Going into the gym

Once Steven joined them, they ended up going to get some food while talking about everything that happened since they last saw each other. Zaria had been in Celadon for about a week and a half now. She had managed to catch a Murkrow due to the flying-type migrations going on due to the fact winter was coming though a majority of the migrations wouldn't happen for a few weeks seeing as fall had just started. So far, Zaria had a Zorua, a Sneasel, a Nuzleaf, a Poochyena, and now a Murkrow. Vali wondered where Zaria got a majority of her team since Zorua were native to Unova, Sneasel were native to Johto, Nuzleaf and Poochyena were native to Hoenn. When she commented on it, Zaria had laughed softly and explained, "Zorua's been with me since I was ten. He's the offspring of my dad's Zoroark Minnie. My uncle gave me Sneasel's egg as a gift for getting my trainers license. I got Nuzz and Bones during a visit to Hoenn while waiting for my mom's guard to come down enough for me to escape to Kanto."

"That explains a lot though how did you get to Kanto without your mom finding out?" Vali asked her curiously, "Even with your dad's help, I would've thought she'd come after you,"

"Uncle John owns a transport business and didn't mind me hoping on a ship to Kanto so long as I agreed to keep it safe from anyone trying to fuck with it," Zaria explained with a slight grin, "He's also doesn't like my mom very much, so any chance to piss her off is something he'll end up joining in with. It's been that way since they were kids and only increased when my mom wouldn't let me go on my journey three years ago,"

"Were they rivals or something?" Steven asked as he set down his glass.

Zaria snorted with a shake of her head, "Uncle John, my mom, and my dad grew up together. While Dad and Uncle John became trainers when they turned ten, Mom stayed in school and became one of the Range Union Researchers."

Vali whistled in appreciation earning a tense smirk from Zaria. Anyone could become a researcher if they had the brains and ability to register information. Becoming a member of the Ranger Union Researchers was a whole other kettle of fish. You had to not only manage to reach Ranger status, but you had to be on another level when it came to intelligence. They were responsible for creating Capture Styler and other equipment that the Rangers used in their duties. They were also the best source of information when it came to myths about the legendary pokemon and ancient technologies. The fact Zaria's mother managed to do that and had time to have a kid was amazing. Grabbing her glass, she decided to move the conversation to another topic since the white haired girl was beginning to look uncomfortable, "Did you schedule your gym battle yet?"

"It's in a week and a half," Zaria looked a bit relieved at the change in conversation, "Have you been by the gym yet?"

"Not yet, we haven't had a chance to do much exploring yet," Vali looked at her curiously, "Why?"

"Try to avoid breathing too much when you first walk in," Zaria advised earning a confused look, "The new gym leader that took over, Erika Kinone, is a perfume maker and has the school she's making attached to it,"

Vali grimaced a bit while hoping that Balto would be alright, "Anything you can tell us about her?"

Zaria shook her head, "I didn't see her when I scheduled my gym battle. According to the gym trainer I scheduled my battle with, she's more focused on getting her perfume school up and running. The only time anyone really sees her in when she's scheduled to battle someone."

"Seriously?" Vali felt more than a little annoyed, "Doesn't she realize that gym leaders are supposed to be available in case they're needed for some reason?"

Zaria shrugged as she picked up her sandwich, "I don't have a clue."

"She might still be settling into her job since she did become the gym leader this year," Steven offered earning a sigh from Vali.

Vali knew she couldn't be too hard on someone she hadn't even met. Erika was still settling into her new job and probably didn't know all the rules just yet. She did have to wonder why the gym leader before Erika hadn't explained all the rules.

Zaria showed Steven and Vali to the gym which was only a block away from the pokemon center. Upon entering the gym, Vali struggled to keep her face straight from just how powerful the scent inside the front room of the gym was. The base scent was that of an a powerful Gloom that was more than ready to evolve. The rest of the scent was a mix of various other scents that created a scent far worse than the scent coming of the Gloom. A glance showed that Steven was having trouble keeping his face straight too. The Gym trainer at the desk offered them a sympathetic look, "Welcome to the Celadon Gym, my name is Ellen. What can I do for you?"

"We're here to schedule two gym battles for three weeks from now," Steven answered earning a small nod from the gym trainer as she began fiddling with her computer, "My name is Steven Stone and I'll be going first,"

"Valkyrie Potter," Vali said as the woman looked at here, "We would prefer it if we could do both battles in the same day,"

"I can schedule Mister Stone's battle for ten in the morning and yours for two in the afternoon," Ellen offered earning two nods of agreement, "If you'll let me have your pokedexs for a few moments, I'll get it set up,"

They did as asked and made their way out of the gym once everything was done. Vali gifted Zaria with a small glare as she hissed, "You could have given us a better warning about the scent."

"Sorry," Zaria offered Vali a sheepish look, "It wasn't that bad when I scheduled mine,"

Vali decided to let it go, "Did you smell how powerful that Gloom was?"

"What Gloom?" Zaria and Steven both looked at her in confusion.

Vali frowned at them, "You couldn't smell it?" They shook their heads, "Well, I was able to smell it underneath the crappy mix of scents that nearly over powered it. I'm guessing Erika uses that Gloom's scent as a base for her perfumes."

Zaria looked at her in surprise, "How could you possibly smell that?"

"I'm not really sure. I've always had a pretty good sense of smell though that's mostly from trying to differentiate between spices when I cook," Vali didn't mention she'd learned it to prevent herself from being dosed with potions.

Vali had noticed that the food given to those third year and up were dosed with some potions. She had managed to figure out that most were general health ones with a few extra nutrition ones for those that participated in Quidditch. There were also potions for pregnancy prevention and ones to ease the symptoms of a period, she didn't have to take any of those until after Halloween in third year. She always avoided eating on Valentines day since many times someone slipped love/lust/compulsion potions into the food. There was a reason she rarely ate chocolate or any sweets unless she owl ordered if from Honeydukes, the magicals around her decided it was open season on becoming the significant other of the 'Girl-Who-Lived' when she turned thirteen.

The ability also helped Vali survive the years before learning she had magic and wasn't penniless. She would admit to scavenging through garbage cans and learning how to pick pocket in order to eat. She knew very well when something was about to go bad and if it was safe to eat. It had saved her from more than one case of food poisoning. Granted, she couldn't exactly be picky when her relatives decided to lock her up in that damn cupboard for weeks on end. She was very lucky that the few poisonous berries that she'd ended up eating didn't kill her even if the symptoms caused by them sucked until she built up a tolerance to their poison.

Seeing the look on Steven's face, Vali inwardly winced knowing that he knew she wasn't saying everything. At the very least, he didn't try to push her for answers and let her come to him. It was more than her Hermione and Ron did which made it easier to get closer to him. Talking about her abuse was hard, she thanked Arceus that the icy blue haired steel-type master-in-training didn't judge her. She was thankful when Steven changed the conversation, "Have you been the department store yet, Zaria?"

"Yeah," Zaria smirked brightly, "I managed to grab their catalogue too which means that I'll be able to order things without having to go inside,"

"Do they allow pokemon inside?" Vali asked the white haired trainer.

"So long as it isn't the size of an Aggron or weighs as much as a Snorlax, they don't care," Zaria patted Zorua's head, "I would advise against letting Arwen and Smaug in there. Even if they can control their flames, the people in charge don't want accidents to happen,"

Vali was glad that she would be able to have Balto and Pikachu with her. She still didn't really like crowds, but could deal with them if she had to.