I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Virah looked down on the mouth of the ship from the deck, they were arriving to Cianwood's docks now so the chains of the hull were loosening up.

It'll fall down soon and become a bridge but before that was a few minutes of waiting.

Right now they were waiting by the stairs on the edge of the deck, there were over a dozen people surrounding them and a few hundred more waited from behind.

Down below, people were entering their cars, they were preparing to drive out the moment the hull fell and after that would come the swarms of people and Pokemon from the inside of the ship.

Virah looked on in envy as a trainer released his Pidgeot to fly off the ship all by themselves whilst a few others released Water Types and hopped down towards the cold ocean.

It was a scene that she knew she would join at some point but for now, she could only watch as fully evolved Pokemon flew or swam off with their trainers.

"Makes you wonder why they even bothered to get on the ship to begin with," Virah groaned.

"Their fliers are probably easy to tire and aren't strong enough to fly across the ocean," Grene answered to her side.

"I guess," Virah drawled, she said those words out loud, that was how exhausted she was from all the waiting.

Soon, the ship docked, the hull slammed down to become a bridge, the cars drove off, and Virah and her friends quickly went down the stairs in hopes that they wouldn't catch the rush of trainers that'll follow the vehicles.

Thankfully, the doors of the ship were small and could only let out a few trainers at the same time, allowing them to slip out of the ship free from the crowd.

"Uwaaaaaa!" Whitney stretched as they stepped onto the cobblestone path of Cianwood's docks.

From side to side, the entire thing only ran for half a dozen kilometers or so, beyond that were sandy beaches populated by colorful umbrellas.

Seeing as it was night, there were little to no trainers present and the lack of presence gave the beaches on either side an oddly ominous feel.

'It's like we're sandwiched between wastelands,' Virah thought glumfully before her eyes caught wind of the colorful umbrellas and ruined her immersion.

'Wastelands don't really have bright colors though…'

They walked along the crowded pathways in silence, though that didn't mean that they weren't occupied.

Whitney had her eyes forward, the pinkette was clearly excited about getting into the city again.

Grene was observing the warehouses to their side, curious about the Fighting Types doing labor.

And Virah kept her eyes on the skies, she compared the beautiful sight of the stars to the blue leylines within the darkness of that… place Arceus brought her to.

'I wonder what they represent?' Virah couldn't help but ask.

She considered all the things that the lines may or may not be in that darkness and she had several suspects but the one that she thought made the most sense was the lines representing Arceus, or maybe they were a cage meant to protect her from that sharp-headed Pokemon-

'Legendary.' Virah corrected herself, 'that thing was a Legendary,'

Really, calling one of those a simple "Pokemon" doesn't do them justice, Legendaries stood on such a high tier of power that they closely resemble Gods instead of Pokemon.

With that thought in mind, Virah wondered if Arceus or that sharp-headed Pokemon acted as Gods somewhere, come to think of it, were there other Regions besides Kanto and Johto?

Most likely, it's not like the entire world consisted of only what she knew of.

Virah's thoughts were as incoherent as they originally started by the time they entered Cianwood, though they did stop after she went into the city itself.

Unlike the towering megascapes of Goldenrod, the buildings in Cianwood were humble, they were still tall sure, but not to the height of the ones back in Goldenrod, the architecture was just as flat and efficient though.

Everything didn't have a personal touch to them and each building was just a copy pasted version of the one before; grey, flat concrete walls with windows in between them were the standard look of the architecture here.

It reminded Virah of the apartment building she's been staying in though these ones were cleaner and better maintained by a long shot.

Virah didn't know how to feel about it but if she were to be honest, then she'd say that the Pokemon League was being unfair with the people back in her apartment.

'Why they didn't fix up the slums is a good question too,' maybe it was because of logistics and costs, Virah wasn't sure.

Just like Grene and Whitney, Virah kept her silence and only observed things that they passed by, none of them talked for a while now, and not even passing a cute looking Ampharos got one of them to speak up.

They soon managed to reach the Pokemon center and upon entering, they quickly noticed that it was packed.

"Trainer rush," Virah spoke up, breaking their silent streak, "the rooms are probably full,"

"Should we go to another center then?" Whitney faced her.

The poison specialist shook her head, "not until we confirm it's actually full," Virah jerked her head towards the nurse joy, "come on, let's ask first,"

"Hm..?" The nurse joy pressed tapped her chin while looking up, "I think we still have a few more rooms," she answered, "hold on let me check- yep, we do,"

The caretaker looked away from the computer and back at them, "the stay is free but remember, we charge food and other expenses such as healing,"

"Got it!" Whitney replied excitedly, the pinkette unlocked her Pokeballs from her belt and offered them to the nurse, "please take good care of my team,"

"Mine too," Grene did the same.

"Please take good care of them," Virah handed her Pokeball with a smile.

"I sure will!" The nurse returned each of their friendly gesture as she took the spheres and placed them on a tray, "sleep well,"

"Thank-" Whitney yawned, "- you!"

They made their way out of the lobby and into the hallway that led to the eastern wing of the building, they walked for a bit before Whitney turned to Virah.

"I thought you'd take care of them yourself honestly," the pinkette said.

"The center has more tools than me, and the nurses here are also better and more experienced," Virah answered, "it's only fair that I get my Pokemon better treatment,"

"Mhmm." Grene nodded, "there's nothing wrong with letting them stay with a Pokemon center either,"

"Pretty much," Virah shrugged, "and besides, if Pokemon centers were bad at their jobs then we wouldn't be going here in the first place,"

"Yeah, I guess," Whitney conceded.

They walked until they got to the empty rooms and one by one, they picked the ones that were still available.

"We're lucky these things are side by side," Whitney commented as she swiped her trainer card on the scanner, "otherwise we'd have trouble searching for each other tomorrow,"

"I think so too," Virah smiled at her friend as the scanner on her side turned green, she twisted the handle and pushed the door open, "I think I want to rest now but… I don't really feel tired,"

Grene stopped halfway through the door and looked between her friends, her eyes settled on Virah, "what are you saying?"

"I want to go out and experience Cianwood," Virah reluctantly replied, "but if you guys don't want to-"

"Nope, I want to go," Whitney grinned, "I think it's great that we're hanging out on the first night of our actual journey,"

"Me too, I feel the same way," Grene agreed, "on both those things,"

Virah sighed in relief, "then we should go out then,"

"Mhmm! Let me just change first!" Whitney lifted her shirt and sniffed it, "I don't think I want to smell salty while walking out on the streets,"

"I'll do that too," Virah shook her head, "I think we all do,"

The poison specialist looked at Grene and she nodded.

"Yes, we should do that," the martial artist replied.