As Vasi walked over the hill, finishing off his snack as he did so. The man noticed the younger guy further away with Pokemon that did not look the size they were supposed to, he'd heard about this phenomena and believed it was called Alpha Pokemon or something. But it was interesting to see a pair of Eevelutions and a Pyroar so large, he knew for a fact none of them were meant to be that big. As he'd seen all of them before or in some cases battled them, though he'd never gone up against Alphas though either.

But before he could actually try and chat to the guy and his massive pokemon as another Pyroar appeared on the scene, probably picking up on the Alpha Pyroar and wanting to assert dominance though upon seeing it. The Pyroar instead turned its attention to Vasi instead, which honestly wasn't surprising given the intelligence of Pokemon. He could also see an Exploud further on but it was closer to the other guy then the Pyroar was to him.

Plus he could use a fire type, so he threw out his Galarian Stunfisk. Which appeared on the ground with a mix of goofy and scary grin on its face, it turned around and looked at Vasi with its silly look, then he motioned towards the Pyroar which Stunfisk turned around to face. "Use Sucker Punch, and then within range use Metal Claw" informed Vasi to his pokemon, the Stunfisk moved surprisingly fast and connected with a Sucker Punch.

The sudden assault threw the Pyroar for a loop and Stunfisk continued its assault with the aforementioned Metal Claw, bringing the jagged parts of its person across the Lion pokemon's face. A critical was made as the Stunfisk bounced out of the way of a counter attack, Vasi threw a pokeball towards the tiring pokemon in hopes of catching it and watched as the ball moved on the ground.

Wow, a Pyroar! What a nice find - it would be a good Gym Pokémon to allow a Minor League Gym Leader to take challenges for Josh when he needed to go on vacation and couldn't use his own Pokémon there! "Aslan, use your--"

Josh stopped himself when he saw another trainer was battling the wild already. His Stunfisk handled the battle admirably, surprisingly agile to be able to evade the swift lion's counterattacks. "Your skills with your Stunfisk are impressive," he greeted the older stranger who was making the capture.

"Have you thought about taking on the Gym Challenge?" the Jolteon-back Leader asked. "That Pyroar you just caught will serve you well if you were to challenge this city's Gym." He couldn't help but grin at his own subtlety; Josh knew he was good at face-value communication and bad at reading between the lines. Testing whether another person could read through the lines of his own clever words was just satisfying.

As Vasi waited to see if the ball would stop shaking, the man with the giant pokemon came closer and complimented him on his pokemon technique. "Thanks" replied Vasi as he called his pokemon back into their ball, and the man continued. Vasi couldn't help but laugh a little as the younger man spoke, though he looked a little old to be doing gym challenges Vasi would at least respond.

"I did the gym challenge on my first journey, a little over 20 years ago. Got all the badges to but had some trouble with the Elite Four, so I went traveling to make myself stronger. Ended up meeting a lady, falling in love and making a family. We did move back but I think I lost my badges in the move, don't know if I'll try again.

I'd feel weird being this old and hitting the gyms again, I only got back into things because of everything that's been happening lately" replied Vasi. He tried to not think of the bad stuff that happened and just talk casually to the man, he didn't need to know that his family was no more. That would sadden the conversation and his reason for starting up again was vague enough, that he hoped the young man didn't pry to much into it.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD KLEFKI APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] PRANKSTER
[attr="class","wildtabox"]METAL SOUND	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]FAIRY LOCK
[attr="class","wildtabox"]RECYCLE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]CRAFTY SHIELD
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Vasi Harper Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD GOGOAT APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] SAP SIPPER
[attr="class","wildtabox"]TACKLE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]RAZOR LEAF
[attr="class","wildtabox"]LEAF BLADE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]TAKE DOWN
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Vasi Harper Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Vasi Harper CAUGHT THE PYROAR!

A fellow Trainer who was into the Gym Challenge! It seemed like the stranger and rider had more in common than at first glance. While Josh had retired from the Gym Challenge, he was still involved with it; after all, he would be the one standing opposite challengers of his own soon! "If you can make it that far, you've got to be talented," Blinky's rider answered.

"Formally I'm Ranger Devlin, but I go by Josh," he introduced himself. "This is Blinky, my Jolteon. I've had her for a long time. She's won me a lot of races. I'm a Pokémon racer, by the by. What's your name?" Blinky let out a greeting yip in Vasi's direction. "The Gym Challenge is a lot tougher now than it was then. I have five Johto Gym Badges, but only two Hoenn ones."

The sudden clomping of hooves on pavement grabbed Josh's attention as a Gogoat centered out of the woods and toward the two. It didn't wear any gear at all, and the Ranger didn't spot a single trainer surrounding it. It had to be wild. "Score! This is one of the Pokémon I've really been looking for! Nitro's gonna be so happy when he finds out he has a friend waiting for him when he clears customs!"

"Aslan, you're up!" Josh lobbed the Pyroar's Poké Ball toward the wild grass-type, this one wearing riding gear as well. It was a pretty safe bet that all (or almost all) of his Pokémon wore a saddle and reins. "Be careful! Try to lure it away from the trees before using your FLAMETHROWER!" Aslan loosed a NOBLE ROAR that caused Josh to flinch even from the distance he was as. Undeterred, the headstrong grass-type tackled the lion to the ground with TAKE DOWN, flipping him onto his back. Seeing little choice, the Pyroar inhaled, then exhaled a line of flames directly at the Gogoat's face. Both Pokémon badly hurt, Josh lobbed an empty Poké Ball toward the grass-type.

"You know there's a Pokémon Gym right here in Mauville City, right?" Josh asked with a sly smile on his face. "Have you met the Leader yet?"

The Pyroar was successfully his and he picked up the ball as the man spoke some more to him "That's flattering" he replied to the younger man, in truth he did feel a little bad that he never finished things off in Hoenn. But it really wasn't a big priority to him after his family came to be, they were his life for so long and he'd only just now come out of retirement. The guy introduced himself as a former Ranger but preferred to be known as Josh apparently, Vasi had meant plenty of Rangers in his travels and so he did wonder why the man wasn't with them anymore.

"Nice to meet you Josh and Blinky, I've never really been good with naming my pokemon. So I just call them by their species names, though my kids kept trying to think up ideas for names. I'm Vasi by the way, just a simple old trainer with a little foray into contests though it was more my wife's thing then mine but I did get a ribbon or two back in the day" added Vasi as he offered a hand to shake but was interrupted by the appearance of another pokemon.

One he remembered seeing in Kalos once but never getting the chance of grabbing one, as the younger man went for the Gogoat. Another pokemon from the same region came along, though Vasi first heard the telltale rattle of the keys. As the Klefki rattled its keys at Vasi, he jumped back and called out his Amaura and the little female Ice Dino appeared.

"Use Aurora Beam" implored Vasi and Amaura let out a beam of rainbow like energy directed at the Steel/Fairy pokemon, pushing the floating key ring back a little. Before the Klefki could retaliate, Vasi ordered Amaura to use Ice Beam and he felt the pokemon was weak enough for him to throw a pokeball at it.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD KIRLIA APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] FEMALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] SYNCHRONIZE
[attr="class","wildtabox"]HEAL PULSE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]DOUBLE TEAM
[attr="class","wildtabox"]DISARMING VOICE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]PSYBEAM
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Vasi Harper Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD LICKITUNG APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] FEMALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] CLOUD NINE
[attr="class","wildtabox"]BELLY DRUM	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]ROLLOUT
[attr="class","wildtabox"]REFRESH	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]CHIP AWAY
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Vasi Harper Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

BOTH OF YOUR CAPTURE ATTEMPTS ARE SUCCESSFUL!

Once the carnage of both battles was over, he withdrew Aslan and sent out Resheph, his Dragonair, who was quick in putting out a small fire with her AQUA TAIL. He wished it was law that any Pokémon trainer who had fire-types also had a water Pokémon or some kind of aquatic Pokémon with which to clean up fires their battle caused. Alas, it would be too much of a legal mess, both in terms of jurisdiction and jurisprudence. After the mess was cleaned up, Resheph squealed toward Vasi in greeting. "This is Resheph, my Dragonair," he introduced the social dragon-type. "She's my wings when I need to fly."

When Josh heard Vasi used to do Contests, it brought him back to the one time he tried a Pokémon Contest during his first trip to Hoenn. He entered a Normal Rank Coolness Contest with Saber...and bombed it. "Better than me! Great to meet you. Vasi." If the older man outstretched his hand, Josh would accept the handshake firmly. "The more I got to thinking about it, the more a race is just another type of Pokémon Contest." Resheph inched toward Vasi's Amaura, greeting it with a coo but keeping her distance. After all, dragons were quite averse to ice-types! "It's really opened my eyes that Pokémon don't have to battle to compete and bond with their trainers."

Vasi had been distracted by the angry Klefki, and hadn't been able to answer the man's other question. "I knew Watson back in the day when I first came to the gym here, very happy guy that one. But I don't know of the new one" expressed Vasi, who hadn't really been looking into the new gym leaders as he wasn't sure about picking up that track again. He nodded in greeting to the Dragonair, while Amaura whinnied in response to the bigger pokemon's attention. Offering a smile and not getting to close either, cause it knew that Ice wasn't good for Dragons and they weren't battling at present.

He shook the man's hand and nodded "I was honestly just lucky, it's gotten pretty fancy these days. So I don't know how well I'd do now, I haven't really done any racing though. Sounds like fun but I don't have anyone big enough to race with, for the moment at least. Amaura here would be a good ride when she evolves but I don't believe they're very fast" he said with a smirk as he patted the little fossil pokemon that rubbed against Vasi's hand in response, more like a pet then a battler though he had been training them for long enough that they had fallen back into things.

"Yeah, my pokemon are a part of my family. The kids used to play hide and seek with my Stunfisk and Flapple, though the latter wasn't very good at it. And they adored Amaura here" added Vasi who wasn't giving anything away but at the mention of the kids, there was a little hint of sadness from the Amaura though she tried to hide it. He spotted a Kirlia just off of the road that seemed to be interested in what was happening, the emotions swirling around was a mix of happy excitement from Josh and his Dargonair. With Vasi holding stern and trying to control his emotions and Amaura trying to hide its own sadness, all of which, seemed to bring the emotion pokemon over towards them.

Vasi didn't react to the Kirlia until the pokemon came right up to the group, offering a hug to Amaura which the little pokemon accepted. The older man knelt down on one knee and looked at the Kirlia and gave her a half smile "I'm guessing you sensed our mix of emotions, didn't you Kirlia. Thank you for consoling Amaura, she misses them greatly.

As much as I do" Vasi said solemnly. The Kirlia nodded to Vasi's words and walked over him and tried to also give him a hug, the older man returned the affection and thanked her for it. The pokemon then seemed to turn to Amaura and start conversing with her, Vasi had no clue what they were saying but it seemed to be rather in depth. If Josh was listening in, he'd likely put two and two together. That Vasi's kids weren't around anymore in some way or another, after the two pokemon finished their conversation.

Amaura stuck her head into Vasi's bag and pulled out a pokeball and gave it to Kirlia, she looked at it and held it over her head for a second and turned it around a little like she was inspecting it. Then playfully pressed her head against the middle button, disappearing in a flash of red right into the pokeball.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD PORYGON APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] GENDERLESS	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] TRACE
[attr="class","wildtabox"]DISCHARGE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]BARRIER
[attr="class","wildtabox"]RECOVER	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]ZAP CANNON
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Vasi Harper Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD CLEFFA APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] FEMALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] CUTE CHARM
[attr="class","wildtabox"]SING	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]SWEET KISS
[attr="class","wildtabox"]SPLASH	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]COPYCAT
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Vasi Harper Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

BOTH OF YOUR CAPTURE ATTEMPTS ARE SUCCESSFUL!

Josh's smile grew as Vasi took the bait. "Well, Vasi...you're looking at him right now." He stopped, his smile growing to a grin and giving his words time to truly sink in. "It's now a lot different than when he ran the Gym. Coincidentally, it's kept the same Pokémon type. Kind of." When he mentioned lack of speed being a concern for his eventual Aurorus, Josh had nothing but reassuring words. "Raw speed isn't everything. A Pokémon with good cornering can overcome one that's faster, depending on the course. An Aurorus would be perfect for Mount Blackthorn's ice course back home in Johto."

Vasi describing his Pokémon being like family to him warmed the Leader's heart. "I feel the exact same way. I deeply care about every single one of my Pokémon. It's why I'm so picky about what I catch. Being in perfect sync with your Pokémon is really important as a racer. Maybe the most important thing." He observed Vasi empathizing with a nearby wild Kirlia. Not only was this man good with Pokémon in combat, but he had the skills to tame wild Pokémon. That was a skill Josh wished he had.