Vhira hopped off of the train and down into the pristine white floors of the station. The trip from GoldenRod to Olivine had become rather quick thanks to the help of the bullet train and she thought that it may have had a small influence on Whitney's patience, who simply stayed silent for the entire ride. Her friend came off the train after her quickly followed by Lionel who looked like he was already tired from a day's worth of trips.

Theirs had just started of course, and apparently, this little break of theirs was something that had been hastily planned for today because Whitney's trip to Ilex Forest (something that Lionel didn't know about up until yesterday, where the two of them met up with each other without her,) had been delayed thanks to a few complications and even though it was only for one day, the two of them thought that maybe, they should spend some time with each other before she sets off into the forest and disappears in its depths for one month.

And so, here they were, in Olivine City, ready to explore the place and see what kind of things it offered. They, of course, had a small pamphlet at the ready so that they knew what kind of things to expect around the place and that made things a little easier time-wise.

They were told that they would have to get home by at least 10 later in the evening (something that Vhira's adopted father oddly allowed,) and even though there wasn't a time constraint thanks to them just being a city away from their homes, the fact that they were all allowed to go home so late in the evening made Vhira feel...

Exhilarated.

'should be the proper word right?'- she silently thought to herself, hoping that maybe thinking would break her away from focusing on her racing heart. She was sweating a little bit and the Johtonian heat didn't help with making things better. Of course, with the regional season being cold this time of the year elevated that by a little bit but she didn't know if it made a difference this late in the morning or not.

"so, where should we head off first?" Lionel asked the two of them and she turned to Whitney to see if the girl had any ideas.

"uhm?.. why not start off with," Whitney squinter her eyes as she paged through the pamphlet, as the pages went on, Vhira caught sight of various things that the city offered such as amusement parks, a Zoo that had nothing other than animals - a sight that she'd always wanted to see, as she's curious what kind of other animals are out there other than the cows she usually works with, - and lastly, the Beach.

"-uh, a trip to the mall sounds nice?" Whitney forced out before turning to her, "what about you Vhira? where do you want to go?" she casually passed the ball to her court and Vhira took it as an opportunity to see if they both agreed to go to the Zoo.

"why not the Zoo?"

"that sounds nice! right Lionel?" he nodded and followed after the already moving Whitney.

At 9 AM, Olivine's train station wasn't as packed as it would usually be with the people in here being none other than a few trainers that decided taking the train instead of journeying through the routes was easier for them. Well, those, and the more common working class that uses the bullet train here to get to GoldenRod so that they could get to their jobs.

She heard that Olivine has had a big problem when it comes to that recently and though the city is doing its best to remedy the problem, with Jasmine herself - the city's newly appointed Gym Leader of 15 years old, - working alongside the mayor to move things faster. From what Vhira heard, the Steel Type specialist has stated that she would do her best to take on the responsibility handed to her by her parents and from what she's learned about her, apparently she's been doing a rather good job.

'that doesn't prove her competency as a Gym Leader though right?' was always the first thing that came to her mind whenever the thought of Jasmine passed through her head. Because as someone who wanted to rear...-

Well, Vhira knew that maybe Jasmine is a pretty hard trainer to go against since the type she's working with is currently strong against one of her Pokemon- is what she wanted to say but both her conclusions that consider Jasmine as a problem eventually settles on the fact that Vhira herself is no longer sure of where she wanted to go further as a trainer.

After all, she doesn't know if she still wanted to be a Poison Type specialist with not only her picking up a Pokemon that isn't a Poison Type, but also Lionel with his Magby.

It's not like Jasmine's a problem against her current roster either, with her carrying a Nidoran that knows Double Kick as well as a Cubone, a ground type, something that's considered to be one of the few problems that can hinder the ever so hard to counter Steel Types. So, all in all, if Vhira goes from the GoldenRod Gym to Olivine, she'd have no problems getting two badges but who's to really say that what she's thinking right now is guaranteed?

The trainers that she's battled so far hadn't been what she expected back when she was Pokemon less and training a Pokemon felt rather easy as well...

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Vhira concluded that she'll cross that bridge once she gets there.

...

The Zoo was what it exactly described itself as from the Pamphlet; a place where people can see animals.

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And their first few minutes of the trip around the massive building? Field? Whatever the term for the place was- had been rather eventful with Whitney gawking at the rather weird-looking animals with odd body shapes that aren't at all streamlined. With odd bone spurs showcasing themselves in some animals, and others, being so large that Whitney thought it wasn't possible and one of these, Vhira thought, managed to look like a creature that looked like a Girafarig but instead, it was far larger and so much more taller than the Pokemon.

They were currently staying in front of the enclosure of such creatures, "it looks so odd..." she couldn't help but say and Whitney agreed with her by nodding, "I mean, why is it that big?"

She turned to Lionel who snapped out of whatever daze it was that occupied him and looked at her, "oh, that?" he said, gazing at the "Giraffe", "it... probably needed to be that tall to eat leaves from trees or something?" he quizzically answered, his words causing Vhira to get even more confused than before.

"why would it eat leaves instead of berries?" she asked him,

And in reply, Lionel pointed to a Zoo keeper to their right, who was handing out small branches with leaves on them to the other kids, "why don't you ask him?"

So Vhira did when the Zoo keeper finally reached them. "why do they eat leaves?" she asked the man as she took the branch from him, the cows back in the farm ate nothing other than feeds made from berries and the animals in front of her should be the same right?

"I guess that's just how they are," the Zoo keeper answered with a smile,

"can't they eat berries?"

"of course they can! but the Zoo figures that it's easier this way, with all the animals we have to feed and all that," he answered again.

Vhira nodded in understanding and presented the leaves to the other side of the enclosure, following the lead of some of the kids who were already feeding the Giraffes, and true enough, the animals ate the leaves in her hand with gusto. She watched in fascination as the Giraffe plucked the branch clean with one motion, its mouth biting through the entirety of the branch, just short of her hand, before pulling its head back and leaving nothing behind but a now leafless branch.

Vhira pulled her arm back, "whoa," she then looked around to see if there were any more branches but sadly, the Zoo keeper had moved elsewhere already.

"you have any more branches Lionel?" she turned to see him holding an empty branch, disappointed, she looked back towards the Giraffe enclosure and just stared as the towering animals moved from one branch holding kid to the next.

...

The trip around the Zoo had been fun, with them seeing things that aren't just, quite frankly, titanic, but also smaller animals such as those weird tropical fish that the Aquariums held. And fishes weren't even the last of it no, there were animals the size of a building just swimming around the enclosure, uncaring about the people watching it from the other side of the glass.

Whales, they were called, and they got Whitney to stare at their gigantic bulk for at least ten minutes before she went away and moved on with the rest of the Aquariums and from there, they weren't able to see anything gigantic but a starfish caught Vhira's eye, it was, apparently, unlike most of its brethren in that it had more arms that they normally would, said arms went around in a circle around its round body to allow it to move in any direction it wanted.

"that Emperor Starfish looked pretty weird huh?" she voiced out her thoughts as she took a seat, currently, they were in one of the places where the Zoo sells food for humans as well as one that didn't sell snacks but instead, full on meals that would get you going for another round at the Zoo.

She didn't feel like going around and seeing the animals for a second time if she were to be honest.

"the crabs looked more interesting I think," Lionel replied, taking the seat in front of her,

"pretty odd name, just short of a b and a y for it to be crabby," Vhira looked at Whitney and she stared back, "what? I know that it resembles the pokemon," she said, huffing, "I mean, I know that they probably named it that way because the Crab is a little bit... less than the actual Pokemon. Too." she finished with a roll of her eyes.

Vhira shook her head, "no, it's just that I... didn't mean anything by my stare," she tried to placate, and it oddly worked, with Whitney not looking like she wanted to tear Vhira down in a moment's notice, she thought that it was the situation was good enough but added another point for good measure, "I thought that you would be more interested in the Whale, to be honest,"

"and I was, it's just that compared to crabs, the star fish felt like a bit mundane,"

Vhira nodded and left the subject at that. So she was comparing the two animals in the same enclosure together? She turned to Lionel, "found animal interesting," she flashed a smile,

Lionel returned the gesture, showing off two upper fangs that were starting to sharpen, "yeah, I thought that the Otters looked interesting,"

"those things? I thought that they looked oddly close to Ferret to be honest," Vhira couldn't help but agree with Whitney,

"me too," she voiced,

"I guess? maybe that's why I thought they were interesting?"

A small smirk tugged on Whitney's lips, "so, about that thing you said to Route 34 yesterday... about familiarity and all that," Lionel crossed his arms and looked at her with an expression that told everyone on the table that he was unimpressed with what Whitney was trying to pull, if the pink haired girl looked like she noticed it, she didn't show, "are you changing your mind or is this hypocrisy?"

"you know-"

Vhira stood up abruptly, "uh, can I go?" she said, surprised by what she was doing, both Lionel and Whitney waved her off, saying that they were just playing around but she smiled, replying that, "I just want to see what we can buy from the place for our own food,"

The two of them looked at each other, then at Vhira before nodding, "sure," / "sorry about that," Whitney and Lionel said simultaneously.

Walking away, she managed to overhear Whitney calling Lionel a genius for what she did and him replying that 'how was it his fault?' Vhira smiled, she could almost see Whitney pinching him for saying that. But she didn't because she didn't want to turn around, instead, she went over to one of the canteens to see what kind of food were up for sale,

Vhira stopped to each and every shop that sold food, checking, and eventually, she managed to reach the end of the shops where they were selling fried chickens. When she was about to go back, she bumped unto a red-haired girl and the two of them looked at each other; the girl looked like she was wearing clothes way too expensive that Vhira knew even Whitney wouldn't be able to afford half of them, coupled with a bag that Vhira also knew to be something that was only considered as a high-end Silph Co. product from Kanto.

She apologized to the trainer with a light bow before moving on, and the girl did the same. As she walked, she couldn't help but feel that maybe, the girl was staring intensely behind her back.

She didn't dirty any of the girl's clothes did she?