Goodbye Eevee and Viridian City!

It was sunny the day when she had to say goodbye to Eevee. A part of her resented the fact that he would be taken to Professor Oak, but she pushed those feelings away. The same event that had occurred the last few days since he woke up happened. Vali spoke to Eevee as she cleaned off the Flareon plush. It was only when Nurse Joy appeared and told her it was time did she deviate. She put down the Flareon plush on the bed and touched Eevee for the first time making him stiffen with a growl. She gently scratched behind his ears while making sure her fingers didn't stray to injured section, "This is goodbye for now, Eevee. I'll miss you. I hope that we'll see one another soon," Eevee slowly began to relax, "I...I really don't know what to say other than I hope you heal quickly. With any luck, we'll be able to see one another again. I know you don't trust humans, but I hope you'll give me the benefit of the doubt. Be safe, Eevee."

With her goodbyes given, Vali left with her pokemon after they'd said their own piece. Vali let her back rest against the door as tears began to form. She didn't know why the thought of not seeing Eevee again for a while made her cry. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths when she heard footsteps. She looked up and found Steven standing there. He smiled sadly at her, "Everything will be alright Vali."

"I know which makes the fact I'm crying even more confusing," Vali pushed off the door and walked over to Steven as she wiped away the tears, "I...Is it odd that I'm sad that I'm not going to see Eevee for awhile?"

"No," Steven shook his head lightly and they started walking towards the lobby, "Sometimes all it takes is a serious moment and spending just a little bit of time with a pokemon to get attached. All you can do is move forward,"

A few hours later Vali watched Officer Jenny leave with Eevee's pokeball in hand and felt her heart drop a little. She resisted the urge to run after Officer Jenny along with the urge to return to Pallet town. Steven placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him, "Steven?"

"Let's go train," Steven advised earning a bark of agreement from Balto.

Vali nodded knowing that it would help keep her mind off of Eevee not to mention her pokemon could use it.

Vali checked her bag one more time and made sure she had all of her stuff before zipping it up. She pulled it onto her bag and grabbed her room key before heading out. She met Steven downstairs, "All set?"

"I only need to get my pokemon back from Nurse Joy," Steven answered as they headed towards the front desk.

They had both decided to get their pokemon one last check up before leaving Viridian. Vali had also got an extra poison resistance shot since they were heading through Viridian Forest. While it probably wouldn't be needed, it was best to play it safe especially since she hadn't been training for more than a week. Nurse Joy greeted them with a smile as they handed in their room keys, "Leaving today?"

"Yes we are," Steven answered as Nurse Joy took out two trays and set them onto the counter.

Vali took her four pokeballs, "Did anything come up during their check up?"

"No, they're all good to travel," Nurse Joy told her earning a relieved sigh, "Though I will mention that you might want to keep an eye on Pidgey while you travel through Viridian Forest. It's a hunting ground of both the Pidgey line and the Spearow line. The local Beedrill do not like them and will likely go in for the kill if they catch sight of her,"

Vali nodded taking the warning as seriously as possible as she took out her pokedex and Steven took out some device she hadn't seen before. She opened onto the map-function, "Nurse Joy could you please point out the parts of Viridian Forest that are used as Beedrill nests?"

Nurse Joy granted the request and did so for both of them. They left soon after that and Vali asked, "What is that?"

"It's prototype of the newest Pokenav," Steven answered holding it out to her as they walked and she took it from him curiously, "My father wanted me to be one of the field testers. Unfortunately, it's still a big buggy and can't call outside of the current region. By this time next year, my father hopes to have all the bugs figured out,"

"It seems interesting. I might have to get one at some point," She handed the device back to him.

Steven smiled and put it away, "The pokenav is really useful. My old one allowed me to take calls anywhere, it had a map that updated via satellite, allowed me to keep track of my badge count, take videos of my battles, and things like that. The feature I liked most was it's ability to connect with my current teams pokeballs and tell me a bit about them. Mostly it was their current physical state and how they were feeling."

Viridian Forest was like a maze of trails both marked and unmarked. Not even a five minute walk inside and the trees were already making it dark, Vali breathed in the musky scent of the forest and watched as various small pokemon run around. Mostly it was a Caterpie or a Weedle, she did see a few Rattata running around though each of them took off the moment they became aware of the humans walking on the path. Vali spoke as they passed by a small pond, "I've never seen so many bug types before."

"Oh?" Steven glanced at her.

Vali shook her head as Balto and Pikachu looked around curiously. Pidgey was eyeing the bug types while Smaug looked around warily, "No. Professor Oak doesn't have many at the lab most of the time. I mean there was that time when a fire happened in here, but I wasn't allowed at the lab since it was fairly dangerous what with the influx of wild pokemon."

"That's understandable though," Steven looked around as Squirtle trotted after him, "What started the fire?"

"According to Sirius and the other Rangers that had gone to help the pokemon living here, the fire was started by an absent minded newbie and his Charmander," Vali's mind went back to that day, "The kid was apparently trying to catch a Rapidash during the migration that was happening at the time. The kid ended up losing his license for two years. From what I remember, the kid's under strict watch by the League and isn't allowed a fire type for another year,"

"What happened to the Charmander?" Steven asked curiously.

"I'm not sure though either Blaine took it in or it was sent to the reserve that's somewhere in Johto," Vali wasn't too sure, "I think it would've gone to Blaine though since it wasn't born in the wild and the reserve apparently only has wild ones," Vali bent down to rub Smaug's head as she said, "I'm going to be keeping an eye on both Smaug and Balto. Despite how lush and wet this place is, it is summer and there's no telling how dry it will get," She looked at Steven, "Sirius would murder me alongside Professor Oak if I started the next Viridian Forest forest fire,"

He chuckled softly, "Well, I'll have to have Squirtle keep an eye out for fires then."

By the end of their first day in the forest, Vali and her pokemon were tired of bug catchers. Most didn't have more than a barely trained Weedle or Caterpie, it was far too easy to defeat them even with Pidgey and Pikachu doing most of the fighting. By the end, Vali just had Smaug and Balto burn their opponents into unconsciousness. Steven battled as well with both Lileep and Squirtle which made the bug catchers seem a bit more difficult than she was probably letting on. They were still fairly weak and came in droves. Vali managed to get quite a few poke-dollars to add to her trainer account when they got to Pewter. They found a decent sized clearing that actually had the stars shining down on them just before sunset, so they set up camp.

Steven helpfully had Claydoll pull up a few boulders for them to use as target practice. Vali had Smaug working to learn Metal Claw as Balto worked on Iron Tail alongside Pikachu. Pidgey was working on learning Steel Wing from Skarmory alongside Gust. After stretching, Vali and Steven began running sprints before doing push ups. By the time they finished training for the night, Smaug's claws looked both sharper and shinier while Balto and Pikachu's tails showed no sign of change. Vali sat down after getting her pokemon their food and commented, "It looks like Smaug might learn Metal Claw faster than Balto and Pikachu learn Iron Tail."

"It could go either way as Balto and Pikachu need to build up strength in their tails before they'll be able to even think about channeling steel type energy into their tails," Steven replied as they started eating their own meals, "Neither of them use their tails for much while Smaug uses his claws daily,"

Vali nodded as she took out her pokedex to scan through all three of their pokedex entries before opening up to the time it generally takes for them to learn the moves she was teaching them, "True enough. According their pokedex entries, it shouldn't take more than three weeks for them to learn it though that's just the general amount. I think they could probably learn it within a week and half to two weeks," She looked at her pokemon, "What do you think? That should be enough time for you to get those moves down, right?"

Balto barked and wagged his tail as Pikachu sparked up while pumping his fist. Smaug spat out a small burst of embers that were quickly doused by Squirtle. Smaug glared at the turtle, but didn't retaliate. Steven shook his head with a soft laugh, "According to the map, we're at least five days from Pewter, but given how easy it is to get lost not to mention the fact we'll be taking it slow tomorrow, we should get there in at least a week if not a few days after."

Vali nodded while changing to the map of Viridian Forest, "If we stay on this path, we'll pass by at least one Beedrill nest during the time. There's one about eight miles north and two miles east of here."

"You'll have to keep Pidgey in her ball once there is an increase in Weedle and Kakuna," Steven noted as Vali put her pokedex away.

"I know," Pidgey hopped onto her knee after finishing off her bowl of food, "You heard him, Girl. You're going to have to stay in your ball for a little while either tomorrow or the day after,"

Pidgey trilled as she nodded her head in understanding. Vali scratched the Pidgey's breast feathers earning a coo from the bird. Balto, Pikachu, and Smaug finished their food before coming to curl up around her. Vali finished off her sandwich and yawned softly, "I think I'm going to turn in for the night."

"That isn't a bad idea," It was only around nine but today had been fairly rough on her pokemon who weren't used to battling so much despite their rather easy time beating the bug catchers, "I'll have Aggron and Claydol watch us tonight,"

Vali nodded as no one wanted to wake up to whatever bug types decided to attack during the middle of the night. Sleep took a little while as she listened to the nocturnal pokemon going about their lives, but eventually she did.