[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

The shallow turns had been a serious pain so far, but they seemed to have managed to weather the storm. It was difficult, but it wasn't anything Josh hadn't dealt with before. Though normally he wasn't trying to go through these so quickly. Still, that was the point of his challenging non-traditional gyms. He wanted experience in these unusual situations, to better himself as a Trainer and especially as a Ranger. He'd long gotten over his obsession with tournament-based battles and valued varied situation experience over it. It'd never get him a spot in the Elite Four or make him Champion Rank, what with how the League operated. But that didn't matter to him.
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Slow and steady had been beneficial for him so far, however. In its own way. Buddy still had plenty of reserves left to go, and his opponents were tiring from trying to race over each other, despite being on the same team per-se.
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The last lap was here. They didn't have much time left, and not even enough to use up all their reserves that they'd saved. A big jump was here, and terrain was rough if they didn't make it all the way through. It was clear to Josh what needed to be done. That... Was when the passion came forth, breaking the stoic mask in a warrior's cry.
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"NOW IS THE TIME! AGILITY!"
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Josh Devlin

It took two laps around Undulation for Josh to realize that its bumpy terrain was proving to be much more challenging for the Arcanine than he initially thought. The Leader could feel the blazing dog's heartbeat pounding, and there was one more section of the track just like this to come. While Craggro would be able to make the decision on his own, Braver's decision was in Josh's hands, and he had to decide now. If he had been less aggressive with the Arcanine earlier in the race, this wouldn't have been such a weighty, race-impacting decision. The Master of Faster shook his head.

No guts, no glory.

With lightning in his eyes, Mauville's Leader nudged Braver near the course's outside line, then yanked with most of his strength to the left, trying to get the best angle he could for the leap over the moguls beyond. "Braver, EXTREME SPEED!" he shouted over the wind, already able to hear his Pokémon's thumping heart. The two of them were ready to turn into an orange and yellow blur.

Shockwaves flew outward from each of the three Arcanine, their surroundings blurring from their peripheral vision inward as they put on the fastest bursts of speed a common Pokémon was capable of. To the untrained eye, it looked like they had vanished from sight just before leaping up the central ramp that sent the trio sailing over the wild terrain below. All three Pokémon executed their jumps beautifully, Mystic's and Clyde's eyes briefly shifting upward to catch their own glimpse of the Arcanine as their shadows passed into view. While they were bounding across the difficult terrain with grace and flow, especially the Flareon, they simply couldn't match the Sacred Arte's sheer velocity and ferocity.

Even the Leader's own heart was beating rapidly. His muscles were stiff from not just the excessive speed, but whiplash from the acceleration that came with it. Both of the scoreboard images of his Arcanine were flashing red, a visual indicator of how spent the fire-types were. Devlin's strength was beginning to give out as the Extreme Speed high wore off. He had a sizable lead, but at what cost? Would he be able to hold it?

The course relented some after the extremely bumpy stretch. It was nothing but gentle, uphill turns that ended in a big leap to the home stretch. It was a perfect place to coast, not only for the Pokémon to catch their breath, but for the riders to do so, too. Or it would have been, if not for the entire section slowly increasing in lateral tilt! They couldn't drift too much to one side, or a leap out of bounds would be inevitable! It would be tough on the riders, too; without shifting posture, the sloping turn would feel like their left leg was getting squeezed hard!

Target Number: 115 (Endurance)

Special: None

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

No more holding back. No more limitations or inhibitions. This was a straight shot to the end, no matter what it took. Josh had played it safe this whole time in preparation for this moment. The moment that they could finally take the lead from dead last to first. Or as close to it as possible. Josh knew that the Gym Leader would be shooting all that he had as well, so it was time to make their stand here.
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Two hearts, one beat. Josh had kept Buddy safe, and now Buddy was intent on coming through for his trainer. That was the power of a bond between Trainer and Pokemon. Reading each other's wants, needs, whims and hearts, and knowing as a single solitary force what needed to be done. The other Pokemon were no longer even something Josh was looking out for anymore. It was just him and Buddy. Fire raged in the veteran Ranger's eyes as he made the call once more.
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"BUDDY, YOU CAN DO THIS!"
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Josh pressed himself down in order to aid the turns for Buddy as they began moving upwards. He was putting a lot of physical pressure on himself in doing so, he knew. But they had come this far, now was the time to go all out and see their goal through. The Arcanine used Agility once more as they rocketed across...
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Josh Devlin

As the two ascended to the course's peak altitude, Josh reined Braver toward the outside of the gentle left turn. As time-attack oriented as Josh loved to be with Pokémon racing (he loved his course records, after all!), he was focused on winning the race. Whether he won the race by ten seconds or a tenth of a second was irrelevant. As fun as it would be to figuratively obliterate Braver's flanks and push the Arcanine to his limits, he couldn't do that quite yet. Landing out of bounds would certainly cost Josh the race.

Instead, he intentionally yielded a small amount of time to run along the high ground, which was the flattest part of the ascent possible. He still had to counter-steer the giant dog against the leftward-sloping part of the course, where gravity would push them toward the inside line less. He was certain the more sure-footed Mystic would make up ground on him, but not enough to pass him! "Once we get that past that last bumpy section, I want you to go all out. Go as fast as you can." The Arcanine nodded before running to the edge of the track and making a tall leap to the wide landing zone below.

Even Mystic and Clyde, with claws giving them more control over their steps over rough terrain, did not make them immune to its effects. Fatigue played a big role in their race performance on the final lap; their sore muscles were starting to strain after giving their all to maintain pace with the Gym Leader. They slipped farther behind Josh, despite the Gym Leader's conservative tactics. The race was almost over, though. Once they cross the finish line, they would be able to get a well-deserved rest. The stress a race put on a Pokémon's body was one of the reasons Josh raised so many Pokémon; running more than two heats with any Pokémon on any given day would be a health hazard for them.

The two Hisuian Arcanine and the RaiCorp executive held their ground before taking the downward plunge that might have caused the challenger's stomach to rise. Buddy perfectly nailed the landing, able to take advantage of gravity and his mount's great wait and turn it into momentum. Then, the WILD CHARGE and bursts of AGILITY came. Both of them leaped beautifully over as much of the bumpy track below as they could. After landing, the older Josh may have felt a sensation of being yanked in multiple directions rapidly in succession from how Buddy managed his footing on the backstretch. By the time the finish line was in sight, the Gym Leader was comfortably in first place, but there was a lot of traffic within striking distance of the challenger! Second place could be achieved if they reached for every bit of speed within them!

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 Arcanine, and the rest of the Leader's Pokémon, to give it everything they had!

Target Number: 0 (Speed)

Special: None

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

Here they were. The home stretch. This was it. He knew that most likely, Buddy had one more Agility left in him before the stamina they had saved up would begin to be spent. But it was that conservation and keeping them safe up until this point that Josh had been counting on. While he hadn't entirely planned it from scratch at the very start, it was an instinct of his to prioritize his Pokemon's safety, no matter what. But he began to realize as the race went on, odds were the final frontier would be something like this... That was when the plan had begun to come into place.
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Now it was time to put that plan into action. Josh scratched behind Buddy's ears, the fire in his eyes roaring like the Flamethrower in the Arcanine's belly, and the fires in both their hearts. He didn't have a lot of hope for winning this race, but he knew that if he believed in Buddy, anything was possible. He could feel himself becoming fatigued as well, especially after the last obstacle. But he refused to give up. Buddy had been pushing so hard for them both, he had to hold on himself too! The veteran trainer was stubborn to a fault, even if that meant pushing himself to be as strong as his Pokemon were.
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"BUDDY, ONE LAST TIME!"
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The roar came out like a war cry as the Arcanine used Agility with the last of their conserved stamina to push them as far as humanly possible. This was all of their heart, their soul, all that their shared bond could muster... It was all for this moment.
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@tag

Comfortably at the front of the field, Josh took a look at the race timer in the corner of his Vision. If this was any other scenario, he would have settled with coasting to the finish line and saving Braver from any potential pulled muscles or other trouble that potentially came with the final push of every race. His body had started pounding from the strength behind the Arcanine's powerful gallop. While Arcanine were swift and amazing endurance runners, it took almost superhuman endurance to ride one at high speed for long.

His body was going to hate him for this. If he pushed hard enough, though, he could break his co-worker's course record. He had done so much racing at his own facility, yet he had never held a single course record at his own facility. If he had anything to say about it, that would change today. The Gym Leader slammed both his heels down and dug into his Arcanine's flanks. It was a tactile command Josh rarely used due to the pain it could cause the Pokémon when not properly done.

"Braver, EXTREME SPEED!!" his voice boomed as the world around him became a blur, dashing at the sustained speed of the Johto Beast of his dreams.

Braver let out a loud howl of half determination, half pain as the Gym Leader's heels came down at just the right spot. He, too, let out a loud war cry. It wasn't just about winning the race anymore. It was about setting a new course record using the very fastest Pokémon he had: a course record only another Arcanine rider would realistically be able to challenge. Every stride hurt Josh, too, the racer hissing with almost every time the fire-type's back slammed into his rump. They were pushing each other to their limits, crossing the finish line in first place.

The rest of the field was still in an intense battle for the last four spots. Clyde, too, wanted to make one final push, but he and Mystic were spent, and he was going to get trampled in that narrow strip at the end if he didn't yield. Reluctantly, the Flareon yielded to both the Hisuian Arcanine, watching Mystic the Ninetales cross the finish line in second place.

That left one podium spot for Challenger Dragomir and Buddy to chase. Once they were clear of the narrow path, a war cry from his rider made Buddy, likewise, give it everything he had. Craggro entered a WILD CHARGE to answer the burst of AGILITY his rival had put on. The finish was breathtaking to watch: Craggro had some distance on the RaiCorp executive, but Buddy had more raw speed. With one last howl and push from his trainer, the challenger's Hisuian Arcanine lunged over the finish line. The desperate move was just a tad too late, Craggro barely nosing Buddy out. It would be a hell of a moment to watch on the replay, though.

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

Damnit!
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Just narrowly in 4th. Not even 2nd or 3rd, much less the 1st he had been aiming for. Josh quickly stopped Buddy the moment they crossed the finish line, not wanting the Arcanine to have to strain more than they had already. Josh audibly cursed under his breath at how poorly they'd done. Buddy whined apologetically, though, and Josh took a deep breath as he placed a hand on their head to scratch behind their ears. "No no, you did amazing. They were just faster. It's ok, boy. You were good, really good" he reassured the Arcanine gently as he gave them lots of scritchy scratchies. "We'll get 'em next time. For now, I want you to get some rest, ok?" he spoke up then as he led Buddy to a distant corner, deciding not to return the Arcanine to their Pokeball just yet.
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So that whole exchange had been him completely ignoring the whole podium thing and Small Josh pandering and showing off his victory to the gym crowd. Since his presence wasn't required since he, well, lost. He prioritized what was most important in that moment. Sadly, Small Josh took his time showing off, so when he did find the older Ranger, he was sitting against a wall having just finished brushing both Buddy and Lightning's fur. The two Pokemon had since fallen asleep after the gentle brushing, and Josh had started texting his family when Smaller Josh approached. The older Ranger let out a yawn as he tilted his head up when he heard him coming.
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Then came the expected lecture regarding what the Gym Challenge was about. While he didn't exactly look bored, he didn't jump to his feet either. He was listening, of course, and his gaze didn't leave that of the Gym Leader. But his expression didn't change at all, as if he'd been expecting just about every word of it and had probably been reciting the lecture in his head already before Josh had even arrived. At least, until he pulled the Badge out of his pocket.
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"Huh?" he managed out, his half-asleep state snapping awake as the Leader continued. Where was this praise coming from? The course had seemed clear cut and dry. Be the fastest and win. But it seemed the Leader had something else in mind. While he hadn't won, he had demonstrated his bond with his Pokemon. Josh looked to the sleeping Arcanine stretched out across his lap. Well, he wasn't wrong that they were close, he supposed. Perhaps the League did value more than just competition after all.
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It took a minute though, for it to sink in that he had in fact won the challenge and was being awarded the Badge. Could gyms do that? On paper, it made sense, but... It was still a lot to take in. Eventually, Josh took a deep breath as he took the badge, lowering his head. "Thank you, Gym Leader. I'll keep working harder to be worthy of this honor."
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Small Josh then offered to head out for lunch once he was on break. Josh slowly nodded at that. "Sure. Just might need a bit to wake him up. I uh..."
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He motioned to the deeply sleeping Arcanine sprawled out across his lap and chest that didn't move even when he poked it. And the Raichu sleeping on top of the Arcanine. Who despite not having participated in the gym challenge, wasn't waking up either
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"I can't get up."
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Josh Devlin