Was she a fan of crazy rides? Not necessarily. Like with most things, Shizue was mostly indifferent to it. But that one carrier was using poison Pokemon in an unusual fashion. That was something of at least mild interest. Not too much, though. When she strode onto the airfield, wearing that white flight suit under her lab coat, she did not seem too enthused. But with long, flowing green hair she probably stood out enough to be quickly noticed by the one she sought out either way.

Who, incidentally, had a similar hair colour, though a less vibrant shade. The text had told her to look out for green though, which was evidently not wrong to begin with. “A good day to you. I take it you are my ride today?” As per usual, she kept things amicable, with a hint of a smile, but mostly short and to the point. This wasn’t the darkest day where her mind and mouth went into overdrive. This was a stranger. So, she did what she always did. Make short comments, only mention what seemed to be important. And add some random pleasantries since that was what people wanted. Shizue was good enough to pick up on social cues like that, at least.

Shalin was pleasantly surprised to see that like herself, her client was a greenhead. "Shizue, correct?" she asked to confirm. "Shalin, wildest rider this side of Hoenn!" she continued, introducing herself with her tacky but obviously true title. After all, near her was a saddled Beedrill. Perhaps the only one in the world. Who else would have one that was strong enough to carry a human, be docile enough to not sting them in the process, and be brave enough to want to jump on?

Queen Zing flung her foreleg stings to the sides, and if Shizue allowed it, would embrace her. Regardless, she would crawl next to the young woman. "Flit and Queen Zing here are both reliable! They may look a bit intimidating, but you'll be in good hands with them both. Either one works for me." Queen Zing's compound eyes flashed red a few times; she clearly wanted to give the guest a flight she wouldn't forget. "Either way, though, you'll want these," she handed Shizu her backup set of earplugs. "You'll want these in before we take off."

Regardless of which giant bug Shizue picked, Shalin would choose the other. Once the two were aboard, the Pokémon her partner picked would start buzzing its wings, letting the guest get used to the tingling that came with flying on a bug-type before they got into the air.

Shizue Murasaki

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Flit          Yanmega        Good
Queen Zing    Beedrill       Good
Sandy         Flygon         Good
Zuh           Pidgeot        Good

{WC: 231}
{PC: 2}

Immediately going for the first name, huh? What a brazen young lass she had for her transport this time. Then again, people outside of Johto were usually quite quick on the draw when it came to these sorts of things. They knew no shame. At least not in the way that a lot of the mostly older people of her home region did that she’d studied under. But over here in Hoenn, people were more to the point and quick on the draw. Which she kind of liked, even though it still felt weird. Shizue was not exactly a woman of many words, after all. “Yes, that is me. Though I don’t know this side of Hoenn enough to make much of that title.”

That was her poor idea of a joke, delivered with a light smile. Probably did not come across all that well. Didn’t need to. They had business to take care of. Following the other’s gestures and words, she took a look at the rides. Shizue was neither intimidated, nor seemed too worried. She handled poisonous Pokemon like the Beedrill on a daily basis. And this woman evidently would not have even a semi-reputable business, were it not safe. Hence, she assumed that it was fine until proven otherwise.

Due to her natural affinity for poison though, she quickly moved towards the Beedrill. “I shall stake my life on their reliability one way or another,” she replied while studying the creature, then took the earplugs with but a nod. Those seemed sensible enough, so she would put them in once the noise level got a bit higher.

Shalin laughed upon hearing Shizue's remark. "Oh, Queen Zing here is a sweet one," she answered as the two insects let their passengers aboard. She put her earplugs in and gave her guest a thumbs-up as the Beedrill warmed up her wings. Flit started getting his up to speed too, Shalin's skin tingling.

The sound of a whirlwind was quickly drowned out by a loud droning noise as the bugs' wings flapped faster and faster. Despite how many times she had taken off like this before, the rush that was about to come never got old. Flit and Queen Zing buzzed their giant wings with full force briefly, just long enough to get airborne. The throbbing feeling beneath her was almost alien. Once they were in the air, though, it was a much more smooth flight!

The first leg of the journey was smooth flying; Shalin even showed Shizue how to perform some maneuvers with the Beedrill, such as getting her to swerve by stopping only one of her wings. Of course, whether she wanted to put that into practice was up to her. As the Rusturf Mountains loomed to the east, she took one hand off Flit's reins, turned toward Shizue, and started raising her arm repeatedly. Those mountains were coming up fast - both of them needed to climb, and quickly!

Shizue Murasaki

{WC: 222}
{PC: 3}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Flit          Yanmega        Good
Queen Zing    Beedrill       Good
Sandy         Flygon         Good
Zuh           Pidgeot        Good

The other said something, but Shizue had to mostly intuit what it was about. Probably a joke or something, so she responded with a light smile. That was the appropriate social cue, she mostly guessed, since those ear plugs made it difficult to hear the reply. Which kind of was the point, after all. Shizue did not bother to reply in kind due to that. Not like the other would be able to hear it, anyway.

Instead, she focused onto getting into the harness proper, setting up for the ride. It felt reasonably sturdy, though she figured that since insects where a lot more hollow in structure than humans, that only was because she was light herself. However, the Pokemon did not seem in pain or anything, so this should work. Shizue took a deep breath, nodded, and then waited for the handler to set things in motion. It was easy enough to disassociate herself from the matter mostly and trust the handler. She had to hold on tightly on lift-off, but she soon got used to the unorthodox method enough to simply accept it as is.

Though, admittedly, she had to be careful to let that apparent throbbing beneath her get to her, of course. Shizue watched the other have some fun flying, but thankfully, her own ride was not involved at all. This one was rather steady, which was appreciated. In fact, she all but got lulled into the life of a passenger, but then she noticed the other giving a signal to rise. Shizu was not quite certain if she had to tell her mount what to do. This wasn’t a plane, after all. It would not stupidly fly into the mountainside. Still, she observed the other and mimicked her motions, just in case that was necessary.

With Shizue's hesitancy apparent, Queen Zing temporarily wrenched control away from her guest rider, tilted her wings parallel to the ground, and started vibrating them at full thrust, just like Flit's were. This was the precise reason why minimum thrust was so important for insect takeoffs; had this taken place on the ground, the throbbing could easily have been painful for the riders. Even in the air, the Beedrill's body may have rattled a bit uncomfortably strong for Shizue. Shalin looked like she was having the time of her life, though!

The ride became much more smooth when the two had risen a few hundred feet above the lesser Rusturf Mountain Range. The two could see for tens of miles; Verdanturf, Mauville, and even a little of Slateport were visible in the far distance to the pilots' right. By the time they leveled out, the two felt almost no turbulence at all! Shalin turned to watch Flit's wings churning, mesmerized every time. It was incredible how she could be sitting mere feet from wings beating invisibly fast, yet not get a single bit of throbbing feedback from them!

Seeing the entirely of a mountain river that wound for miles was a testament to just the altitude they were at. Most of it was needed to be able to fly alongside mountain peaks. Mount Chimney loomed into view, but so did some rugged peaks that the two bug riders would have to guide their Pokémon around!

Shizue Murasaki

{WC: 246}
{PC: 4}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Flit          Yanmega        Good
Queen Zing    Beedrill       Good
Sandy         Flygon         Good
Zuh           Pidgeot        Good

Ah. So the Pokemon acted on its own. That was what she had expected, of course. But it was always nice to get confirmation anyway. It was a bit of a rattly, oddly vibrating ride still, now even moreso. But it certainly was not bad or uncomfortable. Just a bit weird was all. Shizue was not quite sold on this being a better kind of ride than the usual faire of flying types. It was not exactly much worse or anything. Maybe it was just because this woman seemed to emphasize ‘fun’ and to make it an ‘experience’ – Shizue might have been reading into this a bit much, granted – but it was not exactly her style.

It probably was due to her being someone more interested in the comforts of travel that she did not get much into it. Beyond the natural mental note-taking about the aerodynamic capabilities of a poison type she had thought to had already learned most about. That was nice. Plus, travel was getting more smoothly by now, allowing her to handle the ridges somewhat better. Still, she would have preferred to just be guided through this without effort. Yet, that was just Shizue. She was not the most excitable person to begin with, after all.

Queen Zing wasn't completely acting on her own, but she was not afraid to take control away from her rider to avoid a dangerous situation, like she just did. The abrupt maneuver led Shalin to believe one of two things: Shizue was as much of a thrill seeker as she was, or she wasn't paying attention. Given how still the two were, it was more likely the latter. "Flit, let's fly in front of them!" Shalin commanded, lurching back in the insect's saddle from the sudden movement of her Yanmega darting ahead.

The two bug-types had more than enough maneuverability to fly around the peaks. The complications arose in the limits of the Pokémon themselves. As the two gained altitude, they had to beat their wings faster to maintain enough lift to fly. Many of the peaks in their way were above their comfortable altitude limit, meaning Shalin had to find a path through the maze of crags, boulders, and other rock formations littering the range.

On the other side of the ridges was their destination: Lavaridge Town. With Flit's ability to hover, making a straight-in landing approach would not be an issue. It was, however, an issue for the Beedrill. Queen Zing's hovering ability was not nearly as refined as Flit's. The young woman signaled for a right turn. The two would fly to the desert's edge before pulling a U-turn and attempting to touch down around the town's east gate.

Shizue Murasaki

{PC: 5}

NAME           SPECIES         STATUS
Flit           Yanmega         Good
Queen Zing     Beedrill        Good
Sandy          Flygon          Good
Zuh            Pidgeot         Good

Ah, her guide returned. That probably meant more direct control was needed. Honestly, that was a bit of a relief. Shizue was not exactly a pilot looking to prove herself and still mostly believed that the other Pokemon was not under her orders, so she was perfectly fine with them flying more closely alongside one another.

Plus, that made it easier to copy the other’s actions once more. Shizu was a chemist, not a physicist, but she was acquainted at the very least with the fundamentals. Only there was a big difference between doing the calculations and zipping through mountains at high speeds. Here, she rather trusted the instincts and experience of a rider than the theories of a scientist.
It did go remarkably well. No one died, which was always a plus. But they could also see their destination within a reasonable amount of time. Likely, it felt a lot quicker since she was involved in matters like this, but still. A pleasant surprise.

With alert eyes, she followed the signals and tried to steer her ride that way as well. Utterly focused on the task due to its potentially dangerous nature, she seemed to once more be unnaturally still aside from the required actions. But that just how she acted in such situations. Like an Ekans, people said sometimes.


Shalin Nariya

Following the green-haired explorer's lead, the two were able to successfully land outside the east gate of Lavaridge Town, earning a few quizzical stares from residents that happened to be in the area. She was used to it. After all, who would willingly fly on a giant bug Pokémon, let alone one as aggressive and dangerous as a stinging Queen Beedrill?

Even after the buzzing stopped and her two Pokémon relaxed their weary wings, Shalin held out a hand. "Give it a few to regain feeling in your legs first. Not unless you want to roll your ankle on the way down and only feel it later." She had made that mistake once with the Beedrill already. Once the two were comfortable enough to slide off and land on their own two feet again, she would recall her loyal companions. "We made it! I hear Lavaridge has some of the best Alto Maren cuisine in Hoenn. I'm gonna take a look around. Great meeting you, Shizue! Hope we see each other again!"

Shizue Murasaki

{WC: 174}
{PC: 6}

NAME           SPECIES         STATUS
Flit           Yanmega         Good
Queen Zing     Beedrill        Good
Sandy          Flygon          Good
Zuh            Pidgeot         Good

The quizzical gazes did not bother her. They rarely did when she did odd things, so that would not change now. Plus, she failed to see what was even worthy of questioning about all this. They had used somewhat unconventional rides, but that should not cause anyone to bat an eye these days, really. People used all kinds of Pokemon for their riding. This was a bit out there, but not massively so.

Plus, that woman helped her get down at least. She took the hand. “The advice is appreciated.” It really was. Shizue was terrible at reading her own body, and thus taking care of it. Hence, she mostly waited until the other was ready to depart before doing the selfsame. “And don’t worry, I have been here a few times. Admittedly not this way. But I already know where to dine.”

Naturally, she did not quite get that this was not exactly the best thing to say, but it was just what came to mind. Plus, it was true. And the truth had its own value. She bowed once more and took her leave, believing her goodbye to be a pleasant one.