Virah woke up in a daze and her fuzzy mind barely comprehended the passing of time, to her it flowed like molasses, slow and thick with times of fluidity in small occasions.

It was in one of these "fluid" times when she finally understood what was happening.

The first of them came when she was being rushed through the sterile walls of the hospital, she knew that someone was pushing the stretcher she was on and that they were on a rush but she got nothing more than that.

In the sedated state that followed, she could barely tell what was what and the only times she did was when people blinded her eyes with a flashlight, during those, she was aware that the overpowering bright light was from the doctors checking her pupils.

Virah briefly wondered about her Pokemon before she lost consciousness again.

When she came to, it was with a painful headache and the sound of a heart-rate monitor's beeping.

Her right wrist itched and she wanted to scratch it so badly but stopped once she realized she couldn't even move her weakened hands.

'What happened?' She internally asked before once again feeling drowsy and moments after that, she fell asleep.

She didn't know how much time passed when she woke up again but this time, she was glad that her head was clearer than last time and that she was able to think more clearly.

She opened her eyes and quickly regretted it when she was blinded by the headlamp above her bed.

Instead of opening them again, she spent the rest of her time awake by thinking about things, further draining her energy and making her even more drowsy.

The first thing that came to her mind was what caused her to fall sick like this, was it because she, quite literally, held the rotting corpse of a Pokemon directly next to her chest and potentially inhaled diseases because of it?

She's had the flu before but that was nothing compared to what was happening to her now.

'Or maybe...' Virah thought back to the last words she heard from officer Jenny before passing out- 'haunting.'

That was a possibility wasn't it?

But what could have haunted her? And out of all the times she went back and forth from her apartment and Ilex Forest, why now? Did a Haunter just decide to invade her room while she was away?

Virah thought that regardless of the reason why, it was ironic that just a week before she goes on her journey, she falls ill.

Her bitter thoughts permeated her mind as she lulled back to sleep.

By the time she woke up again, Whitney had somehow managed to become a visitor for her ward.

And just from looking at her, Virah could tell that the pinkette had clearly been crying because of what happened, the tear streaks on her cheeks indicated that much.

Virah raised her hand and flinched when the beeping of her heart-rate monitor suddenly spiked up, the sound startled Whitney awake and the pinkette turned to it before facing Virah in concern-

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Only to freeze when she met the half-opened eyes of her friend.

"Oh Ho oh-" Whitney placed both her hands on her mouth and let out a high pitched whine, "- I thought you were going to die!"

Virah shook her head to tell her that wouldn't be happening anytime soon but sadly couldn't reply verbally.

"W-wait- the doctors said that I should call them when you wake up-" Whitney quickly got up and left and by the time she came back, Virah had already fallen asleep once more.

When Virah woke up again, Whitney was nowhere to be seen but a nurse joy stood by the side of her bed, she was rearranging the packets of medicine on the table next to Virah's bed when she noticed the patient staring at her.

"Hey," she said calmly, not wanting to alert the girl, "your Pokemon are safe by the way, the disease that took all of you couldn't affect them that well since they're Poison Types."

Virah felt her eyes water in relief and she nodded, holding on for long enough to not just finish the gesture, but also hear the follow up words of the nurse.

"I think they want to see you too so... fight, if not for yourself then for them."

Virah felt nothing but conviction to get out of this bed as her eyes closed themselves shut and sleep took over her.

She came to again, but this time it wasn't in her hospital room.

She looked around and scanned the surreal scenery of her dream.

The white walls were replaced by an infinite expanse of darkness and the ceiling had a series of neverending lines that stretched endlessly across its surface. The blue lines looked like artistic spider webs that, even to Virah's limited vision, looked beautifully ageless.

She looked down on the solid ground beneath her feet and saw rocks floating upside down. She tilted her head to match their state and stopped once she realized that they were, in fact, upside down.

Then something loud echoed out and she turned to the source.

"... Unowns?" She said thoughtfully while eyeing the vague shapes and symbols that, according to myth, were the origin of languages.

"My voice." The sound was ethereal, holy, and unmistakably divine.

"... Ho oh?" Virah said before panicking, "wait- I'm not ready to go yet-"

The Unowns converged into a strange shape directly above the small island she was on.

It was incomprehensible in its make and barely coherent to even be called a proper "shape" but the fluid texture of the thing that the school of Unowns formed somehow... made sense.

The shape ebbed and flowed like sand sifting between fingers before halting in its entirety, turning into a semi-circular form full of eyes that constantly shifted, "Be not afraid,"

"Uhuh..." Virah took a step back from the amalgamation of eyes that was the being in front of her, was... was this an unrealized potential of the Unowns?

"I don't think I can take your word for that," she gulped.

"Ar-ke-yus." The blob of eyes echoed out in a strained, high pitched scream as though it was a radio broadcast on a particularly stormy day, "my name."

"Arceus." The words flowed out of Virah's mouth and she suddenly understood.

She blinked when she broke out of the enlightenment that followed her statement of the name, "you- you're the creator of everything..."

"Correct." Arceus replied, and as though enlightenment was the key that unlocked something in Virah's brain, the God of all Pokemon suddenly manifested in front of her.

Arceus had a slender neck, a quadrupedal shape, and a mane of hair flowing from his head. On his stomach was a purple ring the same shade as Virah's eyes, it gleamed and the purple light reflected in her sight.

"My child," Virah looked away from the ring and met Arceus' eyes, "I have given you purpose,"

"Y-you have?" She asked hesitantly, "why?"

"There is no true reason why, for everyone has been given the same thing, yours is simply more important," the deity answered, "you will pave the way for a better world,"

"Uh... how? I'm not strong. Or special." She asked.

A Pokeball floated downwards and Virah eyed the purple and red sphere with an M at the top, "fear not, for when the time comes, you will personally wield my power and unleash Judgement on those that will be your enemy,"

"But-"

"Rest and recover for now, my subjects will tend to you soon, but remember, your purpose is special and you will know what to do with it when the time comes,"

Virah felt something push against her and she was blasted outward, before she left, she noticed a shape within the void, a Pokemon with a serpentine body and a bladed head, wings, all six of them, sprouted from the sides of its body, three digits each.

It stared at her with baleful yellow eyes and roared.

Virah fell unconscious once more.

...

"How is she?" Professor Elm made his way into Dr. Certa's room.

The man turned to him and smiled, "she is doing well," he replied, "and you were right, the Pokerus that infected her body was a special strain that evolved from the Ratata's corpse," Dr. Certa shook his head, "I did not know this was possible,"

"Hm." Elm grunted, "what about the Jennie? She was there too wasn't she?"

"It quickly dies when it infects anyone else," the doctor replied, "it seems that the girl's bond with the Ratata infected her with a stable strain of the virus prior to its death, making her a compatible host to the Pokerus' evolution,"

"Or the Pokerus already in her body evolved once it made contact with the corpse," Elm theorized.

"It's possible," Dr. Certa confirmed with a nod.

"Well, how much does her treatment cost?" Elm asked, not wanting to waste such a valuable opportunity in learning more about the girl and her "unique" state.

"You don't need to worry about that, Eggtech is planning on sponsoring her and they paid for everything," the doctor replied.

Elm hummed, "I see, then it looks like she'll have two sponsors at the start of her journey,"

"Lucky girl," the doctor shook his head, "first a recovery from an evolved Pokerus and then this,"

Elm smiled, calling her lucky was in bad taste given what she was going through but the professor thought that the description made sense somewhat.