As Josh and Ares landed and the racer dismounted, he found himself surrounded by Audino; some were shy, yet others were more approachable. He gave the more sociable ones gentle pats on the head before swapping out his Charizard for his Manectric, Saber barking toward Thomas.

"That would be me, Daisuke!" Josh greeted the ranch's owner. "How you--" As it turned out, he wasn't speaking to Daisuke directly. "From Mount Pyre to Lilycove, but yes," he confirmed. "In Arceus-awful weather, mind you. Really don't want to to have to fly in weather like that again." If Ares was out of his Poké Ball, he may have flown into another one of his fits after his trainer's reminiscing.

"Oh, I thought you were him! I'm sorry!" Josh apologized to Thomas for calling him by the wrong name. "Senior Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but Josh is what I go by. What about you?" he asked. "This is Saber, my closest partner. He was my first Pokémon. And the Charizard's name is Ares." He gestured toward the saddled Manectric, who let out a greeting bark.

It was a good thing Ares was so familiar with Thomas from their rescue. The bow would not have been well-received otherwise. Ares reached toward Thomas and gave him a pat on the shoulder for his reverence. "You're really good with dragons, Thomas. Usually Ares here doesn't take to strangers well unless it's real business." Thomas may have felt a strong shock from trying to pet the Manectric, though Saber appreciated the affection all the same. "Careful! I have to have rubber gloves on when I pet him. It's why he has to have a saddle. Trying to ride an electric Pokémon without one is just asking for trouble."

He would, again, have to ignore his own advice if he wanted to live his dream. He highly doubted Raikou would be willing to be fitted with riding gear even if the Beast joined him. "Right, the reason I'm here. For a long time, both here and in Johto, I've been chasing the legendary Pokémon Raikou. I've talked about it and the AQUA Initiative with a number of people, many of which are in the upper echelons of the League." Melody Miro and MATIAS SILPH came to mind, but he wasn't yet certain he could share those names. "The more people I talked to, the more your name kept coming up."

It seemed Thomas was just too antsy to give Saber some much-needed love. No big deal - that was a mistake anyone, particularly those not around electric-types frequently, could make. The suggestion of carbon tape was simple yet brilliant. "Wow, I'd never thought of that before! I'll need to lace my clothes with the stuff." He wasn't sure how his Pokémon would take the static-suppressing measure, but there was only one way to find out. Might be a good suggestion for his Gym Trainers too, given Mauville Gym's slant toward electric-types.

"You were on the contract? No wonder your name kept coming up," Josh replied. "Then I can trust you with this. Being a native Johtonian, it might make more sense to you. Ever since I was a young one, before I became a trainer, I've admired Raikou for being the fastest land Pokémon in the world. Ultimately, it's why I became a trainer in the first place. Then, a Pokémon racer. Around the middle of the summer, I came to Hoenn to participate in a race. I arrived the day before this damn barrier locked us in."

He took a deep breath, Saber's eyes welling up. No matter how many times the Manectric heard the story, it moved him. It seemed both their greatest desires coincided. "How familiar are you with the Cloud?"

Josh chuckled alongside Thomas as he heard the man's reasoning. It made sense, too! After all, the human body conducted electricity, and was the primary reason why not many people dared to ride a Pokémon like Manectric. Electric-types were incredibly speedy, but the risk of being inadvertently shocked was greater than most were willing to tolerate.

"Wait, you were there, too? Did you see the future there?" Josh asked. If Thomas said he didn't see the future, Josh would fill him in, including the traumatic experience where he saw his entire main squad of Pokémon, dead, next to the corpse of Raikou pierced by spears of light. "And that is why I chase Raikou: to prevent that future from happening. I don't want to see Raikou die like that."

When Thomas revealed that he was a former Avatar, Josh's eyes lit up. No wonder so many high-ranking Leaguers referred him here. "I'm aware. When I met Melody and Cobalion, the Sword of Iron Will, it wouldn't do anything but stare at me like I was an enemy. Yveltal, though? I don't know a lot about it. What did bonding with Yveltal let you do?" He started to daydream about what powers Raikou could grant him. Perhaps super speed of his own, or making his Pokémon fast?

It seemed the past was terrifying, just like the future Josh saw. "It was... awful. Every legendary Pokémon, except for one, had these spears of light skewering them, sprawled over a lifeless, rocky landscape. Almost like the moon's surface. I even saw Raikou and every single Pokémon I own, dead in the same way. Then I saw this white, vaguely equine, majestic creature that cast beams of annihilating light all over us. I almost lost Saber that day." He started sobbing, babbling incoherently after a while about Raikou and his main six Pokémon. There was only one clear phrase that came out of his mouth. "And that's... that's why I want to be Raikou's Avatar. TO STOP THAT FUTURE FROM HAPPENING!"

Thomas' recounting of what his powers were under Yveltal was equally sobering, and brought Josh back down to earth. "For a human to have that kind of power... to end someone's life by encasing them in stone with but a single touch... something in me just feels sick about a human being able to do that. It's just like... I feel humans really shouldn't be allowed to wield that kind of power. I'd be apprehensive to use it. Are most of them like that?"

So it wasn't a true death; it was like being put in cryogenie stasis, but in stone. "That's still scary to think about. And that's all the more reason I want to be Raikou's Avatar. That meteor is on a collision course with Hoenn. Raikou, I beg of you... if you're out there somewhere... let me fight alongside you. Welcome me aboard your thundercloud. I will give my will to yours. For Hoenn. She needs us now."

Josh's eyes lit up. "Wait, Kyle can summon Raikou?!" Josh asked. "Well, that makes things a lot easier! He used to be my boss when I was in the Minor League! Setting up a meeting with him should be a piece of cake!" They were also good friends. Surely he would understand, as he was the very first challenger the Master of Faster got when he opened his much smaller Racing Grounds on Route 111. If anyone in Hoenn had the speed tolerance to sit in Raikou's thundercloud saddle without emptying out their gut, it was Josh. The electric legendary, of course, had speed that was on a totally different level. Unbeknownst to him, as he would find out, speed that was even too much for him.

"Thank you so much, Thomas," Josh gratefully replied. "I'll have to give him a call. Maybe we can talk about it over a match at his Battle Arcade. I'll let you know how it goes."