The caverns beneath the Giant Chasm were just like the ones Josh had ran into within the RKS Simulation. The ones he had ridden Kora through and nearly made Andrea Vaneau sick during their exciting but intense ride on the Paradox Pokémon's back. As the Gym Leader and his Roaring Moon descended beneath the cloud cover, following the Galarian duo, he gasped at just how powerful the Pokémon inside were. Glimmora, fully-evolved wild dragons, and even another Roaring Moon patrolled the crystal-filled caverns. On top of an enormous crystal, a wild Salamence Terastallized into a pure Dragon-type before their very eyes.

"This place is... serious stuff," Josh slowly said as he landed, withdrawing Ao and sending out both his Type: Null and his Iron Crown ahead of him. Both of them were... unusually placid. "You mind if I go on ahead while you two set up? Sigmund and Aleph should be able to handle things down here." Little did he know how much he would be underestimating even the strength of his Sygna Suit...

Josh sighed at the royal's suggestion. He couldn't do anything about it, though; as a member of AQUA, Remiel was technically his superior. He whistled for his duo of paradox Pokémon to come to him, Josh taking a seat on the Iron Boulder's back. He could already feel the Sacred Sword's thrusters humming, ready to cleave any hostile Pokémon in two. By now, he had become somewhat used to the Terrakion look-alike's incredible speed, his Quick Attack eclipsing even Raikiri's already crazy speed. "Alright, we can stick together," he reluctantly agreed, though he insisted he take point. The Gym Leader lightly squeezed Tyrfing's sides, the rock-type breaking out into what would have been a run for many other Pokémon. For an Iron Boulder, though, this was a mere trot.

At the sight of an Iron Thorns, Tyrfing drew his SACRED SWORD and Aleph let out a growl that sounded like a purr and a bark at the same time. "Careful around this one. It's not very nice," the Gym Leader warned.

Aleph was quick to ambush the Iron Thorns, lowering his IRON HEAD and slashing into the Rock-type's body. Relentless in his attacks, he followed it up with a CRUSH CLAW barrage, landing blow after blue. The paradox Pokémon wasn't going down without a real fight; it caught Aleph's claw and lifted the Type: Null off the ground. All the flailing in the world did not do a bit of good against the heavily armored creature's surreal strength. It hurled the masked legendary Pokémon to one side in a devastating suplex, triggering an EARTHQUAKE that caused the ground Josh and Tyrfing were standing on to give way before he could answer Remiel or Elise.

With split-second reaction time, Josh leaped off the Iron Boulder and clicked the switch on his Roaring Moon's Poké Ball, Ao emerging to catch him in time. Tyrfing was in miserable shape, his thrusters damaged and in need of repair from the fall. With his SACRED SWORD only at half-length, he wasn't going to be too useful in combat. Josh withdrew the Iron Boulder for Sigmund, an Iron Crown. "Good save, Ao!" Josh encouraged the paradox dragon before calling back out to his companions. "Can I get a hand with this thing?"

One Iron Thorns was bad enough. Before them had to be a dozen or more. Tyrfing would have been wonderful at slicing and dicing the Tyranitar look-alikes to pieces, but he could barely move, let alone fight. The Roaring Moon's rider was relieved to see the Calcifets' Pokémon covering his retreat... but they had to get out, too. Though the ancient dragon's Flamethrower had range, it was not a long range, unlike the Pin Missile barrage. The moment those Stone Edges and Protects faltered, the skies above the Great Chasm would be full of stings.

"Hurry, both of you! We won't last long against them!" Josh urged, swooping above the horde with his dragon steed. Ao belched FLAMETHROWER from his mouth to serve as a distraction so that all three of them could get to the surface safely. Though it left him within range of their projectiles, it was the only way he could give his friends an opening to retreat.