A week after the Silph Cup, Josh had recovered quite a bit from Isaac Merlo 's attempt on his life, both physically and emotionally. It was still a painful memory, but one he was in the process of turning into a landmark on his life and letting it no longer affect him. He showed it on his trip to the distant island of Ever Grande. While he had briefly been at the island once as a pit stop to Pacifidlog Town, Josh had never been inside the Pokémon League Headquarters before; his initiation as a Gym Leader was done remotely due to an in-person meeting being a logistical nightmare at the time.

Once his Sharpedo had carried him across the waves of Hoennian seas in record time, Josh switched rides to his Espeon, Janus, who took him the rest of the way to the League's Headquarters building. He was conveying feelings of nervousness for his trainer to his mind, the two still unable to telepathically communicate in the human language. That would come over time, what with Janus' bond with his rider being so young. While he would be forced to dismount his Pokémon when he headed inside the office complex, he did let the large psychic-type walk alongside him.

With an expansive and comprehensive office directory, finding Elinor's office was a lot easier than he thought it would be. It was much larger and much more extravagant than her Ranger office back in Fortree, as was to be expected of one who shared the second most powerful political position in all of Hoenn. Having texted Elinor when he got to the island, he figured the door might be open already. If so, he would sit down in a chair in front of the office's main desk, running his hand through the tacked Espeon's short, purple fur. "Hey, Elinor," Josh waved. "Sounds like we have to meet up under some pretty dire circumstances. What's going on?"

"Oh no, not at all," Josh answered regarding the trip. "When your Gym can involve flying around a race course at breakneck speed, going way faster than most are comfortable with is just second nature." He frowned; it seems like the was a serious problem. From the report the Councilwoman pulled out, it seemed like it was job performance related. He had gotten almost entirely fantastic reviews from those who had challenged his Gym.

"I have," Josh confirmed when asked about the job's expectations. "And not to toot my own horn, but I felt like I've done a bang-up job since day one." Apparently the League disagreed. Josh needed to figure out why. As she slid the report over, Josh got a chance to look through it. He immediately flipped to the section with all of his KPIs. "Let's have a look-see," he mused aloud.

CHALLENGER REVIEW KPIs
Registration Process...................Exceeds Expectations
Battle Challenge.........................Meets Expectations
Battle Entertainment...................Exceeds Expectations
Race Challenge.........................Exceeds Expectations
Race Entertainment.....................Exceeds Expectations
Customer Service.......................Exceeds Expectations
Overall Satisfaction...................Exceeds Expectations

LEAGUE NON-TRADITIONAL KPIs
Registration Process...................Exceeds Expectations
Educational Concept....................Exceeds Expectations
Educational Execution..................Exceeds Expectations
Theme: Concept.........................Exceeds Expectations
Theme: Execution.......................Exceeds Expectations
Productivity...........................Exceeds Expectations
BAR: Non-Traditional.....................Meets Expectations

LEAGUE TRADITIONAL KPIs
Registration Process...................Exceeds Expectations
Educational Concept....................Exceeds Expectations
Educational Execution..................Exceeds Expectations
Theme: Concept.........................Exceeds Expectations
Theme: Execution.......................Exceeds Expectations
Productivity...........................Exceeds Expectations
BAR: Traditional.................Does Not Meet Expectations

COMMENTS
As a new Gym Leader, you are doing wonderful. You have a great theme for your Gym, and your Pokémon reinforce it very well. The only concern we have is with your Battle challenges. You are awarding Badges for battles far more often than any other Gym Leader in Hoenn's history, including historical Gym leaders.

Normally, we would let a single metric slide, given your outstanding track record everywhere else in the program. Unfortunately, this one metric is so far out of range that we feel this needs to be addressed expeditiously.

One of the most important duties of a Gym Leader is to ensure that trainers that you award Badges to truly have the qualifications, as they are an internationally-measured standard of battle prowess. In times of need, we may need to recruit strong, distinguished trainers for assistance. Those who have made significant progress on the Gym circuit are often the first to be considered.

It is, therefore, important that you do your part in ensuring that the Badge counts of Hoennians remain an accurate measure of Trainer prowess. Therefore, we need you to put extra effort into decreasing your Battle Challenge BAR (Badge Award Rate). We will be monitoring this metric over the next three months. If we do not see that significant progress has been made, you may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including demotion to the Minor League.

"...I had no idea it was this bad," Josh's jaw dropped as he flipped through the report. "Just...Arceus. My word. Are there any League programs I can enroll in that will help?" He thought in particular about the incredibly one-sided beatings Callan Young and Melody Miro gave him not too long after he opened the place.

Josh was relieved to at least be meeting with Elinor for this serious news. If there was one bigwig in the League that understood Josh, it was her. He figured that the day she recruited him into the Rangers, she never thought he would be a Major League Gym Leader! As he listened to the various options Elinor gave him, he frowned. "You're right," Josh answered, "the Trainer School wouldn't help me. It's not the fundamentals I'm struggling with. It's...really advanced stuff." He paused.

Next, he took in the description of the Dragon-focused course. It was definitely a good suggestion, and one he had looked into with the Rangers before. "That sounds really fun! I'd love to take that course some time in the future, but again, I don't think it will help with my specific issue."

Josh's eyes widened when she suggested he take up the Gym Challenge not as a Leader, but as a challenger. It brought him back to the day when the League first went public about Meteno 99943...the meteor that would impact Hoenn in about one month. The meteor of which it was his duty as a Gym Leader to do his part to warp to Sea Hoenn. He was responsible for making sure the Desert Beacon was activated, and had less than a one-second window to do so, given the range he was instructed to activate the beacon at and the speed of a typical meteor as it approached. "I... I..." Josh stammered, remembering the Bonfire on Slateport Beach. It was three months ago, but it now felt like yesterday. "It's funny you speak of the Gym Challenge now. Because..."

Josh reflected on how different his first day of work with the Rangers was compared to all the training he did for the Gym Challenge. It was a lot more fulfilling, yes, but it was also a lot harder work. He took out his Johto Gym Badge case containing five Badges, pulled out a small notepad stored underneath the raised tray that held them. It was filled with notes on all his battles with Gym Leaders, particularly on ones he had repeatedly lost to. He also reflected on the words racing through his subconscious, dreaming mind last night. If the others listened closely, they could hear him repeating these words aloud:

Your courage is admirable, but you sorely lack the foresight to use it. Your confidence is admirable, but you sorely lack the judgment to use it. Your ambition is admirable, but you sorely lack the insight to use it.

Those words flew through Josh's mind on loop as he flipped through his old notes on what he did well in his Gym Challenge and what he could do to improve. He closed the lid on his Badge case, with the notepad still in his hand. "Today...today I chose a new path," Josh said with a solemn look on his face. "To do that, I had to give up one dream to pursue another. A dream that did not work out. But now I have a new dream. One I am sure will come true. I want to pursue this new dream as a new and better person." He undid the belt containing his five other Pokémon, doing his best to hold their Balls up to eye-level. "Today...I'm retiring from the Gym Challenge. I have no need for these anymore." He tossed the notepad into the fire in front of him, then redid his belt. Many of his Pokémon, even the normally emotionless Absol, became beady-eyed as they saw it burn.

"...and that's the other half of what happened that day. The day I came to your office, sweating bullets in a sleep deprived state... remember that day? It's one I'll never forget." He, of course, didn't expect her to remember; she had to have spoken with dozens, if not hundreds, of people on a daily basis. She was one of a few people in one of the most powerful political offices in the region. "That day, I told myself I would leave the Gym Challenge behind. And I wonder...is picking the Gym Challenge back up truly right?"

Then, Elinor personally offered her services as a Pokémon combatant to him. "You sure? What with you being so busy..." If she didn't have the time to, she wouldn't have offered as such in the first place. "If you can, then I think that might be the best way to go. I'll have to give it a lot of thought. If you have a lot of Pokémon, I can tell you what's been causing me trouble. It's not general battling skill. It's something specific I just have no idea how to overcome. You might have an idea what it is, given we clashed back when I was in the Minor League."

There was a lot to consider. Speed was a potent weapon, and his Gym leaned into it a lot. Perhaps a bit too much. As Josh flipped through the report, there was an addendum at the end with a detailed analysis of the hundreds of challenges he had taken, both Battles and Race Challenges. "The League did a really good job with this report; it's already a step ahead of us. Take a look at this."

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
Upon review of your Gym Challenges in the last 30 days, we can recommend the following areas of study for improvement:

a) Handling TRICK ROOM
We have noticed over 60% of your Traditional Battle losses involved challengers whose Pokémon used the move TRICK ROOM. One of the possible battle conditions at the Battle Arcade, run by Minor League Director kyle lopez , is to battle whilst under the effects of TRICK ROOM. If you show him a copy of this report, perhaps he could be convinced to help you in this way, given your relationship with him prior to joining the Major League.

b) Handling defensive Pokémon
We have noticed your reliance on what you call the THOUSAND CUT JOUST, a rapid-fire series of QUICK ATTACK uses, as the decisive blow in matches. Almost on the level of a Z-Move, this is a very strong tactic, and reinforces the lesson you are trying to teach challengers quite well. You should keep using this tactic, but understand that it is a tool in your toolbox, and should not necessarily be the cornerstone of your strategy. Against extremely defensive Pokémon, they have the opportunity to see through and counter the attack, given the time to study it. GYRO BALL is an attack that is of particular concern; you should consider developing a way to handle it.

c) Handling situations where you do not have the speed advantage
While it is a very small percentage of your challengers, we have noticed, particularly from your battle with Elite Four Callan Young , that you are extremely susceptible in battles that your Pokémon cannot outrun their enemies. As a Gym Leader, challengers will craft their teams of Pokémon to prey upon your Gym's inherent weaknesses. It is, therefore, imperative that you understand both sides of your battles. We highly recommend taking the time to have your six fastest Pokémon spar against your Pokémon that do not have quite so much speed.

d) Non-Traditional Challenge: Land Pokémon Race
While it is within acceptable limits, your BAR for your Land Pokémon Race challenge is on the very low end of what is acceptable. We recommend retooling the challenge so that it is slightly easier for challengers to win. Your other Pokémon Race challenges are right where we want them to be.

"Take a look at this first bullet point. Do you have Pokémon that can take advantage of TRICK ROOM?" Josh asked Elinor. "I agree with the report; I think battling me inside a TRICK ROOM is the single most helpful thing you could do to help me out."

While Josh was a bit disappointed Elinor couldn't help with the Trick Room situation, she did direct him to someone who could. Plus, it wouldn't be a bad idea to practice against the Councilwoman's defensive Pokémon. "I'm not saying a rematch against your Pokémon wouldn't be helpful," he raised his hand in objection. "I think it would be very helpful. Just not quite as immediately effective. Can we head out to the battle complex? I would assume there's an open arena somewhere. Might be good to go over what can be done about learning how to take down such sturdy Pokémon like yours. And then..."

The name kyle lopez came up yet again. "His name seems to be at the center of every single one of my goals. He helped me get to the position I'm at now, mentoring me when I was in the Minor League. His Battle Arcade can provide Trick Room practice." The next goal was, to him, the most important of all. "And most of all, Kyle is best buddies with, of all Pokémon, Entei. Even among legendary Pokémon, the best possible way for me to prepare for Raikou...is to battle and ride the next fastest Pokémon on land, Entei. It seems all roads lead to Kyle."

Josh sighed as Meteno 99943, once again, came to mind. "Once Meteno is over, I want a rematch. Not even for a Badge if you don't want one. Just both of us holding nothing back. You kicked my teeth in when I was in the Minors. I want to show you what I've learned since, including what I'm sure you'll teach me today."

Josh smiled at Elinor's confidence. "Then how about we head back there?" he asked the Councilwoman. "Not for a battle necessarily, just to brush up on some things. Some pointers for shoring up my weaknesses as a Gym Leader. I'd need to swap away from some of my travel Pokémon, so give me a few once we get to the arena." Assuming Elinor was down for some mentoring, Josh would let her lead the way to the back and continue the conversation along the way.

"Indeed. There is far more to a Champion that just battle prowess," Josh mused down the long hallway. "I don't intend to advance in the League any farther than I am at now. I'm very happy with where I'm at positionally. I just want to be... the best Gym Leader I can be." He sighed, thinking about Meteno again. Though his sole responsibility was to ensure the beacon was activated in time, Meteon would surely not be the end of Hoenn's problems. Though he didn't know how far in the future the future he saw in the cloud was, it was a future he wanted to change for the better. And his best bet, he felt, was to appeal to his childhood idol.

"I wouldn't mind doing a battle outside city limits, in that case," Josh agreed with Elinor as he logged into the Storage System and swapped out some of his travel Pokémon for his main battling team before sending them all out, putting them on display for her. "These are my six best," he gestured and waved toward the Dragonair, Absol, Gogoat, Skarmory, Pyroar, and Manectric, all geared up and looking like they could carry their trainer away at any moment. "Now, where shall we begin?"

Josh had already been caught up in the politics of being a Gym Leader, what with being in on how the League was going to handle Meteno. He wasn't happy with the level of politics he was involved with as it was. It was, however, a small price to pay for how happy the rest of his career made him. Though he had to quit professional Pokémon racing, he never felt like he had done so, as a result of integrating it into his Gym Challenge.

"There's plenty of flatlands outside Mauville and Verdanturf," Josh suggested, though the plateaus outside Fallarbor would be remote enough, as well. The six Pokémon Elinor sent out were all fearsome in their own right. Any combination of them looked challenging for his team to overcome.

"How about we start with both of my flying Pokémon," he offered, pointing to Resheph and Bladestorm, who were quick to fly in front of him. "Perhaps we can have a short match, just as though you were at my Gym. Then in between rounds, would you be able to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it?" It was a lot to ask, yes, but clearly the Councilwoman had as much battle experience as the Elite Four did. It was worth a shot!