I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Virah looked down at the man on the street, as always, he was walking along the pathways under the cover of the night, a wooden box held between two hands.

What was inside the box never changed from the ones prior; a Slowpoke tail, a powerful psychic drug that can surprisingly become addictive when fed to someone in constant doses.

Virah's light footsteps barely disturbed the air as she hopped along the man.

She had theory crafted earlier this noon and has concluded the first thing she needed to investigate about the organized criminals was their schedules, and so far, she's only seen this man and no one else.

It has led her to the conclusion that the houses have pre-prepared boxes beforehand, which these people simply take and deliver.

Where the others were is a mystery to her, but she had a feeling that if she just searched the forest surrounding Azalea she would get her answer.

But that's for tomorrow, for now, she decided to tail this particular person, gather more information, and then write them all down in her notes.

Two hours later and the man returned to the house he first emerged from, concluding Virah's investigation.

Without anything more to do, the poison specialist found herself a spot to change out of her gear and from there, she walked back to the inn to check on everything she's learned tonight.

She wasn't able to expand the seven houses that these criminals commonly came out of, leading her to believe that these buildings may just be the only ones to have holes leading to the tunnel system below the town.

She wrote the names, type, and areas of the houses down, this time in an official note rather than a haphazard page that had hastily written words scribbled in them, she put spaces in between the names for writing down new information in the future.

After the buildings came the name and spotted Pokemon of the peddlers, which she assumed must have come from an Efrosin branch because a good portion of them had Oddishes, something she assumed must have come from that particular gang.

Virah finished her notes with a nod before closing her notebook.

She stood up, right now her Pokemon were resting in the town's Pokemon center so she thought of visiting them.

Before that though, she knocked on Whitney's door, "Virah?.."

"I'm going out, do you need anything?" She asked the pinkette while trying to look over Whitney's shoulders, "how's the costume going by the way?"

"It's going well," Whitney sighed, "but leather is hard to work with, and I don't even know if the padding I'm stitching onto it will dampen impact,"

"It should," Virah reassured, "Tauros leather is pretty tough,"

"I… know that," Whitney stared at her feet, "this kind of work is pretty hard isn't it?"

"It is," Virah nodded, she crossed her arms and stared at the ceiling, "if you want to stop I'm fine with it," the poison specialist offered, "I can always just personally use your gadgets,"

"No, I want to continue," Whitney smiled, "it's just… things are a bit too hectic right now, especially for Grene, she can't really work on her costume and gear as much as us,"

"Right," Virah felt her lips curling into a frown, "Grene's been doing nothing but training hasn't she?"

"Mhmm." Whitney's sigh echoed around them, "she's been working hard ever since beating Chuck, I think work's been the only thing she's doing actually,"

"She really needs to train the Tyrogue instead of herself," the pinkette finished.

"No, no, let her train, if she wants to catch up with the Tyrogue, it's not really a bad thing, we just need to be there for her," Virah smiled kindly, she looked Whitney in the eyes, "I'm sure she'll get around once she's strong enough,"

"How long would that take?" Whitney asked, "a few weeks?"

"I don't know," Virah shrugged, "we just need to wait, and who knows, maybe she'll even do it once we attack the tail peddlers in Azalea,"

"Is that what we're calling them? Tail peddlers?" Whitney giggled, "what a strange name,"

Virah grinned, "it is, isn't it?"

Whitney nodded, her actions slow and worried, "well, I better work on my costume, I don't want to look stupid next to you once we're attacking,"

Virah reached out and held Whitney's hand, "Grene will come around,"

"I know that," Whitney smiled.

"Well, see you," Virah pulled her hand back and waved, "I'll get going now, you don't want anything?"

"Maybe food?" Whitney answered, "I'm feeling peckish,"

"Food," Virah repeated in memorization, "I'll bring you some,"

With one last wave, Whitney closed the door to her room and Virah made her way out of the Inn, she walked with silent footsteps that eventually led her to the Pokemon Center, further in, she passed by the nursery that had her Ghastly in it.

Diox, as she decided to call him, floated aimlessly in the middle of the room, eyes closed and mouth pursed into a tight snooze.

"He's yours?"

Virah faced the Nurse Joy, she nodded, "yeah, has the channeler come?"

"Not yet, Eucrateak city has only just replied, but they're sending one tomorrow morning," replied the nurse, making Virah sigh in relief at the news, "you'll be able to register him after that,"

"Thank you," Virah bowed, "how is he?"

"His readings are well, healthy even, you said you captured him on the streets of Goldenrod one night?" She asked.

"Yeah, he was just floating around, probably because there weren't any people in the streets that night," Virah answered.

"… The gang war," Nurse Joy said glumly.

Virah nodded nervously, "yeah…" now she was feeling guilty, "the gang war,"

"Poor guy must have been a recent kill then," Nurse Joy shot Diox with a look of sadness, blooming the latent guilt in Virah's chest.

Memories of Ratata flashed in her mind and she bit her lip, "a recent kill?"

"Mhmm." The nurse nodded, "a recent kill, that's how Ghastly commonly form, and suburban ones come out from stenches released by corpses, he must have been born from a diseased stray,"

Virah exhaled a shaky breath, "I… are you sure?" Had she really killed a Pokemon out there like some idiot? Why? "Don't Ghastly's come from gas too?"

"Yes, but a lot of them start to come out during mass deaths, so chances are, the reason why you found one the night of the gang war is because of that, it must have been also why he was so docile,"

Virah sighed, "sorry, but I need to go,"

She started walking away when a hand landed on her shoulder, Virah looked back at Nurse Joy, she smiled softly, "it's not your fault, you only found him,"

"… I know," she shook her head, "thanks,"

The guilt in her chest didn't subside as she made her way out of the Pokemon center, and how could it? She was well aware that if a Pokemon died during the gang war, it was, and always would be her fault, she was the one who started it after all.

Virah, to lighten her chest somewhat, bought Whitney a small takeout from a noodle shop, it had fried rice, dumplings, and noodles.

She also bought herself one, as well as a bag of fried Magikarp from a stall she passed, eating the seafood had calmed her mind somewhat and by the time she had reached Whitney's room, she was already composed.

Virah knocked, moments later, the door opened to reveal her friend, "oh," Whitney said as her eyes found the carton of food hanging from Virah's hand, "come in,"

Virah did so, she looked at the half finished costume as she made herself comfortable, then back at Whitney, who was currently opening her box and preparing it on the floor.

"Can we talk?" Virah asked as she followed along the pinkette's actions, "I think I need someone to listen to me right now,"

"Of course, anytime you want," Whitney looked up at her with her signature caring smile, "what is it about?"

Virah exhaled, well, looks like this night would be a whole lot longer than she thought.