Calls home as goodbyes are given and hellos are said

Delia was the one to answer when Vali called home, "Vali! Where are you this time?"

"Celadon city. I would've called you when we went to Saffron, but we were more concerned with getting out of there as soon as possible," Vali offered Delia a sheepish smile, "Sorry,"

"It's fine, Vali. I trust that you didn't have much trouble getting to Celadon?" Delia asked her curiously, "No trouble with any wild pokemon or other trainers, right?"

Vali nodded as she relaxed into her seat, "No trouble at all. We mostly spent both riding Arwen and Skarmory. I think Pikachu's more than a little irritated with me for having him try to keep up with Arwen though."

Delia snickered softly, "I'll bet. Maybe you should see if he wants a break, I know that Celina misses you a lot."

"That might be a good idea," Vali admitted as she thought about it, "I'll ask him later. I think she'd probably enjoy being able to battle in my next gym battle,"

Not to mention the fact that Vali really wanted to spend some one on one training time with Celina, she wanted to keep the bond between them as strong as possible. She missed feeling the Pidgeotto's pokeball on her belt and the bird pokemon's presence. She knew that her other pokemon missed her even Terra who hadn't known the Pidgeotto for more than two weeks. Pikachu would probably be thankful for the reprieve and the increase in food he was likely to have thanks to being at Professor Oak's lab. He would get to meet her mother and little brother who were bound to spoil him rotten. With that thought in mind, she was definitely going to ask Pikachu if he wanted to take a break.

Delia talked about how things were going at home and the new things Ash was getting into. Even with school to take up some of his time, Ash was finding ways to get into trouble. Vali had to shake her head at some of the things he got into as well as wonder how the hell he managed it. She doubted anyone other than Gary could end up getting lost in the forest near Pallet town and save a Pidgey egg from being eaten by an Ekans only for it to hatch for him moments later. Ash now had a pokemon to raise and probably end up having as his starter pokemon in the event Professor Oak didn't have enough starters for everyone. She had to comment, "At the very least, Ash'll be ahead of his classmates save for Gary on how to properly take care of pokemon."

"I still have no idea how he could have gotten lost," Delia shook her head with a small smile, "That boy..."

"His Pidgey will keep him from getting lost once it's able to fly," Vali told her earning a laugh, "Anyway, is the old dog still there?"

"Yes though I think he's going a bit stir crazy," Vali shook her head lightly at that, "Honestly, I'm thinking about tossing him to Professor Oak if only to keep him from driving me insane. At the very least, Ash is kept busy once school and his homework are done,"

Sirius hated being cooped up inside as much as Vali disliked staying in crowded cities. It was against his inner nature as a Grimm animagus to stay inside especially after Azkaban. Vali snorted softly, "Let's just hope they don't pull too many pranks," Sirius has been corrupting Ash to the prankster ranks since a year into their stay in this world, "Anyway, has a certain mutt popped a very important question or is he still beating around the bush?"

Delia giggled as Vali wiggled her eyebrows, "It's times like this that remind me you aren't actually a ten year old," She sighed soft, "Not just yet, I'm giving him two more days before I do it."

Muttering under her breath about stubborn old dogs, Vali said, "Good luck, Delia."

Vali and Delia chatted for a bit longer before hanging up.

Pikachu looked a bit surprised by Vali's offer before agreeing to it. He could use a break to fully recharge himself and get some time to himself. He also wanted to meet the one Vali called 'Delia' since she made those really good snacks. He preferred Vali's cooking, but her's came as a close second. He was also curious about the young male human she called her little brother. While he knew the boy wasn't her blood kin, he still wanted to meet the one his trainer called family.

After making Pikachu a good last meal and allowing everyone to say their goodbyes, Vali returned him before sending the mouse pokemon to lab in exchange for Celina. Once the exchange was complete and they bid each other goodbye for now, she headed to the training field where her pokemon were settled with Steven and Zaria. She released Celina into the world and the Pidgeotto flew around for a bit with a fierce cry before settling down in front of her. It was in that moment that she saw just how much Celina had changed since they last saw one another.

Celina was larger than before. If Vali had to guess, she'd say that Celina was just a few inches shy of the regular height of most newly evolved Pidgeot. Celina's wing span was probably double what it had been the last time they'd seen one another. She had begun to lose the yellow-gold color in her tail feathers. The crest that had grown in upon her evolution from Pidgey to Pidgeotto was starting to lengthen and even out as small bit of yellow-gold began to form. The claws on her feet were lengthening alongside her beak. With all this in mind, it was quite clear that she was going to evolve soon enough.

Zaria whistled in appreciation of the bird pokemon, "Okay, she is definitely cooler."

Vali ignored that commented as she held out a hand to Celina, "Hey, Celina. Did you enjoy your break?" Celina let out a trill and bent down her head to allow Vali to stroke her feathers, "Good. I see that you've been training too. Once you say hello to everyone, do you want to show us what you've gotten up to while on your break?"

Celina nodded with a pleased trill before hopping over to her teammates. Balto was the first one to greet her and the puppy pokemon was clearly pleased to have the Pidgeotto back. Smaug eyed her in both happiness and jealousy making it quite clear that he could tell she was close to evolving which would probably motivate him to train harder if only to evolve as well. Sandshrew greeted the Pidgeotto a little shyly alongside Terra making it clear that they would need time to get used to the larger bird pokemon. Arwen greeted her cheerfully and nudged the Pidgeotto with a gentle whicker. Eevee greeted her with a soft yip of greeting earning the Pidgeotto's full attention. Out of all the pokemon greeting the Pidgeotto, she hadn't expected Eevee to be so social.

Vali let her pokemon greet one another as she walked over to her bag. She settled down and pulled out her incubator. Carefully pulling the egg out, she began to rub the shell with a soft cloth as warmth radiated from it. Balto wandered over to gently nose the egg before curling up against her side as he usually did whenever she had the egg out. Each of her pokemon were fascinated with the egg, they knew it would be another member of their family which made protecting it important. Slowly, each of her pokemon made their way over to either nose the egg or touch it as gently as possible, Celina followed them clearly quite curious about the egg. Seeing that curiosity, she explained how it came to be with them.

Celina laid her feathered head on the egg as she let out a gentle trill. The warmth of Celina's soft feathers eased the ache that had grown in Vali's chest when the Pidgeotto was gone. A new ache developed at the lack of feeling Pikachu's familiar weight settle on her shoulders or the small bit of static caused by him rubbing his cheek against her.