Conference Pt. 1

Upon getting back to Cinnabar not even two day after her trip to the Purpleheart Ranch, Vali was whisked off the Indigo Plateau by Blaine as soon as she'd entered the gym. The Plateau was busier than Vali remembered, but she might've been just a bit too focused on what was happening to herself than anything around her. Blaine apparently had a townhouse at the Plateau much like all the other main gym leaders in Kanto. It was nice and Vali's pokemon could stretch out easily among Blaine's. Blaine's Magmar practically kidnapped Magby for some training the moment they were all released. Blaine gave Vali a room and told her to unpack while he did the same.

The section of the stands Blaine led Vali to after they'd unpacked was quieter than she'd expected and not so crowded. She saw that many of the gym leaders were there though Giovanni was absent. Not seeing Giovanni was apparently normal according to Blaine, he only really appeared at the end of the Conference to fulfill his League obligation. She glanced around the room and caught sight of other familiar gym leaders though and felt happy at seeing. The first to notice their arrival was Sabrina and that was likely due to her sensing them or Espeon telling his trainer they were present. Sabrina turned her head as they entered and offered Vali a small smile, "Vali, I see Blaine brought you along."

"He did. It's good to see you, Sabrina," Vali said as Blaine greeted his fellows, "How are you doing?"

"I am well especially with the recent break," Sabrina came over and offered Vali a gentle hug before pulling away, "I think you'll enjoy watching the tournament from up here. It's quite exciting at some points,"

"Brat!" Surge boomed out, "Glad to see ya,"

"Surge," Vali grinned at the man and moved towards him, "It's good to see you too. Elrond and the others are doing well. I'm actually working on a new technique with Pippin that I'd love to hear your opinion on,"

"Sure thing," Surge grinned brightly at her, "Love to help. And I see that Eevee of yours really has evolved," Thorin flicked his tail slightly and let out a low huff towards Surge, "Not surprised by the choice though I'd have loved to see you with a Jolteon, any chance you might want another Eevee at some point?"

"If one comes along, we'll see what happens," Vali replied as Surge pulled her into a light hug, "Right now, I'm looking for a steel-type," He stiffened slightly in confusion while those in the room let out confused sounds, "Steven's going to find me a Smeargle if I get a Steel-type to trade him,"

"And you're not actually going to go look for one yourself?" Surge pulled away with a surprised look.

Vali shook her head, "They're a pain in the ass to find. Thankfully with the Conference, I can find a pokemon seller here that can sell me a Steel-type pokemon. So all I'll have to do is wait for him to find a Smeargle for me."

"Ya sure that's a good idea, Kid?" Surge asked with a slight frown, "Even though the sellers are verified by the League months in advanced, you can still come across a lot of shit ones,"

"I'm sure. Besides I've been thinking about doing something like this for awhile," Vali admitted with a slight shrug, "While I won't be buying for myself, I do want to see if I can maybe find other pokemon that might fit my siblings. I mean their journeys won't be that far off for long and I want to ensure they have a good starting base,"

"Starting them young, huh?" Koga snorted at her.

Vali merely offered a sheepish grin.

Blaine dropped her off at the shopping area with a stern warning not to get scammed and Vali began looking around at the various sellers. She easily found the pokemon vendors and began to browse through them. They had a wide variety of pokemon for sale and trade. She quickly learned the difference by the circle and square markers on the signs each tent. Circle meant trade and the square meant sale, she glanced through both though most of her focus was on the sale side of things. Each pokemon had been groomed to perfection for this time and they all looked amazing.

Vali found a tent selling Steel-types and began looking through it with a careful eye. She found everything from a common Magnemite to Aron at the front. Nothing really caught her eye until she got towards the back of the tent and caught sight of an elephant-like pokemon. She'd never seen anything like it before. Its body was somewhat rounded like a Spheal only it was an elephant. The tip of its trunk seemed to be shaped like a mining shovel. It's four stout legs had a single anterior nail. It had a bulbous dome atop its head and a short bobtail. Most of its body was a tangerine color with a lighter shade on its ventral side, it had patches of green on its skin. The tarnished green color coated two small patches along the base of its trunk, a dappling of it on it's domed skull, and a smattering on its dorsal side. The tip of its trunk and rims of its nails are coated in the tarnished green color. Curling around each of it's beautiful brown-black eyes was a rim green.

The little elephant-like pokemon looked around with bright eyes. Vali bent down to look at it a little closer. She heard someone say, "That, Miss, is a Cufant. I imported his mother from the Galar region."

"Galar?" Vali murmured remembering that Galar was only just starting to open up slightly, "How did you get a pokemon from Galar?"

"With the recent opening, I managed to get ahold of a breeder friend and we scored a couple," The speaker who was now the be revealed as the tent's owner revealed, "Name's Sid. I assume you're interested in this little girl?"

"I am," Vali reached out and let the little one play with her fingers, "My friend is a steel-type trainer. A master,"

"Steven Stone," Sid said earning a surprised look, "I watched the conference last year, Miss Potter-Black. Stone, Blackthorn, and you were all three the most amazing of the group. Have to say, I'm surprised you're not in this one,"

"I'm apprenticed under Gym Leader Blaine," Vali replied as the little Cufant sniffed her fingers before feeling around them.

"A wonderful chance," Sid nodded his head, "And I'd be overjoyed to allow one of my pokemon to be gifted to Steven Stone. So now that I know that this is the one you wish to buy, shall we go do some business?"

Vali nodded as Sid returned the Cufant and they headed towards the back of the tent. It took about ten minutes for the rather cute pokemon to be transferred into her possession. It cost pretty much all of her commission from the Purpleheart ranch job and a few others. she didn't really care though as the pokemon's Love Ball sat on her hip. She continued to look around for a bit, but found nothing really interesting to her though a couple of the fire-types did take her attention for a bit. She would admit that perhaps a Torkoal or Salandit would be cool. But for the moment, it wasn't in the cards given she still needed to help her current pokemon get stronger with Magby and Eowyn working out their differences somehow.

It wasn't until she got towards the end of the buying tents that things took a change. Vali was about to turn around when she heard a soft whine of pain. Frowning softly at the sound, she followed it towards a rather ratty tent. She headed inside and found the bloodied body of a Manectric laying on it's side with a malnourished Electrike cowering beside it. The Manectric slowly rose up with a low growl as a man in dirty looking clothes shouted, "Just give me that damn cub, you'll have others you idiotic beast!"

He was holding a gun towards towards the Manectric. Vali realized what had happened as Thorin began to growl alongside Balto. Vali spoke up as the man whirled towards her, "How much for both?"

"W-what? Who the hell are you?!" The man barked looking horrified and angry.

"How much for both?" Vali pressed as Thorin's fur began to release little embers and Balto's body heated up while she carefully pressed play on the video record button on her pokenav while aiming it at the scene before her, "With how much you've injured the mother and the fact you were pointed a gun at her made it obvious that she wasn't worth more than that cub to you, the cub is malnourished as well meaning it's not well cared for. With that in mind, why don't I take both off your hands now? It's obvious you don't need to waste anymore money with either of them,"

He stared at her with wide bloodshot eyes as the Manectric gave Vali a wary look. Thorin releasing a louder growl prompted him to answer, "Three thousand poke!"

"Hand over their pokeballs," Vali replied as she pulled out the money from her pockets.

The man's eyes widened at the sight and he quickly moved to grab the pokeballs. With Balto and Thorin keeping an eye on him, the trade was made quickly. Vali returned the pokemon to their pokeballs and left the tent quickly though she made sure to get a good shot of it.