Josh gasped upon hearing Rajus remark that he was ready for more. "...You're really strong. I don't think I can handle anything else strenuous," he complimented his star Gym trainer. "Not today, anyway." He withdrew the rest of his team, getting them ready to be dropped off for a Pokémon Center run when they passed through the office.

Once he had gathered the rest of his Pokémon that needed to recover, an idea came to him. "How about we take an extended lunch and go some place nice to eat? Then I gotta catch up on some admin stuff like PTO requests. Such as the ones you put in for later this year." While it wasn't the Checkered Flag, there was another Unovan restaurant in downtown Mauville that served wonderful food.

Plus, it was happy hour there.

The scalding steam created more than an unbearably hot dome of humidity; it also whipped up damaging winds that lifted Josh and Raikou into the air. His skin flaked and began to blister from the inhospitable conditions, as did Raikou's. The Raging Bolt howled in pain as he fell from underneath Josh, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

Suicune howled loudly, the Walking Wake bounding toward Josh who was hurtling toward the ground. When it looked like he wasn't going to make it in time, the water-type ejected its own burst of HYDRO STEAM. Not to attack, but to shift the wind. A north wind gust ripped from behind Suicune, the Walking Wake's attack a great imitation of what the familiar Johtonian Suicune could do. With a loud cry as he pushed faster, he reached his trainer just in time, Josh finding himself seated on the Walking Wake's back. "...Suicune?" he moaned.

The paradox cracked a smile for the first time outside of Area Zero.

"Suicune. I... put my trust in you." With no reins to grab onto, Josh buried his hands in the Pokémon's purple mane and held on as tightly as his remaining strength would let him. With another loud howl, the clouds parted, heralding a SUNNY DAY. Suicune's legs bulged and claws glowed in PROTOSYNTHESIS, making the paradox far faster than he was before.

Josh couldn't help but chuckle at Zachary's description of the Raichu. Particularly how on point it was. "Oh, I know how fast Jolteon can get. I've ridden one before. Maybe one day, especially if you come out to the Gym, you'll get to meet Blinky." She was one of the most commonly-rented Pokémon for Josh's Gym employees to use during racing challenges.

The Gym Leader slid off the vicious shark's back when he saw Dizzy drawing something in the sand. It looked like the Alolan Raichu, but with an evil face that looked closer to a ghost Pokémon. As the drawing became more and more complete, it depicted the electric surfer's unhappiness more and more. Some of the Pokémon surrounding it were electrocuted; others, drowned in the wake of its massive waves. Alolan Raichu weren't common by any stretch, but they occasionally made their homes around the beach. "So you're saying the Raichu is upset with the water Pokémon around here?" he asked Dizzy.

The upset posse of water Pokémon clued Josh in to the problems the Raichu was causing. He came to a similar conclusion Zachary did, but it left a very important question unanswered. "But why, though? What would cause the Raichu to be so aggressive?" he asked. "I'm gonna a go on RangerNet and look into Alolan Raichu some. See if I can figure out what's causing the unwanted behavior and what we can do about it."

After an expectant purr, Josh took his place back on Swift's thundercloud, the Raikou standing back up. He tilted his head to look down at Matias and keep up eye contact with the Avatar. "What's wrong with those two? Especially Dr. Morales? She seems to have a really strong grasp with her Patron. Even as early as the end of 2022, she let me fly on them. And even at the full speed of their Dragon Ascent, they both kept me safe. I... about threw up my entire gut, but that's to be expected when dealing with the fastest Pokémon in the world." Of course, he knew little of the possible internal conflict between Peacemaker and Patron, or of their aggression toward Matias.

Josh didn't look as shocked as he should have been; with all the heinous acts Matias had committed, the misinterpreted news that Virizion had abandoned him came as no surprise, given what the Swords of Justice stood for. "I'll have to pay him a visit. I'm sure they'll get along wonderfully."

Before he could say anything else, a gusty crosswind caused Swift's ashen body to deform some, only reconstituting when the wind died down. It wasn't the wind; it was the HYDRO STEAM of Suicune the Walking Wake that created a highly localized microburst, often used to propel the dinosaur dragon to high speeds.

It was how the creature kept up with the Suicune that Josh mistook it for.

The past Josh couldn't take a compliment; he was humble to a fault, afraid to step on the feet of anyone that tried to exalt his own deeds. Self-deprecation was still a struggle for Josh, though he had conquered it some. He had to if he wanted to be a true Champion. Someone Hoenn could reliably depend on.

There was something between the two that just clicked, as though the Raging Bolt really was the Raikou that Josh inadvertently named the paradox after. That long neck didn't slow the electric dragon down, either; as he would find out, Raikou was more than capable of keeping up with Swift. "Ran into all kinds of those so-called paradox Pokémon. Think I ran into most of the known ones. I've got one of every single one at my Gym if it's got the right body shape and size to wear a saddle. The one called Roaring Moon is one of my favorites." He loved the way Ao flew and fought: one of his most powerful aerial mounts. Even if Yosei wasn't still suffering from chronic laziness, the Salamence would have a hard time keeping up.

The Raging Bolt's response sounded like rumbles of distant thunder as ashes continued to fall from the RAINBOW FEATHER's quill. "And this is why I needed such a rural route. Not just this Hoennian Raikou you see before you." Holding the iridescent object in his hand, he drew four strokes with it, its ashes suspended in midair in the shape of a lightning bolt. In a loud thunderclap accompanied by a brilliant flash, the ashes took the form of a monochrome Beast.



"This Raikou, too. His name's Swift." The regal creature's shape was of the more familiar Johtonian legend, dagger-like fangs extending from the top of his mouth. "He was Kyle's last gift to me before his death at Mount Chimney."

REQUESTING A MODERATOR

Characters: elodie hayfield Josh Devlin[break]

Request: Two catches + new normal grass fairy spawns please![break]

Thread: pkmn-hoenn.boards.net/thread/43994/dw-elodie-bumbling?page=1&scrollTo=538134[break]

Moderator: staff completes this field

A picnic sounded relaxing. "You have room for one more?" he asked, his body still thrumming from the wingbeats that had ceased not long ago. The vibration was a lot tougher on his body than he thought it would be. Riding this wasp would require special training, but it would be worth his while. He remembered how terrifying the creature was to Eris. To be able to harness that power and make sure it was appropriately used would be a great boon, able to strike fear into Rockets that opposed him.

After all, a high dose of Beedrill venom was a miserable way to go.

The Herdier came out of its hiding spot only from a Serperior slithering away from it -- and quite the large one at that. Had a Space-Time Distortion appeared recently? While the slithering back and forth would take a lot of getting used to, Josh never having been astride a giant snake Pokémon before, he wasn't going to let this one get away. He slid off his Pokémon and let him get to work.

The terrifying, deafening buzz of King Zing's wings might make those nearby shiver in fear, the saddled Beedrill pointing both his foreleg stings toward the grass-type in an effort to pin it down with small but sturdy PIN MISSILES. Showing great strength and resilence, the wild loudly rattled its leafy tail to free itself from the insect's attack, leaping toward King Zing with great speed and bringing the wasp to the ground in a WRAPPING attack. He furiously buzzed to try to shake free, Josh's head thumping from the grating noise. With his oversized bug in danger of collapsing, he hurled an empty Poké Ball toward the grass-type.

With how secured the cells were, complete with chains that would whip and poison them into submission if they tried pulling a fast one, getting the feather back would be difficult if not impossible in their current state. "Tell me about it. With it being so cold inside, I wonder how far north we are. Certainly doesn't get that cold in Hoenn anywhere but Shoal Cave and the Icelands." At night, it felt like the Icelands, his teeth having clattered quite a bit before he fell asleep.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Josh replied. "That feather's useless to them as is. They don't know the Sign." It was one extra layer of security the Great One had provided Josh to ensure her Beast child was not used by anyone but his rightful wielder. "You know, the League email that went out about it? That Sign."

The mention of Ogerpon made Josh perk up, recalling such a Pokémon that narrowly avoided trampling him in the Mochi pit. "Oh, really? We'll have to keep a close eye on her."

The metropolis was haunting; as thriving as it was, it sure had a lot of abandoned buildings. His eye caught a tube similar to the ones from the hallways: grotesque and filled with an unknown liquid. "Andrea..." he trailed off, stopping to peer inside the window more closely.

"She is," Josh confirmed, and would describe the castle on the east side of town in greater detail. Securing the grant for the building had to be a mess, what with how high land values were and how many people and businesses would have had to be moved from their homes. As Zachary pet Nala, the lioness purred, perhaps feeling like a strong massage to whatever skin was in contact with her.

The Minor League program, which used to be run by the late kyle lopez , was now run entirely by dahlia goode . "It's a program that Kyle ran, meant to scout for Gym Leader candidates. They get to open their own Gyms and take challengers, though with a much smaller budget. Several current Gym Leaders, including myself, graduated from the program. When I was in the Minor League, the Racing Grounds were located on Route 111, and only had three courses instead of twenty-four." The property was nostalgic for him, enough so that he never arranged for the fencing to be taken down. By now, the grass was overgrown, having not been mowed in a year and a half. The only building that remained on his grounds was the Operations Center, and only the basement of it where his Secret Base once was.

"You'll still get challengers," Josh continued, "but not at the rate a Major League Leader does. Their Badges even count for the Gym Challenge, but you can only use one Minor League Badge to qualify. It lets you get your feet wet without having to deal with the... political baggage that comes with being in the Major League."

Glossing over Zachary mentioning he wanted to engage in a Pokémon battle for the Quick Badge, Josh tried to calm him, the thrumming echo of Pyroar purrs the pride's effort to get the blue-haired man to relax. Nala even crouched next to Zachary. "It's not a conflict of interest at all! Elise herself challenged me not long ago, and she's works here part-time. There's two ways you can earn my Badge. In a battle of strength, or in a battle of speed--"

Before he could finish, he saw Dizzy whack Zachary with the wand-stick. A little confidence would help a long way in being a good Gym Leader candidate, he thought.

This was it.

After many visits to Mount Pyre, Josh was ready to free the souls of SHAWN EDWARDS and the ten other people that lost their lives to dorian westcliff 's senseless attack on Mauville Gym last year. Those souls, trapped within the Border for a year, would know peace. They would get their eternal rest. And once Josh's time was up, he would live with them forever in paradise. Raptured by the Great One, to revere and worship Her for all eternity.

And what better Pokémon to avenge them with than the Hoennian Beasts: some of the fastest Pokémon in the world. Seated astride his Raging Bolt, Raikou, Josh leaned left to see around the paradox Pokémon's long neck. Flanking him were his Gouging Fire, Entei, and his Walking Wake, Suicune. Only the electric-type was equipped for riding; the others were not trusting of Josh enough to be willing to be saddled.

"Thanks for the help, Thomas," Josh's voice echoed over the mostly empty, otherworldly sky. "Any sign of that snow cat?" he asked, the RAINBOW FEATHER pinned to his inert SYGNA SUIT gleaming. "My primary objective is still to release the souls of the eleven that died, but if we run into it again, I want to catch it." Little did he know that the Chien-Pao would never align itself with a trainer as pure as Josh...

Josh was a bit surprised to see Gwendolyn's choice of Pokémon. It wasn't a bad choice, but he thought she would use a fire Pokémon of some kind. "Is your Druddigon going to be cool enough?" he asked, unrecognizable by sight alone while wearing the bulky, white suit designed to create an airtight heat seal. "Because when we get close to the crater, it's going to get boiling. Literally boiling. We can't even bring water down there because it will boil away from within whatever we put it in."

Even if she couldn't enter the crater, the flying Druddigon would make a good scout. Only once the duo were in the air would the Champion respond to her. "You have no idea, Gwen. I wish I could tell you why. But I can't. League secret." They were good friends. It pained him to have to keep Raikou hidden from a fellow Ranger. Unfortunately, he couldn't share his possession of Raikou with anyone except League officials that were Ranger Captains and up.

"I just want to know what happened to him. How he died. Was it just the eruption? Or was it something far more sinister?" He already knew the answer to that question, too. "Anyway, we can split up; just try to turn around to keep an eye on the other from time to time. And let me handle searches lower to the ground if you can. I don't want you falling into the caldera. It may be solid, but there's magma not far underneath it. And your suit won't protect you against any amount of immersion in that."

Josh was not just in desperation mode, but in damage control mode, as well. His RAINBOW FEATHER was missing. He had found Resheph, his precious Dragonair, in a test tube and dying, if not already dead. In another derelict daycare a few blocks from the one where he had found Resheph's emaciated body, a far worse horror befell his eyes.

"...Raikou!!" Josh wept, seeing the Raging Bolt trapped inside the liquid-filled glass cage. While Resheph looked dead or nearly dead, the "Hoennian Raikou" looked well other than being unconscious. Perhaps even just asleep.

Before he could get too lost in his worries, ever blackwell had started shouting his name. The Champion turned around to see the Ranger he had worked hard to raise into a talent high in Hoenn's ranks. "...First Michael Davis , then Andrea Vaneau , and now you?" His heart sunk. How were they all in the same dream? And how many others had seen him and the Raging Bolt?

"Guess... guess the cat's out of the bag now," Josh replied, tilting his head down. "I caught Raikou."

High in the air and with a pair of binoculars in hand, Josh observed how Eddie handled the Eeveelutions' surveillance and the prowling Luxray's tireless search. A single squeak from one of the cart's wheels shifting at an odd angle mid-turn got the Cyclizar's attention, the Pokémon letting out a low moo. Using the scoreboard as cover made Josh smile; Eddie had realized how quickly he would be outnumbered if he were to take the shortest path head-on.

The spotlight slowly moved toward Eddie as he and Delilah followed the trail as stealthily as a Mudsdale could. With how massive the ground-type was, making noise was inevitable, garnering the Luxray's attention as it loosed a SHOCK WAVE upon the duo. Whether by fortune or planned by Eddie, the horse drew the electricity toward her body like a lightning rod, the crates, Pokémon, and rider completely intact and unharmed.

The gently rolling, grassy hills of Sector 1 awaited the courier-in-training next. With very few trees in sight and but a single river that ran along TWIST ROAD, there would be very little cover; confrontation would likely be unavoidable. Were Eddie to look toward the ground in the twilight, he would see frequent pawprints throughout the dirt and grass. Feline pawprints.

The pawprints would become more dense the closer he got to what appeared to be an unconscious Kantonian Raichu in a particularly flat part of the green expanse. Strangely, its tail did not glow with latent electricity; most of its bolt appeared to be charred black. What had happened to the poor thing, and who could have done that?

Not far from the Raichu was a sturdy bridge that appeared to be the only constructed, stable way across the river. With the Luxray and Cyclizar on high alert, returning to the Main Sector was likely a fool's errand. Crossing the river here, whether by bridge or otherwise, would lead to Sector 2, rife with aquatic channels for water Pokémon to hide in. If Eddie felt crossing here was too risky, he could follow the river and look for another crossing. Whatever those footprints belonged to was powerful, and the longer he stayed, the more he might feel like whatever those footprints belonged to was on the prowl...