alia was, by no means, an expert on dragons. while she was the trainer of one, controlling her noibat had never been an issue, so it's not like she ever had a need to brush up on her dragon-training skills. to be fair, though, she grew up with lani - when she was thirteen, she had found the purple bat injured on the side of the road, one of its wings dislocated from a clearly nasty fight. alia had took it upon her to nurse it back to health, and since then, the pokemon has become one of her most trusted partners. [break][break]

despite her lack of actual dragon expertise, the young woman still wanted to offer a hand when she stumbled into robin's training session with her drakloak. she was wandering nearby after work when the commotion piqued her curiosity, and she observed the scene silently for a few minutes with her noibat perched on her shoulder. while alia was too far to hear all of robin's words clearly, she vaguely catches the last few words, allowing her to quickly piece together the situation on hand. ah. well, now she has even more of a reason to help out, as a fellow ranger herself. [break][break]

"hi there!" alia cautiously steps into their space, not wanting to catch either of them off-guard. a smile fills her features with a radiance that crinkles her eyes and deepens her dimples. "sorry to bother you, but i caught you trying to train your drakloak here...i'm no professional dragon trainer, but i thought maybe having a calmer dragon around could help tone things down a bit." the blue-haired woman slightly shifts her head towards the noibat that was still holding onto her shoulder, who caws softly in response. its yellow eyes are piercing but steady as it watches robin, seemingly trying to analyze the other woman. "this is lani. she can be wary of strangers, but is the most playful thing once she warms up to you." alia says, reaching up to gently pat the noibat in comfort. she pauses as another thought clicks in her head, dropping her hand after the gears finish running. "oh! and i'm alia, it's nice to meet you - i'm a ranger myself, although i still have a few months before i'm no longer a rookie." 

+ robin coello

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

alia leans down slowly, offering her fingers for the drakloak to sniff. if he allowed it, she would gently skim her palm across its body as a sign of friendly affection. the noibat, on the other hand, remains still on alia's shoulder and fails to return the dragon's amicable tail-wag with a greeting of her own. [break][break]

the blue-haired woman stands back up at robin's question and laughs sheepishly. this time, it's her turn to rub her armband self-consciously. "ah, if i were to be completely honest with you - i lucked out and didn't have much trouble with lani." she confesses, moving her hand to tickle the noibat's chin. "i nursed her back to health after i found her on the side of the road with a broken wing, so she listened to me well afterwards." [break][break]

alia knows that isn't helpful, though, so she clears her throat to offer an additional response. "i will say that one of the things i've learned over the years is that dragons are incredibly sensitive to your emotions and how you carry yourself. if your energy fluctuates, they fluctuate with you." she eyes and nods at the drakloak as she speaks. "try to stay calm while you're with your drakloak, as frustrating as things can get. it's one of the most important factors into earning their respect, since it shows that you're confident in your capabilities regardless of their behavior. when your emotions and confidence waver, your dragon will also lose their faith in you. once you get that respect, however, things will be a lot easier."

+ robin coello

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

history had a tendency of repeating itself, but it wasn’t impossible to overturn. alia hums thoughtfully as she muses over robin’s problem, running some training tactics in her head. what would be a good opportunity for robin to re-establish respect, hierarchy? [break][break]

after a long pause, she looks up and locks her blue gaze with the other ranger. “okay, i have two ideas for you. first, we could go with the good ol’ food tactic - kibble, jerky, berries, whatever he likes. this way, we can encourage drakloak to follow your orders while we reinforce the idea that you’re the one providing for him now. lani can also lead by example for this one!” she nudges her noibat playfully and points at the wooden tauros dummy from earlier. “maybe we can start from the most basic of commands and work our way up to attacking that dummy over there. this would take some time, but i can see it working long-term.” [break][break]

alia pauses now, a bit dramatically as she prepares to explain her second idea. “as for the second idea....it would be a lot more efficient, but it’s also more risky. big risks come with big rewards though, right?” the ranger shrugs sheepishly, flashing a grin at robin as she speaks. “what if we create the opportunity to earn your drakoak’s respect…through a battle with me and lani? i imagine it'd be rough initially, but dragons are competitive. if he sees that he needs to work with you to have an upper hand, and you prove to be trustworthy during the process, he could respect you a lot more here on out.” she finishes with a quirk of her eyebrow. “it’s up to you, though. what do you want to try first?”

+ robin coello

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“sounds good. maybe we can train together in the future, arceus knows i need it.” alia says easily. combat wasn’t her strong suit either, but it was an area of expertise that she sought to improve in. her last few months in hoenn have demonstrated to her the importance of the skill, especially given the increasing turmoil. she could use all the practice she can get. [break][break]

alia turns to dig through her own backpack, pulling out her own baggie of berries. thankfully, she was able to restock on her supply last weekend at the berry farm, where she had met Eris Halla . her noibat immediately perks up at the sight, hopping off of alia’s shoulder to flutter excitedly around her trainer. [break][break]

“as silly as it sounds, yeah, that seems like a good place to start.” alia’s laugh mirrored robin’s, amused by the scenario they’ve found themselves in. “lani and i can start us off.” she turns away from the other ranger, placing a ripe berry into the center of her palm. [break][break]

“okay, lani. let’s sit.” she said firmly. the noibat’s wings still rapidly, descending to the sandy grounds. [break][break]

praises spill out of alia’s lips as she hands over the berry. lani wolfs it down eagerly, eyes large and bright as it waits for another snack. once robin and drakloak runs through the same command, alia would move on to a more challenging task. “maybe we can have them attack the dummy over there now,” she suggests, pointing towards the wooden tauros. “but perhaps we start things slow? it might be easier if we let him attack it however he wants, rather than have him do a specific move. that way, he feels like he still has some degree of autonomy.”

+ robin coello

[attr="class","pokeclass"]