I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Virah stood still, not a single hint of movement passed as she watched over the tunnel entrance her Ghastly had entered.

It was his first day in her team and she already sent him on something so dangerous but it's not like there's an inherent risk to spying on Rocket Bases, there hasn't been anything that indicated the organization was paranoid about Ghost Types so Diox should be fine.

Team Rocket's defenses were more centered on hiding rather than defending, sure, they had weapons, but that was on an individual scale and their bases weren't equipped with things like flamethrowers.

Their more important ones most likely did, but how important could their tail peddling business be for them to install turrets beneath Azalea discreetly?

Contrary to her fears, Diox did come back safely.

Virah quickly started asking him questions, starting with more simple ones that basically amounted to "which direction did you go to" due to what she assumed was the child like nature of her new Pokemon. Fortunately however, she didn't need to actually do that and complex questions directed at Ghastly worked just fine.

She suddenly stopped writing, "what do you mean you didn't go there?"

Her scathing tone was from how much dread she was feeling at the implications of her Ghastly not being able to explore the entire rocket base. Elevators and multi-complex flooring didn't even phase him after all, so hearing Diox say that he couldn't go anywhere within the base was concerning.

"Gha-Ga-Ghastly!" Came Diox's long winded explanation which basically amounted to- it was too dangerous so I decided to follow your commands and leave immediately.

Virah put down the map she was cartographing and looked her Pokemon straight in the eyes, "how dangerous is it?" She asked, "what made you stop?"

"Ghastly!"

Virah's blood froze.

Turrets? There were turrets down there? But why? It didn't make sense, wasn't the operation here selling Slowpoke tails? What's so important about that?

Wait no, Janine said they also had another goal- to see the effects of the drug? But why?

What kind of use would Slowpoke tails have for their consumer? A high? Some kind of pain resistance thanks to their mindless state? Mind control? All of those were possibilities as for what Team Rocket was doing but Virah wasn't sure and the actual reason could not even be any one of them.

Virah put down her notebook and recalled Diox.

A quick run back to the Inn later and she was now sitting in her room, staring at the ceiling while tapping the tip of her pen on a steadily growing black dot in the pages of her notebook.

What was Team Rocket trying to accomplish with giving people Slowpoke tails?

'Every observation I made about it made me think that it's nothing but for recreational purposes, to see how addicting it could get,' but Virah didn't believe that theory one bit, otherwise turrets wouldn't be needed down there.

Their goal was something more important, something more than just recreational drugs.

'But what?' Virah let go of her pen and laid down, she couldn't think of anything, 'I'm stumped,'

Deciding that she needed a breather to clear her mind, Virah stood up and made her way into the streets. She went in a Pokemart to buy a bottle of milk and some sweets, hoping the sugar would make brain more malleable.

Virah found herself sitting on a bench, eating in silence while her mind was anything but.

She had so many questions yet very little answers and she feared that she and her friends may have to leave Azalea soon.

Their scheduled gym battle was only a day away now and tomorrow, they'll have to meet Bugsy and get their third badge, when that happens, Virah wasn't sure how she could realistically attack the rocket base beneath the town without raising suspicions of her actual identity.

Someone sat next to her then, the strangely intoxicating scent that she whiffed told Virah that it was Janine, "you're thinking about something,"

"I am," Virah nodded, "what do you think is going on down in Azalea?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't attacked it to find out," Janine answered seriously, "all I know is that it's heavily guarded by strong trainers and powerful Pokemon, whatever it is, it's important to the organization."

Right, so nothing new then, Virah had already come to the same conclusions, but Janine's perspective did make her realize that going down there looking for a fight would most likely end in her getting captured or killed.

So her plan of attacking the base wasn't a good idea, great.

"Do we just let them be?" Virah asked, noticing that Janine's Aura flared even higher, now the intoxicating scent was obvious and Virah recognized the smell as that of bleach.

"What other choice do we have?" Janine asked, "my Team isn't strong enough right now and the best Pokemon I have are back at home, probably acting as gym Pokemon,"

"What about the things going on down there?" Virah didn't feel right letting Team Rocket do what they want, it was like letting a house burn down around a family instead of saving them.

"Will you survive if you do it?" Janine asked.

The ninja's question was obviously a reply to Virah's suggestion of going down the well and attacking Team Rocket but the poison specialist read it as something else, her thoughts went back to her little analogy:

Would she survive if she went in that burning house and rescued people?

"Use your Aura, someone is listening," Janine didn't look anywhere else but the Pokewatch she was intently focused on.

Virah followed the ninja's advice and sure enough, her Aura found someone behind them stepping closer to their bench, they were still out of earshot, but definitely close enough to see their face.

Standing up now would mean that the stalker would know that they knew he was there and raise alarm and if he was here, then it was because he was tailing her, Janine, or both.

"Rocket?" Virah asked.

"Yes," Janine nodded.

They both went silent, allowing Virah to ruminate in her thoughts for a good while, the stalker had made himself comfortable in the time Virah took to gather her thoughts and find an appropriate answer to Janine's question.

"No," she said suddenly, "I don't think I'll survive,"

"Then get stronger, Bugsy isn't that hard, your scheduled fight is tomorrow right?" Janine replied.

"Yes," Virah thought the change in topic made sense, "I'm still feeling nervous though,"

"You shouldn't," the ninja soothed, "Bugsy isn't that strong and right as long as you know what you are doing, you should be fine,"

"Which means?" Virah turned to Janine.

"Prepare," the ninja shrugged, she pulled her purple hair back to focus more on her Pokewatch, "Bugsy has limited options if he wants to fight in a 3rd Badge level, even when it's challenge tier,"

"I know that," and Virah really did, she was aware that of all the options available to Bugsy, he would most likely go with a Forretress core against her, she was at the badge level that would make a gym leader use a proper counter to her team after all.

Heracross wouldn't be an option for Bugsy, while Scizor is too powerful, Butterfree would be too slow against her Zubat, and prior evolutions simply wouldn't work. Any other Bug Type would be too weak to put in his team or too strong for Virah which means that in the end, Bugsy would most likely go for a Pincer.

It was a safe option against Jet, with it knowing how to use Rockslide or Rock Tomb while also being strong enough to fight Nitro in the physical department.

'Forretress and Pincer,' with her worries about attacking Team Rocket disappearing into nothing, Virah focused her chaotic thoughts into the gym battle tomorrow.