Preparations and calls home

In the days leading up to their departure from Celadon, Steven and Vali did their usual thing. They made a list of what they had and bought everything save for food which would be saved until the day before they left. With their pokemon being returned to them with a clean bill of health, they wouldn't have to get them checked out by Nurse Joy until the next pokemon center unless they had a spur of the moment battle before they left Celadon. Vali had her egg checked out as a precaution before they left. Nurse Joy returned it to her with a clean bill of health though the woman told her that she would have to keep a careful eye on the pokemon that hatched from it due to the fact it was smaller than normal which she'd already known. As a result of that warning, Nurse Joy gave her a list of things to keep on hand when her egg finally hatched along with advice to have Balto, Arwen, and Smaug curl around the egg when they could to help insure the eggs health.

In preparation for their departure, the traveling partners headed to the booths that marked on entrance to Cycling Road. Since neither of them had a bike nor required one as they had pokemon that could take their weight, they were required to sign a contract stating that they knew the risks of traveling the road and that the League wasn't responsible for any mishaps that may occur. Once that was done, they were given a copy of the contract and a permit to travel the Cycling Road without a bike/motorcycle/scooter/etc. They also had to pay a fee of 500 poke, but that was easily done. After everything had been handed over, they would be allowed to travel the Cycling Road as much as they wanted for a full year.

Vali ended up stocking up a bit further on winter items needed for the journey. She picked up an elemental resistant tent big enough for her pokemon, extra blankets, extra fire making supplies, a few extra water bottles that were able to withstand extreme changed in heat, and a larger sleeping bag which would allow her pokemon save for Celina and Smaug to cuddle with her if they got cold. She picked up a pair of thick Mamoswine hide gloves with Beartic fur lining for when her current gloves either failed or ended up shredded. She also picked up a few breakable packs of instant heat that could last for a couple of hours. While she did have fire-type pokemon, they could get hurt by in a snow storm. She also bought quite a few berries in bulk as well as some vitamins. Once she found everything she needed, she paid for it while finding out that she ate through her cash on hand and had to use at least five thousand poke from her savings. While it was a bit much, everything would last a while and would be needed for when they were outside of civilization when winter hit.

Steven ended up following her lead though he already had a good portion of the things she bought. While it may seem to be a bit much, winter was one of the harshest times a pokemon trainer could be traveling and it was heavily recommended for rookies to spend it in the nearest town. While she was planning on being back in Pallet in time for Christmas, she knew that the precautions they took would be enough besides most rookies didn't have an older trainer traveling with them.

"So you're leaving Celadon tomorrow?" Delia asked earning a nod as Vali rubbed between Balto's ears, "That makes four badges plus two fully evolved pokemon. You're doing very well for yourself, Vali,"

"Thanks, Delia, but it would have happened without everyone," Vali hugged Balto as he barked, "Since we're taking the Cycling Road and will probably only end up against other trainers, we should be in Fuchsia within the next five days maybe a week if we ended up facing a lot of people,"

"Call me when you arrive," Delia told her earning a nod, "Other than that, how is everyone?"

"They're doing really good. We haven't had many problems outside of Smaug's attitude before he evolved," Vali was glad for that though she knew that the problem pokemon every trainer ended up with would be coming her way soon since Eevee didn't count, "I think Eevee's trusting me," She looked at Delia curiously, "So how is everyone back in Pallet?"

"Ash and Gary have been getting up to quite a bit of mischief especially since Pidgey has started flying," Delia rolled her eyes as Vali snickered, "Of course, you already know that,"

"Yeah, I was talking to Professor Oak a few days ago and heard some them start something," Vali shook her head lightly as she asked, "Did the Professor tell you about the job offer?"

Delia nodded with a beaming grin, "I'm so proud of you, Vali. I know you'll do well."

Vali flushed a bit as her heart warmed up like it always did when Delia said something like that. She wondered if this was what having a mother felt like. She hugged Balto a bit tighter, "Thanks, I'm going to do my best to get all eight badges since that means I'll be able to travel and train with everyone unless I get more than ten pokemon," She relaxed her grip on Balto, "How's Pikachu?"

"He's doing well. He's actually helping to keep Ash, Pidgey, and Gary out of trouble," Delia sounded fairly relieved, "He's stopped them from bugging the Rhyhorn and Tauros. Of course, he has been giving them little shocks, but it's fairly painless," Delia looked down and smiled, "Would you like to see him? He's been helping around the house,"

"Please," Vali watched as Delia bent down before the woman stood up to reveal Pikachu sitting in her arms, "Hey, Pikachu!" Pikachu smiled at her and jumped from Delia's arms to touch the screen, "I've missed you so much and I know that the others have been missing you too," Balto barked in agreement and she let him get close to the screen to nose at it a bit, "You might've already have heard this, but we won at the Celadon Gym," Pikachu nodded as he sat down, "You've probably also heard about the whole job offer too and let me tell you, I'm going to do my best to see it happen because I want everyone with me," Pikachu let out a soft cry and gave her a grin showing he knew she would do it, "Now, I'm thinking of letting you rest a bit longer. You okay with that?" Pikachu bobbed his head, "Good. I'm going to talk to Professor Oak about maybe placing you on my inactive roster to spend time with everyone once we get to Fuchsia. Not for long, I just want to be able to train everyone together and maybe see about teaching everyone something. I've got a whole slew of new moves for you to learn," Pikachu's cheeks sparked as he let out an eager sounding cry, "Glad to see your happy about it, I know you've probably been training too whenever you aren't spending time with Ash and the others. Thank you for keeping them out of trouble,"

Pikachu inclined his head. Vali spent a bit more time talking to him and Delia before the older woman had to go make lunch for the house's occupants.