[attr="class","angelow"]

Within the rain they are a blur. Pushed forward by AGILITY, Luna careens through the skies with a nimbleness that she cannot portray on land, weaving through thunder strikes and surfing the air currents. [break][break]

Despite the droplets colliding into tanned skin with a sharp, ice-cold sting and his lungs squeezed tight from the velocity, Angelo revels in the sensation of feeling alive. His blood and his heart singing with uncontested joy. For a moment the courier forgets he’s in the midst of a gym challenge. Racing through the storm, melding with it, all he knows. [break][break]

Frozen fingers bite into slate grey skin, holding tight as an updraft sends Luna unsteady from the turbulence. With a flash of teeth, gritted but far too ravenous to be a grimace, Angelo gives the Aerodactyl a commanding yank. Guiding her trajectory as it buffets her. [break][break]

“This way! Don’t slow down!” [break][break]

With a firm, guiding hand, Angelo pulls her upwards, following the howling air current into an Immelmann turn that sees them momentarily upside down. His breath catches in his throat every time, chest roaring with a noise in his ear that rivals the booming symphony around them. [break][break]

It’s when they right themselves and break through a dark cloud with a mighty wing strike, they’re met with the sight of Major sweeping close. Another Aerodactyl sails in the distance and Angelo knows they’ve left the artificial weather behind, even if the rain continues to fall. [break][break]

“How was that?” He calls out with a wild grin to the Gym Leader, eyes bright beneath the goggle lens as if electricity had been contained within his irises. Every atom of him charged.

Obscuring weather aside, Angelo eventually caught up to him outside the ‘contained’ storm; they were now in the actual, real-life torrential downpour getting pretty much fucking soaked to the bone.

…it was time to get the hot shower ready after this battle, apparently.

“We both nearly died out there, of course you did fantastic,” he chuckled, howling wind aside. “Now normally the next half should have a weather change, but seeing as it’s already raining—might as well keep this shit up, right?”

Oh, he was definitely going to regret this later.

“Aerial tag, catch me and you win!” he added before letting a sudden wall of Hurricane-force winds obscure them; with him taking the chance to fly deeper into the actual torrential storm thanks to a sudden burst of Agility from his Aerodactyl, Terra.

---

Part 2: Aerial tag! (1 / ?)

[attr="class","angelow"]


“You’re not too bad yourself,” comes the mischievous response that’s near lost to the howling of the elements. His impact saved by means of a roguish flash of teeth, as sharp as a thunderstrike. “Thought about turning this into your career?” [break][break]

Despite rosy skin from the lashing of cold rain, Angelo can scarcely feel the freezing combination of the storm and altitude. Adrenaline, passion, keeps him warm like a furnace resides within his chest and when Alexei drops his next task it only proves to magnify. [break][break]

“That's the spirit, Alex. Why stop for a weather change when we just got warmed up?”[break][break]

The Gym Leader didn’t need to tell him twice. [break][break]

With a sharp whistle blasted over the roaring of the wind through thumb and index finger in the corners of his mouth, Angelo’s own Aerodactyl surges. Major, despite having no part to play in the race, follows with the role of spectator. [break][break]

Mirroring her kin, Luna darts forward into the depths of the storm with an AGILITY boost. But this was no artificial downpour, its wild and natural and fierce – unpredictable and uncontrollable. Just how Angelo likes it. [break][break]

He leads Luna after Terra, keeping on his tail while blue eyes sharpen and focus, crisp like ice shards, on Alexei’s back…

His Aerodactyl was more prone to protesting, having flown in a sandstorm without trouble; and through a snowstorm with some difficulty.

It was torrential downpour that made Terra’s mood take a turn for the nasty, huffy grumbling resonating deep within his belly before he almost let out a shrieking noise had Alexei not placed both hands on the back of the Fossil Pokémon’s neck.

“Shh,” he hissed, letting the howling wind and pouring rain obscure them from view.

At this point the Rain Dance was no more; however there were actual flashes of lightning across the dark clouds—none artificially made anymore; this was the 100% real deal they were flying through.

Even the wind had taken a turn for the primal; this was no gale-force controlled blast of Hurricane-blast wind knocking them around.

Squinting through the gloom, he knew he had to keep Angelo on his toes, and then decided on a very risky maneuver—but it was one, honestly, that he’d been dying to try.

With a little urging, the Aerodactyl stomached its discontent and flew sharply upward—like a rollercoaster loop; before coming to what looked like a temporary stop in mid-air.

It was like Alexei and Terra had vanished.

However, the displacement of the wind would point the way—that the two were somewhere above Angelo and Luna now.

---

Part 2: Aerial tag! (2 / ?)

[attr="class","angelow"]

Blunt force and pure speed would not be the key to this challenge, Angelo knew. Their pokemon were on an equal playing field, of the same genetic makeup, neither technically faster than the other. [break][break]

In a battle, in a game of tag, you predict where your opponent is going to go next.[break][break]

Easier said than done as the weather threatens to drag Luna from her course, its nature wild and untamed now that it’s out of the Fortree Gym’s control. This was a far more dangerous and challenging test of skill, for all four of them in the midst of the trial. There was no guessing what the wind and rain and lightning would throw at them, locked in its looming, dark jaws. [break][break]

As Alexei guides Terra high into the sky until only a thin trail of clouds gives away their flight path, they continue onwards beneath their shadow. No deviations made. Yet. [break][break]

“Faster, Lu. We’re gonna cut them off.” He utters, determined fingers clutching her slate grey neck and eyes slicing through the clouds. [break][break]

With a growl of resolve, his fossil pokemon flaps her wings harder, sprinting forward as fast as she could. Its only when Angelo feels like they have to be in front of their rivals, he gives her a guiding tug and Luna pitches her nose upwards. Ascending straight up. [break][break]

At the height of their climb, Luna twists and rights herself in an Immelmann turn. Heading back the way that they had come from.[break][break]

If all went well, the two Aerodactyl would be heading straight for one another.

The torrential downpour made visibility almost zero; not to mention the fact that the actual howling wind was already out of his control—he was pretty sure his staff had called off the Pokémon that had summoned the rain storm earlier because the weather was already doing that for them.

And to make things even more interesting, a loud rumbling shook the sky, which made him squint through the near-zero rain that was lashing across the space.

“Terra, hang on,” he hissed, as the lightning finally flashed and illuminated the open space around them—before a flash of movement caught his attention—coming up, and fast!

The Aerodactyl let out a scream, as the shadow was ascending really quickly—

“Angelo?!” he blurted out as he realized that there was going to be an aerial collision if he didn’t do something!

With a sharp banking turn, his Aerodactyl very narrowly missed colliding with the other, and boy did that give Alexei a scare!

Terra could only let out a growl of displeasure at the other, both of them could’ve gotten knocked out of the sky—or worse!

“Hey, Angelo!” he shouted over the storm, pointing down toward the ground. “Let’s get someplace warm before we get struck by lightning!”

Because it would be very bad to get toasted alive before the end of the challenge!

Urging the Aerodactyl to fly lower, Terra skimmed the ground until he’d come close to one of the spectator sheds on the side of the open-air arena, before Alexei hopped off and gave the Aerodactyl an affectionate pat on the head.

“Sorry ‘bout that, Terra, we can’t go risking our necks out there now, can we,” he added with a chuckle as he sat down on the damp bench within said shed.

Once he’d given Angelo enough time to catch up, he then removed the goggles so he could face the other better.

“You absolute madman,” he chuckled. “Never thought you’d try to knock me clean out of the sky.”

Terra was still huffy, giving the other Aerodactyl the equivalent of a ‘stink eye’. There was a rivalry brewing there…

“And I wasn’t expecting the weather to go nuts on us, so there’s that too,” he went on, shaking as much water as he could out of his hair. Damn, he’d kill for a nice, hot shower after this.

Rummaging into the inside pocket of his jacket, he then pulled out something, but kept it palmed.

“You think even further outside the box than I do, meeting me head-on in a rain storm no less. Also, I think Terra’s established he has a rival now,” he chuckled as he gestured over to where his huffy Aerodactyl was now attempting to dry himself while giving Luna a scowly moue.

He then held out his hand, where something sparkled within for the other to take.



“Congrats, man!”