Elite Arrivals in Pallet Town

Vali giggled as she leaned against Balto's side. The reason for her amusement was Lance's Trapinch, Dust, running around with the red head chasing after her. Dust had stolen Lance's pokedex ten minutes into their after-lunch training session clearly wishing to play a game. Lance cursed as he shouted, "Dust! Give me my pokedex back, I need it."

Vali watched for another minute before whistling softly prompting Dust to scuttle over to her. Dust laid her head in Vali's lap and released the pokedex as the fire-type master-in-training began rubbing base of her neck, "Lance, you guys have been training a lot since we received our pokemon from the League at the ceremony. How about you play with Dust for a bit? It's obvious she needs a bit of play time right now since she's decided to take your pokedex."

Lance frowned at her for a moment before sighing, "I guess you're right," He looked at Dust, "Dust, did you just want to play?" Dust reluctantly moved her head from Vali's lap and turned towards him in order to make a soft humming sound, "Alright, we can play for a bit rather than train. I guess we have been going a bit hard for awhile."

Dust perked up and grabbed Lance's pokedex before rushing over to him. Lance took his pokedex back with a smile and called over his other pokemon to begin playing with them. Eventually he took a seat next to her on the ground, she spoke while petting Aragorn's head, "It's a balance especially when pokemon are young. You need to train with them, but also ensure they get time to play."

"I had forgotten since my pokemon save for Dust have all grown up for the most part," Lance sighed softly as he looked over his playing pokemon with a light smile, "So Blaine's coming tomorrow? The boys don't seem very happy,"

"They're not, but they promised to react better than before," Vali replied as she recalled the conversation she'd shared with the two children last night, "After tomorrow, I'll be back on Cinnabar and working through my therapy,"

"Looking forward to it?" Lance asked glancing at her curiously.

Vali nodded with a slight smile, "Yeah, I've missed Cinnabar. Being home in Pallet Town has been nice, I've enjoyed it, but I miss Cinnabar. I surprisingly miss getting my ass kicked in training and I think my team does as well."

Lance snorted softly, "That's not something I thought you'd say."

"Yeah, me neither," Vali offered him a strained grin, "But the therapy's going to be difficult. They're paying for some none physio therapy sessions as well. Apparently Surge forced the issue and the League agreed since they don't want to risk any psychological damage,"

"Haven't had any nightmares, have you?" Lance asked her in concern.

Vali thought about her dreams and shivered slightly at the flashes of blue hair mixed with bursts of icy pain lancing through her side. In between her nightmares and dreams of fire, she hadn't gotten a good nights sleep since the attack had happened. She saw Lance's lips pull into a deep frown and sighed knowing that her face must've shown some sign of what had been haunting her nights. Digging her fingers into Balto's fur, she spoke softly, "Too many, Lance. Sometimes they end soon after I get scratched by a Weavile, it doesn't always end that soon though."

Lance reached out and gently squeezed her uninjured arm, "I get it, Vali. Hopefully whoever they got for your therapy will be able to help you out."

"Yeah," Vali nodded as her eyes went to his pokemon and a slight grin slowly formed on her face.

Blaine's arrival in Pallet Town was silent as a ghost which was rather unlike the old man and more like Agatha who was accompanying him. Had it not been for Elrond and Balto, Vali would've been unaware of their arrival in the clearing her pokemon had practically claimed within Professor Oak's ranch that they usually used when training together. At the current moment, it was all light training under the watchful eyes of Professor Oak's Dragonite who'd practically stolen Vali from Balto for a cuddle session not that the fire-type master-in-training was going to protest since the dragon-type's hugs were near legendary. For all that Dragonite often had scales harder than diamond if trained right, they were right up there with Altaria when it came to giving awesome hugs and she would happily cuddle with any Dragonite that offering one.

Agatha announced their arrival with a cackle, "Getting into more trouble than you can chew, Brat?"

"Not my fault, Agatha," Vali complained as she reluctantly opened her eyes and shifted a bit earning a groaning coo of displeasure from Dragonite who didn't want her to move at all, "This is a surprise, what can I do for you?"

"You seem to find yourself in interesting situations and even if those Rangers back at Delco wanted to bury your involvement, they cannot," Agatha grinned darkly at her, "The blue haired Poacher's mind is psychic guarded. Many layers of it and has a few different layers of things that aren't psychic based, you caught us someone that most definitely is not some simple Poacher, Brat. I'm here for the League to find out what exactly happened during your encounter with that bastard. Before it, during, and after if you're able to talk about it. They're not sending a psychic since the League isn't stupid enough to send someone to see you after what happened when Sabrina used her powers on you. Sabrina is busy right now using her powers on the Poacher, so she can't come talk with you in hopes of getting the images straight from you. I volunteered since I've already met you,"

Vali was thankful for the actual explanation and tapped Dragonite to sit up so they could talk more comfortably. She leaned carefully against Dragonite, "Okay, Agatha. I'm assuming that this'll be recorded then?"

"Yup," Agatha nodded as she took out a rather clunky looking device from a bag that Vali hadn't noticed before and guessed it'd come from her shadow, "This is Agatha of the Elite Four speaking with Valkyrie Rosebud Potter-Black Age 11 who's currently the apprentice of Blaine. Vali will be speaking of the events regarding the capture of suspect Poach Argus Roan currently suspected to be of Kanto. Vali?"

"After reaching my assigned place for the mission, I released the pokemon that I'd have out for the mission. Elrond, my Alolan Raichu, Pele, my Numel, Idril, my Sandslash, and Terra, my Larvitar. Elrond would be staying above ground as my contact with the others and the one who would be keeping me appraised of anyone approaching that I couldn't see," Vali began her explanation as she thought back to that night, "The others went below ground and began trapping it which was pretty easy seeing as we'd been place by a set of cliffs. We easily overcame and trapped the first Poacher which should've tipped me off that something was wrong,"

"Why?" Agatha asked softly and carefully as if not to break a trance.

Vali took a deep breath as she slowly approached the harder to speak of moments, "The first Poacher, a woman, released no pokemon. It was only when Idril went to take her pokeballs that we realized that she had none. Elrond realized that the other Poacher had taken them and the male Poacher, Roan, confirmed it. He snuck up on us somehow though we're still unsure as to how," She swallowed harshly and gripped Dragonite arm as her pokemon slowly began to crowd around her, "The altercation began when he said he'd take my pokeballs from me as well. He sent out a Raticate which Elrond began fighting and quickly defeated only for a Houndour to follow it. Idril and Pele involved themselves to back him up. When the Poacher complained about it not being fair, I replied that 'Poacher's don't play fair, why should I?'"

"That was tempting fate, wasn't it?" Agatha asked earning a nod as her eyes saw Vali's hand go to her side, "And that was when the Weavile hurt you?"

"Yes. My team released themselves after that and things went chaotic. I don't remember much until Roan was grabbing me," Vali hand went to her throat as she remembered the knife, "He held it, a knife, to my throat," Agatha and Blaine both went pale as her pokemon bristled while Dragonite went still beneath her, "I don't know how I managed to stay calm. My blood felt like it went cold. But when he threatened to take them, my pack, away from me," She looked at Agatha feeling a burning sensation curl against her fingers, "I couldn't let it happen. I pushed my magic to protect my magic and put to work Surge's lessons to protect myself while getting the knife away from him. My pokemon knocked him out quickly after that and I sent them to get someone help after we had Roan captured,"

Silence reigned in the clearing as Vali's words faded, Eevee quickly jumped into her lap and carefully began to cuddle into her stomach making sure to avoid her injured side. Vali began to pet him as she leaned against Dragonite carefully as the large reptile hugged her tightly though the arm around her injured side was rather light. Agatha finally spoke after a couple of minutes, "Agatha of the Elite Four. I deem nothing need be clarified."

With that, Agatha turned off the device and promptly slumped with one of her Gengar quickly wrapping its arms around her. Blaine spoke with a frown on his face, "Brat, you've never mentioned the knife at your throat."

"All things considered, Blaine, I'm just glad Vali isn't dead," Agatha said with a wary look on her face, "How many children in her position could say the same thing?"

Blaine didn't say anything in replay and only shook his head. Vali spoke up as she continued to pet Eevee, "Agatha, what's going to happen now?"

"Once Sabrina has time, she'll probably come to speak with you about getting the memory," Agatha said earning a slight flinch, "Sorry, Brat. The League'll push for it. Whoever this bastard really is, he's important,"

"Okay," Vali nodded slowly not exactly liking the idea of someone going into her mind for any reason even if it was Sabrina, "It'll probably be around the time we usually meditate together,"

Agatha blinked in surprise at the information before shaking it off, "Good," Agatha stood up slowly with the Gengar helping her, "I'll be going back to the League. I'll be sending something along to help with your Litwick's training, Vali. If this is a sign of what you'll end up getting into later on in your life, she'll definitely need a better training plan than you bumbling around with training a ghost-type like most do. Granted, I'll mostly be giving you an over-view, but it'll be more than what most get."

"Thank you, Agatha," Vali told her earnestly as stroked Dragonite's scales, "Even if Litwick isn't much of a battler, she'll appreciate it,"

Agatha nodded to her before turning and walking away with her Gengar.