Deep talks, a birth as the prince is given his name, and the prince's thoughts

"You didn't say anything," Delia said not long after Ash had fallen asleep and Vali had returned to the living room.

Vali bit back the urge to groan and walked over to where Balto was laying by the unlit fire-place. Settling down against his side, she looked at Delia with a slight frown, "I didn't want to worry anyone more than I already had."

Delia's already present frown deepened and her eyebrows pinched together, "Vali."

"I'm sorry," Vali told Delia relaxing into the comforting heat Balto was offering her, "I should've said something sooner, but every time I tried, something came up," She picked up Vulpix and began massaging his growing tail earning a low groan from the fox-like pokemon as some of the pain eased, "I'm really sorry, Delia,"

Delia let out a low sigh, "Vali, I'm not mad. Just disappointed."

Vali flinched earning a low whine from both Balto and Vulpix. She hated disappointing Delia or Sirius. She murmured another apology, "I'll try not to keep something like that from you."

"That's all I ask," Delia's frown eased a bit, "Vali, what did your magic do?"

"It kept the ship from capsizing," Vali avoided keeping her mind on the Gyarados attack, "I was exhausted for weeks and really hungry for awhile. It felt like I had a cold mixed with not eating much for weeks,"

Delia gained a pained look, "Your magic takes a lot out of you."

"Yeah, but that's mostly due to not practicing with it," Vali thought of the stone currently locked within her dresser drawer, "While my pokemon train, I'll be training too. Not just physically, I need to train up my magic especially since there's no telling when exactly I'll end up being called,"

Which was also a big reason Vali needed to train her magic, she couldn't count on her inner flame even when whoever was calling to her finally wanted to meet.

Vali and her pokemon fell into a schedule after resting for a few days. In the mornings, Vali would go for a run with the pokemon still on her main team. After breakfast, she'd go to the lab once Ash had gone to school and worked with her whole pokemon family until lunch. After lunch, she set everyone to work and trained with a specific pokemon until close to dinner. She'd go home with the pokemon still on her main team and eat dinner before settling down for the night. And ended the day with meditation as well as grooming her pokemon. When Professor Oak had the time, he helped them train, but usually had his pokemon work with hers.

Vali's Houndour egg began hatching not long after sunset and due to the occasion, Ash was allowed to stay up. He was waiting with Delia near the edge of the living room watching with her entire family of pokemon as the egg shell cracked. It jolted and rolled a bit as pieces of egg shell began to fall off. The bottom of the egg promptly shattered leaving the top. With a soft giggle, Vali reached out and gently pulled off the top of the egg.

Houndour blinked slowly at her with big cloudy amber eyes that couldn't quite see just yet. With a gentle hum, she picked up Houndour and began cleaning her off earning a soft whine. When she finished, Vali told the little one, "Welcome to the world, Houndour. Welcome to our pack, Little One."

Slowly each of her pokemon introduced themselves to Houndour, Balto was the first with Vulpix being the last. Even Elrond greeted her with a gentle smile, the instinctive dislike of dark-types not preventing him from loving their newest family member. The pup greeted everyone in return letting out soft whines and whimpers as she took in their scent marking them as pack. Once everyone had given their greeting, Vali fed Houndour and the little one drifted off to sleep. Ash spoke softly as Delia headed off to speak with Professor Oak about the newest addition, "Why were her eyes cloudy?"

"Houndour are usually blind at birth," Vali explained in an equally soft voice cradling her newest baby pokemon, "They gain their sight after a few days. During this time, they memorize their pack's scents, so they're able to always find them regardless of how far they travel,"

"Wow," Ash looked at Houndour in wonder before looking towards Vulpix, "Are you going to give him a nickname?"

"Mhmm," Vulpix perked up at the hum of agreement, "I suppose it is time that he has a nickname. If he wishes for one," She looked at her not-so little fox who's eager eyes stared up at her, "Well, Vulpix? Do you wish for a nickname?" Vulpix nodded rapidly almost making her fear that he'd injure his neck, "Then a nickname you shall have,"

It surprisingly took awhile for Vali to make a list of name for Vulpix despite starting to make it when he'd been born. Knowing of the king gene had helped greatly as it narrowed down the list quite a bit, she still had some trouble. In the end, she'd discarded names like Gilgamesh or Harry/Hadrian since neither fit Vulpix. Arthur was considered for the longest time both for the legends and in memory of Mr. Weasley. Now looking at Vulpix, the only names that came to her were, "Vulpix, do you wish to be called Alexander or Aragorn."

Vulpix stared at her for a few moments tilting his head in confusion and Vali explained the names to him. Eventually, Vulpix decided on Aragorn earning a soft smile from Vali. She gently set Houndour onto Balto's side and picked up Vulpix to press a kiss to his forehead, "Aragorn, my little king. From this day till your last, you'll be known as Aragorn."

The newly named Aragorn licked her chin letting out a soft yip.

Houndour was a lot more vocal than Aragorn had been, but that wasn't very surprising since the species was one of the most vocal in the world. Almost every way they communicated was vocal, the only time they didn't communicate verbally was when stalking their prey. Houndour was also very nocturnal which wasn't surprising even if it left Vali and her other pokemon exhausted when the little pup finally fell asleep. It would take a month or two to get Houndour onto the same schedule as everyone else from what Professor Oak was able to find out. So until then, Vali decided to set up a nocturnal training schedule which she had contemplated before, but hadn't done since there hadn't been much need for it.

Vali spoke quite a bit with both Steven and Zaria due to this new change in her schedule. Steven had adapted a similar schedule due to the excavation team taking on odd hours within the caverns and tunnels of Mount Moon. Zaria had the same schedule due to her chosen pokemon being mostly nocturnal in nature. Though being able to speak with Steven could be a challenge, the magnetic fields played merry hell on the signals leaving and entering the mountain. So she tended to talk to Zaria most nights, the dark-type master-in-training offering up suggestions on how best to deal with Houndour once she had gotten her sight.

Aragorn looked at the pup that was stumbling after their trainer and felt some exasperation. Houndour had refused to be carried by their mother-sister-trainer despite knowing she wouldn't be able to keep up. Now that she'd gained her sight, the pup wanted to travel under her own power which was understandable even though being cuddled by Vali while she walked was the best feeling in the world. But the pup's legs were still weak and she wasn't able to balance very well, it meant Houndour wouldn't be able to keep up.

Inwardly sighing at the somewhat idiotic actions of the pup, Aragorn padded over and braced Houndour's side making it easier for her to keep up. As the elder in this situation, he had to do as their pack had done for him and assist their newest member in exploring how the world worked. Houndour huffed at him, but he ignored it as they followed after Vali towards where the other members of their pack waited. Eventually, the pup began to lean more heavily on him and a glance showed that she was tiring.

When more of the pup's weight settled on his side, Aragorn barked catching Vali's attention and the trainer quickly scooped up Houndour with a coo. She patted his head, "Thank you for helping her, Aragorn. You're such a good big brother."

Aragorn's chest puffed up and he began to prance a bit as he trotted beside Vali towards their pack. Looking after the youngest member would be tiring especially if she continued to be headstrong, he would do it not only because she was pack, but because Vali was counting on them to guide the pup