Blitz's gleaming tail made Josh easy to find, at least, based on how little time it took between the text being answered and the Captain calling out to him. "Ah, there you are," Josh greeted Annalise. "You were just a little hard to recognize in green and black." He was, of course, referring to the night vision mode of the prototype Ranger glasses Josh Dragomir had distributed at the big Ranger meetup. "I'm glad we're working together. Us Mauville buds gotta stick together, right?"

"Of course; I brought a kit of my own," Josh added, "but I don't have high hopes for their survival. We should be ready to file a couple of deceased persons reports. Come on, Blitz, let's go." With that, he reined his Luxray toward the foothills northwest of the outpost. Though the Ranger Captain had an impressive-looking Altaria mount, it would still take time to get there.

"Josh's little gadget is something else, isn't it?" he asked, trying to pass the travel time. "It's even got a thermal scan mode. Gonna make finding these two a snap." The downside was they could only have one view open at a time, and would not be able to view their surroundings as easily by a heatmap than they could by true night vision. "Right, Blitz is this Luxray," he introduced his swift mount, shifting Josh back and forth in the saddle thanks to powerful feline strides. A rougher ride was the price of feline speed, but to him, it was worth the trouble!

Josh nodded back, Blitz sounding a deep purr toward the Captain. "It was more out of necessity than choice. You see, I'm also Mauville's Gym Leader as of..." he trailed off, having to count the days in his head. "About a week and a half ago. That's why I've been taking almost no Ranger work. I didn't even ask for the position. I got an email from the Council after John Sullivan stepped down as Leader, and they told me I was the best fit for the position. Not like I could turn them down."

"It even has a speedometer app," Josh smiled, having it in the bottom right corner of the HoloWear's UI, just out of idle curiosity for the pace the Luxray and Altaria were making. The Luxray picked up the pace subtly, trying to get Annalise's Pokémon to do the same. If they didn't match the pace, he would slow his electric-type once again. "Your Altaria's name is sweet, as well."

When asked about Blitz's diet, Josh laughed. "It actually has nothing to do with diet. You know all those Distortions that have been popping up in Hoenn?" The Leader had become all too familiar with them, particularly when one formed right over his precious Racing Grounds. "Ever since then, huge Pokémon like this have been showing up way more often. On the way back, I'll have to show you pictures of some of my Gym Pokémon. If you've never seen a Jolteon wear a saddle, you might get to soon."

It did not take long for the two to reach the radius specified in the report. "I think this is where we should split up. If I find one of them, I'll have Blitz fire a SIGNAL BEAM straight upward. Should be easy to see." He would agree to any reasonable communication method the Captain proposed, as well. "I would say, 'Let's save some lives,' but there might not be any lives to save. Anyway, let's get to the bottom of this." With that, Josh activated the thermal detection feature of his HoloWear and began searching for the crash victims.

Annalise was correct. Being a Gym Leader came with more responsibility than Josh could ever have fathomed, some of which would put him into more danger than he was comfortable taking on. He would have to adapt, though! Not like his Ranger work left him out of danger. The only reason he was still even doing Ranger contracts in the first place is he genuinely loved his rescue work. Being able to save lives using his talent as a racer, his Pokémon a perfect fit for the job, brought him much joy. It was sad that his new position didn't let him do it more.

"Oh, we're swamped," Josh laughed. "I've got appointments backed up an entire month already. Mauville's Gym has a reputation for being one of the toughest in Hoenn since cait alfric had it. Then Katherine Fairburne had it, and look where she is now. These are big shoes to fill." Had he known that Mauville had such a storied history, he would have eaten the extra cost to move his Minor League Gym to Rustboro. Of course, there was no turning back now!

The very idea of a Jolteon big enough to carry a human was absurd to think about. "Have you been in one of those distortions yet? They're full of Pokémon that are just enormous for their size, and they've even been popping up outside the distortions. When this is over, I'll have to show you a picture of her and her brothers. Just looking for a Leafeon and Vaporeon her size, and the entire rainbow will be on the track!" That would, of course, be no small feat. He was willing to go to great lengths in the name of his Gym and spreading his love of Pokémon racing!

Not too long after the two split up, Josh caught the bright light of the Captain's flare, having to tilt his head away to avoid being blinded from overloading the thermal imaging. He turned his electric-type mount toward the flare's source, seeing four faint heat signatures that were difficult to identify without seeing them in real light. He switched off thermal imaging, plunging his vision into nearly total darkness. "Blitz, can you shine a light for us?" Nodding and purring, the electric Pokémon fired a SIGNAL BEAM from its tail, illuminating their surroundings, including what Annalise had signaled him here for...

Josh couldn't let the ailing Swellow's impressive size distract him. It was a shame Hoenn's most common bird Pokémon were typically so small, because they were extremely fast and would have been a joy to soar on. The size and strength needed to carry a human into the air was immense for the species, and was toward its upper limit. There would be time to admire the Pokémon later.

For now, the Gym Leader had a job to do.

The other pair were not far, and it was a gruesome sight. A motionless Staraptor and rider were sprawled over the grass, bathed by the beacon of Blitz's SIGNAL BEAM. There was an enormous amount of blood seeping from underneath the two, though it was evident upon inspection that none of it came from the human. Josh took the young man's pulse. It was weak, but still there! "The trainer is unconscious but alive. Barely. I'm going to radio for a medical team to get him out of here. We can't risk moving him."

It was a pity the Staraptor did not survive the collision, and unusual at that. Normally it was the larger bird Pokémon that survived crashes such as this one. It was clear that all four survived the initial impact, but the Staraptor could not regain stable flight before plunging to the ground. "I couldn't see too well underneath the young man, but there's no way his Staraptor survived after losing so much blood. I can't imagine the loyalty it had toward him; it gave his life protecting him by breaking his fall, from what I can tell." His Manectric had that level of loyalty with him. The most difficult part of his recovery would likely be not the physical rehabilitation, but coming to grips with the death of the Staraptor.

The fact that three of the four crash victims were alive was a small miracle in and of itself. "I have no idea why they weren't wearing beacons. Aren't all flying Pokémon required to wear traffic beacons after dark?" he asked. Aviation wasn't his specialty. Perhaps that would be a better question for Alexei Ivanov . Pokémon aviation was his thing.

"On it." With that, he dialed up Ranger HQ and delivered his report. A medical team would be sent to get the three to facilities in Slateport as quickly and as safely as possible. By the time he was off the phone, Annalise had already recalled the badly injured Swellow. He had hoped the wounds would be simple for a Pokémon Center to fix, but given the high velocity impact, that was likely not the case.

The healing move stabilized the surviving trainer, though he remained unconscious from the sheer exhaustion of the terrifying collision. "I don't," the Leader sighed. "Admittedly, finding a ride Pokémon with healing moves is hard." Had he forgotten, both now and when he had left, that his giant Jolteon knew WISH? It sure would have been helpful here. "Thanks for covering for me."

While his mind was filled with regret at being unable to bring everyone involved back alive, there was nothing Josh could do about that now. Not without divine intervention from the Great One. "Let's head back to HQ. I need to file a report for the poor Staraptor. Plus, you want to see Blinky, right? I can show her to you when we get back."