The sight of a Kingdra made Josh wish he had brought Keiga with him. Alas, she was in Interim Gym Leader JACKIE MYERS' care, being prepared for a race challenge at the Gym he was currently not welcome at. "Wait, you got him?!" Josh immediately perked up. He gave the Chaser an air hug, since he wouldn't be able to reach him from the back of his Samurott. "That's awesome! What's it like to fly on him? It seems like we have a lot of catching up to do." It reminded him of his flight on Articuno with Laurence Anderson . He longed for another flight on the ice phoenix under less harrowing conditions.

He paused unnaturally long upon being asked how he was doing. "...Not very well." His eyes shifted to see a number of sunbathers around him. "...How about we swim out a ways over the bay? Until the beach disappears over the horizon. That should be far enough."

Zapdos had been tamed. That was good news to hear, and would definitely be something to report to SAPPHIRE if the information could be verified. He couldn't help but laugh at Ghost's mood whiplash when he revealed he wasn't the chosen one. "Do you know who tamed Zapdos?" he asked. "As a Ranger, you should know that I'm a lead on Project SAPPHIRE. Any information you have on Zapdos would be incredibly valuable."

Regardless of whether he was willing to share, time would pass as the two Samurott sped away from the shore. Once Mauville City disappeared beyond the horizon, Josh felt comfortable sharing his story. "This is really hard for me to tell you, but... I have been suspended from exercising my duties as a Gym Leader for six months. It's because of... well, the biggest mistake of my life. Does the name Eris ring a bell?"

Project THUNDERBIRD? Josh had never heard of an operation like that. If it involved legendary Pokémon, it would have gone through him, thanks to his lead role in Project SAPPHIRE. "SAPPHIRE isn't about a specific legendary Pokémon. There was a bulletin that went out last month over RangerNet, for those who couldn't make the meeting in Ever Grande. It war marked as urgent; didn't you read it?" Ghost's mention of knowing who tamed Zapdos caused Josh's eyebrows to go up. "As a Ranger, any information you have on legendary Pokémon, if you're at liberty to share it, would be extremely helpful. If you're not at liberty to share it, then I understand, and I won't give you any more legal exposure than you already have."

Ghost's widening eyes did not go unnoticed. "She's a child terrorist. She's been wanted by the League for quite some time. We finally got her and I was supposed to transfer her to Mauville Law enforcement for questioning. She got away from me, and I chased her all over Mauville and 117. And that wasn't just about me. It was about Raikou, too. I still want answers as to what happened to Raikou in the Kanto War and the Johto Invasion." Tears rolled down his eyes as the traumatic memory of his Beedrill attacking Eris was front and center again in his mind.

"This is really hard for me to say, but..."

It seemed Ghost was blissfully unaware of the situation, that even Josh's suspension was news to him. "She was pretty high on the League's Most Wanted list for a while, but we finally got her and I was responsible for bringing her to HQ for questioning. She tried to get away from me, and I had to use every bit of speed I had to catch her. Even my Pokémon's HYPERSONIC PLASMA CHARGE. You familiar with it? It might be the fastest Pokémon move in the world." Second fastest -- only to Eva Morales 's Rayquaza and their DRAGON ASCENT, that is.

"While trying to apprehend her, I wanted to get answers from her about Rocket's motive for killing Raikou. I wanted to believe so much that she had the answer I was looking for that I didn't let up until she told me what I wanted to hear. In hindsight, it was an answer she clearly didn't have. But in the heat of the moment, all I could focus on was Raikou. Blitz, my Luxray, realized that, and started disobeying me." Josh sniffed several times, his watery eyes and flustered face making him difficult to understand.

"And then... I completely lost control."

"In the heat of that moment, I lost control," Josh continued, his face continuing to drip tears. "Given how high profile of a Rocket target she was, I had thought she would know what happened to Raikou in the Kanto War. And I... I nearly killed her over it. Rather, my Beedrill, King Zing, nearly did." It was a moment of great darkness in his light-filled life, though small that moment may have been, it snuffed out dozens of lights he had worked so hard to hang in the lives of many Hoennians. Even Toshiro simply floated in the water, rather than bobbing up and down to keep Josh on his riding game. The solemnity in the air was easy to recognize.

"Ghost, I've already done that," he answered. "I want to make this wrong right. I really do. Eris is a child. She doesn't deserve what Rocket's done to her. She certainly didn't deserve what I did to her. And now I have to live the rest of my life knowing I did that. Nothing can undo what I did. I just want to clear my name and do what I can to help her." As much as he felt like he had to do something, there was nothing he could do. That relationship was forever shattered. There would be no making amends with her. Regrettably, he would have to move on.

Ghost seemed to understand what Josh was trying to say deep down, but Josh could not bring the words to his lips right away. "That's so much easier said than done. How do you even approach someone who tried to take your life, let alone get them to understand you genuinely want to apologize to them and ask for forgiveness?" Little doubt it was a touchy subject; Josh had received a lot of conflicting advice on the matter. Ultimately, he would need to choose which advice was the most sound and act on it. That involved being a true leader and making a decision for himself.

"I go back to being the kind of person I was before this happened, with one change. Ever since I learned of Raikou's fate, I had become obsessed with getting to the bottom of who killed him and why." The weight of his folly quest had begun to bear its full load down upon the Master of Faster. "I had valued Raikou above everything else. Even my Gym and... my friends. Having Mauville Gym taken away from me made me realize I can't abandon my city. My people. Every resident of Mauville City is as much of a friend as you are. And I haven't needed Raikou to protect them until now."

It was clear he adored the Johto Beast, and still had a strong wish to be the one to fight alongside him. "If this has taught me one important lesson, it's that I have to bottle my obsession back up into a mere wish. A desire. Not a goal. Rather than chasing what cannot be chased... I need to focus on what I can do. And that's keep Mauville safe from Rocket. Be the best, most influential Gym Leader I can be. And most importantly, not let Raikou control me anymore." There was nothing wrong with an innocent desire. It was that desire turning destructive that nearly led to a child's life being ended... and another life nearly ruined.