[Josh Devlin]

Snacker didn't seem to like the wave pool too much, doing nothing but thrashing Josh off every time he mounted up. He looked at his bruised left hand - thankfully the bleeding had stopped. It was still unpleasant, but it was more than bearable, especially underneath a waterproof pair of gloves. Hopefully they wouldn't tear too much from the water-type's rough skin. Withdrawing the Sharpedo, Josh moved over to the aquatic course had trained Resheph at - a simple figure eight with short but fully-submerged tunnel. There wasn't terribly much room to attach tack to a Sharpedo of Snacker's size, so it would be all about building trust with the Bully of the Sea, as his species was known. "Alright, I'm ready if you are," Josh said, gently patting his Pokémon in front of the big fin. "Let's go!"



Taking in a bug gulp of water, Snacker shot a pressurized water jet from his rear, and the two were off at a clip that created a strong wake, occasionaly splashing water out of the figure-eight-shaped pool. "Now, how am I going to control you..." The Sharpedo was already swimming at quite the clip, making it difficult for Josh to make adjustments to his grip...plus he had to be ready for his mount to buck and thrash at any given moment. With him realistically unable to move his legs, he could only think of one thing. As the first long but gentle curve was coming up, the racer pushed on the vicious aquatic predator with his right hand, toward the base of the fin.

cEzVRMy1p_


While Snacker was responding by turning his body, there was a big delay between his facing direction changing and his swim angle matching it. Though Josh was glad that he found a system that Snacker seemed to approve of, meaningfully controlling him on a race course was going to be a whole different battle. The Sharpedo's fin would be almost like a joystick, making controlling him intuitive at the very least...at least for lateral movement. As the two came out of the turn, Snacker rubbed his right fin against the pool's outside wall from coming out of it too soon. He let out a grumble before making an adjustment back to the center of the course. Josh would need to come up with a system for vertical movement, and fast--at the high speeds the predator was swimming at, that tunnel would be in his face before he knew it.


---

{WC: 414}
{PC: 1}

[Josh Devlin]

Josh had run this course with Resheph once, so he had an idea of how each turn went, but it felt very different on a mount moving at nearly double the speed. Recalling how he made it through the tunnel with his Dragonair, perhaps the Sharpedo would be similar. Wrapping both his hands around the much thicker base of the fin, Josh took a deep breath, then pushed forward on the fin. The two submerged with plenty of time to spare, the tunnel's lights flying by. He dared not try to make adjustments while underwater - that would be something to do when he had more confidence in his control of an aquatic Pokémon. It had to be this one, too - he had already submitted Snacker as his Pokémon for the race in Ivy Town, and that was something he could not change without a qualifying excuse, such as an injury that rendered the water-type unfit for racing.

Sunlight filtered through the end of the tunnel, a sign that the two could surface again soon. Josh had the Sharpedo swim just above the bottom of the tunnel, the excited Pokémon bobbing back and forth. Once the course bottom started to rise again, he pulled up on the fin, the Pokémon gained more speed as he felt a spike of turbulence from behind. Was this an attempt at an Aqua Jet? While he didn't ask for his partner to try to use the move, it would certainly be very helpful - after all, it was the most basic move for going faster in an aquatic setting. The two rapidly headed toward the surface, Josh timing when to apply counter pressure to the fin.

6ciki_rip_

His timing was perfect - the two surfaced without breaching the water's edge at all. He laughed as he heard the impact of Snacker's water jet against the tunnel's exit - that was some propulsion to fling water around so hard! "Alright, Snacker, one more turn - right this time!" He nudged the tall fin from the left this time, his Pokémon rounding the long, gentle curve. The rider breathed a sigh of relief as he could feel Snacker relaxing, even letting him make a micro-adjustment to avoid brushing the inside wall. The starting line was off in the distance, a straight shot to it. "Hey, mind trying another Aqua Jet for me?"



Josh squeezed his legs and jabbed at the Sharpedo's sides, hearing a loud crach of water against the pool's edge in the first moments of the aquatic sprint. While holding on, he inadvertently tilted the blue predator's nose up slightly - enough for them to completely breach the surface with his added momentum. The Sharpedo bounced along the water's surface for as long as he could maintain the Aqua Jet, Josh's heart racing as he crossed the line. He couldn't help but pump his right fist as he crossed the line - he was, for now, successfully controlling one of the most vicious water Pokémon of all!

---

{WC: 502; 916 total}
{PC: 2}

[Jae]

Aqua Jet has been relearned.

[Josh Devlin]

Water splashing onto his helmet again, Josh couldn't help but let a cry as Snacker bounced almost effortlessly across the surface. That would be short-lived, though - he pushed down and from the right to command the dark-type to tilt his nose level with the water again and start turning left into the first long, but gentle, curve. The Sharpedo lifted his right fin completely out of the water in the process of turning, Josh feeling a bit of turbulence as his mount sputtered his rear water jet in an effort to do some kind of speed control.

E|Qycxjdp_Obedience

As Snacker crested the curve, Josh gently nudged on the fin to get him to straighten out on the right side of the course. In theory, that would let him jet through the tunnel and come out of it at very high speeds off another Aqua Jet. Snacker had other plans, though - once Josh started pushing on him, the water-type turned the other way - so hard that his right fin was sticking way out of the water. It was as though the Pokémon was trying to use the move Whirlpool, but Sharpedo couldn't swim either fast enough or in tight enough of a line to form a vortex like that. Even so, it was still plenty fast - so much that Josh's head was starting to spin.



The speed of the circling got to the point where Josh desperately tried to wrench control back into his own hands, pushing harder against the Sharpedo's raised right side. That only made him all the angrier, though, ceasing the circling and instead swerving back and forth across the track's wide backstretch, bucking and thrashing with every swerve. Josh wanted to yell at his Pokémon, but he felt he had to save his strength for what was to come.

p_Dexterity

That second swerve and thrash hurt - Snacker flailed upward with great power that he hearly heaved his trainer off completely with just one sudden combination of movement. While Josh was still reeling from the first, the Sharpedo snapped his jaw harshly, thrusting Josh forward while doubling back over his swimming path. The result was a rider overboard in the current leading to the track's underwater tunnel, and a water-type that looked proud of his strength. One of Josh's gloves dangled from the fin, a tear along the spot where his little finger would go. The life guard on duty looked ready to jump after Josh, ready to scoop him to safety at a moment's notice if things escalated any farther.

---

{WC: 423 - 1339 total}
{PC: 3}
·

[Josh Devlin]

Thankfully for Josh, things didn't escalate further - in fact, it was just the opposite. Snacker, in a complete change of heart, felt bad for overdoing things. Seeing his trainer treading water and floating toward the tunnel entrance. The dark-type stared toward Josh from behind, swimming straight at him with his mouth open just wide enough to ingest enough water necessary to swim. Around a hundred feet behind, he submerged, the torn glove floating in the water. Josh would need new ones by the end of this!

The smart and fast water Pokémon swam right underneath Josh and surfaced, his trainer's legs sliding right around his skin. While riding in front of the fin was much less comfortable and controllable than behind it, it would have to do until they got back to the pool's starting line. On his own, Snacker turned around, Josh holding on with one hand, going against the current. It was a bit choppy, but it was a bit easier to hold on due to their lower speed. He tracked toward the half-torn glove drifting his way so Josh could retrieve it. "...Thanks so much Snacker!" He gently pat his partner with the hand containing his fully-intact glove before leaning partially into the water to retrieve the other.

After slipping his now four-fingered glove back on his right hand, Snacker continued to swim against the pool's current, running the course in reverse. "...You know you're going the wrong way, right?" Josh asked his Pokémon, shrugging. The Sharpedo snapped his jaw once, startling Josh. It felt like another sharp buck to him, what with sitting much closer to the front of the speedy swimmer.

That was the only one, though, the only other turbulence being mild from bouncing atop the choppy current. Snacker let Josh dismount at the ladder by the starting line, quick to turn around once his trainer had gotten off. He eagerly clacked his serrated maw several times more while Josh simply hung from the rungs. "Oh, you're ready for more? Cause I'm ready to race for real this time!" After taking another couple of minutes to catch his breath, Josh grabbed his Sharpedo's fin and climbed behind it, making sure to keep his exposed little finger away from his mount's rough skin.

With his Sharpedo fully cooperative now, Josh could focus on getting himself ready for the race in Ivy Town. Resheph would be very easy to get used to, especially when tacked up and he didn't have to worry about slipping. This Sharpedo had much more speed, and if the course allowed him to really let loose, would give Josh a big advantage. Snacker opened his mouth wide to ingest a large amount of water, using it to fuel his rear water jet and propel the two down the course much faster than Resheph could hope to swim.

{WC: 477 - 1816 total}
{PC: 4}

[Josh Devlin]

A loud popping noise startled Josh as Snacker expelled water from his rear, the rider's eyes wide open and teeth grit, his strength to hold on being tested. There would be no room for a cocoon saddle on the Sharpedo, either - he would need to hold on using his own strength if he intended to race the dark-type predator. He submerged so only his top fin was poking out of the water, Josh's lower legs beneath the waves as well. The wake the two produced as Snacker made the turn was impressive.

The biggest adjustment for Josh was that without reins to control the water Pokémon, he would need to rely on shifting his weight left and right to control direction. It didn't help that a Sharpedo's method of locomotion made it difficult to adjust momentum quickly - even if Snacker reacted immediately, there was a delay between him tilting to change directions and actually doing so. He found himself needing to lean into every turn early, which was scary with how fast Sharpedo were. The delay also made quick adjustments nearly impossible. If he turned too early, he could go flying over, or even into, the pool's concrete wall. While Sharpedo were genetically engineered to occaionally suffer large impacts like that, humans weren't.

The first curve coming up fast, Josh started Snacker off on the outside part of the course before leaning left gently to turn, putting mild pressure on the right side of his fin. Though he reacted immediately, it took a little less than a second for the aquatic apex predator's momentum to shift in the direction the rider requested. Micro-adjustments were still possible with sufficiently open waters, but even making simple turns was still scary for him. Coming out of a turn too early was an equally valid fear - it would be easy to inadvertently ram his Pokémon into the wall and launch him across the course.

Rather than continue the course the intended way, Josh turned Snacker around to practice the curve a few times. One thing he quickly noticed when the shark bounced against the current is Sharpedo, unlike many other Pokémon, could theoretically make small turns in the middle of a jump. Being new to a Pokémon like this, though, that would be something to practice later. For now, he needed to get the basics of controlling the Pokémon at high speed. After one last smooth trip around the opening curve, Josh had Snacker face staright forward, toward the tunnel. "Alright Snacker, use your Aqua Jet!"

What sounded like a small, underwater explosion sounded behind him--one he not only heard, but felt. The sudden and powerful acceleration arched Josh backwards, Snacker interpreting the pressure on the front of his fin as a command to rise out of the water and perform a jump. The trainer let out a scream, the facility's life guards on edge as he sped down the backstretch while barely in control of his mount. Once they were back in the water, though, Josh relaxed, his fear changing to pure joy as the adrenaline rush showed no signs of stopping. "Yee-ha! Nothing can stop me now!" he shouted, taking in a deep breath as the Sharpedo was about to submerge for getting the two through the underwater tunnel.

Sharpedo's Aqua Jet was so fast that the tunnel's lights seemed like a flashing strobe light to him. This made him a lot more confident about going out to sea - easily the biggest danger of going out to sea on a Pokémon was the threat of a Sharpedo attack. While Sharpedo were easy to identify due to their enormous wake, if you saw one swimming your way, it was too late. Another Sharpedo, especially one race-trained, would be a great insurance policy on the open seas. It was the number one reason to carry a big flying Pokémon, if not another Sharpedo, out on the waves.

Snacker's Aqua Jet petered out on exiting the tunnel, the two surfacing to take on the practice course's final curve. Having practiced on the previous curve so much times, this one would be easy - it would just be Josh leaning in the opposite direction. With a greater feel for how long the delay in momentum shift was, Josh managed to keep almost exactly to the center of the track the entire time. With the home stretch in sight, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. "Hey, Snacker...how do we stop?" he sheepishly asked. Josh got his answer - the water-type made a sweeping arc from the outside to the inside of the track, making a complete 180-degree turn on his momentum alone, before shooting a water jet from his rear in the same direction they were traveling. What a way to put on the brakes! The two gently floated back to the entry ladder, Josh recalling his newly-trained aquatic mount after quite the exciting session.

---

Mod note: Training thread ended. Should be 13 levels and 2 move slots if my math is right. Also I'd like to request 1 point of Dexterity or Agility for Josh, whichever staff feels is more appropriate.

{WC: 824 - 2640 total}
{PC: 5}

[whimsae]

Congratulations!

Your thread is complete and now locked.

Josh Devlin

Your thread has been locked. Because it was 2640 words, you receive 10 levels, 100 Pen, 1 Red Apricorn, 2 Orange Apricorns, 1 Black Apricorn, 1 Yellow Apricorn, 1 Dive ball, 1 Repeat ball, and 5 Rare Candies. In addition, you have unlocked 2 extra move slots per your trainer perk, and have also been awarded +1 point in Dexterity.