Though the rural roads weren't as straight as Old Route 110, Josh's typical spot to work through Goroh's perpetual delirium post-operation, they had such little traffic that it would be relatively safe for the Cyclizar to glide along the road without endangering travelers' lives. Sadly, his outing with Raju Mystic had taught him that Goroh was simply too unstable to safely carry a rider.

Instead, the Gym Leader had his pride of Pyroar loose: three males and a female. He was seated on the largest of the four: a Shiny male named Aslan. The female, Nala, ran alongside him, the youngest of the four. Bringing up the rear were Simba and Kovu, two males not quite up to Aslan's size, but still quite large for their kind. They were flanking Blinky, a Jolteon that appeared to be near or at the limit of how large the species could grow. The Jolteon and all four of the Pyroar were dressed in riding gear, as though beckoning traveling humans to sit on their backs and go for a speedy ride across southwest Hoenn. It was a parade of apex predators that could easily have caught the attention of anyone nearly, particularly given the reputation of wild Pyroar to be aggressive and territorial.

Mateo and his crew were taking a well-deserved rest - well, continuing to for his other two Pokémons' cases - when the floor beneath them started to rumble. He stood from his spot while his team became equally alert. Earthquake? Pokémon digging underground? It was hard to tell the source these days.

He looked around and eventually spotted something in the distance, squinting to see what he could be. It was growing larger and that's when he realized.

Was that a pride of lions? And they're coming this way?!

Well that's not good.

Mateo was quick to return Paco to his Pokéball before whistling to the rest of his team. They were better at traversing terrain than the Rock-type. "Guys, we gotta move!" His Tranquill Vendaval quickly took to the skies while Bella, his Leafeon, hopped her way up the branches of a tree. Seeing this as a good idea, Mateo did the same, letting the tree's height keep him away from the stampede making its way through.

Only when he was up there did he notice that not all of them were lions, but they were wearing something on their backs. Saddles? Someone owns this group? Oh he sees the person now- riding on one of the Pokémon no less.

Another whistle sounded from the trainer, hoping to get the guy's attention. "Hey! That whole pack yours?"

Josh Devlin

The whistle drew the Gym Leader's attention, reining his Pokémon to an abrupt stop that caused him to rear like a frightened horse would. It got Josh's heartbeat racing, which was part of the point. The others slid to a stop as well, Goroh taking a little longer to brake than the others due to not having claws designed for rapid acceleration and deceleration.

"They are!" Josh shouted. "Just taking them on a run is all! You okay there? I can try to give you a hand getting down!" The four big cats tilted their heads toward Mateo, looking friendly as could be. Their halters gleamed in the sunlight. "Aslan, Simba, Kovu, and Nala are their names, and Nala might be pregnant with a fifth," he introduced the four. "I'm Elite Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but you can call me Josh." Blinky started zipping back and forth, starting to get on Goroh's nerves and make him jealous of the kind of speed the large, saddled Jolteon was capable of.

Oh good, the guy stopped. And he wasn't being chased down by a group of wild Pokémon after all. Mateo heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay, that's good to hear. And nah, I can get myself down no problem!" Which the trainer did effortlessly, stepping off and latching on to the branch before dropping himself on his feet.

He was about to introduce himself when he heard fluttering to his left, prompting him to lift a finger at the rider. "One sec, I gotta see what this is." Throwing himself into a bush, he peeked his head out to spot a Ninjask that got attracted to all the commotion. With a grin Mateo whistled for his Tranquill, who situated himself in a tree. "Hey Vendy! Air Slash it will ya?" The bird easily followed his command, sending gusts at the bug to weaken it before the man threw his pokeball. A click later and a new friend was easily added to his party.

Mateo stood up and left the bush to join the stranger again, dusting the leaves off his body as his avian compatriot retrieved the ball and placed it in his hand. "Sorry about that! Name's Mateo Cortés, trainer new to the gym circuit actually, so it's an honour meeting a gym leader out here!" He'd shake the guy's hand if he wasn't sitting atop the behemoth of a Pyroar, so he opted to salute at the ranger instead.

His eyes wandered between each of the 'mon in his party, smiling. "Wow, you sure got a nice crew here. Do you take them out on these runs often?" Mateo chuckled at the Jolteon zipping about. "Ooh, that guy especially must love the fresh air."

Josh Devlin

Josh was relieved to see Mateo was okay, fully capable of climbing down on his own. The quick capture was impressive, particularly on a Pokémon known for beyond wild speed. "Good luck raising them; Ninjask are a handful. There's a common saying in Hoenn that you don't train Ninjask; they train you. They're really needy Pokémon, but are rewarding. They can grow really big, too." While he wasn't sure if they grew quite big enough to ride on, it was close enough for him to at least investigate rifts and other temporal anomalies for one. That was how he found some of his most exotic ride Pokémon, including his entire Eeveelution family.

"You're pretty talented. I think you've got chops to go far in the Gym Challenge," Josh complimented the young man, Aslan's loud purr perhaps making it hard to hear the end of his sentence. Josh returned the salute with one of his own. "I do," he answered Mateo's question. "It's a core part of Mauville's challenge. Most, but not all, of Hoenn's gyms have a special challenge you can take in lieu of a battle. I took over Mauville's Gym a little less than a year ago. It's now the largest Pokémon racing complex in Hoenn, and one of the largest in the world, too. Instead of battling me for a badge, you can hop on your Pokémon's back and face off against Pokémon like Aslan here in a contest of speed." Perhaps now it made sense why nearly every one of Josh's Pokémon wore saddles.

"She," Josh corrected as the Jolteon came to his side in a yellow blur, nearly colliding with Aslan. While she was smaller than Aslan by a significant margin, she was still large enough for a human to ride... if only just so. "Blinky here is one of my fastest runners. Her Quick Attack can carry her as fast as a race car." He wasn't kidding, either; she wanted to show just how fast she could run, but held off when Josh raised a finger toward her. No reason to scare Mateo off!

"So what brings you out here? If you're headed somewhere, I may be able to get you there a lot faster," the Gym Leader kindly offered, Blinky's head perking up at the idea of potentially showing Mateo her speed firsthand.