Elaina had only recently caught a wild flying type, a skarmory, with Shalin about a week ago. She had constantly thought about taking the time to try and learn, which she had confided in Josh a few days ago. Then, he told him that he would be holding not just flying lessons, but riding lessons for land pokemon as well. He told her that normally people pay for such a thing, however, he made an exception for her. It wasn’t like she couldn’t afford the classes though. She had plenty of money stored away in her savings account, no thanks to her father, who was the one that provided it for her. Truth be told, she had no idea what she would do with the money, so despite Josh’s offer, she paid him anyway, seeing that he should get something out of it as well.

[break][break]

She had only ridden on a flying type once, being Shalin’s beedrill. That was how she was even able to catch the skarmory in the first place. If it weren’t for Shalin, the chances of Elaina being a part of Josh’s class would have been rather unlikely. Not only that, but she had also caught an Oshawott the same day as well and once it evolved into a Samurott, that would as good as any land pokemon to ride as well, and since it was also a water type, she could ride on it’s back while it was swimming, which provided her more than what she’d probably be learning today.

[break][break]

According to Josh, he had told her that there would be several other students alongside her, ready to learn, which kept in mind. She quickly made her way over to Josh’s Gym, noticing him right away. There were also five other pokemon of his aside from the jolteon he was riding on. Elaina as well as the other students who had arrived for the lesson stood in attendance awaiting Josh’s instructions on where to begin. She had given him a wave of her land, signaling that she was here while trying to not make a whole scene out of it. After all, she wasn’t the only student here.

+
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina decided to not answer the question since she didn't attend the class that Josh spoke of. Instead, she let someone else answer. However, with that being said, she did have a question of her own that perhaps Josh would be able to answer. With the experience she had with Shalin Nariya's Beedrill the other day, she had come to learn the hard way that she'd need protective gear, mainly earplugs, to continue riding her. She wondered if that was the case for all kinds of flying pokemon?

[break][break]

Once someone had finished asking their question, Elaina waited before she decided to speak up. "Excuse me, but I have a question," Deciding to be professional, not wanting to call Josh on a first-name basis. "The other day, I rode on a beedrill who belonged to a Ranger, like me. At first, I didn't know I needed to, but I came to learn that I needed earplugs when riding the beedrill. I was just wondering if that would be the same for all other flying-type pokemon in terms of riding them, or just bug-type pokemon?"

[break][break]

+ apologies if this is a tad short x.x
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina listened to Josh's answer carefully, having no need to physically jot it down. A part of her was relieved that she wouldn't have to wear any earplugs when she was good and ready to ride her newly caught skarmory. It was later that Josh said that he wanted to give some advanced pointers for riding land pokemon, so with that, everyone got out their own land pokemon. As for Elaina, though, she did not have one, which prompted Josh to pull out a few of his own. There were also two other people attending the lesson that also didn't have their pokemon to ride.

[break][break]

Elaina took a minute to see which one would probably best suit her. "I feel like riding the Pyroar would be a bit too much for a first-timer like me." she thought to herself. That only left the Umbreon and the Luxray, and Elaina looked at the two of them before making her choice. Luxrays were known to be very fast pokemon, but something told Elaina that Josh's Luxray would be a perfect fit for her to ride. "If you don't mind, I'll go ahead and ride your Luxray," Elaina said to Josh. Before, letting the others freely try out the course for themselves, he demonstrated with his Jolteon.

[break][break]

As she had watched, it was clear to her that Josh was rather good at racing. "If I ever challenge his gym in the future, it'd probably a good idea to just battle him. I doubt I'd ever win a race against him," Elaina thought to herself. It wasn't that she wasn't confident that she could become good at racing, but it was rather a tremendous difference in skill. Although, she figured that he was also not a pushover in terms of battling either.

+
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina saw the crash, which made her grimace. However, from the looks of things, they weren't injured, just shaken up. "I can see now why it's important to keep in mind what Josh has been teaching his students. Hopefully, I'll keep that in mind," She thought to herself. It was then that Josh's Luxray nuzzled against Elaina, prompting her to pet the electric cat. Since it was about time for her to give it a go, she proceeded to hop on Blitz's back, while also having her helmet on already. She smiled at Josh's compliment.

[break][break]

"Understood," She said with a nod and then after a few minutes, Blitz took off with Elaina ready. The turns at first weren't all that bad, however, as she progressed further down the course, they became slightly more difficult. Josh's advice echoed in her head, instinctively making her lean in as she pulled for the tight turns. She also made sure to only pull only what she needed so as to not cause discomfort for Blitz while doing so. They weren't as good as how Josh made his tight turns, but they were at least passable. When she and Blitz reached the end of the course, Blitz the Luxray slowed down for Elaina. As Josh was coming over, she took off her helmet, fixing her hair, and said to him, "I see what you mean by the tight turns. I think Blitz knew that it was my first time ever riding too, so we worked together when the turns got a bit harder," She said, petting Blitz as soon as she hopped off his back, thanking the Luxray.

[break][break]

"So, what's next?" she asked, putting her helmet back on. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she'd need it, but with flying being the next likely lesson, it'd probably be best to still wear some sort of protective gear.

+
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"Well, at least for Land pokemon. I've never ridden on one until," She stated to Josh. She was just a quick learner, she figured. She had always been intuitive when it came to learning anything new, even when learning on the fly. "Really? I had no idea that Luxrays weren't considered beginner friendly. Then again, It could also be because the two of them seemed to get along fairly easily. Am I right, Blitz?" She said, petting the Luxray.

[break][break]

After the two of them finished speaking to one another, Josh huddled everyone up once again for the next part of the lesson. Flying. Despite Elaina already having a slight bit of knowledge of flying, she was sure that the rest of the people taking on these lessons knew a fair bit more than she did, as they had also taken part in Josh's other classes. What's more was that she wasn't technically riding a typical flying pokemon, as pointed out earlier. When the others pulled out their own flying pokemon, Elaina was debating on whether to call out her Skarmory. Sure, it was obviously capable of flying, however, she didn't know just yet how well they'd be around other people. Instead, she put the Pokeball back on her belt and decided that she would once again rely on Josh's flying pokemon.

[break][break]

"Not to change the subject, but what do you mean by a pokemon's 'roll' and 'pitch'?" She questioned shortly after one of the students answered. She was unfamiliar with the two terms, and despite someone already answering the question, she still didn't quite understand. "Maybe I should start taking Josh's lessons more often," She thought to herself.

+
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Not really,” Elaina shrugged, trying to remember. However, nothing really came to mind in that aspect. “I guess in the heat of the moment I kind of just phased it out,” Elaina had admitted nonchalantly. To be honest, that's just how she always was. Whenever she was doing something hands-on oriented, she kind of tuned out everything and focuses on what she deemed really important and at the time, what she was focused on was making sure she was steering Blitz properly. And from what she could tell, Blitz seemed to enjoy having Elaina be their rider.

[break][break]

After that, Josh’s Togekiss had a very …. Peculiar staring contest with Elaina. It was then that the Togekiss appeared as if he wanted her to ride on him. However, despite the fact that Elaina wasn’t falling for its tricks, as well as having just been told about its tendencies from Josh himself, she still didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter. "I think this Togekiss will come to learn not all that innocent,” Elaina had said to herself mentally. She had fought, disarmed, and broken fully-grown men’s bones either because they touched in a bad way, or because they were bad themselves. In fact, a part of her kinda enjoyed inflicting pain on guys like that. It was a for-sure way to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget.

[break][break]

“Ah, okay. I think I understand now,” Elaina nodded while getting herself ready. “Also, I’ll take a ride on your Togekiss. Don’t wanna pry you away from your Charizard or anything,” Elaina had said, basically telling Josh, despite her lack of skills in flying, that was certain she would be able to handle herself just fine. Shalin’s Beedrill may not be as fast as a Togekiss, however, it was still fast enough, and since she had flown Queen Zing herself, she was certain that she’d be able to fly on Josh’s Togekiss.

+
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

As Elaina hopped on Josh’s Togekiss, positioning herself comfortably on the pokemon, as well as making sure Mastema was also comfortable with her sitting on top of him. She smiled at Josh’s kind words, showing a form of modesty. “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. But I do appreciate the compliment,” she said, smiling at her second-in-command. “I’d like that. If you aren’t busy later, send me an email and read it through,” she said. Elaina liked the thought of being able to do assignments with Josh. After all, she had not done any missions with any of the Rangers here yet, so it’d definitely be nice to do so. She considered all of the rangers here in Mauville to be her teammates already, not having done any actual work with them yet. She had grown to set this example from not only her father but her mother, which made things run smoothly with their job, in her opinion.

[break][break]

Before she had taken flight though, Josh said that he would demonstrate what a roll was, which was a really good idea. Any kind of hands-on learning experience was something Elaina liked a lot. It’d give her a general idea as to how to steer while in the air, which will make things easier, not only easier for her, but for Mastema as well. As josh ascended into the air; performing a left roll, Elaina put her right hand over her eyes, so that way the sunlight wouldn’t obscure most of what she needed to see. Elaina noticed that Josh was coaxing the left as well as his right rolls rather than forcing them, which was something that Elaina had naturally done while riding Blitz earlier. She also noticed that the movements Josh was making as he steered were more fluid than when riding on his Jolteon, which was also something that Elaina had kept in mind of as well.

[break][break]

The same fluid motions were also more gentle when he had begun his pitch as well, while also noticing that it had given Ares the opportunity to flap its wings harder to maintain its own flight. “If I can all of that in mind while flying Mastema, I’m sure that it’ll be perfect for the both of us,” She thought to herself. What’s more, was that she had kept in mind that Togekiss’s aren’t regular fliers weather. They Levitate in the air, which makes them a lot faster than a flying pokemon that has to rely on the actual strength of their wings as Ares does.

[break][break]

Once Josh had descended back down to the ground with Ares, It was now her turn. “Alright, Mastema. Let's get going,” Elaina had said, and with that, the Mastema quickly ascended into the air, slightly faster than Ares did. This in turn made Elaina aware that she needed to perform a roll, while also imitating Josh’s movements that she had witnessed earlier. She could tell that Mastema had really wanted to use Extreme Speed badly, however, orders were orders, and didn’t want to upset his master. Instead, it complied with Elaina's swift, yet fluid movements in order for the Togekiss to steer properly.

[break][break]

As Elaina was up in the air, performing the simple tasks she saw Josh perform earlier, was breathtakingly amazing. It definitely reminded her of when she flew Queen Zing out in the Marshlands. After a good ten minutes of putting in the practice of her own, She and Mastema had finally descended back to the ground a short yet reasonable distance away from where Josh was. “That was a lot of fun,” Elaina had said to him, having yet another smile on her face. She quickly hopped off Mastema, thanking him and Josh both for the learning experience; sharing their knowledge before making her leave with the rest of the other students who participated in today’s class. "Don't forget to email me when you can!" she called to Josh as she walked away, waving them a 'goodbye'.

+ This seems like a good place to end ^^ you can make a quick exit and submit this to mod reqs! <3
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]