Return to Cinnabar

Blaine patted her good shoulder as they arrived back at Cinnabar and offered her a smile looking as if a weight had dropped off his shoulder. She was currently feeling it right now after all. Smiling at him in return, she said, "That went well enough, huh?"

"Well enough? Brat, Sargent Gold and Captain Serval both want to know if your heading into the Ace regiments," Blaine grinned at her shocked look, "You're that good in their eyes, Vali. With your pack's strength and skills, it makes sense especially with the strategies you've come up with since you came under my teachings. You made me proud, Kid,"

Vali felt a bolt of warmth run through her, "I-I'm glad to hear it."

"Now, it'll be about a two weeks before our match, so get ready for it. I'll give you two days off before the day of it to rest up, so be ready for that, alright?" Blaine asked earning a determined nod, "We'll discuss further details then, but for now, I think its time for us to see what's going on in the gym, huh?"

Vali nodded with a low sigh as Thorin shook out his mane of fur and Elrond gave a mental sigh. She could only imagine what could be going on right now since it was just a bit after noon. While not too far into the season, the gym could be a bit busy depending on the day since senior trainers tended to come out of the woodwork for their gym badges if they needed them. So it might be a mob of trainers or barely any at the moment, it honestly depended on the day.

Walking inside the gym, Zavian was at the reception desk. Zavian perked up, "Yo, Vali! Hey, Boss-man. Welcome, back. How did the training go?"

"It went well. Vali will be going up against my team for her final test as my apprentice in two weeks," Blaine answered earning a wide-eyed look, "What's wrong?"

"After only a year? I m-mean her team's strong, but..." Zavian looked between them with wide eyes, "Holy-Mew, Vali. You're seriously ready within a year and a half?"

"Yup," Vali nodded with a grin, "Better believe it, I'm also heading to Vermilion after we're healed up and done recuperating back in Pallet Town,"

"Vermillion?" Zavian looked surprised for a moment before his eyes narrowed, "Wait, Surge is there which means you're probably training with him,"

"Mhmm," Vali nodded as she grinned at him, "Learning what I can under Surge will be nice, Elrond especially needs it and Arwen is hoping to meet up with her herd soon enough,"

Zavian still looked like he couldn't believe it was happening while Vali mentally laughed her ass off. He'd be taking some of her chores along with everyone else at the gym when she finally left her apprenticeship, but that was normal. He was likely trying to figure out which ones he'd have to deal with during the first week or two after she was out of the chore cycle. Vali gave her goodbyes for the moment and headed towards her rooms to set down everything. When she reached it and headed inside, a familiar figure was sitting on the bed with a light smirk on his face, "Hello, Vali."

"Xen," Vali greeted him as she walked inside before closing the door behind her, "Whatcha doing here?"

"Checking in on you after my week of looking over Amity," Xen answered as Vali set down her bag, "Went traveling?"

"Big mission. My final one until I become an Elite under Lance as my apprenticeship will be over within the next two weeks," Vali began unpacking her bag to get the dirty clothes out, "Blaine deemed us ready,"

"That's good," Xen looked pleased, "Where will you go afterward?"

"Pallet Town to recover and spend time with family then Viridian for training with Surge until I'm called," Vali answered earning a slight nod, "How is Amity? She hasn't called recently?"

"She's doing fairly well and her team is off to a great start," Xen smiles softly, "On top of her Kingdra, she's managed to find a Totodile that was abandoned in the Viridian forest and a Meowth. She's being very careful and taking things slow just like you told her to,"

"I'm glad," Vali felt bad for the little croc though knew it was had probably happened due to the teething problem the poor thing dealt with during this stage of its evolutionary line, "I'll have to send along some teething toys meant for Totodile if only to ensure her things don't get torn up. I'll see about looking into some grooming things for both of them just like I did for Nemu. Thanks for the information, Xen,"

"No problem," Xen sat up as Thorin curled up beside her, "So any other incidents?"

"No though I've been careful to meditate only when it concerned my fire," Vali answered as she placed her laundry into the basket beside the closet, "It's a bit more difficult to use my magic. My inner fire is like an eager puppy and keeps trying to leech into the magic I use," She closes her eyes with a frown, "It adds power. More than expected, I can feel every little bit of flame trying to race into my magic when I'm trying to use it after a bit of time,"

Xen frowned a little, "Huh, I wasn't expecting that, but it does make sense since you inner flame would be wanting a way to get out," He hummed softly, "Does it hurt?"

Vali shook her head, "No, it just makes my magic a lot hotter when I use it and I've found harder spells that much easier."

"That's interesting, I'll ask around and see what I can find out," Xen told her as he stood up, "It might be awhile before I find anything out,"

"I'll be glad to just get some answers," Vali replied as she shook her head.

Vali spent her next two weeks prepping for the battle against Blaine working with her team in between the chores and watching the gym battles carefully making notes of any strategies she could. Each day was spent a bit differently though each pokemon was worked with carefully to ensure she'd be able to choose her pokemon carefully if Blaine chose a one-on-one match rather than a all in one like when their apprentice began. She wouldn't mind doing either one since both had their advantages, but only the all in one would allow for somewhat even ground. Either way when the battle hit, they would be ready.

Vali looked at the screen of her pokenav with a smile as Delia said, "I can't believe your going to be battling with Blaine."

"I'd have to do it again if I wanted to go for another tournament," Vali reminded her as she leaned back against Balto side, "And I actually like the idea. It'll show us how much we've grown. After all, Magmar took out everyone save for Elrond, Balto, and Smaug last year with Ninetails canning them not long afterwards. We're eager to tear into his team and see if we can manage to beat them this year...no," She shook her head with determination shining through, "We're going to beat them even if it takes all of us,"

Delia let out a soft giggle, "Well, I'm rooting for you."

Vali grinned at her, "I'm glad. We'll be coming home for a bit before hitting Vermilion like I said."

"That sounds amazing, Ash and Gary will both be so happy to have you around even if it won't be for long," Delia smiled brightly, "I will too. We can spend some much needed time together since your birthday was somewhat rushed,"

Vali felt bad about that seeing as she'd been so worried about her mission, "Yeah, it sounds amazing. Maybe we can all head to Celadon for a day, Celina and Smaug won't have any trouble taking us. I've been wanting to head over there to get some things and we can see what the boys might want for future trainer gear. Mostly color wise and such, I figure that I'd also talk with them about the whole needing to have specific styles after the first six months are done,"

"Oh," Delia looked at her curiously, "I forgot about that part seeing as I never did go too far into the spot-light,"

"Mhmm," Vali gestured to the scarf around her neck that Delia had made her, "My scarf, goggles, and gloves are black with green while my jacket is fully black. My pants tend to be either black or white with smoky designs. My shirts are always red with different fire designs. My hair when it's up has a mix of yellow, gold, and white beads,"

"I never noticed," Delia looked somewhat surprised, "You must have done that very casually,"

"Mostly," Vali shrugged a bit, "My shoes, boots, and sandals are the only things that are color coded mostly because they get torn up pretty badly. Working with fire-types is very hard on footwear even if it seems like clothes would be a bit more of the focus point, I've gone through thirteen pairs of footwear in a year,"

Delia paled a little, "Oh, my."

"The heat eats them," Vali shook her head softly, "I tend to go shoe-less if possible when in the gym,"

"I can see why," Delia shook her head, "I can't imagine that many shoes being killed in a year,"

"It's painful to go through them which is why I don't like getting nice ones," Vali revealed with a laugh, "I was glad to get a new scarf from you at my birthday though,"

"I'm so happy and will definitely keep making them in that color," Delia told her with a pleased look.

Vali grinned at her, "Thanks."