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Steven looked up as Sirius and Lt. Surge entered the waiting room. The grim animagus immediately making a bee-line towards the steel-type master-in-training, "Steve-"

"I don't have all the information, but Vali's going to be fine according to the doctor's thoughts," Steven cut the worried man off, "The police are going to be speaking with her once the doctor is done treating the injury,"

Lt. Surge frowned darkly, "How the hell could this have even happened? Not even a few blocks from my fucking gym."

Steven frowned at the Gym Leader feeling no small amount of irritation at the man. Sirius turned to the Gym Leader with a scowl, "Maybe it wouldn't have if you didn't rely on your reputation to scare people away."

Lt. Surge bristled in a way that reminded Steven of the man's Jolteon, "Maybe you should shut your trap, Black."

Before a fight could start, Steven cut in, "Sirius, I'm surprised you made it here so quickly."

"Professor Oak was very helpful with lending his Alakazam for me to use once alerted to what happened," Sirius answered as he forced himself to take a deep breath, "Damn it, of all the things to happen not even a day after she leaves home again. Fuck, we were worried about pokemon attacking her not humans,"

"Sometimes humans are the more dangerous creatures," A cool voice replied from nearby, "I assume you're Mister Black, Miss' Potter's legal guardian?"

They all turned to find a doctor standing nearby with a clipboard. It was the same one that had been treating Vali causing Steven to straighten out of his slight slouch. Sirius nodded as he focused on the clipboard, "Yes. Is Vali alright?"

"She is currently very shaken up," The doctor answered as Steven set a hand on Metagross' pokeball, "The bullet thankfully only grazed her side. While I did have to give her a few stitches, the wound should heal fairly quickly thanks to the modified potions I used. Mister Stone, I am aware that you're worried for Miss Potter, but please inform your psychic-types to leave my head alone,"

Steven offered the doctor an apologetic look while dropping his hand, "Of course, Doctor."

The doctor inclined his head while Metagross and Claydol withdrew themselves from the man's mind, "Thank you. Now, I am prescribing Miss Potter some antibiotics as a precaution against any infections that might develop. I expect Miss Potter to come back in a few days to have the wound checked over and the stitches removed."

"Of course, can we go see her now?" Sirius requested as he took the prescription from the doctor.

"Yes though you will likely have to wait outside the room while she is being questioned," The doctor shook his head, "For one so young to be forced into a situation like this, what is the world coming to?"

After giving them the room number and writing up Vali's discharge papers, the doctor headed off to see his other patients. Steven looked at the two men and cleared his throat when Sirius opened his mouth, "Leave any arguments outside, Vali has been through enough tonight and none of the hospital residents need to be stressed out."

Without waiting for either of the adults to follow, Steven headed towards the room that Vali was in. He was thankful Metagross had a clear picture of the room and how to get there since hospitals could be far too confusing. Metagross spoke softly in his mind, "Master Steven, do you wish for me to monitor Friend-Vali's dreams tonight?"

Steven mentally nodded to his oldest pokemon, "Yes and for a little while after tonight as well, I have a feeling she's not going to be sleeping easily for awhile or at least, until we're out of the city."

Metagross gave a mental hum before falling silent and Steven knew he was once again contemplating the enigma that was Vali. The amusement from that thought helped calm his nerves allowing the Devon Corp heir to focus on the here and now.

Vali watched as the two police officers left and slipped off the bed feeling her side ache a bit despite the numbing solution that the doctor had used. She internally mused that it must be wearing off which wasn't exactly a good thing. The door opened to reveal Steven who quickly made his way over to her, "Vali, are you...?"

Steven trailed off and Vali offered him a slightly weak smile, "I'm trying not to break down right now," She swallowed thickly, "C-can we head to the pokemon center now?"

"Of course," Steven held out a hand to her, "Sirius is here as is Surge,"

"Really?" Vali was more than a little surprised to hear that.

Vali hadn't thought Sirius would be able to come since he was due to be recalled by the Ranger Corps any day now. Though she probably should've known, Sirius pretty much dropped everything when it came to her. Lt. Surge was a surprise since when she last saw him, he had been busy with Rodrick and Monica. Then again, he'd probably been informed that something like this had happened since he was pretty much in charge of all Law Enforcement inside Vermilion City being the Gym Leader. Him rushing to check on her felt nice, she hadn't thought they were that close. Using the warmth and happiness the thought brought, she pushed back the need to break down even further and took Steven hand. She was grateful to have something to hold onto since it helped ground her. Steven squeezed her hand as he led her out of the room, "Yeah. Sirius got Professor Oak to lend him Alakazam though I'm not too sure about Surge. Vali, is it alright if Metagross monitors your dreams tonight?"

Vali hesitated for a moment before nodding feeling a bit relieved, "Yes."

Steven squeezed her hand again as they left the room and began heading down the hallway.

It took Vali over three hours of arguing with Sirius to keep him from trying to drag her back to Pallet Town and to prevent him from fighting with Lt. Surge. Lt. Surge was already pissed off about the fact something like this had happened in his city and that she'd been the one to bring it to his attention. Keeping the two adults from fighting quickly exhausted the already stressed out fire-type master-in-training, the two men didn't really seem to notice much. By the time the two left with Sirius promising to come back in the morning, she was ready to collapse, but forced herself to stay awake. She took one of the antibiotics that the doctor had prescribed for her, ate something from the cafeteria, picked her pokemon up from Nurse Joy while thanking Steven for having them seen to after the doctor sent him from the room, and informed them all about what happened. Needless to say, they were not happy in the least and were heavily tempted to go after the person that had attempted to mug her.

After calming them down and finally letting herself breakdown, Vali finally ended the day by giving into her exhaustion. Steven woke her up as images of the mugger and his rabid Raticate began swirling through her mind. Steven didn't try to ask her about the nightmare and instead talked about the things he'd gone over that day until she'd fallen asleep again only this time it was a restful sleep without any dreams.