"Nope, not at all!" Josh smiled back, though on the inside he was disappointed he didn't get as much of a reaction as he would have liked. "The Hoenn League has been redone completely. You can take on the Gyms in any order you want. My Gym's challenge scales in difficulty to the number of Badges you already have. The more Badges you have, the harder it is! I think that not enough Gyms do that." They certainly didn't do that back in Johto; there was an expected order to battle the Gyms in.

"That's fair," Josh added when Vasi mentioned he came out of retirement to help with Hoenn's disasters. "Between taking on challengers and doing Ranger work on the days my Gym is closed, I don't get a lot of time to myself anymore. I don't regret it one bit, though." He paused to reminisce about his achievements as a Ranger. "The first rescue I did as a Ranger was saving a small family that escaped a plane crash. It was the most difficult thing I had ever done in my life. But it was so heartwarming. Knowing you affected the lives of those around you in a big way is what motivates me to keep going, both as a Ranger and as a Gym Leader."

There were so many different Pokémon related careers, Vasi's list barely scraping the surface. "Racers employ breeders a lot. Blinky here was actually bred for me. Cost a pretty PD, she did, but it was worth it." Sparks flew from the Jolteon's legs as she let out a proud cry. He made sure his gloves were on before giving the quilled electric-type a gentle pat on the head. "Coordinators, Trainers, Professors...the list goes on and on. And every single one of them has one thing in common: a bond. As long as you have a truly symbiotic relationship with your squad of Pokémon, there's nothing you can't do with them."

Vasi Harper

{WC: 331}
{PC: 6}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Saber         Manectric      Good
Blinky        Jolteon        Good
Aslan         Pyroar         Good
Inky          Glaceon        Good
Pazuzu        Pidgeot        Good
Resheph       Dragonair      Good

Note: Passing!

The man spoke about the Hoenn league and saying something about them now changing their difficulty to each trainer that came into the gym, but from what he knew even back when he started things. They actually already did that, as the gym leader had different pokemon for each person depending on their badge count and such, since not everyone started from Twin leaf. But he didn't want to deflate the man's enthusiasm so he didn't mention it and simply nodded to his words about gym "Not really looking to regain my badges right now, too much going on. I might not be a Ranger but I want to help out, maybe prevent past experiences of my own from happening to others" expressed Vasi to the man.

Not really elaborating on the matter, if he'd paid attention to the interaction between him and the Kirlia then he might have an idea otherwise it wasn't a conversation he was willing to have if the man couldn't pick up on such obvious things. "I've helped people out on my journey and still try to this day but I never joined the Rangers, guess I was just more of a simple trainer" added Vasi to the man's comments about his first rescue. He'd known some Rangers in his travels, and they were decent people but life gave him other more interesting options and he took them.

The man continued about pokemon and their variously connected people, the bonds between them and such. "Yes, some of my pokemon have been with me for some time and watched as my kids grew. Bonds can be powerful" commented Vasi in a mild tone of voice not to give away anything. In the background, Flapple was confronted with a Rufflet which wasn't going to back down without a fight. It started off with a Hone Claws but Flapple sent off a Dragon pulse to knock it off guard, following it up with a Grav apple. The Rufflet took the last move in stride and went to use Crush Claw, only to get a Dragon Breath to the face and with a stumble back Flapple used its tail to flick a poke ball at the little bird pokem.