As Elaina stood there in the frigid cold, she saw someone walking in the distance with what appeared to be a Golurk walking with them. As the woman got closer, Elaina believed she was the professor she was guarding. In fact, when she greeted herself, Elaina's assumption was correct. "No worries," Elaina said, attempting a smile despite the biting cold temperature seeming to get worse by the minute. Despite the practically frigid weather, whatever Illeana needed to do must have been important to some degree. Why else would they have hired a ranger as a guard for this place? It was uninhabitable as far as she could tell. What's more, was that Elaina found it hard to believe that these frigid icelands were a part of the Hoenn region. "My name's Elaina Pierce - Cadet Ranger," She said, making her voice a bit louder than usual as the wind whips around them from every known direction making it harder to hear with its constant whistling

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"If you don't mind me asking professor, what is it exactly that you came here to do? This place doesn't seem like a normal area to research. What happened here?" Elaina had said, as the two of them walked together. Elaina would understand if that information were classified, however, a part of her was also curious ... She knew very little about the Hoenn Region and it was apparent that whatever happened to this area of the region wasn't just some mere natural disaster. No, something had to have caused this... not anything good either ...

+
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+ illeana reyes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"Yes! As a matter of fact, my father and I were there in the stands watching. He bought the tickets for us to go watch," She said with a smile. Although, one important detail that she left out was that she had only gone to watch the overtime performance. It was her father that was more interested in the actual sport. However, she still had fun, despite the football game not being her thing. When Josh answered her question about live-streaming his gym battles, she thought to herself, "I wonder if it ever intimidates the gym challengers?" she thought to herself. She never really looked like the type, but she did live stream her playing piano a few times while living in the Unova region. It was a 'once-in-a-blue-moon' situation. As She and Josh continued talking, she failed to take note of the Alcremie that passed the two rangers. "Do you buy tickets to go watch sporting events, or do you just watch them on TV? She decided to ask him. Surely, Josh more than likely participated in racing events a lot, but she wondered if wasn't participating if ever fluently went to go see them himself. If he ever met her father, the chances of them two talking non-stop about anything sports-related were more than likely. Despite not liking sports all too much, it was clear that physically being in the stands was a hell of a lot different than simply watching it from a TV.

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+ skipping
[break][break]
+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina stared at the Kingambit that was blocking her path. Its shogun-like armor, as well as its silent stare, made her assume that it was lying in wait for someone to challenge it. Wasting no time, Elaina tossed out a Pokeball in front of her, bringing out Ansel. With Ansel's typing, she knew that an actual fight would be difficult. Instead, she had allowed the shogun-armored pokemon to make the first move. The Kingambit rushed forward, making an attempt to attack, however, the moment Ansel violently twirled its head continuously, its Hypnosis would take effect, Its body becoming slower, more fatigued. It seemingly let out a loud yawn, and then, it fell on its back, asleep. "Well, I kinda wasn't expecting that work so easily. Just as James Clavell said in his book, 'A wise man prepares for treachery,' She finished, just moments before tossing the Pokeball at the sleeping shogun.


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+
[break][break]

+

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina and Ira could hear the screams of rocket members fighting (as well as failing) in their attempts to fend off whoever it was that beat Elaina there. She wanted to head towards the screaming, however, she sought the opportunity to make her way to where the captured pokemon were being held, deciding that the top priority would be to free the captive pokemon while the heat wasn't being tossed at her. Chances are, none of the Rocket grunts in the entire underground lab knew that she was even there, freeing the pokemon from their cages. Once she was done, there was only one thing left on her list in order to make her assignment complete, and that was to find the bastard who was running the place and hand-deliver them to the police for questioning. Still, the person who was causing the ruckus though piqued her interest. Not many were brave enough to stand against Team Rocket unless they wanted to wind up dead. Either way though, she was grateful that they had managed to give her a way in without being detected.

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"Let go find the bastard in charge, Ira," Elaina said, once again leading the way, making her way down the corridor going around the opposite way she and Ira had come from. She could see where the top corridor intersected; the screams of the Rocket grunts became louder. Just as she had made her way to the edge of the intersection, she stopped right next to the wall, hearing a grunt pleading for his life, signifying that the rogue was present, right around the corner. She wanted to hear the conversation they were having, hoping to gain some more insight as to why this random person was targeting Team Rocket. More importantly, she wanted to know if they were considered to be her enemy as well. walking in on the person could prove to be a mistake, which was something that Elaina did not want to end up regretting. What's more is that due to the circumstances, she actually should have immediately called for backup, seeing as how what was taking place was far beyond her.

+
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+ Thomas Benoit

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina was slightly hesitant about leaving Oshawott at the daycare, however, it wasn't like she had much of a choice in the matter. Elaina was to prep for an assignment that would commence in a few hours, and what was worse was that it was in Mossdeep City, meaning that she should have already flown there via taxi ten minutes ago. "I promise to be back for you as soon as my assignment is done, okay? You be good now, alright?" Elaina said, after checking in at the front desk. And with that, Elaina was gone, and Sonya the Oshawott was left alone ... or so she thought at least. The daycare staff took Oshawott out back, deciding to let her play freely. That was when she noticed the Noibat that was flying around. "H-hi," Sonya called out to the Noibat sheepishly. She wanted to be strong like Elaina and her creepy ghost pokemon, but ... she was just too much of a chicken.

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+ Daycare Playdate
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+ Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Bal's Lucky Letters

HAPPY NEW YEAR HOENN!

SPOILER: Click to show

1. Letter 1 - Plotter Post (One-Time Only)
2. Letter 2 - Swarm Participation
3. Letter 3 & 4- DW w/ Josh
4. Letter 5 & 6 - Mission w/ Shalin
5. Letter 7 & 8 - DW w/ Shalin
6. Letter 9 & 10 - Mission w/ Melody
7. Letter 11 - Solo Wild
8. Letter 12 - Safari Thread
9. Letter 13 & 14 - MLG Challenge - Alec vs. Andrea
10. Letter 15 - Dragon's Den Participation (Alec)
11. Letter 16 & 17 - Mission w/ Josh
12. Letter 18 & 19- Mission w/ Josh
13. Letter 20 - Space-Time Distortion (Alec)

total: 20

Elaina immediately took note of the man's badge, signifying that he was a Captain. She also took notice of the yamper that barked, greeting Elaina; also gave the same slight smile to the dog pokemon. Tam's expression was what she had pictured it would be. However, it may have been because of the circumstances rather than just simply not being the openly sociable type. Elaina was pretty much the same way, despite being the one to openly greet herself. When he had asked her if she had any questions before they would begin, she spoke immediately, probably asking a question that any recruit would ask.

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"What is the task that you wish me to do?" She asked, coming out with it in a calm manner rather than being hesitant. Believe it or not, most recruits ask such a question not really out of plain curiosity, but rather out of concern. However, Elaina wasn't asking out of curiosity, or concern. She simply figured that a concise yet short briefing of what it is that she'd be doing would be beneficial to her. After all, it was her training that was being commenced, and any order given to her as well as information about what she must do would be beneficial to her, especially if she were to succeed. Whatever it was that she would be tasked with, she and Ansel, who started hopping over to her side, would be ready for anything, as shown by her calm demeanor.

+

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+ Tam Fawley

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina could tell just from the few minutes of talking with Shalin that, Shalin had a bubbly personality. Elaina didn't mind that though. In fact, there were some things about shalin that Elaina herself admired. The two of them seemed to have a liking towards types of pokemon that were misunderstood by the masses. Elaina's ghost pokemon, and her bug-type pokemon. They just seemed to find the beauty in things that most people would consider terrifying, so they weren't completely different from one another if you truly think about it. Shalin also mentioned having a friend that was an elite ranger that resided in Mauville as well. What's more, was that she specifically called them a 'he'. "Wait ... does she know Josh?" She thought to herself, bringing a hand to the bottom area of her chin, trying to process whether the pieces fit or not. From where she stood though, it seemed like that was very much the case.

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Another thing to point out, judging from the saddles that were strapped on the back of her bug pokemon, suggested that she and Josh both shared the same fondness for racing, so it wasn't all that far-fetched to believe that they knew one another. "I would like that. Honestly, walking around has worn me out," Elaina said in a tone of admittance. Ansel also agreed, its abysmal head swirling its head violently, showing its distaste for hopping around. That was when Queen Zill made her way toward Elaina, offering to give her a ride. "Perhaps I should look into catching a bird pokemon ... it would be different, to say the least, but having a decent pokemon to fly me from place to place would be a good thing. It beats walking twenty-four-seven," Elaina thought to herself, as she hopped on the saddle of Shalin's beedrill, making sure that she made herself comfortable while also trying not to make Queen Zill uncomfortable as well. That was when she noticed a peculiar shadow, forcing her to look up. She saw what appeared to be a Skarmory flying right above them. This prompted Elaina to say to Queen Zill, "Queen Zill, would you be able to fly up to that bird pokemon? I want to catch it," Elaina said, and without further delay, the Beedrill seemed to have complied with her request. As they made their ascent, Elaina's own confirmation of the wild pokemon was correct.

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"Don't worry about attacking it. We'll lure it back to Ansel to deal with." Elaina said to Queen Zill. Surely, Elaina that Queen Zill would be able to probably hold her own, however, Elaina would feel terrible if something bad were to happen to the beedrill if they were to make a frontal assault, so she figured that their job would be luring it back to Ansel to take out instead. Once Elaina and Queen Zill were high enough, the wild skarmory took notice of them, attempting to strike Queen Zill down, however, Queen Zill was rather fast, being able to dodge the skarmory's advances. Once Queen Zill Dodged the wild skarmory's attack, she made a beeline down for the trees below, the pressing against Elaina's face as she was diving down to the ground, her long blond hair violently whipping behind her, yet having a sense of grace about her, while not showing any fear on her facial features. She smirked when saw Ansel sitting on a rock ahead, and within a few minutes of passing him, the Spiritomb fired a powerful shadow ball at the skarmory, knocking it out of the air. Queen Zill stopped, allowing Elaina to toss a pokemon at the half-knocked-out steel bird. As she hopped off of Queen Zill, making her way to the Pokeball with the skarmory inside of it, she wondered if Shalin was doing just as good as she was.

+ Catching Skarmory!
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+ Shalin Nariya

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Elaina listened to Josh's words carefully, about how he quit racing to become a ranger, and how he got promoted from being a minor league gym leader to one of the major league gym leaders. Elaina couldn't even imagine how long and grueling that kind of change must have been for him. Well, not grueling in the sense that it was bad, but rather all the jumping back and forth. If she going through something like that, it would have more than likely worn her out mentally. Sure, she liked battling and did think about becoming a gym leader at one point in her life, however, the moment she turned eighteen, that all changed for her. Realistically, she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle being a Gym Leader, so she settled for becoming a ranger, which lead her here to Hoenn. "You're from the Johto region?" She asked him, never having thought about it. Admittedly, she thought that he was native to Hoenn, which was a mistake on her part. "I've never been to Johto. The only other region I've been to aside from Hoenn was the Alola Region. My father and I would go there every summer. Honestly, it was much more relaxing than being stuck in the Unova Region," She admitted. Unova was where she was born, and sure, it wasn't the worst part of the world to live in, but it definitely had its downs for the most part.

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I'm not all that much into racing, but I know that a lot of people in Castelia like it. I'm more into classical things, like paintings, Poetry and all that. I also know my way around a piano," She said, remembering the lessons that she would have when she was a little girl. That was when her mother was still alive ... She instantly shoved the thought of her passing mother to the side. Instead, she decided to talk about something pertaining to his Gym. "I also heard that you occasionally Livestream your gym challenges. Is that true?" She asked, just after feeling a gentle tug on her trench coat. She looked down to see a little Dreepy, attempting to get her attention. She picked it up, gently petting it, which made it trill. "If I remember correctly, this little guy is native to the Galar region," she thought to herself. The only reason why she knew that was because her father had an oil painting of one in the foyer of their mansion back home. She pulled another empty Pokeball, pressing the button gently against its head deciding to add yet another ghost-type pokemon to her collection. It was also a dragon type as well, which made it rather powerful.

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+ catching Dreepy!
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+ Josh Devlin

[attr="class","pokeclass"]