Virah tossed her trainer's bag onto her bed before quickly following right after.

She let herself bounce up and down for a scant few seconds, allowing her thoughts to wander around and her body to relax.

She sat upright with a groan and immediately proceeded to look around her room.

Her mind, for one reason or the other, still couldn't believe that she's now sleeping in a room like this one, and a part of her, the one that's cynical and bitter, was waiting for the shoe to drop and for something to go wrong like all the times before.

And what a roller coaster ride everything had been, from her talks with the rangers to her discovering Ratata's… corpse- everything had been constant highs that left her dizzy.

And she knew that she was just repeating things when she says that she still couldn't believe everything that's happened but that is how she genuinely felt.

Virah fell back on her bed and she sighed, "when will everything go wrong?"

Was that a weird question?

Virah decided that yes, it was a weird question.

Why she expected for something bad to happen was honestly beyond her but… after giving it some thought, was it really that weird for her to think like this?

After all, everything that has happened in her life so far had been mostly pitfalls, and each time she managed to get climb out one pit, she would stumble and fall into a hole that's even deeper.

And most times it's not even her fault why she fell to begin with.

'It feels like the world is always moving against me to be honest,' Virah internally mulled.

Honestly, is she even a chosen of Arceus if she went through this much struggle? And was her dream only an illusion?

Virah briefly wondered if someone out there experienced the same dream as her and, if they did, was it also caused by an alphabet of Unowns?

Virah raised her hand and touched her forehead, then, quickly, she called on her Aura to see if she could burn away the psychic influence left behind by the group of Psychic Types.

Unsurprisingly, she couldn't, by Ho oh she couldn't even feel the influence itself, that's how deeply embedded it was in her mind.

'Whatever,' Virah sat up and grabbed her trainer's bag, she shoved her hand inside and took out all the items that she bought and started counting everything.

"A decent amount of clothes, enough to last me two weeks without washing anything, hiking gear, food, for both myself and my team, vitamins, and an emergency first aid kit," Virah put all the items she named back into her trainer's bag one by one.

She straightened her posture and let out a sigh of relief, "I can't believe I still have leftover money from buying all of this,"

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Really, being sponsored by two different, yet still influental entities had been the biggest boon that has happened to her by far.

"Maybe I should head straight to Professor Elm's lab after this? Or maybe not?" Virah hummed in thought.

The professor did leave her a note that told her she didn't need a starter anymore so maybe heading there was pointless when all she needed to do was wait for the professor to send her trainer card money.

Virah nodded, "yep, it isn't a good idea."

Going along with the original plan of them heading straight for Cianwood after Goldenrod felt like the best option anyways.

Virah faced the bathroom before taking out a change of clothes from her bag, after setting them up on her bed, she went on to clean herself.

She left her room half an hour before the scheduled meeting with Eggtech's CEO but she didn't waste any more time and quickly headed for the deeper parts of the center.

Her temporary card more or less allowed her to go anywhere she wanted within the building but honestly? Virah didn't feel the need to just go on a power trip and start going to confidential areas.

Instead, she headed straight for the meeting room and waited outside of it.

Occasionally, she would check on herself to see if there was anything wrong with her clothes or if her face had something on it but her worries were mostly unfounded and borne out of anxiety.

Eventually, the receptionist, who was mostly just minding her own business until this exact moment, called her name and Virah stood up to meet one of her two sponsors.

Going in, Virah wasn't sure what to expect other than that the CEO was apparently someone who wanted punctuality above all else and that arriving 30 minutes before the start of the meeting did good her good on that particular criteria.

Overall though, Virah wasn't confident in how she would talk to the man who owns the very building that Virah is in.

Thankfully, Pierce Massy didn't feel intimidating or even scary, and except for the expensive tux he was wearing, the man sitting behind the desk in front of her looked just like any regular guy on the street.

"Take a seat," Pierce Massy, the man responsible for giving Virah one of her current sponsorships gestured to the chair at the center of the room.

"I'll do that," Virah internally cringed at her reply but said nothing more as she stiffly walked forward.

In the few glimpses that she got of it, Virah made sure to eye and inspect the lavishly decorated room. There was a bookshelf to the side, a small one, and next to that is a taxidermied Kangaskhan, which thankfully didn't have a child in her pouch.

Once she took her seat, Virah rubbed her boots on the bright red carpet underneath her in discomfort.

Was she supposed to be the one who needed to talk first here?

"So I noticed that you went out earlier,"

Virah looked up, "uh, yep- I wanted to buy more stuff in preparation for my journey so…" she did a so-so gesture, "you know,"

"You're putting your monthly allowance to good use?" Pierce said in a guessing tone, Virah nodded, "good, that is good,"

The man smiled in a way that looked normal to most, but unnervingly intimidating to Virah, "I'm guessing you still have some leftover?"

"I made sure to leave a few hundred Pokedollars behind," Virah answered, "since I think I'll want to buy something for myself in the future,"

"Good point," Pierce replied, "well, speaking of your sponsorship, you already know what it means right?"

"That I wear your brand?" Virah answered with uncertainty.

"Yes, and also to say positive things about us when asked, that you don't ruin Eggtech's name, and just generally add more goodwill to our name in the public eye," Pierce listed, "and then there's your field work which..?"

"Is just me doing research on Pokemon out in the wilds and write down my observations," Virah finished after she realized that Pierce wanted her to do so.

"Mhmm." Pierce smiled, "you'll need to do around what? A week's worth of research before you send anything our way?"

"That was the instruction," Virah nodded, noting that any other time frame simply wouldn't make sense when it comes to researching Pokemon.

"Do you feel that you'll have trouble during that time?" Pierce asked.

"What do you mean?" Virah returned.

"Will you have problems focusing on one Pokemon for example, or maybe a group of them?" Pierce elaborated.

Virah looked down at her hands and mulled over the man's words

Will… she have problems when it comes to her research?..

She concluded that no, she wouldn't.

Virah looked back up and shook her head, "I don't think so," she replied, "I think I know how to tag Pokemon before observing them from a distance,"

"Right, and were you given on the things you needed to research?" Pierce asked.

"Uh, yeah- I needed to observe a wild Pokemon's behavioral pattern and write them down, I also needed to observe how wild Pokemon fight their fellow wild Pokemon and write down any seen differences when it comes to their moves, whether it's size, power, or consistency of usage," Virah lengthily answered.

"Good, good," Pierce leaned back, "and you have a Pokedex just for that reason right?" When Virah nodded, the man smiled, "that's all I wanted to hear,"

"Ah- can I- am I allowed to leave now?" Virah stammered.

"Yes, you are," Pierce replied, "all I can say is that I wish you luck on your research," the smile that followed looked suspicious in Virah's eyes but she nodded in response nevertheless, "for someone your age, you are a very talented researcher, I'm sure that you'll make the sponsorship worthwhile,"

"I won't disappoint you," Virah bowed before swiftly walking for the door.

She didn't dare turn back as she made her way back to her room and once she was inside, she collapsed onto her bed, stressed from the encounter.

'Did I really need to be so informal?' She asked herself, causing the memories of her lackluster replies to resurface and for her to curl into herself.