Mauville Gym's office was full of challengers; this was one of the Leader's days where he worked nothing but Gym Challenges, and his schedule was back-to-back for the next couple of hours! A pair of challengers walked back from the outdoor facility, looking confounded by the raw speed Josh's Jolteon put on in battle. The most common reason for Traditional Battle challengers to lose is from not being able to see through Josh's Thousand Cut Joust. While it was not quite on par with a Z-Move, it sure felt like it to those who had never seen the former Pokémon racer battle.

That wasn't the reason why he was at the Racing Grounds, though; after a flight at Fortree's Gym, they clearly wanted more. After a bit of a wait, Josh's receptionist called out, " mint frost ? The Leader will see you now. Go straight from the back exit, and it will be on your fourth right. I heard he has something special prepared for you. Good luck!" When Mint asked about his theme music and recording the match, the man answered, "We record all matches at the Gym, but we do not release the recordings to the public without the challenger's permission. I'm sure he'll give you a copy of the recording if you ask. Due to potential copyright infringement, we'll need to screen your audio clip, and we may not be able to include it in the final recording." He scooped up Mint's thumb drive and left it at that.

Provided Mint followed the receptionist's directions, he would see Josh astride his Dragonair, Resheph, with a Charizard, Skarmory, and Braviary near the starting arch. All of them were in full riding gear, reins stowed and hooked at the front ends of their saddles. The aerial course would be marked by colored poles with arrows prominently stamped on them. "Mint?" Josh greeted the challenger. "Oh, it's you! From that place where we saw the future! I'm still doing what I can to make sure that future doesn't happen." But that was enough of a distraction. He was technically on the League's PD right now, and didn't want to keep other appointments waiting.

"I formally go by Ranger Devlin or Leader Devlin, but you might remember me as Josh. Beneath me is Resheph," the Dragonair cooed at Mint as her rider introduced her to him, "Bladestorm," he gestured toward his Skarmory, who made a metallic clanging noise with her beak, "Ares," he gestured toward his Charizard, "and finally, Pazuzu, the second Pokémon I ever caught," he finished as the Pidgeot let out a battle screech.

This was one of the most sprawling and difficult aerial courses Josh could possibly throw at a challenger, shaped like a traditional dragon. The first few poles on the course would not even apply on the first lap; the titular Dragon Slope started almost a thousand feet above the Gym. That's right: the course's main Obstacle would be a thousand-foot dive that would make less experienced riders sick from the tremendous G-forces. Other than that, it was your typical professional-level aerial course, full of turns requiring treacherous bank angles to pass without losing time.

"Alright, so this is how this goes, Mint. We line up behind the arch over there and watch the display for the countdown. It will sound 3, 2, 1, GO. On GO, we take off, and you gotta get in the air quickly for this one. No moves that make your Pokémon go faster during the first lap, got it? After the first lap, make sure you use them wisely, too. Beat us to the finish line over three laps, or otherwise show me you can keep cool under pressure, and the Hoenn League Quick Badge is yours. Are you ready for the absolute fastest aerial race course in Hoenn?!" The Leader seemed all too excited.

You will have 8 ranks to distribute among three skills:

• SPEED: This represents how fast your Pokémon can travel. Each rank of Speed adds 10 to all your rolls.
  
• ENDURANCE: This represents how well a Pokémon can navigate difficult terrain, and affects how often a Pokémon can use its Boost during a race. Every two ranks of Endurance lets you use a Boost move an additional time per race. Each rank of Endurance reduces the Target Number of Endurance-based Obstacles by 10.
• REACTION: This represents a Pokémon’s cornering ability. Each rank of Reaction reduces the Target Number of Reaction-based Obstacles by 10.

In the OOC notes of your next post, please note your Pokémon's distribution of skills.

You do not need to roll after your first post, but you will need to [ roll ] twice at the end of every post mid-challenge. This roll will be modified according to your Pokémon's skill ranks.

Example: If a player rolls a 60 on a post involving running down a straightaway as fast as possible atop a Pokémon with four ranks in Speed, their effective roll will be 100.

The Leader's next post will include a "mod post" that depicts the course's first Obstacle: a prompt that presents a challenge for the racers to overcome. Each Obstacle will include the following information:

Target Number: This is the number the racers need to roll at or above to overcome the Obstacle without penalty. While it is uncommon, an Obstacle can have multiple Target Numbers.

Intended Skill: This is the Skill that will apply to the Obstacle. It can be Speed, Endurance, or Reaction.

Example Obstacle: The track starts out with a bang--a sharp, 135-degree left turn mere tens of meters from the starting line. The width of the turn itself makes recovering from a misjudged angle easier, but the track quickly narrows up again afterward. A guardrail on the outside keeps Pokémon from sliding off the course, but there is no such guardrail on the inside, and there’s a shallow stream that looks time-consuming for non-Water Pokémon to climb out of!

Target Number: 85 (Reaction)

After the players make their rolls, the Target Number is deducted from the player's roll, and the difference becomes the player's Track Position (TP) for the round. 100 TP corresponds to roughly one second of time differential. The race will consist of three laps, with three Obstacles per lap. After the ninth Obstacle, total Track Position will determine finishing order.

Though Josh was excited on the outside, on the inside, his nerves were spiking. Being astride his Dragonair reminded him of the day he rode with Isaac Merlo , pushing both of them to their limits. Extreme Speed was something else. He would have to put RaiCorp's Ranger goggles to the ultimate test and see just the kind of speed the flying serpent could clock while displaying the Sacred Arte. But now was not the time for that.

The bottom of the big dive was covered in ample cushioning to try to absorb a high speed impact, but if a racer were to fall during the steep descent, some kind of injury would be almost unavoidable, particularly on boost laps. Better hold on tight!

Once the five Pokémon were lined up, three still images of the legendary Pokémon Raikou, depicted in a full sprint, materialized on the arch's small scoreboard in front of them. Behind them was a "GET READY" prompt. The first of the three images began to fade, accompanied by a loud squawk from speakers on the ends of the arch. A second, then a third followed. When the final image faded, the prompt changed to "GO", accompanied by a higher-pitched, longer-lasting squawk. Josh pulsed at Resheph's reins, the Dragonair and his other flying-types taking off. They would need to get to altitude quickly!

After each posting round, a prompt describing the upcoming section of the track will be posted. These prompts may highlight different sections of the course on each lap. You will react to the prompt, then [ roll ] twice. For the first lap, the Leader's rolls will be capped at 120 before modifiers.

The Dragon Slope did not mess around. The opening airspace's ring pattern demanded a steep climb accompanied by sharp turns necessitating harsh bank angles for momentum-based flying-types to make it through all of them. To an observer, it looked like the Pokémon would be tracing the outline of a dragon Pokémon's head. Furthermore, some of the rings were at angles, forcing Pokémon to fly through them at angles resembling nothing close to level flight.

Target Number: 130 (Reaction)

Special: If the Target Number is missed by 30 points or more, an additional -100 TP penalty is assessed due to a missed ring.

Josh's flying Pokémon kicked up a lot of dirt and grass during their takeoffs, Resheph's high angle of attack getting a grunt out of him. A second followed as the Dragonair pulled a corkscrew in an effort to turn tighter. Furthermore, the rings seemed to be stacked on top of one another. requiring Josh to rein Resheph into doubling back over her own flight path at a higher altitude! His legs were already twitching from loss of circulation, and he would have to endure this nonsense for two more laps! It was a good thing he had gone back to cocoon saddles for his flying Pokémon!

Perhaps the Leader had bitten off more than he could chew. The Dragonair corkscrewed through the final ring forming the dragon-shaped' course's "snout" while flying sideways, as the shape of the ovaloid mandated he do. The flying lessons he had taken had been the only reason he had the skill to even navigate the course. Perhaps this would be less of a contest of Pokémon speed and more a contest of rider endurance, the extreme curves making it come down to who got disqualified first. Josh hoped it didn't come to that, but it was a possibility that remained in his mind as his mount's sharp curves thrashed him about.

All five Pokémon were able to get to altitude quickly enough to make the first ring. The challenge would be in the rest: the steep bank angles needed to make the turns would have given many glide-based flying Pokémon a lot of difficulty maintaining the lift needed to stay in the air. Stalling was a real issue. Josh's Skarmory decided that performing a steep turn along the course's outer limits to maintain speed was the way to go, and it was working for now! The Metal Menace had made it to the Dragon Slope's peak first, with Agretti, Resheph, and their two riders battling fiercely for second place. Josh even waved to Mint as the two rounded the final sharp corner that took them high above the facility. They could see almost every section of course on the entire Racing Grounds from how high up they were!

Ares and Slider's clumsy flight was their worst enemy coming up the Dragon Slope's "head", nearly having to slow to a hover to make the turns, While Ares took the turns particularly slowly to make sure he didn't miss a ring, Slider's more aggressive approach left the Braviary with a very close call on the second ring, clipping both sides of it harshly due to an insufficient bank angle for clearing the narrow obstacle. Another impact against his wing joints like that could spell real trouble!

The racers were able to take in a gorgeous view of the Racing Grounds, over a thousand feet above the highest ground elevation in the entire facility. That was a mere distraction for one of the fiercest obstacles on the course; four ground-parallel rings swaying in the wind, with the last relatively close to ground level. The racers would have to dive through them.

This was the reason the Leader had strongly recommended a cocoon saddle or some kind of harness for the challenger's Pokémon; depending on how aggressive the racers wanted to play it, they could experience negative G-forces on the way down. This, of course, would be reversed when they had to pull up before reaching the ground, being pushed into their Pokémon's saddles with forces several times their own weight. The competitors would be coming out of the dive far faster than their Pokémon could normally fly.

Target Number: 120 (Endurance)

Special: Missing the Target Number by 30 or more will incur a flat -100 TP penalty for a missed ring.

Agretti and Resheph battled through the stomach-churning opening curves, reaching the tip of the Dragon Slope's snout. They were neck and neck coming up to the course's titular Obstacle. Even Josh's heart raced; his Dragonair's cocoon saddle was about to be put to quite the stress test. After passing the peak, he leaned forward, sliding his hands up the reins as far as he could, and pushed the Pokémon into a full nose-down position.

The two achieved a dangerous angle of attack, Josh feeling nearly weightless as he hurtled toward the four ring targets at what had to be Extreme Speed equivalent, by his estimation, without actually using the move. Halfway down the breakneck dive, he felt his legs pushing against the top of the cocoon, a sign that the force of his mount's dive had exceeded that of gravity. It was a truly alien feeling he had only experienced that day he saved Isaac Merlo from falling under the Dragonair's watch.

After passing the final ring one way or another, Josh yanked on Resheph's reins with all his strength, the Dragonair quick to pull up. The Leader let out a loud grunt, feeling like his legs were being squeezed and wrung out from the multiple G's of aerodynamic load put on him. It was, to say the least, unpleasant, and even hurt a little. But was it ever worth it to get the blood pumping!

As Josh and Resheph accelerated, the increasing aerodynamic loads made it difficult for him to manipulate the reins and guide the dragon through the four rings. The two made it through all four rings, though pulling up with all his might was in the end not necessary, overshooting and soaring well above the ground. He lost a lot of time to Ares, the Charizard achieving nearly the perfect dive exit to keep the massive speed increase not even a Flamethrower jet out of his tail would let him get to. But that was a trick to save for boost laps.

Slider, on the other hand, had no such fortune. The Braviary undershot the last ring, though he had a good angle to maintain speed coming out of the dive. While it looked like he and the Leader were close, they were not; the large bird would have a one-second time penalty applied after crossing the finish line.

Agretti and Bladestorm fought for airspace as the two dove through the rings, blades of air building and building between the Skarmory's wings. When he pulled up, a loud boom reverberated through the north end of the Racing Grounds, tilting some heads inside the Operations Center as the AIR CUTTER upended some rock but otherwise caused no harm or foul. The two passed through the final ring and exited the dive at nearly the same time, Mint perhaps able to hear the sound of Bladestorm's wings resonating like a tuning fork the entire time!

A series of trees ahead marked narrow course bounds; the corridor they created was small enough that it was only the width of three flying Pokémon. It was straight, but passing would prove to be difficult due to the lack of airspace. Furthermore, two more rings loomed at the end of the corridor, stacked on top of one another with a significant elevation difference between them! The only way to fly through both of them was to do a loopdeloop--and they would need a lot of speed to reach that kind of altitude quickly!

Target Number: 100 (Speed)

Special: Track Position loss as a result of missing this Obstacle's Target Number is multiplied by 1.5.

While not exactly cheating, Josh felt he had a significant advantage over the rest of the field in this narrow part of the Dragon slope, what with how Resheph's flight was not momentum based. Serpentine dragons were something else! While their narrow, slick bodies normally made them dangerous to fly on, Resheph had the specialized gear for it, and Josh had the experience to handle it. The Dragonair was his most trusted flying Pokémon. If any of his Pokémon could handle it, it was this one.

With a burst of AIR CUTTER launched harmlessly outward, Josh watched his Skarmory ascend to double back through the parallel rings. He expected his Charizard and Braviary could handle it as well, particularly the latter after training so much under Alexei Ivanov in the Petalburg area. Resheph approached the parallel rings, Josh yanking back hard on her reins in a full nose-up command. He felt his stomach turn as the Dragonair flew completely inverted for a few moments. The Leader hoped his angle was right. If it wasn't, this was going to come with a severe time penalty!

Josh winced ad he caught a glimpse of Mint's queasiness. On one hand, he felt bad that the Tropius' rider had clearly been in over his head. The Leader had figured he had a lot more airsickness tolerance than that, given what they went through in the Cloud together. On the other hand, it would give him a chance to catch up to Mint and make this race competitive again. Even the clumsily-flying Charizard was able to invert and loop through both rings. It was something not many Charizard could do, and unbeknownst to them both, got a lot of applause from the small crowd watching on the scoreboard's live feed.

Distracted by Mint losing his lunch, Josh held Resheph's nose up position slightly too short; they sailed over the ring inverted! It wasn't a huge time loss, the Dragonair able to quickly perform another half-loop and fly through the ring. Thankfully direction didn't matter, just order! The tight half-loop did thrash Josh about, though; it was a good thing he had all his flying Pokémon refitted with cocoon saddles! Otherwise, the harsh maneuver could have flung him off!

Mint and Agretti still held the lead crossing the starting line, but Bladestorm was hot on the Tropius' fronds, and boost laps were coming!

You Got Boost Power! Speed-increasing moves, such as QUICK ATTACK, AGILITY, and EXTREME SPEED are now allowed. Agretti will be able to use such speed-increasing moves up to three times for the rest of the race. Speed-increasing moves will grant you ADVANTAGE for the posting round, meaning you will [ roll ] four times instead of two for that post and ignore the lower set of rolls. Please separate the first two rolls from the second two rolls with a delimiter of some kind. For the second lap of the race, the Leader's rolls will be capped at 140, before modifiers are applied.

Beware! Taking tight turns and stamina-draining Obstacles at high speeds can result in dire consequences, and may impose DISADVANTAGE, meaning the lower of the two rolls will be taken. If the lower of the two rolls would still pass the Obstacle, Track Position for that Obstacle will be calculated based on the higher of the two rolls.

Having already been in the air, the switchbacks at the course's start were made much easier from having to do far less rapid ascending; the remainder of the track at the end of the first lap gave them plenty of opportunity to climb. Once they had reached peak altitude, a familiar sight came into view: four ground-parallel rings above the largest, fastest drop on any Hoennian race course. They were parallel to one another on a second axis this time, as well, meaning the Pokémon did not have to laterally adjust their course. It was a straight drop through this time. There was just one big difference.

Having crossed the starting line once, Boosting was now on the table. A fantastic passing opportunity was coming up for Pokémon and trainers that could handle G-forces at the cusp of safety limits approved by Federation racing standards. The chance was there, but did the Leader and the challenger have the speed tolerance to take it?

Target Number: 0 (Speed)

Though Josh was ultimately testing Mint rather than truly competing against her, holding his Pokémon back in the process, that didn't make him any less competitive. Even if they were only giving around 80%, they were still more than fast enough to compete with most challengers. If he gave his all in his Gym's races, the League would be on his ass for making his challenge too difficult. Though he had inferred a couple of higher-ups thought his challenge was difficult as is, it was still within limits, and that was what mattered to him. Were his challengers learning what his Gym was meant to teach them? Yes. Was it a challenge for the challengers to overcome? Yes. Was it fun for the challengers? Questionable, but for the most part. And was Josh having fun? Hell yes.

"Get ready, girl..." Josh mumbled as the Dragonair rounded the last sharp curve leading to the tallest point on the course. This was the ideal spot to go fast on the entire course. It wasn't a matter of strategy; it was objectively true. It was a matter of whether the challenger and Leader felt they could physically handle it. Mint and Agretti better have been able to if they wanted to hold the lead, because neither Josh nor any of his Pokémon were holding back on this time.

"Now, Resheph! EXTREME SPEED!" the Leader cried, gritting his teeth as violet dragon energy surrounded her and Josh. She dove almost straight down, the four rings whipping past progressively faster. He was being pushed up in his cocoon, feeling like his upper legs were being squeezed like a grape being turned into a raisin. After a sonic explosion rocked the bottom of the course, Resheph pulled back up to avoid what would have assuredly been a lethal crash. The Leader let out a loud wail any of the racing Pokémon and spectators could have heard, as though all four of his limbs could pop at any moment from the force of gravity being multiplied upon them. It hurt. If he wanted to turn pro, this was one of the things he would have to condition his body to. If he wanted to ride Raikou, it would be even more important.

Josh's four Pokémon exerted a great deal of energy to dive as fast as possible: his Skarmory with AGILITY, his Charizard with a creative use of FLAMETHROWER, expelling the attack out of his blazing tail for added thrust, his Braviary with TAILWIND, and his Dragonair with surreal EXTREME SPEED that got the crowd roaring. The sonic explosion would have been deafening to anyone who wasn't ready for it. It even took the Gym Leader a little by surprise.

Despite having four Pokémon behind him going all out, Agretti played things cool, letting gravity do most of the work for Mint. The Tropius fell through all four rings in succession, coming out of the dive with perfect timing and at close to the optimal angle to maintain the added speed coming out of the dive. Even with a move like Agility, Mint would be hard pressed to find a way to make his grass-type fly faster than that. The competitive Skarmory kept things close, but just could not quite pass him.

The racers would only have a few seconds to get their flying Pokémon under control after the terrifying dive! At a lower elevation near the starting line were two mandatory rings at the entrance to a large half-tunnel. There were a couple of shallow turns that would be trivial to navigate under ordinary conditions, but these were far from ordinary conditions! Gale-force winds blew in from the open side of the half-tunnel, threatening to send them flying into the woods and OUT OF BOUNDS if the Pokémon didn't angle their flight paths to resist it! It would be like a ground-bound Pokémon trying to run across a bridge of slick and slippery ice!

Target Number: 125 (Endurance)

Special: A Pokémon that misses the Target Number by 30 or more will instead receive a flat -150 TP penalty for being blown OFF COURSE by the strong winds.

The fierce winds blowing against the rock face were brutal, especially with racers' senses already impaired from diving at speeds well beyond what they and their Pokémon were likely used to. All five Pokémon were able to fly right through the two mandatory rings leading to the wind half-tunnel. What followed was perhaps the single most challenging aerial Obstacle on the entire Racing Grounds.

The shallow turns would normally be little difficulty for the flying Pokémon that had to handle them. The gale-force crosswind changed everything about them. The natural way for a flying Pokémon to turn was to vary their wing thrust. A left bank wouldn't hurt matters, either. The problem was that the very act of banking exposed more of the wings to the fierce winds, disrupting air flow around them and making maintaining lift very challenging!

Bladestorm and Slider, showing immense strength in different ways, sliced through the wind tunnel's gentle curves and reached the course's main surface level. Agretti and Resheph, buffeted by the wind and having difficulty controlling their mounts struggling to stay airborne, lost quite a bit of ground, the Skarmory and Braviary, respectively, passing the two and leaving them quite a bit of ground to make up. The nimble Dragonair, with such little surface area exposed to the wind, was able to recover and fly neck-and-neck with her avian companion.

Ares, Josh's Charizard, had far more trouble. A strong gust of wind rushed underneath the fire-type's right wing, upsetting his rhythm and causing him to spiral toward the tunnel's surface. While losing wingbeat rhythm was not pleasant for any flying Pokémon, it was particularly dangerous for clumsy ones such as Charizard. Unable to recover from his dive, Ares braced for impact, sliding along the tunnel's surface. The proud reptile groaned as the Gym's medical team rushed to make sure he was okay.

And then there were four.

As the course narrowed to an uncomfortably narrow width, the racers were challenged with a dense series of ovaloid rings in a straight line. Unlike the rest of the rings on the course, these were not perfectly circular; their oblong nature required the Pokémon and rider to maintain a bank angle within a specific range to pass through them.

To pass through all of them in one clean motion would require the racers to bank hard to the right nearly to the point of being inverted, then banking in the opposite direction, also nearly to the point of inversion. The rings were quite large, giving the racers plenty of lateral room to work with and a good margin of error on the angles, but it wouldn't make maintaining control at such dizzying bank angles any easier!

Target Number: 135 (Reaction)

Special: Boosting does not impose disadvantage on this Obstacle. Any TP loss as a result of a Pokémon rolling lower than this Obstacle's Target Number is doubled.