Virah slumped, she sighed in relief and silently processed everything that happened.

She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing.

The fight against the Rocket grunt had been tough and arduous but they came out on top, and looking back, the entire thing felt surreal and her memories of it were hazy and quick- brief- and what felt like an eternity in real time was nothing more than a passing thought in her head.

'The time in my head is probably a lot more accurate,' Virah thought with a stressful shake of her head.

All in all, the entire fight took what? Only 2-3 minutes in real time?..

'It definitely felt longer,' Virah hummed and turned her gaze towards...

... Everything, really, from her friends to their Pokemon, to her own team.

Whitney looked like she was just as stressed as everyone else, but the pinkette did such an amazing job of controlling her emotions to the point that she was just quivering instead of crying her eyes out.

That was an improvement and Virah thought that it was partially because of the fact that they had won against what is essentially a cartoon villain in her eyes.

If Whitney wasn't happy from beating the Rocket grunt, Virah was sure that she'd be on the ground, crying and she and Grene would have to sacrifice a bit more of their already thin psyche to help her calm down.

And after that?..

She'd have to pretend like nothing is wrong and show that she "wasn't" that shaken by the experience of fighting a literal criminal to keep Whitney in a calm state.

'Thank Ho oh for all the little things,' Virah thought with a small grimace.

Grene... looked like she was contemplating something like Virah just now. The martial artist had her eyes closed while she leaned her back against the trunk of a tree, on one hand, was Hollie's Pokeball, and on the other was the Tyrogue's.

Virah eyed the Pokeball of her friend's latest fighting type and thought that that thing would be one hell of a problem in the future.

'But not for now,' the poison specialist thought in cold relief, honestly, whatever happens after the Tyrogue has been introduced to their group, she'll face it head on and come out on top, just like she always does.

And besides, what's a temporary bad blood between their Pokemon compared to literally fighting a criminal and winning?

'nothing.' Virah thought with a smile, 'that's what,'

Her gaze shifted to the Pokemon who, much like their trainers, were recovering in one way or another after that tedious fight.

Hollie had already been recalled, her ever diligent Nitro was patrolling the area and occasionally checking in on the grunt, Kitten was just lying on the ground, face calm and full of clarity as if the fight never bothered him, and Jet had somehow managed to find a sitrus berry and was happily munching on it.

Everyone looked fine and she thought that the fight just now, even if it did have an effect, barely disturbed them all.

So Virah moved on from the victors and towards the Rocket grunt who... was heavily breathing. Virah narrowed her eyes when she saw how strained he looked and she got up to near the man.

The first one to notice her moving toward him had been Whitney, and the pinkette voiced out an understandable question towards the poison specialist, "Uh, Virah, what are you doing?"

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The greenhead turned to Whitney, "something's wrong with the grunt," she hastily replied while checking her bag for any pecha berries, she found three and frowned, this wouldn't be enough, "does anyone have spare pecha berries?"

"I do... but why?" Grene asked.

"I think the grunt is badly poisoned by my Aura," Virah replied nervously, "i-it's supposed to be weak so I don't know why he's as affected as he is and-"

"Maybe it was that weird glowy thing we saw when we got here?" Whitney cut her off with her suggestion.

Virah stared at the pinkette and frowned, "that's... a pretty good point," the greenhead nodded, "yeah- uh- I think it was the wormhole that got him more vulnerable than he already was so-"

Virah cut herself off and raised a hand to catch the pecha berry that Grene tossed her way, "- thank you,"

The poison specialist didn't say anything more and walked until she was standing next to the Rocket grunt, she wasn't really confident in her first aid let alone her know-how when it came to diffusing poison out of a human's system but she was sure that she'd manage.

'Humans are simpler biologically than Pokemon after all...' Virah thought in relief as she checked on the pulse of the Rocket grunt, she counted it and calculated the resulting bpm before allowing herself to relax when she saw he was still stable.

'But for how long?' She thought in worry as she started mixing up a small cure for the criminal, which sure, is the kind of title that tells people they shouldn't be helped but if she doesn't, she'll be labeled in much the same way so she got to work.

She started things off by making the man eat a pecha berry to prepare his system and when he reluctantly took it, she nodded at him before continuing.

The kind of shake she was making wasn't just a simple slurry meant to cure Pokemon of their poisoned state, she knew that wouldn't be enough, so instead, she jogged her memory for the Eggtech recipe for the Antidote.

She had only ever worked on that particular thing once and even then, she only watched on the sidelines while giving pecha berries to her co-workers as they mixed, distilled, and purified the mix.

The result was the clear liquid that was usually used for Antidote and while the one in her hands wasn't clear, let alone a proper antidote, she was still confident that it would at least do a better job.

"Here, drink," she offered to the criminal who thankfully drank from her cup while still bound, "you should be feeling okay in a while,"

"You don't sound sure, I think I'm going to die." The criminal replied.

Virah shot him a dry stare, if that was his idea of a joke that would liven the mood, then he clearly couldn't read the atmosphere, "you won't." The poison specialist replied, "you'll... be fine more than hurt but there are probably going to be problems,"

The criminal shrugged, "if you say so," he retorted, "fair enough, thanks,"

Virah stepped back, "I was only doing what was necessary, if I let you die, then I would become a criminal like you,"

The man chuckled, "I guess," he nodded, "you're a smart kid, you sure you don't want to join-"

"For the last time, the answer is no," Virah said with a heated glare, "if I'm going to rise to the top, I'll do it as a trainer, not some criminal who stoops lower than some Ratatas."

"Funny that," the man grinned weakly, his expression shaken, "but I guess you're right, you do you then,"

"I will." Virah nodded resolutely, "I'll prove that I'm more than just a low life,"

"Good luck to you then," the criminal said nothing more and kept his silence so Virah had to walk away.

When she got back to her friends, it was to the sight of them huddling around each other, Whitney was the one who spoke up.

"Is he going to be fine?" She followed her words by giving the criminal a concerned look.

"He should be, yeah," Virah nodded in a positive.

"I'm not sure if filtering the pieces of oran out with my extra clothes did anything but I'm sure it did," the greenhead murmured with uncertainty, "his stomach is processing more liquid than solid, and that means that it will start cleaning the poison from his system quicker."

"Since there won't be any need for digestion," Grene said to Virah's nod, "still, isn't Aura... energy? How can Pecha berries cure it?"

"I don't know," Virah shrugged, "but I'm guessing it's probably the same as when certain berries can reduce a move's attack when eaten,"

"The ones for typing right?" Whitney chimed, adding, "I think we have some of those growing somewhere inside our Gym, uh, the ones meant for Fighting Types."

Virah hummed in thought, "huh, will you get some before we leave Goldenrod? I think it'll really help against Chuck,"

"No, it's fine," Whitney shook her head, "I don't need them to win, my Pokemon are fast and aggressive so I think it's better if I just give them something that'll boost their damage instead of their defenses,"

Grene nodded, "that's a good point," she said, "and speaking of that, if I remember correctly, Cianwood hosts a contest on the first month of the circuit where trainers can win the item Muscle Band,"

"We'll go there," Virah nodded, "so we're heading to Cianwood after Goldenrod?"

"Sure!" Whitney grinned, "I think the beach sounds nice,"

"That... too," Virah hummed, "but yeah, Cianwood."

"Cianwood," Grene repeated with a nod.