Shopping trips

Zaria didn't mind handing over the catalogue to Vali when they returned to the pokemon center. Vali just had a little bit of trouble believing how big it was, but quickly pushed her disbelief to the side. She had the notebook she usually used to keep track of her supplies and a couple of pens at her side. She began going through the catalogue with Steven writing down things they both wanted to check out as well as how much of something she was planning to buy. She was definitely going to invest in stickers and pokeball covers to make sure she wouldn't be able to lose her pokeballs if someone managed to somehow steal them. One of the things she was going to look into was the price of engraving pokeballs since that would be a more permanent identifier. It was bound to be expensive though since the engraver would have to be extra careful since any damage to the pokeball could cause it to stop working.

Vali made a note of getting some bandannas or something like that for her pokemon. Like with the battle against Lt. Surge, people had the same species of pokemon as her and it could cause problems identifying said pokemon if something happened. She would give each of her pokemon a choice in what they would wear. In the case of Celina, she would call home and have Delia find something for her Pidgeotto to wear. Whatever they ended up choosing, it had to be able to take damage without falling apart during a battle and be able to stand up against the elements.

When Vali got to the TM section, she asked Zaria, "Did you get the permanent version or the one-shot ones?"

"Permanent since the vouchers cover it. I got a cheapest case since they aren't covered by the vouchers, but it works," Zaria gained a small look of irritation, "Hyper Beam and other TM's of that level only come in the one-shot versions. They're also not covered by the voucher,"

Vali grimaced, but understood why the League wouldn't give out vouchers covering those. They didn't want some kid giving something like an Eevee or something like that access to Hyper Beam. It would not only cause quite a bit of destruction, but also kill the pokemon attempting to learn how to use it. Certain pokemon weren't meant to use a move like that especially during their first stages. The League didn't want that kind of knowledge on their mind especially with how stupid some beginner trainers were. Sometimes, it was a wonder how many of them managed to get their license.

"Good thing I'm not looking for that kind of move until after Terra or one of my other pokemon reaches their final evolution," Vali's pokemon didn't need that kind of power at the moment.

Sure, it would be welcome if they ran into some really strong pokemon, but that didn't need it at the moment. She'd think about it closer to when the League Conference started. Even then, she doubted she would actually get the TM. Terra could learn it naturally and teach her other pokemon if she needed them to learn it. No use spending money when it wasn't needed after all.

After getting her pokemon back from Nurse Joy, Vali pampered every single one of them. When it was Eevee's turn, he freaked out at the water and she had to remove him from the bathroom in order to calm him down. It took a while for him to calm down enough that she could give him a bath, but she had to use the small kiddie pool-like thing that she used to give Smaug's scales a thorough cleaning. Clearly, Eevee's former trainer had almost drowned the poor guy which only added to her anger towards the bastard. Once Eevee realized that the water wasn't so bad and she wasn't going to drown him, he began to relax and actually enjoyed the bath a bit.

Vali gave him a few berries and took out the Flareon plush as an apology for scaring him so badly. Eevee accepted her apology though it was quite clear the event had left him shaken. She offered him as much comfort as she could along with her other pokemon. Since she knew very well that events like that would bring up bad memories, she asked Metagross to wake her up if Eevee was having a nightmare. It turned out to be a good idea since she was able to wake him up not long before it got too bad. Thanks to her forethought, Eevee was able to get back to sleep after an hour and didn't have any more nightmares that night.

Eevee was a bit more subdued than normal for a few days, but he didn't revert back to his old habits which was a relief. Vali called Professor Oak about it the next day and the aged Professor had offered her a sheepish apology. Professor Oak had meant to tell her about Eevee's reaction to water before sending him to her, but due to all the stuff going on at the lab, he'd forgotten. He was surprised that it had taken this long for the issue to come up, but was pleased with how she'd handled it. He congratulated her on how far she'd come with Eevee before they got down to what had happened since they'd last spoken.

The Celadon Department store was one of the largest buildings in Kanto and the most wide spread. It was a lot like what she'd heard about malls back in her old world were only with a wider range of items for sale. One of the biggest draws of the massive building were the discounts available for all types of trainers and even the non-trainers. Take the Lass trainer class, they had a big discount when it came to clothes. The Bug Catchers were given a discount for items related to bug-type pokemon. Fishermen/Fisherwoman were given a discount on all things fishing and water-type related. Every Trainer class had some form of discount even the general trainers that didn't have a classification like Vali, Steven, and Zaria. Until they reached Mastery-level, they were classed as general trainers. Of course, rookie trainers were given a discount on the cheaper items in hopes that they would buy in bulk as was what usually happens.

After looking at the directory, Vali headed up to the trainer clothing department with Steven and Zaria. While Zaria came from a region that had a climate much like Kanto and Johto, Steven came from the warmer region of Hoenn which was filled with jungles and the like. As a result, he didn't know exactly what type of clothes he'd need for a Kantoian winter leaving Vali and Zaria to help him out. She ended up picking up a new scarf, goggles, and thicker gloves perfect for winter weather along with the clothes she wanted to get. She did pick up a pair of boots for when it snowed or was really muddy.

In the pokemon section of the clothing department, Vali had each of her pokemon select something to wear. Balto chose a cream colored collar. Smaug chose a crimson colored bandanna with flames printed on the edges that he had at the base of his neck. Pikachu chose a blue bandanna with a white tribal pokeball on both sides that he had around his neck. Idril chose a neon pink ribbon that was tied into a bow around her right arm. Arwen chose dark blue bandanna that was tied around her left front leg. Terra chose a pale blue bow tie. Lastly, Eevee chose a red bandanna designed much like Pikachu's.

Once everyone was done in the clothing department, they headed to the TM section. They had made a list of what permanent TMs Zaria and Steven already had before coming to the department store. So long as they had a pokemon that could learn it and a TM that the other person wanted, they could exchange TMs. As Steven was 14 almost 15 and had been a trainer the longest, he had 12 permanent TMs that would be dead useful for both the younger trainers though Zaria already had one of them. The three TM vouchers Vali had been given were quickly used to buy Brick Break, Sunny Day, and Toxic. Each was a move that could be learned by at least two of her pokemon, Toxic would give her an edge in battle that she definitely needed. She bought a more expensive version of the TM case that Zaria got, but only because it would be more durable and hold more TMs. After getting her TM case, she grabbed the permanent TM for Protect and Substitute.

Zaria took one look at her choices and snorted before asking, "Are you trying to piss off your opponents?"

Vali shrugged with a small grin, "No. I'm just making it so my pokemon will be hard as hell to take down when they finally reach Master-level."

If Sirius were there, he would probably drop to the ground and wail about how his precious pup had turned into a Slytherin. It was a mental image that made her snicker and promise herself to take pictures of Sirius when he finally learned what kind of battler she was. She really needed to see if Sirius had popped the question yet.