“There you go,” Virah placed the bowl of Bug Type Pokefeed next to Nitro's little dome of silk, which he built on one of her room's four corners.

The Weedle slowly crawled out of his home and stared at the bowl, his drowsy eyes becoming energetic when he saw that what Virah placed in front of him was his meal.

“Weedle!” With a nod of gratefulness, Nitro proceeded to slam his head towards the bowl and started munching.

Virah walked away and sighed, “you know, you should feel glad that I put newspapers around your little… place,”

She tilted her head and eyed the dome of silk. Come to think of it, why did Nitro build something like this? An excess of iron maybe?.. Hm, she better ask Carl- the cashier from the Pokemart, - about it soon to know whether or not her Weedle is still healthy or had somehow gotten sick?

Or better yet, why don't she just ask Nitro about it?

When her Weedle finished eating, Virah put down her notebook, “do you feel sick Nitro?”

Nitro stopped making his way back to his little home and tilted his head, “Weedle?” His words were followed by a shaking denial, “Weedle.”

“Okay, I guess you aren't,” Virah nodded and wondered what kind of question she should ask to convey her concerns, “does your nose feel itchy?” Another shake of his head, “what about your string gland?” Another shake, “your horns maybe?”

Nitro paused, looked down, then nodded, “Weedle!’

“Yeah, I think that's normal,” she said as she eyed the two horns on either side of Nitro's body, both the horn on his tail as well as the one on his head were starting to give out a smooth, metallic sheen which Virah knew was a good sign, especially if looked at the lenses of a Weedle's health.

She grabbed her notebook again, “it should calm down in a week,” Virah said, “goodnight Nitro,”

“Wee-” her Pokemon's reply was cut off when he entered the walls of his silken home.

Virah focused on the notes of battle strategies she had at hand and reviewed them.

After turning into a trainer and actually experiencing battling for herself, Virah found that she could easily understand the professional/elite level battles being shown on the breeding center's break room TV, and she knew that it wasn't her place to say but she even found a few- valid, - criticisms on the matches.

And sure, those trainers wouldn't heed her advice but they didn't need to since all that matters is her recognizing flaws in their own battle tactics could only be a good thing because that meant that Virah was becoming an adept enough battler to know when a mistake occurs.

Sure, she won't be able to see her own mistakes during the heat of battle- which is why she reviews them afterward, - but she can learn from them and make sure that such things don't happen the next time around.

And it wasn't just her notes either.

There were several facets in battling that Virah is learning about, from the basic tempo, matchups, recognizing switches, and even knowing when to do a specific move- which she muses was part of battle tempo still, - all of those things and more are what makes up a battle and Virah, being as new as she was, was only getting introduced to them.

She needed to study all of these even when she was only dealing with students her age- who were as casual of a trainer as it could get, - because when she goes on her journey, these kinds of fundamentals can either mean she gets ALL of her eight badges during her first circuit or she fails which… she'd rather not.

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8 Badges on a trainer's first year means that they're competent enough to be hired by Gyms, or better yet, they're such a good battler that they can get an offer from either the rangers or the police force.

Those were still far away, Virah knew, but she only had one chance to get all eight badges in her first year and Virah would rather finish her first journey with that goal achieved instead of sitting down and regretting failing it for the rest of her life.

People often think that they could have done so much if they only had their present knowledge a few years back into the past but why bother thinking about what's gone down on the world's history instead of focusing on what was about to come?

Complaining about the past is something that Virah simply would refuse to do and so she'll work hard before anything remotely close to regret comes her way in the future.

The Virah of tomorrow would lay down on a luxurious bed content and knowing full well that the past her- the her now, - let out blood and tears to get to where she is.

Where she would be.

But before anything like that can happen, the present Virah needed to study about battle fundamentals first.

So she did.

…

“Hey,” Virah felt a poke to her cheek, “hey,”

Irritably, she stopped reading and stared at Whitney, “what?”

“What are you reading about?”

Virah raised one eyebrow, “I thought I already told you?” She waved her notebook around, “I'm reading and learning about battle tactics,”

"Why?” Whitney asked.

Virah huffed, “not all of us are as instinctually gifted in Pokemon battles as you, and some of us need to learn how to properly fight before we get good,”

Whitney crossed her arms, “okay, that hurt-” she raised her index finger as if what she said was a point, “and second, I don't believe that I'm as good as you say?”

“You're… decent,” compared to gym leaders and elites, that is.

But it won't take long for her to reach that stage since Whitney is such a naturally gifted battler that she doesn't need to bother with learning the fundamentals because her instinct is too good at judging the state of battles anyway.

This was something that Whitney was born with and calling something like that talent would be an understatement.

“Not decent, I like to think I'm good,” Whitney contradictly said with a huff.

Virah eyed her, “uhuh…” she snapped her notebook shut, “okay, so I don't want to go back in circles with you so what's up?”

“What's up?” Whitney said with a sigh, “maybe- uhm… you should stop reading and actually focus on other things?”

Focus on other things?

“LIke what?” Virah genuinely asked, and she only got more confused when Whitney gave her a dry stare, she offered a guess, “Pokemon?..”

She looked to the spot where Nitro sat, the branch he was on looked like it was going to snap from his size and weight and he was only what? Half a month old? Maybe a bit more? How big would he be when he becomes a Kakuna? Virah then faced Kitten, who, as always, just lazed about near a pond whenever they went to a park.

Occasionally, the Meowth would open its eyes slightly to see if a Magikarp neared it and would then close them in barely hidden disappointment when it realized that no free meal had come its way.

“I don't think they need us to focus on them?” Nitro was learning Roost even without Virah's guidance and Kitten was just doing Meowth things so Virah didn't think he needed anything at the moment. Or even wanted anyone to go near him for that matter.

Whitney pouted, “I'm talking about me, Virah, aren't you, you know, not focusing on me?”

“What?” Was she supposed to? VIrah tilted her head, “okay?.. I'm focusing on you now,” she shut her notebook, “now what?”

“Let's talk,” Whitney suggested.

“About what? Exactly?” Virah looked around, thinking, “wait, I know, how do you feel about us only having a month and a week before we have to go and start our survival exams with the rangers?”

Whitney stared at her dryly, “uhuh, that's what you want to talk about?” The pinkette sighed, “is work the only thing in your mind?”

Virah nodded, “it would be weird if it's anything but that,”

“Okay, you need to loosen up-” without prompting or even a sign that she would do it beforehand, Whitney reached a hand out and straightened Virah's spine, making her let out a high pitched ‘EEP!’

Whitney grinned, “- and enjoy yourself or something?”

“Enjoy myself,” now it was Virah's tone that turned dry, “like what you're doing now? Lazing around?”

“Virah-” Whitney raised her hands in exasperation, “I want to enjoy things with you together! That's the point of us going out- like this! I mean!”

“...” Virah stared at her friend in suspicion, then she nodded, “okay, fine,” she stood up and dusted herself, “what do you want to do?”

“Uh… well we can buy some sugarcoated berries on that vendor over there,” Whitney pointed to the guy in question and Virah eyed him, then her gaze wandered over to the vendor next to him, the one selling friend Magikarp sticks. Whitney seemed to have noticed her staring at them because she added, “you can buy your fish sticks and I can buy my candy, how does that sound?”

“Okay,” Virah nodded and they both started moving, Virah eyed the container of juices to the side of the carts, “we can also buy drinks while we're at it?”

“Yep,” Whitney, who was more energetic now, nodded, “that's a good idea,”

“I think so too,” Virah agreed.

Going out like this didn't seem so bad- Virah thought as she chewed on fried Magikarp as well as drinking juice made from Pecha Berries.