If the two weren't on their Pokémon still, Josh would have given Ghost a hug. In other parts of the world, the Gym Leader would have spent a significant portion of the rest of his life behind bars for his egregious misdeed against a child, child terrorist or no. The ever-at-war nature of Hoenn truly changed the rules, didn't it? As he would learn from the higher-ups in the League, his sentence would not be for the attempted murder of a child. That child was an enemy combatant. Instead, his punishment would be for insubordination, a much less serious offense.

"Right, I do owe you one," Josh replied. Ghost had earned his Gym badge through a race, but he had never properly battled with the man who chased Zapdos. "Set up an appointment at Mauville Gym. I know you already have a Badge, but I'll approve it. It'll help with your Gym challenge, too. The League put in this dumb new rule a while back that to take the Champion Assessment, four of your six badges have to be earned from battles."

Josh was taken a bit aback at Ghost's remark. Unlike him, the Gym Leader couldn't simply disregard the Rangers. Plus, he still had his family to avenge for the trauma Rocket put them through. He wasn't sure whether Ghost was referring to himself or to Raikou. He still had faith that Raikou would come to him in a time of dire need, as Rayquaza did to Eva Morales . Whether that would happen in the electric specialist's lifetime was yet to be seen...