It was around midnight, the sounds of Hoot Hoot echoed on the dark streets beyond the window, the Pokemon's name repeating two times as the species gave the otherwise silent night some sound.

Thanks to the recent gang war, there wasn't anything on the streets outside, the people too afraid of going out.

The lack of human presence allowed Pokemon of all species to come out without fear of being battled or worse, caught; strays roamed the night, Houndour and Growlithes that would have otherwise preferred to stay in the shadows and eating scraps.

Gangs of Ratata led by a pair or a trio of Raticate crawled along the shadows, their eyes bright enough to be seen despite looming beneath the darkness.

Zubat flew along the skies, hunting for anything small enough to fall prey to them.

Amidst all this chaos, a lone Ghastly flew around unimpeded, its calm and happy smile showcasing just how devoid the city was of people, after all, if a Ghost Type could roam around like he does, then the streets were very, very empty.

Virah jolted awake, she looked around, perturbed, flashes of memories came down on her, the hours prior to this were a whirlwind of analysis and written notes about the professional battles she was watching with her friends.

'And speaking of them…' Virah smiled fondly as her eyes went over to her friends, Whitney and Grene were sleeping soundly, the two looked calm as they lay on her bed.

'I'm surprised my pajamas even fit them,' Virah thought in consideration, though the bigger surprise, in her opinion, was the fact that their parents just casually allowed them to stay with her.

Virah got up, slowly and carefully to ensure that her friends didn't wake up. She yawned as she made her way to the bathroom, she looked back at her bed as she turned the lights on, she opened the door by a tiny creak and went in.

Virah splashed water on her face and glared at her reflection, "I'm fine," she said to herself, the words seemingly resonating with Whitney's voice within her mind, "I'm fine,"

Nothing bad was going to happen, the Jennies would never suspect her of anything, and her friends wouldn't eat her out.

Virah sighed in relief as energy left her body, "where can I find more people like them?"

Virah's thoughts went back to Whitney, she chuckled, she felt really lucky for the fact that the pinkette had befriended her that day, Grene too.

Virah would have never known that the two of them asking her to tutor their Pokemon would lead to this kind of outcome, and honestly, she was glad that it did. Really, really glad.

She doesn't know what could have happened to her if it wasn't for them. Would she still be bitter? Closed off? Maybe- it leans on "yes" as an answer come to think of it…

Virah slumped, "I'm happy,"

The smile that her lips quirked up into was a genuine one, and it held all the care and love she felt for both her friends.

Still, despite everything, Virah thought that she needed to take some time off, walk around the empty streets to clear her mind, that kind of thing.

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The poison specialist threw a hoodie over her shirt and rolled her pants into a tight bundle that stopped above her knees, lastly, she grabbed her trainer bag just in case she wanted to buy something.

She walked around the streets of Goldenrod, mind whirling with all the things she's done, the memories of what happened to her during her meditation was still fresh and stinging, like an open fleshwound infested with maggots.

And yet, it was overshadowed by the time she spent with her friends earlier, and Virah couldn't feel more thankful for Grene and Whitney for that.

She looked back at the breeding center, the building was a block or so away but still visible.

Virah walked a bit more and sat down on a bench, she looked at the vending machine next to it and stood up, she bought a can of Momoo Milk and sat back down, her worried thoughts continued as she took small sips of the sweet liquid.

'I…' Virah frowned, she took another sip, 'am I really immune to being caught?'

The question left her mind wandering, she couldn't help it, worrying about something as crucial as being caught killing an entire building full of rocket grunts was only natural.

'No one wants to go to prison after all,' Virah said to herself.

Because despite her guilt pushing her to turn herself in earlier, she still valued her freedom and now that her mind was clear, she thought that her stupid thoughts of wanting to be snitched on to the Jennies was a stupid one.

She looked around, nothing seems to be out of place and her anxious thoughts of a Jenny popping out of nowhere to apprehend her were just that- anxious thoughts.

However, her interest in seeing a Ghastly fly around the street all by itself was genuine.

She stood up and eyed the Poison/Ghost Type, the pattern of its flight seemed to be straight and…

… Wait, was it looking at her?

Virah met the Ghastly's gaze even with the distance between them and a strange feeling clicked in her brain, she felt like she had known the Ghost Type for years and yet, at the same time, she was aware that this was their first meeting.

Still, despite that, she trusted her gut feeling and ran towards it, disregarding all caution and every single warning she's read about approaching this particular species of Pokemon.

The two of them met halfway through and when there was only a few feet between them, both stopped.

Virah and the Ghastly were stock still as they stared into each other's eyes.

It was the Ghost Type who broke the ice first, "Ghastly?"

"No- no," Virah calmed herself, why was she stuttering? Why was she scared- oh who was she kidding? Of course she's scared! This was a Ghastly for crying out loud!

Still, despite her fear, Virah steeled nerves and opened her mouth, her next words were much more confident, and the shake of her head that gestured alongside them was smooth.

"I don't think we've met before," Virah replied.

"Ghastly?" The orb within the gas that acted as the Pokemon's face tilted sideward, rotated rather.

"I don't know," Virah shrugged, "but- but-" she heaved, it was like she didn't even try to talk the Ghastly into letting her capture it, it was like she was afraid of letting the Pokemon go, "will you be my Pokemon?"

A smile spread on the Ghastly's face, "Ghastly!" It exclaimed, clearly jubilant.

"Gha- Ghastly!" Virah stood still with a happy smile on her face even as the Pokemon flew forward, she didn't know why she trusted the Ghastly, wasn't sure why she didn't believe what it was doing was a trick, but she did.

And when the Ghastly got into her Pokeball, there was no resistance.

Virah smiled down at the sphere, "welcome back,"

She paused, why did she say that?..

"Welcome to the team," she smiled. There! Better!

With the sudden aching in her heart now gone, Virah walked back to the center with a happy beat in her steps.

…

Virah looked back at Goldenrod, this would be the last time she'd see the city for at least a few months, at best a few years.

Journeying out of the city and leaving it for once in her life felt choking, like she was about to leave a part of herself behind.

Her heart ached at the thought of never seeing this place again but at the same time, she felt like she had been granted the freedom she has always dreamed about, the kind that she strived for as long she remembers.

Working at the breeding center, breeding Weedles, learning how to battle, all of these resulted in this exact same moment, and it fit her exact expectations.

Nothing was lost, and she knew that the nervousness she felt was because of her unknowingly stepping into something whose results were outright undetermined.

Her life in Goldenrod was safe, secure, and more importantly, set.

But at the same time, Virah felt that it was lacking, she didn't want to stay in the city forever, didn't want to spend the rest of her life in some office or lab, or worse, working for scraps of wages in some store somewhere.

This was for the best, she knew that deep in her heart, and that part of her encouraged her to look away and face the road.

She sighed, one of both relief and reluctance, "looks like we're going back to Ilex Forest huh?"

"We are, yes," Grene nodded, the martial artist seemed conflicted, "I wonder what's it like in there now that the rangers are gone,"

"Probably the same as always," Whitney shrugged, "full of Pokemon battling each other just to live another day,"

"Or to evolve," Virah chimed.

"Or to evolve yeah," the pinkette agreed.

"Do we go into the deeper parts?" Grene's question made her friends perk up.

"Do we want to?" Virah asked.

"Do we?" Whitney looked the poison specialist straight in the eyes.

Virah shook her head, "we probably shouldn't, there are Pokemon in there we don't want to mess with,"

"Good point," Grene replied, "we should probably get going right?"

"Mhmm," Virah hummed.

All three of them set off.