Travels by ocean

Curling her fingers through Balto's fur, Vali walked with Steven down to the Vermilion City docks which were actually a little bit outside of the city. The scent of the sea and open areas outside of the boats helped ease away the nerves that had started to build up since entering Vermilion City. She looked at each of the ships with some sense of shock at just how many were currently docked despite the winter tourist season in Vermilion dying down. Steven spoke as they headed to the ticket office where they'd be looking for a ride to Cinnabar, "Have you ever been on a boat before, Vali?"

"Twice though they were merely row boats," Vali looked between the large cargo and cruise ships wondered where each of them were going, "Sirius was planning to take me with him to Almia to go to the Ranger School they have set up there, but that was before I decided to become a pokemon trainer,"

"So you could have been a ranger?" Steven asked as they walked past a couple of Machoke carrying some heavy looking crates towards one of the ships.

Vali hummed lightly, "Yeah, I actually wanted to be one after Professor Oak explained what they actually did," She leaned into Balto who looked at her, "But I fell in love with pokemon training and the idea of having an entire family of pokemon partners kind of trumps only having a single partner pokemon," She grinned at Balto who let out a low huff and looked forward, "I'm not sure who I would've chosen as my partner pokemon though it probably would've been Balto despite Growlithe and Arcanine not being popular for Ranger work."

"They aren't?" Steven looked at her in surprise.

Vali shook her head, "Nope. I'm not even sure why, but Sirius said it had something to do with traditions. I think it might have to do with the Jenny family much like how you rarely find any of members of the Chansey-line with a ranger."

"Huh, now that you've said it, I can't recall ever meeting a ranger with a Growlithe or Chansey before," Steven murmured softly.

"You'd be surprised what pokemon aren't allowed to become partners for a ranger," Vali had gone through the list when Sirius had been given it, "And that's not counting the list of Legendaries,"

"Now I'm curious," Steven said with a light smile.

"I have the list written down in my pokedex somewhere," Vali would need to dig through it later or just get Professor Oak to look it up for her, "Looks like we're here,"

After a day of searching and Vali revealing that she could haggle thanks to trips to the local farmers market with Delia, they were able to find a ship traveling to Cinnabar for a reasonable price. It meant sharing a room as well as helping out on the ship during the duration of the trip, but all parties were satisfied with the arrangement. Vali and Steven didn't mind sharing a room after all not to mention that helping out on the ship would keep them both from getting bored especially if they could get their pokemon in on it. The trip would take a week mostly due to the ice likely to be floating around the ocean near Vermilion right now, but it would be a lot better than the month it'd take to get from Fuchsia to Cinnabar.

Vali helped out with cooking in the kitchens and took to learning how to navigate after expressing an interest in it to the Captain. Steven did odd jobs around the ship as well as helped navigate having learned at some point during his past journeys. Both of them helped destroy the large bits of ice and kept the wild pokemon from damaging the ship, it proved to be interesting training for all the pokemon involved. Pele managed to learn Flamethrower and Sunny Day under Balto's careful instruction which really helped to get rid of the ice. Smaug ended up using Pele as weight training by picking up the Numel and flying her ahead of the ship to melt the largest pieces of ice into something more manageable. It was interesting and somewhat funny to watch leading to quite a few photos being taken by Vali when she wasn't working on her Research Paper or helping out around the ship. Unfortunately, the trip wasn't all fun because a pod of Gyarados attacked the ship on the fourth day of their trip.

Rain poured from the sky making the deck slick as pokemon belonging to those on board the ship fought against the pod of Gyarados, the storm was sudden which meant that one of the atrocious pokemon had summoned it. The size of the pod was larger than you'd usually find in nature meaning that one of the Gyarados had likely been the pokemon of a trainer before. The faintest flicker of fear raced through Vali as she struggled to keep her balance when the ship was rammed into by something. Elrond and Pippin were shooting off electrical attacks alongside any other electric-type pokemon on board which managed to keep the worst of the Gyarados from loosing some of their more powerful attacks. She lost her footing as a large wave slammed into the boat and went sliding. Pain blared through her right side as she slammed into the bars of the railing, she struggled to breath for a few seconds as more water splashed against her.

Pushing herself up, Vali heard a cry of pain and terror from Empress causing her head to snap towards the source. Eyes widening, she took in Empress flying towards the railing after being smacked by one of the attacking Gyarados. Forcing back the pain, she slipped across the deck while using her magic to slow Empress down long enough to catch her. All the breath in her body whooshed out as Empress slammed into the fire-type master-in-training. Even with magic playing a part, she was definitely going to be feeling that in the morning. Empress looked at her with fear filled crimson eyes and she hugged the prideful little dragon tightly, "It's going to be okay, Empress-"

The boat was slammed violently towards the other side sending Vali falling backwards. She twisted her body to take the impact while barely managing to keep a hold of Empress. She was very glad that Vulpix was safely inside his pokeball right now otherwise he would definitely end up having nightmares and probably develop a fear towards water. She slammed into the railings again causing pain to blare through her body once more. She kept hold of Empress who pressed close to her trembling harshly. If it weren't for how much she was sliding around and how likely it would slip through her fingers, she would've returned Empress. Pushing against the railing, she got up slowly as pain shot through her body and began moving towards the center of the deck. She nearly lost her footing, but a warm energy wrapped around her body. She made it to the center of the deck where Steven stood and almost collapsed against the mast. Steven looked at her in concern as he shouted over the rain storm, "Vali?"

Thunder boomed and a powerful bolt of lightning slammed into the Gyarados earning roars of pain, she would've covered her ears had Empress not been in her arms. Finally, the Gyarados began backing off as some of their number sank into the water unconscious. One of the Gyarados gave a parting shot before doing so and used some kind of attack that caused the ship to begin tipping over. Vali slipped across the deck towards the seething ocean below as shouts echoed around her. Steven shouted over the roar of the storm, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Looking at Empress' terrified face and feeling the little dragon's claws dig into her skin through the fabric of her shirt, the fear that had been pounding through her veins vanished as determination lit a fire inside of her core.

With a deep breath, Vali reached for her magic and pulled demanding that it right the ship. For a second, it felt like her magic wasn't going to respond and terror began filling her until it moved. It flowed out of her and through the ship to the water below. She felt it as her magic gathered together some of the water and made it almost solid before using it to right the ship. She slammed into the railings for the third and final time as black edged across her vision. When the ship finally righted itself, her magic let go of the water and returned to her as she lost consciousness.

A sorrowful song echoed through the air. The almost apologetic notes swirled heavily. A screeching shriek of anger cut through the song. Angry red flames seethed as another shriek sounded.

Consciousness returned to Vali, she inwardly groaned as her head pounded alongside what felt like every part of her body save for her face. She tried to remember what happened and jolted into a sitting position when it all came back. Pain promptly stabbed through her making a cry of pain slip from between her lip as she laid back down. She heard a low woof and felt a cold nose nuzzle into her cheek. Turning her head, she found Balto laying beside the bed, "H-hey, Balto."

Elrond's voice floated through Vali's mind before she could even form a question, "You've been unconscious for a day."

'Where am I?' Vali asked him as Balto let out a low whine.

"Your and Steven's room on the ship," Elrond answered as he floated over, "I have informed Metagross that you're awake and they're telling everyone else. How badly do you hurt?"

'Everything save for my face hurts like someone took a metal baseball bat to my body,' Vali answered earning a low hum, 'My head's pounding, but I'm fairly sure that's from my vision,'

Balto whined and Elrond translated it, "The dog heard you cry out in pain before you laid back down," Vali just offered him the memory of her waking up to Elrond who shuddered visibly, "I see. I will inform Metagross."

'Thank you,' Vali closed her eyes for a few moments before remembering Empress, 'Empress?'

"Physically, she has a few bruises. She has been very worried over you and had to be restrained to allow your injuries to be taken care of," Elrond answered in a soft tone as he settled on the bed beside her pillow, 'All of us have been,'

Vali sent Elrond some apologetic feelings before asking, 'The egg?'

"Perfectly fine, Claydol kept it secure the entire time," Elrond answered causing Vali to relax, "Everyone is fine if a bit scratched up. The sea wyrms haven't resurfaced,"