“I still don't think I'm ready,” Whitney hadn't stopped crying ever since they left the scene where the Scyther was feasting on that Teddiursa.

And for a while now, the pinkette had bundled herself inside of their tent, knees curled and head pressed against her thighs. She wouldn't even look up, that was how badly the experience had left her.

“Whitney-” Virah tried to get her friend to start moving again but a quick shake of Grene's head stopped any of that from ever happening. She sighed and walked to her sleeping bag, she locked gazes with the martial artist, mouthing- ‘well, what do we do now?’

Grene shrugged, replying soundlessly with, ‘I don't know, I think if we kill an actual Pidgey it would leave Whitney in a worse state,’

Virah eyed the pinkette and slumped- well, guess her idea of making her friends used to the death of Pokemon had been a bad one, since the complete opposite happened with Whitney, and no, the silver lining where Grene is more or less accepting of eating Pokemon now is not a good thing compared to Whitney getting traumatized.

“... okay, I give up,” Virah raised her hands, “I’ll admit it-"

“- I did that on purpose,” after Virah said that, Whitney looked up, which would have been a good sign if Virah wasn't admitting that she got them to witness that murder on purpose. Regardless, she gulped down her fears and pushed on, “well I… wanted you both to realize that Pokemon kill each other all the time so I brought you both into the deeper parts of Ilex Forest to see it for yourselves,”

Virah lowered her head, “I'm sorry,”

“Pokemon don't kill each other all the time,” Virah heard her friend say those admittedly insane words and forced herself to look up at Whitney while trying to not look at the pinkette like she had gone insane.

Virah stopped sulking. Really? After everything she just admitted that was what the pinkette got out of it? The green head started laughing, half hysteric and half exasperated.

Whitney frowned, “I'm serious,”

“Well, Whitney-” Virah controlled herself, “- what do you think happens then?”

“They eat berries or Pokefeed,” Whitney supplied.

Virah's laughter got worse, “oh Ho oh,” she said with a shake of her head, “seriously, do you really think that… Pokemon just find Pokefeed out here in the forest?”

“Well, how else? Pokefeed can be dug up from the ground, that's why we have Pokefeed, because we dig them up.” Whitney explained.

“That's not… how that works,” Grene said with a frown.

“How else are they gotten then?” Whitney asked.

Virah turned towards Grene who shrugged, her gaze quickly shifted back to Whitney.

Virah heaved, “okay… how do I say this?” She tapped her forearm, well, she might as well be blunt, “from other Pokemon, Whitney, that's how they're made,”

Whitney looked horrified, “that's atrocious!”

“It's not,” Virah said with a shake of her head, “some of my Weedles got processed into Pokefeed you know? And I willingly gave them to the staff of the breeding center,”

“You did?” Grene asked.

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Virah nodded, “yeah, I saw how they got crushed into mush and then mixed with berries, after that, they get processed into tiny blocks that get sprinkled with vitamins and stuff,” that's the case for high quality Pokefeed at least, usually though, vitamins don't get sprinkled on them, “so uh, yeah, that's how it is most of the time,”

“So you're saying that the Scyther we saw didn't just do that randomly?” Whitney asked.

“No,” Virah shook her head, then she frowned, “actually, how did the Scyther kill that Teddiursa? They uh, usually have parents to help protect them, Ursarings,” she elaborated, “where did its mother go?”

“Probably dead as well,” Grene guessed, “that Scyther must have been part of a pack,”

“Probably,” Virah shrugged, she looked at Whitney, “are you okay now?”

The pinkette nodded, “I think I'm fine,” she answered while taking out a bottle of water from her bag, “it's sad though, what happened to that Teddiursa, I mean,”

“Mhmm.” Virah nodded, “but the Scyther could have died too, since its prey would have definitely had a mother to protect it,”

“I think I wanna go out to hunt now,” Grene suddenly said.

Virah kept her eyes on Whitney, gouging her reaction. The martial artist did the same and when the pinkette didn't react, she continued, “it's a good idea I think, especially since we don't have any food left and berries are kind of… bland?”

Virah stood up, “yeah, it is,” the nagging feeling of anxiety started to gnaw away at the back of her head again now that she was considering killing a Pokemon, but she was sure she'll move on from it after the deed is done, “a Pidgey sounds like it would be an easy kill,”

“Or a Spearrow,” Grene suggested, “maybe even a Raticate?”

“Okay- no Raticates,” Virah shuddered, “even if the ones in the forest are clean, the image of one of them eating the trash bags in front of my apartment building will never leave my mind,”

Grene's expression shifted into disgust and she shook her head, “no Raticates then,” the martial artist agreed, then she hummed, “do Weedles taste good?”

“If you know how to prepare them, yeah,” Virah answered.

Her friends stared at her in expectation mixed with disgust and Virah started feeling self conscious, but before it could get any worse, Whitney spoke up.

“You ate Weedles before?” The pinkette asked.

“Sorta,” Virah replied, “like I said, it's hard to prepare them since they're poisonous,”

“Ah,” Grene said in realization, “then does that mean that Caterpies are fine to eat?”

“Yeah,” Virah nodded, “they're pretty good too actually,” she snapped her fingers, “wait, I think I brought my bug net with me-” she rummaged through her handbag for the aforementioned item and after a while of searching, her hand came out holding it, “- we should be able to catch and eat one,”

The two girls turned to each other, Whitney nodded, “okay,” she said, “I think I can stomach eating a Caterpie, it's better than a Pidgey at least.”

Virah grinned, “that's the spirit!” She clapped, “now come on, let's go out and search for one,”

Heading out, the three of them left the confines of their camp and back into the forest, there wasn't much to see save for tall trees and the rays of light that broke through the canopy got old after a seeing them a couple of times.

Puddles were passed, and so were Geo Dudes that pretended to be rocks, and they even spotted a Pichu, which got Whitney to whine loud enough that it scared the tiny rodent.

“Awwww,” Whitney watched the Pichu run away with a regretful look, it disappeared after entering a bush, “I wanted to pet it,”

“It's better if you don't,” Grene replied, “wild Pichus can be…”

“Bad?” Virah finished to Grene's nod. “Yeah, I get it,” she placed her bug net over her shoulders, “those guys are very annoying to catch too,”

“Have you tried catching one?” Whitney expectedly asked.

Reluctantly, Virah nodded, “yeah… I wanted to sell it to some rich girl who frequented the battle plaza near my apartment but you know…” she made a so-so gesture instead of saying that she was shocked by the electric rodent, “... they're hard to catch, which I guess makes sense,”

“Hm.” Grene grunted.

Their conversation lulled and they continued walking until eventually, they spotted a Caterpie hanging from the branch of a tree, the thread of silk it was using for support looked like it was ready to snap but it held strong and the Bug Type continued eating the bundle of Chesto Berries in front of its face.

“I think we need to make it fall,” Virah turned to Whitney, “Kitten can probably do it?”

“Oh- yeah, definitely,” Whitney snapped out of her listless stare and grabbed her Pokeball, she tossed it into the air and released her Meowth, who glared at all of them one by one before stopping on his trainer. Whitney pointed at the Caterpie, “make it fall,”

Meowth boredly turned his head and when he saw the Bug Type, his expression turned eager and he bounded for the trunk of the tree.

Kitten jumped a few feet away from the tree and when he landed, it was halfway through it and all he had to do was scale it for a few more seconds before his feet touched the branch the Caterpie was on.

Immediately, the Bug Type reacted to Kitten's presence and it cut its string to escape.

It fell through the air while shouting its name in elation- only to start struggling when it fell directly into Virah's bug net, “Ca- Caterpie!”

The glare that the Bug Type shot her didn't affect Virah in the slightest and she only shrugged, saying, “sorry,

“Yeah, sorry Caterpie,” Whitney neared to… rub it? Virah looked at the pinkette's outstretched hand just as the Caterpie glowed white and used Pound to hit Whitney's palm.

The pinkette pulled her hand back with a hiss, “hey!”

“You probably shouldn't have done that,” Virah scolded with a shake of her head, “wild Pokemon can be pretty aggressive if they think that you're going to hurt them which-” Virah met Caterpie's eyes, “- we will,"

“Ca- Caterpie!” The Bug Type shouted.

“Sorry,” Virah apologized for the second time when she heard the Pokemon's pleading tone. “It's nothing personal, since we kinda need to eat.” She turned away from it and placed the bug net over her shoulders to support its weight, “I'm sure Ho oh will take you under his wing after you die,”

The whine that came out in reply made her heart clench in guilt but she swallowed it down.