Julia certainly picked a busy day to come to the Gym. There were several challengers there, and some of them even wore fancy helmets much like the Leader's she had seen since they had met. The retractable visor was certainly handy; after all, a windshield was very useful for keeping the gale, perhaps even hurricane-force winds the riders would have to deal with when things really heated up.

"Julia Davis ?" Shelly, Josh's young female receptionist called out. "The Leader will see you now. Your course is all the way in the back, straight ahead." She shuffled through the challenger's paperwork. Every line was signed, and every checkbox was marked. "Good luck, and remember: with great speed comes great responsibility."

Provided Julia followed the receptionist's straightforward directions, she and Chester would be able to find the Leader on a course on the very edge of the property, built into the foothills of the Chimney Mountain Range. While the cliffs of Chimney Canyon didn't stretch this far south, it left plenty of rugged terrain for a rectangular course full of big leaps. While the long jump on the backstretch pushed the boundaries of the course's two-star rating, the only other obstacles of note were the four right-angle left turns.

"Oh, Julia! There you are!" Josh waved from the back of his Flareon, Clyde. "Bet you've been looking forward to this for weeks now! I'm glad you could get on the waitlist. I think it's going to calm down soon, what with the rush of new challengers from a brand new Gym opening. Ideally I'd just like a steady queue." He had to cut introductions, short, though, or this race would be cutting into his lunch. He had three regular Pokémon battles in succession scheduled after this race.

The stands weren't too full, and it seemed to be mostly Josh's fans occupying them. Perhaps a couple people there knew Julia from her Ranger deeds, but from what Josh could tell, she had no history as a Pokémon racer or on the Gym circuit. "We'll cut the introductions short. You know Blinky and you know me already. These two are Inky," he gestured toward the frowning Glaceon, "and Pinky," toward the smiling, adorable-looking Sylveon who let out an unearthly-sounding, low-pitched cry coming from the species, "and beneath me is Clyde," Josh finished as the Flareon shot Chester a competitive glance. "You did say you wanted to meet my Flareon, right? Well here he is!" The four giant Eeveelutions let out barks that they were ready to run.

"Alright, so this is how the race works, Julia," the professional began laying the rules. "See that arch crossing the starting line? We line up behind that and watch its display for the countdown. It will sound four horns, like 3, 2, 1, GO. On GO, the race starts. No Quick Attacking or any other moves that help you go faster until the first lap is done, got it? After the first lap, use them as much as you think you and Chester can handle. If you beat me to the finish after three laps, or otherwise prove to me you can handle the pressure of split second decision making, and the Hoenn League Quick Badge is yours." He took a deep breath, as did the Flareon he was holding the reins of. "I've been getting yelled at about my badge award rate being too high, though, so it's my job to make sure you leave empty-handed!" With that, he slammed his helmet's visor downward and squinted. If Julia looked, he would see a familiar, laser focused expression not unlike when they did Ranger work together.

You will have 8 ranks to distribute among three skills. No more than 5 ranks can be assigned to any one skill.

• 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 next 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 Points (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 Points will determine finishing order.

"So you caught on," Josh smiled. Julia was one of the few people to understand the origin of the naming scheme. He didn't have a clever naming scheme for his Espeon or Umbreon, nor the names he had in mind for his eventual Vaporeon and Leafeon. Of course, finding them would either be quite the challenge or quite the investment, as Eevee that were large enough to be raced post-evolution were rare and valuable. And that was a sum of money Josh wasn't quite ready to spend yet.

Once the five Pokémon were lined up, three stills of the legendary Pokémon Raikou, depicted in a full sprint, appeared on the starting arch's electronic display. An orange "GET READY" prompt was imposed above them. A loud but brief, low-pitched squawk came from nearby speakers as the first of the three images disappeared. Josh clutched Clyde's reins and stretched his legs, ready to slam his knees into the fire-type's sides the moment the starting buzzer sounded. A second, then a third similar sounds followed as the other images began to fade. Once the last one had disappeared, the "GET READY" prompt changed to a green "GO", alongside a higher-pitched, longer-lasting squawk. "Eat my dust!" Josh shouted as he dug into the Flareon's flanks, all of his Pokémon lunging off the line.

A natural consequence of the course being centered around a large number of jumps was that there would be a lot of uphill running. While stamina would be a big role player in the race, that didn't mean cornering wouldn't be tested! Mere tens of meters from the starting line was a brutal 90-degree left turn. Furthermore, the uphill component meant the turn was completely blind; until they crested that hill, there was no telling what was on its other side! After passing the curve, the racers would have but a split second to prepare for the course's first of many jumps. Holding as much speed as possible would be very important!

Target Number: 95 (Reaction)

Josh had one distinct advantage over the challengers; though he held back some of his Pokémon's speed to make sure an appropriate percentage of challengers won Badges, he knew exactly what angle to take every curve at, and precisely when the first leap was coming. Inky took a very aggressive line along the inside, while Josh's other Pokémon took a safer approach, staying to the middle or even outside the track to make the right angle turn and have more time to react to the first big leap.

Josh himself reined Clyde to the outside middle of the track, encroaching on Blinky's space slightly before sharply pulling to his left. The two had their eyes on Chester, battling the challenger and her Dodrio for an optimal angle on the first jump. Nailing the landing was going to be important, as it would set them up for the net curve that was rapidly approaching.

With that, the five Pokémon were through the first blind curve with varying degress of success. Clyde and Inky ran in near lockstep through the first curve and leap, the way they soared across the course's first jump making them look more like Contest Pokémon from how synchronized they were. Blinky and Chester were having a similar battle for third place, their more conservative approaches losing them time but giving them plenty of time to react to the jump a split second beyond the blind turn.

Pinky, Josh's Sylveon, was not so fortunate. Caught between Blinky and the outside wall, she just barely grazed the wall while trying to avoid the Jolteon's quills. Just that small amount of contact was enough to sap her speed to the point where she had just barely enough to make it over the first gap, She even tripped on her hind legs as she landed; the Sylveon was that close to falling out of bounds!

At each of the curve's four corners was a nasty, uphill and blind 90-degree turn, testing the riders' ability to react to what was beyond on very short notice. There was ample space for Pokémon to build up speed again, which was necessary due to a series of jumps coming up! The first two were short enough that fast Pokémon could simply run off the track and make it to the next section below, but the third was so long that every Pokémon, no matter how fast they were, would have to really flex their legs and spring skyward as far as they could! Yes, even the Jolteon!

Target Number: 105 (Speed)

Special: Missing the Target Number by 25 or more will instead incur a flat -150 TP penalty due to coming up short on the jump and landing OFF COURSE.

Josh's choice of Pokémon for this race, limited by not having a Dodrio of his own, was a bit suspect. The four Eeveelutions were adept at speeding across land, but only Blinky was practiced at big leaps, and only because of how much her trainer enjoyed racing her. Her extreme speed lending itself to long leaps certainly helped, too. Clyde was not so fortunate, and neither were Pinky or Inky. The only compensation was Pinky, being so far behind the other Pokémon on the course, had all the room to build up speed and fling herself across the big pit.

As soon as Josh and his Pokémon slid around the sharp corner, he saw just how much room he had to work with. It was enough, but barely so. "Hyah!" he mirrored Julia's cry, digging his heels into the Flareon's sides. The competitive Glaceon matched pace, Blinky maintaining a close third as they soared above the track on powerful leaps.

Julia took full advantage of Chester's leaping strength, springing into the air higher than any Pokémon Josh had ever seen. It was like the flying-type was using BOUNCE to reach that kind of altitude. And how it paid off for her! Chester not only handily cleared the gap, but he and Julia had cut an entire corner and landed safely back in bounds. It was a risky, even reckless move, but it ended up working out! The two had even left the swift Jolteon in the dust, opening up a strong lead!

Clyde, despite Josh's push for speed, leaped off the course a little too early. The Leader leaned in to minimize resistance, and that made the difference. The Flareon tripped over the edge of the course, bucking Josh unexpectedly. He instinctually reflexed his left hand in the direction of the next turn, which Clyde interpreted as a left turn. The two swerved back and forth, struggling to recover from the near miss.

Inky, however, wasn't so lucky. He leaped without anywhere close to the speed needed to clear the gap. The crowd gasped as the Glaceon fell well short of the next section of track and into a safety net far below.[break]

[break]

The backstretch consisted of three short jumps not unlike the ones at the start of the track. While making them would be trivial for the four remaining Pokémon, the sloped terrain at the bottom of each leap would make landing difficult, particularly the last one. One final right-angle left turn preceded the home stretch, the starting arch in sight afterward. The most challenging part would be nailing each landing, minimizing the chance of a sudden lurch from a Pokémon landing awkwardly. This was all the proof Julia needed that while ovaloid courses were simple, that didn't make them easy!

Target Number: 95 (Endurance)

Phew, Clyde had survived the scariest part of the track. While that big jump would be scary on every lap, it was significantly less problematic on boost laps due to the higher speed giving them much more room to work with. The greater problem would be conserving Clyde's energy as much as possible. Those repeated impacts were going to be hell on the Flareon's legs, and the legs of his Pokémon in general. He already had a good idea each location he was going to ask his Pokémon to floor it.

Flicking Clyde's reins at the edge of each peak, the fire-type, and the rest of Josh's team, sailed through the air, ready to make a big slide around the final corner leading to the home stretch. Staying centered as much as possible was particularly important, due to being where the flattest ground was at each trough. Not like it would be much compensation; a single run-in with the wall could leave them without enough speed to make the next leap!

The safety net below made sure when Inky fell, he wouldn't suffer even one bruise. A little shaken up, but otherwise okay, the Glaceon was able to walk off the course. He would simply be an observer for the rest of the race. Chester had the right idea of sticking to the center of the track, giving Josh's Pokémon the perfect line to follow. The flightless bird's three pairs of lungs gave Julia quite the edge, Blinky maintaining a fairly distant second with raw speed alone. Clyde and Pinky kept pace well, but they were still far back from the challenger.

The four remaining Pokémon crossed the starting arch with a lot of separation among one another. While Chester wasn't way out in front, he did have a comfortable lead going into boost laps. The enemy now wasn't going to be the jumps. It was going to be the sharp, blind curves. With the higher speeds to come, the racers would have even less time to react! As she crossed the starting arch, she was able to get a glance at exactly how big her lead was!

You Got Boost Power! Speed-increasing moves, such as QUICK ATTACK, AGILITY, and EXTREME SPEED are now allowed. Chester 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.

NOTE: This Obstacle has more than one Target Number. Please indicate in your OOC notes which Target Number you are challenging.

The ability to use moves like AGILITY to go faster completely changed the course's dynamic. With how close some of the jump landings were to the course's sharp left turns, using the final jump of a series, combined with the added speed from a Pokémon move, made cutting the first corner possible. It would be a long jump -- even longer than the mandatory jump on the backstretch! Success would mean surging ahead in course position, but failure would result in a costly OFF COURSE time penalty!

Target Number 1: 100 (Reaction)

Target Number 2: 135 (Speed)

Special 2: Pokémon that match or exceed the Target Number gain 75 TP on top of any TP they would normally gain. Missing the Target Number by 25 or more will instead incur a flat -150 TP penalty due to landing OFF COURSE.

With the Eeveelutions' ability to use Quick Attack, Josh had a decision to make. He was quite behind, but there was still a lot of race to go. He could try to cut the second turn and get himself caught up to Julia and Chester again. It would be easy if he was riding Blinky; for the Jolteon, it would be trivial to build up the speed needed to leap over the corner and land back on the track. He took a quick glance behind him and saw his Sylveon was setting up to take the traditional path through the course.

If Pinky wasn't confident in her ability to clear the corner, then with Clyde it would be a no go. To build up the needed speed, Josh would need to have the Flareon initiate a Quick Attack chain and hold it through the curve. Given that the very use of Quick Attack typically hampered a Pokémon's cornering, that was not going to be possible. Josh kept his fire-type toward the middle of the track, aiming to crest turn one and put himself in a good position to make up ground.

Unlike the rest of the Pokémon in the race, the Jolteon made a daring move to get back in the lead. Arcs of electricity jumped among her paws, accompanied by a loud cry that could easily have been heard by both racers. The already lightning-fast Pokémon pivoted toward the inside of the track, then flung herself off at an angle in a QUICK ATTACK that made the gallery gasp.

Once Josh and Clyde were in the air, they watched the Jolteon soar. It was perhaps the most reckless yet graceful leap he had seen from the Pokémon. All the Pokémon handled that stretch of the course with top honors, but the Jolteon's performance was exemplary by comparison. Josh and Clyde had rounded the corner just in time to see Blinky land with Chester in sight, the speed of her pivot into the next leap making him glad he choose to ride his Flareon instead. The resulting whiplash would have made the Leader quite sore afterward. Josh's most competitive racing Eeveelution was determined to keep things close!

The backstretch's three straight jumps were coming up, though falling short on them would be nowhere near as much of a risk as during the first lap due to the higher speeds offered by moves such as AGILITY. The risk on this lap would be pushing their Pokémon to such high speeds while running up the steep slopes preceding each jump. Leaving them without enough stamina to complete the race was a real possibility if the racers weren't careful!

Target Number: 115 (Endurance)

Special: Using BOOST on this Obstacle will not impose disadvantage. Missing the Target Number by 25 or more will instead incur a flat -150 TP penalty due to coming up short on the jump and landing OFF COURSE.

These three short leaps were a perfect place for all of Josh's Pokémon to let loose. Except for Blinky. She had a unique problem when racing on Multi Jump: she was so fast that her momentum could carry her too far. Furthermore, her Quick Attack was something she simply could not hold back. There was no Quick Attack halfway in her arsenal; it was all of her boosted speed or none of it. If her jump was too good, she could leap from the first section of track, clear the second, and fall in the gap between the second and third. And at umpteen miles an hour, that was going to hurt.

The rest of Josh's Pokémon, though? Full speed ahead! Having rounded the curve in a good position, the Leader jabbed his knees into Clyde's sides, the Flareon bounding off the ledge in a QUICK ATTACK image trail. Pinky did the same, though she trailed by quite a bit yet. They still had one more lap to go, which was plenty of time for anything to happen! All it took was one missed jump to change the outcome of the race dramatically!

Blinky's decision to hold back paid off; had she charged Quick-Attack-speed-ahead, she would have found herself in first place just long enough to avoid a fall that would have led to a painful OFF COURSE penalty, both physically and in terms of the race outcome. Josh and the rest of his Eeveelutions trailed behind at significant distances, both from the race leader and from each other.

Notwithstanding the gallery, even the Gym itself seemed to egg Julia and Chester on as they further separated from the field. From the Gym's sound system blared a loud, announcer-like sound bite that was a little hard to recognize due to echo. "Pour it on! You're way out in front!" It was true; if she ever got the chance to check her rear view, Julia would see she had built up a substantial lead of more than a second. She and her Dodrio were truly riding as one, like the legendary Pokémon Calyrex of Galarian lore. As long as they kept it up, there was no Pokémon fast enough to stop them from winning this race, Legendary or no.

Two rapid-fire 90-degree turns and a big jump separated the racers from the starting arch, and the second curve was uphill. The only indication of where the curve started and ended was the course's outer guardrail, barely visible over the left turn's horizon. While keeping up enough speed to ensure they could clear the long chasm was important, position and angle coming out of the turn were arguably more important. Without enough time to react, it would be almost impossible to line up the correct angle for the quick leap!

Target Number: 90 (Reaction)

Special: Pokémon do not apply their Speed ranks to rolls against this Obstacle. Pokémon that miss the Target Number by 25 or more will instead incur a flat -150 TP penalty due to missing the jump and landing OFF COURSE.