Mt. Ember

After another day in Blackthorn, Blaine had Delphi the Delphox teleport them off to an beach. Vali almost immediately felt a sense of something fall over her. The almost longing of her inner flame mixed with the sense of home echoed through it. It was shocking to feel and something that shook her a little. Did that mean this place might be where she'd be getting her training in the future or was it close to it? She forced herself to focus on the outside world after a moment of consideration since that thought wasn't something she really had time for.

The beach was coated in rather pretty white sand towards the water, but further up it transformed into a dark grey color that eventually turned to black. The black sand mixed into gravel rather neatly especially against the rocks that bracketed much of the beaches edge. A few palm trees sat scattered around the beach. A small path sat on the ground and led up towards a rather large mountain. Noting the smoking flowing out of it, she turned to Blaine, "Where are we?"

"The beach on Mt. Ember," Blaine answered as he began to stretch a bit.

"Mt. Ember?" Vali's eyes went to the mountain that was currently smoking, "Isn't Mt. Ember supposed to be inactive?"

"League suppressed the information for reasons, Brat," Blaine replied as he grinned at her, "Not going to say all of them, the League's buried them in red tape and only a select few outside of high up officials are allowed to know them. Only thing I'm going to say is the Magmar colony that rests here," He pointed at the smoking mountain, "We'll be heading up there towards an area that I know they usually rest. We need to be careful though," He gained a serious expression, "Much like Mt. Silver, Mt. Ember holds pokemon of great strength especially the further in you go. We need to be careful while walking within this place just to ensure that nothing gets set off,"

Vali swallowed a bit at that information even if she knew that her team could handle most of what this place sent at them. She looked at the mountain carefully while releasing Elrond and Eevee, "Mt. Ember, so a hotter version of Mt. Silver?"

"Basically though it also doesn't have as much dragon-type activity," Blaine replied with a low chuckle.

"Right," Vali looked at Elrond as Eevee quickly moved to his now customary spot on her shoulder, "Seeing as we're back in the frying pan so to speak, we're going to need an active field of psychic energy. Both sensing pokemon and protecting us from long-range, Elrond,"

Elrond nodded lightly as he peered up at the mountain ahead of them, "No problem though I sense something here. Something old, I can't quite make out what it is though."

'Don't worry about it. We have other things to worry about right now,' Vali replied with a mental shake of her head.

Just as Elrond was about to reply, Blaine spoke as he began to walk, "Let's head out, we can't stick around in one place for too long."

Vali followed after him well aware of Elrond's burning gaze and the longing to say whatever was on his mind. Looking up at the mountain ahead with its smoke spitting out of it, she knew that the presence was not something they should discuss right now. Something deep within her was currently warning against it, she knew it would be best to discuss it later.

The very rocks of Mt. Ember were warm to the touch and the sun seemed to shine just a bit hotter the higher you went. Despite the high heat within this place, Vali hadn't even broken a sweat thanks to long hours spent within Blaine's training room which was closest to the inner chambers of the volcano on Cinnabar. She took some pictures while making sure to avoid taking any that would let anyone figure out Mt. Ember was still active. She was surprised to find Ponyta on the island with a few Rapidash, but given their hardy nature it wasn't quite that surprising. She did take note their hooves were much harder and their coats seemed to be a bit diffrent from normal. As soon as he noticed her attention on the Ponyta, Blaine told her, "They've adapted to the mountains environment."

"I can see that," Vali told him as she took another picture before grabbing her notepad, "Especially when you take a look at their hooves, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on with their coats," She took down her notes on the Ponyta, "That blackish sheen, I know it's supposed to help them take in sunlight, but I can't tell why. Could it be to help get nutrients when food is short?"

"Yes," Blaine looked amused, "I learned that from when I managed to catch one. Quite beautiful aren't they?"

"Yes," Vali murmured softly as she stared down at them, "With that black sheen to their cream colored coat, they look even more beautiful. The Rapidash even more so due to their actual black coat," She hadn't seen anything like them, "Are they the only ones of their kind?"

"Indeed," Blaine nodded with a soft look on his face.

Once Vali was finished with her notes, Blaine returned to leading the way. The island was beautiful, but dangerous as he'd said as they'd run into a couple of Graveler that really didn't want them anywhere near it. Smaug enjoyed the chance to smash them. Empress got the chance to take on the Geodude. Between the two, they were well protected. Blaine had no pokemon out having stated that he would only release one if it was needed. Despite that the lack of help, she really was pleased with the trust being given to her.

Blaine stopped their path of travel two hours of their arrival and he raised a hand, "I will go ahead of us. When it is time for you to join me, I will send Murrow."

"Alright," Vali replied as Blaine began walking forward.

Blaine soon disappeared beyond the set of rocky cliffs they'd been walking through. Vali checked one of the nearby rocks over before taking a seat on it. Eevee jumped down to the ground and began looking around them carefully. Smaug merely moved to curl up behind her while Empress just settled down down where she was in the middle of the pathway. Elrond settled before her in the air, "Vali..."

"Elrond," Vali looked at him a bit tiredly, "I know what you want to say, but this isn't something we should talk about right now,"

Elrond frowns at her with his ears shifting a bit backwards, "I know that you feel uneasy about this, but why?"

Vali ran a hand through her hair as she struggled to come up with the words for what she was feeling, "Something within me is saying it isn't the time, Elrond. It is saying we shouldn't talk about it just yet. I don't know when we'd be able to, but it isn't right now."

Elrond peered at her with a look of concern. He didn't say anything for awhile as she felt him peer into her mind. After a moment, Elrond finally spoke, "I do not like this even if it might be providing us with some answers, Vali. I will not question it anymore."

Vali gave him a relieved smile and held out her arms. Elrond gave into her silent wish and drifted in for a hug. She spoke softly, "Thank you, Elrond."