Return to Pallet Town

Vali returned to the pokemon center and checked on the pokemon still in Nurse Joy's care before heading up to her room. When she reached it, the happy and content façade she'd kept up since she woke up this morning broke. Releasing her pokemon almost absentmindedly, she laid down on her bed with watery eyes as everyone got settled. She had known it was coming even from the first day of her journey, so hadn't thought it'd be so bad especially with how little parting with Vivian or Lance had bothered her. But she knew Steven far better than Lance or Zaria, how could she not after traveling with Steven for so long and becoming close friends? It actually hurt as much as knowing that she'd likely never see Hermione and Ron again. Unlike with Hermione and Ron, she would be seeing Steven again whether a bit before the Conference or during it.

For now, Vali would let herself come to terms with the fact she wouldn't be traveling with Steven anymore and then she'd focus on creating a training plan for her pokemon.

Four days after Steven left Viridian saw Vali leaving the city as well in the opposite direction, the fire-type master-in-training had a rather basic training plan in mind which would be supplemented and changed as time went on. Rather than speed back to Pallet Town with a majority of her pokemon healing from the Gym Battle, she walked at an almost leisurely pace taking photos and bonding with her pokemon. Terra and Vulpix both ended up battling some of the trainers they ended up meeting on the road. Despite the end of this season of the Kanto Gym Circuit approaching, a lot of trainers were still just starting out due to their birthdays falling at this time of year. Many didn't mind the fact that they'd likely only have a month and a half before the gyms closed down all official battles until a month after the Indigo Conference, they were all eager to start their 'greatest adventure' and wanting a taste of just how hard they'd need to work during the off season.

Despite being a young pokemon, Vulpix took to battling like a Magikarp to water. Despite losing his first battle against a rather quick-witted Rattata, Vulpix didn't let it bring him down for long and threw himself into training with new fervor and won his second battle against a Pidgey. He watched Terra's battles and listened carefully to Balto whenever the Arcanine spoke to him during their rest times. Each day he improved at a rather steady rate showing just how diffrent pokemon were from humans, he still lost half the time, but every battle seemed to help him become better regardless of how it ended. But his growth didn't really hit her until Vulpix's second tail began growing in, she realized just how much he'd grown since that tiny fox hatched from his egg.

Vulpix whined as he tripped on his own paws once again and landed on the ground. He looked at Vali and she scooped him up with a sympathetic smile. Ever since his second tail began growing in, Vulpix had been a ball of discomfort who had trouble keeping his balance leading her to pulling him from battles. He laid his head on her shoulder whining again and she shushed him gently, "I know it aches horribly, Vulpix. Once we get to Pallet Town, we'll get Professor Oak's help, okay?"

Vulpix let out a low huff and Vali began humming since it usually helped him settle down. Pallet Town came into sight a few minutes later and she headed towards the lab rather than home. While all she really wanted was a shower and to sit down on something softer than the ground, she had to take care of her pokemon first. The walk over to Professor Oak's lab took thirty minutes at an easy walk though the stairs were a little annoying. Entering the lab, she found the aids in a frenzy that seemed even worse than usual which made her slightly reluctant to bother them. Not enough to keep her from waving down one, she did need to get her pokemon taken care of and check in with Professor Oak so he could make a note in the system that she was in Pallet Town.

One of the aids, Justin, hurried over when he saw Vali waving at him, "Hey, Vali. No Steven."

Vali shook her head with a slightly sad smile, "He went to Mount Moon. Is Professor Oak in?"

"Yeah, I'll lead you to him," Justin said with a sheepish grin, "We're a bit busy today,"

"Busier than usual," Vali noted as Vulpix looked around curiously, "Big project?"

"The League accepted Professor Oak's joint proposal with Bill," Justin looked really happy and Vali couldn't blame him since the whole transfer system was going to be upgraded into the next generation, "The professor is over the moon and everyone is doing their best to help out as much as possible. Miss Delia is actually here helping to take care of the pokemon since everyone is so busy,"

"What's the Professor doing?" Vali asked curiously making a note to find Delia once she got done with Professor Oak.

Justin was led Vali to a door and when it shut behind them, the sheer volume coming from the main lab dropped down severely. Justin let out a low chuckle, "You know the professor, he loves it when new trainers are starting out and always takes a hands on approach though this time he's having Delia help him since there was a bigger than normal group."

"How many?" Any group larger than four was considered abnormal after all.

"Ten," Justin grinned at her soft whistle, "All but three of them are from out of town. Two came from Viridian, the local ranch that usually supplies pokemon all got hit with a dose of the pokeflu. Four came from that one village ten miles west of Pallet. The final one came from Johto and apparently is getting a special pokemon straight from the Saffron City gym,"

Vali's eyes widened, "Seriously? What did the kid do to get Sabrina's attention?"

"Will is apparently a pretty powerful psychic," Justin explained shaking his head, "Not at the same level as Sabrina, but powerful enough to warrant her attention,"

"I'll have to meet the kid then," Vali decided wanting to see just what kind of person managed to get Sabrina's attention like she had.

Justin looked a little amused, but said nothing as he opened the door to where Professor Oak usually gave people their starters when a larger group came along. Vali walked inside and saw many eager faces peering at the Professor as he explained how to use the Pokedex. Smiling at Delia when the woman looked up from the pokeballs she was prepping for everyone, she went to lean back against the wall not far against the door. Setting Vulpix down, she kept him from running over to Delia with a simple tap on the head that signaled his need to stay with her. After everyone registered their information into the pokedex, Professor Oak began handing out pokemon. Since the regular Kanto three were usually only given out to a certain number of trainers that Professor Oak knew would take care of them without a doubt, the group starting out wouldn't be able to get them.

The three kids from Pallet Town got a Exeggcute, Meowth, and Poliwag. The two from Viridian were gifted a Geodude and a Sandshrew. The four kids from that village were given a male Nidoran, a female Nidoran, a Bellsprout, and a Magnemite. The boy that had apparently gotten Sabrina's attention was given an Abra which was stared at by the Natu sitting on the boy's shoulder. After being given their pokemon, the newly minted trainers were led out of the door by Delia and Vali stood up properly as the last trainer, Will, paused at the door. He looked towards her with light purple-blue eyes as a slightly clumsy tendril touched her mental shields. Narrowing her eyes, she gently pushed back adding just the slightest bit of Elrond's electrical presence into it as a reprimand. With a gasp, Will's hand flew to his forehead and he stared at her with wide eyes.

Delia ushered him out of the room throwing a confused and concerned look at Vali. Professor Oak let out a soft chuckle, "Will is an inquisitive young man, isn't he?"

"How old is he?" The purple haired boy had been tall and lanky in a way that Ron had been becoming.

"He's actually fourteen almost fifteen," Professor Oak smiled a bit, "His parents held him back on the advice of Sabrina due to his psychic abilities needing some serious training, he'll be going straight to Saffron once Sabrina arrives since he's still got more training ahead of him,"

"It sucks that he's not actually going to be able to travel yet," Vali offered feeling less annoyed with the boy being a bit rude for the mental touch, "So Sabrina's coming to Pallet?"

"In an hour," Professor Oak headed over to the computer, "I assume you're here to check in?"

"Yup," Vali took out her pokedex, "I also need everyone to get a check up,"

"I can do that," Professor Oak took her pokedex and began using the computer, "Anything else?"

"Do you know how I can help, Vulpix?" Vali asked as she picked Vulpix up again, "His second tail is coming in which has been throwing his balance off quite a bit and it's hurting,"

Professor Oak hummed lightly, "I might be able to help, but there isn't much we can do. Much like with new teeth, a pokemon's new scales or in this case, tails, can't really be helped save for something to numb any pain. One thing I'd recommend is boiling water and soak a cloth in it before applying the cloth to Vulpix's lower spine. Had he not been a fire-type or you had an ice-type, I'd suggest using a cold compress," Vali nodded as Vulpix shifted to settle more comfortably in her arms, "Other than that, you could have Balto, Smaug, and Arwen use their fire-type attacks around him. They'll boost his inner flame promoting a faster growth rate which will ensure his pain is gone sooner rather than later."

"Can we spend time in the fire-type area?" Vali requested as she made a few mental adjustments to her plans, "Since it sounds like that would make it easier on Vulpix,"

"I'll make arrangements so long as you're able to help out here while in Pallet," Professor Oak replied as he hooked her dex up to the computer, "I'll also be offering tips and might supervise some training if I'm able to find the time,"

"Sounds like a plan," Vali watched as the data inside her dex was uploaded into Professor Oak's servers, "So you're going to be working with Bill?"

"Yes," Professor Oak grinned a bit, "Thanks to your suggestion, we were able to put together a proposal that the League was happy to accept. We'll need to keep them informed, but that's a small price to pay considering the fact we'll be revitalizing the pokemon transfer system,"

"I'm glad that I was able to help," Vali couldn't wait for them to figure things out, "By the way, would you check on my Houndour egg? I've been having Balto, Arwen, and Vulpix use their fire-type attacks around it not to mention have them curl around it," Arwen tended to tuck the egg underneath her head while Balto and Vulpix curled around it when laying down, "I'm curious as to how it's developing and when it'll hatch,"

"No problem, we can go check on it now," Professor Oak said as he typed on the computer after it beeped and detached her pokedex from the computer before handing it back.