I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Virah looked back at the docks of Cianwood with a strange feeling in her heart, she had no clue that her time within the city would have been this short.

And as the ship sailed back to Goldenrod, she couldn't help but feel a pang of regret at the thought of being unable to find the answer for all her burning questions: why did that ninja sell drugs to war veterans? why was she in Cianwood? Who was she working for?

All of them were left unanswered as the distance between the ship and the docks of Cianwood grew wider.

"Waaaahhh, I can't believe fighting Fighting Types was that hard!!!" Whitney clearly didn't share the same sentiments Virah felt, because she was throwing a tantrum, one that made Virah smile fondly.

'It's better that she doesn't know,' the poison specialist told herself for the tenth time today.

Her inner thoughts kept whispering to her that keeping the knowledge of the ninja all to herself was a bad idea, and for the most part, she agreed but that small piece of her, the tiny inkling that said it was for the safety of everyone was stronger than the rest, and that strength allowed her to continue withdrawing from telling her friends about her encounter.

"I think that was just because we picked the challenge tier," Grene said with a sigh, "I think those are meant to be naturally hard,"

"Grene has a point," Virah chimed as she boxed her thoughts, "I did fight a Poliwrath when it was my turn too so there's that,"

Whitney looked at Virah, a frown on her lips, "yeah but you easily won,"

"That was because Chuck had no other choice but to use Water Type moves," Virah shrugged, "while I had two that was super effective against his Poliwrath,"

"Aerial Ace and Electroweb," Grene listed out, making Virah nod, "are you gonna sell that last one as a TM?" The martial artist asked, "I think it'd be popular,"

"I think so too," Virah nodded, she knew from personal experience just how many Bug Catchers there are out there, even if her original move didn't sell well on the professional level, it'll still earn her a lot of money on the casual side.

"I'll probably need to contact a lawyer for that though," Virah says, she sighed, "that or I ask someone from Eggtech to help me with my deal with Silph Co."

If she managed to eek out a good deal, she'd be financially set for the rest of her journey, that was how many Bug Type trainers there are across Kanto and Johto.

"You should do that," Whitney nodded, her voice now composed, she tilted her head upwards and looked at the sky, "and speaking of TMs, I'm starting to wish that I bought Protect,"

"That's actually a good idea…" Virah trailed off in consideration, "I think Nitro can learn two extra moves now, maybe three if I push him," which she won't, "so a Protect TM is doable, and then maybe something like U-Turn?"

"Jet can use U-Turn too right?" Grene suggested.

"Yeah he can," Virah hummed in agreement. The poison specialist turned to Grene, "what about Hollie? She probably needs something other than her current moves right? Focus energy maybe? Or Drain Punch?"

"Hulp needs Slash," Whitney cut in, "she's speedy when she needs to be but she's sort of weak,"

"Yeah, I saw that," Grene nodded, "you were lucky you had to fight the Machop line, since those guys are relatively slow,"

"I was wasn't I?" Whitney giggled, "still, those Mach Punches were hard to deal with,"

Virah smiled, "those Aqua Jets from that Poliwrath were annoying too, and if Nitro wasn't good at using String Shot, we would have had a hard time,"

Virah's smile widened as her friends did gestures or let out sounds of agreements, it was a common thing for most trainers to talk about Priority Moves like the pain that they are to fight but talking about it with her friends somehow made it even better.

The conversation went on until silence came over them, and by that point the skies were starting to turn dark so they had to retreat back into their cabins.

"When will we arrive again?" Whitney asked as she opened the door to her room.

"Around 10," Grene answered, "we did take the afternoon ship so it's faster than last time,"

"Ah," the pinkette nodded, glad that she didn't have to wait until morning to come back home, "thanks,"

"You're welcome," Grene nodded.

And with those last bits of interaction, the three of them retreated into their rooms to sleep.

Except for Virah, she didn't touch her bed for the first ten minutes because she was too busy organizing and listing out all the materials she bought from the shops around Cianwood.

Her newest gear didn't come with a mask so she had to make one on her own and for a good while, she wasn't sure what kind of design it would have.

She scanned the pages of her notebook, she had drawn the design she wanted her mask to have in between her research and most had haphazard scribbles with barely recognizable features, but the overall shape was there.

All in all, her mask was only meant to cover the lower half of her face while the top half would be covered by a veil attached to a hood, which her ninja gear didn't come with but she could just attach that type of thing to her mask so she didn't really worry much about that particular feature.

But before she could plan on making a hood, she first had to make the item it was meant to attach to to begin with.

Virah pressed the graphite of her pencil on the untouched pages of her second notebook, right next to it sat her first one, the pages she opened had her prior drawings on them for reference.

She worked on her sketches for the next two hours and by the time she was done, she had a halfway decent looking design that'll serve as a basis for her mask.

Virah stood up and yawned, 'having what materials I'll use for it was a good idea,' she thought to herself as she made her way into her cabin's shower.

Virah got out wearing a towel on her head and a basic set of clothes on her person, her usual hoodie was replaced by a tank top and her jeans were now nothing more than a pair of shorts.

Comfortable and airy, that was the main features of these things.

Virah grabbed her notebook and wrote something down at the bottom of the page, 'main feature: ventilation.'

With one last yawn, she went to her bed and fell asleep.

The ship's blaring horns served as a great way to wake up the passengers and before long, she, Whitney, and Grene disembarked from the ship and were on Goldenrod's docks once more.

She looked at her friends, "so, are you guys going to head home immediately?"

"Yep," Whitney answered, "I want to sleep in my bed again,"

The pinkette's soft yet tired tone was followed by Grene's more subdued one, "me too, and I also need to talk to my parents,"

Virah nodded, "that's a good idea," she smiled, "let's head out?"

The two nodded and they left for the inner parts of Goldenrod City, and immediately, the changes in the night life became evident, whereas Cianwood's nights were full of silence, Goldenrod's was boisterous.

The streets were packed with stalls and carts selling food, they were either manned by Pokemon or humans making a simple living.

Neon signs dotted the walls of buildings, the colorful words on them blinking in various colors, all vibrant.

The girls passed all of this by in favor of continuing with their remaining business; Grene had to go home and talk to her parents about her victory, the same went for Whitney, while Virah…

The poison specialist found herself leaving the excitement of Goldenrod's night life in favor of the sadness of the cemetery.

The bright neon signs were replaced by the greys of tombstones and the rich autumn, almost party like color of the streets had turned dark and full of ominous fog.

Virah walked along a cobbled path with a bouquet of flowers in her hands, eventually, she stopped in front of a tombstone.

Bending down, Virah wiped the dust off the tombstone, revealing a simple name; Ratata.

"Hey there little buddy," Virah smiled fondly as she talked, she placed the flowers on top of the grave, her hands were shaky as they left the ground.

"I… I know I haven't visited in the last two days, but that's because I went to Cianwood, you know that place?" Virah looked up to stop the tears from leaving her eyes, "I think I remember talking about it to you,"

As Virah told her story about her gym battle and recounted the one she finished with the deceased within the grave, her cracked voice echoed across the fog, adding only to the eery atmosphere.

The ghosts, if there were here, seemed to have adapted to her presence, simply watching over her as she talked, just like the last few times.