Cinnabar arrivals

Vali curled her fingers through Balto's fur as they drew closer to Cinnabar and looked at him, "Hey, we're almost to Cinnabar. Blaine said someone from the gym should be waiting for us at the docks."

Balto woofed softly as Elrond commented, "At the very least, we weren't attacked on the way here nor is it crowded."

"That is a plus," Vali agreed with a light smile though it dropped slightly as her mind once again wandered to Ash and Gary, "Do you think they'll forgive me? They haven't called me yet,"

"They will and probably have," Elrond assured her with a low sigh as he settled right by her shoulder, "They're just being stubborn right now and scared to say anything,"

Vali knew Elrond was probably right, but it didn't make her feel better. She resolved to talk with Ash and Gary as soon as possible though it would likely require a visit to Pallet town. Most likely, she'd have to ask Professor Oak to borrow his Alakazam when she had a few days off. Balto shifted a bit and she hefted her bag up feeling glad that Delia would be sending anything she couldn't bring along inside it once everything had settled down. When the boat landed, they disembarked with the other passengers and began looking for any sign of whoever would be meeting them.

It was without any surprise that Elrond managed to find the person they were supposed to meet. It was Jackson from the Big Riddle Inn which made sense since Vali would be more likely to remember him from that one time they'd met. She remembered the dusky pink haired man if only due to the shade of hair and the fact he had been the one to give her the journal she's been working on for Blaine. Now that he wasn't sitting behind the desk, she could see that Jackson was of fairly average height and shared the same tanned skin as most residence of Cinnabar. He wore a dark red shirt with a pale orange vest open hanging open over-top of it and a tanned pair of multi-pocket cargo shorts. He wore some black combat boots that were scuffed up rather heavily and the right one looked to have a tooth mark near the edge toe alongside some burns. Along his belt were some pokeballs, one of which obviously had to belong to the handsome Pyroar standing proudly beside him.

Jackson's black eyes shone and he perked up as Vali approached him, "Valkyrie, it's been awhile. I'm Jackson Alpin in case you don't remember me."

"I do vaguely," Vali replied as she reached his side though her eyes shifted to the Pyroar who peered at Balto with narrowed eyes and shifted on his paws, "Who's your partner?"

"This is Diego," Jackson grinned brightly as he patted the Pyroar lightly, "He's my starter. Let's head up to the Gym, the Boss wants to get everything settled and done before we get swamped,"

"Sounds like a plan," Vali nodded as they started making their way from the port and into the Cinnabar itself, "And please call me Vali, I prefer it,"

"Boss-man said something like that and from what I've heard on the TV I guessed it, I didn't want to overstep though," Jackson told her as they wove their way through Cinnabar's streets.

Vali appreciated it, "So what did you mean by 'Get swamped'? I thought that only happened when it got close to the Conference."

Jackson shook his head with a snort, "Nah, we get swamped a few times before then. The first time, the one I'm talking about, is when we have to give out starters to various children around Cinnabar and the islands surrounding it when they turn of age. It takes about two weeks to get everything done especially when the paperwork has to be done. This year is going to be especially interesting since one child in particular is going to be turning 10, it's going to be a rough two weeks."

Vali looked at him in confusion, "Why is one kid in particular so special?"

Jackson gained a pained look on his face, "Kid's an orphan from a very small island. Kid's in a wheel-chair due to an accident, but she's working on regaining the ability to walk. Kid lost her parents in the accident too leaving her completely alone since they were the last of their family in the Region and the only relatives belong to Orre which is pretty much a lost cause causing how war torn it is," He sighed deeply, "Kid's lucky that she's alive and able to recover with barely any memories of what happened. She's staying in the hospital right now,"

"So is she staying on Cinnabar as a result?" Vali asked having read something like that in the League Manual that Professor Oak had shoved into her hands before the boat ride when things had gotten boring.

"Yeah," Jackson nodded as they started on the path out of the city, "She'll end up staying in the gym once the Hospital lets her loose. Boss-man's already swearing up a storm though. Kid's bonded with a water-type and he's struggling to get the proper permits done with the League so she can keep it,"

"What pokemon?" Vali asked feeling slightly confused, "If it's something pretty small and no too strong, they won't argue too much,"

"It's a Kingdra," Jackson answered making Vali choke on her spit and Elrond freeze in mid air as Balto tripped, "Yeah, we were all surprised to find out just how close the two were. Kingdra's fairly passive unless it comes to being separated from the kid. And the kid's got wicked nightmares whenever she's separated from Kingdra, we figured it out after the first time they managed to seperate them for more than a couple hours,"

"And they're still trying?" Vali asked though she could understand why since a kid shouldn't have such a powerful pokemon unless they had shown the ability to control it.

Jackson nodded with a shake of his head, "Mhmm. Multiple times, the longest they managed so far was three days and Kingdra managed to return without fail each time. It's gotten to the point it'll attack any pokemon outside of those belonging to Boss-man since he's the only one that hasn't tried to catch it," Jackson was quiet for a moment as he glanced at her and a smile suddenly appeared, "I think you'll probably be the one he'll stick with the job of helping the kid out while he focuses on things at the gym once you're set up here. You're not too much older than her after all and she'll be stuck at the gym."

"He'd really do that?" Vali asked not minding the idea though she'd been hoping Blaine would start teaching her something once she got settled.

"If only because we're about to get swamped with far too many newbie trainers needing pokemon and verifying that they've all passed their exams, I swear this is going to suck," Jackson shook his head with a sigh.

They soon reached the Big Riddle Inn where the gym was hidden and headed inside to woman laying on the floor with a Pansear mimicking her. The woman's wiry apricot hair puffed outward and defied gravity. What skin wasn't covered by the woman's over-sized red sweat shirt and similarly colored pants was a pale cream making it clear that she likely didn't get out much, the woman was currently wearing a pair of slippers with Stantler heads on the end. Vali was about to voice her concern about what was going on when a tired voice sounded, "Jackson? Did you get any coffee while you were out?"

"No, Martha," Jackson said with a shake of his head.

Martha let out a groan as the Pansear next to her mimicked it, "Then why did you go out?"

"To get Boss-man's new apprentice, Vali," Jackson said as he chuckled, "Remember he announced it during dinner last night and breakfast this morning?"

The newly named Martha let out another groan and slowly raised her head, "Fuck, that was today?" Graying violet surrounded by blackened circles became visible, "Shit, you're kind of tiny, aren't ya?"

"Martha!" Jackson scolded as Vali's eyes widened a little.

Vali wasn't expecting that from anyone other than Surge, but she could roll with it. She merely smiled at the woman rather than let the insult bother her, "Better to make my opponents underestimate me especially since I've still got some growing to do, wouldn't you say?"

Martha eyed her for a second before a grin formed on her tired face, "Bet Surge loves ya, Kid."

"He and I get along just fine," Vali replied as Balto and Elrond relaxed from their semi-tensed states, "Valkyrie Potter-Black though I prefer Vali. I'm going to be Blaine's apprentice, but I have a feeling he's probably going to dump a lot of stuff on me when he feels I'm ready for it," She gestured to Balto and Elrond, "These are my partners, the Arcanine's Balto and the Alpha of our pack. The Alolan Raichu is Elrond and the Translator,"

"Smart kid, I think you'll stick around longer than most of those hot-headed little shits that try to stick around here as a Gym Trainers after their first Conference," Martha replied with a soft laugh, "Martha Reid. The Pansear here is one of my partners Pan. Not the most imaginative, I'll admit, but we're both lazy fuckers when it comes to anything outside of my research. By the way, Vali, you're supposed to be getting a research paper published next week, right?"

"Yes," Vali nodded as Jackson looked between them seemingly relieved, "The publishers finally said something,"

"I look forward to seeing it especially given what the topic is rumored to be about," Martha looked towards Jackson and rolled her eyes, "I'm not going to bite the kid's head off, Jackson. Don't act like I'm Darkrai incarnate,"

"It's not that. You just tend to be fairly unmotivated to watch your words and I'd prefer it if you didn't scare off Vali," Jackson told Martha making the apricot haired woman glare at him.

Vali snorted softly making both of them turn to her and she quickly said, "You don't have to watch your words around me. I trained with Surge and tend to talk with him on occasion when it comes to one of my pokemon. People can't really scare me off with words, I'm not easily offended and I'd sooner battle you then get scared off."

"Good to hear," Blaine spoke from one of the doors leading further into the building, "C'mon, Vali. We've got paperwork to do. Jackson, I need you to man the computer while I'm with Vali. Martha, get off the floor. Cooper and Eva will be back soon, I'd rather not deal with them tripping over you,"

Martha and Pansear both groaned as they slowly began to move. Vali began to follow Blaine as she said, "See you two later."

"See you, Vali," Jackson told her as he moved to the desk.

Martha mumbled something unintelligible, but Vali assumed it was the same as Jackson. Blaine spoke as she returned Balto due to the size of the hallway, "You're looking more relaxed, Vali."

"It helps that the stress of the Conference is gone and I don't need to make a hard choice anymore," Vali told him as they moved down the hallway, "Steven wanted me to travel with him again after the Conference, but knowing that there was a chance you'd offer me to be your Apprentice, I couldn't just say yes. I got stressed out, but worked through it while also fighting my Conference battles as best I could with my partners,"

"You did very well fighting with such a heavy choice on your mind," Blaine said and Vali had a feeling it was a rare thing to be complimented by him, "In the end, you chose to become my Apprentice. Do you regret it?"

Vali shook her head, "No though my heart does feel heavy. I feel that this is the right choice. We both need to grow and Hoenn will be waiting for me in the future once my time is done here."

"Good to hear though you may feel differently during various portions of our time together," Blaine told her earning a nod of understanding, "Try not to regret it too much,"

"I won't," Vali promised as they reached what looked to be a plain door with a simple Ninetails engraved into the frame.

Blaine opened the door leading into a rather messy office that immediately made her want to clean it up. She bit back the urge while bending down to greet Ninetails who purred softly when her fingers stroked a spot just under her right ear. Blaine gestured to a chair in front of his desk and went about finding the paperwork. Vali released Aragorn who immediately jumped to greet Ninetails after realizing she was in the room. Blaine spoke as he plopped the paperwork down, "You've filled out paperwork similar to this before. The only one that can match this is when you became a trainer and was basically the League making sure you'd take care of your pokemon, right?"

"Yeah," Vali nodded as Blaine took out a pen, "So what exactly is diffrent about this?"

"Our contract is basically open ended since it won't end until I say it does," Blaine explained tapping the contracted with the closed pen, "I won't end it till you've reached a point that I'm doubtful you'll be able to learn anything else under me. Pretty simple, right?" Vali nodded as she eyed the contract, "To be honest, Kid. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to teach you. A lot of it will depend on how well you can take things in and that of your pokemon. The best I can guarantee is a year at the current moment,"

"I'll take what I can get, Blaine," Vali told him as she smiled lightly, "If a year is all you can provide me then I'll learn everything you're able to teach me, I'm here to learn after all,"

"Alright, Brat," Blaine's mouth twitched into a smile, "Let's sign this thing and get it done, I'm sure you want to put your things up,"

Vali looked at the mound of paperwork he'd placed on his desk and felt her hand ache slightly at the sight. It would seem that Professor Oak's warning from those early days back when she'd first become a trainer were becoming true: A true trainer dealt with paperwork as much as pokemon.