Swanky was one word to describe the lobby's decor, that much was certain. The two Toxtricity had to feel right at home, what with the purples, yellows, and cyans that matched the color scheme of the Johto Beast the Elite Four member had discussed with the new Gym Leader not so long ago. The young man clearly had a lot of passion for the mythical creature of his homeland.

Melody did not have to wait long before Josh's receptionist, Shelly, called her name out. "Melody Miro ? The Leader will see you now. The main battleground is straight ahead. All we need you to do is let us know whether you are authorizing release of the match recording. It's something the IAPL requires us to ask."

If Melody followed the directions, she would find the Mauville Leader, Josh, removing the saddles and other riding gear from his Jolteon and Pyroar before the battle with the standing member of the Elite Four. "Glad to have you here, Melody!" he greeted the high profile challenger. "It helps a lot when you know your challenger outside your job. These two are Blinky and Aslan, though you may have already seen them before," he introduced the Pokémon, who looked excited to face off against the celebrity trainer.

The rings marking the aerial course had been retracted into the ground to ensure the regulation-size, well-cut grass field for the Gym Battle was in exactly the shape Josh wanted it in. There was all kinds of room to run and nowhere to hide - exactly how he intended to test Melody. Given how fast her eyes had to be, what with how much he had seen her riding aboard Cobalion, her eyes could almost certainly follow the trickery Josh had planned. There was only one way to find out, though!

The Leader took his spot at his Trainer's Box as his platform rose to the delight of the crowd, presumably mostly filled with Melody's fans. The two quadrupedal Pokémon de-geared, Aslan bared his fangs toward the two electric-types, and Blinky's quills seemed to leap off her body, as though both of them wanted a head start on the battle. "You take down my two Pokémon before I take down yours, or otherwise impress me in battle, and the Hoenn League Quick Badge is yours, Melody. Challengers first." He crossed his arms in a taunt. "I assure you it will be the only decision you will have time to think about today."

As Melody was a standing member of the Elite Four, Josh knew this would be an uphill battle. Plus, racing was more his forte. Josh had dropped his badge award rate to the mid-30s since moving to the Major Leagues from the Minors, well in line with the rest of the Gyms. This was primarily due to the volume of challengers who raced against him because they thought it would be not only easier, but more fun. How wrong they were, and that was how his badge award rate was so low. His badge award rate for the few Traditional Battles on the other hand? A staggering 78%.

"Charge them, both of you! And watch out for those SLUDGE BOMBs!" Josh cried, the two handily able to weave out of the way of the projectiles. That wasn't the Poison-types' attack purpose, though. The intent of those SLUDGE BOMBs was never to hit the swift Pokémon directly. They were far too fast for simple projectiles to touch them.

It was their giant blast radius. There was no amount of ability to breach a hundred miles an hour that was getting them out of that radius. Swaths of venom drenched the center of the field, covering it in toxic goop they were going too fast to avoid. Purple ooze splashed all over them, POISONING them both. "Aslan, time your FLAMETHROWER's line to strike them both!" Josh commanded of his Pyroar. While the lion preferred to use his speed and melee attacks over his ranged attacks, he wasn't going to disobey Josh, weaving to the side of the Amped Toxtricity to try to catch both of them in the same passing attack.

"Blinky, start your joust with a QUICK ATTACK!" His command was too late, the Low Key Toxtricity getting the Jolteon amped up with SWAGGER. This was going to make her joust even more powerful, yes, but it was also going to cause the lightning-fast Pokémon to lose focus. She raised a claw and sliced past the Low Key Toxtricity with a blindingly fast charge, then tripped over a sprinkler head and tumbled across the grass at high speed. "Come on girl, snap out of it!" the Leader cheered for his Pokémon and the lynchpin of his favorite strategy.

Toxtricity readies Sludge Bomb.
Aslan is poisoned!
Blinky is poisoned!
Aslan readies Flamethrower.
Toxtricity readies Swagger.
Blinky is confused!
Blinky readies Quick Attack.
Blinky kept going and crashed!

Forte raising his hands that high meant only one thing: he was about to unleasn the most powerful sonic attack any Pokémon was capable of: BOOMBURST. The Leader instinctively covered his ears in case his plan didn't work. Blinky, while able to run nowhere close to supersonic speed, was more than fast enough to escape the worst of it. Aslan was not anywhere close to as lucky. Not only was he closer to Forte, but his legs could not carry his larger and heavier frame nearly as rapidly as the Jolteon could.

"Blinky, get out of there! QUICK ATTACK to the far end if you have to! Aslan, TAKE DOWN and silence that Toxtricity!" The Jolteon's paws surged in a display that looked more like an electric-type move than Quick Attack. She was able to retreat far enough Aslan growled and lunged toward Forte, the lion's maw and claws brandished toward the sound-wielding Pokémon.

Before the Pyroar could snap the Toxtricity's strings, the BOOMBURST happened.

Even with his ears covered, Josh's head was ringing as though he had just left a sold-out TERAVOLT concert and forgotten to bring his headphones. There was no stopping his midair momentum, but the Pyroar's hearing was completely shot. His head was throbbing, feeling like something on the inside could burst at any moment. Whether the reckless and desperate tackle was successful or not, the great feline tripped upon landing. The throbbing had spread to his legs not from the sonic attack, but from the Toxtricity's venom. He slid across the envenomed grass in a heap.

"Pyroar is unable to battle," the head judge announced, a buzzer sounding from the scoreboard as its image of the Leader's Pyroar faded to grey. The digital representation of the Jolteon's stamina was slowly shrinking as well. Josh knew he was on borrowed time. Some of his favorite battles as a Gym Leader had been close losses. The way this battle was headed, this was no close loss. This would be an embarrassment. He had to make a move now. He had the field position to do it, too. The Joust was coming.

Toxtricity readies Protect.
Jolteon readies Quick Attack.
Jolteon suffers from poison!
Pyroar readies Take Down.
Toxtricity readies Boomburst.
Toxtricity protected itself!
Pyroar suffers from poison!
Pyroar has fallen.

The BOOMBURST was an enormous setback. For a challenger on the receiving end of that, it would often spell the end of the battle. Not for Josh, though. He still had one more trick up his sleeve. Even though the battle was two-on-one, Melody was fighting on Josh's turf. He had home field advantage, and he was going to take advantage of it, damn it. "Now, Blinky!"

The two Toxtricity looked like they were winding up for melee attacks as Josh recalled his fallen Pyroar. There was just one problem with the fighting-type assault. They had to reach Blinky first. She was about to outrun them, and in a big way. She was going to show Melody why the Quick Badge was named the way it was. If the performer and standing member of the Elite Four wanted the Badge, she would have to see through the fastest QUICK ATTACK chain of them all.

The THOUSAND CUT JOUST.

Blinky circled the outer bounds of the field to build speed, her running stroke a little wobbly from still being envenomed at the poison-type's hands, but she still got up to full speed with little trouble. Tearing up grass with a sharp turn directly toward the wounded Low Key Toxtricity, she lunged toward her fellow electric Pokémon in an almost invisibly fast blur, looking to slice across her foe with her claws.

She wouldn't stop there, though; she continued to dart back and forth across the length of the arena, chaining one QUICK ATTACK to the next and slashing across her foes again and again. If either Toxtricity wanted to interrupt the Joust and end the battle, it would require almost impossibly precise timing to intercept the claws cutting across the poison-types at the speed of a race car. Josh figured Melody had to have known that fighting defensively was also an option; that venom was going to tire the Jolteon out eventually...

Out of the dozens of challengers Josh had received up to this point, there was only one that was able to successfully see through and counter the THOUSAND CUT JOUST. That one challenger was Elinor Anderson . The order to dodge made sense, as the chain of QUICK ATTACKs took a tremendous amount of exertion from the already weakened Jolteon. In the blink of an eye, where healthy skin once was, there were long, narrow cuts where Blinky's QUICK ATTACKs landed. Ultimately, the challenger's Pokémon could take no more after the sixth dash, and was withdrawn.

Blinky kept her speed up while her foe bought itself time with PROTECT. Time that ultimately proved to be the difference maker in the battle. With split second reaction time, Blinky lunged forward toward the now-exposed Toxtricity, who was preparing to end the battle with a decisive BOOMBURST. That would be far from necessary; the Jolteon twisted one of her ankles mid-QUICK ATTACK, tearing up grass as her unconscious self slid across the arena. The poison from the initial SLUDGE BOMB had sapped the last of Josh's team's strength.

"Toxtricity and Jolteon are unable to battle. The winner is Melody Miro !" the head judge announced, both halves of the crowd chanting the Idol's first name over and over again. Though Josh had taken down one of Melody's Pokémon, he knew the battle wasn't at all close. A loss to one of Hoenn's most talented Elite Four was expected, but this wasn't just a loss. This was an embarrassment.

After the trainer's boxes descended, Josh palming his Gym's Badge and clenching his right fist containing it, he walked toward the victor. "As expected of a long-standing member of Hoenn's Elite Four," the Leader said to Melody, a bit flabbergasted. Anyone could tell he was mentally shaken from how one-sided the battle was. "You have more than proven yourself worthy of the Hoenn League's newly-minted Quick Badge. Display it with pride in your Badge Case." With that, he opened his clenched fist, beckoning his challenger to take the Badge into her hand.

After the ceremony was over, Josh led Melody back to the lobby. On the way back, he softly asked the performer, "What a non-match this was. The League's been on my ass hard about Gym matches like this. Do you know how I could make this happen less?"