Josh's status as Mauville Gym Leader afforded him no privilege as a Ranger; he had to work his way up the ranks just like everyone else. It seemed there was quite the shortage of high-ranking Rangers in the newly-formed VALOR movement prompted by the events of the Darkest Day. There was no way he was going to turn down this mission; though it was technically out of his approved Danger range, he would be under the care of one of the most talented trainers in Hoenn.

His partner would be one of the Hoenn League's own Elite Four. They were frighteningly strong trainers; even as a Gym Leader, he would certainly be no match for him. Thankfully, they would be working together today! As Josh floated around the crags of Mount Chimney, starting to sweat a little, he pulled out his phone and reviewed the mission briefing:

TO: Josh Devlin (josh.devlin@hoennrangers.gov)
CC: MATIAS SILPH (matias.silph@hoennleague.gov)
MISSION: "Eruption (And Not the EVH one)"
PROTOCOL: Search-and-Rescue
DANGER: ★★★★☆

Rocket sabotage near Mount Chimney has derailed a gondola car carrying Elite Ranger Micah and three male trainers estimated to be between 13 and 18 years old to the summit of the mountain. The car fell into a chasm deep in the mountain but not close to the main crater. Triangulating their location is impossible due to a lack of cell service. Please see attachment for the gondola car's last known coordinates prior to it being derailed.

Water-type and Ice-type Pokémon are highly recommended to stay cool while searching the mountain caves due to the crater's extreme heat. The volcano is still active, so watch out for lava rivers and other seismic hazards. Team Rocket may still be around, as well. You are authorized to engage but only as a last resort.

Good luck! We're all counting on you.

It did not take long for Josh to locate his partner, awaiting him at the listed coordinates. "Hey Matias!" Josh greeted the Hoenn celebrity, his Dragonair mount floating toward the rocky road. "Formally I'm called Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but I go by Josh." He accepted what he was expecting to be an overly firm handshake. "We need to find those four and get them out of there as quickly as possible." There was not one shred of relaxation or pleasantness in his body language or tone; he had done enough of these to know time was of the essence, especially if the location the gondola crashed in was particularly hospitable. "If you've got a flying ride Pokémon, then let's saddle up and start looking for them."

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 440}
{PC: 1}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Saber         Manectric      Good
Yagyu         Doublade       Good
Inky          Glaceon        Good
Hatsu         Drampa         Good
Ares          Charizard      Good
Resheph       Dragonair      Good

[nospaces]

"Wow, nice Dragonair!" Josh gasped, impressed at how strong the flying serpent looked. While this Pokémon didn't quite have the charm of Josh's, she looked way stronger. "I see you have great taste in your choice of aerial mount. There truly is nothing like flying atop a Dragonair. What's her name?" the Leader asked as the two took off, Resheph enveloping her skin in her AQUA TAIL to try to keep her rider cool.

Under the effects of Aqua's SAFEGUARD and his own dragon's AQUA TAIL, Josh would be comfortably cool. Resheph soared just above the ground beneath the gondola car's track, tugging back on the dragon's reins when when he got to a dangling, thick cable snapped in two. "This must have been a hell of a sabotage, Matias," Josh observed aloud. "These things are heat resistant and are designed to bear several tons of weight. There's no way a wild Pokémon attack could have done this. Not an ordinary Pokémon, anyway."

About the only volcanic Pokémon Josh could think of that could wreak this kind of havoc was Entei. Any divine fire-type Pokémon could melt even the most heat-resistant cables, but Entei was the only one hw could think of off the top of his head. "Do you know from the briefing you got whether the car was traveling up or down the mountain? If not, we may have to split up. The car couldn't have landed far from here."

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 247}
{PC: 2}

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

[nospaces]

"Aqua...our Dragonair have a lot in common," Josh replied as he kept his eyes open for any signs of the presumably ruined gondola car. "I got her...as a prize from the Goldenrod Game Corner in Johto. I can't imagine how badly she was mistreated before I got her. Now, after eleven years, she's among my closest friends." She let out a whistling coo at her trainer's flattery. "There really is nothing like soaring the skies on a Dragonair."

Josh was about to suggest splitting up when Matias reported that the car was on the way up the mountain when it crashed. He kept one hand on Resheph's reins and the other on Pazuzu's Poké Ball, ready to take the fight into his own hands if need be. Hopefully it didn't come to that. "Keep your guard up. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever did this is still around."

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 150}
{PC: 3}

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

[nospaces]

By the time Matias warned Josh, it was too late. His red Ranger uniform gave his attention away. "A Pokémon Ranger!" one of the agents whispered to his partner. "Amanda, you make sure the other Ranger is alive. I don't give one bloody #&$% what happens to the rest of these kids. They're useless to us." The marooned teenagers gasped, one of them reaching for a Poké Ball. The moment Amanda saw the threat, her Carkol stationed under the platform launched one of its coals upward, knocking the four off balance and leaving them with barely enough room to climb back up and stand over the cliff above a section of the Fiery Path closed to even Rangers for its inhospitable environment; even less hardy Fire Pokémon avoided due to just how intense the heat was.

"Try that again and my Carkol won't miss next time," the female agent muttered threateningly before turning back to her partner. "Nathan, you stall them. I'm taking the Ranger back to HQ," she whispered, both of them sending out an intimidating-looking Mienshao. The fighting-type headed toward the cliff to retrieve the blue-garbed Ranger. The other three were okay for now.

"Pazuzu!" Josh cried as he tossed out a Poké Ball and quickly guided Resheph out of melee range of the Mienshao in case they went directly for him.

"AURA SPHERE the boy," the merciless Nathan commanded.

Josh had little time to act; he knew Aura Sphere was a deadly, heat-seeking art very few Pokémon could master due to its sheer power and mental focus needed to maintain it. He had to strike decisively and quickly, which was something he was good at. "Use HURRICANE! Resheph, use your AGILITY! Get that Aura Sphere off our tail!" The Dragonair zigged and zagged to attempt to avoid it, but to no avail. In a split-second decision, Resheph turned toward the Aura Sphere and took the attack for him. "Resheph, no!" Josh cried, forced to make an emergency descent on the fumes the Dragonair was running on. He dismounted as soon as they reached the ground, recalling the badly wounded serpent.

Pazuzu's HURRICANE did the trick; it combined the force behind the strong winds with the latent heat of the volcano, blowing winds that baked both the Mienshao into collapsing from a combination of slicing winds and heat exhaustion. "Carkol!" Amanda barked. "SELF-DESTRUCT!" It was a rash move, but it would ensure their tracks would be covered, and it would conveniently eliminate potential witnesses, too.

Elite Ranger Micah, now free, fled toward Matias and Josh in a full sprint. He made it safely, but it didn't look like the teenagers he was traveling with would. The platform they were trapped on was going to blow any second. While the fall would be far from lethal, it was the environment beneath that was the true killer.

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 479}
{PC: 4}

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

[nospaces]

With the Ranger safely in Matias' custody and the Rockets on the retreat, Josh could focus on saving the three teenage trainers. With his Dragonair down for the count, though, that would be far more complicated. Without enough room for his Pidgeot to safely take off from the platform, he would be of his Pokémon that were good at jumping. He was in no short supply of those; his Manectric, Jolteon, and Pyroar were quite good at that. Of course, he would have to get them off the platform one at a time; there was only enough room for the three that stood there and one of his Pokémon. His best bet was his Jolteon.

Josh whistled for his Pidgeot to return to him so he could recall him, then sent the giant Jolteon out. The saddled Eeveelution slid down the cliff to the platform the three stood on. "Hey! Get on my Jolteon's back! She'll be able to get you to safety!" The youngest of the three nervously did as asked, firmly holding the Jolteon's reins for support as there was no other spot to grab onto that wasn't filled with skewering quills.

Just after Blinky had leaped away and carried the first to safety, the now-recalled Carkol's ROCK BLAST knocked out two of the platform's supports, causing it to swivel vertically and drop the observers into the canyon below. "Pazuzu!" Josh withdrew his Jolteon and sent his Pidgeot back out. He scurried aboard with great urgency, spurring the avian to dive over the cliff and toward the bottom, where he could see the two sprawled on the ground. It wasn't a great distance; certainly very survivable but skeletal injuries of some kind were at the very least possible, if not probable.

As Josh approached the canyon floor, a river of lava running nearby it, the smell of poultry wafted into his nostrils. When he took a breath, he felt like his nostrils and his lungs were burning. The passage down the mountain was inhospitable, the presence of the nearby lava stream causing local air temperatures to soar close to the boiling point of water.

With his useful consciousness measured in seconds at that temperature, Josh made the JUDGMENT call to send his Pyroar into the inferno below. Unable to say anything or risk burning his throat, he yanked Pazuzu's reins full nose up, nearly causing them to stall but ultimately getting the two back to safety. If Matias was paying attention to the bird, it was obvious that his plumage was singed, an indicator of the extreme temperature below.

The Pyroar could breathe much more easily than Josh did in the oppressive temperatures, biting into the unconscious younger teenager's side as gently as possible and bounding up the path leading away from the lava river. As soon as Aslan returned with the clearly unconscious adolescent and set him on the ground, Josh checked for a pulse. The victim's skin felt very hot still; whether it was external or internal could not be determined with the knowledge he had. "He's still alive," Josh rasped, clearly in pain trying to speak through a singed voice box. "Probably dehydrated. There's still one more down there...but I think won't make it."

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 542}
{PC: 5}

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

[nospaces]

As he was trying to arouse the unconscious teen saw Matias leap down to the trail near the lava river, Josh rasped, "Matias...no...!" Taking a deep breath that agitated his lungs, he continued, "You'll...burn up!" There was nothing more he could do; even through SAFEGUARD, there was no way a Dragonair could protect a human from such extreme heat. These were the kinds of temperatures that culinary slow-cookers reached.

Matias' escapades on the lower trail were completely unbeknownst to Josh as he dialed for Ranger services, letting Lavaridge Dispatch know that the Elite Ranger had been rescued and was safe, and that two of the gondola's other passengers were alive but in rough shape. He reported the third as dead.

While listening to the dispatcher's instructions, Josh witnessed Matias returning from the boiling road, atop what he expected to be a badly burned Dragonair carrying his trainer's corpse to the surface. To his complete shock, Matias looked totally unharmed. Not even as much as breathless. When he found out the third victim was unconscious but alive, he revised his report with Dispatch and asked them to send medical assistance, as well as assistance in getting them to the closest hospital in Lavaridge Town. The Ranger had done his due diligence; it was up to the medical system to take care of the teens now.

Once he had hung up and made sure the Elite Ranger was okay, Josh returned to Matias' side. His lungs were starting to feel a little better already but it was still difficult to take deep breaths and properly speak. Perhaps the one breath of superheated air he took in wasn't enough to char his insides, after all. "Matias...just who are you?" was the only question he could ask.

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 296}
{PC: 6}

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

[nospaces]

It was nothing short of a miracle that all four of the victims were alive. The one that Aslan had carried to safety was even starting to wake up, though he was still drenched in sweat and likely still overheated. Josh's first instinct was to give the young man his spare bottle of water. While it wouldn't be cold anymore, it was wet; the searing heat had to have left the teen extremely dehydrated. When it looked like he was able to intake liquids fine, Josh finished his own bottle of water and asked Matias the question that was burning in his mind.

"Not that. All it took was one breath of the air down in that canyon... and I felt like... my chest was on fire," Josh struggled to ask. "How...how did you survive long enough to get him up? It was... an oven down there!" He wasn't exaggerating, either; while was referring to more of a slow cooker than a baking oven, the temperatures were comparable. Even speaking this much was difficult for him. The water helped, but the act of speaking practically negated its effects. This would certainly require some time in an infirmary to recover from.

MATIAS SILPH

{WC: 201}
{PC: 7}

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