Jobs and the other shoe of Potter luck

Vali took ten photo's of each pokemon with some being a close up and others being a bit further. She took some photos with certain pokemon paired up. She also took some with the various volunteers that worked for some of the more relaxed branches of the Ranger Corps/League. Some of the photo's contained the pokemon all playing together. She made sure it all looked as natural as possible while also looking cute to encourage people to look into adopting the less physically appealing pokemon. Many of the pokemon bore physical scars of their past abuse, they carried them with pride.

Almost all of them were a bit timid including a rather small Meowth that was blind in one eye, Vali tried her best to get each of them comfortable with her which worked for the most part. One of the Rattata apparently decided that it was in love with Vulpix's tail and attempted to chew on it only for Vulpix to release his first ever Ember which was more soot than anything else. The Rattata got away with some singed fur and a few missing whiskers. Vulpix decided to curl around her shoulders which wasn't that bad though he wasn't going to be able to do that in a few more weeks. Needless to say, the various pokemon decided not to bug the fire breathing fox after that despite his new position.

At 12:30, everyone took a break with Vali's pokemon being returned to her. They ate their food before deciding to all take a nap with Vulpix joining them. One of the volunteer rangers asked, "So Vali, did Sirius ever manage to get you that Houndour egg?"

"Houndour egg?" Rodrick wasn't the only one looking at Vali in confusion.

"Siri, my godfather, made a bet with me," Vali explained as she ran her fingers across a sleeping Pippin's fur head, "He bet that I couldn't beat Pewter with two fire-types. If I lost, I'd have to let him pull a few pranks without a single counter. If I won, he'd have his partner, Regulus, breed during the next mating season and give me one of the Houndour eggs that came from it. This was before I got Vulpix's egg,"

"How long until it hatches?" The volunteer asked her curiously.

"About two months if not a bit longer, Vulpix will thankfully be out of the baby stage by then and won't need as much guidance," Vali picked up her soda with a smile.

"Two eggs in your first year as a trainer is pretty damn lucky," One of the volunteer Ace's commented, "I only ever got a single egg and that was during my third year,"

"Trust me when I say that I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," Vali wasn't looking forward to see what happened when the luck scales reversed and she got hit with bad luck.

Vali was inwardly muttering about stupid Potter luck as she stared down the barrel of a gun. She'd just left Lt. Surge's gym and was heading to the pokemon center to get her team checked over when not even three blocks away a mugger decided to make her his target. Everything had been fine until he surprisingly drew a gun. Considering the fact that guns were strictly controlled by the League and barely had enough to equip the police force, she was allowed to be surprised at the sight of it. The person holding it towards her had a snarling Raticate beside him that looked like it might have rabies. The man sneered at her and held out a bag, "Pokeballs and valuables in the bag unless you want to be shot, Brat."

Vali tried to think of a way out of this without anyone getting hurt. She wasn't giving up her pokemon or anything that belonged to her. She eyed the gun wondering if it actually had any bullets in it. She felt a slight prickling sensation before Metagross' voice spoke in her mind, "Friend-Vali, why do you feel fear?"

Inwardly relieved to hear Steven's Metagross speaking in her mind, Vali tried to be polite, 'A man is attempting to threaten me with a gun and a rabid looking Raticate. Considering the fact that I'm not sure if the gun actually has bullets or not, I'm quite unsure what to do.'

"Stall," Metagross ordered before falling silent.

Vali refocused as she heard the safety on the gun click off and the man snarled, "Are you an idiot?! Give me your pokeballs and valuables!"

How do you stall someone trying to mug you? Vali took a small step back as she said, "You really don't want to do this. Do you know the trouble you'll get in with the League?"

"Fuck the League!" The man snarled at her as the gun shook just the slightest bit, "Fuck them! Those arrogant son of a bitch fat cats don't give a fuck about anyone so long as their pockets get lined,"

Is this guy serious? Vali knew there were corrupt people in the League. It was actually something to be expected with any type of government even one that majorly catered to pokemon. She glanced towards the Raticate that was slowly beginning to edge forward while mentally cursing the fact that none of her pokemon were exactly in a state to battle right now. She was very glad that Vulpix was inside his pokeball right now too otherwise things would be a lot worse. Taking a deep breath to keep herself calm and hope to hell the mugger didn't actually try to shoot her, she said, "Not all of them are like that."

The mugger snorted, "Kids like you would never understand. Now give me your valuables and pokeballs!"

"Technically, pokeballs are valuables," Vali backed up another step as the Raticate took a step forward, "By the way, your Raticate looks like it has rabies. You might want to take it to Nurse Jo-"

"Shut the hell up!" The mugger roared at her, "I won't ask again! Give me your valuables and pokeballs right now!"

Metagross spoke as the mugger steadied the gun, "Duck and be ready to run, Friend-Vali."

Vali didn't hesitate to follow that order and quickly ducked close to the ground. The mugger began to snarl at her as his Raticate jumped forward only to be frozen in a psychic hold. Vali quickly backpedaled as she twisted to get out of the gun's sight line which proved to be a good idea since it went off seconds later. She felt a searing pain rip across her right side like someone decided it take a red hot piece of metal and press it there. She forced herself to ignore the pain as she ran toward where Steven was standing with Ryner looking more than a little angry. She slammed into her traveling partner, "Steven!"

"Vali, are you hurt?" Steven asked as Ryner had Stella knock the mugger and Raticate out.

"M-my side," Vali could feel herself trembling, "I-I t-think the b-bullet just g-grazed me,"

"Steven, get Vali to the hospital and have them check her out. I'll be taking these two to the police," Ryner looked more than a little pissed off.

Steven nodded as he called out Claydol, "Metagross, help him out."