As Josh kept looking to see if anything had been left behind, a gust of wind would blow behind him. A shadow of a large bird passed over, and the sound of a heavy thud behind him. Matt had landed on his feet after jumping off Oto, his shiny Pidgeot's back, as it circled the sky above.

"Boo." Matt teased at him, looking a little... smugger, than usual. More relaxed, as if care free, and not ... all there. Eh, maybe he was just loosening up around Josh?

Looking around, Matt looked impressed already with what was the gym. "Damn bro, you really wanted to go all out, huh?" Spinning in a circle as he looked around, a lazy smirk on his face. "Maaaan, I'd love to see a race in here."

Julia Davis Isaac Merlo

The big gust of wind, followed by the shadow of a large bird, immediately caught the new Gym Leader's attention. It was Matt, and he had flown over the gates thanks to his Pidgeot with gorgeous, recessive pluming! He didn't seem fazed by his friend's vain attempt to scare him. "Yo, Matt! Sick ride you got there! I'll have to show you mine! Come on out, Pazuzu!" Josh hurled the Pidgeot's Poké Ball into the air, his close partner letting out an avian screech of his own. "Pazuzu was the first Pokémon I ever caught on my own." The large Pidgeot chased after Oto a bit before landing in the middle of the group that had assembled around him. "I did. The budget the League gave me was enormous. Back in the Minors, I could only have one course. But now I can have so many different variations that every challenger can have their own unique track! It's gotten my Badge award rate down too, which is something the League really pushes down your throat." Matt expressed interest in watching races, which he was more than happy to oblige. "They are open for the public to watch, and we have season passes for sale! Just let my secretary Shelly know, and she'll be able to sell you one!"

Next, Josh turned to Julia. "Great to see you again after that mishap with the pharmacy! How you doing?" It seemed the fellow Ranger was excited to take his special Gym Challenge with Chester, her Dodrio. Their three sets of lungs and hearts made them great choices for stamina-intensive courses. While he couldn't be overly complicated with a trainer with so few Badges, he would come up with something that would allow the flightless bird to showcase both strengths and highlight weaknesses that could be improved. "You get your name on my waitlist yet? It's booked out almost to Thanksgiving now!"

Isaac's thoughts were the exact reason Josh had his Gym built on the outskirts of town, away from the high-end commercial district. It was one of the few places that Josh could get ahold of the large amount of land needed to build a facility this large while not going overbudget. The resources the League had provided him were vast, but they were far from infinite. "Isaac, great to see you, too! Is Ash coming, too? That would make the whole camping crew!" He smiled at all the praise he got for his new Gym. "I'm having a blast with it! The queue is seemingly endless; I'm constantly booked four to six weeks out!" Blinky let out an excited bark, ready to show his audience what she could do. "Maybe later, Blinky." He turned to face his friends again. "Isaac, you got yourself a sick ride yet? I'd love to show you around, but it takes a long time on foot. If not, I got you covered."

Matt looked far to relaxed. Watching as the new bird was introduced and chased Oto. Who cawed and then went to land next to Matt. Nudging his face with his beak, then staring at Josh with piercing eyes, then snapping towards the new people who showed up. Puffing out it's chest, a proud bird!

Looking over, Matt's mood went south. Seeing Julia, the flashback of the meeting came to his head. Remembering how he was lucky he wasn't fired. A friendly flick of two fingers were given to the newcomers, before he shoved his hands into his pockets. Slouching and stepping back behind Josh, letting him take the lead on meeting the friends he had.

Though another glance was given to Isaac, he must have not been a ranger. "Nobody." He muttered to himself under his breath, before giving a fake smile. "Name's Matt."

Isaac Merlo Julia Davis

Josh eyed Oto as the large bird clearly tried to intimidate him, but he didn't give any ground. As he was about to switch to Pazuzu, the racer suddenly found his face full of shiny Pidgeot beak, making him flinch. "Whoa!" Josh yelped. "A little too friendly, maybe!" Oto was bigger than Pazuzu even, and Josh's bird was not small for a Pidgeot. They had to be big to carry someone with his build!

Matt didn't quite look like himself; Josh gave him the chance to interact with the others to blow off some steam, directing his attention back to Julia. "Back at Trainer Hill, I only had the budget for three courses with minor variation. Here, it's not that I have so many courses...it's the number of variations. You'll need to be ready for anything." He smiled when he heard Julia would race Chester. "I don't have one yet, but if I can get a Dodrio by the time our challenge happens, you'll get to see it!"

The Leader turned back to Isaac. "From what the others have told me, it calms down a lot after the initial rush." While Josh wasn't quite ready to trust Saber to anyone else, he did have Blinky. He withdrew his Pidgeot, sending out Saber in the flying-type's place and switching from the Jolteon's back to the Manectric's. "Like I said, I got you covered! Hop on! I'll take you for a casual run around the place!" He was also indirectly goading Matt to mount the fastest Pokémon he had. Plus, Josh's definition of "casual" was very loose; it was probably going to take a lot for Chester to keep up. Depending on the Jolteon's mood, maybe too much.

Isaac was right. Matt clammed up real quick. He was still hurt. Wounded from before, but he was finding it behind a casual mask and don't care attitude. It was working so far, even if sometimes the bitterness came in at weak moments.

A brow rose at Josh. Was he trying to get him to join the race? "Return," Oto came back to his ball, placing the ball back as he accidentally touched Kazzy's ball, the rockruff appearing and shaking out it's fur. Blinking, seeing all the new people!!! Running towards Julia, nuzzling her leg, then bounding towards Isaac.

He paused and stared at him for a very hard moment. Squinting as his fur stood on end, fangs baring, backing up.. then turning to run back to Matt. Who blinked at the dog, looking very baffled... returning the dog quickly, then tossing out Nana's pokeball. The Arcanine prancing and and shaking out her fur.

"Heh..."

Julia Davis Isaac Merlo

While Josh wasn't intending for their tour to be a race, Matt's sudden release of Nana around the Leader meant only one thing: he wanted to go fast. Really fast. "Now I can't exactly give you a tour of the Racing Grounds at breakneck speed, can I?" Josh teased Matt, whistling toward the group in general but no one in particular. Blinky laughed, Saber settling for just a grin. "Remember what I've always said. With great speed comes great responsibility. There are times to go fast, and times to relax and take it a little more...slowly." Of course, Josh's definition of slowly was probably still friggin fast to most people.

It seemed Julia was a little inquisitive about the pace they'd be crossing the Racing Grounds at. Understandable; if they went for a simple walk aboard their Pokémon, they'd be here for hours. Josh couldn't have that. "Probably closer to the latter," he replied to both Julia and Isaac with a growing smile.

The lithe trainer looked like a natural aboard the Jolteon. Her quills spiked as the unfamiliar rider held her reins, a few sparks popping from underneath her paws. "Isaac, almost all the rules from when we rode Resheph together apply to her, too. Leg pressure for speed and a tug on her reins for direction. Flick her reins with both hands if you want her to jump." He paused for a few seconds to let him take it all in. "Oh, and if you're feeling particularly brave, you can have her Quick Attack too. It's really fun."

The first place Josh led the three too was the main battleground; there were a couple of his Gym Trainers practicing on the field near the starting line for all the aerial courses. There were a couple of aerial course rings extended, requiring the battlers to weave around them. One thing the two battles had in common was that they were incredibly fast paced. While the Pokémon involved in the battles, Zebstrika, Rapidash, Noivern, and Staraptor, were ones that could be ridden in races, they didn't show signs of riding gear being worn nearly constantly like Josh's squad did. The battles were incredibly fast-paced, though; he wondered how well his guests' eyes were able to follow the speedy action.

"This is where my regulation battles take place," Josh gestured toward the two in-progress battles. The nearby scoreboard was not even lit up; these truly were unscheduled pickup battles between regulars at the Gym. Next, he guided them across a bridge to a meandering river that fed all of the facility's creeks comprising the aquatic courses. "This is how I made all the aquatic courses work. Part of a tributary from Lake May flows into here. My old Gym at Trainer Hill had its aquatic course flow from this same river. Diverting the river was probably the most budget intensive part of the Gym's construction. Was worth it, though! I'll have to show you what my Sharpedo, Snacker, can do on the way back! He's a handful to control, though."

Matt gave a fake laugh, but he relaxed on top of Nana, going to practically lay on her like a bed. Showed how much trust the canine had within him to let him prop himself that way. He was checking his phone, scanning over texts. Sending a quick one to nicodemus unken 'I love you. Miss you, wish you here.' Putting his phone away, he tilted his head.

"Can that pokemon even agree on a direction to go?" Matt was very misinformed or honestly just had no idea how that pokemon worked, so it wasn't a rude question, at least he didn't think so.

"Nana was stubborn at first, but after I while she got used to me. I can't imagine three heads.." There it was, the real Matt peeking his way through. But soon.. he sighed. "Hey Julia? Um, sorry- for you know." a motion, looking very ashamed. "I get it if you don't like, like me or whatever." He had moved closer so she could hear and not everyone hear him apologizing.

"I got Josh in enough trouble... I don't want to cause more by making his friends uncomfortable, yeah? so just, let me know or whatever."

Leaning away from her, he went back to burying his face into Nana's mane. Staring off with a vacant look, before they looked back to Josh. "You just don't want me to whip your butt across this field showing off." That was a real smirk there on Matt's face, he loved teasing Josh.

Julia Davis Isaac Merlo