someone was waiting for her. seeing as it was her first day, that wasn't a surprise. the surprise came when parvati recognized the face she was seeing - a member of the elite four? he looked young but parvati bypassed that and went straight to intimidating.

once, her younger brother ranjan had entertained the thought of becoming a full-time trainer with the league, but the pressure from mom and dad put him off of it. parvati could recall a few months of obsessive magazine collecting; the latest issue of the HNN mentioned one matias silph being promoted in to those ranks.

"cadet atiyeh, reporting in." she said on cue.
while her superior made a far better introduction, she berated herself interally for how ridiculous she sounded.

"ah, thank you -- captain. i'm glad to be here." her skin was humming with nervous energy, but she kept herself composed despite feeling absolutely out-of-place, as one often did in new places.

when he begins to walk she quickly moves to follow, finding a pace alongside him. while he might be privy to her full background, she doesn't see a dossier in his hands. the question itself is innocuous.

"yes." she doesn't look around much as they walk together, eyes front, and with a rigid gait that proves she's a new recruit should anyone spot them together.

"here, actually. my parents moved to lilycove just before i was born."

after exiting the building, they stopped side by side. parvati knew what to expect to some degree - although she had anticipated meeting other cadets, she wasn't the type to question things outright. besides, the captain had explained himself adequately enough.

she gave a quick look around and stepped away from him, at which point she dropped to do the push-ups. it didn't take her long; she was lightly winded in the end. the sit-ups were next - and as she repositioned herself, parvati felt the flutter of anxiety again. she waited for the cue to start, expecting to be timed, and began when necessary.

"you're not from hoenn, so -- where?"

she tried to speak between movements. as if that would make the laborious nature of this test pass any faster.

saffron city. it had been in the news but parvati didn't keep up with that stuff. too busy figuring out the rest of her life.

she got to her feet and stretched, feeling her lower back pop.

her height had always worried her mother; she rivaled her brothers and soon outgrew them. on one hand her lankiness was unbecoming - but if she wanted to use those long legs, she could blast past competition.

not that this was a race. her confidence visibly boosted when she prepared to start the run, and soon she was jogging alongside the captain - conversation cut short as she measured each breath.

running lent the girl a sense of freedom. it was one of the few things she had excelled at in middle school, when she'd started her growth spurt, and then triumphed with in her final school years. the local track team was sad to lose her; though, parvati had always had her eye on a military career, so it wasn't a huge surprise.

the pace increased; she kept up, soon smiling through the familiar burn in her lungs. when a sharp green silhouette appeared behind the captain however, parvati lost a step. she hadn't expected the arrival of a pokemon (especially one like virizion!).

the distance between herself and the captain had lengthened. parvati steadied herself and did her best to ignore the presence of the creature (which wasn't all that successful), and managed to find her stride again.

at some point the run stopped being about proving herself to her captain. she stopped worrying about keeping up, because she was keeping up, and soon enough the finish line would be crossing beneath her feet; it wasn't demarcated anywhere that she could see, but the captain called over his shoulder and that clued her in.

after reaching the required distance she went a little further, just at a staggered pace. her legs were aching in a good way and she knew not to stop abruptly, or the muscles would tense and strain, which wasn't a great feeling. parvati was, essentially, prancing around until the last of her energy depleted.

"that was -- fun --" she said between gasps.

looking from the captain to the green deer and back, parvati remembered that they weren't finished. she had almost entirely forgotten about the last thing on the itinerary. with a quick breath in through the nose the cadet stood properly at attention.

"i -- should mention, sir, that... i haven't had much experience with pokemon." what a thing to admit out loud. parvati wasn't ashamed by this at all. "i have a small team, but most of them were inherited. i don't know if that will change anything."

regardless, parvati was determined to figure this out and succeed.

she quickly shakes her head.
"no issue."

that's what these pokemon were for - fighting the good fight, keeping the peace, or anything else she needed them to do. she knew that a few of them had been bred specifically for this work: the pawniard came from a long line of such pokemon, for example.

the rest would learn as parvati did.

"so, should we... start?"