[attr="class","header"]WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER

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The teen was pulled out of his thoughts when the gym leader came up from behind him. He turned to see the older male already in the water on top of a Dragonair. ”Wait has he been here this whole time? How did I miss that?” he asked himself. He was usually pretty observant so the fact he had missed the older male’s presence was a bit strange.
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”That’s correct,” he said upon hearing the gym leaders question. He hoped his response hadn’t come off as too formal. Having not interacted much with people outside his family for the first ten years of his life he was never to sure how he should go about interacting with people.
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Until Josh Devlin was ready for him he would stand on shore. Since he had been riding solo he figured he would have to change the saddle. Unless he had already done so since he was expecting to teach him. If it was the former he was fine to wait until he had everything ready.
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Even if he was raring to go. Patience was something he had. Even if his rash tendencies made it seem otherwise. So he would wait until the older male said it was okay for him to get on.

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[attr="class","header"]WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER

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The teen noticed he did in fact have a two person saddle. It looked like it would be a bit of a tight fit but he was more on the skinny side so it wouldn’t be too bad. Besides with the way the saddle was set up it seemed safer. Especially if they ended up airborne.
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Not having to be told twice he got on behind the gym leader. After being shown how to strap himself into the exotic saddle he was able to quickly do so. Now that he was all zipped into the cocoon he just had to wait for the gym leader to get himself strapped in. But seeing the saddle once more did bring a question to mind.
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”How did you get a saddle like this? You used one like it when we had our gym challenge as well.” he said, the curiosity in his voice palpable. He hadn’t found the time to ask about it when he’d last seen it. It hadn’t really seemed like the time or place to ask about it.
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Soon enough they were both ready and the Dragonair dove into the bay. It would probably be best if they stayed on the surface for now. At least until he got use to being surrounded by water on all sides. He did trust the gym leader not to let anything happen to him. Probably why he had brought out such an exotic saddle.
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”It’s interesting that riding them over land and water would be so similar. Though I suppose it would be if you had a Pokémon specifically made for it,” he said knowing that he would get enough of a demonstration once they were far enough away from the shore. For now he was content enough to wait.[break] Josh Devlin

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[attr="class","header"]WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER

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Oh right he remembered seeing the place but hadn’t even been in there himself. His sister was the only one who had gotten Mirage fitted for his saddle. It was probably for the best since he sometimes struggled with socializing. But perhaps he would check it out and ask about their prices. Then he would be able to figure out what needed to be done to get what he wanted.
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”A beedrill that has to be interesting to ride. I’ve read they’re highly territorial though. They’re really smart and live together as well and are really protective over their previous evolutions,” he said not considering the fact that Josh might already know all this information. Or that he came off like he has swallowed a Pokédex.
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”My sister was the one that took Mirage to get fitted. I couldn’t at the time. She took him to Verdanturf Leather and Saddle, or at least I think she did. Wouldn’t make much sense to go somewhere else when we live in Verdanturf and have a place that does saddles just right there,” he told told the older male. Now that he thought about it his sister hadn’t told him where she had gotten Mirage fitted but he couldn’t see why she would’ve gone somewhere else, so he just assumed she’d gone there.
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He had fallen silent and just watched as Josh guided Resheph. At least until Josh talked about his favorite type of Pokémon. ”Oh yeah, Dragonair is pretty cool,” he agreed before continuing. ”But I prefer normal types myself. It’s a shame none of them would make good race Pokémon in the water though.”[break] Josh Devlin

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[attr="class","header"]WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER

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Yeah he didn’t know if riding a Beedrill would be the best idea. Sure riding Mirage was fine and basically any other Pokémon but the vibrations seemed like it would be something that would put stress on his body. Riding Mirage didn’t do that and riding the Dragonair wasn’t doing that either.
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”Seems like it would be rough on the body either way,” he said wondering how one could go about getting use to that. Though he doubted any of them had the same problems he did. His lungs wouldn’t be handle a lot of stress on his body, but he was still curious about what it would be like to ride something like that.
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”Yeah that would be great,” he agreed when the older male mentioned his Flygon. He made sure not to allow the relief he was feeling to seep into his voice. And if it was less taxing than what he figured riding a Beedrill would be like he was sure his sister wouldn’t care either.
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Yeah which sucked. He had a need for speed. Perhaps he could just rent out a mantine or something like that when he wanted to ride a water Pokémon. ”Yeah and that’s the problem. I like going fast since I’m not able to do so on my own,” he told the gym leader. ”Not that there’s a problem with Bibarel, they would be good when it comes to battling.”
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The idea of jumping with a Pokémon excites him especially since he’d heard Dragonair could reach some pretty great heights. He pushed down on his excite before responding to the older man. ”Yes, I think I can handle it,” he said deciding not to respond to the second part since he had agreed to the first part.[break] Josh Devlin

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[attr="class","header"]LIVE LIFE FOR YOU NOT FOR OTHERS

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He wasn’t surprised when the gym leader confirmed what he had just said. Of course it probably wasn’t that hard of a thing to guess. The thought of getting to ride a Flygon had him nodded as the gym leader made the suggestion. ”That would be great. I would just have to let my sister know ahead of time she likes knowing where I’ll be and if I’m going to be with someone,” he explained, knowing that was the deal for him going off by himself.
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”Thanks. I became interested when I found out about it when me and my sister came here. It’s best my sister doesn’t know I ride Pokémon as fast as I do though she’ll think I’m being to reckless,” he said with a shake of his head. His sister didn’t always understand that he knew what he was capable of.
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He considered the other males question. While it was true he preferred normal types perhaps it would make sense for him to catch Pokémon that weren’t normal types. It’s not like he would have to keep it on the team he battled with. He could just let it roam somewhere whenever he didn’t have need of it.
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The only other idea was to rent out a water type Pokémon. And the idea of asking anyone for that big of a favor made him uncomfortable. It was one thing to get riding lessons from someone. It was another thing entirely to ask to borrow someone else’s Pokémon for a bit.
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Even if he wouldn’t keep it long it still made him uncomfortable. ”Hmmm maybe. I might consider catching one. It’s weird that they won’t allow it to be brought here though. It’s not like Floatzel is a real dangerous Pokémon or anything,” he said his tone perplexed. Keeping it from being brought to Hoenn literally made no sense, not from what he could see anyway.
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The gym leaders warning allowed him to brace himself. Making Resheph jump was similar to how one would make a land Pokémon jump. So as long as one stayed above the service it was similar to how one guided a Pokémon on land. As the Pokémon jumped into the air he felt exhilarated but was able to keep himself grounded, getting drenched helped with that even if they dried soon after upon resurfacing.
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When the Dragonair leapt a third time she didn’t come back down like the first two times instead she hovered over the waves their legs just dangling over the water. It didn’t take a genius to realize she was flying. ”This is cool,” he said momentarily losing his composure.[break] Josh Devlin

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[attr="class","header"]LIVE LIFE FOR YOU NOT FOR OTHERS

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”That sounds great,” he said glad that the gym leader was on board. He wondered if this was what making a friend was like. Definitely not a question he was going to ask. Wasn’t about to get into how he had been isolated for the first ten years of his life due to his parents being worried about his condition.
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For those that thought his sister was overprotective they had never heard about his parents. His parents took it to the extreme. At least his sister let him leave the house. And let him he an actual kid. It wasn’t something he could say about his parents. Sure he knew his parents loved him but their protectiveness had prevented him from actually being a kid for the first ten years of his life.
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He listened what the gym leader had to say. Making note of the unfamiliar region he had mentioned. ”Ageos? Can’t say I’ve heard about it. Wasn’t on any of the maps my father had,” he said knowing he would remember if it had been. ”It’s a shame that you’re having trouble importing Pokémon from there. I guess that’s what happens when the place has a dysfunctional government. You would think someone would try to fix it though.”
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He knew fixing a government wasn’t easy. But if it was getting in the way of importing Pokémon then something needed to be done about it. He couldn’t understand why people would be okay living in a place with a dysfunctional government. Especially if it was messing with the trade system.
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It was a shame not many Pokémon could swim and fly. ”That just makes Resheph more unique since not many people can do it,” he said with a grin. Hearing his question he nodded before speaking. ”Yes, I haven’t acquired one for my team yet,” he explained.[break] Josh Devlin

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