Summarize 2 plots that are in-progress and being threaded:1a) Pursuit of Legendary Pokémon Raikou / The Three VirtuesThe VALOR Initiative, as well as Josh's newfound duties as a Major League Gym Leader, have turbocharged his pursuit of the Legendary Pokémon Raikou. Since his last vision, Josh has finished developing the Three Virtues, supplementing his own Three Virtues. They had become the Six Virtues.
Josh's CONFIDENCE had been supplemented by the JUDGMENT needed to make sure said confidence was justified first, as demonstrated in
Gotta Go Fast". In this thread, Josh, alongside
wren rourke , was trusted with a mission of paramount importance: the recovery of sensitive data from a data dealer intent on selling it to Team Rocket for a large sum of money. The two were able to stop the exchange and gave chase down Highway 110. Wren looked like he was in pain from having to withstand an Arcanine's Extreme Speed. Rather than continue a dangerous chase, Josh showed the
JUDGMENT to recognize that while he had failed some of the mission's objectives, he had completed the most important one: making sure he and his friend made it in and out of the dangerous warzone unharmed.
Josh's
AMBITION had been supplemented by the
INSIGHT needed to recognize he could not take everything he saw at face value. This was demonstrated through the course of the following three threads.
In the thread
Chasm, Josh worked with
MATIAS SILPH to rescue an Elite Ranger and three teenage trainers from a gondola crash on Mount Chimney. Two of the victims fell into a superheated chasm where Josh's useful consciousness was measured in seconds. His Pyroar rescued one, and Matias went down to the chasm directly to rescue to the other, somehow completely unharmed by temperatures near the boiling point of water. Josh showed the
INSIGHT to realize that there are people with extraordinary, even supernatural talents out there, and he cannot take everyone he sees at face value. The two later have a discussion about how Matias survived such boiling temperatures in the thread
Piping Hot Pasta. Eventually, Matias becomes the first person that learns Josh not only wants to befriend and ride the legendary Pokémon Raikou, but also that Josh is willing to sacrifice part of his freedom to become Raikou's Avatar.
In the thread
Old Dogs, New Tricks, Josh and
Melody Miro are tasked with routing a pack of Mightyena from the streets of Oldale Town. With Melody's help, Josh went above and beyond the requirements of the mission in not only dispersing them from town, but getting to the bottom of why. The answer was not immediately obvious, but digging deeper and thinking outside the box led him to correctly believe the Mightyena were attracted to a Cherrim nest in a small park. By relocating those Cherrim outside the city, his actions have not only quelled this wave of Mightyena attacks, but have prevented future ones. He has demonstrated
INSIGHT by realizing that just because foul play looks like it's a factor doesn't necessarily mean it always is the cause of a problem. This has taught him a valuable lesson to be open minded. The two later have a discussion about the AQUA Initiative, Avatars, and general attitude of legendary Pokémon toward humans in the thread
Iron Resolve.
In the thread
Racecar, Josh took on a reversal of roles since his battle with
noah faber , this time being on the Leader's side of a Gym match. Expecting it to be a close race with
kyle lopez due to being in his element, Josh was in for a rude awakening. He not only got beaten, he got embarrassed at the game he played best. This has opened his eyes to the
INSIGHT that Champions are more than exemplars of the craft of battle. They are leaders, innovators, and protectors of the region they serve. Perhaps their experience together will carve the leadership skills the Johto Beast is looking for in potential human partners.
Finally, Josh's
FORESIGHT blossomed in the thread
Anarchy's Rainbow,
Isaac Merlo , under the moniker, Blackjack, infiltrated Josh's Gym and sabotaged its main power generator to undergo a deadly overload that could destroy the Gym and seriously injure or kill anyone on the property. Blackjack substantially reinforced Josh's
FORESIGHT that day. He had trusted his instincts all day, but recognized that during Luck & Pluck's
NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE, everything he had worked so hard to trust tried to deceive him all at once. He shook his head, fought through the nightmare, and managed to save his Gym with some outside-the-box thinking, an adrenaline-fueled act of desperation, and even a little luck. His
FORESIGHT was the reason the Racing Grounds lived on and continued to serve trainers of Hoenn in passing on not only Josh's honed Three Virtues of
COURAGE,
CONFIDENCE, and
AMBITION, but his new set of Virtues:
FORESIGHT,
JUDGMENT, and
INSIGHT. The Three Virtues had become the Six Virtues.
1b) Pursuit of Legendary Pokémon Raikou / The Spark Ignites After the Three Virtues became the Six Virtues, Josh had another vision from Raikou, the Beast's final message as follows:
"Alongside courage, your foresight has flashed like a lightning bolt. Alongside confidence, your judgment has echoed like booming thunder. Alongside ambition, your insight has roared like a shredding downburst. I am satisfied with your spiritual grit. Now only your mental and physical grit remains. If you truly have the mental grit to fight alongside me...then catch me. If you can."Having developed the Three Virtues, Josh possessed the spiritual grit worthy of a true hero. Raikou's request for Josh to "catch him" refers to his development of innovation needed to catch a foe he cannot outspeed. To do so, he must arm himself with the knowledge of not only the Beast's strengths, but its weaknesses as well. This is being represented by completion of at least twelve threads loosely related in some way to studying Raikou or collaborating with others who could have insight in how to go about meeting Raikou.
This necessary research has been threaded in the previously-mentioned threads
Iron Resolve and
Piping Hot Pasta, but he knows he has need of help, and has reached out to people he knows he can trust. After his Gym battle with
Alexei Ivanov , he accepted an invite to the Fortree Leader's residence to spill his guts about the Johto Beasts and exchange information with the Lorekeeper, threaded in
The Hero of Johto. He even went so far as to publicly announce to a small group of Rangers his pursuit of Raikou, in
Rangers Rising.
While only tangentially related to this plot, but highly related to his Gym Leader duties, Josh met
Elinor Anderson at League HQ to discuss deficiencies in his performance as a Gym Leader. He quickly realized that being able to effectively battle foes in situations where he did not have the speed advantage would not only be useful for improving his battle prowess, but would be even more valuable in his pursuit of Raikou, the Legendary Pokémon so fast he had no hope of outspeeding it. Not even with his Arcanine's Extreme Speed. This interaction is being explored in the thread
Kindness, and ultimately he was referred to
Callan Young and
kyle lopez in the threads
Battle Masters and
Big Bucks, No Whammies, STOP!.
All roads led to
kyle lopez , indeed. During the landing phase of
99943 Meteno, Josh discovered that Kyle had control over the Great One, the Legendary Pokémon Ho-oh, the guardian of the three Johto Beasts...including the one he desperately sought. Post-PAAA, Josh would want to have words with the Champion and Minor League Director about how to pursue Raikou. Perhaps even Ho-oh itself would be willing to hear his plight!
Little did Josh know that his pursuit of Raikou was primed to become a source of intense faction conflict:
THEO BECKETT had shared his knowledge of Josh's desire to pursue Raikou with the Team Rocket's boss,
declan walsh , in the thread
Disguise. This pursuit of Raikou, even if he is successful, could put his life at even greater jeopardy than it already was!
2) Ranger Duties / The VALOR Initiative
Despite Josh's Ranger duties taking a backseat for his Gym Leader duties, he was still an active Ranger. He was ultimately promoted to the rank of Senior Ranger despite having only a few months of tenure, based on exemplary performance in the following threads related to the VALOR Initiative:
Chasm with
MATIAS SILPH To Worry with
Kaida Adachi Wolves with
freya morningstarPeace, My Brother with
Matt Vice Donation with
FERNANDO SILPH Cure for What Ails Them with
Julia Davis Fighting Fires with
Oliver Shrakes Old Dogs, New Tricks with
Melody Miro Gotta Go Fast with
wren rourke He had to do most of this while saddled with a probation from Head Ranger
Laurence Anderson , threaded in
Probation Hearing.
3) Assassination AttemptWhile this is a recent plot and is still being developed, it is still a very important part of his current plot. Weeks after becoming a Gym Leader, an attempt was made on Josh's life, threaded in
Anarchy's Rainbow. Unbeknownst to him, the assassin was none other than one of his best friends,
Isaac Merlo , under the moniker Blackjack.
Josh spent a week and a half in a hospital bed in Mauville City, discussing the assassination with
Elinor Anderson in the comms thread
Live Fast, Die Young. Shortly after being discharged, he also discussed the assassination with
Laurence Anderson in
Barrel Behind the Curve. The Mauville Leader is highly motivated to learn the identity of his assassin and make their life a living hell. Little does he know that moment is coming sooner than he thinks (this is to be threaded with
Isaac Merlo starting on November 1.)
Screenshots of Face Claim/Member Directory:
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