A beating and meeting the Gym Trainers

Even if she wanted to drop onto the bed in her new room, she had to drop her things off before heading to the battlefield where Blaine was waiting with Magmar. He set Magmar against her team while having his other pokemon watching before leaving the room to go do some things. Vali managed to keep Seel, Aragorn, and Houndour from attempting to join in while Litwick quickly hid within her shadows though the little ghost peaked out to watch. Even with everyone working together, they barely managed to take down Magmar before Blaine's Ninetails wiped the floor with them. One of the lower members of his team forced Vali to release her grip on Seel and Aragorn while a gym psychic-type translated that they merely wanted to see what the two could do. Neither of them could match up to the elder members of her team though both were definitely skilled for their ages even if she wasn't sure how old Seel was, the Incineroar seemed pleased with the two.

When Blaine returned after all was said and done, Vali was working potions into her pokemon's bodies while feeling slightly depressed knowing how easily his pokemon had thrown hers around. Blaine looked at her as he patted Ninetails on the head, "You managed to take down Magmar. Well done, Brats. How do you feel?"

Vali looked at her pokemon who were all injured in someway save for Litwick and Houndour before focusing back on Blaine. She spoke as Smaug grunted when her fingers pressed just a hair too hard against his bruised scales, "A bit depressed at how easily two of your pokemon two us down even if we managed to take Magmar down. Don't get me wrong, it's amazing that we took him down, but in the end, our asses were kicked. Seel and Aragorn both have a lot to learn though they didn't participate in the main battles."

"Nicely observed," Blaine nodded to himself as he walked over, "Your Litwick, it isn't a battler, is it?"

"She doesn't like to battle, no," Vali shook her head lightly as she sprayed Smaug's scales, "I have a feeling she'll be more of a contest pokemon in the end, but she's willing to learn how if it comes down to it,"

"I see," Blaine nodded to himself as he peered at Litwick who was levitating Will-o-Wisps for Houndour to chase, "I'm not one for ghosts, but even I know that's somewhat unusual. But it'll be interesting to help you train her up, we'll figure something out for her. The Seel though is something I do have some experience in even if it is somewhat limited. You'll have a powerhouse when it's grown though patience is going to be needed especially when it starts to grow larger. Which gender is it?"

"Male," Vali answered already knowing what Blaine would likely warn her about, "I know that he'll probably get a bit aggressive and territorial once he starts those growth spurts. Professor Oak warned me and I've seen it happen at the ranch a couple a of times when a trainer decided to send their Seel over when they couldn't handle it,"

Blaine's mouth twisted into a sneer at that, "That's one way to break your pokemon's trust, idiots."

The Seels in question always ended up being given up to the League where they'd be worked with to ensure they'd continue fighting alongside trainers. From what Vali knew, the Seel in question usually turned into violent pokemon with a few rare exceptions, but they found new homes with the Ace corps. Some found a home at the Cerulean gym if they weren't too violent. At that last thought, Vali remembered Grace's offer for water-type tips from way back when, "Blaine, Grace and Walter from Cerulean offered me some training tips for water-type pokemon if I ever got one."

Blaine looked a bit surprised by the comment, "Did they? That's nice of them and honestly a good idea to ask them for help sometimes, Brat. I might know a lot, but they're the ones that know water-types like the back of their hands," He gestured to Elrond and Pippin, "Keep bugging Surge for tips on those two, I'll do what I can, but a lot of it will be up to you."

"I'll be working with Eevee alone too," Vali told him earning a look, "Eevee's someone that falls under Surge's purview,"

Blaine gained a look of understanding, "Ah, I see. I'll be talking with him then since he didn't say shit to me. I need to get Eevee's file," Blaine began turning around, "Return your pokemon, Brat. We're going to drop them off to get healed then grab some grub. What happened here is going to be a regular occurrence, I'm going to be beating your team black and blue until they're able to make us stop. Magmar and the others are going to make this even more difficult each time it happens,"

Vali felt a bit of dread at those words even if she knew that this was what it took to get stronger.

After some more discussion and Vali summarizing how she usually trained her pokemon with Blaine picking everything apart, Blaine brought them to the cafeteria where everyone else was eating dinner. Jackson spotted them first and called out over the noise of various pokemon and humans, "Boss-man, Vali, Did everything go all right?"

"Everything's fine, Jackson," Blaine said with a wave of his hand before calling out, "Everyone, Quiet down!" The cafeteria became quiet as every being in the room focused on them though Vali immediately found it far easier to deal with than the Conference especially due to the fact Aragorn was in her arms and Litwick was on her shoulder, "I know for a fact that I've told you that we'd be having someone join us since the Conference. But since I know very well how some of you are, some of you have very likely forgotten by now, so listen up," He looked over everyone while gesturing to Vali, "This is Valkyrie Potter-Black or Vali as she prefers, the third place winner of this years Conference which is a surprise given how tiny she is, but her pokemon are definitely strong enough to back it up. She's my new apprentice and basically the newest gym trainer. Get her caught up on the various duties you lot have to do when I'm busy, I'll be personally training her in various things as part of the contract we've got drawn up. When I go on League Business, she'll be going with me unless I deem her unable to though with her going to Lavender Town and helping out, I'm going to say she's pretty good,"

Blaine turned to her, Vali realized he wanted her to speak. She smiled lightly at everyone, "Hi, everyone. I've already met Jackson from a previous visit and Martha earlier today. It's a pleasure to meet the rest of you. I'm not sure what exactly to say to you all. I'm from Pallet town and started out with two pokemon. My starter was a Charmander named Smaug who's now a Charizard and a Growlithe named Balto who is an Arcanine. I dream of become a fire-type master and member of the Elite four under one of my dear friends who's working to become the next Champion," Aragorn barked lightly, "Aragorn here was the first pokemon I ever hatched while Litwick was one I ended up catching in Lavender town. I love taking photographs and have started my own business selling some. I hope that even if we don't all get along that we'll be able to work together. Please help guide me and my pokemon, we're really out of our depths here and eager to learn."

"Well said," Blaine looked back at everyone, "Let the kid and her pokemon eat, mine put them through the grinder,"

Everyone winced in sympathy and Vali quickly released her team feeling happy that she didn't have to worry about who to send to Professor Oak's lab anymore. She got everyone food with Elrond's help and they dove in immediately. Jackson waved her over to where the humans were sitting. She sat down and immediately dug into her food. It was better than the boat food, but not as good as Delia's food. Jackson spoke after she had gotten her first few bites, "So boss-man ran you through the grinder?"

Vali swallowed before saying, "Yeah. It was necessary though since they needed to see where we were. We managed to take out Magmar."

One of the gym trainers she hadn't met yet, a teenage boy, spat out his drink in shock, "W-what? How?"

"It took all of my elder members, but they managed it. Ninetails took them out though," Vali still felt a sting of anger at that though she quickly pushed it aside.

"Damn, Kid," Martha offered her a lazy grin while raising her glass towards Vali looking more awake than earlier, "Nicely done, none of us can claim we've managed to take out Magmar within our first couple of months much less the day we arrived. Who was still standing by the time he went down?"

Vali gestured to Smaug, Balto, and Elrond, "Smaug, Balto, and Elrond. Smaug was still standing mostly because he's a stubborn bastard and Magmar managed to piss him off," She eyed Blaine, "I'm still trying to find out what exactly Magmar managed to say that pissed off Smaug so much. I mean all of my pokemon were angry, but Magmar seemed to target Smaug specifically. Elrond won't say anything even when I ask. Any ideas?"

"Magmar doesn't like Charizards," Blaine told her with a shrug, "Not sure what he said exactly, it could've been anything, but he'll takes special pleasure in getting a rise out of them. He's going to enjoy beating Smaug into the ground as much as possible. I'd advise leaving it for now,"

Vali was tempted to argue since Smaug never got pissed off at another pokemon's words before, but knew that Blaine wouldn't let her. So she bit her tongue and focused on getting to know those around her, the humans that was since their pokemon were a bit busy doing the same. She noted that there was an older woman beside Martha at the table with brown hair and lemon colored eyes. She had tanned skin and wore a red t-shirt with Cinnabar stamped on it in black. She wore a pair of black pants with red flower petals and a pair of boots. An older teenage girl with mauve colored hair and topaz colored eyes sat next to Jackson. She wore a black long sleeve shirt with Cinnabar stamped on it in red and a pair of red pants. She wore a pair of white tennis shoes and a pink bow around her neck. The teenage boy that had spoken earlier had wild black hair with red streaks and a bright crimson eyes almost reminding her of a fire-type pokemon especially with the black markings around his eyes. He wore a black t-shirt with Cinnabar stamped on it in red and a pair of black pants. He wore a pair of black boots and some bracelets on his wrists that clanked slightly with his movements. When he noticed her looking at him, he grinned revealing a missing front tooth though she could see one coming in showing that they were regrowing it somehow, "I'm Zavian Pena from right here in Cinnabar, Sweet Vali. Sorry for over reacting earlier, it just isn't often that we hear someone defeating the boss' Magmar."

"Don't flirt with the kid, Zavian," The girl scoffed from beside Jackson before introducing herself, "Names Isobel Moreno, I'm from Fuchsia city,"

"Abigail Turner from Pallet Town," The woman next to Martha revealed earning a surprised look, "Who's your parents kids? I don't know of any Potters or Blacks that lived in the area,"

"My godfather and I moved there when we came to Kanto," Vali revealed earning surprised looks from everyone save for Blaine, "I can't remember too much from before we came to Pallet though. My godfather, Sirius Black, adopted me since my parents were killed when I was really little,"

Abigail flinched a bit, "I-I'm s-"

Vali held up a hand to forestall the coming apology, "Don't bother, you didn't know and I've honestly come to a point where its not a touchy subject," She eyes Abigail and thought the woman looked somewhat familiar, "Do you have any family in Pallet town? You look somewhat familiar though I don't think we've seen each other."

"A four year old niece," Abigail answered earning a soft hum.

Elrond spoke up as Vali tried to think of who the woman's niece could be, "Her niece is in Ash and Gary's class. I believe she's the only one that didn't immediately try to pull on our fur or jump on Smaug like he was an overgrown Ponyta. She was fairly respectful."

Vali recalled the girl immediately and smiled at the thought, "Thanks to Elrond, I remember her now. She was very respectful to my pokemon when my traveling partner and I were at my younger brother's school doing an demonstration. I didn't get her name back then."

"Lyra. Lyra Barnes," Abigail told her, "Why did you do a demonstration?"

"I was home for Christmas," Vali would have to make sure she did it again at some point since it'd been pretty fun, "It was a lot of fun and the kids learned a lot especially since Idril was close to evolving back then,"

"You didn't use her during the Conference," Zavian commented with a curious expression, "I didn't see you using your Litwick either. The Seel is understandable as is your Vulpix and the Houndour,"

"Idril evolved right before the Conference and I didn't want to risk her getting hurt. By the time she'd gotten used to her new body, we'd passed the rounds she would've been able to battle effectively," Vali admitted as Idril padded over to her and she reached down to rub the mouse pokemon's head, "While she's grown more powerful and we have gotten a chance to test it out since she's evolved, I didn't want to risk it during the Conference battles where there was a real chance she'd be irreversibly hurt. My pack's lives are worth more than the shock and awe value revealing a shiny pokemon can bring,"

"A smart choice and one most trainers stupidly ignore," Blaine said as he pointed his drink towards her, "How did you come across her?"

"Traveling through Mount Moon, she stumbled in my camp with Steven and our guide looking for food," Vali explained as she smiled down at her not so little one who chittered lightly, "She was so young. I don't know how long it'd been since she'd hatched, but her mother had been killed. I ended up catching her and it wasn't until I'd scanned her with my pokedex that we realized that she was shiny,"

"Lucky," Zavian groaned earning a snort from Vali.

"Trust me, you don't want my luck. It goes from amazing to runny Rapidash shit," Vali told him with a shake of her head, "According to my godfather, it was a running joke back in my old home region that my father's family was blessed and cursed by a pair of deities to have both kids of luck. My journey has run both ways. Just look at my first trip here, my traveling partner and I's ship ended up running into a pod of Gyarados that nearly capsized our boat. I ended up breaking my arm and was bruised quite a bit,"

"Damn," Zavian whistled softly, "Now I feel less jealous, I definitely don't want you luck now if those are the extremes you've got to deal with,"

Vali shook her head at him as Blaine snorted, "Not on your life, Kid, she's got a shit ton more in her file," Vali looked at him in alarm and he shrugged, "Brat, I'm the one holding you chain and a former Elite Four member. They're not going to keep shit from me," He gestured around them, "The group with us on the other hand know when they're not ready or have the rank for certain information."

Jackson and the other gym trainers offered Vali a look at Blaine's words. Martha pointed her fork at the emerald eyed eleven year old, "I don't know what's in your file that makes its above our rank. If the boss says we can't know it, we won't ask about it though that doesn't mean we're not curious."

"Alright," Blaine stood up rather suddenly not long after Martha spoke, "I'm heading off to get some more things done. Brat, I want you in the training grounds bright and early before breakfast. I'd suggest going to bed at some point soon, but it isn't mandatory. After our morning training session, we'll have breakfast and I'll start you on your duties once your pokemon are healed up. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Vali told him earning a nod, "Have a good night,"

"You too," Blaine told her, "Welcome to Cinnabar,"

Blaine headed off after returning all his pokemon save for Ninetails. Jackson spoke up as Vali turned back to the remainder of her dinner, "You'll get used to things pretty quickly here, Vali. I just know it. We'll all be here to help you out when we can."

"I'll be thankful for it," Vali told him honestly, "My pack and I all will be,"

"So you really call them that?" Isobel asked earning a nod, "A bit odd, but why?"

"It just fits and I've gotten used to calling them it," Vali replied with a light shrug, "I honestly can't explain it effectively for anyone's liking," She finished her last bite of dinner and stood up to place her stuff with all the other dishes, "I think my pokemon and I will be going to settle down in our room for the night. While I'd normally spend more time getting to know you all, it's been a long trip and my pack did have a long day. If you'll excuse us, we'll be turning in for the night,"

"Have a good night, Vali," Jackson told her.