It did not take Lars long to reply to Josh's text, and he seemed quite angry. Whether it was his usual tone or being particularly fired up because of the severity of the disaster, he would find out in due time. As the two approached Ever Grande City, the Mauville Leader's arms began shaking from having to rein Yosei through Yellen's outer bands, which were still moving over the area. Winds were still fierce, being just barely within safety standards for Rangers to operate. Nerves grew as the south port of Ever Grande came into view through the thick rain.

That is, if it could even be called a port. Every dock and every square inch of beach on the south side was covered in deadly storm surge. Rangers of all ranks were even on site - even several Rookies using the disaster as the first "real" mission to become eligible for a promotion to be able to do solo work. Josh remembered his quite well; those Pyroar took creativity to deal with. This was not the time to reminisce, though; this was focus time. He saw Laurence Anderson 's Starmie that served as a landing beacon for the Salamence to follow, Josh grunting as the wind hit him hard.

With quite a bit of difficulty, Yosei was able to land near the Head Ranger's location. From within Yellen's retreating outer bands, things looked far worse than any picture could have shown. Families were stranded on the roofs of their homes, capsized cars and boats floated in the floodwaters, and there were dozens of overwhelmed-looking Rangers present with a myriad of water Pokémon. The scale of this operation was enormous, and a significant amount of it would weigh on the Senior Ranger's shoulders. This was the burden of responsibility an Elite Ranger was expected to bear. "Arceus..." Josh gasped in Lars' direction as he dismounted, taking cover behind a sturdy building to get out of the wind that could have blown him off his feet if he wasn't careful. "We don't get hurricanes in Johto. This is...eye opening."

Hoenn had enough man-made disasters as it was. From what Lars had mentioned before, while the 99943 METENO one was severe, it was far from the worst the region had to endure. They didn't need major natural disasters like Yellen on top of it, and yet they still happened. They still needed to be responded to. "I have one," Josh responded when Lars asked his question. He released Janus, his Espeon geared to carry a single rider.

Of course, he wouldn't be doing much transportation through floodwaters. "Alright buddy, I need you to find something to ALLY SWITCH with near that tent, then follow the directives of the medics there. You'll most likely be using your WISH a lot. I won't be able to be near you, as I'll be busy overseeing the rescue operations." With a nod, the Espeon quickly scanned the environment he was in, and was gone in a flash of light, a large fallen log appearing in his place. He turned back to Lars. "That's what I signed up for. Now, let's save some lives."

"I brought multiples," Josh answered with a smirk. "You didn't think I wouldn't come prepared?" With that, he sent out the three aquatic Pokémon he had brought for the rescue operations. "Resheph, Ulysses, and Illumina!" The Dragonair, Dewgong, and Lanturn at first struggled against the wind-driven flood waters, but eventually got somewhat used to the rough surf. Resheph, seeing the waters too risky for Josh to mount while in them, floated above the surface and waited for her trainer to hop on. He did so, snapping himself into her cocoon saddle. Once he confirmed Lars was ready, the two would be off to meet their teams.

When he saw the number of blue uniforms present, Josh knew this was going to get awkward. The weight of responsibility felt like a lump was stuck in his throat. He took a big sigh, cleared his throat, and delivered his announcements to the four teams he would be commanding.

"Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Senior Ranger Devlin, but you can call me Josh. I will be your Commanding Ranger for today's operation. You have been divided into four teams based on your skill specializations. Team A, you'll be with Elite Ranger Alan, who is handling triage and logistics," he pointed toward a tent much like the one Janus was healing people at. "Team B, you'll be with Elite Ranger Baral, and you'll be working the west sector. Team C, you'll be with Elite Ranger Corrine, and you'll be working the east sector. Lastly, Team D, you'll be working with me in the south sector, where the worst of the damage is. Any major deviations from our plan go through me. If you can't get ahold of me, then go through your Team Lead."

Some of the Elite Rangers gave Josh quizzical stares. Why in Arceus' name would Head Ranger Laurence Anderson put someone who wasn't one of the top Elite Rangers on the squad as the lead for the entire operation? Something didn't seem right. There was membling among the rest of the blue-garbed Rangers before the four teams went their separate ways. Alan's team got to work setting up additional tents to help with the extra volume of patients that would be coming through. The other three teams went their separate ways, Josh's Lanturn and Dewgong following his Dragonair to the ruined southern district.

It was in nothing short of shambles.

Though Yellen's winds were dying down over Ever Grande due to her eye going out to sea, her outer bands were still blowing storm surge and general floodwater around. Ulysses was quick to spot a middle-aged woman floating away in the storm surge. Using his AQUA JET to catch up to her, the ice-type swam underneath her and lifted her onto his back without as much as an explicit command. "Great work, Ulysses! Now get her upshore. The triage team will handle it from here."

In a way, being a Pokémon trainer gave Josh experience in positions like these. That also made him aware of the reason for limitations on the number of Pokémon that trainers could carry. As the operation went on and the rank and file Rangers were able to recover more people in danger of floating away, he began to realize the key to being a good boss was to trust his team leads to do their jobs.

Everything seemed to be going well for the time being. No major problems had been reported yet, and though there was the constant sight of red and blue flashing lights from emergency marine vehicles as well as traditional ambulances further inland, the four teams of Rangers were working the best they could. Less serious patients had to be transferred to Mossdeep due to Ever Grande's medical centers filling dangerously close to capacity. Elite Ranger Alan seemed to be handling things well, overseeing the first aid administered by Rangers with medical experience. The queue was overwhelming; as victims were transported from the disaster site, more came in. It felt neverending.

Operations remained efficient until Josh received a radio call. "Senior Ranger Devlin, this is Senior Ranger Edwards! Elite Ranger Baral has been swept away by storm surge and needs immediate assistance, over!" Before he could even answer, he received another urgent radio call, this one from the C-team.

"Senior Ranger Edwards, this is Senior Ranger Devlin. Stand by." He switched frequencies to the one he assigned to Elite Ranger Corrine's team. "Elite Ranger Corrine, this is Senior Ranger Devlin. What's your status? Over."

"Senior Ranger Devlin, this is Elite Ranger Corrine, and we have an emergency. The roof of a small hotel has collapsed around a small family and I, and the water is rising fast. We're trapped but can breathe for now. I don't know how long we have before the water reaches our level. We need immediate assistance clearing debris, over."

The simultaneous crises made Josh's blood pressure skyrocket, the stress of leadership rapidly approaching the tipping point. As skilled of a rescue worker as Josh was, there was no amount of skill that let him be in two places at once. He would have to make an impossible decision: who to save?

Josh had to make a decision, and fast. Which group to save? One of the most difficult decisions to have to make in large-scale operations was deciding whose lives to prioritize. If he helped Elite Ranger Baral, then Elite Ranger Corrine might drown! It was truly an impossible decision; both were highly tenured and highly skilled Rangers. Whose life was more valuable? No matter what, the weight of someone's blood would be upon the Senior Ranger.

He ended up not having to make that decision: his boss, the Head Ranger, Laurence Anderson , came to the rescue. He addressed the entire squad on the operation-wide comms channel. "This is Senior Ranger Devlin. D-Team, assist the Head Ranger with Elite Ranger Corrine! Elite Ranger Baral, I'm on the way. Need coordinates, over!"

Closing his connection to the channel, Josh had Resheph leap out of the water and search for the swept-away Elite at the coordinates listed. It didn't take him long to locate the Elite Ranger, who was barely treading water with the help of an exhausted-looking Swampert that looked like it was going under at any moment. Josh took his hands off Resheph's reins just long enough to cup his hands and shout toward the distressed leader, "It's Senior Ranger Devlin! Keep your head above water! We're here to help!" The Dragonair circled around and lowered her tail into the floodwater, even Josh feeling its pull on his mount. "Hop on!"