Home with the boys

Vali and Steven left with the two boys amid stares of awe from the students of the school who were eyeing their visible pokemon with excited eyes that struggled to take in every detail possible. Balto walked happily beside Vali with Pikachu sitting on her shoulder as Eevee had chosen to hide within his pokeball. Steven had Metagross floating on his right. Ash and Gary were both strutting a bit while Ash's Pidgey was taking shelter in her pokeball. Snow was starting to fall slowly to the ground, she glanced at the clouds and commented, "It looks like it's just going to be a light dusting."

"Hey, Vali," Ash spoke up as they passed the gates, "Do you think we can see everyone closer up once we get home?"

"Sure though remember that Eevee isn't a big fan of most humans and Empress isn't either now that I think about it," Vali warned him earning a nod and she looked at Gary, "Are you coming home with us?"

Gary nodded lightly, "Gramps prefers it when I stay with Delia and Ash after school."

"I don't blame him. That big house probably isn't fun to be in when you're alone," Vali commented as she patted his shoulder, "It'll be nice to spend a bit more time with you. By the way, how much homework do you two have?"

"Just a few worksheets, they aren't giving us so much with the winter holidays coming up," Gary replied as Balto shifted to walk between them and butted his head against Gary's hip, "Hey, Balto," Balto nuzzled the boy and wagged his tail when Gary scratched behind his ears, "He feels a lot warmer now,"

Vali let out a soft laugh, "That's because he's a lot stronger now, it won't be long before I evolve him."

"Can we be there when you do?" Ash asked almost hesitantly.

Vali looked down at Balto, "What do you say, do you want them to be with us when you evolve?" Balto paused in his steps for a moment before nodding with a bark of agreement, "Looks like you two are going to be in for a treat then, it'll be a little bit longer before I do. Professor Oak mentioned his Arcanine wanting to battle Balto before he evolved to gauge how strong he is. You two can be there when we do it."

"Awesome!" Ash jumped up and down with an excited expression on his face, "I can't wait to watch it!"

"Have you been to the lab yet?" Gary asked her curiously.

Vali shook her head, "Not yet, we're going to wait until tomorrow to head to the lab."

"Vali, you went home before you came to see us, right?" Ash asked her.

Vali nodded with a small smirk already knowing what he wanted to ask, "Yes, we had to get our stuff settled. Before you ask, Delia is making cook-"

Ash promptly took off running with Gary yelping and shouting, "Oi! Don't eat all of them you glutton!"

With that, Gary took off after the other boy. Vali burst out laughing almost sending Pikachu falling off her shoulders. Pikachu jumped onto Steven's stable shoulders with a huff. Calming herself down, She looked at Steven when he asked, "I take it that that's normal?"

"Delia's Christmas cookies are the best and everyone tends to rush around attempting to get some before they're gone," Vali shook her head lightly and took Pikachu from Steven once she finished giggling, "Delia makes sure we all get an equal amount of cookies, so I'm not in a rush to get them. She's probably making more this year so you, your pokemon, and my pokemon can try them,"

"So that's one of your Christmas traditions?" Steven asked as they got closer to the house.

Vali nodded as Pikachu moved to settle on her shoulders again, "Yeah, it's a lot of fun making them," She glanced at Steven, "Do you have any traditions of your own?"

"Calling my father is pretty much it," Steven shoved his hands into his pockets.

Vali bumped the shoulder not occupied with Pikachu against his earning a startled look, "Don't look so down, Steven. It's nice that you can at least call him during Christmas and talk. It's more than I had before I was eleven and learned about my magic," She offered him a warm smile as he looked at her, "Enjoy your time with us, you might find a few more traditions you can share with your father."

"Maybe," Steven shook his head and smiled at her, "I really can't thank you enough for this,"

"Hey, you're my traveling partner and friend. It would be horrible if I didn't invite you over for Christmas when you didn't have anywhere really to go," Vali grinned at him, "Besides, I get to see how well you're aim is in a snowball fight,"

"I haven't really had a snowball fight before since Hoenn is usually a bit too warm for snow outside of a select few areas," Steven said making her gasp in mock-horror.

"You poor unfortunate soul. We'll have to remedy that immediately," Vali opened the door to her house and called out, "Ash, Gary, we've got a problem. Poor Steven has never had a proper snowball fight,"

"What?!" Was shouted from the kitchen.

"Seriously?" Gary looked at Steven in horror alongside Ash as they appeared.

Vali nodded with a stern face, "Yes, I am afraid so," She patted Steven's shoulder trying to keep a straight face at his rather lost look, "Once the snow is perfect for a fight, we'll have to show him the ropes."

Gary and Ash nodded with solemn determination, "Of course, Vali."

"Now, are those cookies I smell?" Vali watched their eyes widen.

"Mine!" Was shouted in chorus before the two rushed back in the direction of the kitchen with Balto racing after them and Pikachu following at a sedated pace with his nose twitching.

Vali turned to Steven and snickered at the expression on his face as Metagross recalled themselves due to not fitting through the door, "Steven, you okay?"

"Just a bit thrown," Steven shook his head as he shut the door, "I wasn't expecting that,"

"In this place, you have to push your expectations aside since two magicals live here alongside Ash and Delia with visits from members of the Oak family," Vali took off her coat placing it onto the coat rack and taking off her boots which were put into the cubbyhole with her name over it, "Once you do, you'll be just fine,"

Steven followed her example and they moved towards the kitchen, "I have a feeling that our time here is going to be very interesting."

"Probably," Vali smiled lightly, "Just be glad you have someone to help you understand everything that goes on here, I don't intend to leave you to the sharks so to speak,"

"So Ash and Gary were telling me all about your demonstration at the school," Delia said as they entered the kitchen, "Are you going to be doing more?"

"Yes, but not on such a small scale since there isn't a lot of time before winter break starts," Vali picked up one of the pine-tree shaped cookies and handed it to Steven before grabbing the Santa-hat wearing Growlithe head that Delia had obviously made for her, "We'll be going near the end of the day so that the kids can still get their regular classes just with some added fun afterwards,"

Vali took a bite and let out a pleased sigh as the sweet goodness of a freshly baked Christmas cookie hit her tongue. Delia let out a laugh at her expression before turning to Steven, "How did you like it, Steven?"

"It was interesting, I'm looking forward to exploring Pallet Town while I can," Steven followed Vali to take a seat at the kitchen table since Ash and Gary had taken the island seats that didn't have anything sitting on them.

"You'll have to be careful once it really starts snowing," Delia warned him, "It can pack onto the ground rather thickly and turn to ice in some places,"

"I'll keep him safe," Vali promised earning a light nod from Delia, "Where's Siri?"

"He had to go take care of some things at Headquarters," Delia answered as she put another tray of cookies into the oven, "He should be home at some point tomorrow or the day after depending on how things go," Delia smiled lightly, "As for your Houndour egg, Professor Oak is watching over it at the lab,"

"I'll grab it tomorrow," Vali got up, "I'll be right back,"

Vali went to her room and grabbed her Vulpix egg with the case before returning. She set it on the table, "Ash, Gary, want to see my Vulpix egg?"

"It's kind of small," Gary commented as the two boys got closer.

"He is supposed to be the runt of the litter, Gary," Vali explained as she gently took the egg out of it's case and began cleaning the surface.

"He? How do you know it'll be a boy?" Ash asked her curiously.

Vali looked up from the egg as Balto walked over and jumped onto the seat next to her to get closer to the egg, "All pokemon centers in the major cities have these scanners that can tell Nurse Joy all about it's health including the gender though you'd have to request it."

"Cool," Ash reached out before hesitating, "Can I touch him?"

"Go ahead, but gently," Vali looked at Gary and nodded to him showing that he could touch the egg too.

Ash breath out a gasp of awe, "So warm, it's kind of pulsing."

"That's it's heart beat, isn't it?" Gary asked with bright eyes.

Vali nodded lightly with a laugh, "Yup. He'll be hatching pretty soon. Once he's old enough that I don't need to constantly keep an eye on him, would you two like to play with him?"

"We have to be gentle, right?" Gary asked as he removed his hand, "Baby pokemon are fragile,"

"Yes though I'll have one of my other pokemon watching over you guys to make sure everything is okay," Vali told them as Ash removed his hand.

Vali resumed cleaning the egg up as Ash asked Steven, "Have you ever had an egg?"

Steven nodded with a light smile, "Yes. I received an Aron egg from a tournament that was going on. She's very dear to me though sometimes she acts a bit too much like an overly affectionate puppy. I'm lucky my other pokemon can keep her from hurting me when she gets too excited."

"Is she still an Aron?" Gary asked him curiously.

"No, she evolved all the way into an Aggron two months before my last conference," Steven smiled lightly, "She actually helped me get my spot in the top eight,"

"How long did it take her to fully evolve?" Ash asked as the boys moved to sit back at the kitchen island.

Vali looked at Steven in curiosity as she hadn't heard this before. Steven took a bite of his cookie with a thoughtful look on his face, "It took her almost a full two years even with constant battles. Steel-type pokemon grow fairly slowly just like Dragon-type pokemon after all."

"Two years? You have a lot of patience," Gary grimaced slightly.

"You need it in order to properly raise certain pokemon, Gary," Vali finished cleaning up the egg and returned it to the case, "It will always be worth it in the end. It's going to take my Larvitar, Terra, awhile to fully grow, but when she does, she'll be a powerful Tyranitar,"

"Do they really eat dirt and rocks?" Ash cut in before Gary or Vali could say anything else.

Vali nodded with a light laugh, "Yes. It's a big part of their food source same as any rock-type, ground-type, or steel-type."

"Vali," Vali looked over at Delia, "Why don't you release your pokemon in the living room? I'm sure they'd appreciate being out and about. You too, Steven," Delia added sternly, "It doesn't make any sense why they should be sitting in their pokeballs when they don't have to,"

"Right," Vali stood up and moved towards living room after picking up her egg case.

Steven followed her and they released their pokemon. Thankfully, it seemed that Sirius had added a few expansion charms to the house, so they didn't have to worry about the bigger pokemon being cramped or not fitting. Everyone looked around curiously save for Smaug who eyed the room with a smirk. Clearly he remembered the last time he was here as a Charmander. Walking over to him after placing the egg case down on the low coffee table, Vali reached up to scratch under his chin, "Brings back memories, huh?" Smaug nodded with a smug grin, "You were only a little Charmander back then, but now you're a big strong Charizard."

Smaug preened under her words and leaned down to nuzzle her lightly. Yeah, it was a little nostalgic to be back here after Smaug had reached his final evolution and her pokemon family had expanded past its two original members.