Arriving to Saffron City once more

Vali leaned against Balto's warm body with Steven as they stopped for a lunch break and a bit of a rest. Empress had shoved herself underneath Balto's head to get away from the cold. Pele and Pippin were settled together beside Smaug who was carefully keeping the Numel from getting too cold. Eevee was curled up on top of Balto's side with Vulpix and Elrond. Steven's pokemon had pretty much fled to their pokeballs the moment they could save for Skarmory and Mawile who were actually enjoying the snow. Claydol didn't mind it nor did Metagross though the two had decided to stick to their pokeballs for now. She jolted a bit when her pokenav rang and quickly pulled it from her pocket, "Hell-"

"Vali!" Professor Oak nearly shouted much to the shock of everyone in the clearing, "Your Vulpix is a King!"

"Yeah," Vali offered him a sheepish smile, "I apologize for not informing you earlier, but it slipped my mind with everything going on," She looked at him in concern as she noticed how sleep deprived he was, "Professor, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Professor Oak waved off her concern, "I can't believe your Vulpix is a carrier of the King gene,"

"Everyone was pretty surprised," Vali shifted a bit and winced a little as the skin around her newest scar tugged a bit.

For all that she might be lucky, Vali's bad luck could be just as bad sometimes. She refocused on Professor Oak as he asked, "Vali, could you document Vulpix's growth for me? With how rare the King gene is, we have no idea just how it affects the pokemon other than their increased growth and the subtle power increase as well."

"No problem, Professor," Vali had decided to do so before talking to the professor since she knew he'd ask that, "Professor, aren't the Alolan totem pokemon carriers of the King gene as well?"

"Not quite," Professor Oak shook his head as Steven gave her a slightly confused look, "The totem pokemon of Alola are abnormalities. My cousin Samson's been studying them for years alongside various other pokemon professors such as Professor Kukui," Professor Oak fell into what his lecture mode, "The totem pokemon of Alola start out as regular pokemon, but upon the passing of their predecessor gain what we, in the scientific community, tentatively term as the totem aura. No one is quite sure how it is passed on or even what causes the newest totem pokemon to gain the aura. When the new totem pokemon gains it's aura, it begins to rapidly change via increased stats, size, and weight,"

"Basically making it like a King, but not," Vali summed up.

"Just so," Professor Oak nodded to her, "However, it also gains some new abilities that no other pokemon of it's species King gene or not has. The ability to find Z-Crystals as well as find those worthy of using them. There is also some thought that the Legendary island guardians play a part in all this, but we cannot be sure since it's rare that they show themselves to anyone,"

"That would explain why they're not called Kings by the locals," Vali muttered softly.

"Anyway," Professor Oak shook his head lightly, "I'll see if I can get into contact with Lorelei,"

"The newest Elite Four member?" Vali clarified though Lorelei technically wasn't new since she'd been a member of the Elite Four since the current champion had taken his place and been sworn in, "Why do you say that?"

"One of her pokemon, a Dewgong to be precise, is one of the few known Kings currently alive," Professor Oak replied as he fiddled with some papers on his desk, "You'll need her help in order to find ways to feed Vulpix once he gets older and starts battling since King pokemon tend to eat quite a bit. Granted, it wouldn't be as bad as say a Dragonite king or a Tyranitar. It'll still be a bit hard,"

Vali inwardly winced at that thought and admitted that it would probably be a very good idea while hoping Vulpix didn't end up becoming a picky eater, "Thank you, Professor."

"It's no problem," Professor Oak waved her off, "Now, I should probably let you go. Are you heading to Saffron?"

"Yes, we should be there in a couple days rather than a week since I'm riding Balto and Steven is riding Skarmory," Vali answered and looked towards Steven for confirmation.

"Did you need something from us, Professor?" Steven asked after giving her a light nod.

Professor Oak shook his head, "Not at all though Steven, has Lileep evolved yet?"

"No, but he's getting fairly close," Steven had been a bit too busy to battle anyone.

Professor Oak went to say something when the sound of something heavy slamming into one of the filing cabinets filled the air, "Oh dear, I really need to get better doors."

"Is something wrong, Professor?" Vali asked in concern.

"Just some of the younger rock-types currently in my care playing around," Professor Oak sighed deeply and shook his head, "Safe travels you two,"

After a few goodbyes, Professor Oak hung up and Vali sighed softly, "I really hope Terra wasn't involved with that," She stood up and stretched carefully after pocketing her pokenav, "So ready to get moving?"

"It would probably be for the best," Steven stood up as well while Vali began recalling her pokemon, "We should be able to travel for another four hours before we should be worried about setting up camp,"

"Sounds good," Vali finished recalling everyone save for Balto, Smaug, and Vulpix, "Ready to go you three?"

They all nodded as Smaug began to stretch his wings and Balto stood up. Vulpix jumped off Balto before the larger fire-type fully got up and walked over to Vali. Once Balto was standing and everything was packed away again, Vali picked up Vulpix and set him onto Balto's back before climbing up when her oldest pokemon bent down to make things easier on her. Once she was settled, Vulpix quickly wormed his way back into the position he'd been in before their break. Steven pulled himself onto Skarmory's back after checking his saddle and asked, "Ready to go?"

"Yup," Vali confirmed after digging her fingers into Balto's scruff and Smaug let out a small roar.

"Then let's be off," Steven said as Skarmory and Smaug got ready to take off.

Reaching Saffron city, Vali could appreciate how the rather large city looked when covered with snow. She got off Balto's back and returned him along with Smaug once the Charizard had landed. Steven landed and returned Skarmory after thanking her for the ride. They looked at the city then at one another. Steven waved a hand, "Shall we?"

"Might as well, I could really use a shower and warm meal," Vali took the first step towards the city.

Once she'd dropped her pokemon off for a check up that probably wasn't really needed since there hadn't been many trainers traveling between Saffron and Vermilion, Vali took a long shower after starting on the laundry that she needed to get done. When she finished, the fire-type master-in-training felt less tense about being in another city. She headed downstairs to find Steven speaking to Nurse Joy and waited patiently for him to finish. Steven turned to her when he finished talking to Nurse Joy, "Ready to eat?"

"Definitely," Vali started heading for the cafeteria with Steven following her, "What were you talking to Nurse Joy about?"

"I was merely telling her about Lileep's approaching evolution and seeing if she would check on Blastoise's shell just in case," Steven replied as they entered the cafeteria and got into the small line for food, "I felt it best to warn her about Lileep. Even if he's more calm compared to most fossil pokemon, he has been a lot more aggressive than usual lately,"

"It's probably the grass-type in him," Vali commented as she grabbed a tray, "They tend to be the calmest pokemon until you piss them off," She likened them to Neville Longbottom especially since he probably would've been a grass-type trainer had he been in this world, "They also tend to show a lot of aggression when they're close to evolution. Very likely, he is likely agitated both because of his coming evolution and the cold since both sides of his typing don't really like it,"

"Very true," Steven picked up a tray and they began grabbing food from the buffet set up which mostly consisted of soup related items, "Vali, what exactly did you mean by Totem pokemon? I meant to ask earlier, but it slipped from my mind since we were getting close to Saffron,"

Vali headed for an empty table and sat down with Steven, "I found out about them when I was looking up Alolan pokemon after the whole thing with Elrond's evolution," She blew on her hot-chocolate before taking a sip with a small grimace at the overly processed and powdery flavor, "Totem pokemon are really interesting since they're basically kings without the whole king gene. They're actually considered sub-level Legendary pokemon only just below the lower powered ones like Meloetta and the Swords of Justice in Unova."

"Really?" Steven looked up from his stew in surprise.

Vali nodded as she began to stir up her own stew a bit, "Yes though it's mostly the older ones that carry that title," She thought about something, "Hey, Steven. Have you ever looked up the typing of the Legendaries outside of Hoenn?"

"Not really outside of the ones in Kanto, why?" Steven asked her curiously.

Vali took a bite of her stew after blowing on it, "You'd be surprised by how many are actually steel-types. I mostly know because I've been fairly interested in the Legendaries mostly because I have a feeling at least one of them is responsible for Siri and I ending up in Kanto," Steven's look of curiosity increased and she began listing the legendary steel-types, "We have Registeel, Jirachi, Dialga, Heatran, Cobalion, Solgaleo, and Magearna."

"What is Magearna?" Steven asked with a small frown.

"Magearna is one of the few confirmed artificial pokemon," Vali explained not too surprised that Steven wouldn't know much about it since the information was a secret and she only found out about it when Professor Oak let her use his database to research pokemon, "Not much is known about it save for the fact Volcanion is it's protector. I only know about it since I accidentally came across it one time when Professor Oak let me use his database to research pokemon,"

"How exactly is it considered a Legendary pokemon?" Steven asked her curiously.

"More mythical than legendary actually, but I'm not actually sure since I didn't get much of a chance to actually study the information," Vali hadn't been very interested in Magearna despite it being an artificial pokemon and over 500 years old, "You'd be better off asking Professor Oak or wait until you're a champion,"

"Why?" Steven asked as she took another bite of her stew.

"Champions and members of the Elite four along with top Rangers are given information about all Legendary pokemon in existence," Vali explained after taking a drink of water, "Mostly to ensure that the Legends are protected, they also need to know this information to ensure that if someone manages to catch one and use it for bad things, they can take it out," She took another bite of stew, "Lucky for you, steel-type pokemon aren't weak to most-types that legendary pokemon belong to,"

"Right," Steven frowned slightly, "How can someone catch a legendary though?"

Vali ate some more of her food before answering as she thought back to the information she'd learned through Professor Oak's database, "Certain Legendaries have more than one of themselves running around though no one has ever been able to confirm the exact number. Take the Legendary birds for example, Zapdos and Articuno have been sighted in at least two places at once before despite being on the other side of the world from one another. Based on that, my guess is there are at least a few of each Legendary outside of the few god-classed pokemon running around."

"That would actually make sense," Steven mussed as she picked up one of her rolls and began eating it, "It would be interesting if we could confirm it,"

"Guess that means you'll have to tell me when you become a champion," Vali grinned at him earning a chuckle.

"I suppose so," Steven stole one of her rolls.

"Hey! I was going to eat that," Vali protested earning a small smirk.

"You have four others to eat," Steven leaned back as she attempted to steal it back.

Vali pouted at him before taking another drink of her hot-chocolate and gagging a bit, "Remind me to never drink Pokemon Center brand hot-chocolate."

"Why?" Steven asked as he eyed her drink.

"It tasted like that over processed powdered crap," Vali wished she'd known that before she decided to grab a cup of it.

Steven grimaced at that, "I'll definitely keep that in mind though that one Pokemon Center we visited by Mount Moon wasn't too bad."

"Maybe it's the city ones that have the bad stuff," Vali commented earning a shrug.