Leaving Vermillion city and riding together with Eevee

On their way to the pokemon center, Steven said, "That was a fun battle."

"Yeah, I'm really glad that Idril decided not to battle this time," Lt. Surge was brutal against ground-types.

Steven nodded as he thought about the damage Claydol had ended up with, "That was definitely a good idea, Claydol's going to require at least a day in the Pokemon Center if not a little bit longer to mostly recover. That Raichu of Lt. Surge's had a wicked Iron Tail."

Vali's eagerness to get Lt. Surge's advice on how to raise a Raichu once Pikachu evolved had only increased after watching that battle especially since he had an even stronger Raichu on his real team. If she could Pikachu even half as strong as that Raichu, he'd be golden though she was going to try and raise him up even stronger than that.

Vali and Steven ended up staying in Vermilion for an extra week once their gym battles were over. Firstly to allow their pokemon to recover from said battles and to allow her to pick Lt. Surge's brain on the Pichu-line. Secondly to properly plan out their route to Celadon. Thirdly to let a rather violent storm pass. With that storm, fall had officially started in the Kanto region as everyone knew fall was storm season at least along the coast. Once the storm passed and everything was ready, they began making their way to Celadon city which would take around two and a half weeks.

They wouldn't be staying in Saffron longer than to have their pokemon checked over, take showers, and resupply themselves. No offense to Sabrina, but neither of them wanted to be in that city until they had to be.

Vali hummed as they walked back through the steadily recovering route 6, "I doubt we'll see any real signs of the wild fire by this time next year."

"Is it diffrent from your old world?" Steven asked as they passed one of the new ponds that had Poliwag playing around it, "Besides not having pokemon,"

The Poliwag made gurgling sounds and rushed over to Vali. She bent down to rub their damp rubbery heads as Balto nosed them. They had been some of the pokemon she'd rescued from the wild fire and clearly they remember her. She pushed them back towards the Poliwhirl watching from inside the pond after a few moments. They did so with a bit of reluctance much to her amusement. She snapped a picture of the Poliwag and Poliwhirl before they resumed walking again, "Quite a bit since we didn't have pokemon to help with the recovery efforts. It didn't take just a few weeks for things to return to almost normal like it does here. I can't say how my old people would have recovered since the region I lived in was fairly wet."

"I can't really imagine a world like the one you came from," Steven admitted as they began walking up a small hill, "A world without pokemon..."

"It's a dreary place compared to this one even if there were parts of it that weren't quite so bad," Vali thought back to her time in England both inside the magical world and the normal one, "I think the only thing I really miss are my old friends and access to books on magic. Sometimes, I wish I could send a letter telling them what happened or a note saying that I'm okay. They deserve that at the very least for sticking beside me during all that crap during school and the fact that they could have been bitten by a werewolf,"

Steven offered her a sympathetic look before pausing, "Have you tried calling on the phoenix, Fawkes?"

Vali nodded with a soft sigh, "During the spring of our first year here, Sirius and I both tried to call on him. We tried for over a month, but nothing worked. It either means we're too far for him to hear us or something in this world is preventing him from hearing us," She glanced at Steven, "We'll eventually try again, but neither of us wants to actually return. This place is a lot better than our old one."

If given the chance to return, Vali wouldn't take it unless she could come back home afterward. She would never abandon her family, her pokemon, or the friends she's gained since coming here. None of it was easily replaced just like she would never be able to replace her old friends. While she may miss things back in her old world, she had a new home now and would never willingly leave it without a guaranteed way back. Even then, she doubted she would actually return. Like she'd told Ron and Hermione so many times, the fame, money, and power that came with her title were things she'd give up if it meant she had her parents back. While she might not have Lily and James Potter, she had Sirius Black, Delia Ketchum, Ash Ketchum, Professor Oak, Gary Oak, Daisy Oak, and her pokemon which was enough for her.

After two days of travel, Vali and Steven changed things up a bit. To speed up their travels a bit and give their pokemon a bit more exercise, they would be riding Arwen and Skarmory. Balto and Pikachu would be running with Arwen since they would be the only ones able to keep up. Depending on how quickly they traveled, they would switch between walking and riding their pokemon. During the times they walked, their slower pokemon would be walking alongside them to build up their stamina.

Pikachu was severely frustrated and tired by the time she ended up returning him while Balto greatly enjoyed the run while managing to keep up with Arwen for the most part. Arwen loved the run as much as Balto if not more despite not going at her fastest. Vali was grateful to Ranger Mor for showing her the best way to ride a Ponyta bareback since the soreness in her thighs and on her butt would probably be a lot worse. Using a saddle blanket she picked up from the Pokemart, the soreness wasn't so bad though she had trouble walking a bit in the morning and after she finished riding for the day.

Eevee chose to sit on her shoulder during the ride and seemed to enjoy seeing everything up high. Vali spoke to him as Arwen maneuvered through Route 6. It was mostly about what she'd seen during the fire or the things they were passing by. Sometimes, she talked about her old world and told him pretty much everything during the times that Steven had Skarmory fly up high to scout the path ahead of them. It was easier to talk about it with Eevee since he'd gone through pretty much the same thing only he didn't have the magical world to get away from the abuse. If Steven was aware of these talks and she was pretty sure Metagross told him, he didn't say anything.

Vali admitted that talking about her abuse to Eevee helped especially since he wouldn't judge her. It eased some of the pain her memories caused and lessened the impact of her nightmares. She thought that the talks helped Eevee as well since he seemed even less cold to her pokemon and actually ate with them. He didn't actively join in their antics, but he seemed to actually enjoy being around them. He still didn't exactly like Steven, but he was more tolerable to the icy blue haired trainer. While he wasn't even close to being over his abuse, he was on his way to recovering just like her.