it couldn't have been more than a few minutes when alia hears a faint buzzing behind her, catching her by surprise. she figured she was going to meet a couple of pokemon today, but didn't think she was going to encounter one this early into their hike. the woman turns around, ready to give a command to her marshtomp if needed. she feels the dry, hot air batting roughly against her before she sees the large green dragon itself. quickly recognizing the ranger uniform its trainer sported, alia visibly relaxes, signaling privately to the equally tense amphibian to back down. 
[break][break]
the other woman calls out to her, and alia barely gets out a "yes, he's fine, thanks," when a greninja was released. before she knew it, a refreshing burst of water sprinkled over the two of them, restoring some much-needed moisture in their skin. ino lets out a happy cry, shaking off some of the excess water before stepping forward to sniff the greninja in acknowledgment. 
[break][break]
alia swoops her bangs out of her eyes, lightly dabbing at the wetter spots on her forehead where the dew gathered. "thanks for that little water break," she says to the green-haired woman with a smile. "both ino here and i appreciated that. we came here to hike, but we're already feeling the heat - and the ash - after ten minutes. definitely not as prepared as we thought!" she laughs, eyes bright as she takes in the other ranger. "you're a ranger too, huh? so am i, just off-duty today." she gestures to her plain clothing, a simple t-shirt and leggings. "i'm alia, by the way - it's nice to meet you."

[break][break]

+ Shalin Nariya

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"ah, no, i didn't. i think i'll be fine, though, it's not bothering me too bad." alia is embarrassed now, sheepish to admit that she wasn't prepared for the dangers of her environment as a ranger. her lack of experience was really showing, and she never felt more like a rookie. this dread and embarrassment exemplifies once the other ranger introduced herself as the captain-elect of rustboro city. [break][break]

"oh," alia says, a little dumbly. she wipes her hands across her shirt and clears her throat, getting a hold of herself. "it's a pleasure to meet you, shalin! i can't imagine how boring it is for you out here, but i'm real lucky to bump into you." she grins, feeling composed once again. she shifts her gaze to the saddled greninja, surprised it was possible for the pokmeon to carry human weight in that manner. "that's real impressive. hopefully once ino here evolves he can do the same," the younger ranger leans down to pat the marshtomp's head, which he affectionately bumps in return. [break][break]

before alia can get another word in, a soft rustling grabs her attention. she swings her gaze towards her right, finding a charmander that accidentally wandered into their vicinity. the lizard freezes, realizing he was caught. he fires a dragon breath at them, hoping it was enough for him to escape. the woman quickly calls for a hydro pump, however, and the amphibian sends a forceful stream of water to counter the attack. alia then requests a surf from her marshtomp, which he abides by sending a minature tidal wave towards the charmander. it lets out a startled yelp as the wave washes over it, the flame on its tail quivering briefly from the attack. the ranger takes her chance and quickly reaches for an empty pokeball, spinning it at the lizard. the capsule lands on the pokemon's thigh and engulfs it in a bright light, swallowing it whole before shaking vicariously. it puts on a fight for a few moments, threatening to break through, before giving in with a defeated click.

+ Shalin Nariya  catching the charmander!

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alia takes a few steps towards the pokeball, leaning down to pick it up and slipping it into her backpack. she turns around to speak with shalin again, but before she can do so, a flurry of movements occurred all at once. the type:null was charging at shalin, the greninja avoiding the attack with a swift bounce, a bubble entrapping the hostile pokemon. the young ranger blinks, barely processing everything that just happened. time to train my reaction time, she thinks silently to herself as she assesses the deescalating situation. [break][break]

"no, it's okay," she reassures the older ranger with a small smile. "i'm sure that it's inevitable to start off in a bad place with a pokemon you first catch. this will probably happen to me soon." alia laughs easily, hoping that shalin wasn't too upset by her witnessing the conflict. [break][break]

"oh, that's incredibly kind of you. i would love to ride on your vaporeon!" she blinks at shalin's offer appreciatively. alia hasn't had much experience riding on pokemon; her first lesson being only a few weeks ago with mauville city's gym leader, josh. needless to say, she definitely needed the practice. "we can start hiking up after?"[break][break]

as alia finishes her proposal, she catches a houndour crouched behind a bush, clearly in hunting mode. its so focused on its hunt that it doesn't seem to notice how alia has taken interest in it. the houndour would be a great fit in her current team and be even better for future ranger work, alia muses. figuring that the dog was too distracted to put up a fight, the young woman quietly reaches for another pokeball and tosses it at the unaware pokemon.

+ Shalin Nariya  catching the houndour!

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the nuances in shalin's expressions doesn't go unnoticed by the younger ranger, and she smiles softly at the heartwarming interaction between the greninja and type:null, happy to witness such pleasantness after the earlier hostility. alia was lucky that she hasn't had any trouble with her own pokemon yet, but she figures there was bound to be some soon with the amount of new friends she's been bringing into her team. she'll have to keep her fingers crossed that it won't be too much of a ruckus once it does happen. [break][break]

after alia gingerly mounted the vaporeon and made herself comfortable, the group quickly fell into a steady pace, making progress uphill. silence fills the air initially as she takes in the views, admiring the dots of dried green splattered against the jagged brown background. the sparse terrain admittedly wasn't incredibly spectacular, but the fresh perspective still fulfilled her desire for wanderlust. as they turn the corner after trekking up a particular steep slope, alia witnesses a shaggy brown pelt hidden amdist the shrub. its lack of movement indicates to her that the piloswine was either dozing off or too scared to move, but its long fur preventing her from confirming any of her hypotheses. [break][break]

she decides to not take her chances and motions at ino to attack. after the amphibian moves to send a curtain of water towards the wild pokemon, alia would chuck out her third pokeball of the day. before that, however, she turns to shalin, her curiosity finally getting the best of her. "you know, as a rookie ranger that still has a couple of months before graduation, i would love to pick your brain a little bit...but before that, if you don't mind me asking, how did you meet your type:null? i thought they were incredibly rare." from what alia could see out of the few interactions, there seemed like there was a story behind the pokemon and its trainer. orrrrrr maybe she was wrong, and the type:null was just incredibly hostile in nature. 

  

+ Shalin Nariya catching the piloswine!

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