Master of Faster
He/Him
25
December 12
Goldenrod, Johto
Straight
Mauville Gym Leader
Champion
"With great speed comes great responsibility."
TAG WITH @joshdevlin
Josh Devlin
Rayquaza Rollercoaster [S][C/Eva]
POSTED ON Feb 18, 2023 6:11:34 GMT
It did have a nice ring to it. While Josh showed mastery of common Pokémon known for their speed, every single one of those paled in comparison to what the sky serpent could do. He longed to be able to one day take the dragon for a flight by himself, holding Rayquaza's metaphorical reins on his own. As with kyle lopez and MATIAS SILPH , though, as he would later come to find out, this was likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it was one he would cherish.
The duo whizzed above Johto, then across Mount Chimney, Fallarbor, Fortree, and Lilycove. Many of north Hoenn's residence had to be awestruck at seeing what appeared to be a glowing, green comet in the air. Even if it was virtually, he had experience controlling things moving at the speed of futuristic racing hovercars that traveled far faster than the speed of sound. This, though, was on a whole different level. The volcanic peak, gone in seconds. He wondered what such a flight would look like closer to the surface. When Eva asked Josh if he was ready, he also knew it was more of a warning than a question.
This was it. He and Eva were about to go faster than any Pokémon rider had gone before, legendary or no.
Right as the riders had their landing zone in sight, Josh felt his weight briefly multiply from the localized high gravity field Rayquaza generated. The green noodle let out a bellow--the only warning the two would get directly that things were about to get really intense really quickly. The sensation of feeling heavier than normal only lasted a split second, Josh's stomach feeling like it was rising into his throat as his mount's angle of attack started to decrease.
The steeper the descent became, the more Josh could feel his weight leaving him. Now the reason became clear for the gravity field Rayquaza had created was clear: had the intelligent dragon god not foreseen it, the force of the dive would have peeled Josh out of the top of his suit. The Avatar, of course, likely would have been fine due to the nature of her unique powers, but the negative G-forces would have left him in freefall and unable to breathe in the incredibly thin atmosphere. The figures in the corner of his Vision rose so rapidly he could barely track them. He would have an unbelievable number to share with the scientist: a reading that would be far easier to understand expressed as a factor of Mach.
As Hoenn's sky guardian approached the cloud layer, the clouds themselves seemed to part in their mere presence. The distant island where they had taken off was getting visibly larger by the second. Even from their great distance, the rushing air around Rayquaza was pushing the water surrounding the tiny island aside. Despite their landing zone approaching so quickly, Rayquaza's rate of descent kept increasing, the riders experiencing a small amount of negative G-force despite the increased gravity around them.
As the rush of air in front of them pushed so much water aside that rock and sand surrounding the island saw the first direct sunlight it had ever seen, Josh was starting to get worried that Rayquaza may have been out of control. Was this the speed Rayquaza flew at when smashing Meteno to pieces? It had to be close. Even for the Master of Faster, this was turning from the greatest thrill ride in the world to frightening real fast.
Seconds before what would have been impact, Rayquaza reversed the field of gravity around them. Again for a split second, the riders may have experienced a sensation of being pushed against the top of their suits before the most intense part of the entire flight came. In an immensely strong motion, the emerald serpent flicked their tail and arched upward.
Even with the negative gravity field, Josh felt like he was being squished into his seat on the living rollercoaster of a dragon as they pulled out of the dive with the most intense turn yet. Had Rayquaza not perfectly timed the reversal of gravity, Josh may have been wrung out from the unfathomable force of the momentum shift. Instead of a potentially lethal squish, it merely felt like every ounce of fluid in his body rushed to his feet.
The speed was nothing short of paralyzing for the Mauville Leader.
To Josh, Rayquaza pulling out of that dive felt like he was riding on the very cracker of a whip as it was swung through the air. Soaring above the waves rather than miles above Hoenn, even as Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent was over, gave Josh a true perspective of just how fast he was flying. There was not a single word or phrase he could think of that adequately described the fastest rush any Pokémon had to offer, legendary or no. As the duo rounded Littleroot and Oldale, Eva may have been able to hear the sound of Josh vomiting.
It took an entire extra lap around Hoenn for Rayquaza to shed all of their speed before safely landing above the island they took off from. The serpent lowered their body as close to the ground as they could, Josh dry heaving as he rolled off their back, unable to feel a thing. He weakly removed his helmet, the pungent smell of vomit wafting from the inside of his suit. He looked ready to pass out at any moment. "I need... a nap..." he moaned, mustering the strength to get out of his smelly flight suit before his consciousness left him.
Once he had woken up, whether on the island or wherever Eva took him, he properly thanked the Peacemaker. "How do you even do that?" the still-bewildered Master of Faster asked her, showing her the data he had collected. "Look at this. Rayquaza is more than an entire order of magnitude faster than any other Pokémon I've heard of. You have any idea what they did when they came out of Extreme Speed like that? I thought for sure that Extreme Speed was the very fastest burst of speed a Pokémon was capable of. That, though..." he trailed off. "And when they pulled out of that dive... That was beyond a rollercoaster ride. I don't even have the words for it. It was really fun until the back half of...whatever that was. That was just too much for me." If word got out that there was a Pokémon ride that was too fast for even the Master of Faster to handle, he would be the laughingstock of Hoenn. MATIAS SILPH would never let him live it down.
He did have one way to repay the scientist, though. He retrieved his badge case and popped his personal Hoenn League Quick Badge out of it, with the intent of transferring the badge IDs to the correct people next time he accessed his Gym's ledger. "For withstanding the fastest Pokémon ride on the planet, it would be remiss if I didn't give you this." In his outstretched hand was his Gym Badge. "I don't know how interested you are in the Gym Challenge, but you deserve it. Besides, even if you were to make time out of your busy schedule to race me at my Gym, there's no way I would ever have a chance to beat Rayquaza."
Josh wanted to give the researcher a hug, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea in his condition. Instead he simply made eye contact with the Avatar one more time. "Thank you so much. I'll make sure to email you a copy of all the data I collected up there, too. It's completely unreal stuff. And Eva, one more thing. Thank Rayquaza for me."
ooc note: This is Josh's Quick Badge award from the January 2023 canon activity check being done ICly. Eva Morales {WC: 1,305} {PC: 8} NAME SPECIES STATUS
Resheph Dragonair Good
Yosei Salamence Good
Alphamax Garchomp Good
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In Eva’s eyes, everyone played a vital role in the protection of Hoenn. No matter how small or how grand ones acts were, without each moving piece the puzzle would have been incomplete. She held the brave citizens, officers, and Rangers of Hoenn in the highest regards. She couldn’t thank them enough for the sacrifices they made to save their home.
