Josh was impressed with the new Ever Grande Leader's property; it may have been just as expansive as the Mauville Leader's. He could have easily fit one of his smaller courses inside her Big Top. As the crowd began assembling, Josh sharply tugged back on Blinky's reins, his Jolteon dramatically rearing. He was sure cameras were going to flash while the electric-type was on her hind legs. "Wasting no time, I see!" Josh replied with a smile once Blinky was done posing for the gallery.

The battle court was nowhere near as large as Josh's was, meaning he wouldn't be able to take full advantage of his Pokémon's speed. There was, however, a rectangular moat just inside the court's out-of-bounds lines that was perfect for Illumina to swim around in. For his battle strategy to work, though, the duo would have to stay within the range of each others' Electric attacks.

As the show starter, Josh felt flattered at the way the court jester's introduction was. It was almost exactly like how the Silph Cup's Master of Ceremonies introduced him at his race. The title "Fastest in Hoenn" currently belonged to Isaac Merlo . If he had anything to say about it, though, that title was going to be his in 2023. He blamed his injury for the underwhelming performance. The first race was only a couple months away, too; he was going to enter that when it was announced and go flying past the competition.

For now, though, he had a Gym challenge to win.

Josh hopped off Blinky's back and took his position in the Trainer's Box, which elevated itself to League standard height. He hurled Illumina's toward the water on his left, the two standing close to one another in anticipation of the Leader's Pokémon. With the Gym not being bound to a specific type, Josh anticipated he would have to overcome one or more Ground-types.

And he was right. A grass-type, too. It seemed his strategy would be more useful defensively than offensively, which was not ideal. It seemed the longer this battle went on, the less likely he would be to win. Josh did catch a break, though: the ELECTRIC TERRAIN would largely nullify the grass-type's natural defenses against his primary element and make DISCHARGE still extremely efficient.

Ground-types also meant EARTHQUAKE. That wasn't going to fly against a Gym Leader whose preferred Pokémon almost all had issues against ones of the electricity-retardant type. Having learned lessons from battling Elinor Anderson repeatedly, Josh had a better handle on how to silently and nonverbally control his Pokémon. He cupped his hands toward the Claydol, Illumina showing why she had the name she did. The yellow bulb hanging from her head strobed rapidly, emitting a headache-inducing CONFUSE RAY. Next, he pointed both his index fingers toward the Trevenant and recoiled his hands like he was shooting a firearm, a sign for the Jolteon to launch PIN MISSILE quills at the ghastly tree.

Perhaps the Councilwoman had taught Josh too well; it seemed the new Gym Leader had not yet learned the value of Pokémon one had such a close relationship with that they could battle with nonverbal communication alone. The Councilwoman wasn't his only teacher, though. CIAN MAHER of Rustboro Gym had just handed Josh a very tough loss. This wasn't going to happen again. Not today.

The Leader's Claydol repelling the blinding CONFUSE RAY was disappointing, but not unexpected. What was unexpected was the Psychic-type following up with a blinding SANDSTORM. Rustboro's Gym Leader had given Josh experience with battles in the grating, low-visibility conditions. Time was of the essence; he had to race through this battle like he was trying to set a new record on his favorite track on the circuit.

Hauke's WILL-O-WISP threw a wrench in that plan, singing the Jolteon's face and making it difficult for the racing-bred Pokémon to focus. Reluctantly, Josh realized with the SANDSTORM hampering visibility, he would have to resort to verbal commands. "Blinky, how about you split that sorry tree in two with a THUNDERBOLT? When have you ever let a little heat stop you! Illumina, swim around the back and shock them all with your DISCHARGE!" Josh ordered. This, sadly, was going to give away his strategy; while the Lanturn's terrain-augmented electric bomb would soothe all the Jolteon's wounds from the SANDSTORM and WILL-O-WISP and hopefully put the Trevenant at the center of an electrical fire, it would also bleed valuable information to Johanna.

Every clash of Gym Leaders was reminding Josh just the level of battle prowess that was expected of him not only if he wanted to take the Champion Assessment, but also if he wanted to keep his job as a Gym Leader. The number of consecutive losses he had to League officials allegedly near his skill bracket was staggering. He had lost to Melody Miro and her Toxtricity duo. He had lost to Callan Young . That win he had against the Elite Four member's Slowbro didn't count in his eyes, as it took three of his Pokémon to defeat. Admittedly, that wasn't the initial purpose of the battle, but he felt it was good enough to see that Josh was one of the final recipients of the Stark Badge before he retired. He had lost to kyle lopez . There he had an excuse, at least; he had been severely outclassed by the legendary Pokémon Entei, whose speed was too fast to follow. He got to experience that speed for himself, sitting atop Raikou's thundercloud and racing the Johto Beast. The electric-type's EXTREME SPEED was nothing short of paralyzing. And most recently, he had lost to CIAN MAHER . If he lost to the newest Gym Leader on the block, he would almost certainly fail his performance evaluation and be fired.

He could not let that happen.

Josh's strategy hinged on Illumina keeping Blinky healthy while being able to attack simultaneously. With Illumina being the one who was hurt, he had to improvise. Thankfully for him, the Leader's Trevenant was overaggressive, having fallen into the water on the edge of the battle court. The Lanturn was in a tight spot, and was supposed to be Josh's trump card against the Claydol; without it, there was little hope for the Electric-type to win, even with her hidden defense against Ground-type attacks. There was exactly one way out for the Lanturn, and it could easily have determined the course of the battle. If there was one thing that the Elite Four taught Josh, it was that despite the patience they were trying to develop in him, he had to take a shot eventually. This was as good of a shot as he was getting.

"Blinky, use your THUNDERBOLT as a conduit for Illumina's SPARK!" Rather than try to attack the Trevenant directly, the Jolteon's wicked lightning struck Illumina and the water around it. This would not only ease the Lanturn's wounds, but it would force the now-submerged Trevenant to absorb electrified water through its horns and roots both. With the Gym's ELECTRIC TERRAIN augmenting it, would it be enough to overload the flooded, soaking Grass-type? Josh's glare shifted back and forth between the battle and the Leader. He had a look of determination on his face that he didn't before, as though this wasn't just any regular Gym battle. This was for his career as a Gym Leader.

Josh rubbed his hands together when he heard the Jester's command for a Ground-type attack. It was just the move he was waiting for. "Sorry Johanna, but I saw that one coming, too. Blinky, MAGNET RISE!" While the rising shards of sharp earth still struck, the vibrating ground was where the vast majority of EARTH POWER's oomph came from. Powered by electric antigravity, the move not only made Blinky able to dodge Ground-type attacks with ease, but it made the already lightning-fast creature even faster. It was hard for even Josh to follow Blinky's zipping across the court.

Illumina wasn't going to let the opening go unpunished, either. While the Lanturn wasn't in a spot where she could knock the grass-type back into the water, she did have an opening on the soul gem studded in its back. Knowing that was the place to aim for to strike a critical hit, Illumina took aim at it, flexing her large tail back and forth rapidly to build speed for a ramming SPARK attack, That wood was going to dry out soon, and he had to take advantage of the soaking the grass Pokémon had subject itself to. After all, he needed the Lanturn around to fight the still-unharmed Claydol with, and between her burn and the Sandstorm pounding at Blinky, she would be in no condition to battle soon.

The MAGNET RISE was too little, too late. Cornered between the rising rocks of Clay's ANCIENT POWER and the threat of Hauke's HORN LEECH, Blinky didn't even need a command. She knew what she had to do. With the severe burns rendering her leg muscles too tense to make a big leap, she simply stood there, making a final WISH for Illumina's safety before she collapsed on top of one of the rising rocks. The unconscious Jolteon's sharp quills left her stuck at the top of the Big Top and outside Josh's Poké Ball withdrawal range.

He couldn't think about that, now, though. Blinky bravely subjected herself to immense pain to give Josh a chance in the Gym battle that would make him eligible for the Champion Assessment. If the Master of Faster blew it here, he wouldn't be able to come to grips with himself for quite a while. No. He wasn't going to blow it.

He knew what he had to do, just like Blinky did.

What separated a great trainer from a good trainer was their ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, even if it took a bit of luck to do so. It was a bold move, and it would leave the fish out of water after being grappled and hurled to near-immobility by Hauke's SHADOW CLAW, but it was the only chance he had. That Trevenant, despite its grass typing, was still soaking wet. And it might have felt more moisture from what Josh was about to order his Lanturn to do.

"Illumina, HYDRO PUMP that Claydol out of the sky!" Josh shouted. "Blinky gave everything she had to give her this chance! And don't you dare think for even one moment she did so in vain! I'm not becoming a Hoenn Champion for myself. I'm doing it for the League, AND FOR RAIKOU!" he screamed. "IT'S WHAT HE WOULD WANT!"

Blinky's parting WISH closed the wounds that Hauke's HORN LEECH had caused, giving Illumina a second chance. Josh's speech was not only enough to rouse his fans in the gallery, but also to induce a mental reset alongside the physical one. It was as though the water-type was a new Pokémon added to Josh's ranks. "Alright, Illumina, end this with your DISCHA--"

It seemed that another electric blast to the soaking tree was not needed, as the HYDRO PUMP aimed at Hauke sent the Claydol flying at the creaky tree Pokémon like a ballistic missile. While the floating rock-type could teleport, the speed at which it could do so was limited by reaction time. Reaction time that the speed-trained Lanturn did not allow it to have.

The trainer's boxes retracting to the ground was a sign that Josh had won. His electric-type duo had seen him victory in an intense battle against the newest Gym Leader. He stumbled toward Johanna and opened his arms to give her a hug if she allowed it. "You're no slouch, and you get too many jeers just for being Hoenn's newest Gym Leader," Josh sighed, still dizzy from how rough the battle got. He could almost feel the pain his Jolteon was in, her unconscious body still stuck to the Big Top's ceiling.

"I'm glad to see my plan for Melody Miro works, though. I've heard she's the Doubles specialist of the Elite Four. She demolished me when she came to my own Gym right as it opened." He took a bow for the roaring crowd as he made an attempt to recall his Jolteon again, this time standing directly under her. The withdrawal beam still did not have the range to recall the electric-type. "Hey, Johanna, can you get Blinky unstuck, please?" he asked, pointing to the ceiling.