Matt honestly had nothing to do with the robbery. He had only been in town to hear a job, that he turned down. Even after joining, he still refused to do anything bad... well, too bad.

He would probably go with Isaac Merlo on any future missions, but the one he was offered was not something he was going to do. So he was leaving, about to discard his mask- until he saw a grunt rushing by. Blinking in confusion, he turned his head to see a blur of Josh coming his way.

"Oh you got to be shittin' me."

Groaning, he tried to quickly shuffle into the alleyway and out of sight. Not wanting to deal with Josh seeing him like this- not that he'd know. But still, the more he stayed off Josh's radar, the better .

He was going to punch that grunt in the FACE.

Josh Devlin

Josh and his Absol had arrived at the electronics store just in time to see the shameless perpetrator send out two Houndoom. The masked man loaded two black sacks full of stolen cell phones, video games, and other stolen merchandise onto one of the large dogs and mounted the other one. Even though he was a Ranger, Josh had been given Law Enforcement authority specifically for the job. He even wore a special badge for the occasion. It was one he had not worn since his first encounter with the man he did not know was one of his best friends, Isaac Merlo .

"Stop!" Josh cried, having witnessed the very end of the heist in action. The masked man, atop his Houndoom, bolted down the street, panicked Pokémon and drivers yielding to him. Josh knew from his racing endeavors that Houndoom were fast. Properly trained, they could outspeed Twilight. From the rider's posture, though, he assessed that would not be the case. Still, even with Twilight going at full racing speed, it would take a long time to catch them.

After a couple minutes of being chased across town, the two Houndoom and their trainer ducked into an alleyway, Twilight quick to chase him. By the time Twilight made the turn, all he saw was the masked Matt Vice , near a singular black bag full of stolen merchandise. The other bag, the two Houndoom, and their trainer were nowhere to be found. "Stop! By order of Mauville Law Enforcement, you're under arrest!" Josh flashed his temporary badge toward, unbeknownst to him, the former Ranger. Twilight was snarling, facing Matt, looking like she was ready to maul him at a moment's notice.

Matt was.

Going to beat the ever loving hell out of that grunt. Causing him so much trouble. @isaac was going to hear about this later. The gay came in, dumped the shit on me, and ran. Matt was just staring with a mixture of dumbfounded and pissed off. Great. This was going to lead-

Speak of the Devil and he shall Arrive.

A heavy sigh through his nose. Turning he went to face Josh. The mask was canine in shape, the entire git-up looked like he was some werewolf. Staring at him, he thought about what to say. Should he reveal himself and say he was undercover, or run? Run was probably the better option.

A mock salute was given to Josh. Giving a loud round of applause. "Oh wow, look at the League, going after the wrong people, per usual." There was an audible eyeroll to his voice. Looking at Twilight, he frowned behind his mask. Using Ace here wasn't a good idea.

Dagger was still healing.

Greeaat.

He sent out Kazzy, the werewolf landed with a loud growl. In serious work mode! Blinking when he realized it was Josh. Turning to look at Matt with a brief moment of concern- but Matt was stern in his order.

"Rock Slide."

Kazzy followed the order without question. Howling to the sky and slamming his paws into the side of the building next to them. The stones shifted from the building, then went to pile on right in front of Josh and Matt. It wasn't directly aimed at Josh- it was to create distance.

Josh Devlin

By the time Josh and Twilight has turned the corner, the real culprit and half the stolen goods were long gone. This left Matt in mask and disguise, next to the other half, looking awfully suspicious in the Gym Leader's eyes. There was something familiar about the young man's voice and getup, but he didn't recognize it in the heat of the moment. "I know better than that," Twilight's rider answered, her forehead blade glowing with the paranormal energy of a readied PSYCHO CUT. "You're with that Houndoom. Now 'fess up and tell me--"

Before Josh could get any more information, Matt had taken drastic measures, his Lyrancoc creating a field of debris between them with his ROCK SLIDE. It did its job, putting distance between the two. The Ranger turned Enforcement Officer for the day glanced back; a nearby traffic light was red. He would take full advantage of that, backing his mount all the way to the street's median before raising the reins upward and squeezing her sizes. The Absol bolted forward, leaping over the pile of debris with a perfectly-timed, whip-like flick of the reins from Josh. He made a mental note of the location of the stolen goods so he could file a report to have them recovered after he caught the one responsible...or the one he thought was responsible.

With Matt being on foot, Josh's racing-trained Pokémon were more than capable of beating him in a mere foot race. The difference was unlike regulation races, this one was full contact. Her PSYCHO CUT was still at the ready. "If you truly are not responsible, then lead me to where the Houndoom that turned this way went!"

That was a scoff from behind the Rock Slide, yelling over it towards Josh. "You think just because I look like a dog, all dogs are mine? Or are you just bein' a racist jackass cause I'm black?" Rolling his eyes. He was just. Being so pissed off. Matt was still angry about the meteor. They doomed people to death.

Death.

He grit his teeth. Bringing out Ace, he climbed on top of the canine. "Come on, let's get out of here before he gets back over here." He whispered to the Absol. Who nodded, Matt looked back to Kazzy, motioning him to follow along side him. "Knowin' him, he ain't gonna let me go easy." Sighing, he kicked on Ace's side and the trio was off.

Right as Matt came ripping out from the alley, he cut Josh off as he did, turning to watch him as he flew past. Kazzy followed up the rear, running on all fours, shooting a glance towards the others, but followed his master without fail.

But now Matt wanted to talk to Josh. Or at least, get some seeds planted into his head about this whole shitty situation.

"Shouldn't you be busy killing innocent people, like you did with that meteor?!"

Josh Devlin

Playing the race card? Really? It was twenty-damn-twenty-two. He shook his head in disapproval. Before Josh could answer, his quarry was already fleeing what he perceived was the crime scene. At the very least, the police would be able to retrieve and return half the stolen goods to their rightful owner. As he saw the masked character reaching for a Poké Ball, he ordered Twilight to lunge forward and try to tackle him to the ground.

His target was quick on his feet, able to clamber atop an Absol of his own. The white Pokémon's presence was a familiar one, but he could not quite put his finger on why. With Braver being far too unwieldy to navigate back alleys, Twilight was the fastest ride he had suitable for the urban environment. It would be dangerous, but surely a racing-trained Absol would be able to overtake another of its kind, right?

Before the chase could even truly begin, the masked man had cut Josh's route off. It seemed the perceived criminal preferred negotiation over a high speed chase against Mauville's Master of Faster. A good choice, indeed. "What does the meteor have to do with any of this?!" he retorted. If only Matt was privy to the information Gym Leaders had. He knew the Council was faced with an impossible choice: kill everyone in Hoenn and save the rest of the planet, or kill everyone in Sea Hoenn now and the rest of the planet later. Ultimately, self-preservation won out. It was only natural for self-preservation to be the human race's First Directive.

"The fact you once again are doing the wrong thing" Matt snapped, as he angled Ace to take a turn- the canine went and bounced off a wall, with Matt skillfully holding tight. Kazzy followed behind, as the trio would soon slide to the entrance of an alley, which lead to the street. If Matt escaped there, Josh would have a lot harder time moving through traffic to snatch him.

"You doomed a whole different world, and what if what they said to be true?!" He meant the Dark Triad, he had been skeptical at first, but after the Meteor and he saw the worlds collide... no.

The league was wrong.

Josh wasn't seeing what was wrong. How blindly he followed them. Maybe he could try this conversation with Isaac Merlo... no, that wouldn't work. Fuck. Guess it was up to him.

"Say they were right, you just killed billions of people just so we can have a few more years to be happy, while everything outside of us dies." He spat, glaring at Josh behind his mask. It wasn't hate for Josh, by no means. "You rangers follow blindly and don't think outside of yourselves. I went to that meteor to try and find a way to save everyone, but all y'all did was attack us and almost get everyone killed by a giant fuckin' ice dragon."

Kicking Ace's side, he smirked. "Y'know what, catch me, maybe I'll take the blame for that stolen shit." Clicking his tongue, Ace raced forward along with Kazzy. THe trio darted into traffic, cars honking and people yelling at him to get out of the way. "Let's see if the so called fastest gym leader can keep up!"

Josh Devlin

Matt's skill with his Absol was almost as impressive as Josh's own. It was as though he was chasing after a previous version of himself, Absol included. And yet, Matt had learned some new tricks; that bounce off a sturdy building was reckless but effective, putting more distance between the two.

Josh squinted underneath his visor as he heard Matt go on about the meteor. It was true. Neither of their options were good. Without Eva Morales and her Rayquaza, that horrible scenario would have happened. His eyes widened when he heard Matt go off about Kyurem. With many of the exact details about the events at Ground Zero outside Oldale Town yet to be made public, how could he possibly have known Kyurem was the cause of the deep freeze? Unless...

Was this individual at Meteno, trying to fight for Hoenn?

By now, the real criminal was long gone. Before Josh could give the development much thought, Matt had recklessly drove his Absol mount across a four-lane causeway full of traffic. While it was dangerous crossing like this, their quarry had already done the work for him. Josh was technically on Officer duty, and as such, had the right-of-way. The great Absol bearing a Law Enforcement flag, Twilight sounded a loud cry to let those nearby know there was an official police chase in progress. Once the traffic had fully yielded, Josh urged his Pokémon to pick up the pace, Something about the Absol and its trainer felt so familiar it was uncanny. He had no time to consider it, though. He had a race to win.

The call out worked far to well. Matt smirked, no matter how Josh went about things, he was always a sucker for a race. Smirking, he now put on his game face. He had never raced with Ace yet, still fairly new with even riding the beast. But the two adapted to each other quickly. Matt didn't know what it was about this canine, but they shared a bond. Perhaps it was a bond shared because Ace also loved someone deeply on Nico's team, Tekka. Whatever the case, the two were almost as in synch with each other as he was with Nana or Kazzy.

Spurring Ace on, the two went racing off. Climbing up the back of cars, bouncing across hoods with ease. Leaving paw-shaped prints on some car roofs, before Ace landed back on the pavement. Putting the petal to the metal, he weaved through cards. It was almost like a real life version of Frogger. Don't get hit by a car!

Matt considered the mega stone he had for Ace, in a pinch if he really needed to get some extra speed to actually avoid Josh. Matt knew he could beat him, he had before, and his only intent was to get away and maybe knock some thoughts into Josh's thick skull.

Josh Devlin

Gym Leader Devlin was in his element, yet at the same time, out of his element. He loved a good yet safe race with clearly defined rules and bounds. This, though, was a street race. There were unpredictable hazards, turns would be unmarked, and worst of all, people could get seriously hurt. He wouldn't get arrested due to being on official business with Law Enforcement, but Josh and Twilight were still in serious, personal danger.

The suspect was reckless, clearly desperate in his attempt to escape the racer. The Absol's horn-blade glowed with the light of an Illumina Pokémon, Josh raising her reins in preparation to flick them. "Twilight, QUICK ATTACK!" Josh bravely called, giving them a pulse before leaning in. The glowing dark-type cleanly cleared three of the four lanes of traffic in a daring, yet graceful, leap that provoked a cacophony of obnoxious car horns. A vehicle in the far lane had to slam on the brakes to avoid running the two over as they landed, causing three cascading fender benders for traffic around them.

Matt did have one serious edge over Josh: Ace could Mega Evolve. The small hole in the front of the Absol's saddle was a reminder that she couldn't. And neither of the others knew it.

That was the thing with Matt- he was always reckless to a point. Pushing the boundaries, to see what he could accomplish. In this case, he was going to throw Josh off his trail. The two kept weaving and dashing, before they landed in a stretch of road that was clear from traffic.

Matt leaned down close to Ace, grunting. "Ready?" He asked, the canine nodded. Turning, Matt would quickly recalled Kazzy, and nudged Ace to begin.

The absol began to glow bright, it's body morphed and shifted, as the wings flooded into view and like Ace had been given a turbo boost- the Absol took off in a wild blur ahead, Matt calling back.


"Bye, copper!"

REALLY MATT

Josh Devlin

It was a near worst case scenario for Josh. His pursuit target, enveloped by the light of MEGA EVOLUTION, zoomed forward in a pink and white blur. Its color had turned fully white just before disappearing from sight. Having ridden Twilight while she was Mega Evolved, he knew just how much of a speed disadvantage he would be at, especially on an empty highway such as the one Matt has turned his mount toward. Resheph could easily catch the Mega Absol, but the speed required was far too dangerous in such an environment. They could not only endanger their own lives, but the lives of others.

As much as it pained him, he had to let the thief go.

The Gym Leader pulled his Absol to the highway's shoulder and called Mauville Law Enforcement dispatch with the bad news. "Dispatch, this is Leader Devlin. Suspect got away, over."

"Leader Devlin, this is Dispatch. He what?!"

"He got away."