New Bark Town

Thorin and Aragorn sat on one of the balconies overseeing Silver Town. Vali was taking a shower in the room behind them while some of their other packmates were relaxing within the room. Aragorn looked at Thorin as the elder mon gazed at the town below them with a careful gaze, "This is a beautiful place, Thorin. Do you think Vali would want to live in a place like this?"

Thorin shook his head with a flick of his tail, "No, Vali would prefer something more secluded where we can be free to roam."

Aragorn let out a soft sigh at the thought, "You're right and so would all of us as well. We wouldn't have to worry about unwanted visitors save for wild pokemon."

Thorin inclined his head to Aragorn before looking towards the bells with a careful gaze, "Those bells, they're not normal and don't just do what the humans believe them to be."

Aragorn nodded as he looked at the bells as well, "I got the feeling as well. Galadriel doesn't like the feeling they give off."

"Nor do," Thorin shook his head, "For the beauty they have, something about them is...tainted in a way," Thorin laid down with a low sigh and closed his eyes, "We must keep Vali from the bells at all cost until we can figure out what is wrong with them,"

"Agreed though Balto needs to know as soon as possible if he doesn't already know," Aragorn replied while following Thorin's lead as a cool wind swept through the area.

It was colder here in Johto than in Kanto meaning the seasons changed quicker. It wouldn't surprise the young kitsune if snow fell within the next couple of weeks even if it was still technically summer within Kanto. Aragorn felt the air change a bit and glance backwards to see Elrond float out of the balcony doors. The mouse spoke after a few moments, "I've let Balto know over conversation and it was agreed to keep Vali away from the Bells. We'll inform her when she's done her shower. I do have to wonder what is wrong with them."

"No idea," Aragorn shook his head, "To be that pretty and tainted, it's a shame,"

"Perhaps the humans have done something?" Thorin chimed in curiously, "Not everyone is good hearted and it wouldn't be surprising if some champions attempted to force the bells to ring for whatever reason,"

Elrond shrugged as he settled down slightly between them, "Very true, it wouldn't be too surprising considering all the facts. And with Lugia and Ho-oh not appearing, it would mean some would be willing to break certain rules. Despicable to even think of it."

Aragorn let out a soft whine, "Could that be why they aren't appearing?"

Elrond shook his head, "Xen said that the Legends have taken a hands off approach for the last couple hundred years with a few scattered appearances. He doesn't fully know the reason, but when it's time to come back, they will. And," Elrond looked at the bells with a sad look, "They will not be pleased to see what has been done to their precious bells."

Thorin and Aragorn looked at the bells as well with sad gazes.

After Lance's battle with the Johto champion, he was forced into doing some paperwork while his pokemon recovered. Vali headed to New Bark town after parting from Surge for a couple of days after Professor Oak sent her message about Professor Elm wishing to meet her. She rode of Celina's back and used the map Professor Oak had sent along. It only took a few hours to get to the idyllic little town. They touched down carefully by the front of it and Elrond released himself as Thorin jumped down with Aragorn following him. The two shook themselves as she carefully unlatched herself from the saddle and dismounted before resetting the saddle as Elrond fed Celina some berries. A young voice from nearby called out, "Wow! That Pidgeot is so cool!"

"Cool? Talk about healthy, the sheen of her feathers and length of that crown? She's absolutely in peak health," Another one replied causing Vali to grin as Celina preened under the praise.

"Who is that?" One of the two asked the other, "She looks like a trainer, but not one of the Professor's,"

"Maybe she's from another region," The other answered as Vali finished up what she'd been doing and returned Celina.

Vali spoke as she turned back towards the town, "Could either of you show me to where the Professor is? Professor Oak has told me he'd like to meet me."

Gasps sounded from the nearby bushes earning a slight smirk from Vali, a pair of heads emerged. One being a pale blue haired boy that looked to be almost ten and a girl with blond/black hair. The boy spoke as his gold eyed companion stared at her with wide eyes, "How'd you know we were there?"

"I've got sharp ears and my Raichu sensed you easily," Vali answered with a laugh, "Names Valkyrie Potter-Black,"

Both their eyes practically popped out of their sockets, the black/gold haired kid whispered, "Holy shit, it's Vali Potter!"

"So can either of you show us to the lab?" Vali asked them again earning two nods as the kids scrambled from the bushes.

They began leading Vali to the lab while excitedly shooting off questions about her journey and the pokemon she had. Thorin and Aragorn kept to her sides with Elrond floating above her shoulder. One of the kids, Nora, asked, "So you were a Gym Trainer after the Conference?"

"I was," Vali answered with a grin, "It was a lot of fun. Difficult at time, we enjoyed it though since it help us get a lot stronger and right on our path towards the goals we've got for the future,"

"That's awesome!" Evan beamed at her, "Your Vulpix, Flareon, and Alolan Raichu are really healthy looking. Like they'd belong to a breeder kind of healthy, you have to tell me how you managed that as a battle trainer,"

"I adjusted their diet as needed and groom them weekly plus I take to giving them 'spa days'," Vali felt Galadrial come out of her shadow, "It's basically a day that I focus almost completely on helping them relax while intensely grooming them. They absolutely love these days and it allows us to become closer," She eyed the two kids, "So based on what I'm seeing, you two are probably going to be getting your trainers licenses soon, right?"

"We've already passed the advanced test and have the physical license," Evan told her with a proud look on his face, "We're actually going to be interning at the lab for about a year and raising our starters from eggs as a project,"

Vali whistled softly, "Sounds awesome, Professor Oak only allows a select few to raise a couple of lower tier pokemon from eggs like Pidgey or Meowth."

"Why not the Kanto Starters? Sure they're a bit rarer than Johto's, but they can't be that rare," Nora asked with wide eyes earning a low sigh.

Vali ran a hand through her hair, "Charmander can be volatile during certain stages of its development and requires an almost constant heat until it reaches six to seven months old. Squirtle can't leave the water after a couple days once born for four months then it'll need its skin damped until its nine months old. Bulbasaur have to be constantly covered in dirt save for the bulb on its back for eight months. Each requires almost constant food though thankfully what they need can be somewhat easy to acquire if you're smart and not squeamish."

"So definitely interesting to care for," Evan looked at her with eager eyes.

"And require a class five breeder license to raise due to their rarity mixed with extensive needs at such young ages," Vali informed them causing Evan to deflate, "Only a couple of breeders per region have that license,"

"Damn," Evan pouted a bit while Nora patted his shoulder, "I really wanted to try it out at some point,"

"Just get up to that level of breeder license and you will," Vali told him as they reached a rather warm looking building, "Is this the lab?"

"Yeah!" Nora nodded as a few Furret raced around the nearby paddock with a couple Miltank.

"Thank you both for showing me," Vali told them with a gentle smile, "Good luck on your own paths if we do not see one another again,"

Vali headed into the lab after opening the door and found that it was quite organized compared to Professor Oak's lab. She was met by a lab assistant not far into the lab, "Oh hello there, who are you?"

"Valkyrie Potter-Black though I prefer Vali," Vali informed the woman with a warm smile, "According to Professor Oak, Professor Elm wanted to meet with me,"

"Ah yes, I recall that the Professor was supposed to have a meeting with you today," The assistant replied shifting her glasses slightly, "Well come along, I'll show you to where he is. We weren't expecting you for another couple of hours at the very least. It's quite far from Silver Town after all,"

"My Pidgeot, Celina, is quite swift and strong. The flight was rather easy for her," Vali replied as Elrond floated close to her shoulder while they began to walk through the lab, "We take longer flights fairly often,"

"Interesting," The assistant hummed softly as they walked through the rather homey lab.

It was much smaller than Professor Oaks, but no less impressive. She thought it was warmer than Professor Oak's despite how much the man worked towards achieving his goal of studying relationships between people and pokemon. She looked over the cute baby pokemon being played with and looked over by the staff. Glancing over at the assistant, she comments, "So Professor Elm seems to have a lot of baby pokemon, he must run a lot of studies involving them."

"Quite a few since he studies pokemon breeding and various effects of it," The assistant answered as they reached an open area with a large dip in the middle where clunky computers ran date, "Here we are. Professor!"

"Ah, Zelda! You've brought Vali Potter!" Professor Elm exclaimed.

Professor Elm was a middle aged man with a short shock of brown hair on his head and pale umber green eyes. Even standing up, he sagged into a slouch and his lab coat was slightly filthy with dust. He had a bit of fuss on his cheeks and chin. He looked tired and had bags under his eyes likely from days without sleep. She recognized his voice from the various calls he had with Professor Oak while she was in the middle of working on her papers. She offered Professor Elm a smile, "Professor Elm, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"I'll be heading back to my work," The assistant, Zelda, said before leaving them.

Professor Elm grinned as he waved her over to his work table, "It's wonderful that you've arrived so soon! Did you fly on Celina?"

"I did. It was quick," Vali walked over over and spotted various calculations and a couple dna sequences that she didn't really understand, "So Professor Oak said you wanted to speak to me about something and it would probably last a couple days,"

Professor Elm nodded as he gestured to the table, "Do you recognize any of this?"

"Only a few of the calculations being part of the Cawen's state of relative numbers and letters," Vali answers as she gestured to it with a confused look, "The rest is pretty much gibberish despite everything I've studied,"

"No surprise given that it's a lot more advanced than anything you'd have studied in school," Professor Elm told her as he touched the papers before them, "Before us is the genetic code of a king size Mareep. And this," He pulled out a group of papers and laid them out, "Is the genetic code of a shiny Mareep. A normal one is right here,"

He placed the three together and she looked them over carefully before noting the slightest differences various places between the apparent shiny and king genes compared to the normal one. She pointed out each one carefully with a curious eye, "So they're really different on a genetic different."

Professor Elm nodded with an excited smile, "Yes, they are, but that is only a Mareep. We have no idea what any of the others are right now. The reason I asked you over is if I could possibly study your pokemon for a bit and see if I can narrow things down a little."

"I suppose so long as they agree," Vali didn't really like the idea of her pokemon being poked and prodded.

"But in return, I'll let you stay at the lab and if you find a pokemon at the end of this that bonds with you, I'll allow you to take it with you on your journey," Professor Elm answered with a large grin.

"Again with my pokemon's permission," Vali was a little leery of the offer though the thought of a Professor offering a pokemon to her was appealing.