I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Union Cave was one of those areas that mothers would tell their kids are full of "dangerous" Pokemon to scare them to sleep, in reality however, the place was far from such a thing.

To Virah's professor-esque point of view, the cave was just like any other ecosystem in this world, one full of wonderful Pokemon that consider this place their habitat, there weren't any scary Pokemon around here, at least not ones who would actively kill you.

But just like Ilex Forest, those kinds of Pokemon were only present on the deeper parts of Union Cave and any trainer would be fine right as long as they follow the path the rangers patrol.

"We should go deeper!"

Of course, Virah's friends wouldn't do that, they, and her really, she's included, are competent trainers who could and have held their own against competent trainers.

Virah would have been more cautious about following Whitney to the sides of the well lit path they should have been following if the three badges in her case didn't have a challenge rating to them but as it stands, they do.

So her strides were calm and collected as she went along with Grene in going after the pinkette.

It only took a few steps away from the mapped path before darkness overtook their group, forcing Virah and Whitney to take out their flashlights or in Grene's case, activate Aura perception and traverse the cave that way.

"You're now going after the more advanced Aura techniques right Grene?" Virah asked out loud while pointing her flashlight at a moss covered rock.

In here, voices echoed around the narrow tunnel, they bounced off of walls and repeat one or three times before stopping and doing the same a few meters away.

Her friends stopped walking when Virah's question echoed out of the pathway in front of them.

"Creepy," Whitney said, voice low, she clearly didn't want a repeat of that just now, "and a bit weird,"

"Mhmm," Grene looked at the system ahead of them, "there's no Ghost Type there so we should be fine… I think," the martial artist murmured, "can Ghost Types hide their Aura?"

"I think so?" Virah tilted her head, "they, along with Dark Types, are the only ones who have that ability I think?" Virah checked her Pokedex just to be sure, "oh, yeah, yeah, they can apparently,"

"How can you be so calm after knowing that?" Whitney shuddered, "what if a Ghastly jumps us?"

Virah grabbed Jet's Pokeball and released him, "warn us if there's a Pokemon heading our way,"

"Zubat!" Jet happily exclaimed.

"Oh," Whitney giggled, "right, we have our own Pokemon too,"

She released Kitten as she finished talking and the Meowth began to leisurely walk alongside the hovering Jet, hands on the back of his head and all.

Another digital screech echoed out from beside them and Hollie was soon walking alongside the three of them, the Machop looked around with a critical eye, clearly wary of the dangers lurking inside the cave.

"By the way, what are your plans after we reach the ruins?" Whitney turned to look at her.

Virah blinked, then her mind quickly caught up to the question and she hummed, "I don't truly know yet," she said, shrugging, "I want to see what's going on with Unowns first before deciding to do anything about my situation,"

"Your situation?" Grene asked, "what happened?"

"Well, Virah says she's been having strange dreams about Unowns," Whitney answered, "so she wants to see what's going on with them in the Ruins of Alph,"

"I see…" Grene looked down on the floor, "what were the dreams like?"

"I don't know, I'm inside some strange world with darkness in it, blue lines are in the skies and the only land I could see is the one I am on," Virah explained, refusing to put up any information about Arceus, "and then Unowns come around to talk to me,"

"Weird dream," Grene murmured, "you're sure that's not because you're in your notes most of the time?"

"No?" Virah frowned, "why does everyone say that?"

"It makes some sense," Grene shrugged, "doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't," Virah snapped, "how would Unowns be related to my notes?"

"Well I mean, I'm not exactly that good at the whole reasons for dreaming thing but there's a TV show that says what you're dreaming about is often related to what happens when you're awake and they make some pretty convincing explanations," Grene replied.

So that's where Whitney got her words from?.. Huh, that makes more sense, "can you explain further?"

"I was about to," Grene said, "uh, let's see here, going by those explanations, the island is you being solitary most of the time, and the Unowns represent the only companion you have,"

"Which are words," Whitney chimed.

"Which are words yep," Grene nodded, "it makes sense that way doesn't it?"

"… It does, yeah," but that does not explain divine intervention, at all. Or maybe it does? Her research does involve Pokemon more often than not and well, the whole divinity thing could just be Aura in disguise…

'It also fits well with how my Aura works,' but why does she not believe that explanation? Psychic influence? Divine intervention? Or personal psychology wanting to be proven right?

Despite herself, Virah began psycho analyzing her own dreams, going by the information her friends had given her as well as the little amounts that she knew.

Assuming that her dreams are a part of her subconscious, which, really, what dream isn't? Then the fact that she believes them to be true might just be because of her own pride, she was a researcher yes, a professor even, but that did not mean she didn't believe in gods.

Ho oh is somewhere there for crying out loud!

And when her own mind is stressed out about the death of her own Ratata, then it's only natural it would subconsciously make up a religion no? Some kind of deity to help her alleviate the pain…

That was an interesting thought process, and Virah decided to go along with it as they walked, and she got to more conclusions that what her friends are saying might just be true.

For one, she was hysteric after she discovered Ratata's corpse, and she fainted way before her stressed out mind could sort itself out, so, with that being said, it's only natural that when it had the ability to think again, even if she wasn't fully conscious, it would go back to trying to find a way to alleviate the stress of Ratata's death, make her accept it, even if subconsciously.

And that was how she got that dream…

Those were all valid theories and Virah thought that she would prove them all right when they get to the ruins, do research on the Unowns and the writings there and conclude that yes, her dreams were borne out of stress and coping.