I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Chapter 38

Virah woke up to being shaken, and the first thing that her blurry eyes noticed was a tuft of pink hair obscuring most her vision.

“Whitney,” the poison specialist sighed as she pushed herself up, "what's going on?”

“It's morning!” The pinkette was clearly doing her best not to startle Virah but…

… Virah winced, if Whitney considered that a whisper, Virah dreaded what her friend thought was a powerful scream.

And, as if losing all pretense of being silent, Whitney grabbed her by the shoulders and swiftly pulled her up, “you can go and check on your Zubat now!”

Virah sighed but allowed herself to be lifted up regardless of how tired she felt or the dull ache in her head begging her to continue sleeping for just five more minutes. She rubbed her eyes as Whitney backed away from her, “what time is it?”

“Oh, you know-” glaring light washed over Virah's vision as Whitney turned on her Pokewatch and checked for the time, the pinkette laughed nervously, “uhm… around uh- 5 o clock or so,”

Upon hearing that, the poison specialist blinked and looked around the dim tent, it was dark enough that she wasn’t sure if it was really five o clock, “it's already that late?” Virah sounded dumbstruck as she felt, “did I really sleep in..?”

“You do know that waking up in 5 o clock is not sleeping in right?” Grene said to her side, her words made Virah sigh and the martial artist frowned in response, “I'm serious,”

“I know,” Virah answered with a nonchalant wave her friend’s way, “it's just that I'm used to waking up at an even earlier time so I thought that 5 o clock is just… weird?”

“Well it's not,” Grene shook her head in denial, then she perked up, “so, about your Zubat…”

Virah sighed in exasperation and unclipped the miniatiurized Pokeball on her belt, “why are you both more excited than me about this?” She commented as she expanded the Pokeball into a sphere that took over her palm, “I mean, it's not that big of a deal is it?”

“Well it is to us,” Whitney said with a nod for emphasis while urging Virah to go faster by waving her hand, “now come on! Come on! We need to see how he's doing!”

Virah raised her free hand to calm her friends down, “wait, we should do this outside,”

Whitney’s energy died down and she slowly nodded, “okay… that’s a good idea,” she let out a nervous laughter, “I don't want my tent to actually be torn apart by a rabid Zubat before my journey,”

“Exactly where I was going with that,” Virah nodded the pinkette's way and stood up with a yawn, “now come on, let's go check on my newest party member,”

All three of them filed out one by one and when Grene stepped out of the tent and made herself comfortable a few meters on Virah's right, the poison specialist popped the Pokeball and released the Pokemon she had caught yesterday.

The Zubat sat inert, most likely listening in to her so that he could “see” his new trainer, Virah has read something about how Zubats could tell the shape and features of something just from sound alone and she was sure that the one before her is no different.

She waved, “hello,” she wasn't sure just what kind of volume a Zubat needed to hear for it to be comfortable but she's sure that her voice just now wasn't loud enough to be annoying to him, “I'm sure you already know this but I'm your new trainer,”

The Zubat reacted and tilted his head upward before his neck lulled to the side, “Zubat?”

His voice was high pitched, completely similar to Nitro back when he was a Weedle though, it had a tinge of annoying-ness to it, like the squeak of a toy or maybe the sound rubber makes when it snaps.

The Zubat turned his head at Virah, waiting for a response.

And the poison specialist, not really knowing what to say, decided to clear her throat and the social atmosphere alongside it, “right, well, yeah, I… did kinda capture you yesterday out of the blue but- but I can make you strong! I can promise that!”

The Zubat paused and didn't offer a reply before slowly nodding, “Zubat,”

“Right- right- well those were the Pokemon of my friends, the Meowth belongs to Whitney-” Virah gestured to the pinkette who offered a slow wave in greeting, “while the Machop belonged to Grene,” Virah did the same to the martial artist who offered a single nod, “and the Kakuna was mine,”

“Zubat,” the Pokemon said with a tilt of his head, “Zubat.”

“Yeah- Nitro was actually pretty healthy- is healthy actually, which is why his web is so hard to escape from! You're right that it was a very hard trap to get out of,” Virah nodded in pride and confidence, “I can help you with that kind of thing too- I'm a Pokemon breeder and move tutor and also… a nutriotionalist too so I can definitely give you the right kind of diet for your species and uhm… make you as strong as him,”

“Zubat?” The Flying Type tilted his head again.

“Well… you know, diet is the kind of food you eat and being a Pokemon breeder means that I… breed Pokemon? So to say?” She really wasn't sure how she could approach the Zubat with that kind of topic but thankfully, she didn't have to as the Pokemon nodded and allowed her to continue, “and being a move tutor means that I can teach you new moves if you feel like it or if it fits with what I want you to have as a combatant,”

“Zubat.” The Pokemon replied.

“Yeah! That! I can make you learn new attacks basically,” Virah nodded in confirmation, she then fidgeted, “so… what do you say? Do you want to be my Pokemon?”

“Zu- Zubat,” the Pokemon nodded.

Virah perked up, “really?!” She schooled herself and neared the Zubat in slow, careful steps to make sure that she didn't alert it more than her shout already did, “uhm, thanks,” she whispered softly, “I promise I'll turn you into a monster of a Crobat who can fight the best of the best,”

“Zu- Zubat,” the Pokemon nodded again.

“Thanks for trusting me then,” Virah grinned before sheepishly scratching the back of her neck, “so with that being said…” she trailed off, “I need to check your health if I want to make a proper diet,”

“Zubat?” Her Pokemon tilted its head.

“It won’t hurt, no” Virah nodded.

She was already sure that the Zubat before her is a great example of its species and the physical features that it has- a body that's half the length of its wingspan, long tails that reached the length of 12 inches, 4 inch fangs, and a wingspan of 2 and a half feet - were good signs when it comes to its genetics but doing a check up on it would allow her to know its age, and then how strong it was, as well as its health.

The Zubat stayed still and allowed Virah to work, and she quickly got to checking its health as well as various other things that would allow her to know its current physiology-

“Your wings are stretchy enough so they don’t have any diseases or anything like that, overall, they’re pretty healthy, but I'm not really sure if I’m right,” she said as she finished pulling on the Pokemon’s wings, “ my inexperience with dealing with your species is starting to show but bear with me,”

Virah continued the check up, she went on to check the fangs next which, as expected, were hard enough to resist the pressure of a prong and more than sharp enough to pierce through metal.

She grinned, commenting, “huh, guess your kind really does suck the blood of Onixes and Geodudes huh?..”

“Saliva is venomous, as expected,” the poison specialist confirmed as she wiped the fluid off of her forearm, which was slowly numbing and losing its sense of touch thanks to the Zubat’s spit.

“Tail is sensetive, that’s normal,” Virah stopped holding onto her Zubat’s tail and the Pokemon stopped shuddering.

She moved on to the ears next which…

“Hm,” Virah hummed as she eyed the orifice, which was full of dirt and other wastes, “I can clean this up, and I think I have something just for this back in my bag,”

As she finished saying that, her mind went back to Ratata and she briefly wondered how he was doing, usually, she reserved the ear cleaning stuff for him but Virah knew that he wouldn’t mind sharing with Zubat- and besides, Whitney is going to be his trainer soon so she’s sure that the rodent would be spoiled in that department anyway.

‘Whitney does like her cleanliness after all.’ the poison specialist thought as she moved on to checking the Zubat’s actual body.

Which, as expected, was as healthy as the rest of himself, really, the only problem seems to be his ears which was normal, especially if he lived in a forest where spores of all kinds and dirt and dust acclimates in the air unhindered.

Virah walked backwards and nodded at her newest team member, “all in all? You’re healthy, I’ll write up a diet for you soon,” she complimented to the cry of joy of the Zubat, “and since you’re now part of the team, I’m going to give you a name,”

Virah tapped her chin and looked to the skies, “I think I’ll call… you… Jet.”

The newly named Jet mulled on his name before nodding in prideful agreement, “Zubat.”