The next day was far more calm; while all four teams were still needed, the wind was not pushing storm surge and floodwater around. The coastline was still inundated, but water was much more calm and was slowly retreating back into the ocean. There were still plenty of victims to be rescued, and more importantly, debris to clean up. Furniture had been ruined. Josh's Arcanine, Braver, got a lot of work done farther inland, where the floodwater had already retreated to reveal utter destruction.

The commanding Ranger, Josh, addressed all of his teams again. "This is Senior Ranger Devlin. A-Team, things have calmed down. I'll need you to pack up and help the B, C, and D teams with their duties. The rest of you, if you have any victims you cannot treat at the scene, make sure to call emergency services. Local hospitals should have capacity to serve them now. The rest of you, continue searching for survivors. Don't forget - if you find any deceased, submit their name to me over RangerNet so I can file a report with the Head Rangers. Any questions, radio me directly. Over and out."

With everything calmed down, Josh approached the blue-uniformed Lars once more, Braver and Yosei helping out with removing debris. "Looks like everything went about as well as it could. We'll be counting the dead for a while, but we saved a lot of lives the last two days."

Josh at first wanted to scoff at Lars for his remark about making snap decisions. He instead laughed. "Funny you speak of that. That's the exact tenet that Mauville Gym tries to teach its challengers. Perhaps I'm just not yet used to making snap decisions of that order of magnitude," the Leader sighed. And Lars was right. This was indeed just another day of being a Ranger, when it all came to fruition. Whether it was one or hundreds, there were lives to be saved. Every life saved was worth the trouble, bringing warmth to the Senior Ranger's heart.

Josh waved to Lynette as the Gardevoir warped in. He sent out Janus, his saddle-wearing Espeon, to give the Gardevoir someone to talk to. "My biggest takeaways from this are that no matter what, you can't save everyone. You just have to do what you can with the tools in front of you and the situation at hand. It hurts not being able to save everyone. It really does. But it just is impossible." He took a deep breath. "Second, part of being a leader is trusting those beneath you to do their jobs. I thought I was at first a bit overbearing and maybe micromanaged my team leads too much."

Lars' point was one Josh realized before. It just made every decision weightier the more lives hung in the balance. "The same principles apply, though." He did have a hot-button question for the Head Ranger, though. "Do you think I had a self-confidence issue when was first a Ranger, and do you think I've addressed it since then?" It was a problem that it took him dual careers as a Ranger and Gym Leader to realize and begin assessing. He could trust others, but he could not trust himself. Trusting himself was one of the things he needed to be able to do as a leader, whether as a Ranger or in the Gym circuit.

"That's why... that's why I froze up for a moment," Josh admitted. "Having to decide between one set of lives over another is just an impossible choice." Running things fast and loose made sense, and he could tell, technically overstepping the boundaries of the exam to save lives when it could make a difference. "And Lars, that's the way it should be. Yes, leadership is important, but the best leadership will help anyone in need. You get that. You may be a harsh boss at times, but you're a good boss." His mind drifted to his recently-expired suspension, which taught him many valuable lessons about professionalism as a Ranger.

Lars snapped Josh's attention to a package in his Gardevoir's hands. "And what might that be?" he asked idly.

"I'm sure the more situations like this I get put in, the better I'll get at responding to them. Just like anything else," Josh answered the Head Ranger with a nod. "Experience is the best teacher. And the best way to be able to learn is..." he simply nodded again at his boss's remark. "Exactly. It was just a hard decision to make on who was in more immediate danger. I think I made the right call, but it was great you had my back. Thank you again."

With a deep breath, Josh opened the package. Inside was a Ranger uniform just like the light red one he had on, but this one colored a deep blue, with a matching blue armband and badge to go with it. "Lars..." he started crying, overcome with emotion. He would hug the Head Ranger if allowed to. The Master of Faster was now the second-in-command at Mauville HQ, behind a to-be-determined Ranger Captain. He was no longer Senior Ranger Devlin.

He was Elite Ranger Devlin.

Trembling, he unfolded the uniform and examined the badge and armband in his name. Everything was, of course, authentic. "...I'll do the Mauville Rangers proud. Thank you!" He wondered what Julia Davis would think if she saw him in such a prestigious uniform...