Elaina surprisingly wasn't all that tired, despite dancing her butt off at the Bemani Fest. She had just finished the Qualifiers and was told there'd be a break, which made her feel relieved. "They went fine ... I think? I think they said I was ranked as a six for a beginner?" Elaina while thinking to herself. Honestly, she had no idea if that was a good thing or not. She wished that she'd be able to have some help from Shalin Nariya , but that would be close to impossible due to the fact that she was much higher in terms of rank. When josh was talking about the Ultra Division, Elaina was kind of impressed with how much he and Shalin both knew about the game, and then there was her, who knew next to nothing. Despite that though, she was quick in terms of what she learned so far. She was definitely new to this sort of thing, but despite that, she was still having fun.

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"I realized tho that I'll need a new outfit," she said, looking at her gothic attire. There would be no way she'd be able to dance in it, and plus, it was her favorite outfit. She wasn't gonna risk it getting all sweaty and smelly. "I know this may sound a bit much, since your a guy and I'm a girl, but would be able to help me pick an outfit out?" She asked him. She knew that Josh was really experienced with this sort of thing, and since Shalin was busy at the moment, she kind of had no choice but to ask him.

+

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+ Josh Devlin

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She was relieved that Josh didn't seem to mind helping her find a new outfit. Then again, she didn't really know a whole lot of people in the Hoenn region, except for him and Shalin, so any sort of help was greatly appreciated. Besides, they were here at the mall doing the same thing. He was even checking the qualifiers, which Elaina had forgotten about already. "Crap, that's right. I'll need to check that too from time to time while we shop," She said before making their leave of the food court. They made their way to the vendor hall, where there was a plentiful selection of clothing just waiting for her to try on. She looked around, seeing what she could scrounge up. A pair of grey jogger pants, and a tank top, among a few other things.

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"Alright, I'll be back in a moment," she said to Josh, believing that she had everything she needed. She quickly headed for one of the vacant changing stalls, deciding to be quick about changing. Once she was finished, finding out whether they fit or not, she quickly took a scrunchy from her purse and neatly tied her hair in a ponytail. She then walked back out of the stall, appearing before josh in her new outfit. "So, what do you think? Does this look good?" she asked, not really sure herself. She hardly wore anything sporty, and since josh was into sports, his opinion was something that Elaina wanted, whether it was good or bad.

+

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+ Josh Devlin

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“That’s awesome, dude! Congrats,” Elaina had said when he told her about being pretty high up on the list. She knew that she herself wouldn’t make it that high up as far as the standings went, but that was okay. To her, being here was more so having fun; taking a breather from work. Despite being a recent addition to the Mauville Ranger headquarters, she had been given a lot of opportunities, working with a bunch of people whom she had just met. She had not taken on a mission with her own group yet, but she was certain that’d there would be plenty of time for her to get to know her fellow co-workers a bit more as she continued to fulfill her duties as a ranger.

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Elaina smiled when Josh complimented her own looks, essentially giving a silent yet meaningful ‘thank you’ to her second-in-command. Elaina nodded when Josh said that he would now look for as well try on a new outfit. When josh mentioned the Kyurem incident, Elaina’s heart slightly sank, remembering what she had learned about the frozen icelands out near Oldale. That was when she met illeana reyes . In fact, she was the one who told her everything. “Hey, not to dull the mood or anything, but I’m kinda curious … why didn’t you tell me about the Icelands when we first met?” she had asked him, her face being slightly more serious than before. She was sure that Josh had his reasons for not telling her about it right away, however, she was just a tad curious why he never mentioned it. If she had known about it sooner, she felt that she could have helped in that area more. Sure, it was far away from Mauville, but Elaina didn’t really care about that. She remembered that area being pretty much uninhabitable, barren. It was even a miracle that there were wild pokemon still lingering in that area. Plus, not to mention the rifts and the frozen pokemon encased Kyurem’s ice.

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+ Josh Devlin

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Elaina simply smiled when Josh had given her his thanks. Despite him being her Second-In-Command, Elaina felt that they were really great friends. What’s more, is that they had only met one another fairly recently. Something just told her that the two of them would make a really good team if they ever had an assignment together. She was glad that he was one of the very few people that she had met since her extended training ended. “Wait, really!?” Elaina said surprised, quickly pulling out her phone, and checking it herself, to see if Josh wasn’t just yanking her chain. However, when she saw her name there, she was shocked at how well she had actually done. “Wow, Shalin’s tips really had paid off. I’ll definitely do something in return for her one day,” Elaina thought, smiling as she stared back at her own results.

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When the conversation had shifted towards the Icelands however, Elaina had seen the look on her face, which admittedly she had expected. Josh, despite his own reluctance, comes to tell her the reason why he never mentioned the Icelands when they had first met. Her eyes widened slightly as Josh pulled out the broken Absolite in his hand, then hardened back into a serious expression. She didn’t like the fact that she had essentially backed Josh into a corner like that. In fact, she would understand if he had told her to mind her own business. Despite his own feelings though towards what he had lost that day, along with numerous others, he still had decided to be open about it. This had told Elaina, despite the pain that he had felt when it was brought up, he was still able to trust in her.

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Loss was something that cut deeper than any bladed weapon. Elaina knew this well. In fact, she too suffered from the loss of her own mother about a year ago. In fact, Elaina still suffers from the loss of her mother. There are still so many unanswered questions - about why and who would murder all of those people, including her? The scandal of the company she worked for involving Team Rocket. Her father, who knew more than she did, was withholding those answers from her, which resulted in them arguing, and her leaving for the Hoenn Region. That was another thing that she did not like. She didn’t like how things went down between her father, who was grieving the loss of his wife, alongside his daughter. As a means for her to make her own kind of amends, she decided that she would become a Ranger, and that was what she exactly did. She wanted to become something that her father would be proud of - what her mother would have been proud of.

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She wasn’t sure as to whether or not such accusations about her mother were true or not. In fact, she had denied them, and still does to this very day. Her mother was a kind and generous woman, and for her to believe that she was involved with a group of terrorists was outrageous… Wasn’t it? What was worse though, was that, since she had left home, she considered those answers now gone forever … and she accepted that.

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Elaina had felt the need to apologize, however, before she could, Josh had changed the subject, seeing that he himself had turned the dull mood around once again. Elaina was shocked that after seeing how he felt about the conversation, was still able to change the mood with just a tip of a hat, so to speak. Elaina immediately softened, her reaction to how Josh changed the mood so quickly, made her smile, as if washing her surprise away immediately, making it seem as if she weren’t surprised, to begin with. She simply smiled at Josh and said, “It looks good on you. I like it.” Giving her friend a genuine assessment of how the purple hoodie looked on him.

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Once the two of them finished their shopping for new attire, they decided to go ahead and check out. As they waited in line, Josh explained to Elaina how the setup for each match generally started. “That's actually good to know when I start a match. Who knows, knowing this could also play in my favor a bit,” She thought to herself. As long as their opponent decide on saving any difficult songs that Elaina knew she couldn’t do, then honestly it’d be a breeze. However, she’d have to remember that she wouldn't have to rely on that feature for the duration of the tournament. After all, if she goes up higher in rank as the beginner division progresses, the difficulty of the songs will go up too. Needless to say though, she was grateful that Josh was there to support her.

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She quickly paid for her clothes, along with Josh, then headed back toward the arcade area where the tournament was being held at. “Yep, you’re right. I should probably head to the lady’s room before the beginner’s division starts,” Elaina had said. When Josh said that he’d be watching her compete, she said to him before leaving for the lady’s room, “Thanks! You too,” she said smiling as she left for the restrooms hanging in the far corner.

+ I'll submit this for us! ^^

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+ Josh Devlin

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