Calling the professor

Steven glanced at Vali as they made their way down the mountain wondering what exactly had happened. He had never seen any crystal like those or seen something like that happen before. Normally, he would feel some excitement over finding something like this since it was a new type of stone/crystal, but it just filled him with trepidation. The way they had reacted to Vali and her phoenix feather were the main causes of his trepidation along with the instinctive knowledge that he likely would have never come across the cavern without her around. He'd never seen Vali's eyes glow that bright fiery green that they had or seen the pulsing veins of energy form along her face. He'd never seen the phoenix feather glow or really react to anything. What exactly did it mean for Vali?

Gus looked them over with a raised eyebrow, "Run inta violent pokemon?"

"No, we had to go around a group of quarreling ones," Vali answered as she handed over Numel's pokemon, "I ended up getting a Numel,"

"Notta bad pokemon," Gus placed the Safari ball onto a scanner, "Dex?" Vali handed it over and Gus slid it into a slot on the computer, "Now ah just gotta get this info transferred," Gus fiddled with the computer for a few moments before it dinged and the Safari ball was coated in bright white light before settling down, "And there ya go,"

Gus handed both the pokedex and pokeball back to Vali, "Come again soon."

"I will," Vali nodded as she took the items, "Thanks Gus,"

"No problem," Gus waved her off.

They left the Safari-zone after collecting their pokemon and made their way back to the pokemon center. Steven spoke as they got back to Fuchsia, "Do you think the Rangers and ACEs know about the Durant?"

"Probably not otherwise the Durant would already have been captured," Vali shook her head lightly, "I just can't figure out why anyone would bring Durant to a Kanto Reserve. It's not like they're endangered or anything since they breed like any other bug-type pokemon,"

"Maybe it has something to do with those crystals," Steven commented earning a shrug from her.

"Maybe," Vali shook her head, "But that'll be up to the Professor to figure out,"

The first thing Vali did after returning to the pokemon center was have Balto and Numel looked over by Nurse Joy. While she could have waited to have Balto checked over, she was worried that he might've gotten hurt by the fall before she managed to return him. She had Nurse Joy look over Numel both to ensure her newest pokemon was healthy and to give her time to explain everything to the rest of her pokemon. After that, she went up to her room and put the crystal into her storage device before taking a much needed shower. She quickly discovered that she'd gotten multiple scrapes from either the climb or the fall before Metagross managed to catch her. Taking great care to clean them up as much as possible, she used the med-kit all pokemon centers stocked for the traveling trainers and began taking care of them. Once that was done, she headed downstairs to call Professor Oak.

After about five minutes of waiting, Professor Oak answered the phone, "Hello, Vali. How was your first trip through the Safari-zone?"

"Interesting, we chose to check out the mountain section," Vali settled heavily in the comfortable chair that all private call booths had, "I managed to catch a Numel and got to study a group of diffrent species of pokemon preparing for the winter,"

"I can't wait to read about it," Professor Oak smiled brightly, "Though that isn't the only reason you called me, was it?"

Vali shook her head as she took out her notes on the cave, "The Safari-zone apparently has a colony of Durant."

"What?!" Professor Oak looked aghast at the prospect, "Are you sure?"

Vali nodded lightly, "I didn't see one, but Metagross sensed them. They called them 'Iron Tunnelers' and I guessed that they'd sensed Durant which was confirmed by them. They were battling an Onix when we ended up falling thirty-five feet below the ground into a cavern. Thankfully, Metagross kept either of us from getting hurt too much. I got a bunch of scrapes as well as have a few bruises show up come morning, but we're all okay."

"I am definitely going to be setting up an investigation," Professor Oak frowned darkly, "Did you find anything else?"

"The cavern we ended up in was coated in these strange bluish green crystals," Vali answered earning a confused look, "Steven didn't recognize them, so we're sending a bunch of samples we collected to you. There's something odd about them, my magic was buzzing beneath my skin the entire time we were in the cavern. I touched one with my gloved hand and the buzzing of my magic immediately got worse though it wasn't painful. The crystal underneath my hand began to turn a bright fiery red lined with orange, bright green, white, and bright blue. The oddest part was when Fawkes' feather warmed up and began to glow underneath my shirt. I didn't pull away my hand until fire began to form beneath my hand and crawl up my arm,"

"I've never heard of anything like that happening, but then again, everything to do with your inner fire and magic is pretty much new," Professor Oak gained a contemplative look, "Did it react to your inner fire or just your magic?"

"Probably both though I didn't really feel my inner fire reacting to anything," Vali ran a hand through her hair, "You should have Sirius test if it reacts to him too. If it does, we might just have managed to find a new conduit to use our magic as we once did,"

"I will," Professor Oak looked excited at the prospect, "This will be interesting,"

"Steven and I though that the Durant might be in the Safari-zone because of those crystals," Vali offered making Professor Oak frown again.

"You two might be right," Professor Oak said, "I will look into it. Continue your investigation into the Safari-zone,"

"I will. Maybe I'll end up finding more places like that cavern," Vali said earning a nod.

"Please send those crystals soon, I want to start the research on them. If you can, please take a few pictures of the Durant at some point," Professor Oak told her, "I want to have proper evidence of their presence,"

"Of course," Vali wanted a closer look at them at some point since it was rare that she ever came into contact with them.

"Thank you, Vali. Have a good night and congratulations on gaining another member of your family," Professor Oak offer her a tired smile.

"You two, Professor. Thank you," Vali replied before ending the call.

After getting her pokedex back, Vali headed to the stairs and found Steven walking down them carrying two packages. Steven smiled as he caught sight of her, "I've got half the crystal samples in the top and half in the bottom. I figured it might be a good idea to send some to Professor Rowan."

"Probably," Vali agreed as she took one of the packages from him, "Let's get these sent off, Nurse Joy might be finished checking over Balto and Numel by the time we come back,"

They left the pokemon center with Vali leading the way to the Post Office, "You're having Balto checked over? I can understand Numel being that it's a new pokemon, but why Balto?"

"I want to ensure that he didn't get hurt during the time it took for me to return him while we were falling," Vali really hoped Balto hadn't been hurt, "Considering the fact I found quite a few scratches during my shower, I think it was a very good idea,"

Steven winced at that, "I really wish we'd been a bit more careful."

"Yes, but there was no way for us to know it was going to happen," Vali told him, "Besides, I'm kind of glad it happened. We never would have found that cave otherwise,"