my cubs out of misunderstood malice. Be glad you are only losing a piece of your crest today."
The Gyarados let out another roar though this one softer and slowly it disappeared into the river leaving a trail of bloody water behind. They both turned to Vali and watched as she dismounted from Balto. Ash spoke with wide eyes, "V-vali, we-"
"What happened?" Vali asked as she walked over to Eowyn with a small frown, "How in the world did you manage to attract one of the few Gyarados to evolve outside of the sea?"
"We didn't," Gary shook his head as Vali bent down before Eowyn and carefully began to check over the hellhound, "A ginger haired girl did. She tried to claim this area of the river and didn't like it when we reminded her of the league laws," He grimaced a bit, "Is Eowyn..."
"She's fine," Vali took the crest piece from Eowyn before holding it out to Gary earning a startled look, "Take this, you're planning on getting a Growlithe, right?"
"Y-yeah?" Gary hesitated to take the crest from Vali.
"Gyarados crest is good for teething pokemon," Vali tilted her head lightly, "If you're worried about that Gyarados, it'll regrow the damaged crest within the next month. You can even ask Lance. The amount of times I've broken his Gyarados' crest and it's regrown it is kind of insane,"
"Huh, I never knew that," Gary slowly took the crest with a look of interest.
"Lance kind of gets annoyed annoyed with how often I break his Gyarados' crest," Vali giggled softly and rubbed between Eowyn's horns as the Houndoom wagged her tail, "Eowyn's gotten really good at kicking his Gyarados' ass,"
"How?" Ash looked at her in confusion, "I know you always talk about how type advantage doesn't matter, but..."
"His Gyarados is one of his newest champion level pokemon and well..." Vali giggled while giving Eowyn a pride filled look, "Eowyn can easily topple that over-sized sea serpent any day of the week," Eowyn barked smugly puffing out her chest, "But Lance has a habit of holding back. Has for a long time,"
"He holds back against you?" Gary and Ash both goggled at her.
Vali rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Yup, it took us a bit to figure it out. He give us just enough of a good fight on camera to make it seem like we're going all out, but in reality, He's holding back. It's the same with Steven," Eowyn snorted softly and she carefully took her back from the Houndoom, "It pisses me off a lot."
"Why would they hold back?" Ash asked with a frown.
"No idea," Vali shrugged lightly, "If I really wanted a good battle, I always end up fighting the other elites or the gym leaders. Thia's always a good sport if she's got time and I'm in the area," She really couldn't wait to see the blonde in person again, "Anyway," She secured her bag after making sure Eowyn hadn't gotten anything on it, "Let's head a bit further along the river to get water, we'll need to find a good place to stop for the night though,"
"Huh?" Ash and Gary both gave her a confused look.
Vali shook her head lightly as she took out her dex which was chiming lightly, "If you both would take out your dexs, you'll notice that this button here is blinking and it's chiming," She watched them take out their dexs, "This is your emergency systems, it's a function hardwired into each dex ever since the second generation. Once you open the dex and click the button, you'll be able to learn about any emergencies occurring in the area. But it'll only allow it should the button be blinking,"
"Wow," Ash breathed as he opened his dex and clicked the button.
Almost immediately the chiming stopped, a loud clicking sound echoed through the air before a feminine voice echoed through the air:
"Trainers in the area of Route One! I repeat, Trainers within the area of Route One please be advised of a category one thunderstorm will occur within the area before sundown. Please be advised that storm shelters are available in areas lit up in green on your map seconds, you can access them after hearing this broadcast. Please be advised that wild pokemon will be more aggressive with the coming storm so do not engage..."
"A category one thunderstorm? That could be bad," Gary frowned slightly, "We should get to shelter,"
"We're getting water," Vali led them further down the waterway from where they'd encountered the Gyarados, "After we do that, we'll focus on finding shelter. If we can't get to one of the League ones, Pele can easily whip us up one,"
"She can do that?" Ash asked as they followed after Vali.
Vali nodded as she searched for a good spot in the water, "She's great at making temporary shelters and getting rid of them afterwards. It's something we learned how to do when working with the Rangers," She paused at one spot and bent down to dip her fingers in, "A lot of the time we'd make shelters for wild pokemon right after a natural disaster and work alongside the Rangers rebuilding," She nodded to herself, "This place should work."
"Work?" Gary tilted his head, "Work how?"
"Watch and learn," Vali lifted her hand up and started grabbing her water bottles, "The water here is nice and cool. The flow is even as well," She gestured to the water, "See how clear it is? You can see the river rocks at the bottom," She smiled when the two boys nodded, "The water should be pure, but I'll use my magic just to be on the safe-side,"
"Your magic can do that?" Ash asked curiously as Vali filled each water bottle almost to the brim.
"Yup. It's something I learned during my training," Vali took their water bottles and filled them as well, "Now watch carefully Ash as you'll be able to do this with Aura eventually,"
"Really?" Ash looked at her in excitement as she placed the bottles in a circle.
Nodding lightly as her eyes closed, Vali channeled her magic carefully as she breathed out slowly. She spoke softly as steam began to float out of the bottles, "Just be careful, you can easily burn yourself and light the water bottles on fire doing this."
"So it's not your inner fire doing this?" Gary asked as the steam billowed out.
Vali shook her head, "Just because it deals with heat or fire doesn't mean its my inner fire, I have an easier time dealing with fire or heat related magic because of my inner fire."
"Huh," Gary blinked a bit.
"Now," Vali nose wrinkled and her jaw clenched, "For the difficult part,"
Exhaling almost all the air in her lung, Vali took in a deep breath as she focused her magic on cooling things down at an almost instant pace. She could feel the instant the water bottles stopped spitting out steam, but didn't let up on her magic until all the heat within them save for a single spark had died off. Once that was done, she pulled away her energy with a shaky sigh and immediately felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her. Pushing it away, she grabbed one of her water bottles and took a swig.
Ash followed her example with grin, "I can't wait to give this a try!"
Smiling a bit weakly, Vali began to cap the water bottles, "This will be a good control exercise," She slowly stood up from where she'd knelt down and grimaced at the weakness in her knees, "Now, we should start moving."
Balto settled himself at her side and Vali curled her fingers in his fur glad for the silent offer of strength. She would probably regret pulling that trick with the water bottles later, but for now, she'd had to focus on getting them somewhere safe before the thunderstorm began.
"We're still a good three miles from the nearest shelter," Elrond murmured as a rumble of thunder echoed through the air.
Vali cursed softly as she paused to lean against Balto and looked upward at the rapidly darkening sky. A sense of unease rippled through her at the sight of those dark clouds rolling towards them. She narrowed her eyes slightly as one of the clouds shifted oddly, 'Is it just me or is that section of clouds..?'
"Not just you," Elrond's eyes narrowed as he floated higher and his ears twitched in agitation, "Voices...Many of them...Anger..Disharmony..."
Hair raising on the back of her neck, Vali cursed out loud as she asked Elrond, 'The pokemon?'
"I don-" Elrond cut himself off looking startled and his body almost fell out of the sky, "So many Spearow...I thought Celina had taken them all out or at the very least sent them packing..."
"Dear mother of Mew," Vali murmured as the 'cloud' of Spearow got closer, "Shit. Fucking shit, how in Giratina's shiny back side do we get into these situations?"
"I blame Smaug," Elrond replied in a flat tone, "He's the asshole who actually tried to challenge Master four fucking times,"
Feeling Smaug's pokeball rattle at her side as the Charizard likely took offense to the true statement, Vali rubbed at the bridge of her nose while cursing their situation. She looked at Ash as he asked, "Vali, what's going on?"
While a small part of her was tempted to keep the boys in the dark if only because she hated the idea of ruining their innocence any faster, Vali knew they she couldn't do that. She pointed towards the sky where the Spearow flock was fast approaching, "See that rather odd 'cloud'?"
"Cloud?" Gary frowned as he followed her hand, "I-Wait, it's moving?"
"You're seeing a flock of Spearow far larger than it should ever have become," Vali dropped her hand as both boys gapped at the approaching flock, "I had thought that Celina, Smaug, Balto, Elrond, and I had taken care of it this morning. But it would seem that we were wrong,"
"D-dealt with?" Ash stared at her with wide eyes, "What do you mean by dealt with?"
"Celina took care of what we thought was most of the flock," Vali stared at the flock of Spearow with a frown, "Smaug dealt with the overly large chicken that led the damn things. I had a hunch something was wrong with the area after those Rangers said something yesterday and went investigating,"
"'Overly large chicken'?" Gary muttered softly.
"A wild Fearow that presented the King Gene," Vali answered as she began weighing her options, "Alright, we've dealt with worse options before and these are Spearow. The only thing I'm really concerned about is ensuring your safety,"
"Vali," Ash looked at her confusion.
Nodding to herself, Vali looked at Elrond, "Can you relay everything to the others? We need to get a defensive situation set up. I'd change out my team, but we don't have time."
Elrond nodded as she began releasing her pokemon who immediately started to work. Eowyn sank into the shadows while Pele created barriers around the humans to shelter them from the coming rains as well as any attacks from the enemy pokemon. Balto, Arwen, and Aragorn began to patrol around the newly created barrier as Thorin settled down beside Vali within it. Celina and Smaug took off to engage the Spearow who had begun to make a beeline for them upon seeing the released pokemon. Once everyone was released, Elrond set up a psychic barrier and settled himself against Vali.
"Holy Mew," Gary breathed out, "You didn't even need to give them orders,"
"Rarely do anymore in these situations," Vali replied as she leaned back against one of Pele's legs, "As I've said many times over the years, you'll get to a level where you won't need to verbally command your pokemon. Of course," She ran a hand along Elrond's back as he shifted restlessly, "To reach this level, you've got to bond with your pokemon,"
"Smaug just took out a sixth of the flo-" Elrond flinched wildly, "Make that a fifth with Celina following up, I hate feeling so many being silenced at once. I know only half of them might be dead at the end of this, but it still..."
"I know, Eli," Vali pressed a kiss to his forehead and stroked his back as Elrond cuddled into her chest, "I got you,"
"Is he going to be okay?" Ash asked with a frown as his Pikachu looked at Elrond in morbid fascination.
Vali nodded as she rubbed Elrond's back, "Eli's going to be a bit sensitive for awhile. It happens every time we deal with these situations," She closed her eyes with a bit of regret, "It's something all psychics deal with. A bit of backlash so to speak," She pressed another kiss to Elrond's forehead as he shuddered again, "Any time a large amount of minds are being silenced at once when a psychic is even passively listening is difficult on them. Thankfully, I've learned how to help Eli though I'm not able to do much in this situation thanks to the fact we need to know what's going on out there,"
"I see," Ash looked a bit sad.
"So how much longer will Smaug and Celina be?" Gary asked with a slight frown as his Squirtle and Weepinbell cuddled up against him.
"Remember it's not just those two out there," Vali knew her other pokemon would be on clean up duty and taking potshots.
"Right," The two nodded slowly.
"But," Vali looked down at Elrond with a concerned frown, "Eli?"
"Less than a third of the flock is left..." Elrond groaned softly as his ears pinched together, "Make that even less than that...Smaug and Celina are almost treating it like a game, the remaining Spearow are close to giving up,"
"I almost can't believe those two," Vali muttered softly, "But then again, they are the ones who played drop the Shelgon with Empress,"
"They played what?!" Gary stared at Vali with wide eyes.
Vali waved him off with a soft snort, "Empress fully consented for whatever reason and it was good weight training for those two," She looked at Elrond with a slight frown, "So about two minutes or less?"
"Less..." Elrond shuddered as his ears stiffened, "Fucking violent assholes the both of them,"
"And yet we love them with all our hearts," Vali shook her head softly.
Elrond snorted before letting out another groan, "Smaug that's fucking disgusting. I didn't need to know what that tastes like. Go to fucking Giratina's pasty asshole!"
"Do I want to know?" Vali asked earning a shake of Elrond's head.
"No," Elrond muttered earning a snort from Thorin, "Go to hell, Ya emo bastard!"
Thorin growled at him as his fur spiked up earning a few wide-eyed looks from the boys. Vali rolled her eyes and leaned down to flick Thorin's ear as she did the same with Elrond. Gary stuttered out, "H-his fur- Jolteon...?"
"Hmm?" Vali glanced at them as Pele shifted a bit and some of the barriers began to move about to allow her other pokemon into their hiding place, "Oh, it's due to the odd bond created back when he first evolved,"
"Wow," Ash looked at the dripping wet pokemon that made their way inside and the rain that was steadily picking up outside, "It's turning nasty,"
"It's going to," Gary snorted softly, "Though how long it'll last is the question,"
Vali carefully set Elrond down and got up to start drying off her pokemon as she replied, "Well, it would be easier to tell if we had a Castform, Espeon, or an Altaria," She smirked at their confused looks, "Each of them have specific physical abilities that allow them to tell the weather. Castform were specifically created to be manipulate the weather as needed within Hoenn after an unsteady stream of bad weather nearly sunk the country into famine," She smiled as Balto rubbed his nose into her cheek, "An Espeon is able to tell the slightest change in the weather thus allowing its trainer to to get inside or find shelter from any kind of random storm."
"I knew about the first two, but what about Altaria?" Gary asked with a frown, "I've never heard about them predicting the weather,"
"I only really learned about this Lance's cousin Clair and let's just say that my next research paper that your Grandfather is putting out is heavily focused on the Altaria-line because of her," Vali was still trying to find a Swablu that fit her pack and didn't get intimidated by her pokemon almost immediately, "But to put it simply, the fibrous cloud-like wings of an Altaria with pick up an air current as they fly. As the air current moves through their wing, they feel for any specific changes within the weather patterns. If something bad is on the way, they change direction,"
"Wow," Ash breathed out with wide eyes, "So cool!"
"There's a lot more to it, I'll make sure you both get a copy of my paper once Professor Oak sends it out," Vali smiled lightly at their excited looks.
"How many will that make? Papers I mean," Gary clarified at her confused look.
"17 as of this one," Vali answered earning a pair of wide eyed looks.
"17?!" Gary burst out, "How have you written 17 papers already?"
"Just have, I mean I've assisted in 2 more alongside Professor Elm and Professor Oak," Vali shrugged lightly at Gary incredulous look, "Gary, I haven't written a shit ton of papers at once. They're all spread out over the years and I've had help with each one. I definitely need the help with a lot of them otherwise I would've never finished them,"
"Still that's technically nineteen papers and you're not even twenty yet!" Gary groaned softly, "How are we supposed to catch up?"
"Don't worry about it," Vali replied earning a look, "Gar, you're a first year trainer who just started out. No one is expecting you to catch up to me,"
"Bu-" Gary started to protest.
"No buts," Vali gave him a stern look then glanced towards Ash with the same look, "I'm telling both you boys the same thing. I love you," She spoke firmly, "I'm going to put this bluntly," She walked over and set a hand on both their shoulders, "You boys are the most precious thing in my life besides my pack. No matter what you do, I'll stand behind you each step of the way, so there is nothing to catch up to. After all, I'm right behind you," She grinned slightly at their surprised looks, "Understand me?"
"But-" Gary started.
"I get it," Ash nodded lightly with a slight grin, "That's why you wanted to come on my journey in the first place, right?"
"Right," Vali's grin widened and her eyes shifted to look at Gary, "Do you get it now, Gary?"
"I..." Gary shook his head, "I guess..."
Reaching out, Vali gently ruffled his hair, "If I need to, I'll just keep reminding you over and over again, Gar. After all, it's my job as an older sister. Now," She dropped her hand and turned back to the still wet pokemon, "Let's get you guys dry, I think we're going to be bunking down here for the night, huh?"
As they exited the forest into the grassy area of Route One, Vali looked up and smiled at the sight of the clouds just starting to clear. She glanced behind her where the boys were slowly making their way through the mud-coated paths. Jerking a thumb towards the sky, she called out, "It looks like it'll be clear soon."
"R-really?" Ash asked with a grin as he reached her side.
Humming softly, Vali gestured towards the clouds, "Shouldn't be more than an hour or two at the least."
"Awesome!" Ash pumped his fist, "All that rain really put a damper on things,"
"No kidding," Gary panted as he reached her with Squirtle, "I mean even Squirtle didn't like it and he's a water-type,"
Squirtle nodded rapidly earning a laugh from Vali. She went to speak with a loud shriek echoed through the air. Whipping her head towards the source, she inwardly swore at the sight of a Spearow. It was big, but not King-gene. The little bugger glared at her with hate in its eyes. She was about to speak when Ash shouted, "I'll fight him with Pikachu!"
"Ash?" Vali spoke softly, "Are you sure?"
"I am," Ash nodded as he flipped his hat around and looked towards Pikachu who was sitting on his shoulder, "Do you want to fight him, Pikachu? He's clearly challenging us,"
Pikachu let out a soft cry of agreement and lept off of Ash's shoulder. With a slight nod, Vali took a small step back and set a hand on Gary's shoulder, "We'll watch and intervene if you need us. Good luck."
Ash shot her a grin before turning his head to focus on the two pokemon. He spoke in a clear tone, "Pikachu! I want you to start off with Electric Terrain. We need to make this battlefield ours before anything else," Pikachu's ears flicked back at him, "Use Thunder Shock after. I don't want you getting too close since Spearow are known for their sharp claws and beak!"
When Pikachu hesitated to obey Ash, it cost him valuable time and Spearow scored a bloody Quick Attack that left a terrible scratches across Pikachu's front. Pikachu shook it off and finally began to charge up Electric Terrain though it was slow going showing that he didn't use the move often. As Spearow came in for another Quick Attack, Pikachu had to break off charging up his Electric Terrain just to dodge making Vali wince. Gary whispered softly, "This is horrible. Pikachu can barely use that move."
"Apparently," Vali shook her head as she made a few calculations in her mind, "He must focus on offensive only. I hope Ash realizes that soon,"
"Pikachu!" Ash called out, "Start using Thunder Shock! I think we've done enough with Electric Terrain!"
Pikachu let out a loud cry and started releasing slow moving bolts of electricity. They hit the Spearow just fine, but compared to Elrond they were like slugs. The Spearow hit the ground after three Thunder Shocks and didn't try to get up again. Ash went over to Pikachu with a grin, "You did it, Bud! You took out a Spearow!"
Pikachu's chest puffed up and he looked pleased for a few moments before a scowl formed. He backed away from Ash earning a slight frown. Ash sighed softly and Vali walked over to them, "How about we get Pikachu and that Spearow healed up?"
"Right," Ash nodded slowly, "I probably shouldn't catch it, right? Not with Pidgeotto,"
"No, she'd tear that thing to shreds," Vali shook her head as she took out some potions and berries, "But Gary can't catch it either since you're the one who beat it, we'll just heal it and move it over to the treeline where it'll be able to rest in peace until it's awake again,"
It took only a few moments to tend to both pokemon and move the unconscious Spearow. They resumed traveling with Pikachu walking beside Ash this time. Vali glanced between the two and felt bad when she saw the heartbroken look in Ash's eyes. She knew he was trying so hard with Pikachu, but it would take time for them to bond just like it had with her own troublesome pair.
Steven looked up from the stone he was currently appraising with a frown and grabbed his ringing pokenav, "What is it-"
"I fucked up!" Lance moaned into the pokenav making Steven blink, "I seriously fucked up, Steven,"
"Like I got drunk at a League Party and Vali has far too much evidence fucked up," Steven offered with a slight chuckle at some of the mental images, "Or I broke Vali's favorite camera fucked up?"
"I basically called Vali mama on the phone, Steven!" Lance shouted at him making Steven's eyes widen.
"You did what now?!" Steven shouted as the stone in his hand dropped to the desk.
"To be fair, I was talking to my Axew, but Vali was listening in and well..." Lance let out a nervous laugh.
"Lance!" Steven growled at him as he slammed a hand down on the table, "You can't just go and call her that on the damn phone-"
"I know!" Lance all-but whined at him, "I know, but part of me wanted to hear her reaction I guess-"
"Dude! We have fucking rules," Steven didn't care if anyone was listening in to their conversation because he wanted to ring his fellow champions neck right now, "And you're breaking them left, right, and center,"
"I can't help it! Vali...She's just too..." Lance made a soft sound in the back of his throat.
Steven groaned and dropped back into his chair, "Lance, we both agreed during that damn disaster of her sixteenth birthday party that we'd let Vali choose."
"I know, but it's been three years since then!" Lance practically shouted, "How long do we have to keep dropping fucking hints?"
"I don't know nor do I care," Steven rubbed the bridge of his nose, "So long as we do things without hurting her, I will be happy,"
"I...Fucking hell," Lance growled softly, "I hate when you're right, Steven. I just wish there was someone we could talk to that actually knew how to get her to notice these things,"
"I know," Steven chuckled softly while smiling at Metagross as his partner picked up the gem he'd dropped, "How did she react to you calling her 'Mama'?"
Lance made a small choking sound, "She sounded so fucking cute even when cursing at me. She didn't believe I'd actually called her that. She did try to call me back multiple times though."
Steven let out a laugh, "Idiot."
"Sometimes," Lance laughed, "And yet, I've figured out ways to constantly have Vali in my presence even if it irritates the hell outta her,"
"You do realize she'll strangle you when she's figured it out, right?" Steven asked earning a soft laugh.
"Of course, but it'll all be worth it because I'll have had so much time with my favorite girl in the world," Lance sighed into the phone, "So has she called you recently?"
"No, but Cynthia has..." Steven began to discuss what their fellow champion had been up to with Lance.
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