Home coming tangled with memories

After touching down at the small Pallet Town port and thanking the captain of the ferry, Vali called out Balto and got onto his back. Steven called out Metagross, "Will Delia still be awake when we get there?"

"I'm not sure, but probably," Vali urged Balto forward at a fast walk as Steven got onto Metagross' back and followed them, "Considering the fact that she always stays awake until Sirius comes home whenever he gives us a warning no matter how late he'll be arriving, I think it's highly likely she'll be waiting for us,"

"That's nice of her," Steven said as they sped up a bit, "Making sure you come home to someone,"

Vali grinned a bit, "It's just one of the things that make Delia an amazing person."

Soon enough, they reached the Ketchum-Black-Potter residence with both trainers dismounting and returning their pokemon. They headed to the door and Vali unlocked it with her key. Delia was sitting in the living room and quickly greeted them, "Vali! Steven! Welcome back."

Vali hugged Delia tightly, "Thanks for waiting up for us."

"Of course," Delia hugged her back, "Are either of you hungry?"

Vali's stomach chose that moment to rumble causing the fire-type master-in-training to blush, "Yeah. Something to eat would probably be a good idea."

Delia released her with a laugh to give Steven a brief hug, "You two go get your things settled. I'll go make something quick. Try to be somewhat quiet since Ash and Gary are both sleeping upstairs."

"We will," Vali promised as she headed towards her room.

Steven joined her after thanking Delia for allowing him to stay once more. Vali opened her bedroom door and headed inside to drop off her bag. She took out the egg incubator and set it down on her desk to be checked over later. She set down her pokeballs after releasing Elrond, Vulpix, and Eevee. She would release everyone once she'd gotten ready for bed. Picking up Vulpix, she left her room with Eevee trotting beside her and Elrond floating over him. Settling down in the kitchen, she smiled as Delia set a plate of hot stew in front of her, "Here, it might be a bit heavy considering how soon you'll be going to bed, but I know my stew is your favorite."

"Thank you, Delia," Vali told her with a soft grin.

"It's no problem," Delia took Vulpix from her, "Look who's getting so big,"

Vulpix wagged his tail and barked lapping up the praise Delia was bestowing on him. Elrond floated a bowl of water down to Eevee alongside a few berries. Steven entered the kitchen and Delia placed down Vulpix to get him a bowl of stew as well. Delia settled at the table as both trainers dug into the homemade meal with gusto. Vali paused to take a drink of lemonade, "Delia, is Ash having a sleepover?"

"Yes," Delia smiled lightly, "They were trying to stay awake long enough to greet you, but ended up falling asleep around eleven," Her smile dropped, "They've been worried about you,"

Vali froze in the middle of bringing a spoonful of stew to her mouth. Swallowing heavily, she returned it to her bowl, "How much do they know?"

"They only know that something happened in Vermilion City landing you in the hospital," Delia answered with a small grimace, "They do know about the Gyarados attack though,"

Vali was happy that Gary and Ash didn't know the details about the almost mugging. Elrond laid a paw on her shoulder radiating a sense of comfort. She saw the look in Delia's eyes not quite demanding information, but wanting to know what was going on with the fire-type master-in-training. She ate a few more spoonfuls of stew before saying, "I'm not exactly alright. Physically I'm fine, but everything else is still getting there. The whole thing in Vermilion is going to take awhile for me to really get over what happened, but the Gyarados thing is actually a bit easier."

"Easier?" Delia and Steven both looked at her in confusion.

Vali finished her bowl of stew as she thought of how to answer that question. She set down her spoon in the empty bowl and took another drink from her lemonade, "It's easier mostly because the Gyarados are pokemon rather than humans. They attacked for whatever reason and dealing with an attacking pokemon, or multiple ones in this case, is easier for me," She picked up Vulpix as he wandered over and hugged him to her chest, "Pokemon are just easier for me to understand and it's not like I've had so many bad experiences with them."

"Oh, Vali," Delia had a sad look in her eyes.

"I'll be fine, eventually," Vali added that last part almost as an after thought, "Being home for a little while will help. I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with Ash and Gary not to mention my other pokemon," She gave Delia a tired smile, "Just don't push too much, okay? I've been talking with Rodrick a bit, not much since he's a busy man, but it's been helping,"

"If you need to talk, I'll be here to listen," Delia promised her.

Vali nodded as put down Vulpix to pick up her bowl and place it in the sink, "Thanks, Delia. I'm going to go get ready for bed and get my pokemon settled."

Vali hugged Delia goodnight and patted Steven's shoulder as she left the kitchen. She had no doubt that Delia would be asking Steven for more information if only to get a proper idea of what exactly had happened. She didn't mind it and actually hoped Steven would tell her if only to save the fire-type master-in-training from having to relive those memories. Getting ready for bed, she called everyone out and they all got settled down for the night with Smaug carefully settling down in a way that would keep his wings from hurting.

Steven watched Vali leave before looking at Delia who was staring after the fire-type master-in-training with a sad look on her face. He felt his heart clench a bit as a small voice in his head wondered if that was a look his mother would've given him had she been alive and he'd been in Vali's place. Pushing away the thought, he told Delia, "She's spoken to Rodrick at least twice a week since the almost mugging happened. He's mostly been focusing on that incident, but from what I've been led to believe, they're also broaching a few things from before she came to this world."

Delia looked a bit surprised, but also thankful. The woman smiled a bit, "I'll have to bake that man a cake or something to thank him," She looked at Steven, "Steven, what exactly happened that night?"

Steven winced as he thought back to it, "Ryner, my friend who'd been sent by my father to help me keep up to date on my paperwork, and I were returning to the pokemon center from where we'd been working on everything when Metagross alerted me to Vali's situation. Had Metagross not shown me a picture of the situation taken from Vali's mind, I wouldn't have believed it given just how absurd someone having a gun was. We hurried to get to her and arrived just in time to deal with the situation though not fast enough," He wished that he'd thought to have Claydol go to Vali and teleport her out, "I took her to the hospital while Ryner got everything settled."

"And the Gyarados attack?" Delia asked making Steven wince again.

Granted it wasn't quite as terrible as the almost mugging, Steven agreed with Vali that dealing with pokemon related problems was easier than the human ones even if their reasoning was diffrent. He spoke as his mind went back to the attack, "As you already know, an abnormally large pod of Gyarados attacked. We were keeping them back and even managed to begin forcing the pod back," He could barely keep back memories of the icy cold rain and bone-chilling roars of Gyarados, "One of the electric-types, I'm still unsure which, managed to chase them away. One of the Gyarados took a parting shot and the ship started to tip. Vali was already sliding away before I could get a grip on her," He clenched his fist underneath the table remembering the sharp spear of fear and dread that had torn through him, "Vali did something with her magic that righted the ship. I got to her after she passed out. It took her a day to wake up."

Steven inwardly flinched as he remembered the heavy bruises and cuts that had decorated Vali's visible skin. It had been nothing short of a miracle that she hadn't suffered any worse injuries than the fracture. He pushed the memory from his mind as Delia said, "She's very lucky."

"She is," Steven agreed as he unclenched his fist, "Delia, I'm sorry that I've been unable to keep Vali from getting hurt,"

"It's not your fault, Steven," Delia shook her head and offered him a kind smile, "As Vali likes to say, the life of a trainer is one full of danger. While some of it shouldn't have happened, it did and none of us could have known it would happen. I know that you would've done your best to keep her safe had you known this would happen, so don't apologize for that," Steven opened his mouth to protest only to close it knowing that she was right, "Don't stay up too much longer, Steven,"

"I won't," Steven nodded to her as he looked at the bowl in front of him.

"When you're finished eating, you can just fill the bowl up with water and put it in the sink," Delia said as she stood up, "I'll deal with it in the morning. Goodnight, Steven,"

"Goodnight, Delia," Steven replied.

Delia headed off to bed and Steven soon did the same after doing as the woman requested. He paused outside Vali's door and peaked inside to find her curled up with the pokemon she called family. He smiled a bit before closing the door and heading to his own room. Letting everyone out, he got ready for bed with Metagross asking, "Are you alright, Master Steven?"

"I'm fine," Steven laid down and his pokemon got settled down for the night with Mawile jumping on the bed to curl up against his side.

Steven smiled as he rubbed the steel/fairy-type's back earning a low coo from Mawile. Metagross spoke as they settled down beside the bed, "Miss Delia is a nice human."

"She's an amazing one," Steven closed his eyes.

Just as amazing as Vali, Steven inwardly mused as he slowly sank into the embrace of sleep.