Elaina should have known better than to sneak up on someone with their pokemon out, especially bug-type pokemon. However, most of the people she had met so far were fairly nice to her, and they only just met recently. One face, in particular, was Josh whom she met in Mauville. It turns out that he is also Mauville's Gym Leader. Even though Gym Challenges weren't really her thing, she might indulge herself in the foreseeable future. But for the time being, her job as a Ranger was her top priority, and it was more than likely going to stay that way for a while now. "It's alright. I should have known better than to sneak up on all of you like that," Elaina said, chuckling nervously while scratching the back of her head. The Beedrill, or Queen Zing rather, seemed to want to hug Elaina as a means of Apology. Elaina wasn't known as a 'hugger', however, it really seemed like the Beedrill wanted to apologize and so, Elaina accepted the hug from the beedrill, wrapping its fore stingers around her.

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That was when Elaina finally took note of the girl's uniform, realizing it was a Ranger's uniform. "Are you a Pokemon Ranger too?" Elaina nonchalantly asked, revealing her cadet badge to the woman as a show of respect. Elaina did not know much about the other Rangers of the region and figured that this was an opportunity to at least try and bond with a fellow coworker. "I'm Elaina by the way. This here is Ansel," She started, gesturing to the Spiritomb that was next to her. His abysmal head calmly swirled while eyeing the new faces in front of them. "He may look scary, but really he's not. He's actually very well-behaved." Elaina reassured her.

+
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+ Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina accepted Shalin's compliment about how brave she was, despite the fact that it wasn't completely true. Every living creature has some sort of fear within them. To her, it was what one does with that fear that truly makes the person. "I've learned in my lifetime that if someone doesn't accept fear as their constant companion, then no one would be able to overcome it," Elaina said simply with a small smile. "The acceptance of any kind of fear is what can separate someone from others. It may be hard to accept it at first, but once you do, it gets easier," Elaina said, continuing to hold her gentle smile that was pressed against her lips. In her opinion, it was far better than just simply trying to run away from it.

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When Shalin stated that she had finished her training a few weeks ago, as well as stated that she hasn't found her specialty as of yet, Elaina immediately responded after she had finished. "Then, we actually finished around the same time it seems. I haven't been stationed anywhere in particular yet, but chances are I will be stationed in Mauville since that's where I'm living. It's hard to believe that I moved here from the Unova Region about a year ago. Just goes to show you how time flies when you make yourself busy," Elaina had said in a tone of admittance. When Shalin had asked her if her work brought her to the wetlands of the region often, Elaina quickly said, "Not very much, truth be told. In fact, I'm just out here to catch some pokemon while I have the free time on my hands," She also admitted to Shalin. In speaking of, as she had finished talking, she spotted an Oshowatt poking its head out of the bushes. She could tell just by the features of its face, which brought a smile to her face, liking that she was able to see quite a few pokemon native to her own region. She pulled a treat from her bag while bending down on one knee, offering it to the little one. It was hesitant at first, however, it decided to come out and gently snatch the treat from her hand. After munching on it for a few minutes, it was happy and gently tugged on her black trench coat, hoping that she had some more.

"I'm sorry, but that was the last one I had. However, I have plenty more back at home. Would you like to come home with me?" She had asked the oshowatt, which gave her a trill of excitement, which obviously meant 'yes.' With that, Elaina took out a Pokeball, catching the Oshowatt, and within a few seconds, the ball clicked just as it began to touch the ground.

+ Catching Oshawott!
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+ Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina could tell just from the few minutes of talking with Shalin that, Shalin had a bubbly personality. Elaina didn't mind that though. In fact, there were some things about shalin that Elaina herself admired. The two of them seemed to have a liking towards types of pokemon that were misunderstood by the masses. Elaina's ghost pokemon, and her bug-type pokemon. They just seemed to find the beauty in things that most people would consider terrifying, so they weren't completely different from one another if you truly think about it. Shalin also mentioned having a friend that was an elite ranger that resided in Mauville as well. What's more, was that she specifically called them a 'he'. "Wait ... does she know Josh?" She thought to herself, bringing a hand to the bottom area of her chin, trying to process whether the pieces fit or not. From where she stood though, it seemed like that was very much the case.

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Another thing to point out, judging from the saddles that were strapped on the back of her bug pokemon, suggested that she and Josh both shared the same fondness for racing, so it wasn't all that far-fetched to believe that they knew one another. "I would like that. Honestly, walking around has worn me out," Elaina said in a tone of admittance. Ansel also agreed, its abysmal head swirling its head violently, showing its distaste for hopping around. That was when Queen Zill made her way toward Elaina, offering to give her a ride. "Perhaps I should look into catching a bird pokemon ... it would be different, to say the least, but having a decent pokemon to fly me from place to place would be a good thing. It beats walking twenty-four-seven," Elaina thought to herself, as she hopped on the saddle of Shalin's beedrill, making sure that she made herself comfortable while also trying not to make Queen Zill uncomfortable as well. That was when she noticed a peculiar shadow, forcing her to look up. She saw what appeared to be a Skarmory flying right above them. This prompted Elaina to say to Queen Zill, "Queen Zill, would you be able to fly up to that bird pokemon? I want to catch it," Elaina said, and without further delay, the Beedrill seemed to have complied with her request. As they made their ascent, Elaina's own confirmation of the wild pokemon was correct.

[break][break]

"Don't worry about attacking it. We'll lure it back to Ansel to deal with." Elaina said to Queen Zill. Surely, Elaina that Queen Zill would be able to probably hold her own, however, Elaina would feel terrible if something bad were to happen to the beedrill if they were to make a frontal assault, so she figured that their job would be luring it back to Ansel to take out instead. Once Elaina and Queen Zill were high enough, the wild skarmory took notice of them, attempting to strike Queen Zill down, however, Queen Zill was rather fast, being able to dodge the skarmory's advances. Once Queen Zill Dodged the wild skarmory's attack, she made a beeline down for the trees below, the pressing against Elaina's face as she was diving down to the ground, her long blond hair violently whipping behind her, yet having a sense of grace about her, while not showing any fear on her facial features. She smirked when saw Ansel sitting on a rock ahead, and within a few minutes of passing him, the Spiritomb fired a powerful shadow ball at the skarmory, knocking it out of the air. Queen Zill stopped, allowing Elaina to toss a pokemon at the half-knocked-out steel bird. As she hopped off of Queen Zill, making her way to the Pokeball with the skarmory inside of it, she wondered if Shalin was doing just as good as she was.

+ Catching Skarmory!
[break][break]
+ Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina had Shalin calling, which prompted Queen Zill to meet with her master, Elaina not even having to say anything. As she descended back to the ground, however, Elaina noticed that her ears were ringing rather. It was painful, but it was slightly irritating. As Elaina hopped off of the beedrill, Shalin handed her a pair of earplugs, explaining to her that it was rather dangerous riding on a Beedrill without earplugs, which made Elaina immediately piece together why her ears were ringing. "Thanks. Now that you mention it, my ears were ringing as we were descending. I seem to be okay though. Just a mild irritation," Elaina had reassured while putting in the earplugs that had been given to her.

[break][break]

After a good adjustment here and there, Elaina removed her hands away from her ears. "Alright, now I think I can continue flying without my ears ringing," She smiled. Despite having the earplugs, she was able to hear Shalin. "You ready to do some more flying? It's actually pretty fun! The adrenaline rush is kind of amazing," Elaina had said. It was pretty obvious that it was the first time ever flying on an actual pokemon before. Normally, she'd fly by means of a flying taxi.

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+ Skipping
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+ Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]