The gallery roared as the white flag waved, Josh shrugging as he saw the time interval between first and fourth place; he was hopelessly behind. Barring Alex flying straight into a tube segment or That Damn Tree, he wasn't catching up. Knowing it was coming this lap helped a bunch, too. He wasn't going to just give up, though. These fans with season passes paid for them, and he was going to give them their money's worth.

"Slider, use your own TAILWIND!" Josh commanded. Gale force winds howled behind both the Braviary, though with the wide open airspace the Leader had to work with, he would have no problems avoiding course geometry... though that was what he thought last time. The sharp talon marks on the course beneath catching his eye were a stark reminder of that. He couldn't dwell on that mistake, though; he had to finish strong!

The multiple TAILWINDs from Josh's Pokémon and Kyouya created a high-powered wind tunnel around and inside the tube, rocketing all the racers forward at speeds well beyond that of a normal Flying-type boost. The sounds of compressed air vibrating Bladestorm's wing-blades echoed loudly inside the tube, the Steel-type barely staying ahead of Pazuzu with the burst of AGILITY they powered.

The wind tunnel at their rear made it much more difficult to navigate the tube's vertical turns, the Fortree Leader giving up a bit of ground on each one. Kyouya and Alex were by no means out of the race; the battling birds were well within sight, and there was still the back-and-forth backstretch to go. That was something the shiny Braviary excelled at.

After leaving the stomach-twisting undulations of the tube's inside, the tree-laden backstretch came into view. With it came five sections of tube the course's "mandatory" markers required them to fly around, slalom-style! The higher speeds would make swerving back and forth far more difficult. Perhaps some braking would be needed to avoid slamming into a tube section! Even barring the threat of a crash, a missed mandatory would result in a time penalty that could be race-determinative!

Target Number: 125 (Reaction)

By the time Josh reached the backstretch, where he would need to navigate around the tube he and his Braviary had just flown through, Alex and the rest of the Leader's Pokémon had almost finished swerving around the intersecting parts of the course. It was expected that Alex would leave him in the dust, given that the air was much more the Birdfather's element than his own.

The Gym Challenge wasn't about winning or self-gratification, though; it was about making sure the challenger demonstrated teamwork and the ability to make split second decisions. The Fortree Leader clearly demonstrated that in his performance today, and he better! He was a Gym Leader himself, subject to the same strict League standards Josh was! This wasn't Josh's moment to shine. It was Alex's. Not wanting to push Slider to his limits and risk a dangerous collision, he held the bird's speed back, pumping the reins back and forth much like the levers of a train to make it through the rapid turns ahead. He may have been hopelessly behind, but Josh had to at least finish. He couldn't let Alex win by default!

Bladestorm and Kyouya flew the most elegant high-speed dance around the Intersection's grueling twists, even the swift and nimble Pidgeot, Pazuzu, unable to keep up with the two of them. Every single pitch, yaw, and roll was perfectly timed and executed. Even the stage managers in the Operations Center were amazed the Fortree Leader wasn't getting airsick; turns that tight at that speed would have made any of Josh's Gym Trainers violently ill.

By the time Josh and his Braviary had reached the back-and-forth curves himself, even his Pidgeot was out of sight. Without the pressure of visible competition, his approach to brake through each turn and made sure he finished the race was a safe one, and the right call at that. The gallery was on their feet as Bladestorm and Kyouya swerved through the last two rings, screaming down the home stretch. The finish line was in sight!

The home stretch was all that remained, an official standing near the starting arch and waving the checkered flag. There was little risk of an accident on this straight sprint to the finish! Now was the best opportunity for the two Braviary, and the rest of the Leader's Pokémon, to give it everything they had!

Target Number: 0 (Speed)

The Intersection's final curves were downright dangerous. To an outsider not familiar, it looked like Josh was frantically waving and yanking Slider's reins in a panic. The course's backstretch was just that difficult to navigate at high speed. The Leader even let out a grunt followed by a shout, feeling like he was being whipped back and forth from how rapid and sharp the last few curves were. He could only have imagined how much more intense it felt for Bladestorm and Pazuzu, who were actually remaining competitive with Kyouya and Alex.

"Slider... TAILWIND one last time...!" Josh managed between breaths as the home stretch came into view after the rest of the field had already passed under the arch. He had no idea what order the three competitors ahead of him had finished in, but Josh was going to finish strong despite his dizziness. While he wasn't full-on airsick, his Gym Trainers were likely going to need to take over. It didn't help that the Intersection was one of Josh's longest courses. The longest course on the racing grounds, Spiral, had lap times close to three minutes. Thankfully he got very few challengers with enough Badges to race that one!

The trio of roaring TAILWINDs rocked the home stretch with hurricane force. It was a good thing the near side of the stands were protected with a giant windshield, otherwise the gallery would have been blown away! And literally, at that! The small crowd and all the Gym staff overseeing the race, even the stage managers in the Operations Center, watched with bated breath as Pazuzu surged forward far faster than he had flown all day, and possibly ever. The loud shrieks of the four birds were about all that was audible over the fierce, even dangerous winds surrounding the racers and their Pokémon.

The Pidgeot, Skarmory, and of course, Kyouya, crossed the finish line at almost the same time, with Josh and his own Braviary bringing up the rear nearly four seconds later. A slow-motion replay of the final moments of the race made it obvious that the Pidgeot did not win, though he was still incredibly close behind. The side angle and the frame rate of the replay made it impossible to tell whether Kyouya or Bladestorm crossed the finish line first. This truly was a photo finish, and would require review through a special camera not connected to the broadcast.

After what had to be a tense several minutes for the Fortree Gym Leader, the replay from the high speed camera was manually uploaded to the large scoreboard, showing that Kyouya and Alex had barely edged Josh's Skarmory out for the win. The time interval?

Three hundredths of a second.

Josh's jaw dropped when he saw Alex had won by the slimmest of margins versus a Skarmory that seemed, oddly enough, not upset about losing. He had a competitive nature, but he seemed to, if anything, enjoy the thrill of being part of a race so incredibly close. "Alex, I didn't get to see much of the race because Slider and I fell so far behind," Josh said as he guided the Leader toward the starting area on foot, having withdrawn his tired Pokémon. This was a long course even by his Gym's standards! "I'm going to have to watch this one back, but if you can beat those two to the finish, you clearly have the split-second decision making skills, the trust in your Braviary, and most importantly, the ability to keep your cool even when flying at breakneck speeds. Those skills will see you far in the Pokémon League challenge."

With that, the Mauville Leader reached into his pocket, grasping a small, beacon-shaped, metallic object into his now-closed fist. "You've earned it." He retracted his arm from his pocket and opened his fist into a palm. "The official Hoenn League Quick Badge. You and your Braviary shall be enshrined in the Gym's list of Qualified Riders as champions, and as Intersection record holders. While the Badge is eternal, records are meant to be broken."

Once the victory ceremony was over, Josh led Alex back to the Gym's entrance. "One more question before you leave," he managed to smile through heavy breathing. "When do we joust at Fortree Gym?"