“See you Ratata,” Virah waved to the rodent as she closed the door to her apartment. She had left the bag of Pokefeed out in the living room instead of storing it, trusting the Ratata to only take a bit of Pokefeed out of it during her absence.

Ratata taking Pokefeed from the bag without her permission was as unavoidable as a Meowth pushing something fragile off a ledge and shattering it so Virah decided to just leave that sort of thing be, she's sure that, as always, Ratata would be responsible and just take an extra bowl for himself.

Going along that chain of thought, Virah thought about the small changes she had made to Nitro's diet; they weren't big, just a few added meats and the like to help with his process of turning into a Beedrill.

Protein, she realized, wasn't exactly a bad thing for Pokemon in general to have, as their bodies are simply packed with muscle.

Strengthening what might as well be a Pokemon's most vital body part was always a good thing, always. And doubly so when one is trying to become a professional trainer.

As she walked Virah kept thinking about all the tiny changes she could make and just how much food, vitamins, and calories Nitro needed in his day to day, it was a mental exercise that Virah realized helped sharpen her mind, which is never a bad thing.

Her body reflexively moved away from possible obstacles in the road and dodged oncoming pedestrians as she continued brainstorming anything she could, her mind awhirl with possibilities of all the things that she could do and her fingers itched to write every thought that came her way.

Virah was well aware that by the time she focused again, she wouldn't remember most of what she was thinking of right now but that was fine, most of them were redundant anyway. Also, the ones that do matter often stick for a little while after she focuses and could be written down.

Unfortunately for her though, none of her thoughts would be written down this morning as she was distracted by the sound of Arcanine growls and, oddly enough, the police sirens that Officer Jennies were so fond of carrying.

Virah eyed one of the Arcanines as it blitzed past her, their end goal somewhere directly on the road ahead.

Everyone surrounding her started to panic and Virah, for her part, tried to keep herself calm and move along the tide of rushing civilians as they pushed her toward the area where the Arcanine was heading, none of them seemed to have been stopped though so Virah knew that the situation wasn't so bad that civilians could get harmed so maybe she could get out of this unscathed?..

That last thought of hers had come true in more ways than one because just as she neared the burning building surrounded by police officers, the Reflect of a Mr. Mime appeared on Virah's side seconds before a flaming Zubat crashed into it, sending ripples to form across the barrier's transparent surface.

“Mr. Mime?” The strangely humanoid Pokemon asked Virah as well as the people around her in concern.

She answered for all of them, “we're fine, thank you,”

The Mr. Mime gave her a thumbs up followed by a grin, “Mr. Mime!”

Virah smiled at the scene before once again being pushed by the throng of civilians, this time the police were telling them to get out of dodge and they thankfully did.

As Virah started to put distance between her and the burning building, she heard talks of the police raiding Team Rocket again and couldn't help but wonder if this one was the same as last time.

The word- Wormhole - dug itself in Virah's mind and then just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared and she was left confused.

Whatever those were, it was related to the tear in space, and clearly, the Police- well, maybe not just them in general- The Pokemon League was concerned about what Team Rocket was doing and Virah felt that the name she heard, Cyrus, was a vital piece of information that she could hand out but…

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

A part of her told her that if she came up and forwarded that name, she'd be hunted down by Team Rocket- and that's never a good thing.

Virah smartly chose to keep her silence.

When she reached Trainer's School, the first thing that Virah did was search for Whitney and she found the pinkette sitting on a bench while looking at her Pokewatch in concern.

Virah neared and called out to her friend, causing Whitney to perk up and turn to her, sullen eyes suddenly going energetic, “Virah!” She ran forward and hugged her, “have you heard the news about Team Rocket's crimes?!”

“No?” She never really bothered with that sort of thing but curiosity overtook her in this particular instance- especially since she experienced a raid earlier, - and she asked about what happened, “what's going on with them?”

“They were found experimenting with Pokemon,” Whitney said in horror.

Virah raised an eyebrow, that's a bit tame…

“Is that it?” Virah replied with a tilt of her head.

Don't people experiment with Pokemon all the time? Even the breeders back at the breeding center did it, and sure, maybe what Team Rocket is doing is particularly worse than usual but… Virah didn't think it was that bad.

“Don't you get it?” Whitney shook her around, “they're hurting Pokemon!”

“I- I-” Virah grabbed Whitney's wrist to get the pinkette to stop shaking her, “I know, Whitney, but uh, it's not that bad is it? What were they doing?”

Virah sat down and gestured for her friend to sit next to her, Whitney did so, saying, “well, they decided to suck the electricity out of Voltorbs and Electrodes,”

Virah nodded, thinking that this thing wasn't new, and didn't that powerplant in Kanto close down because of this same exact reason?

She's sure that the wild Voltorbs and Electrodes would probably find a way to take revenge against Team Rocket for what they were doing to their kin. Pokemon were smart like that and it was the reason why most of their meat either came from crippled Pokemon who willingly agreed to be put down or stupid ones like Magikarp.

“They also chopped off the tails of Slowpokes to be sold.” Whitney huffed.

“Uhuh…” don't their tails easily grow back because they risk it “fishing” for Shellders and Cloysters to begin with? And could Slowpokes even feel that sort of thing?

“And get this, they also tortured a poor Gengar to know how it was able to move between shadows!” Now that got Virah to frown, why would Team Rocket do that?

And is it… no, it is related to the wormhole, hm. Virah focused back on Whitney and noticed the pinkette staring at her intensely, “you look like you know something,”

“... I-” Virah shook her head, “I have a hunch,” she said, “but it's probably not important,”

“Right, but what Team Rocket is doing is still dangerous!” Whitney said, pumping her fist, her eyes were shining with something Virah recognized as conviction, “I think we need to help out,”

Wait what?

Virah stared, “Whitney, what are you-”

“That's not a good idea,” Virah turned to the person who said that and nodded at them gratefully, a second opinion always persuades Whitney. The martial artist with the Machop walked forward and offered them both her hand, “I'm Grene,”

Virah eyed the girl- and she's apparently a girl, judging by the voice, - up and down.

Grene had short red hair, a cut similar to what guys usually have, a pretty face, as well martial robes on her body, the hand that Grene offered them was calloused despite her age and the biceps leading to it were well muscled.

Virah shook her hand, noting how course and rough the skin of Grene's palm felt, “Virah,”

Whitney shortly followed, and the pinkette's shake was energetic and excited, a complete opposite of Virah's slow and careful one. Grene though kept up her straight posture even as Whitney bobbled her entire arm up and down, sending it flying around, “I'm Whitney!”

“I've heard,” Grene's face was wry if not calm. Her eyes scanned Virah, “and I've also heard about you, everyone says that you can teach Pokemon moves?”

“... I can? Yes,” Virah replied slowly, cautious of another battle, “why?”

“I want you to teach my Machop something,” Grene said with a bow, “and I can't pay you with Pokedollars seeing as our Dojo is not financially stable at the moment but in exchange for your assistance, I can teach you the ways of Aura.”

“Aura is a sham,” Whitney's excitement died down and she was now looking at Grene in suspicion, “do you think we're stupid?”

Grene stood up, her face offended but before she could retort- Virah really didn't want her morning to have nothing but Whitney's complaints, - Virah spoke up, “sure, why not?”

Grene faced her, “you believe me?”

“Pretty much,” Virah nodded, “Koga talks about empowerment through bonds with Pokemon all the time, but uh, I thought it only works for like, Crobats or something?”

Grene laughed, “no, not truly, Aura is unique for everyone-” she blinked and her eyes went wide the moment she opened them, “- and yours… seems to be rather beautiful looking,”

Virah looked down at herself, cheeks warm, “it is?”

“Mhmm.” Grene nodded, “a Poison Type Aura like a poisoned tea reflecting the moonlight within a cup offered by an assassin to an unsuspecting governor during a calm night, I think I'd love to teach you how to-”

Before Grene could continue, a panicked Whitney went between them, “you're bad at flirting!”

The pinkette said that suddenly and out of the blue. It was also the first time Virah had heard her say something a kid their age would say- that being just a random insult made from words that felt right at the moment being strung together yet had no cohesive feel between them.