Deep thoughts of a kitten and caring for an egg

Pippin winced as he put pressure on his injured foreleg, but pushed past the pain in order to make his way to the window. He glanced behind himself at the bed when Vali laid practically buried beneath his teammates save for Smaug and Balto. All of them were firmly within the realms of Darkrai and Cresselia, he wished that he'd been able to join them. Carefully he got onto the desk underneath the window and looked out at the sky, he had never envisioned that he'd ever come to a place like this after being dropped into that odd place filled with pokemon he'd never seen before. He felt horrible that he'd caused an incident during training just because his tail still felt too light sometimes. While it wasn't as bad as it had once been, he still hated that he couldn't seem to keep himself steady because of his stupid tail.

This was why his pride had abandoned him, Pippin felt his heartache at the memory of watching them walk away from him without looking back even as he cried out for them. He knew that Vali would never abandon any of them no matter what, but how long would she want to deal with him being so damn clumsy even with the help that the nice dame had given him? He looked at his injured leg and wondered if maybe Empress had been right to hur-

A hand began running through Pippin's black fur cutting off that thought. He looked at Vali in shock not having heard her move. She offered him a gentle smile that always managed to make him feel better no matter what. He looked away feeling a bit embarrassed about Vali finding him in such a mood. She spoke softly, "You're berating yourself for being so clumsy, aren't you?" Pippin's ears dropped and he nodded not wanting to look at his disappointed trainer, "Pippin, it isn't your fault for being so clumsy and even if it was, we can deal with it. You remember what Surge said, right? You won't have any more trouble once you're a Luxray," Pippin nodded with a small frown not wanting to wait until he evolved to stop being so clumsy, "That means we'll have to work hard in order to get you to evolve," Pippin found Vali tugging his head to look at her, "Pippin, I love you dearly, but sulking over having to wait until you evolve into a Luxray isn't going to do anything other than make you miserable. If you really want to stop being so clumsy, we'll start working on it more as well as up your training. Okay?" Pippin nodded as determination and warmth forced away his darker emotions, "Good," Vali let out a yawn, "We'll start once your leg heals up, so let's get some sleep."

Following Vali, Pippin got onto the bed and settled into his usual spot. He felt a nose press into his side and looked to see Balto peering at him. The Arcanine gave him a measured look filled with questions. He let out a low growl informing the large fire-type that everything was fine. Balto nodded and licked him lightly before settling in for sleep. He followed the alpha of their odd pride into slumber more determined than ever to conquer his clumsiness.

Vali walked over to the front desk of the Pokemon Center where a Nurse Joy was standing. The Nurse Joy offered her a beaming grin, "Good morning, Miss Potter-Black. How may I help you this morning?"

"I wanted to check on my Houndour egg," Vali said as Elrond set the egg case onto the front desk.

"No problem," Nurse Joy took her egg case, "If you would follow me,"

Vali and Elrond followed Nurse Joy into the back rooms of the Pokemon Center. The pink haired nurse led her into the 'nursery room' where everything needed for pokemon egg and infant pokemon care could be found in every single Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy set up the scanner used to check on the various pokemon eggs that came through the doors before after setting Vali's egg case onto the exam table. Once the scanner was ready, Nurse Joy took out the Houndour egg and gently placed it into the scanner before starting the scanning process.

Vali spoke as she sat down in one of the available chairs, "Nurse Joy, are you familiar with the Gym Leader, Blaine?"

"Not as much as the other Joy's here since I've only been at this pokemon center for a year now," Nurse Joy answered as they waited for the scan to finish, "But I'm familiar enough. He gave you his riddles, didn't he?"

"Yes," Vali nodded as Elrond settled down beside her on the other chair, "Does he change them for every challenger or does he have a rotation for the riddles?"

"I believe it's a rotation unless the challenger did something to anger him," Nurse Joy answered as she began checking over an egg that was currently settled in one of the large incubation chambers inside the room.

Vali didn't think she'd done anything to anger Blaine, but there was no telling if he'd try to use his riddles to test her in some way. She hoped not, "I'm not too good at riddles though my traveling companion isn't bad at them apparently. Do you have any advice?"

"Not going to ask for answers?" Nurse Joy asked while throwing an amused look at Vali.

Vali snorted at the thought, "Blaine would have told you not to give us the answers."

"You'd be correct, but he didn't say anything about not giving anyone advice," Nurse Joy let out a soft laugh, "My advice is to go for the simplest answer. In some cases, the riddle's answer will be literal,"

Vali nodded while wondering if maybe Elrond, Metagross, and Claydol would be of some help with this. Elrond sent a wave of acknowledgement and she formed a plan in her mind, "Thank you, Nurse Joy."

The scanner chimed and Nurse Joy checked over the results, "No problem, Vali. Now the egg is developing wonderfully, I can tell based on the growth you have another month to two before it hatches. I would suggest having your Arcanine, Charizard, or Numel sit with it for an hour every day from now on. I would also suggest buying some mineral water and rub it into the shell with a soft cloth. I'll show you how to do it, if you'd like," Vali nodded as she stood up from her chair and Nurse Joy got out the supplies, "Due to somewhat porous nature of the egg shell, the mineral water will soak into the shell allowing the fetus to benefit from the minerals. You can't use too much at a time though since this is a Houndour egg rather than a water-type one. It's best to dampen the cloth like this," Nurse Joy showed her how much water to use, "Then rub it along the shell. After this is done, you should either dry it off with a cloth or have your Arcanine curl up around it."

Once Nurse Joy finished, she dried off the egg and returned it to the egg case. Elrond took the egg case from her and they returned to the front of the pokemon center. Vali smiled at Nurse Joy, "Thank you so much, Nurse Joy."

"It's no problem, Vali," Nurse Joy beamed at her, "I love helping pokemon and dedicated trainers like you,"