Winning the tournament

After her pokemon were healed up for the most part, Vali, Sharrah, and Electra made their way towards the prize podium. They were joined by the guys that had won the tournament. Steven was in the group prompting her to ask, "How'd you do?"

"I lost the last battle," Steven answered with a slight sigh, "You?"

"I won," Vali answered feeling joyful at winning and sad that Steven had lost.

"It was a close battle," A red haired guy around Steven's age with dark almost black gold eyes clapped Steven on the shoulder, "Your Metagross almost managed to beat my Dragonite. If they had stayed conscious just a few more minutes, you probably would've won,"

The guy's hair was a bright crimson red and almost to his shoulders. He wore what looked like a dark red body suit with a dark blue cape hanging from his shoulders. He grinned brightly while Steven shifted away from the other male a bit. Vali looked at Steven, "Looks like you have to try a bit harder next time you run into one another."

"I suppose so," Steven smiled lightly, "Congratulations on the win, Vali,"

They were herded onto the prize podium with Vali and the red haired guy sharing the first place podium. Each of them were given their pokeball prizes, money, and a medal that she would be sending home as soon as she could. They were then led into one of the side areas in the arena as the crowd and other tournament participants left. Lt. Surge looked them over before focusing on Vali and Electra, "You two at the very least don't have a bad choice in pokemon."

"Surge," A middle age man that Vali recognized to be Mr. Lucas Sonezaki, the CEO of Silph co., "Not now,"

Lt. Surge rolled his eyes, "Fine. Cherry head and Green Eyes, you get first pick for the evolutionary items."

Mr. Sonezaki sighed deeply, "Mr. Blackthorn, Ms. Potter, congratulations in coming in first. Please pick out your evolutionary items."

They walked over to them table covered in evolutionary items that Vali would probably never see so many of again. Vali immediately picked up a Fire Stone and a Thunder Stone before pausing for a second. She could pick another Fire Stone especially since she wanted a Vulpix, but then again, she could pick the Magmarizer for when she got a member of the Magby-line. She thought about it carefully before grabbing the lone Magmarizer which would be sent home at the soonest. Fire Stones were easier to find and buy while Magmarizers were expensive as hell if you ever actually found one. She glanced at Lance and saw him pick up three evolutionary items of his own. He picked up the lone Dragon Scale on the table, a Fire Stone, and a Water Stone. After that, Steven and Sharrah were given their own choices. Steven picked up the lone Metal Coat and a Fire Stone which had him glancing at her with a smile. Sharrah grabbed a water stone and the Kings rock. Electra and the other guy, a brown haired boy by the name of Zack. Electra snapped up a Thunder Stone while Zack picked a Leaf Stone.

Mr. Sonezaki spoke once everyone had made their choices, "Mister Blackthorn, Miss Potter, all the tournaments have been supplied with pokemon that various breeders. Please come to this consul and insert your pokedexs into the slot, the pokemon will be transferred to your account. If you have six pokemon, it will be placed in an inactive slot for a period of two weeks to allow you time to bond and decide which pokemon you'll be sending to your respective regional Professors."

Vali and Lance did as they were asked. The consul beeped and whirred loudly for a few minutes before a ding sounded. The two round slots on top of the consul opened to reveal a pair of friend balls. Vali and Lance took the pokeballs before grabbing their pokedexs. Vali stared at the pokeball in her hand feeling it warm against her fingers as Lance released the pokemon he'd won in the tournament. A low cooing sound echoed through the air as a Dratini materialized and Lance beamed at it, "Hello, my new friend."

Lance began bonding with the Dratini and Vali looked at the pokeball in her hand before releasing her own new pokemon.

The pokemon that appeared from within the pokeball was a Larvitar. It blinked slowly when it fully materialized before focusing on her. It's eyes widened and she bent down slowly making sure to keep her movements fairly slow. Larvitar were known for their shyness when it came to new people. She spoke softly trying to decrease any signs of being a threat, "Hello, Little one. My name is Valkyrie Potter though I prefer being called Vali. I'm you're new trainer. I hope we can be friends."

Slowly holding out her hand palm up, Vali watched as Larvitar seemed to weigh her words before it moved closer to her and placed it's stubby paw into her hand. She smiled warmly as she gently rubbed it's head as she heard someone mutter, "Two rare pseudo-legendaries? What the actual fuck?"

"Welcome to the family, Little One," Vali said as she settled more comfortably on the ground and the Larvitar moved closer to her.

Mr. Sonezaki and Surge allowed the two tournament winners a bit of time to bond with their new pokemon before going on to the next part. Each of them were given a voucher for a week of free meals at any restaurant. The list of participating restaurants would be available at the pokemon center. They were all congratulated again before being ushered out of the arena. Vali looked at the newest pokeball to add to her belt and muttered, "It's going to be difficult figuring out who to send home for a little while."

"The best thing you can do is talk to them," Steven advised as they made their way towards the pokemon center.

"Hey!" Steven and Vali paused before turning to see Lance running after them.

A Charizard followed after him and looked very unimpressed as it did so. Lance slid to a stop next to them as Vali said, "Lance, is there something you need?"

"Just wanted to see if you two wanted to eat dinner together," Lance said as he held up the dinner voucher, "After getting your pokemon checked out, of course,"

Vali looked at Steven in askance and he shrugged prompting her to say, "I guess that would be fine. Have you already been back to the pokemon center?"

"Nah, I'm not staying at the pokemon center," Lance said as he joined them on their walk towards the pokemon center, "I'm roughing it with my pokemon since most of them dislike the amount of noise within the city. It'll be a relief when there aren't so many people around,"

Vali smiled as she nodded, "Yeah."

Lance offered her a roguish grin, "Ah, a pretty lady after my own heart then?"

Vali flushed a bit at the compliment before shrugging. Steven cleared his throat as they moved through the twisting crowds, "Lance, how many dragon-types do you have?"

"Six well seven with my newest Dratini," Lance answered as he looked at Steven, "I'm trying to become a dragon-type master as well as the champion of both Kanto and Johto,"

"That's a pretty big ambition," Steven commented earning a shrug from Lance, "Though given I'm trying to do the same, but with my home region and steel-types, I suppose it isn't too big,"

Lance nodded before looking at Vali, "What about you?"

"I want to become a fire-type master and maybe try to become a member of the elite four at some point," Vali still wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to do.

Lance's grin widened and Vali squeaked a bit when he threw an arm around her shoulders, "Guess I've met one of my future elite four members."

Vali didn't exactly know how to react and was very glad when Steven tugged her away from Lance. He moved to walk between the two as Lance stared at him with a raised eyebrow, "Vali doesn't like being touched by strangers."

"Ah, sorry," Lance offered her a sheepish grin, "I'm sometimes a bit too physical when it comes to those around me,"

"It's fine," Vali was glad to see the pokemon center.