Joules is in the sky, scouting the depth of the damafes and how far the fire had spread. Not too much but it still posed a danger. They beeped a set pattern at the man and he nodded, turning away only when he heard someone speak to him. "Devlin." He repeated, giving the ranger a once over and a nod. He's already letting out another pokemon. This time a small Larvitar who popped out and looked up intently at the officer. "Maclure, flank right on that fire and push in, Joules will watch you from the sky."

With another set of beeps and a small coo the little dual type was off. He turned back to the ranger with him. "I'll push in and try to stop the fire from spreading deeper into the woods. Hopefully all the pokemon are gone by now." He said as he gave his partner another nod. "Radio if you need me."


Josh Devlin | mission prompt: fire force

While Josh was still but a Rookie, he had a good pair of Pokémon to tackle this job with; Snacker could use his Aqua Jet to launch a beam water long distances, and could also fling high volumes of water short distances with other Water-type moves. He didn't have a lot of high-volume range, though; that was where Resheph's Aqua Tail would come in. The downside is she wouldn't be able to just drop swaths of water over the fire like most actual Water-types could. Her Aqua Tail would be a potent weapon, but not one that could be used repeatedly without having to dip into the river and recharge. "Works for me. Alright, let's get to work." He paused for a second or two before remembering one important thing. "Will keep in touch. My frequency is one one niner decimal four three. Oh, what's your name?"

Regardless of whether he got the officer's name, he had an important job to do. While it was Paxton's job to ensure the fire didn't spread any farther, it was primarily Josh's job to reduce the area the fire was actively consuming. After guiding Twilight to the river's edge, the racer withdrew him and sent out his other two Pokémon. Resheph emerged from her Poké Ball, readying a charge of AQUA TAIL to be released on her trainer's command. Snacker splashed along the river's shallows, Josh quick to mount up and get started.

Resheph floated to the canopy level and lashed her AQUA TAIL in the general direction of the burning trees, a loud hissing found filling the air as the Water-type attack started dousing the flames and creating quite a lot of fog and steam. He had experience with fire before, though Elinor Anderson was the one that was doing the firefighting. This time, he was serving that role.

It did not take Resheph long to exhaust the water she used to cover her tail. As she dove into the river to recharge, Josh saw an opportunity; her attacks had isolated a good chunk of the blaze. "Snacker, AQUA JET!" The dark-type swimmer swerved back and forth to let the laser-like burst of water cover as much ground as possible.

After a few laps of getting up to speed, Josh briefly dove his Sharpedo beneath the sea before yanking upward on his main fin, the Water-type responding with another AQUA JET that sent them sailing into the sky. "And now, use LIQUIDATION!" Snacker reversed the direction of his water flow, spouting great volumes of water toward the riverside blaze.

Paxton could see the steam of where Josh's work met flames. "Coming through!" he shouted as his Larvitar stomped forward, hopefully giving anything or anyone trapped ample warning to move. Maclure dutifully moved through, darting into the fire to check for unconscious survivors before sneaking back to Paxton. He could confidently say everyone had left. With that, Paxton gave the thumbs up for the work to continue.

As Josh's two pokemon were taking care of the river side, Pax was trying to cut in, being loud and rowdy enough to keep away anything remotely aggressive or curious. He tapped into his earpiece, checking a frequency before saying into the comms. "Devlin, its all clear on my side. Haven't seen any pokemon or people. You?"

As he said that Maclure would rocks and earth under where Joules directed him. The Magneton beeping like a beacon for all parties involved.

Josh Devlin | mission prompt: fire force

"Roger that, Officer Concorda. Sorry I missed your name before, but I remembered it. Not a soul in sight on the riverbank, over," Josh answered the policeman's call, wondering how well he could be heard over all of Snacker's splashing. It seemed like the water-type had the best ides of how to put the fire out after one combination of Aqua Jets ending in Liquidation. "Snacker, you keep doing what you've been doing." He went to switch his comms back on and realized what he said to Snacker was audible over the radio! "Sorry about the crosstalk, Officer Concorda. I'm taking to the air. Leaving this channel open for now. Just holler if you have any updates, over."

With that, Josh whistled for Resheph to descend to the river and swim alongside his Sharpedo, so he could switch rides. Once he climbed over to the Dragonair's back, he left Snacker to repeat the process with the next wave of searing foliage: Aqua Jet for wide areas, and Liquidation for areas where the blaze was particularly intense. "Looks over 50% contained now, over." Resheph flew above the blaze, swishing her AQUA TAIL back and forth, dropping water all over the blazing treetops.

After a bit of smooth sailing in pushing the fire back, Josh heard a crash from the riverbank, followed by some Floatzel cries. "Ugh, this is the worst possible timing to be harassed by wild Pokémon." He radioed back to Paxton. "Officer Concorda, Floatzel on the river, and my Sharpedo is in trouble. Could use reinforcements there, over."

"Good, radio if you need me. I'm closing the loop soon, over." He nodded along as Jos came back, teal eyes surveying their end of the forest. The smell of smoke was rough, but at least the help of some other ranger's TAILWIND was pushing the cloud up and away. Still, his eyes were getting irritated. and he'd probably smell later.

His Larvitar was quick to rush in to destroy patches and back out. It's slow but steady, and there doesn't seem to be anything left in the hot zone that was making things worse. The call for help is heeded, with Paxton releasing another pokemon as Joules beeped at him, seeing the Floatzel over the other side. "Sending my friend ahead to help, on my way, over." The Larvitar looked up at his trainer before attempting to make a rocky barrier to keep the fire from moving back and spreading again before focusing on building a patch towards where Paxton pointed.

Altan the Solrock however, moved over the fire with ease using PSYCHIC to shove the Floatzel back into the river and announce his presence to Josh. He pulled back, staying near Josh defensively while Paxton pushed towards them.

Josh Devlin | mission prompt: fire force

Paxton's reinforcements came just in time; just as Resheph was diving back into the lake to rehydrate, the officer's Pokémon released enough attacks toward the wild marine Pokémon for Snacker to make an escape from the ring of Water-types surrounding him. Josh recalled the Sharpedo as soon as he was close enough, Resheph weaving around various ranged water attacks from the wilds, the sound of humming and buzzing tails drowning out all sound but the crackling of fire.

Snacker was not in good shape, though; he had taken a lot of AQUA JETs from the wilds, and would need an extended stay at a Pokémon Center to fully recover from them. While technically conscious, the level of consciousness the dark-type had would be far from useful in fighting the fire. Luckily, the two were almost done. Resheph made one more pass over the blaze with her Aqua Tail, and with Paxton's work on the other side, they had the fire 100% contained.

Josh radioed in one last time. "Officer Concorda, this is Rookie Ranger Devlin. The fire appears to be completely contained. Let's clean this mess up and go home, over." To him, going home meant a nice, cold shower. He needed it after today, and he wasn't even the one doing all the hot work! That was all Paxton.

Paxton heard the message, jogging through with his Larvitar as the earth seemed to settle. Embers that lay here and there were carefully observed and extinguished by either Paxton or his partner. Joules affirms Josh's report, coming back with a similar story through a series of miscellaneous beeps.

He catches up to the Ranger before he can answer back over the radio. "Hey! You ok? Any injuries or burns?" he asked reaching into his pocket and pulling out a little eye dropper. "I've got drops for red eyes. The irritation will definitly settle in later if you're not careful." he added holding out the little bottle if he wanted it.

He returned his Larvitar, Joules doing a couple of passes over the nearby area just in case. "There should be another team coming in to check for anything salvageable." he added. "Good work, Rookie." he added with a quick, but hard clap on the shoulder. Unintentionally of course. Paxton was just a little heavy handed. Literally.

Josh Devlin | mission prompt: fire force

Josh breathed a sigh of relief as nothing but smoldering remained in the place where an out-of-control fire once raged. He descended to the forest floor to meet his CO, the racer breathing a little heavily. "Winded, but otherwise okay," he answered as he withdrew his badly hurt water-type. "Riding a water-type and being able to keep my distance helped a lot." He opened his eyes wide to let Paxton make the call, as he did not have a mirror to look into. If Paxton thought Josh's eyes were red enough, he would take the offer to use the Officer's eye drops.

The tall, black-haired young man gently pat his mount's neck. "Great work, Resheph. All of you, really. Without you, this wouldn't have been possible." Resheph let out a coo directed at her trainer, then a second toward Paxton. The Dragonair's cry made Josh smile every time he heard it. "Thanks," Josh graciously accepted the compliment. "You've been wonderful to work with. I hope our paths cross again. See you around!" With that, the Dragonair took back to the sky, her rider guiding her toward Petalburg City's Ranger HQ to report in.