Reporters, Talks with Steven, and talks with Lance

Vali walked out of the gym with Zavian three days after battling Tomas only to find a reporter standing outside. Zavian noticed the man standing with a camera guy not long after her as they left the gym and called out, "Excuse me, Sir! Is there a reason you're here? No one is permitted to film on the premises."

The reporter turned and suddenly perked up at seeing them, "Hi! My name is David Stain and I'm with Indigo Battle Network. I was hoping to find Valkyrie Potter-Black," Vali barely held back a grimace, "No one has been able to find her the Conference ended. I heard she was here thanks to a little Pidgey and wanted to be the first to get an interview."

"Sorry, Sir, but Vali isn't going to be interviewing anyone," Zavian told the man as he scowled slightly, "Now please get off the property, you have a camera and no doubt recording equipment as well,"

David's lips pulled down into a slight scowl as well, "I understand that, but the people want to hear from the top three of our latest Conference."

Vali spoke up as Zavian continued to scowl at the man, "I do not wish to speak at this time. If you wish to set up a time to meet up for a short interview, I might be willing to later on, but right now is not the time."

David looked at her in surprise, "Y-you're Valkyrie Potter-Black?"

"I am," Vali answered as she begins walking away, "C'mon Zavian, we should hurry up and get back to our chores. Wouldn't want to displease Blaine,"

Zavian quickly caught up after a moment and began chuckling, "Man, he looked stunned. I can't believe you dismissed him like that."

"He was being impolite," Vali replied with a slight shrug.

"So you're dealing with reporters?" Steven asked as he peered down at Vali's face in his Pokenav.

Vali nodded looking slightly annoyed, "Almost every time I leave the gym. They're begging for interviews and throwing questions at me every time they see me," She ran a hand through her hair, "I hate this."

"A part of me wishes I could help, but I'm very glad to not deal with it," Steven chuckled softly at her slight glare.

"The fact they are constantly asking questions of both Lance and you isn't fun either," Vali told him with a groan, "I don't answer them, but still how am I supposed to know what either of you are up to? And why would I betray either of you to a pack of reporters?"

Steven grinned slightly, "And we're very thankful for that."

"I'm going to be so glad when Blaine let's me go home for the week," Vali sighed out, "It'll be nice,"

"You're going home for a week?" Steven asked curiously earning a nod, "When did that happen?"

"Technically I'm supposed to go home every weekend," Vali explained as she shifted slightly and he heard the turning of a page, "With how busy we've been and the fact I've had to focus on healing, I haven't been able to since my Apprenticeship began," She glanced away from the pokenav and hummed softly as her arm reached over the screen for a couple of moments, "Now that I'm getting to a point where my mobility is somewhat good enough and things are slowing down somewhat, I'm able to take some time off depending on when,"

"That'll be nice," Steven commented as her face became visible again, "So working on your next research paper?"

"Mhmm," Vali hummed softly, "I ended up discarding one idea and found another one that Professor Oak ended up approving of. When I head home, I'm going to be researching as well as relaxing. It'll be quite interesting,"

"Sounds like you're settling in finally," Steven commented earning a small smile.

"Yeah," Vali nodded slowly, "When you ignore the fact I got hurt, I have settled in my duties as an Apprentice and I've learned a lot already. I think I'll definitely become a Gym Leader at some point after my time as an Elite Four is over,"

"It'd be a good job and you'd probably be good at it," Steven replied somewhat able to see it.

Vali glanced at him, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Steven shook his head lightly, "I'm just thinking about my travels ahead. I'll be setting out to battle the Hoenn League again soon," He smiled at her, "It'll be nice to travel the region and see it once again,"

Vali grinned at him, "I can't wait to see it with you as my guide at some point, Mr. Future Champion."

Soon enough, the call ended and Steven stared at the screen for a few moments before setting his pokenav down. He looked out of the window towards the area his pokemon were currently settled in and spoke, "And hopefully, I'll have an Amaura for you by then."

Vali sat on one of the hills settled near the Volcano on Cinnabar after her most recent doctors visit, "So you're already heading to your Blackthorn?"

"Yup, it'll take me until right before the Conference to get my gym badge though since my Uncle won't make this easy," Lance shook his head lightly, "So how are things over there?"

"Not too bad, I've finally got a name for not only Houndour, Litwick, Seel, but also Litleo," Vali answered earning a surprised look, "I got a bit busy with everything going on, but they've been working very hard for it. Houndour is Eowyn. Litwick is Galadrial," She figured it fit the little ghost the best even if a psychic-type might be best of for the name, "Seel is Bombur. Litleo is Irmo mostly because he prefers to dream most of the time,"

Lance looked a bit confused, "Where did those names come from?"

"A story from my old world though the details have pretty much faded," Vali admitted with a wry grin, "I couldn't tell you much about it,"

"Shame," Lance shook his head, "But it's good you've finally named them," He looked at her curiously, "So what's going on with you?"

"Since I've had so much progress over the last four months since everything happened and the doctors did clear me, I might be heading out with Blaine on his next bit of League business to see how things are done again," Vali answered with an awkward smile earning a sharp look, "I'm not looking forward to it exactly, but it's to be expected given that the League is eager to see what I can do,"

"You'll be careful?" Lance asked with a slight frown.

Vali nodded as she felt Aragorn's warm body cuddle into her side, "As careful as I can be."

"Then I can't say anything else," Lance replied with a shake of his head.