Oh panicked calls

Vali headed to the phone booths and decided to use a private one again having a feeling the Professor would prefer it if what he had to say was as urgent as the message said. One of Professor Oak's aids answered almost immediately after she dialed the number. It was one of the older male aids, Jacob Warner, that answered. Jacob looked at her in relief, "That was quick, Vali."

"I was already inside the center getting Sandshrew checked out," Vali replied with a shrug, "So what does the Professor need me for?"

"I'm not quite sure, but its very urgent. I'll put you through now," Jacob told her earning a nod.

Vali felt a sting of worry as the screen turned grey. Professor Oak answered moments later, "Vali!'

"Hey, Professor," Vali greeted the rather harried looking old man, "Is something wrong? I tried to call as soon as I could,"

"You're still in Cerulean, yes?" Professor Oak asked.

"Yeah, we still have a week before our gym battle," Vali looked at him in concern, "Why?"

Professor Oak let out a relieved sigh, "Good. I need you to go to a friend of mine's house, Bill. He was recently having some trouble with a group of wild pokemon that I'm not sure which species seeing as he wasn't quite clear."

Vali eyes widened and she asked, "Wait, Bill as in Bill Sonezaki? The one that helped create the pokemon storage system and is assisting in making the pokedex even better. The heir to the Sonezaki fortune and the one that's supposed to take over Silph co. That Bill?"

What could Vali say? Bill Sonezaki and the entire Sonezaki family were very well known throughout the world. They have been at the head of pokemon related item development since they created the first successful capture device. Sure Devon corp. and the Stone family were just as well known, but the Sonezaki family had been in the business far longer. There was also the fact that Kanto prided itself on being the home country of the Sonezaki family, it was kind of hard not to know about them. Professor Oak let out a chuckle as she flushed lightly, "Yes, that Bill. Anyway, I've been in contact with Bill quite a bit recently due to his special interest in the Eevee-line and the fact he knows the most about them outside of the really obscure breeders. I've tried contacting him during the last few days, but he hasn't been answering which worries me greatly especially since he isn't a pokemon trainer. Would you and Steven mind going to check up on him?"

Vali thought about it carefully before nodding, "Sure especially since Steven is trying to get Squirtle to evolve and will enjoy the chance at battling. It's an easy day for our teams anyway. Do you want me to have Steven call you once we've checked on Bill?"

"Yes, Vali," Professor Oak nodded lightly, "Thank you. I'll send the coordinates to where Brill's current residence is. I hope I don't have to tell you not to talk about it,"

"I can keep my mouth shut, Professor," Vali grinned at him before asking, "How is Eevee?"

"Almost completely physically healed," Professor Oak answered causing her to gap at him in shock as her pokedex began to beep, "I know. I'm as surprised as you are, but it's truly happening. I might actually be able to send Eevee to you very soon,"

"Okay," Vali shook her head lightly, "Tell him that I said 'Hi' and that I'm glad he's doing so well,"

"I will," Professor Oak offered her a light smile as a click sounded, "There we are, you just need to follow those coordinates exactly. See you later, Vali,"

"See you, Professor," Vali answered before the call ended.

After explaining the situation to Steven, they gathered their pokemon with Nurse joy returning Sandshrew saying, "She should be fine to start light training in a few days."

Steven put the coordinates into his pokenav and commented, "It'll take us about two hours to get there and that if we don't get challenged by trainers."

"That's not too bad," Vali said as they started heading to the northern area of Cerulean where Nugget Bridge sat, "Who knows, we might see some interesting pokemon or get some double battle practice,"

"True enough," Steven glanced at her, "Are you okay, Vali? You looked a bit startled when you came back,"

Vali was quiet for a few moments before saying, "Professor Oak says that Eevee's healing really fast. He might be able to send Eevee to me very soon."

"That's good news," Steven grinned slightly before it dropped when he noticed she wasn't smiling, "Is something wrong?"

Vali ran a hand through her hair, "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Eevee's doing so well and can't wait to see him fully healed. I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm going to have him with me so soon," She looked at Steven with a sigh, "I just...I still don't know if I'm going to be able to help him."

Steven offered her an encouraging smile, "I'm sure you'll manage it, Vali. If you need any help, you just need to ask."

Vali smiled slightly and nodded, "Thank you, Steven-Wow," She stared at the bridge in front of them, "No wonder it's called Nugget Bridge."

Nugget bridge was the exact same shade of gold as the golden nuggets it was named after. The bridge was sturdy and hovered over top of the water on strong supports that were sunk deep into the mud below the water line. The river below was rushing quickly past and there was no doubt that if someone fell of the bridge, they would be swept away immediately. Before the bridge had been constructed, Route 24 and Route 25 had been inaccessible by all save for those with a flying-type able to support them or an extremely strong water-type. It was only four years ago that Nugget Bridge had been finished thus allowing everyone to cross. Of course, you had to be a pokemon trainer or have some form of protection in order to be able to cross into Route 24 and beyond due to the strong wild pokemon that had pretty much been left unchecked. As it was, it had only been within the last two years that any trainer with at least one badge could cross the bridge. The League didn't want any unprepared newbie trainer getting themselves or their pokemon killed.

Vali and Steven were stopped by a pair of Ace trainers wearing a red, white, and black uniform showing that they had at least two years under their belts. Both looked to be about twenty years old. One had an Electabuzz and the other had a sleepy looking Vileplume beside them. The Electabuzz peered at them curiously as its trainer, the male Ace trainer asked, "Badge Cases?"

Vali and Steven both took out their cases allowing the two Ace trainers to get a good look at their Boulder badges. The female trainer smiled, "You two are good to go."

"How long until they won't need to check badges anymore?" Vali asked the two curiously as she put her case away.

"Another two years though some parts of the Routes will be inaccessible by anyone below one badge due to there being a colony of Venonat and Venomoth taking up residence," The male Ace trainer answered with a shake of his head, "They may be fairly docile, but they're violent buggers when provoked,"

"Don't forget about the Ekans that decided to set up shop on Route 25," The female Ace trainer shuddered.

"You two be careful, ya here," The male Ace Trainer said, "Those Ekans are pretty dangerous with a few of them on the verge of evolving into Arbok. With the fact that it's getting closer to Fall, they're even more agitated than usual,"

"Noted. Thanks for the information," Vali said as Steven and she began heading over the bridge.

As they walked on the bridge that sat in the middle of the seemingly tranquil river, Steven commented, "I do believe we have an answer as to what might be bothering Bill."

"Foul tempered poison types, what fun," Vali snarked causing Steven to chuckle, "Though it does turn out to be them, I could see if my ability to talk to snakes transfers over to snake-like pokemon,"

Steven looked contemplative, "That sounds like a good idea, but I'm going to have Metagross protect us with a psychic field just in case."

"I wasn't going to suggest otherwise," Vali laid a hand on her left side where the overly aggressive male Nidoran's poison sting had hit her and left the very small cluster of five perfect circle indents in her skin, "I do not feel like seeing the difference between an Nidoran's poison and an Ekans',"

Steven grimaced slightly at her comment, but didn't say anything. Vali winced a bit since that meant he still hadn't got over the fact she'd been hit by those needles. She knew it would be awhile before he let it go especially since she probably would've felt the same if he'd been the one to get hit. Guilt was hard to get rid of especially if you genuinely thought you had done something wrong.