Virah slowly opened her eyes, she sat upright and yawned, besides the blurry ceiling, the first thing to greet her was the cold blue light of dawn tinting her room's window.

She rubbed her eyes and got up, she stretched, popping away the tenseness of her joints.

Last night had been uneventful and besides talking to her friends some more after scouting Cianwood, nothing much happened.

She cleaned herself with a quick shower, afterwards she heated up the breakfast she bought from the Pokemart next door with the room's provided microwave.

With her morning routine finished, Virah proceeded to go on with the rest of her day.

Virah shook off the discomfort she was feeling in her gut and walked out of her room, she traveled the halls of the Pokemon center until she reached the counter and there, she asked the nurse if she could get her Pokemon back.

After showing the nurse her trainer I.D, she was free to leave with her team and once they were clipped to her belt, she got out of the center and headed to Chuck's gym.

From the skies, the building had a circular shape, something that was clear for Virah to see as the Fearow neared the massive building, which was unfortunately located on the other side of the city, thus her need for faster travel.

As they descended, Virah took bills from her bag as well as the "ticket" for the ride, she handed the money as well as offered the Momoo Milk to the Flying Type before sauntering off.

Looking at Chuck's gym from the ground made Virah think that it looked completely unnatural compared to the rest of the city's architecture, whereas almost all the buildings in Cianwood were towering concrete structures, the gym was a traditional, hut-esque dojo complete with a thatch roof and sharp bones jutting out of the ground near the walls.

There were four, rib-shaped bones near the door, they curved as such that their spines were directed at the pathway between them.

Virah scanned the bones as she passed them by, curious as for where they came from, she tilted her head, 'there's no Pokemon out there with ribs like these…'

Curious, she strayed from the path and touched the trunk of the bones, she quickly noticed that it was made of plastic and she frowned.

"Oh, they're fake," she murmurs before making her way to the inside of Chuck's gym.

The interior was more modern than the exterior, with only slight influences from tribalism such as the rug underneath Virah's feet as well as the martial banners with the silhouette of Pokemon etched on them on the sides of the walls.

Virah went past most of these and headed straight for the counter, "hello, I'd like to schedule a fight for Chuck please," she said to the receptionist, "I have the I.D cards of my friends so if you will-"

"Of course," the woman took them with a smile, she inserted them in her computer and a moment of silence passed as both she and Virah waited for the machine to finish scanning the I.Ds.

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Once done, the woman returned it and Virah bowed in thanks, "thank you,"

"You're welcome," smiled the woman, "your fight is scheduled to be 3 days from now,"

Virah sighed in relief, three days? That was much shorter than the wait-list for Goldenrod's, 'guess being on a city on a remote part of Johto has its benefits, everyone must have chosen to journey out of Goldenrod instead of riding to Cianwood after Warley,'

With one last thank you, Virah left the gym with light footsteps.

Now that her task was done, she was unsure of where to go, so she looked to the skies, still cast in the blue hue of the early morning sun, and thought about where she wanted to go.

'What is Cianwood good for?' She asked, 'martial arts?' She tilted her head, then it snapped straight once she had an epiphany, 'Aura.'

With renewed vigor, Virah left the vicinity of Chuck's gym to head towards the nearest bookstore and there, she scanned the ancient shelves for a book that looked just as worn as the wood it was placed atop of.

With every book that caught her interest, Virah got closer and closer to finding something that she thought might actually help her.

Soon, her fingers wrapped around the spine of a red book, she pulled it out, read the title, and quickly held the tome close to her chest.

Virah dragged the book to the counter and asked if she could buy it, "you can," the man nodded, "this is a bookstore after all,"

After purchasing the book, Virah scanned the place some more, curious if she'll find more Aura books that contained theories that she'll find useful, such as a book that shows how different types interact with one another.

The one that she just purchased contained written notes about how Aura could be used to enhance the body and if something like that exists, then it's only natural that a book that teaches the reader how to influence the physical world with Aura also exists.

'Elemental stones are the perfect example that it's possible,' Virah thought, determined to find the aforementioned book.

Virah scanned the library some more and eventually, she found what she was looking for, several of them in fact, she picked the one that made the most sense and left the others behind.

Once she made her purchases, she considered about going around and buying more of them since if there's a city that have books about Aura, then it would be Cianwood.

'Yeah, I definitely should,' Virah said to herself and with that new goal in mind, she took out a portion of the money she got from the raid on Guiomar and ran around the city buying tomes.

Her walk eventually led her to past the more populated blocks near Chuck's gym and into the scarcely lived in areas of Cianwood.

These weren't as bad as the slums back in Goldenrod but the after effects of the war were still clear to see here; the faces of the people were stressed, their stances guarded and their body language vigilant.

War wasn't supposed to reach Cianwood but soldiers go home once a war is finished and those that did often told stories, bringing with them the fear they felt in the battlefield.

Virah passed these people by, curious as for how their lives often are, and she was content on just letting them be until she saw a drug deal.

'Efrosin?' Virah asked herself as she saw a man buy packet of small pills from a hooded figure, 'Why?..'

She discreetly moved away from the deal and went on to change into her costume on a public bathroom, once she was in her gear, she got back to the streets with the intent of scanning them for the hooded figure.

It didn't take her long to find them swiftly walking away from the alleyway Virah spotted them in earlier, hands in their pockets and head low.

'You can't look anymore suspicious,' Virah glowered internally.

She moved, quickly scaling the building by jumping from wall to wall and utilizing the edges of windows for support and further lift.

Once she got to the rooftops, she silently tailed the dealer, waiting for them to enter either a place she could confront them in or better yet, their base of operations.

Nothing like that last one happened and after she saw the dealer stop in an empty spot between buildings to count his cash, Virah released Jet and went down to confront them.

"Why are you doing this? You're hurting the soldiers of Goldenrod," she scolded before she introduced herself, not that she was planning on doing it to begin with.

The figure stopped counting the bills in their hand once they heard Virah's voice, they turned and met Virah's eyes, "a ninja?"

Virah paused, she shook her head slowly- but then canceled her action in favor of nodding, "something like that," she replied, "I'm not really associated with anyone though,"

"Really?" The figure out their cash inside of their jacket's pockets, they tilted their head, causing a part of the hood to puff up more than the rest, "so you're telling me you're just a wannabe ninja?"

"Yes," Virah answered honestly, and what she got in response was a laugh.

"That's good- honesty is good-" the dealer removed their hoodie and tossed it away, she ran a hand across her purple hair, eyes closed and expression the picture of arrogance.

Virah stopped at the sight of the actual ninja, complete with a gear that looked puffy and protective, unlike Virah's, which was thin and inauthentic, fishnets dotted the girl's stomach, arms, and legs, covering them, her hands were covered by gloves, much like Virah's.

Three Pokeballs sat on her belt, they jiggled when she moved her hips.

"But let me tell you this, an actual ninja-" the girl leaped from her spot at extreme speeds, Virah raised her hand to block her kick, she winced, "wouldn't waste an element of surprise and also lie!"

"Trust me," Virah said through the pain of her arms, "I still have the element of surprise- Supersonic, Now!"