I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Virah looked away from her move theory book and towards her friends.

"Good morning," she greeted.

Finding out that her comatose state only lasted for 4 days had been weird, and realizing that, currently, she still has two days before the circuit officially starts was something that genuinely surprised her.

She was relieved, of course, but that didn't stop her from feeling weirded out that... all of that was only a few days' worth of time.

Even now, thinking about that particular dream made her feel odd, and meeting what was apparently the creator of this world was... odd.

She had no real way to truly describe how she feels about it other than that particular word.

The enlightenment that she got that the Pokemon that she met was the creator of everything was... something- it was definitely something and even now, she's a hundred percent sure that the being she talked to in her dreams was the one responsible for making the world that she exists in... well- exist.

Truth be told though, Virah didn't know if that was just the psychic influence of the Unowns or the actual God of this world and she really has no real way of confirming it but somehow, she was at peace while knowing that it was the God of all Pokemon who had given her that enlightenment.

Was it really Arceus? Yes. Yes it was. And she was relieved at the thought of it.

She wanted to be suspicious, but she oddly couldn't and that paradox made her feel uneasy, but not so much that she's stressed about it.

"What are you thinking about?"

Virah broke herself out of her thoughts and faced Whitney. The greenhead shook her head and leaned back, "nothing," she replied followed by another shake of her head, "nothing important."

"... okay?" Whitney looked like she wanted to say something else but clearly held back in favor of silence.

The pinkette sat down on a chair Grene placed behind her, she hummed with fingers crossed before saying, "your Pokemon are fine," Virah kept her silence as she nodded, Whitney softly smiled, "we visited them on the Pokemon Center adjacent to this hospital and they were doing well,"

"They didn't even seem sick," Grene supplied, "or at least not as sick as you, since you..." the martial artist vaguely gestured in Virah's direction, "don't look that good right now."

Virah put up a strained smile, "I know," she said, well aware of just how skeletal she looked at the moment, "they said it was a disease I got from Ratata."

"We're sorry about him," Whitney quickly said, it was like she was just waiting for Virah to start that particular topic, "we buried him in a Pokemon cemetery," the pinkette offered a consoling smile, "so if you want to visit him, we can go there together,"

"... I think I want to beat my second gym before I do that," Virah replied after a brief silence, she wasn't sure if the current her had the courage to see her dead friend at the moment, "so can it wait?.."

Virah faced her friends and smiled when they both nodded in response.

"Thanks," her head tilted downward, "I don't think I can face him right now,"

"It's not your fault," Grene suddenly said, prompting Virah to turn to her. The martial artist shook her head, "Team Rocket- it was them who did it,"

"Yeah but... If I didn't-" Virah sighed and glossed over the strange looks her friends shot her, "- yeah, you're both right, Team Rocket is going to pay for this,"

"We'll put them to justice!" Whitney suddenly exclaimed, "so that they won't do anything like this ever again!"

Virah nodded, agreeing especially with the pinkette's last point. If she could help it, she would rather not let other people go through the same things she did, and in order to do that, she needed to put down Team Rocket.

"We're starting to train," Whitney said out of the blue, pushing their lulling conversation forward, "and... well, I'm making progress with cardio so... yeah..."

"That's good," Virah replied, "it would be great if we could spend an entire day walking when we finally start our journey,"

"It is, yeah," Whitney put up a shakey smile, "we don't have to waste time resting during that time and you can physically exert yourself more frequently that way,"

Virah raised an eyebrow, where did those last words even come from? The poison specialist tilted her head, "what do you mean?"

"Well- you know-" Whitney started to gesture with both her hands, "I- it's a good idea that we uh, allow you to not be slowed down with your physical therapy during our journey,"

"I guess..." Virah replied, she lifted her right arm and rotated it. She winced, "my muscles definitely atrophied, yeah," she nodded, "looks like I'll have to spend a few days trying to recover from this once I can stand up,"

"We'll schedule a gym battle for you beforehand," Grene replied, "I think at the start of the circuit, it takes around a week before we're officially called thanks to how many people live in Goldenrod,"

"That's more than enough time to get me to start walking again," Virah nodded, "thanks,"

"It's nothing, really," Grene shook her head, the martial artist then went silent, "so... when are you getting discharged?"

"Tomorrow I think, I'll have to meet up with my sponsors during that time too," Virah answered, the last part made her friends' eyebrows shot up.

"Sponsors?" Whitney asked, "how?"

"My old job decided to do it," Virah answered, "usually, Eggetech make their interns take exams before they decide to do it but in my case, the Beedrill brood that I raised was more than enough to do it, apparently,"

"That's good," Grene nodded, smiling, "that means that you now have access to a ranch right?"

"I do yeah," Virah replied with a hum, "but I... don't really know what to do with it since I'll most likely be picky with my teammates so if you two want, you can share it with me,"

The martial artist nodded, "I'd love to do it," Grene replied, "thanks,"

"It's nothing," Virah replied.

"On that note," Whitney started, "do you think you'll be given a Pokedex?"

Virah smiled, "I know it may seem as a surprise-"

"Not really, since I know you're an amazing Pokemon breeder," Grene said to the nod of Whitney.

"- I'm going to be doing tasks for Eggtech, mostly I have to write down what I know about Pokemon I have and sometimes, I'll need to study certain species," Virah explained sheepishly, "which means that if we're ever in an area, I'll have to tell them about it and they'll inform me if there's a Pokemon that I need to study during that time,"

"And that means?.." Whitney said.

"I'll get a Pokedex, yes," Virah replied.

"That's great!" Whitney exclaimed, "I can't believe you'll get one at just ten years old honestly, that's such a big achievement and I think only a few people got to do that right?"

"Yeah," Grene nodded, "either they're rich or influential, and the Pokedexes those kids have already have a built in encyclopedia in them because their parents wanted them to be careful of potential encounters in the wild,"

"You're saying that mine will be empty mostly?" Virah guessed with a small smile.

"No, not at all," Grene shook her head, "Pokedexes are encyclopedias, but I'm guessing you'll be allowed to edit those since your writings will probably be reviewed and edited by the researchers of Eggtech,"

"I'll be a field researcher," Virah sounded excited and she was, because researching Pokemon on the spot during her journey sounded interesting if not fun.

"That about sums it up," Grene nodded.

Virah leaned back, smiling, "I can't wait,"