A new Pokemon and Vermillion City

The next day saw the two trainers and their pokemon cleaning up the camp they'd spent the last few days in. Some of the herds were already gone or leaving which meant that it was time they moved on. Vali returned all of her pokemon knowing that none of them were up for the coming walk. The only ones that could walk were Sandshrew and Eevee. Eevee still didn't trust her and Sandshrew was a shiny pokemon would would draw the wrong kind of attention. She pulled on her bag as Steven said, "I guess you're not getting a Ponyta or Rapidash."

"This time," Vali wasn't too put out, "I'll try again next year,"

It was as they began walking through the herds towards the other side of the plains where the path to Vermilion lay that the Elder reappeared. The two paused as he walked up with a Ponyta bouncing around him. The Elder paused not far from them before nickering and pushing the Ponyta towards Vali. The Ponyta raced up to her and she realized it was one of the ones she'd given an apple to yesterday. She glanced at Steven as Metagross' voice echoed through her mind, "The Elder bids you to take the young horse with you and wishes you luck."

"You want to come with me?" Vali asked causing the Ponyta to neigh and bob its head and she took out a pokeball, "Okay," She held up the ball and tapped the Ponyta's forehead with it, "Welcome to the team, my new friend," The ball vibrated in her hand for a few moments before a click sounded signaling a successful capture and she looked at Steven, "Guess we were wrong,"

"Seems like it," Steven chuckled with a smile.

Vali released her new friend and the Ponyta whinnied as it pranced around shaking its head, "You'll get used to it."

The Ponyta shot her a doubtful look before turning to race towards the Elder prompting the two trainers to follow. The two equine nosed each other as two Rapidash and a few Ponyta walked up. The two trainers watched as the equine pokemon nuzzled each other and nickered as they butted their heads against her new Ponyta. It was probably their own goodbye ritual. Vali took a few pictures as Steven muttered, "Kind of cute."

"Mhmm," She hummed in agreement before putting her camera away as the group broke apart and her Ponyta wandered over, "They were were family, weren't they?" Ponyta nodded and nosed at her pockets, "I don't have anymore apples, but I promise I'll give you some when I do," She looked up at the Elder, "Thank you for allowing me to take Ponyta with me. I'll do my best to make them into the best Rapidash they can be and bring them back to see you at some point,"

The Elder bobbed his head before jerking it towards the other side of the plains clearly wishing for them to move on. When they reached the other side, they paused and watched as the Elder reared with a neigh that seemed to echo through the air before taking off. The herds followed his lead and soon were moving on once more. Ponyta took a step forward as if to join them before tossing it's head and snorting. Vali placed a hand on Ponyta's shoulder earning a look from it, "I promise that we'll be back again."

It was after they'd set up camp for the night and everyone had eaten after being introduced to Ponyta that Vali took out her pokedex. Scanning Ponyta, they listened as the pokedex said:

Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokemon. Ponyta is very weak at birth. It can barely stand up. This Pokémon becomes stronger by stumbling and falling to keep up with its parent. It runs in fields and mountains all day. Its hind legs, which have hooves that are harder than diamond, kick back at any presence it senses behind it.

This Ponyta is Female and has the ability Flame Body*. This Ponyta knows Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Wheel, and High Horsepower.

*Hidden Ability. Hidden Abilities are randomly occurring abilities among various Pokemon species. Please contact your regional Professor at the earliest convenience.

Vali stared at her pokedex than at her Ponyta before muttering, "Well, I didn't expect that."

"Looks like you really are lucky, Vali," Steven said with a chuckle.

Vali shook her head and put away her pokedex before asking her new Ponyta, "Do you want a nickname?"

Ponyta nodded excitedly and they began offering her names. Despite her seemingly carefree attitude, Ponyta was not an easy pokemon to name. Eventually, Vali ended up offering up 'Arwen'. Ponyta pranced around the clearing seemingly pleased with the name. Steven looked at Vali and asked, "Where did that name from from?"

"A book series by the same author who wrote the book with Smaug's namesake in it," Vali answered watching the newly named Arwen practically dance, "I can't quite remember everything in the series, but that's one of the names that stuck with me. I have a feeling that most of the names I'm going to be giving my pokemon will probably come from those books,"

Arwen had a seemingly endless pool of energy prompting Vali to have her do sprints while they walked. When they took a break, Vali had Arwen do runs around the clearings they ended up in or around the area where they were sitting. Usually by the end of the day, Arwen was able to focus on training and tended to be able to fall asleep fairly easily. Arwen was an out going pokemon that helped Sandshrew come out of her shell somewhat. Due both being fairly new to training, she put them together. For both, she had them working on stamina which Arwen seemed to have in spades which made sense since she had to keep up with the herds during migration not to mention her parents. The two also worked on perfecting their attacks which was a bit harder for Sandshrew due to her timid nature, but Arwen and her other pokemon offering support helped her keep from holding back. Of course, Sandshrew would probably always be a little bit timid, but that was just fine by her.

Vali's other pokemon were a bit annoyed by her not wanting them to train, but none protested too much as they were very sore from their battle against the Elder. During the time it took them to reach Vermilion, Vali and Steven found an increase in the amount of trainers they came across while traveling though not all of them challenged the two. Vali used Arwen and Sandshrew against those that Steven didn't go up again. The two didn't do too badly considering that it was the first time either of them were in a trainer battle and it being Sandshrew first time actually battling. Thankfully, the trainers with water-types always ended up battling Steven which was a relief considering the fact that she didn't think either Arwen or Sandshrew would do well at all. Eventually, they reached Vermilion city which was a relief for all of them.

Vermilion city was one of the largest in Kanto due to the fact it acted as a main port for all sea travel into Kanto and the only place you could reliably get a boat to Cinnabar Island. It was home to one of the few military bases still active in Kanto though it mostly acted a facility to help rehabilitate pokemon that were either needed to relearn how to battle or needed to recover from the abuse their former trainers put them through. Lt. Surge headed the facility which cared for those pokemon that were recovering from the last civil war between Kanto and Johto which had occurred ten years ago. Considering the fact that Surge had been apart of said civil war, it was generally accepted that he was one of the scariest gym leaders to face and that you should always try your luck against him before hitting three badges.

Walking through the surprisingly crowded city after returning Arwen, Vali commented, "There's a lot of people here despite the fact that it isn't even close to the Indigo Conference."

"Maybe there's something going on," Steven suggested earning a slight shrug.

"I see the pokemon center," Vali spotted the red roof and pokeball symbol over the crowds, "Let's get checked in, I want to have my pokemon checked out and a shower,"

Steven nodded in agreement and they headed through the rather thick crowd. Once they reached the pokemon center and got inside, Vali was nearly deafened by the level of noise and amount of people inside. She back peddled a bit prompting Steven to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulder's which helped ground her. They got in the long-line as one Nurse Joy, a severe looking woman with faded pink hair set in a bun, barked out, "Quiet down before I throw you out!"

Immediatly, the noise level dropped and Vali relaxed a bit though she still stayed close to Steven mostly because the amount of people was a bit too much. When they reached the front desk, they found two Nurse Joy's standing there. The younger one smiled warmly at them, "Welcome to the pokemon center, what can I do for you?"

"Can you heal our pokemon?" Steven asked as they took out their pokedexs and handed them to the woman.

"Of course!" The Nurse Joy took out two trays.

Vali spoke up, "Nurse Joy," The pink haired woman looked at her, "Most of my pokemon ended up facing a really strong Rapidash while the herds were migrating near here. While both of us made sure my pokemon were well taken care of, I would like it if you can take a closer look at them and see if we missed anything."

"Of course," Nurse Joy nodded with a warm smile, "Thank you for warning me. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"We need two rooms," Steven answered earning a nod.

"Give me one moment," Nurse Joy said as she slipped away.

Vali and Steven placed their pokeballs onto the trays. Steven watched her hesitate for a moment before keeping Eevee's pokeball on her belt, "You're not going to have him checked out?"

"I'll do it later when there aren't so many people," Vali replied shooting a glance towards the crowd, "What's going on?"

"The League has organized a tournament to celebrate the anniversary of the Kanto-Johto Civil war's end ten years ago," The older Nurse Joy, who reminded Vali of Professor McGonagall, answered, "One is happening in each of the main cities though the prizes and layout of the tournament differ depending on the city,"

"When was it announced?" Vali asked curiously.

"Two weeks ago," The Nurse Joy answered, "Would you like to sign up? It's starting in three days and there are only a few more spots left,"

Vali thought about it before nodding, "Sure, it might be fun. How is it set up?"

"The tournament here in Vermilion is divided between genders and split again between the amount of gym badges the participants have. Everyone who has up to four will go against each other and everyone who has up to eight will go against one another," The Nurse Joy answered as she handed over the sign up sheet that Vali signed and handed to Steven who signed it as well, "The matches are going to be one on one for the first two rounds and two on two for the last ones. If you win against your division, you'll be facing whoever won the other division. The same will happen to the runner ups until the top three of each gender division has been found,"

"And the prizes?" Steven asked as he handed the sign up sheet back to the Nurse Joy.

"The main prize for either division is a mystery, but knowing the league it's going to be an interesting one," Nurse Joy snorted softly, "First place of both divisions get three Luxury Balls, two ultra balls, three evolutionary items of their choice, and a prize of 10,000 Poke. Second place gets two ultra balls, two evolutionary stone, and a prize of 5,000 poke. Third place gets one ultra ball, one evolutionary stone, and a prize of 1,500 poke,"

Vali whistled at the amount, "No wonder so many people want to participate."

The Nurse Joy that had taken their pokedexs returned with a pair of keys and an apologetic look, "Unfortunately, we don't have any single rooms left. All we have are a few doubles."

Steven and Vali looked at one another before shrugging. They had been camping together, so it wasn't anything they'd done before. The older Nurse Joy took their pokedexs and placed them in the slots attached to her computer. She did something as the younger Nurse Joy handed them their keys. The older Nurse Joy took the pokedexs out when they were ejected from the slots and handed them to the two, "Here you two are, you're now officially in the tournament. You just need to check in at the arena by the base in three days by 10 AM. Have a nice day."

The two moved through the crowd and headed up the stairs. They found their room fairly quickly and got inside. Vali set her bag down on one of the beds and took off her boots, "I shudder to think about what the League Conference will be like."

"If it's like the Ever Grande Conference, it shouldn't be too bad once you get checked in," Steven set down his bag, "Why don't you take the first shower? I'm going to start my laundry and call my father,"

"You sure?" Vali asked as she unzipped her bag and pulled out the storage container where she'd put most of her personal supplies/money into.

"I'm sure," Steven offered her a light smile, "Just don't take too long,"

"No problem," Vali got her supplies and headed into the bathroom to take her shower.