Josh was soaking wet coming up to Mossdeep's docks. He had a number of aquatic Pokémon that could keep him dry if they had to. Keiga, his Kingdra, was absolutely not one of them; with where her main fin was located, Josh had to be partially submerged to mount the aquatic dragon at all. It was well worth it, though; she was so nimble in the water that she could swim in any direction while facing in any direction. Being astride her was like being on an aquatic motorcycle, and with the speed to boot. She had a lot of power, too; every Hydro Pump or Dragon Breath she fired from her snout recoiled Josh with the force of a cannon.

The Gym Leader withdrew his Kingdra after he was safely on dry land, switching mounts to his Dragonair. The excited Resheph twirled and corkscrewed above the port area before letting Josh hop on. She hovered not too far above street level, accelerating to a quick enough clip to dry her rider off, yet not so fast he would draw undue attention. The dragon-type let out an affectionate coo before making an uncommanded turn toward a fairly young female that looked lost in thought. "What's up, Resheph?" He tried to gently rein the Dragonair in a different direction, but she had her own ideas; she felt something was wrong with this female, and beckoned Josh to offer consoling words. "What's gotten into you?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, miss!" the red-uniformed Ranger apologized profusely for his Pokémon's intrusion as he palmed his Luxray's Poké Ball. "I don't know what's gotten into my Dragonair just now." He dropped the palmed Poké Ball, his Luxray, Blitz, emerging from it with gleaming eyes. Underneath the whites and yellows of his gaze, the electric-type scanned for signs of a disguised Rocket; when going undercover, they always wore a second outfit over their black-and-red uniforms.

If the female knew anything about Luxray, she could tell exactly what the Dragonair's rider was up to. They had established a communication system; one type of purr for a clean scan, and a second type for a worker that looked sus. This one turned up clean. "If you're okay, then I can leave you be!" he said, wanting to be sure Freya was okay before moving on to another section of the construction site.

"Alright, have a good one! Again, sorry to bother you!" With that, Josh reined Resheph away from the female, making sure the two floated a good distance from her before giving the Dragonair a stern talking to. "Resheph, this is important. You can't be acting like a Dratini out here. I know you're excited to meet new people, but not everyone out here is what they seem. We were lucky you didn't get captured. Now, be on your best behavior. Please."

Blitz caught up to Josh and turned a corner around a shipping container, the Dragonair following close behind. There were a number of construction workers around the corner. "Alright, Blitz, do your thing. Don't get any closer than you have to." Blitz's eyes glowed white and yellow again, looking around for their tipped quarry. Nope, not that one... nor that one... or that one... bingo!

Three yips from Blitz in rapid succession was the signal. It was the worker at the bottom of the scaffolding across Gallagher Street. He withdrew his Dragonair, then sent out his Manectric and mounted up, the two electric-types slowly approaching the unsuspecting impostor among the construction workers. Saber was ready to tase the target with THUNDER WAVE the moment he was within range.

Josh's gambit worked, but at what cost? The construction site was filled with a cacophony of screams as construction workers scrambled to climb down from the scaffolding. Saber bounded toward the downed person andunzipped their outer jacket. Just as he suspected, a black-and-red uniform, much like the ones he had seen back at the Goldenrod Radio Tower on that fateful day when his hometown was held hostage by one of the greatest crime syndicates in the world.

With one of their colleagues unmasked, the remaining workers who did not flee the scene started releasing their Pokémon and forming a perimeter. It was not a well-fortified perimeter, but there were about half a dozen or so that wanted to prevent him from turning their fallen comrade over to the League, which could result in current and future Rocket missions becoming irreparably compromised. In particular, a trio of Mienshao stared Josh and his Manectric down, charging AURA SPHEREs to be hurled at Josh. The Pokémon and their trainers slowly encroached upon the Gym Leader, giving him the sense of being slowly trapped.

Once they had closed in enough, Josh made his move. "Gotcha." He slid off Saber's back and grabbed a third Poké Ball from his belt. "Ares!" he cried, releasing the Charizard and quickly mounting up. "Saber, Blitz, scatter and double DISCHARGE!" The twin spheres of electricity caused the Rockets to back away and regroup, but it was too late; the unerring AURA SPHEREs were swift and flesh-seeking. The Charizard was fast, yes, but not fast enough to outspeed the most powerful energy-based Fighting-type attack in the world, nor was Ares agile enough to deceive its homing capability. It would take great bravery from Ares to take the oncoming attacks, as well as excellent airmanship from Josh to put said wall of angry dragon between him and the projectiles at the last moment.

Josh was an interesting Ranger, to say the least; with his penchant for wanting to solve problems with brute force, he would have made a far better Officer. His strength as a Trainer, especially as a Gym Leader-elect, made Josh a natural fit for Officer work, though, and he often took contracts with them. While it was uncommon, there was enough overlap that Rangers doing Officer work, and vice versa, wasn't unheard of.

Just before the AURA SPHEREs were about to collide, Josh pulled hard on his Charizard's reins, yanking him to the right in an effort to use his mount as cover. While the drastic maneuver shielded him from two of the ki projectiles, the third swerved around Ares and struck Josh in the back. "Resheph!" the Leader sent out his Dragonair to try to catch him, but it was too late. He simply didn't have enough altitude for the Dragonair to get underneath him in time.

With Freya's Salamence intimidating the disguised Rocket agents into submission, Saber and Blitz could focus on trying to save their falling Trainer. The two charged toward one another, trying to make sure they could catch him or at least break his fall. Mistiming their charges, the two crashed into one another, Josh hitting the pavement next to him. While he didn't break anything, it certainly felt like he did. Squinting in pain as he reached for his phone, the Ranger dialed for emergency services, requesting both officers to arrest the subdued Rocket agents as well as a medical team to take him to a local care facility for a once over.