I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Virah checked on her reflection and saw nothing out of the ordinary, she was no different than anyone who wore a set of ninja gear.

It was all red with the occasional black such as on the edges of her open vest that revealed the crimson t-shirt she wore underneath, her pants were of similar color to the shirt, it was also far from the ripped jeans Virah commonly wore.

To further hide her identity, her hair was now covered by the hood of her vest while a facemask that extended from the collar of her t-shirt covered her mouth.

Her chosen get up was the complete opposite to that of Whitney's and anyone would have a hard time recognizing the current her as Virah, the aspiring young trainer whose home got attacked by Team Rocket.

Still, despite that, Virah looked around in discomfort.

She knew that her "disguise" was reminiscent of Koga's own look and because of that, she was anxious if it'll cause the Gym Leader to pay attention to her.

She let out a sigh, deciding that she might as well go on with it, the benefits did outweigh the risks after all…

'And it's not like I actually copied everything, the colors are completely different from his,' also, going by that line of thought, who's to say that Koga would get mad at her for wearing common ninja gear?

Virah shook the anxiety out of her head and turned her gaze forward.

It took her a while, but she eventually found a building that housed other humans instead of more Pokemon.

And packs of Pokemon turning abandoned houses into their territory was oddly common here, even the species varied, ranging from the standard urban Pokemon like Grimer, Koffing, Houndors, and the like to cave dwelling ones such as Zubat.

She even found an Oddish that planted itself on bare concrete at some point, but by far, the oddest Pokemon that she's seen frolicking around her was a Magby.

An Elekid was understandable, but a Magby? Not so much.

Virah briefly wondered if the stray once had a trainer before concluding that it didn't matter.

Back to the humans, Virah neared the wrecked store front with trepidation, her careful steps weren't audible thanks to shoes but she wasn't really trying to hide herself.

It was a plan that Virah was glad to have went with when she saw the hobos inside the store turn to her in confusion, not hostility.

As expected of people in their state of living, the hobos were a strange bunch, they wearing clothes that resembled rags than anything proper, their body was as unclean as their surroundings.

"What do you want?"

Virah frowned underneath her mask, there was the hostility she didn't want to see from the people in front of her. Still, it's not like they were outright hostile to her at the moment so she glossed over the man's tone and waved.

"Hi," she started to buy herself more time to think about what to say.

She probably couldn't ask them about the situation around the area immediately, especially since they turned from confused to wary, no, that would be stupid and word of her existence would probably spread around this place in no time.

'Seriously, it's scary how fast word can get when it comes to places like these,' Virah internally mulled.

She cleared her throat, "uh, I'm just passing by,"

One by one, the hobos got up and slowly made their way out of the abandoned building.

"Passing by huh?" The man walking at the center of the group said with a sneer, "and, tell us, where exactly do you want to go around here?"

"I'm sure we can help out," the hobo on the right chimed, he opened his mouth for a smile, revealing just how many front teeth he was missing.

Virah stood her ground while eyeing the group of men, there were around five in total, none had Pokemon while hers were on her belt, ready to be deployed.

"I don't want to fight you," Virah grabbed Jet's Pokeball and raised it high, "I just want to ask something,"

The group stopped walking and eyed the spherical object in Virah's hands in barely hidden fear. The leader raised his eyebrow, "and what's that?"

"I'm curious if Team Rocket has a branch around here," Virah thought that she might as well ask them about her primary target, and unless there's a mole in the group, chances are, the hobos would also hate Team Rocket.

People rarely like the organization, whether they be poor, middle class, or rich- okay, maybe not that last one.

"They do," the man at the center, who seems to be the group's leader, nodded in confirmation.

"Thanks, that's all I needed to hear," Virah bowed in thanks before turning her back from the hobos, as she walked away, she warily kept her ears sharp, curious if they'd come and attack her.

To her surprise, nothing happened and she was able to go back into the alleyway she first came out of and head for the opposite end of it.

Now back on unfamiliar streets, Virah continued walking around, thanks to something that she assumed was adrenaline, the aching in her legs had lessened somewhat, making it possible for her to continue moving.

Her encounter with the hobos earlier was still stuck on her mind and she started thinking up multiple ways she could have done things better.

Her leaving with nothing other than something that she already knew didn't sit right with her, but hey, at least she didn't look like she wanted to ruin everything going on around here.

Or at least she hoped so.

If those hobos talked about anything other than the implied fact that she wanted to take down Team Rocket, then there's a good chance she would no longer be welcomed here.

The worst case scenario would be that every single gang would come out to hunt her head, which she didn't hope was the case.

Being buried alive under a collapsed building sounded… ugly, and that's one of the kinder fates waiting for her when the gangs get their way.

This time around, it didn't take long for Virah to find people, and, for some odd reason, these ones didn't look like they lived in one of the worst areas in Goldenrod City.

Calling the flea market in front of her crowded would be an understatement, if anything, it was closer to being described as "packed".

Virah neared the place and an array of sounds and scents assaulted her-

"FRIED MAGIKARP! THEY'RE VERY CHEAP!"

"WE HAVE BOILED EXEGGUTES HERE!"

"ANYONE WANTS TO TRY CRABBY DIPPED IN ORAN SAUCE?!"

"FRIED PIDGEY FOR SALE!"

Virah turned her head to the stall that sold fried Pidgey and hummed, she was feeling a bit peckish and a small meal before she continued her search didn't sound so bad.

The smell of oil and spice got stronger the closer Virah got to the stall and sniffing it only made her stomach yearn for more food.

"Uhm, how much is one of these?" Virah picked up a breast and showed it to the vendor.

"150 Pokedollars," came the answer.

"Really?" Virah eyed the piece of meat and frowned, "why is it so expensive?"

"So you're new here huh?.." The vendor mulled over instead of answering, the man looked Virah up and down, "what's up with your…" the man gestured vaguely at her direction, "you know..?"

"Nothing much," Virah shook her head, "I'm a specialist,"

"Poison Type?" The vendor asked to Virah's nod, "huh, you know anything about antibiotics?"

"A bit," Virah answered, "why?"

The vendor leaned forward, "just how much do you know?"

"I work with Pokemon vitamins on the side, and I also know a good amount when it comes to their medicine," Virah tried not to let her suspicion know as she explained, "it's nothing much really,"

"And… why are you here?" The vendor glossed over the latter part of her sentence like he didn't believe her.

Virah paused, deciding on whether or not she should answer the man honestly, actually no, she would be lying either way, especially when she can only answer in two different ways; that she wanted to see if there's a rocket branch around here or that she was curious about finding "opportunity".

That last one, in her opinion, wasn't an option that she would willingly pick, after all, she only thought of it after reading between the lines.

She realized that the Pidgey she was holding wasn't expensive because of demand or because the vendor wanted to scalp its price.

Nope, it was drugged.

"… I want to see if there's a rocket branch around here," Virah answered with a shrug, she then focused on the vendor, "is there one?"

"Well, that depends on how you answer my next question," the vendor leaned back, "why?"

Why?

"I… my friends and I want something from them," and it's not like she wasn't lying, save for maybe the part where her friends had the same motives as her, because they didn't.

"Something?" The vendor raised his eyebrow.

"Mhmm…" Virah nodded but otherwise said nothing more.

"Is that so?" The vendor looked around, "well, then… I can talk," the man said, "what do you want to know?"