Arriving at the Ranger/Ace base

Blaine nodded to her as she walked outside the gym, "Good, you're a few minutes early. Did you get everything on the list?"

"Yeah," Vali shifted the bag on her shoulder as Eevee peered at the gym leader from her other one, "Once we get back, I'll make sure to get everything on the list and keep it ready,"

Blaine smirked a bit and Vali could see what looked like the beginning of pride flicker in his eyes, "Great. Let's get going, we'll be meeting up with Surge to get more information on the situation. Other than greeting Surge, you're to stay quiet and listen to everything that's said. I want to see what you get from the information we're given."

"I can do that," Vali watched Blaine release a Delphox only to be caught off guard as the feeling of teleportation overtook her, "The hell?"

The energy was far more comfortable than most and Vali found herself standing completely relaxed where she'd usually be fighting the urge to puke at the unexpected action. Blaine gave her a confused look that he quickly hide while saying, "Delphi here has been specifically trained to use Teleport. You'll find that the League has many psychic-type pokemon usually unable to use the ability capable of it. Once we're past a certain point in our training, I'll see about getting you one if only to ensure Delphi won't be strained. Of course, you'll have to prove yourself and not show off their ability willy-nilly."

"Understood," Vali looked at Delphi with a soft smile and bowed slightly, "Thank you, Delphi,"

Delphi nodded to her before returning to its pokeball. Blaine shook his head as Vali began looking around them. They seemed to be in a forested area with a handful of bunker-like buildings and four watch towers. They were painted to look like the surrounding foliage and it was only standing in the center of them that she could tell the difference. Blaine noticed her confused expression and chuckled as he began to walk, "Welcome to Base Delco 2. One of 3 Ranger/Ace bases in this specific region of Kanto."

Vali quickly caught up to him, "So there are members of both here?"

"Yup," Blaine nodded as he released Ninetales, "Given that this area presides over one of the more wilder and unknown parts of Kanto, its best to have a mixture," Ninetales flexed her tails and let some flames leak from her muzzle, "While Kanto doesn't have jungle like Hoenn, our wild lands are just as bad with the mix of mountains, grasslands, forests, lakes, and that area just by the border with Johto that remains untamed to this day," Vali released Aragorn who fell in step with her when he took note of the new surroundings just as he was taught, "Now, Surge will be in the building we're heading to. I want you to listen to him if I'm not around or someone that we tell you to."

"I understand. I'm pretty much the weakest and most inexperienced person here," Vali told him earning a nod.

They entered the building ahead of them which was the largest of them and found Surge at the head of it looking over a map. Surge was the only one inside which Vali found a bit odd, but Blaine didn't seem to be. Blaine walked towards Surge who's head snapped up with a snarl. Jolteon and Raichu appeared from under the table snarling only to stop as Surge snorted and his scowl dropped, "About time you fucking show up, Blaine. I kicked out those damn pussies when they started whining too much. They'll be back soon enough," Surge looked at her and grinned, "Hey, Brat. Strong enough to join us already?"

"Apparently," Vali smiled a bit weakly, "Considering we've been getting our asses kicked day in and day out, I'm not so sure. We beat the old man's Magmar all together the first night we got there, but haven't managed to do it since. I have a feeling it was going easy on us,"

"Magmar got cocky," Blaine agreed with a chuckle, "You brats will just have to try harder. Now Surge, the situation,"

"We've got a bunch of asswipe poachers," Surge replied as he gestured to the pictures on the map, "Singerly is sure the shits are part of the train that are bringing pokemon the illegal rings. But the poachers keep slipping away, they're like Shellos when it comes to getting out of traps. We've made sure everyone assigned to this base and the various others in the region are clean,"

"So how the hell are they getting out of the traps?" Blaine asked as he peered at the map, "None of them are centralized either when it comes to catching pokemon save for the region. No one could be that good. Have we captured any of theirs?"

"Two, but both ended up dead within an hour," Surge scowled at that, "One shit to a suicide pill and the other to a dark-type hidden nearby that slit their throat,"

"Damn it," Blaine grimaced at that, "We're basically working from square one to two on this,"

"Pretty much," Surge ran a hand through his hair, "The Ace's are keeping them from using any weather based attacks which help and the Rangers are keeping the wild pokemon from getting too pissed off. It isn't easy since the poachers are starting to pick off too many,"

Vali got a bit closer and looked at the map curiously. Surge saw her looking it over and said, "The red marks are where the poachers struck, the blue are where the pokemon ended up getting taken from, the purple are where we confronted them, and the black is where the poachers died."

Vali scanned over the map and called out Elrond. Elrond appeared and looked at her curiously, "Yes, Vali?"

"Look over the map, I need it memorized," Vali told him as Blaine and Surge continued to discuss tentative plans.

Elrond nodded as he began scanning the map, "No patterns what so ever. It makes sense to avoid capture, but soon that will fail."

"But what if there is a pattern?" Vali murmured softly earning a gentle hum.

"Maybe, but the question is what kind of pattern would there be?" Elrond replied as he leaned against her shoulder carefully once he finished memorizing it.

Vali hummed a bit, "That would be the question."

"What are you humming about?" Blaine asked as he and Surge turned towards her.

Vali was startled by the question, but quickly answered, "What if there is a pattern, but its masked to make it look like it isn't one?" She cringed a bit at the disbelief, "Like what types of pokemon where poached? What days did they strike? How many days in a row did they strike before stopping? What time of day? The strength of the pokemon they're aiming to poach should be considered too. And even more, I mean if you consider that kind of stuff, you could pick up a pattern."

Surge stared at her a few a moments before letting out a low chuckle, "Well, I'll be damned. You're right, Kid. There might just be a pattern within this mess and we're missing it, I'll get those pussies to start searching for one."

Blaine grinned a bit, "Looks like we were right to bring you alone, Brat."

Vali flushed a bit, "I was only making a suggestion."

"Suggestion or not, it'll still help keep us from sitting around and wasting massive amounts of time," Surge replied as he grabbed walkie-talkie, "I'll call Singerly and Brown. Get them to hurry their asses back, we've got work to do. You two should get settled, we're bunking together. Raichu, go show them our bunk,"

Raichu let out a soft cry and lept down from the table. Blaine shook his head, "I'll stay here and listen for a bit more. Brat, you get our shit settled and come back."

"No problem," Vali took the bag Blaine offered and grunted at the weight.

Blaine grinned at her, "We'll be working on your own training when we get back."

"Joy," Vali was not looking forward to whatever hell he was going to unleash on her.

Raichu led her towards one of the smaller bunkers which held a group of bunk beds. The mouse gestured to two of them and Vali dropped Blaine's bag onto one before setting her own onto another. She hugged Raichu once relieved of her burdens as Elrond commented, "We will not have room for everyone."

"Unfortunately," Vali agreed as she glanced towards the bunk she'd be using with a slight sigh, "Hello, Raichu. I've missed you greatly,"

Raichu hugged her back with a gentle coo.