Duties and a new Bearer

Vali's duties would be fairly basic until after the next two weeks were over. For now, she'd be helping to keep the gym clean and tend to any of the pokemon that resided on site. After lunch on her second day, Blaine took her to Cinnabar General where the kid Jackson had spoke about was staying. He spoke as they headed through the hallways, "The kid's name is Amity Byrne. She's ten as of two weeks ago and an orphan as of three months ago. The Kingdra's name is Nemu. Even if the kid's a ten year old now, the League still isn't quite so keen on letting her have a Kingdra especially one that's a wild born considering how rare they are, but Nemu's not willing to let go of the kid. I need you to watch over the kid and ensure they're not messed with. Okay?"

"I can do that," Vali nodded her head lightly, "How long until she's out of the hospital?"

"Two days. Once Amity's comfortable with you, I'll be heading out since I've got shit to do today. Come back to the gym an hour before dinner so we can do another practice, I will warn you that Nemu won't like your pokemon too much," Blaine warned her earning a nod.

"Jackson said as much," Vali replied as she shoved her hands into the pockets of the hoodie she'd put on that morning, "I've just got to show Nemu that I'm not going to try and take her away from Amity. Once they trust me, I'll introduce them to Aragorn and Elrond maybe even Houndour,"

"Best bet," Blaine nodded to her as they reached a door at the end of a hallway, "I'll go in first then call you inside,"

Vali nodded and Blaine headed inside. It felt weird not having a pokemon with her, but she would abide by Blaine's rules. She pressed a hand to her pokeball belt for a moment and felt each of the orbs that rested on it. From the oldest one most weathered occupant to the newest one, she felt a peace knowing that her pack would be together from now on. Once any new members were in, they'd get to stay with her as long as she was a Gym trainer before being sent to the lab and she'd have to switch them around. By that time, she'd have enough resources to ensure that everyone would be able to train on their own and be able to give everyone the attention they needed, but that was in the future.

Blaine opened the door and she pushed away from the wall as her hand fell off the pokeballs on her waist. She walked into the room and found her attention shifting between the two beings within the room. The one most would be paying attention to was the Kingdra floating above the tub of water set up by the wall. The large seahorse-like pokemon's tail was tightly curled underneath it and heavily muscled. The startling sapphire blue of it's main body scales and the diamond pattern of it's compact butter yellow stomach scales denoted that it was female. Razor thin spines branched her horn forming the crown-like crest the Kindra species was known for, a set of thin pale white fines sat beneath her cheeks though one was torn. Her snout was thin to allow for powerful water jets, a thin yet jagged scar could be seen running along the entire edge of it from the tip to the base. Unlike others of her species, she only had the left two-pronged fin that extended slightly past her cheek while a rather ragged scar sat where the other should've been. On her back is a white fin supported by thin, blue spines similar to the ones on her head. Crimson red eyes gazed at Vali with a wary glared though the Kingdra didn't make a move to attack, she seemed to be waiting for any sign of trouble.

The one that Vali immediately found herself paying attention to was Amity Byrne. The ten year old had blue streaked black hair and teal eyes. The kid was pale though it was the kind you got from being forced to spend time inside after being outside for most of your life. She was skinny too though not unnaturally so, but definitely not a healthy kind of weight. The kid wore a set of hospital clothes that were definitely not something Vali thought was comfortable. Even with the blanket, Vali could see the braces on the kid's leg and felt a sting of sorrow for the kid at not being able to set out for her journey any time soon. Blaine spoke as Vali stopped beside him, "Amity, this brat is my new Apprentice and the one who'll be watching over you at the gym most of the time, Valkyrie Potter-Black. Brat, this is Amity Byrne and the Kindra Nemu. I'd stay longer, but I've got shit to do. Don't kill each other."

With that said, Blaine left the room. Vali watched him go feeling slightly exasperated with her new mentor. She sighed slightly as the door shut before turning back to Amity and found their eyes fully meeting for the first time. Almost immediately her inner flame jumped up against her skin when a cool feeling enveloped the room and Amity's eyes flashed a deep sea green, the younger girl gasped softly and pressed a hand to her heart as Nemu let out a low thrum that didn't sound at all friendly. Vali quickly reigned in her inner flame as she spoke, "So you're one of us, huh?"

"O-one of us?" Amity stuttered out in a soft voice, "W-what do you mean?"

Rather than speak, Vali closed her eyes and brought up her hand while carefully willing her flames to the surface of her skin. Upon hearing Amity yelp and Nemu's hiss, she forced her flames down and opened her eyes glad that she hadn't set off any smoke detectors, "I don't know much of anything either. I just know that there are about 6 of us. I can't explain much especially in this place,"

"S-so I'm not alone?" Amity asked looking at Vali in awe, "B-but why now? Why not before?"

"We didn't meet until now," Vali replied as she took a seat by Amity, "I can explain more about all this once you're at the gym, but even then, it'll be difficult since I don't know a lot. I only learned this during my journey and I won't meet my true teacher for another two years at least,"

"What about Blaine?" Amity asked in confusion.

"Blaine will let me go when he decides that he's taught me enough and I learn pretty quick," Vali shrugged lightly, "So I'm not too concerned," She held out her hand to Amity, "I'll try to help you out where I can and see if I can get the person that told me about this stuff to appear though no promises,"

"Thank you," Amity took her hand slowly before looking towards Nemu, "Nemu, be calm. She won't try to take you from me. You won't, right?" Amity looked towards Vali sternly and the fire-type trainer nodded earning a light smile, "I'm glad to hear it," The younger girl looked at her curiously, "So what kind of pokemon do you have?"