Though Amor was lost, he had at least stumbled into the right place! He had reached the Racing Grounds' main arena in the Main Sector, near the beginner-level aerial course above Twist Road. Of course, all of the equipment needed to run such a race had been retracted. He would run into the Leader, alongside Shawn, one of his Gym Trainers, assisting him with removing the riding gear from his Manectric, Luxray, and Boltund temporarily. When the challenger had greeted him, the two canines started barking.

"Saber, Crash! Not so loud!" Josh snapped after flinching, not expecting such enthusiasm from both of them at the same time. His eyes shifted about, locating the challenger who had come up behind the two. "You must be Amor!" He offered the man a handshake. "Senior Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but I go by Josh. This is Shawn, my second-in-command," he gestured toward the blonde young man about his age, who greeted Amor with a wave before finishing with removing the Boltund's saddle in preparation for the battle challenge. "Actually I don't even know my title with the Rangers anymore." He wasn't quite sure if Laurence Anderson had ordered his blue armband, badge, and uniform. He thought he did a good job fielding the hurricane relief effort, but ultimately it was up to the Head Ranger he worked under whether he would be worthy of the promotion.

"These three are Saber, Blitz, and Crash," he introduced the Pokémon, the Luxray unusually quiet. Normally the big cat was enthusiastic; perhaps he wanted to race instead? There would be opportunity to do that later today. After all, with the crisis of 99943 METENO over, Josh was flooded with challengers from the Paldean Cyclizar Racing League!

Josh's battle court was huge - multiple times standard side, and wide open at that. There would be plenty of room to run, but nowhere to hide. Whether they were battling or racing, Josh's Pokémon were almost supernaturally fast. If Amor couldn't follow the incredible pace of the battle, there was no way for him to win.

Making his way to the far Trainer's Box, leaving the challenger with the near one, the small gallery cheered for both of them as the battleground's scoreboard lit up. Both spectators and challengers could see vital battle information, including the match timer and Pokémon condition. It was a bit crowded, what with three large Pokémon on the now-rising platform, but it would get much more comfortable when the battle started. The Leader's squad of three growled and purred, anticipating the release of the challenger's first Pokémon. "You take my three Pokémon down before I take yours down, or otherwise impress me in battle, and the Hoenn League Quick Badge is yours." He crossed his arms and smirked. "Challengers first. There is a reason we don't have a play clock here. I assure you that this is the only decision you will have time to ponder."

He listened to the mans words as he arrived with three Electric types. Though Amor couldn't really say anything as he had arrived with three Dragon types. Though if he was going to go first then it was an easy enough decision for him to decide which of his three dragons he would start with.

"I see, well then I won't take up any more of your time. My decision wasn't ever going to change if I'm being honest." He chuckled, and threw one of his pokeballs into the air, and in a flash of white light a Goodra stood before him. Though it didn't look like a normal goodra. This one had a shell still, or something akin to it, and had a metallic sheen over it's entire body. Amor during his testing, and research had found that it had become part steel type during that space-time rift.

"One of my partners changed during a distortion, so I thought I'd take this time to test out his battle prowess, and I could think of no better opponent than a Gym Leader." He smiled easily at Josh Devlin. "You seem to be a rising star of this region, so I'm sure that you have what it takes." He wasn't being sarcastic either, someone who could climb up the ranks of the League so quickly to be appointed Gym Leader after John Sullivan. Well Amor was curious as to how strong he would actually be, and if he had the same mettle as his predecessor. Now that he was taking the Gym Challenge seriously, he was sad he missed out on a rematch.

But that only meant he had to reach the Elite Four before the bug master retired permanently.

"So I hope you're ready." Because anything less than victory, would put a blot on his record.

Josh Devlin

TLDR
Amor sent out his Hisuian Goodra!

Josh raised his eyebrows when he saw the Pokémon Amor loosed. He had never seen a Goodra quite like that before! Dragon-types were expected, what with Josh advertising fire and electric Pokémon. What separated Gym Leaders from ordinary Trainers was prowess with their specialty to the point where they understood what tactics challengers would likely use against their specialty, and could devise countermeasures while still remaining within their niche. It was the single most difficult topic on the Gym Leader Assessment, and one Callan Young helped him with to this day.

"Then it sounds like we'll both be learning," Josh answered. "You better hope you're a quick study!" With that, he gave his Boltund a pat on the back, signaling him to jump off the platform. Electricity arced among the swift runner's paws as he dashed with the high speed Mauville Gym was known for. "Catch him if you can!" he taunted, allowing Amor to make the first strike. If the Leader had his way, it would be the only time the challenger would be allowed to seize the initiative.

"You put to much confidence in your Pokemon's speed." Amor didn't think that relying on just speed was the proper way to go, but it was interesting to see such a tactic for battle before. Catching the Boltund wasn't an option, so they would just cut off it's advantage such was the way he battled. Cut off all possible routes for his opponents victory. "Orira freeze the field." Came the reply as his Goodra built up ice energy in front of it's maw, and then shot a powerful Ice Beam at it's feet, and it sent a sheet of ice over the field.

While it probably wouldn't do any damage to the Boltund it would make running around on the field far more troublesome than it would be worth. Or perhaps the Gym Leader had a way to deal with such a tactic, but it didn't matter much because if he was going to give up the first move then he would take full advantage of it.

TLDR
H!Goodra used Ice Beam on the field to cover it in ice to make running on it harder
Amor talked some smack

Josh Devlin

The challenger's tactic, while not directly offensive, did far more damage than any direct attack with the ICE BEAM. The slick conditions the Goodra had created were going to make it difficult for Josh to press his speed advantage with his Boltund. Ultimately, that was a good sign that Amor Rose was going to qualify for the Badge. While speed was a great weapon to employ, and one Amor had verbalized concerns over Josh being too reliant on, that was the purpose of Mauville Gym: to teach trainers how to either handle the pace of blistering fast battles, or to slow the pace of battle down to the point where it was manageable.

The field of ice surrounded the Goodra in a very wide radius, but there was still plenty of grass on the far side of the court to run on. There was no way Josh's Pokémon would be able to get close yet maintain their agility. It didn't completely mitigate his speed advantage, though it did leave any tactics involving their use much more telegraphed. Once Crash could turn more easily, he swerved toward the Goodra, kicking up some cold grass before skating toward his foe with great speed. Once he was on the ice, though, there was no altering his direction. "PLAY ROUGH, Crash!" the Leader yelled, unaware that the foreign dragon was also part Steel-type...

Strangely upon hearing the name of the attack that was being used against his Pokemon, Amor didn't give a single command for dodging, or protecting it. The Boltund got closer, and closer the slick surface ensuring that a dodge would be near impossible, and just as it got closer he gave his command.

"When it makes contact with you, use Sludge Bomb." Amor knew his pokemon's typing as he had tested it extensively once he saw the change, and cross referenced any, and all data he could find. So perhaps Josh Devlin would think Amor had miscalculated, but it would be the opposite. So when the Boltund crashed into his Goodra the damage was taken, but it was nowhere near as effective as it should have been. Orira attempted to grab onto the Boltund, and deliver a point blank Sludge Bomb to it's face. The hope was to poison it, but even if that failed, it would still take decent damage to equalize the damage he had just suffered.

"That was a good move, if Orira were a normal Goodra, that would have put me in a tight spot." Objectively the leader had used the right move, he just lacked critical information was all, but they were both here to learn. Besides this battle was still heating up.

TLDR
Orira tanks the Play Rough
Orira attempts to grapple the Boltund, and then spit a Sludge Bomb at it point blank in the hopes of damaging, and poisoning it!

The Dragon-type Goodra, one that should have been completely overwhelmed by Crash's rough-housing, was still not only standing, but healthy. What in Arceus' name was going on? This was not the Goodra he knew. Perhaps it was a subspecies the Leader had never seen before? Either way, Amor's Pokémon took the collision and had ensnared the Boltund's front feet in its sticky frame, making the retaliatory SLUDGE BOMB impossible to dodge. The critical hit to the head, alongside potent dragon venom seeping into Crash's nose, made the electric Pokémon dizzy and unable to make an effective counterattack.

The type combination, only shared by the Timelord himself, was quite troublesome for the Leader's team full of electric Pokémon. "I have never seen a Goodra like that before," the Leader admitted, his lack of knowledge the reason his Pokémon was in so much trouble. "Don't think Crash is helpless, though! Use NUZZLE!" His command was a rash one, giving the sticky dragon a second point of contact to further immobilize the electric-type with. If this worked, though, it would stiffen the amorphous dragon and let Crash escape with the limited time he had left.

Amor would never make the mistake of thinking a Pokemon was helpless, they were all strong in their own right, it was just a matter of degrees. So when the Boltund took the Sludge Bomb to the face, but didn't retreat he wasn't going to disparage it in the slightest. Though when the nuzzle came, and he saw the muscles in Orira's body stiffen slightly he just smiled a bit. Orira had not moved at all during this battle since setting up the ice field, and there was a reason for that.

"A fortress doesn't need to move." He explained calmly to the leader. This particular brand of Goodra was slower than it's normal counterpart, but it boasted far higher defenses in exchange. "Orira another Sludge Bomb!" He gave the order as his Goodra attempt to keeps it grip on the hound, and then with another Sludge Bomb. Though with his Goodra being slower there was a good chance the electric hound could escape, but with it being poisoned seemingly it's time was running out.

Now it was Mr. Devlin who was in a race against the clock, and Amor looked to see how he would handle the rest of battle. Orira hunkered down unwavering as it prepared for the next bout against it's opponent.

Josh Devlin

TLDR
H!Goodra is paralyzed!
H!Goodra attempts to use Sludge Bomb once again!

Amor had clearly done his homework and studied Josh's past Gym battles. The second SLUDGE BOMB was more than enough to send Crash sliding across the ice in an unconscious heap. With the cooler weather, that ice wouldn't be melting anytime soon. Josh would have to deal with it for the rest of the battle. "Well done, Amor," Josh congratulated him on an early lead. "I didn't want to play my trump card so early, but you have given me little choice. As strange as your Goodra is, it will fall to the Pokémon that is my closest partner. I've known this Manectric for fourteen years now."

At Josh's command, Saber leaped down from the Trainer's Box and onto the battle court below, the racer recalling his fallen Boltund. "Use DISCHARGE, and make that Goodra come to you!" With a howl and a crackle, the Manectric slid across the ice, doing his best to remain out of melee range of the Goodra, but not so much as to remain out of range of the electric sphere surrounding him. Perhaps Saber could overload the weakened dragon's gelatinous body. Once this impenetrable fortress of Amor's had fallen, it would be smooth sailing to victory, and an impressive demonstration of the strategy he had so painstakingly worked on alongside Callan Young .

A trump card this early? Amor was a little flattered that his opponent viewed him as such a threat to bring out his most trusted partner. A bond like that wouldn't be so easily undone, Amor of course smiled brightly. Orira's movements were impeded thanks to the Boltunds paralysis before it fainted, so dodging this attack wasn't going to be in the cards, but that didn't mean they couldn't counter it. "Orira use Thunderbolt to cancel it out!" He gave the order as his Goodra let loose it's own electric aura, and the bolts arc'd across the ice in order to meet the Discharge head on. When the two electric attacks met one another they would cancel out leaving both pokemon undamaged.

"I think you could call my partner here something like a Kalos Army Knife." Amor had taken great care to train the pokemon on his main team to make up for any shortcomings they might have. And the results of those trainings were showing now. He had now shown his opponent three moves of varying types. A poison move, ice move, and now an electric move. For someone like him who specialized in dragon types, being able to negate the glaring weaknesses many possessed was a must. Just like his opponent probably had done the same for his own specialty.

TLDR
Goodra uses Thunderbolt to negate the Discharge!
Amor is starting to get excited!

Josh knew the versatility of dragon-types well; after all, if there was a dragon Pokémon species that could wear a saddle, he probably had one. They were difficult to raise, but fast, powerful, and had very diverse potential. The sticky creature's THUNDERBOLT repelled the electric sphere, the two attacks shorting one another one. Josh grumbled. He had no choice but to have Saber engage the Goodra in melee, after all.

While Josh wasn't purely an Electric-type specialist, he knew than many of the very fastest Pokémon had a weakness to Ground-type attacks. Even before he had become a Gym Leader, many of his favorite Pokémon had that common weakness. His main team of electric Pokémon and fire Pokémon were more than ready for Ground-types. A sly smile came on his face. A good Gym Leader knew what their battle style's shortcomings were. A great Gym Leader had a plan to take advantage of challengers' likely strategy against the Leader's shortcomings. In his mind, the dragon before him was about to be collateral damage from the strategy he had devised to handle Ground-types.

"Saber, ICE FANG! Freeze that Goodra on its own ice shelf!" Once the Manectric had regained enough traction, he opened his mist-laden jaws, his eyes on freezing a large patch of the Goodra's slimy body that looked vulnerable to low temperature.

Amor's typical battle strategy was to set up a field that his pokemon could take advantage of even after one of them fainted in the battle. The ice field was his way of dealing with the speed of his opponents pokemon so Orira could deal with it. When his opponent used the Ice Fang to clamp on to his Goodra, that is when Mr. Devlin would learn that his Goodra for sure was not an ordinary dragon type. Normal dragons would have been severely damaged by the move, but it looked as if it had done as much damage as the previous play rough. Which is to say it hurt, and it wore down the titanic dragon, but it didn't do as much as his opponent probably thought it would.

Catching his opponent's bite on his arm he attempted to lift the Manectric into the air off of the ice with it's fangs still dug into his steel like flesh.

"Now Flamethrower!" He gave the order as Orira attempted to unleash a point blank Flamethrower on it's opponent. Despite it still standing it had been sufficiently worn down, it would probably only take one more of those attacks before the exhaustion took it down. But for now it was still standing attempting to roast the quadraped.

TLDR
Orira took the Ice Fang on it's arm.
Orira is attempting to lift Manectric into the air while it's biting him, and then roast it with Flamethrower!

Josh Devlin

Amor's Pokémon had withstood an immense amount of punishment. Josh was stunned at how the dragon could stand in place, repelling both Ice-type and Fairy-type attacks that would otherwise shred dragons. Then it came to him. Was this Goodra somehow part Steel-type? It must have come from those distortions; he had seen some really weird Pokémon come from those distortions before. This had to be one of them.

He had never heard of a Pokémon with such a bizarre type combination. Running through the type chart in his head, it felt like every weak point one of the two types had, the other covered. He came to the conclusion that only Fighting-type and Ground-type attacks would be effective means of attack against the Goodra, and electric Pokémon were sorely lacking in both those departments.

He was far from out of options, though, and one had opened up; while the volcanic heat from the FLAMETHROWER singed Saber, a critical hit leaving his fur brown instead of blue and yellow, the Manectric wasn't giving up. Especially not with his means of going fast restored. The fire-type attack was potent, but it also raised the temperature to the point where the ice was rapidly melting, exposing the grass below once more.

Josh had home field advantage again, but he was so far behind.

If the Councilwoman and Lilycove Gym Leader taught him anything, though, it was never too late to turn a battle around. Though the electric-type speedster was on his last legs, Josh was used to being backed into a corner with strong challengers. It was as simple as not getting hit. And with the ice gone, this is where the comeback would begin. "Saber, QUICK ATTACK!" the Leader called out. The battle-scarred Manectric, desperate to remain in the match, switched to hit-and-run tactics, retreating far from the Goodra before flinging himself toward it once more at speeds that could have been difficult for Amor and his Pokémon to follow. And that wouldn't be the only one, either; with every success the slippery Pokémon had in avoiding a counterattack, another QUICK ATTACK would follow.