He tried not to let Alexei's praise get to his head- tried being the keyword. Being told your flying was great by the flying themed Gym Leader?

That was an ego boost and a half.

"Thank you!" He said, grinning back at the man, tipping his straw hat at the man, before giving it a good few shakes once he noticed the tiny sand particles dripping from between the straws.

A good idea, as it turned out- things got very wet only a few seconds later, following the Leader's ominous words. With almost comedic timing, the afternoon went from sunny to downpour in the blink of an eye.

The brim of his hat now hugging his ears like a bomber hat, the youth blew some of the torrential water constantly pouring down his face as he gave the Leader a dirty look.

"Oh, your guys must think they're real funny." The youth said, brow twitching slightly, his wet clothes now hugging his frame.

Good thing he was no longer obsessed with wearing those fancy suits, seeing how often the world conspired to ruin his clothes.

"YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN!" The youth shouted playfully as the gym leader disappeared into the almost blinding downpour, squinting his eyes. After a moment, he grumpled and yanked off the goggles off his face, swinging his arm sharply to shake off the rest of sand from his hat before setting it atop his head.

"Awright." Doug said, patting Guirus. "How do we do this...?"

Annoying as the rain was, the rest of the weather was somehow even worse. Gales threatened to throw him off, which made him wonder if a: they thought he could survive a 100 feet down fall, in which case he would have been flattered but they were wrong, and b: how was he supposed to find a man he couldn't see, hear, smell or touch?

Lightning clapped in the distance, illuminating the otherwise dark downpour and showing him a distinctly contrasting, shadowed silhouette in the distance.

Oh, that's how. Thank you, random thunder user!

"Awright, saw 'em for a good sec!" Said Doug as he swung the reigns towards the general direction. "Let's go, Guirus! Full speed ahead!"

---

TAG: Alexei Ivanov

Go go go go go!

The flygon zoomed through the air at high speed, spurred by his eager trainer, a beeline straight for the silhouetted gym leader.

Only to be forced to pull skyward as Doug yanked onto his reigns, a yelp leaving his throat as thunder and lightning cut through their path. Doug felt the searing heat of lightning sizzling at his darned pores, felt the static building up make his locks stand on end, and was damned near deafened as the thunder rocked the area shortly after.

Darnation, that was the closest a bolt lightning had ever come to putting the youth in the hospital- if not a shallow grave.

His heart still pumping madly in his chest, he remained still and staring wide eyed at the space were the lightning had striked before slowly forcing himself to throw his gaze elsewhere.

The rain being as heavy as it was, and the winds being as powerful as disorienting as they were, he had pretty much lost sight of the Gym Leader once again.

Goddamn it.

"Urgh... Come on, Guirus." Doug said as he pulled on the reigns, swinging the blinded Flygon around to look over the area, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed.

His hat helped ever so slightly since it kept the water off his eyes, but that was about it.

He would need more lightning to see- but that wasn't an efficient way of handling the challenge...

"Go up, Guirus!" The youth suddenly ordered, pulling up on the reigns as the Dragon heeded his command, wings flapping rapidly as it began to ascend towards the dark clouds in the sky.

---

TAG: Alexei Ivanov

Far above where he had traveled, the rain got heavier, and colder. He dealt with it, promising himself to bring a coat if there ever was a next time while hoping there didn't need to be.

"Far enough." The youth said as he weakened his pull on the reigns, Guirus slowing to a stop in the hair, flapping wings keeping them in the air as Doug looked down upon the land.

It was the oldest trick; if you needed to see, to control the entire battlefield, then take the highest point in it. No such thing in the air, but he was hoping the Gym Leader hadn't deemed it necessary to go up as well.

Lightning clapped in the distance, near, just about everywhere underneath the clouds, really- and his hopes were answered.

A silhouette was illuminated somewhere down there, and the youth's gaze zeroid into it. The lightning was gone soon after, but the youth's gaze remained narrowed and focused, trying to track the Gym Leader below.

The thunder would be the key. As someone who had once (foolishly) made some thunder and lightning to accompany rainfall himself, he knew a pokemon couldn't simply launch thunders as it pleased.

He kept his eyes and ears sharp, seeking to understand the rhythm of the pokemon's thunderstorm...

---

Several rounds of thunder had occurred when he finally made his move.

As deafening thunder rang through the air, a blur dived down like a bullet. Wings folded against its body, Doug and his Flygon used the thunder to mask the sound of the wind being cut by the fly's body, zeroing into Alexei, a new lightning clap casting a dark shadow over the Gym leader as Doug extended out his arm, his finger, as far as he could.

Just one touch...!

---

TAG: Alexei Ivanov

Doug grinned as he grasped the badge, holding it up to the (thankfully) sunny sky and watching the rays of the sun gleam off its shiny, new surface before slipping it into his sleeve with a little sleigh of hand.

"I think I'm all tapped out on growth spurts, personally." The youth in good humour, though he nodded. "But I'll try and do something 'bout everythin' else!"

He had learned a thing or two about being a gym leader from the experience- so even if it had been painful and miserable, he was glad he had taken it.

And hey- usually it was only painful and miserable for his pokemon. It did good to spread the misery around every once in a while just so he wouldn't get too callous when sending his pokemon out to battle.

"Thanks for everything, Mr. Alexei. Think I'll be glad to work with ya soon." He said with a teasing grin, unwilling to explain what he meant.

---

TAG: Alexei Ivanov