[Shalin Nariya]

Once she had crossed the mountains into East Arciel, the terrain was going to get a lot rougher. If the interior of other regions told her anything, there were going to be plenty of areas she simply could not get to on foot. She would need a Pokémon's help to navigate many of them, and if Prance went down...that was it. Stranded in the wild nursing her Stantler back to health was not her idea of fun. Just in case, she would need a backup. Arciel's cold season was also coming. She was quickly running out of days to practice, and many of the Training Grounds' outdoor facilities would be closed, including the one she was planning on using today.

She followed the massive facility's signage to a practice track intended for learning how to ride various Pokémon, particularly aquatics and aerials. She remembered how much of a spill she had taken with Levy her first time. This was not her target...at least, not initially. On the inside of the big, aquatic track was a smaller one for overland Pokémon. There were two signs depicting statistics for the practice courses; apparently they were officially recognized by the PRF despite being strictly training courses:

BIRCH BEND
Ninty Degrees
Course Length: 2,189 m (1.36 mi)
Difficulty: ■ □ □ □ □ □ □

BIRCH CAPE
Underpass
Course Length: 2,527 m (1.57 mi)
Difficulty: ■ ■ □ □ □ □ □

There was a single male trainer, younger even that Shalin, practicing with a Liepard. "Wow, he's pretty good," Shalin mumbled, watching his Dark-type perfectly crest the final turn before sliding to a stop near the finish line.

"I'm done. All yours, miss!" the sweating, brown-haired trainer said, gesturing toward the track before recalling his Pokémon and taking a seat.

With the track to herself, she released three of her Pokémon: Prance, Caprice, and Levy, having to make a long-distance throw so the long serpent wound up in the pool on the outside. Once she ensured Levy had room to swim, Shalin pulled a Fire Stone from her pocket, Caprice's eyes lighting up. She was practically clawing at the ruby-like stone.

"Caprice, it's time." She lowered the stone in her hand to the height of the excited Vulpix's neck. The fire-type lunged toward the outstretched hand, her trainer dropping it like a hot potato as soon as she could react. Upon contacting the stone, both it and Caprice started glowing with an intense, white-orange light, its searing radiance forcing the excited girl to look away.

Once the light had faded, a smiling Ninetales roughly Prance's size beckoned Shalin aboard. She couldn't help but chuckle for what she was about to say to her Pokémon. "I don't know if I'm going to be training you three so much as you three are going to be training me." All three of them let out cries that could only be interpreted as Pokémon equivalents of laughter.

"My idea for getting all of us ready for the wilds was to run a little three-lap relay. Prance, you will have the first lap; Caprice, you will have the second; Levy, the third." Caprice shook her head, then ran up to her Trainer and nuzzled her. "I know you're excited; I know. But I want you to wait a few more minutes. You'll get your turn. I promise, okay?" The golden fox backed away, her head low.

"As soon as Prance crosses the finish line, I'll jump over to you, Caprice. Once you cross, I'll jump over to Levy, who will be the anchor." All three nodded in sequence as they were addressed. "Remember, the timer isn't important. What's important is we develop coordination. I wouldn't mind jumping into real races eventually, but this will be a first step. Alright, you're up first, Prance." The trainer climbed aboard her Stantler. With hooves clacking against the hard pavement, she made her way just behind the checkered line, awaiting the countdown and green light...

{WC: 637 - sign contents excluded from word count}
{PC: 1}

[Shalin Nariya]

Even from her perch behind the line, Shalin could tell how this track got its name - there was nothing but 90 degree turns and open track for nearly a mile. It almost discouraged her from researching what "real" tracks were part of the Arciel Circuit, knowing that this was a level 1 on the seven point scale. She shook her head; now was not the time to speculate what a side venture in races would be like here. If she needed tips, she could always start a voice call with her racing mentor back home, Josh Devlin. That kid and his Manectric were something else. She already knew the basics of how to handle curves and what not - crest big ones from outside to inside, minimize directional adjustments, don't get overzealous with speed moves, and so forth. It would be even easier in that she had no opponents - just the course itself.

HONK.

Shalin and even Prance flinched as first of three red lights above the line illuminated with the sound of a low-pitched horn.

HONK.

Two young trainers and their Wailmer, in the deep end of the Kiddie Pool, turned to face the loud noise as Shalin tensed up.

HONK.

Prance let out a cry of excitement, her fur standing on end as she flexed backward.

HOOOOOOOOONK!!!

A split second after the green light flashed, Shalin jabbed at her Stantler's sides with her legs, and the two were off. She made sure to slowly guide her toward the left in anticipation of the first sharp, tight-hand turn.

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She eased up a little too late - Prance had missed the apex long. This being a practice track, there were no high, two-layered walls to absorb the impact of a fall...or to smash her leg in the event of a collision. There was just a small, concrete curb that marked the bounds of the track. Her legs could hang over that without concern, and she took full advantage of it, the Stantler stepping on the elevated curb itself. The curb itself was still in bounds, and she used most of it to correct her trajectory before the next sharp turn coming back the other way.

The first four curves were just shy of a couple hundred meters apart, giving the girl time to adjust to each one. After experiencing the course for herself, she now understood why it was rated as such. The track significantly widened before each of the turns, allowing for less nimble Pokémon to take them without losing too much speed; additionally, all of them were roughly the same distance apart, allowing a rhythm-based solution for the toughest part of the track.

Prance lurched to the right after completing the final sharp turn, Shalin making a sudden tug with her left arm to correct. "You okay, girl?" she asked, unsure if she could be heard over the apparent wind. She nodded. As tempting as it was to just blast through the third-mile straightaway, Shalin was concerned Prance had pulled or strained something from their near miss early on. She relaxed her arms, letting Prance run at a pace comfortable for her. The Normal-type raised her speed a little, but not to her full run. It would have been almost relaxing in warmer weather, but in this cold, the added speed bit at the rider's face. "Easy, Prance!" the girl cried as another right-angle curve was coming up. Fast.

p_

This curve, compared to all of them others, was special. Its true angle was slightly obtuse, making it even more challenging than the rest. The course also did not widen for this turn. When it was apparent that Prance was not going to slow down on her own, Shalin held her partner's fur tightly, then eased up with her legs just in time to round the curve while staying in the track's center. It wasn't the inside line, but it would work. She reassured herself that the time didn't really matter.

On the home stretch, the practice aquatic track and this one intersected twice, leaving Prance with a pair of jumps she would need quite a bit of speed to make. Happy she saved Prance's stamina for now, the girl squeezed her mount's sides hard, the clacking of her hooves growing louder and more rapid with the first intersection looming closer.

p_

With split second timing, Shalin lightly shoved her arms into Prance, her partner responding with a high and graceful leap over the first intersection. There was a second coming up rapidly, and neither one of them were ready for it. With no time to adjust after the landing, the brown Pokémon was forced to leap at an angle over the second one, tripping over the far curb with her rear-left hoof. Shalin struggled to guide her in keeping her balance, and even struggled to keep her own balance as both of them lurched from side to side. She wobbily crossed the line, where Caprice awaited her trainer with an eager grin.

"Alright, Caprice, it's your turn now," Shalin said under somewhat heavy breaths. She swung aboard the golden yellow Pokémon, making sure to hury her hands the best she could into her fur. The two took off, and Shalin immediately noticed how much rougher the Ninetales' run was. And faster, by a long shot.

The moment they crossed the line, a pre-recorded, announcer-like voice echoed from the overhang where the starting lights were:

"YOU GOT BOOST POWER!"

It technically was the second lap, wasn't it. Oh, and one of Caprice's battle moves was Quick Attack, wasn't it. Oh, Arceus.

{WC: 936 - 1,573 total}
{PC: 2}··

[Shalin Nariya]

Caprice had a grin on her face, though Shalin couldn't tell from the angle she approached. The Ninetales fanned her golden tails, anxiously awaiting her trainer. The girl scurried aboard, burying her left hand as deep into her mount's fur as she could. "Alright, you wanted to run, Caprice," she said to her fire-type, trying to hide her nerves. "Show me! Let's go!"

Caprice lunged off the line with tremendous acceleration rivaling that of a Rapidash, her paws pounding against the pavement so rapidly that it sounded like others were racing against her. Her tails whipped about in the apparent wind, nearly flying parallel to the ground as she dashed toward the outside of the first of four right angle corners.

Shalin was gritting her teeth, already having been whiplashed backward from her mount's sudden sprint off the line. By the time she could right herself and lean into the wind, Caprice was already leaning hard to her right, ready to slide past the first curve's apex. The golden blur, proud of her agility, was making her trainer regret her words.

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{24+15=39}

Shalin wanted to scream. She felt like her right leg was being squeezed as Caprice slid around the tight corner without as much as slowing down. The rider struggled to maintain her balance, her left leg slipping due to the golden runner's blistering gallop. She was about to squeeze her Pokémon's sides not for more speed, but for her own hold, when the fire-type entered another tight slide in the opposite direction to navigate the next curve. Now her left leg was the throbbing one. She nearly slid off by the time Caprice had reached the fourth and final curve.

"...Stop!" Shalin cried, unsure whether her racing heartbeat was pounding more loudly than her thumping calves. Caprice rounded the final right-angle curve before slowing to a trot and eventually a stop. Shalin slid off Caprice's back and crawled off the blacktop, finding herself sprawled about on the nearby grass. The Kiddie Pool's lifeguards saw her in their peripheral, sending radio messages for staff to help.

A few minutes later, she was surrounded by facility staff, including a member of the medical team. One of them offered her a bottle of water, which she was happy to sit up and start chugging. "I'll be...okay," Shalin managed to say between heavy breaths. "Just gimme a few."

{WC: 398, 1,971 total}
{PC: 3}

[Shalin Nariya]

It took a couple minutes for Shalin's racing heart to calm down and another few for her to fully catch her breath. Her initial assessment was right - Caprice was pushing her trainer more than Shalin was pushing her. If this was a level one course, she would need to get into shape to have any chance on a more difficult course official events took place at...especially ones with 29 opponents. This one experience gave her newfound respect for her friend Josh Devlin and other professional racers - she had grossly underestimated the physical demands racing placed on the rider. Perhaps when she went back to Johto, she would ask him for a crash course.

Her eyes drifted toward the timer on the start/finish post, displaying a lap time over 15 minutes and counting. She shook her head, stood, and slowly walked back to Caprice's side, a little woozy at first but regaining her balance after a few steps.. That timer did not matter one bit. What mattered was finishing the relay - Levy was looking increasingly bored, splashing about and even throwing some water from the aquatic track onto the overland one. She climbed back aboard, ready to keep going. "Yah!" she cried, leaning low and applying pressure to her partner in multiple places.

Caprice, smiling again, took off in a flash of golden yellow. This time, Shalin at least knew what to expect, bracing herself appropriately as the two rushed down the backstretch. No turns, no slopes, nothing but plenty of room to run. She quickly got accustomed to the Ninetales' rapid running stroke, the rider's head tilted downward to try to keep the biting wind out of her face. If she kept doing this, she would need to invest in a visor, especially with faster Pokémon.

Shalin's confidence in Caprice continued to build her speed up, drifting toward the outside edge of the wide track. She briefly thrust her palms hard into the fire-type's fur. "Caprice, Quick Attack!" she commanded, bracing for the worst...

6QO61XyBp_
{26+15=41}

Thank Arceus she had her hands buried in Caprice's fur - the sudden burst of speed knocked her back as far as her now-straightened arms would allow. It only lasted for a few seconds, but for those few seconds, the colors in her peripheral vision blurred, and even her oncoming surroundings seemed to fish-eye. This must be what a Pokémon sees when it uses Quick Attack, she thought. In those few seconds, Caprice had covered an incredible amount of distance, to the point where she could see where the tracks intersected and where Prance had stubbed her hoof. The Ninetales seemed far more adept at this than Prance had been. She wouldn't bash her paw into the curb. She somehow knew it. "One more time!" Shalin shouted again.

p_
{5+15=20}

The second time around, Shalin was in a state of pure bliss, the adrenaline pumping at an intensity she had not experienced in a long time. This must be why her friend back in Johto always gets excited at the start of the season. "Yeehaw!" she couldn't help but scream, the outside curb of the track blurred with the pavement itself from how fast Caprice was dashing. She was in heaven.

Except for one problem. When the boosted Quick Attack ended, Shalin and Caprice found themselves on the very edge of the pavement as it curved harshly to their right. And they were coming into it going way too fast.

{WC: 575; 2,546 total}
{PC: 4}·

[Shalin Nariya]

By the time Caprice came out of her dash and slowed to a more manageable speed (which was still very fast), Shalin had a split second to react to the curve ahead of her. It wasn't as sharp as she remembered it being, but Caprice would have to hold the turn for a while. She leaned as hard to her right as her balance would allow, Caprice leaning with her. Both of them grit their teeth as the Ninetales dug her nails into the pavement, leaving twin trails of flames the width of her paws as she slid around the corner.

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{33+15=48}

Shalin yelped as her right shoe scraped the pavement, Caprice nearly losing her grip from the added drag at the apex of the sliding move. Shalin was shaking hard, only just able to muster the strength to straddle her Ninetales evenly and regain her full balance. She had seen Josh perform these kinds of moves regularly with his Luxray. If she wanted to do any serious competition on the track, this is something she would need to practice a lot. On the bright side, Caprice's nails wouldn't need to be filed for a while!



The combination of exiting her slide and Shalin shifting her weight caused Caprice to trip coming out of the turn. The trainer felt like she was at a rodeo from her partner seemingly flailing about in an effort to regain her own footing. The finish line was in sight, Shalin getting a good look around the final corner at it from her position on the outside of the track. It wasn't over yet, though.



Two leaps over water--the place where the two tracks intersected--separated Shalin and Caprice from a successful lap. This should be easy, she thought, given how much faster the Ninetales was than Prance. The only problem was the deep pools of water. If Caprice came up short, they would end up getting wet. Shalin didn't mind, but if the fire-type wound up fully immersed in water...well, the rider didn't want to think about it. She leaned low, her head not too far above her Pokémon's. "Yah!" she cried, squeezing hard with her legs. Caprice bolted forward, the tips of each of her nine tails glowing orange and red with heat. At the track's edge, she made a low leap forward.

p_
{41+15=56}

It wasn't the most graceful leap to the middle island, but it got the job done, Caprice able to position herself to clear the second. The second leap was a bit higher than the first, Caprice breathing a bit more deeply upon a bit of a rough landing. Cresting the final curve without trouble, Shalin gave her Ninetales a pat on the head before dismounting and running toward the aquatic track's starting line, an eager-looking Levy ready to serve as the anchor leg of her trainer's practice relay. A virtual white flag waved on the overhang above the line.

{WC: 489; 3,035 total}
{PC: 5}·

[Shalin Nariya]

Though the aquatic track at Birch's training facility was rated more difficult, it had a much simpler shape, with only five major turns and no jumps. It had plenty of places for Levy to show off his speed, which Shalin thought couldn't be anywhere near what Caprice just put her through. The moment all four of Shalin's limbs were firmly holding Levy, the Milotic made a big splash with his tail. The two were off, accelerating in a clockwise path across the wavy surface.

All the practice she had done in warmer conditions helped a lot. Levy was still swerving back and forth as his rider re-positioned herself to maintain balance, but nowhere close to the extreme he was when his trainer was still learning how to control the aquatic serpent. Her previous experience with Levy being her guide, she was able to figure out that aquatic Pokémon, especially serpentine aquatic Pokémon, were much more responsive to a rider's motions than ones on land.

Staying in the center of the aquatic track, Shalin gently shifted her weight to the right, Levy quick to respond by twisting his body in the same direction. Her right knee became completely submerged as the two crested the right-angle curve. She shifted her weight back to the center afterward, feeling Levy push off the left side of the pool to finish correcting her own trajectory. She was getting the hang of it!

A big smile on her face as she bobbed up and down with the Milotic's undulating body, she saw only gentle curves for quite some time. If she maintained a perfectly straight path, she might not even need to turn at all. "Levy, can we go faster?" she kindly asked. The Milotic obliging, she felt a powerful thrust from his long tail, instinctively grasping his cream-colored body more tightly. She seemed to bounce off the surface as Levy's body cut through the water, leaving less of a wake than a creature that size and speed should. Bouncing a bit too hard, even--the waters on the north side of the track were rougher than by the line. Even Levy had a bit of a time keeping his balance as the two bobbed and bounced along and even a little below the surface.

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{93+15=108}

Every time Levy shifted left or right, Shalin was there to help him out, making micro-adjustments to keep the Milotic on a straight and swift path. The choppy waters were little trouble for both of them, even propelling the Levy faster at times. On her right, she observed a parallel section of the course, as well as the backstretch of the course Caprice had just run. That meant only one thing - a very nasty U-curve was coming up. Thankfully the water was much less choppy on the track's east side, but that wasn't going to make things much easier.

The girl was a little cold from water having splashed in her face from the choppy section - yet another reason why the racing season ran from early spring to mid-fall. She guided Levy to the outside of the U-curve that would send her back to the west, and tugged with her right arm, easing up with her legs so the Milotic would drop some of his speed.

p_
{31+15=46}

Shalin had not pulled quite hard enough to hold the turn completely, the Milotic letting out a yelp as he scraped his neck against the pool's underwater wall. "Ack!" his rider yelped in kind, yanking hard with her right arm and leaning hard to her right. Pushing off the wall again, Levy flexed his body away with great strength, corkscrewing to the right and completely submerging Shalin. When the two surfaced, swimming along the parallel track Levy was just on before, the blonde was shivering despite the pool being somewhat heated. Arciel needs an indoor aquatic track, she thought as the water-type bobbed along the again-choppy surface.

{WC: 653; 3,688 total}
{PC: 6}·

[Shalin Nariya]

Levy's added speed down the backstretch caused Shalin's hair to dry out more quickly at the cost of her body heat. The two raced forward with the finish line in sight, but another hairpin turn stood as the course's final obstacle. She wanted to dismount and walk alongside Caprice to the facility's locker room, where it was much warmer. She was also very close to the end of the relay, and she did not want to disappoint Levy.

The water-type pushed off the outside wall to better navigate the track's penultimate turn, a right-angle turn back to the south. If there were other competitors, this was the last place to reliably try to pass, as the finish line was just past the final hairpin turn looming in her field of view. Her hair had mostly dried out by now, but it was about to get terribly wet from another of Levy's sharp, corkscrew-like turns. Or was it?

Shalin goal was to finish, not to qualify in a race. Finishing was all she needed to do. She pulled back on Levy hard, the water-type swiveling his head to meet his trainer's eyes in disappointment. "I know. I'm getting c-c-cold, though," Shalin stuttered. "See if you can make this turn while keeping me dry." With a dejected nod, Levy obeyed, killing most of his speed. He and Shalin lazily leaned around the sharp curve. If it was warmer out, she would have taken the curve properly, but her health was more important. The display above the starting line showed images of a checkered flag and falling confetti, followed by an embarrassing-looking relay completion time. Twenty-some odd minutes and change. About half of the listed time was her half-passed out in the corner during Caprice's run.

Shalin let out a stuttered groan when she climbed out of the pool, recalling all of her Pokémon except Caprice. Embracing her warm Pokémon, the two walked toward the locker room and showers, though it seemed like the Ninetales was supporting her more than the two traveling alongside one another. Nothing a hot shower wouldn't fix, though.

{WC: 352; 4,040 total}
{PC: 7}

Mod note: Training thread complete. Requesting one or more point(s) of Ride skill.

[Elayne]

Congratulations!

Your thread is complete and now locked.

Shalin Nariya

Your thread has been locked. Because it was 4,040 words you receive 16 levels, 160 pen, 1 Red Apricorn, 4 Purple Apricorns, 1 Pink Apricorn, 2 Cheri Berries, 1 Ultra Ball, 1 Timer Ball, 1 Net Ball, 1 Quick Ball, 7 rare candies, and gained +3 to Wild Riding.