Healing talks

Delia looked at Surge struggling to cope with her feelings. She could see that the man was apologetic and hurting as well which stayed the angry shouting that wanted to leave her. Somehow she knew this wasn't his fault and that the story Blaine had said was a lie, she would get the answer eventually even if it took getting into touch with Red and asking for his help in the matter. So rather than give into her urge to scream, she walked over to Surge and hugged him making the man stiffen. She spoke softly, "Thank you for treating Vali's wounds and getting her here, I don't want to think about what would've happened otherwise."

Surge stiffly hugged her back, "It was our fault she was out there in the first place, Delia. We should've been more careful."

"Couldda, woulda, shoulda," Delia replied with a shake of her head as she pulled back, "I blame the League and only them. She shouldn't have been out there yet,"

Surge snorted with a wry look on his face, "Sirius and you both saw through the Taurus shit. We can't say anything."

"I know," Delia didn't hold it against the man, "I won't hold it against either of you," She looked around the hallway, "Where is he?"

"Checking in on the kid's pokemon and exorcising those allowed to train," Surge peered around the hallway, "Where's the brats?"

"Professor Oak is currently watching them for me though they're asleep right now in the hotel we'll be staying in," Delia turned slightly and Surge quickly directed her towards the room that Vali was resting within, "We decided to stay in Vermilion until Vali woke up and was awake on a frequent basis. Has there been a decision on what will happen once she's cleared?"

"Blaine wants her to return home for a few days. It'll let him set up any therapy needed for the kid back in Cinnabar then he'll come get her," Surge stopped outside of Vali's room, "Here she is,"

Delia took in her daughter and immediately felt herself age a bit at the sight. Vali had always been smaller than others her age even with the time they'd been together and proper nutrients being given to her. But laying on that hospital bed with her injured pokemon and surrounded by machines, she seemed so much smaller. The white and gray splattered black hair was longer than Delia remember it to be when Vali had left. Vali's skin was slowly losing it's tan though thankfully lacked the deathly pale look to it that came to blood loss. Seeing those injured pokemon curled up with her daughter twitching at every noise sent a pang through her, it was another shred of innocence lost making her wonder if Vali would be the same when she woke up.

"Has the doctor said anything yet?" Delia asked as she raised a hand to press against the glass.

"The wound on her side was deep and coated with ice-type energy. It was lucky the kid has magic or she'd have gotten frost-bite if not worse from the thing that managed to get her," Surge replied making Delia wince as she clenched her other hand into a fist by her side, "Once the doctors give the okay, she'll need to start regaining her flexibility. With her arm, it's deep and into the muscle. The kid's lucky that nothing managed to get at her wrist, but still. It'll heal, but she'll have to regain her strength in it. Since it's her dominant arm, she'll have to use her left arm while that one heals up," He let out a tired sigh, "Thankfully, the kid's young and has a good healing factor,"

"How long until she wakes up," Delia asked as she closed her eyes struggling against the tears that wanted to roll down her cheeks at the extent of Vali's injuries.

"The doc's pulling back the drugs," Surge replied as Delia felt a hand touch her shoulder almost hesitantly, "It'll be up to her once that's done. She'll wake up soon, Delia. The kid's strong,"

When Vali first woke up, it was brief and during one of Surge's visit's when he was dropping off the last of her pokemon. He was quick to get a doctor after making sure she was really awake. Barely a few minutes after the doctor arrived did she fall asleep again, the mostly black haired fire-type master-in-training slept deeply though the doctor quickly assured the worried Gym Leader and her adoptive mother it was normal and she'd wake up in stages.

When Vali woke up for real without immediately falling back asleep or feeling groggy to the point of wanting to, she wanted to groan at the fact she was in the hospital again as the white ceiling and way too clean smell made it clear that was where she'd ended up even if the how wasn't clear right now. The memories slowly came back to her as she blinked up at the ceiling for a bit. Mentally wincing as the last memory hit her, she silently promised to apologize to Surge for scaring him when she passed out though was thankful it was at a Hospital. Slowly looking around herself, she found the right side of her face immediately covered in warm fur with static running through it. She slowly poked the mental connection she shared with Elrond and felt him jolt. She spoke within her mind while sending an apologetic feeling down the connection, "Elrond, I'm sorry for worrying you all so much. Could you tell me how long I've been out for?"

"Vali!" The sheer relief rolling off of Elrond and through his his words made Vali feel like shit even if she'd been unable to help it, "You're awake. You're really awake,"

"Yeah," Vali found him turning his face towards her, "I'm awake. So how long was I out for?"

"The doctors put you into a medically induced coma for five days and you stayed asleep until now for a further four," Elrond answered earning a surprised look, "I'll go get Delia so she can have a doctor remove those things from your face now. You're not in pain, right?"

Vali shook her head slowly after doing a mental inventory, "No, I feel fine if a bit airy."

Vali rubbed at her throat with the hand that was allowed to move and swallowed slightly. Delia looked relieved as the doctor and Nurse left with a majority of the machinery that had been in the room, "How do you feel, Vali?"

"A bit tired and airy though the second one is due to the pain meds," Vali gave her adopted mother an apologetic look, "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to deal with this so soon after I left for Cinnabar, but it happened,"

"You're right," Delia shook her head lightly, "Vali, like you once said. We cannot control things that happen. All we can do is roll with the punches and continue moving forward with the path we're given. I'm not happy, but it isn't your fault," Delia reached out and placed a hand on Vali's leg, "I'm just happy you're alive and able to come home to us. Ash and Gary are as well. When they're finally cleared to visit, they'll probably get on their knees while apologizing,"

Vali's eyes widened at that, "What?"

"The news of you being hurt really effected them badly. The boys were both in tears and have been sulking quite a bit even if they're in a new city to explore," Delia looked sad as she revealed that bit of information, "They both promised to apologize to you. It seems they've realized just how easily the words they said to you before leaving could have been their last,"

Shaking her head at the turn of events, Vali had to let out a low laugh, "Of all the things to happen after my latest bout of bad luck."

Delia squeezed her leg lightly, "I'm glad that they learned this lesson now even if it came too close to home."

"Me too," Vali shook her head as Eevee suddenly jolted from his place on her lap and began growling at the door, "Eevee?" The door opened to reveal Blaine, "Blaine,"

"Vali," Blaine looked at her with relief on his face, "Good to see you awake, brat. Delia, I hate to take away your time with the brat, but I need to speak with her,"

Delia nodded with a slight sigh, "I understand," she stood and carefully hugged Vali as Eevee settled down, "I'll be back soon enough. I need to find out where Sirius has gone anyway. If you fall back asleep, it's okay."

Vali hugged her back just as carefully even if she didn't exactly feeling pain, "See you."

With that, Delia left and Blaine closed the door behind her. Blaine spoke as he moved to sit down, "How are you feeling, Brat?"

"More tired than when I first woke up today and airy due to the meds," Vali answered as she ran her fingers across Eevee's ears, "Everything alright?"

"Things are a bit messy, Brat, but I can deal with it," Blaine placed familiar pokeballs onto the bedside table, "Surge will be by with anyone I don't have on me since we've been taking turns working with your pokemon or having our gym trainers do it if we get busy,"

Vali looked at him in surprise, "Why? I get that I was out for awhile, but you guys didn't need to do that."

"We feel responsible for what happened and the fact that you're not able to claim any credit for anything that happened despite what you did during our time on Delco 2," Blaine informed her earning a stunned look, "We should've stuck one of our true team with your or a pokemon close to it. It would've ensured this wouldn't have happened,"

"Maybe, but it might've made something worse happen," Vali shook her head, "Knowing my luck, it was about time for something bad to happen, so it's better that this happened even if I got hurt. I'd rather get hurt than one of my pokemon dying or one of yours,"

"Be that as it may, we still feel responsible," Blaine stated firmly.

"As for the credit thing, I assume some of the adult Rangers and Ace are responsible for it. I get it and honestly don't care," Vali offered him a slight grin, "The Poachers were caught or killed. The Poaching operation was disrupted meaning the goal was accomplished," She felt her grin turn into a smirk, "The ones claiming the credit and the League leaders know the truth. It'll always burn in the back of their minds that some 11 year old managed to do these things while an actual Ace operative didn't. Sometime in the future, the truth will come out as it always does though whether it will matter or not at that point, we won't know until then,"

Blaine snorted softly, "That's a slightly sadistic thought, Brat."

Vali shrugged her good shoulder, "I learned from Marcus."

Chuckling at her words, Blaine shook his head, "Brat, you can't say how you were really injured. The mission we took was classified due to things that have been found out and are still being discovered."

"So what's the story?" Vali asked as Eevee shifted a bit closer.

"We were there on League Business though you don't know what since I kept you out of it," Blaine answered earning a nod, "Surge was there as well and during a slow point, we decided due to the boredom between us we'd take the time to train off route. You ended up running into a pack of Weavile and Sneasel that was larger than normal while we were separated. Surge and I had sent you away while we dealt with other upper level threats,"

Vali took over telling the story as she got the gist of it, "My team and I managed to hold them off until you got there. Some other types of pokemon might've jumped in which accounts for any other styles of injuries my pokemon have that don't match up with those belonging to Weavile and Sneasel pack attacks. While defending ourselves, I was injured in the process which caused my current state. You arrived in time to drive all pokemon off and save us."

"Got it in one," Blaine nodded to her, "Your things were collected by me from Delco 2. I made damn sure no one touched them,"

"Thank you," Vali was relieved even if nothing truly important was inside her bag, "So what happens now?"

"You'll be in the hospital until they discharge you. After that, you'll go to Pallet for a couple days to a week," Blaine replied as he stood up, "I will come collect you and we'll head to Cinnabar. You'll be going through physically therapy due to your injuries,"

Vali grimaced at that, "Seriously?"

"According to the doctor, yes," Blaine looked at her with regret and Vali hated it deeply, "We'll need to see just how much once you're healed up more, but both your injuries were very serious, Brat. That arm of yours had damage down to the muscle and even a little bit of the bone," Vali winced at that and knew it would definitely fuck with how she threw pokeballs let alone lifted things with that arm, "Your side has damage to the muscle as well, but it's the ice-type energy that the Weavile was using we're truly concerned about. Even with the doctors getting to your wounds quickly and that magic of yours interfering, it still managed to wreak havoc,"

"So therapy will definitely be necessary if I want to regain my flexibility and even then I'll need to work at it afterward," Vali was grateful Blaine wasn't trying to sugar coat anything, "I can deal with it even if I'll probably be cursing everyone and want to give up at some points. I won't though," She scratched behind Eevee's ears, "I've got to stay strong for my pack," She gave Blaine a look, "It's not your fault. It's not Surge's. It's not anyone's fault that things ended up the way they did, Blaine. In the end, I got hurt because I didn't have my pokemon set up a perimeter around us and will ensure it won't happen again the next time they send us with you,"

"Brat..." Blaine stared at her with an unreadable expression.

"I'm alive and so are my pack," Vali grinned a bit at her teacher, "We've got to take this as a learning experience even if we're probably going to be changed forever from it and have some nightmares from it. So don't blame yourself, it doesn't fit you, Blaine,"

"Brat," Blaine snorted as he stood up and surprised Vali by ruffling her hair.

Eevee let out a growl once he got over his surprise and jumped up to bite at Blaine who easily dodged the attack. Blaine bopped Eevee on the head earning a yelp. Vali pulled Eevee away as she said, "Eevee, cool it."

"Brat, don't ever change," Blaine told her with a slight grin, "I'll come check on you in a day or so when I drop off your pokemon again. Try not to get too stir crazy,"

With that, Blaine left with a wave and Vali rubbed Eevee head gently. She spoke to him in a soft tone, "Eevee, you shouldn't attack Blaine even if he did something that surprising," Eevee let out a sullen grumbling growl, "Try not to do the same to Ash and Gary when they finally come to see me, okay? They're probably going to try and jump on me," Eevee grumbled again as he nodded and she pulled him up to her chest in order to kiss the top of his head, "Thank you, Eevee. For trying to protect me," Eevee stiffened a bit before relaxing into her hold and making it easier for her to hold him, "I think it's time for me to tell you a story about a Flareon I knew who protected me once, okay?"