The cliff's and leaving Pallet

Once Balto was healed up and had a day to rest, Vali took Steven to the cliffs. He walked beside Vali as they ventured through the forest. There was no visible path on the ground, Vali didn't seem to need one. A gentle breeze whistled through the air and the sounds of pokemon going about their day was all that could be heard. He could see why Vali had called it a calm place, "This place is really peaceful."

"It is. It's why a lot of low level pokemon tend to live here," Vali stopped to let a small group of Rattata race past, "I used to come out here with just Balto beside me when I couldn't go to the lab and needed some form of peace. We spent hours just wandering around together,"

Steven smiled softly able to see the two walking along this path. In the corner of his eye, he could see flashes of the two together playing around and exploring this peaceful place. He asked, "You knew even back then that he was yours, didn't you?"

Vali nodded after a moment of thought, "Yeah, I guess I did," She gained a contemplative look on her face, "He was the first pokemon outside of Professor Oak's Alakazam that I met. He was a real sweetheart and stayed with me the entire time I was awake. Alakazam told me it was because he felt the need to be beside me in such a strange place. So I wouldn't be alone, he kept me from being lonely," She placed a hand on Balto's pokeball, "I don't think I'll ever be able to imagine being without him now."

Steven touched the pokeball containing Metagross understanding just what Vali was talking about. He felt the same about his partner and knew it would crush him if they lost one another. Metagross radiated a sense of warm contentment and agreement showing they were listening in. Vali paused by a section of trees and stopped him from moving forward, "Vali?"

"This is it," Vali turned her head to grin at him, "Don't speak just feel,"

With that, Vali walked into the area ahead of them and Steven followed after her. When the sunlight stopped blinding him, he felt his breath hitch and a sense of peace roll through his body. A cliff face stood not even ten feet away from them with a waterfall draining into a nearby river. Dotting the surface of the weather worn stone face of the cliff, a series of caves cut burrowed into the pale grey and green stone. Bird-types of many kinds save for Spearow flew in and out of the caves, he could pick out a pair of Altaria and a trio of Swellow singing together by the waterfall.

Steven looked at Vali when she tugged on his hand, "What are you doing?"

"Taking you to where I usually sit," Vali answered tugging him to follow her.

Steven followed her as he said, "This place, I feel a sense of peace."

"It's unbelievable sometimes," Vali told him in a soft voice as she led them towards a small cluster of trees that, "Just how easy it is to lose track of time just enjoying that feeling when everything feels like it's crashing down around you,"

Vali showed him the bench that was set up underneath one of the trees before she dropped her bag and settled down on it. Steven followed her example slowly settling down as she took out Balto's pokeball and released him. Balto made no sounds as he was released merely looked around and seemed to smile as he laid down at Vali's side. Vali laid her hand on his side and closed her eyes. He slowly released Metagross and did the same. Any urge that he had to explore those caves disappeared. Opening his eyes, he asked, "This is your place, isn't it?"

Vali nodded without opening her eyes, "The area most people use it on the other side of the river and most of the flying-types avoid that area now."

"Thank you for showing this to me," Steven told her unable to say anything else.

Vali opened her eyes and flashed him a warm smile, "Just don't show people this spot and we'll be even."

Vali packed up her bag after ensuring that her Houndour egg was secure. They were leaving in an hour for Viridian City and she was just doing some last minute packing mostly clothes that had been washed. Ash sat on the floor with Vulpix in his lap. While he wasn't exactly happy about her leaving so soon, he understood and looked forward to how soon she'd be back again since she planned on working with her pokemon in the Corral while training for the Conference unless something came up. She glanced at Ash as he asked for clarification, "So you'll just be in Viridian?"

"Yup. If you really wanted to see me, I could easily fly back using Celina or race back on Balto," Vali placed her folded clothes into her bag, "Just call me, I won't be able to rush back every day," She grinned slightly while pointing out, "And Delia could take you along with her to Viridian when she goes shopping,"

Ash perked up, "Oh, Yeah! Mom goes every week."

"Though you'll have to behave and not complain if she can't bring you along," Vali warned him despite knowing Ash could be patient sometimes.

Ash nodded eagerly, "I get it. Can you help me train Pidgey if we come see you?"

"I don't see why not, but remember that Celina might not be too willing soon enough," Vali packed away her extra gloves and scarf, "Mating season is approaching after all,"

While trained pokemon usually didn't join in during the mating seasons of their species, they still had a lot of hormones running through their bodies that made them short tempered and volatile. The only time this didn't happen was if they already had eggs or were raising their young. With Pidgey, Celina might tolerate the younger female enough to help train her. On the other hand, Celina might actually try to go after Pidgey in an attempt to keep any viable males from choosing the younger female. Keeping the two apart during this time would be for the best even if Celina didn't feel like joining in, Vali had already spoken with Delia and Professor Oak to make arrangements for the month and a half period of time most Kantonian flying-types had their mating season.

Ash made a face, "Oh, right."

Vali snickered a bit as she zipped up her backpack after checking to make sure everything was inside of it, "Trust me, you'll be glad to know when the various mating seasons are once you've got pokemon of your own that are old enough to participate in them. Thankfully, Pidgey don't often join in on Mating season until their three years old."

"Is Celina going to participate?" Ash asked looking a bit green.

Vali shrugged lightly, "Not too sure, she hasn't really made any indication that she'd like to participate, but I'll ask her in two weeks to see if she's going to," She pulled on her bag, "Well let's go to the Lab, I need to see who's coming with me."

Vulpix got off of Ash's lap and trotted over to her. Vali bent down to scratch behind his ears before leaving her room with Ash and Vulpix following her. Delia stuck her head out of the kitchen, "Heading to the lab?"

"Yeah. I need to go check on everyone and make sure whoever's going with me is listed on my team," Vali smelt chocolate chip cookies, "Cookies?"

"They'll be done by the time you're ready to leave," Delia answered with a light grin, "So come see me before you go,"

"Will do," Vali couldn't wait since Delia's cookies were awesome, "Do you need me to pass any messages along to Professor Oak?"

"Not at all," Delia shook her head, "Though I'm surprised that I haven't seen Steven since this morning,"

"He's talking to Ryner. Tell him where we've gone if he comes out of the guest room before we're back, please," Vali said earning a nod, "See you in a few,"