Virah tossed her costume back inside her bag, a look of self reflection crossed her face as the red and black ninja gear disappeared into the darkness beyond the mouth.

When she pulled her hand back out, she sighed, "I…"

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say, or even what she wanted to say for that matter, does she just… let things be? Maybe she should tell her friends that everything was going to be fine? Or maybe she should try to explain to them that what they're doing is stupid and possibly- literally suicidal.

"You know,"

Virah swallowed down her words when she heard Whitney speak, the pinkette didn't sound peppy, simply neutral, which means she's thought things through.

No matter what will come out of Whitney's mouth, Virah knew it would be thoughtful.

"I… didn't know that Goldenrod had something like that,"

'So it's going to be her expanding about her realizations then,' Virah thought that it was infinitely better than Whitney realizing that beating Team Rocket is a pipe dream.

Why?..

… She wasn't sure, maybe she thinks it'll give her some time to think, maybe it's because she desperately wants to find a reason to keep going with what she and her friends are doing now.

Maybe, maybe, maybe- everything felt uncertain, like it always did, the nagging doubt about everything she's done and is doing has come back to her again but this time, she had an option to escape.

Virah closed her eyes in the ensuing silence and thought back to the time she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Becoming an actual ninja had never crossed her mind ever since she lost her family so what she experienced half an hour ago was still causing her mental whiplash but-

But the exhilaration that she felt from doing something so freeing was still stuck on the back of her mind, her childhood fantasies, no matter how childish they may have been, getting realized was…

… Nice. Infinitely nice.

And maybe that was why she wanted to keep going, with whatever it is she and her friends had now.

She honestly wasn't sure though.

"I wouldn't say that I lived the same way as those people but… it was close," Virah realized moments after she heard those words that that sentence came from her own mouth.

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She decided to keep going, "and it's not just Goldenrod either, there are a lot of places out there that have the homeless living in them, and sometimes, it's not because they had no choice."

"… You're saying that people choose to live like that?" Whitney asked, incredulous.

"No, nothing like that," Virah found herself shaking her head despite knowing she was in a bathroom stall, "it's just… well, Pokemon live peacefully in the wilds don't they?"

"Yeah? And?" Curiosity had replaced the passivity in Whitney's tone.

"Sometimes people just choose to live with them, like them, I guess," Virah elaborated, "but… sometimes they don't, and they don't have a choice,"

"And those people are like that," Whitney guessed.

"Yeah," Virah confirmed, but before she could say anything, Whitney decided to do what she always did- make an honestly kind and positive yet ignorant decision.

"We should help them,"

"We can't." It was Grene who decided to reply this time around, the martial artist once more taking the side of pragmatism and serving as an anchor that Whitney couldn't move. Her tone alone made it hard for the pinkette to refute.

"She's right, Whitney," and Virah, the usual mediator of the group, chose between the two and, as always, picked Grene's more practical approach to things.

"We can't help them, it'll take a long time and we're still young, maybe when we're old and you're the city's Gym Leader," Virah added.

"Will you even still be there?" Whitney's question made Virah pause.

"Yes." Grene's answer forced her to go along.

"What Grene said," Virah chimed the martial artist's words, we'll be there with you and help fix the city when we're old.

"Promise me then," Whitney replied.

Virah looked up and pinched the bridge of her nose, "… I promise,"

Was it a stupid thing to say? Yes, yes it was- she didn't know what the future held, none of them did, they were still young and so many things could happen, there are so many chances for their friendship to fall out in the next years that it's not even a joke and yet Virah, just like her friends, hoped that wouldn't be the case, that by some miracle, they'll still be together by the time they're adults.

The poison specialist sighed, "we'll fix Goldenrod together,"

"We will," Whitney chorused.

Silence followed and Virah silently got out of the bathroom stall to check on herself on the restroom mirror outside, she went near the faucet, turned it on, and splashed cold water on her face.

'Idiot.' She internally told herself, why she decided to tell Whitney any of that was… not really beyond her, and she could partially understand why she would do it-

But it was still a stupid decision.

Virah wiped her face and turned to the right, there she saw Grene getting out of her own stall, the two of them nodded at each other and the martial artist neared the faucet to wash her hands.

"Earthquake." Grene suddenly said.

"What?" Virah repeated, earthquake?

"That was the reason for… that." Grene faced Whitney's stall, she shook her head, "that was why all those buildings got ruined, it was because of Earthquake."

"I figured it was something related to Ground Type moves so yeah, that makes sense," Virah nodded, "the cracks on the ground were a clear sign,"

"Did you know that unregulated Earthquake can do that?" Grene asked.

"Probably," Virah replied.

She shook her head, just now remembering that Gyms, and by extension, entire cities, had tremor regulators, whether they be dormant Pokemon or technology, underneath them to protect from such devestation.

"Or… is it because the person who did it is powerful?" Grene theorized.

"Orrrrr, maybe they had multiple Ground Types like that Kantonian Gym Leader, Gooney," Whitney cut into the conversation as she got out of her stall.

"Giovanni, but I guess yeah," Virah shot a nod at Whitney's direction, "or maybe they had multiple Ground Types," she added her own guesswork, and then some, "that or they decided to break the 6 Pokemon rule a trainer's team should possess and tossed out over a dozen of them in the same area,"

"No matter what kind of reason they had for managing to do that kind of devestation, it still means that they're powerful," Grene argued, "… are we sure about doing this? We don't even have our first badge yet,"

"Then maybe we should stop?" Whitney suggested, "how about we take a step back and not go there yet? Maybe… I don't know, we can practice our Aura by doing something else?"

"Like?" Virah asked.

"Is there an activity where Pokemon and their trainers work together?" Whitney asked.

"There's the Pokemon Triathlon," Grene tossed her own two cents.

"National Park right?" Virah asked.

Grene nodded, "yeah… maybe we can even win prizes?"

"That does sound like a good idea actually," Whitney nodded, "so do you guys wanna do it or?.."

"Yeah, I mean, if you want to?" Grene replied.

"Sure, I can do that, it'll be good to train Nitro in more than just fighting techniques," Virah said with a nod.