Everything had been set up, everyone was in position, and the raid on one of Guiomar's bases was about to happen, the only thing that's needed is for Virah to make her move.
The poison specialist closed her eyes and inhaled, infiltrating the base would be hard, she knew that much already.
She stood up and started running, the Pokeballs in her hip bounced up and down with each step, the rooftop around her started to blur as she picked up speed, and when she got to the edge, she bent her legs and jumped.
Suddenly, sounds of battle erupted from the left side of the building, a sign that Whitney had started her distraction.
Virah landed on the base's roof, she shifted her body and turned her momentum into a roll.
She stood up and scanned the surroundings, like Jet said, the door was boarded shut but the vents weren't. She crawled inside the latter and got into the building.
The path before her was claustrophobic and filled with dust, it was unmaintained and the metal beneath her felt like it would break at a moment's notice.
Every movement she made caused the vents to creak and yet, not a single below her cared.
Sounds like these were a normal occurrence for the vents it seemed, and Virah thanked Ho oh for the sudden boost in luck because none of them had considered the fact that the Guiomar were cheap enough to not put Grimers in their vents to clean them nor did they think about the vents being this decrepit.
'Shows how much we don't know still I guess,' Virah thought glumly as she pushed forward, venting in the future would need to be tested by their Pokemon first, that's for sure.
Light assaulted her eyes after a while, it was accompanied by the sounds of audible panic.
Virah dusted the slits off and peeked through the gaps in the vents, the Guiomar were expectedly reacting the way they thought they would be towards Whitney's attack-
"She used Aura dumbass! It wouldn't surprise me if there's a trump card hidden in one of her three Pokeballs!" The words were followed by a slap to the back of the head, "do you have any idea how dangerous people like her are?!"
Virah looked away and resumed her crawl, she carefully did her best not to make a single sound during her pass, this was done in exchange for a bit of speed.
She checked several more slits before finding a room that barely had people in it, she sighed in relief, 'guess not every room is guarded,'
This was something that they needed to prioritize in the future.
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Virah dropped out of the vents and entered the room, she looked around the mostly empty interior, which had nothing save for two pairs of bunk beds on either side.
She grabbed Jet's Pokeball, "Jet."
"Zubat?"
Virah leaned closer, "I want you to scan the halls for anyone," she said, "then use Confusion on any other trainer besides myself and Whitney,"
"Zubat!"
"Good, I'm counting on you," Virah patted Jet's head.
The two of them did what their own tasks following that, with with Virah checking the bunk beds for any valuables and Jet guarding her as she did so.
She found nothing beyond physical cash as well as stashes of drugs and had to leave the room in disappointment, slowly, she inched her way across the halls, wondering where the gangers where at this time.
Virah didn't encounter anyone even as she checked several rooms, most of the ones here were recreational and it was just her luck to choose to come down in the same area where the gangers slept.
Most of the valuables she found were Pokedollars and the occasional weapon, though by the end, she got confident enough in her sneaking that she no longer bothered to take things slowly.
Virah went downstairs and rushed along the worn corridors, she found herself in a room where cages were kept and a single glance on the feral Pokemon inside told her all she needed to know about going in.
Not wanting to risk the Pokemon making noise once they saw her, Virah reluctantly moved on to the following room where she found stashes of weapons, crates of money, and lastly, a single evolution stone.
She didn't know what to use a Water Stone for but she nabbed it and threw it into her bag regardless, then she quickly emptied the place.
She checked the few remaining rooms and found nothing other than more money, weapons, and run of the mill Pokeballs.
Now, to ruin the building's foundations.
…
"Meowth! Sand Attack on the Raticate!" Whitney increased her Aura's output as she ran for a back alley.
Fighting three people at once had been hard, but she was thinking that it would all be worth it in the end, Virah would get out of the building safe and sound and they would demolish it and save all the trapped Pokemon within.
She heaved as she entered the alleyway, with Kitten following moments later, she released Galeforce and asked him to use Wing Attack on the oncoming ball of fire to extinguish it.
Whitney ducked and dodged a rock tossed her way, she glared at the Machop responsible before telling Kitten to use Slash on it.
A bit of back and forth happened between her and the gangers, their fighting literally went in circles and before long, she was back on the streets in front of the base.
"Well, then," Whitney heaved out a tired breath, "guess we're back where we started huh?"
"Heh, you sound exhausted, are you sure we're back to where we started? Houndour! Ember!"
"Extinguish it Pidgey!"
Whitney took a step back, Grene was on the alleyway behind her, so the risk of her being captured were quite slim, still, she wondered how Virah was doing inside and if she was safe.
She fought for a while, with the fighting soon going near the place where Grene silently waited, Whitney caught a flash of pink within the darkness and internally felt relieved, guess her friend sent Knuckle to help out when things get rough.
"Pidgey, Quick Attack! Meowth, Slash! Help out!" Whitney forced down a gag, she didn't know that Pokemon battles could be this exhausting.
A headache was slowly building up in her head and she worried that if Virah didn't come out in the next few minutes, she wouldn't be in shape to fight her Dad on the day after tomorrow.
Grene would go first, as per their plan on gaining information- 'No, focus,'
Galeforce and Kitten made their move, with the Flying Type understanding her vague commands and attacking the clearly exhausted Machop, meanwhile her Meowth intercepted the Houndours by threatening them with his presence.
Galeforce landed on the Machop head first, before quickly taking to the skies.
"Won't move away and use Wing Attack!" Whitney stopped Galeforce and made him commit, the Machop was so close to fainting! "Meowth! Slash again!"
Whitney gave the building a side glance, where was Virah?..
Before her anxious thoughts could spiral anymore than they did, the front door exploded into debris and out rushed Virah and Jet, the Zubat seemed to have used a move to break through the reinforced door and Whitney wondered if he was okay but didn't have time to ponder any longer.
"Let's run!" Virah yelled as she dashed towards Whitney.
Behind her, several gangsters emerged from the building, much like Virah, they too looked panic.
Before the pinkette could even question what was happening, she was distracted by her opponents suddenly coughing followed by Virah grabbing her hand and bolting from the building.
"W-what's happening?!" Whitney exhaustedly asked.
"I opened the cages," Virah's Aura died down, "I didn't know they went insane," her friend's voice sounded hurt, "now come on, let's go,"
They passed by the alleyway and once Virah gave the signal, Grene made her move and ordered Haley to use Brick Break on the building, demolishing it.
The three of them ran, they went in different directions but ultimately had one destination in mind.