It was late morning, no more than two weeks before Meteno 99943 was slated to fall. The gravity of Josh's position as Gym Leader was starting to weigh on him. As far as the public eye was concerned, Mauville Gym Leader Josh Devlin was the face of the commercial hotspot of Hoenn. It came with a lot of roles to play. Those roles included combatant, teacher, mentor, officer, and one he wished he could have avoided.

Politician.

His position in the League gave him almost as much sway as the city's mayor. Some would even say he was the true mayor of Mauville City, given his ties to the regional government. It was a role he tried to downplay, leaving responsibilities of running the large municipality to the mayor and the city council. In the face of Meteno 99943, though, his connections to the League's inner circle, particularly with Councilwoman Elinor Anderson put him front and center.

It did not take terribly long for the protest to turn violent, a WATER GUN covered in blood spouting from the boundary line. This had escalated far too quickly. Police officers were starting to get overwhelmed. No sooner than a few minutes after the riots got bad, Josh got an urgent call on his Gym's phone line. He was helping a new intern with an audit at his Gym. "Just a minute, Cassidy," he said, holding a finger up as he listened to Mauville Dispatch's request for him to appear at the site of the protest. "Understood. Will be there as soon as I can." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Cassidy, I'm sorry, but I'll need to let you go for the day. I'll call you within 48 hours."

Donning the racing suit that was his Gym Leader attire, Josh mounted his Pyroar, Aslan, and raced toward ground zero with complete disregard for municipal speed limits. This was an emergency, after all. Upon arrival, it was far worse than he had thought. There were already two dead and many others wounded. He dismounted Aslan, the two of them taking center stage. The Leader cleared his throat, then spoke into the microphone to try to get the crowd's attention. "This is your Gym Leader, Josh Devlin, speaking. I know you are all upset about how tight-lipped the League has been about the operation to repel Meteno 99943."

Aslan's presence was a sign of the Gym Leader's strength. It took a lot of talent, patience, and at times, sheer force of will to train a Pyroar for casual riding, let alone racing. That the Pyroar was so well-behaved on stage was inspiring to some. For others, though, that did nothing to sway their opinions on the League's handling of the crisis. Today, it was his job to try to persuade the skeptics. "While I am not at liberty to go into specifics, I can assure you that the Council have made the best decision based on the information they have available to them. They have their own lives to think about, too; if they're wrong, they, too, are in the same boat as the rest of us. But I am confident that their decisions will lead to Hoenn not only thwarting the impact, but becoming--"

A single gunshot devolved the scene into pure pandemonium. Aslan let out a NOBLE ROAR in an attempt to scare away those who were less adamant on causing trouble. It did disperse some of the crowd, but it only riled up the extremists among the crowd more. Anything the protesters--no, now rioters--could find was being used as a weapon. Flagpoles with the Hoennian flag attached to them, shields dropped by already-injured officers, and even Pokémon were being instructed to attack the line of Officers and Rangers that were keeping Josh, and now Julia, safe.

While he didn't hear Julia's voice, Josh did recognize Julia's Dodrio, Chester, charging toward the stage. It was quick, too. He had raced against Chester before and knew just how fast the Flying-type was. By the time Julia had reached the Gym Leader, he had cut his speech and was astride Aslan, ready to flee the scene at the moment the police cleared a path for him. Unfortunately, the district police were overwhelmed. "Julia?!" he asked with a surprised and concerned look on his face. "What are you doing here?!"

The Gym Leader ignored the rioter's scathing remarks about this Jack Pile; if anything, it would be a name to forward to Law Enforcement. "I'm calling Law Enforcement. We need to break this up before they break the line. If that crowd gets past them, I'm a dead man walking." He covered his other ear as Dispatch answered. "Dispatch, this is Mauville Leader Devlin. I was speaking at a peaceful protest in North Mauville at the intersection of 87th Street and City Line Road. It's turned violent, and district police are overwhelmed. I need an APB put out across Mauville, Verdanturf, and Slateport. We need all the help we can get, immediately." His breathing and heart rate escalated as the line went silent after acknowledgment. "Thank you." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Help is on the way, but it's going to take them a while to get here. Julia, help cover for me until they get here. Please."

The chanting was drowning out Julia's voice, making it difficult for Josh to hear her. He had to cup his hands over the sides of his ears just to understand his loyal Ranger coworker. "Between you and me, Julia...they may have. It's not just here. I've been to other large cities where police violence has been an issue," he replied with a dejected nod. This was a very hot-button topic not just in Hoenn or Johto, but across the world. Furthermore, it was often not in the best interest of lawmakers to enact laws that would curb police violence. Outlawing dark money would go a long way, but dark money itself was a hot button topic, and one that was very difficult to fix due to the obvious conflict of interest. "This is why every region should have a board with independent jurisprudence that oversees only those in positions of power. But that's an endless debate on its own." As much as Josh wanted to speak his mind about regional politics, now was not the time

Once he was off the phone, Josh faced Julia again. The situation was already escalating, and it would continue to do so until backup arrived. "Mic's yours if you have words you think will help," the Mauville Leader gestured. "I'm not great at public speaking, as I'm sure you know. I love everything about being a Gym Leader except being a public face." Aslan walked toward Josh, the stressed Leader embracing the Pyroar. The vibration from his loud purr was picked up on the microphone too, causing him to flinch. Despite that, the affection his king lion showed him helped him relax.

Unbeknownst to him, Ex Machina's intervention was at least partially successful, confusing the police by triangulating his position to a pizzeria on the exact opposite of town from where the protests were taking place. This would further delay the arrival of their backup, and it would be far more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. A TAILWIND carrying SPORE clouds carpeted the protesters and the officers indiscriminately, all of them succumbing to the weight of their heavy eyelids. Though he was out of range, he couldn't hold a yawn of his own back, and neither could Aslan.

A Crobat bore on top of Josh at blistering speed, announcing its presence with a sonic boom that scared him. He was used to hearing sonic explosions from riding Resheph, as well as Saber with his new Z-Move, but they were far more jarring when unexpected. "...You!!!" Josh shouted, recognizing the assassin astride the Crobat. "First at the jail, then at my Gym, and now in the very streets of my hometown?!" Josh shook his fist, Aslan snarling toward the masked Isaac. He had lost it. "Peace?! After trying to take my life not once, but twice, you are not one to speak of peace! Furthermore, they were anything but peaceful!" Without saying a word, he climbed atop the snarling Pyroar. He was being a bit flippant with his tone and word choice, particularly considering he did not have Yagyu at his side to defend himself with this time! "Just tell me! Why do you want my life?!"

Now Josh felt bad. He had his assailant's physical description completely wrong. The masked Rocket before him was certainly his attempted murderer. He would recognize that mask and garb anywhere, now that he was in better shape. The NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE he was subject to not only pierced his physical body, but his cognizance that day, as well. Blackjack's presence jogged and corrected the memory he had. "This is him! He's the one that tried to kill me! Twice!"

Though it was inadvertent, his testimony had led the police completely in the wrong direction. With him having a correct height and build, it would not have taken the League long to narrow their search and start a manhunt for the one he did not know was Isaac Merlo . He heard the short one spouting perceived nonsense about being kept alive. Even the pillow Josh woke up to. It was all true. Had Isaac not comforted him that day, he would have been forced into early retirement. He would never have been able to race again.

Was all of what the masked man was saying true?

No. No way. Impossible.

"Why should I believe a word you say?!" he shouted back. If he kept that level of emotion up, his voice would be added to the list of things Blackjack had taken from him. "A test?! The Rocket I know wouldn't 'test' anyone! Not the Rocket that separated me from my family!"

The mention of him holding back, and trying to deflect the conversation toward the raucous crowd, sent the Gym Leader off the deep end. "That's...IT!" he shouted before turning to Julia with an expression of pure fury she did not deserve. "Julia, I will leave oversight of this operation to you. Because this matter... this is PERSONAL!!" The livid Gym Leader grabbed Saber's Poké Ball, the Manectric just as confused as Julia likely was about what happened. "THUNDER WAVE him!" was Josh's stern command. The yellow Pokémon tilted his head toward his trainer with a pleading look in his eyes. "YOU HEARD ME!" It pained the Manectric to see this side of Josh. Reluctantly, he obeyed the order and attempted to jolt and tase the masked man.

Just as Saber launched the stunning THUNDER WAVE in Blackjack's direction, Julia yelled at Josh to stop the battle. Chester, a Pokémon with a weakness to electricity, ran heads-long into the Manectric's attack. The lower-ranked Ranger seemed to be genuinely concerned about the way he was treating Saber. And she had every right to be. "Julia, stay out of this!" he shouted back, still lost in his anger toward Blackjack. "This has nothing to do with you! Now you make sure the police can break this crowd up! Now GO! Before you get hurt!" Even his dancing partner was giving pushback. No amount of pushback was going to get him to back down in his escalated state. "GO DO YOUR JOB, and STAY OUT OF MY PERSONAL AFFAIRS! Interfere again, and I can't promise you won't get hurt!!"

None of what Isaac said at first was making sense to him. In the Leader's eyes, Rocket owned the souls of every single member of their ranks, effectively depriving them of their free will. Those in defiance didn't make it in Rocket long. And those who didn't make it in Rocket didn't make it anywhere except to their graves. The Leader got his Pyroar, Aslan, involved in the battle too. Still in the saddle, Josh cupped his hands around his mouth in a Z-Pose before spreading them wide, imitating an explosion of sound coming from his mouth as he screamed:

"EMPEROR'S ROYAL ROAR!!!"

Not a moment sooner than he could without compromising the primal bellow's effectiveness, Josh covered his ears. He felt the deep inhale his mount took, followed by almost throttling vibration from the Z-Powered sonic discharge amplified through nearby loudspeakers. The sound rumbled through the town square, the microphone and speakers going dead in volleys of sparks shortly afterward.

The deafening shockwave hurtled in Isaac's and Sunny's direction. While it would not harm Luck & Pluck, it would severely weaken any Pokémon that was near them. Furthermore, Josh, Aslan, Saber, and Julia and Chester if they were still near, would find their morale and strength substantially augmented.

"AND THAT IS MY ANSWER!"