I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

During the day, the herbal shop was just like any other; with normal schedules, normal people, and normal medicine being sold.

It was completely unsuspicious and if Virah didn't know any better, she would have thought that it was just a normal shop too.

Unfortunately for her, she didn't and her knowledge of the shop being some kind of drug den for the family inside felt like a curse as she stared at the woman, someone she assumed was the mother, talk to a customer with a chipper smile.

Virah planned on buying something at some point, she wanted to know what the medicine for sale was like and then base the ones she's going to make off of that.

The poison specialist sipped on her drink and looked forward.

Things were expectedly slow so the cafe in front of the herbal shop was a welcome respite. The latte in her hands was energy in liquid form that revitalized her tired mind and kept her from falling unconscious.

'I should bring a cup or two of these if I want to do all nighters in the future,' Virah thought as she drank enough coffee to fill her mouth.

The morning went on at a snail's pace and the herbal shop was getting traction despite Virah's expectations. So herbal medicine was popular for trainers her age, she knew that much, what she didn't expect was them preferring herbs instead of potions.

She wrote that down and continued her observation.

When the stream of trainers started to slow down, Virah finished her breakfast and gulped down her remaining coffee.

She stood up and walked over to the shop, reaching out for a bottle of brown powder, she lifted it up and presented it to the woman watching over the shop, "how much is this?"

"250 Pokedollars," came the response, the woman was full of smiles.

And for a good reason- the medicine was cheap and buying something like this would save her about what? 450 Pokedollars? Potions were expensive but herbs obviously weren't.

The question is, though, is it worth it?

"How fast can it heal my Pokemon if I give it to them?" Virah opened the lid and took a sniff.

"Well it'll still take a day for the pills to fully take effect but it's useful when you're in the wilds and there's no Pokemon Center around to help you out," the woman answered followed by an explanation that made sense.

"You're saying this will let my Pokemon recover on their own?" Virah asked.

"Even when they're fainted, yes," the woman nodded, "the medicine will slowly reinvigorate them after you give it to them, it takes a while, but it's guaranteed to make your Pokemon recover,"

"I see," Virah nodded, she closed the lid, "how do I give it to my Pokemon?"

"Well, you can mix it with water and let them drink it or you can buy this-" the woman picked up a bottle full of green-ish stuff inside, crushed leaves by the looks of it, Oddish leaves? "- and mix it with that to create a healing balm that's more effective than normal,"

Hm, so a herb that invigorates and another that poisons any foreign type energy inside of a Pokemon? Was that how that worked? Oddish poison rarely fights any other plant related effects thanks to their biology being one in the same…

"I'll buy that too then," Virah said.

She bought a few more herbs and then left the vicinity of the shop. To her surprise, what she's getting in medical information from the place was worth a lot.

Virah moved out of Azalea while digesting the things she learned, she was mindlessly walking over to the spot where Whitney and Grene said they were training in and upon getting there, she refocused on the present and found her friends practicing martial arts together.

Whitney had worked hard these past few days, the pinkette found enough determination to somehow dedicate herself every morning in training, which Virah thought was impossible before she saw it with her own two eyes.

She had visited them occasionally, but mostly? All three of them were busy doing their own personal things during their stay in Azalea, Grene was constantly physically training, she was busy playing ninja, and Whitney, well, the pinkette sort of just went along with their whims.

Virah tilted her head, she should definitely go out with Whitney sometime shouldn't she? The pinkette deserved a break here and there.

Maybe… later? Ish? That'll help with their alibi and cover work but also keep Whitney happy.

Virah nodded to herself, determined to put her plan into action later today.

She waited for her friends to finish their exercise, she gestured for Whitney to come to her and the pinkette happily obliged, trotting along with a beat to her tired steps.

"Hey, wanna go out later?" Virah said once Whitney was close enough.

"Sure!" And as she expected, her friend happily agreed, her energetic personality not showing signs of depletion despite the harsh exercise she just went through.

… Grene can really put someone through the ringer couldn't she?

That aside, she should also think about things she and Whitney would do later, but first, she wanted to gouge out her friend's current wants and activities.

"Have you found any spots lately?" Virah turned to the pinkette as she sat down next to her, "there's this cafe and noodle shop that's kind of nice,"

"Hmm..?" Whitney looked up, "I've been buying chocolate coated bread from a bakery near our Inn," the pinkette supplied, "no coffee there though,"

"Then we'll buy some bread there before going to the cafe," Virah shrugged.

"That would be weird wouldn't it?" Whitney looked at her.

"How?" Virah asked.

"Well, I mean," Whitney started to make gestures with her arms, "we buy bread from one place and then drink coffee in another? That's just strange,"

Is it? Virah didn't get it.

"Then… we don't buy bread?" Virah tilted her head, "there's some for sale on the cafe, but they don't have anything on them, they're just pure bread,"

"Then we should buy those," Whitney nodded, "it's even weirder when you buy bread from some other place when there's bread in the cafe, it feels like you're undermining the shop's own work you know?"

"That… makes sense, yes," Virah nodded in agreement, Whitney's explanation gave her an inkling to her friend's reasoning but she still didn't get it, if she wanted to eat chocolate coated bread while drinking coffee, then she would.

It's not like everyone would suddenly follow what she was doing after all right?

She and Whitney talked some more, discussing their plans for later that day while also catching each other up on what they've been doing the past week.

"Oh," Whitney said, "so another rocket base is down there?"

Virah nodded, she looked away from Azalea, "they're everywhere it seems,"

"Well, they are a criminal organization," Whitney sighed, "they have the word "organize" in their name so it makes sense, all evil people are like that,"

Virah knew that Whitney had copied that from detective Hoppip word for word but it's not like she was wrong, really, it would be weird if the criminals themselves are disorganized and without a proper leader structure.