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
CANON ACTIVITY CHECK IV
POSTED ON Jan 23, 2023 0:56:46 GMT
JOSH DEVLIN'S CANON AC
JANUARY 2023 CANON ACTIVITY CHECK
player/ooc name: RaikouRider
character tags: Josh Devlin
Weekly IC posts for character:
Week of January 1: PFL Playoffs: Mistralton @ Goldenrod
Week of January 8: Speed of the Beast
Week of January 15: Pop Meets Passion
Week of January 22: Tough Questions
Summarize 2+ plots that are in-progress and being threaded:
1a) Pursuit of Legendary Pokémon Raikou / The Three Virtues
Having demonstrated the Three Virtues of FORESIGHT, JUDGMENT, and INSIGHT (see repository of threads from the October 2022 non-canon Activity Check), the Raikou of Josh's dreams tested him one more time by giving him a final exam testing how his new package of FORESIGHT, JUDGMENT, and INSIGHT came together. This was threaded in End of a Life, where he and Julia Davis learned the true identity of one of their best friends, Isaac Merlo , after a seconds-long yet brutal battle. It took his FORESIGHT to discover that the riot was used as a mere backdrop for the Rocket to reveal his identity. It took his INSIGHT to understand that he was wrong about the way Isaac as Blackjack saw Josh as not an enemy, but as a friend while still maintaining his Team Rocket alibi in their eyes. It took his JUDGMENT to understand why Isaac did so: he was not a Team Rocket nasty himself, but Isaac was trying to prepare Josh to fight the true nasties in Team Rocket that he felt went way too far. It truly opened Josh's eyes to the complexity of the faction conflict, and that it was not as black-and-white as the League wanted him to believe. There were genuinely good people trapped within Team Rocket, doing their illicit and relentless bidding, and there were almost certainly bad actors in the League trying to collapse it from within. Having demonstrated the Three Virues to Raikou's satisfaction, the Beast appeared to him again, beckoning Josh to catch him... if he could.
Having developed the Three Virtues to the satisfaction of the Raikou in his visions, this brings the first arc of Josh's Raikou pursuit plot to a close. Thank you to everyone who threaded with him to make this possible!
1b) Pursuit of Legendary Pokémon Raikou / The Spark Ignites
After the Three Virtues became the Six Virtues, Josh had another vision from Raikou, the Beast's final message as follows:
"Alongside courage, your foresight has flashed like a lightning bolt. Alongside confidence, your judgment has echoed like booming thunder. Alongside ambition, your insight has roared like a shredding downburst. I am satisfied with your spiritual grit. Now only your mental and physical grit remains. If you truly have the mental grit to fight alongside me...then catch me. If you can."
Having developed the Three Virtues, Josh possessed the spiritual grit worthy of a true hero. Raikou's request for Josh to "catch him" refers to his development of innovation needed to catch a foe he cannot outspeed. To do so, he must arm himself with the knowledge of not only the Beast's strengths, but its weaknesses as well. This is being represented by completion of at least twelve threads loosely related in some way to studying Raikou or collaborating with others who could have insight in how to go about meeting Raikou.
This necessary research has been threaded in the previously-mentioned threads Iron Resolve and Piping Hot Pasta, as well as All Roads Converge, featuring Thomas Benoit . He knows he has need of help, and has reached out to people he knows he can trust. After his Gym battle with Alexei Ivanov , he accepted an invite to the Fortree Leader's residence to spill his guts about the Johto Beasts and exchange information with the Lorekeeper, threaded in The Hero of Johto. He even went so far as to publicly announce to a small group of Rangers his pursuit of Raikou, in Rangers Rising. This information has spread far farther than he anticipated, and now his pursuit of Raikou is fully public knowledge, for better or for worse, for any characters who know where to look.
This includes several Rockets, most notably Underboss THEO BECKETT , which could be a major source of faction conflict in the near future as Team Rocket may have interest in snuffing him out as a potential League Avatar. Theo had shared his knowledge of Josh's desire to pursue Raikou with the Team Rocket's boss, declan walsh , in the thread Disguise. This pursuit of Raikou, even if he is successful, could put his life at even greater jeopardy than it already was! Whether it happens or not, Josh is now clearly a threat that Rocket cannot ignore.
While only tangentially related to this plot, but highly related to his Gym Leader duties, Josh met Elinor Anderson at League HQ to discuss deficiencies in his performance as a Gym Leader. He quickly realized that being able to effectively battle foes in situations where he did not have the speed advantage would not only be useful for improving his battle prowess, but would be even more valuable in his pursuit of Raikou, the Legendary Pokémon so fast he previously had no hope of outspeeding it. Not even with his Arcanine's EXTREME SPEED. This interaction was explored in the thread Kindness, and ultimately he was referred to Callan Young and kyle lopez in the threads Battle Masters, where he was one of the last winners of the STARK BADGE before the Lilycove Leader took his new position as a member of the Elite Four, and Big Bucks, No Whammies, STOP!, where his entire team was rendered helpless in the presence of the divine Pokémon Entei, whose speed was so great Josh could not follow the battle at all. He had been defeated at his own game, and the experience opened his eyes to the extreme, perhaps inhuman reaction time he would need to live his dream.
In the thread Rayquaza Rollercoaster, Josh accompanied Eva Morales , the Peacemaker, astride the sky dragon Rayquaza. Despite having a flight suit that meshed with Rayquaza's scales, effectively harnessing him to the emerald serpent, the sheer speed and power the legendary creature possessed induced violent motion sickness in him. He would discover how truly fickle legendary Pokémon can be, necessitating far greater respect than common Pokémon. The experience would teach him that his slogan, "With great speed comes great responsibility," applies to even himself, and riding Rayquaza's EXTREME SPEED would push him over the brink of what would be considered responsible for the Master of Faster. It would also teach Josh that the capabilities of legendary Pokémon were truly on another order of magnitude.
All roads led to kyle lopez , indeed. During the landing phase of 99943 Meteno, Josh discovered that Kyle had control over the Great One, the Legendary Pokémon Ho-oh, the guardian of the three Johto Beasts...including the one he desperately sought. Post-PAAA, Josh would want to have words with the Top Champion and Minor League Director about how to pursue Raikou. This interaction is being threaded in Speed of the Beast, where Entei rejected Josh's request for a run after Kyle shared the heart-shattering detail that Johto's Raikou had perished repelling the Johto Invasion during the Kanto War several years ago. Kyle one-upped Entei, though: using his Ho-oh Avatar powers, he conjured a Sacred Ash clone of Raikou that mirrored Josh's personality in every way: a deep sense of duty with just enough of a childish bent to be at the Mauville Leader's beck and call. Physiologically identical in every way, the ride he gets to go on in this thread would be just like the real thing.
Afterward, Josh would take advantage of his ability to return home, thanks to the barrier having disappeared, in the thread Homecoming. Taking ghost fireheart and CIAN MAHER with him, the trio would journey to Ecruteak City after visiting his mom in Goldenrod. There, he would visit the Burned Tower and discover further evidence that what kyle lopez said was true: the Raikou and Suicune Josh knew had perished in the Kanto War. With the only Raikou he knew of no longer of this world, and Josh having lived his dream in an unexpected way thanks to Kyle's Avatar gift, the Gym Leader would suspend his active pursuit of Raikou and focus on other ways to pursue the defense of Hoenn. If he heard of word of another Raikou in Hoenn, though, the chase would be back on faster than one could say EXTREME SPEED!
2) Absolite Recovery / PAAA Fallout
With Josh's pursuit of Raikou taking a back seat, he could focus on patching up from the tremendous losses he had suffered during 99943 METENO. While none of his Pokémon died, two of his Pokémon suffered grave injuries. Aslan, Josh's Shiny Pyroar, suffered a life-threatening injury from a wild Deoxys' METEOR BEAM, requiring two leg surgeries and synthetic bone implants. The lion spent six weeks at Lilycove Regional Medical Center, and one such visit is being threaded with Brynnhildr Erling in Trauma Center: Under the Knife. While Aslan was fortunate enough to make a full recovery from the surgery, the fire-type could barely walk after having been bedridden for so long. He would need to complete two months of rehabilitation, which is being threaded with Aubre McKenna-Settentrione in Lion King's Mending.
Perhaps worse was that the sheer cold of Kyurem's GLACIATE shattered Twilight's ABSOLITE to pieces, rendering it useless. Without the power of Mega Evolution at the dark-type's disposal, she would be far less useful in high-octane situations, such as a scuffle with Team Rocket. With the Mauvilla Leader on declan walsh 's radar now, this needed to be resolved with urgency. Days after touchdown, he contacted the Science Sisters, Eva Morales and illeana reyes , to help him research Absolite energy signatures in an effort to locate a deposit containing the mineral from which a new Mega Stone could be forged. This is being threaded in Twilight's Call, Act 1. In this thread, Josh will discover that the most accessible Absolite deposit is located in the Watery Grave, a labyrinthine, partially submerged cave system full of dangerous Pokémon and deadly traps that not even the hardiest Rangers would be permitted to brave as part of their jobs. He wouldn't be going in alone, though; Isaac Merlo and Matt Vice had already agreed to help him once the location had been discovered. This is being threaded in Twilight's Call, Act 2.
3) Ranger Duties
With his probation period, previously issued by Head Ranger Laurence Anderson in the thread Probation Hearing, coming to a close, Josh could go on Ranger missions on his own. Days after the barrier shattered, Josh and other Rangers realized that the barrier had the benefit of keeping major weather out of Hoenn, as well. In the thread Hurricane Yellen, the Head Ranger saddled Senior Ranger Josh Devlin with the weighty job of being head of field operations on one of the largest disaster relief operations in recent Hoennian history: the aftermath of Category 4, almost Category 5 storm, Hurricane Yellen. Having to juggle multiple teams in a large-scale rescue effort would be the ultimate test of not only his search-and-rescue skills, but the ultimate test of the management skills needed to truly be the among the best Rangers on the force. After coming to the realization that no matter what, saving everyone was impossible, he simply would his best with the resources and knowledge he had available to him.
After a multi-day effort that primed South Ever Grande for reconstruction with minimal loss of life, the Head Ranger would present Josh with his blue Ranger uniform, badge, and armband. He would be known as Elite Ranger Devlin, second-in-command of the Mauville Rangers only to its NPC Ranger Captain. If he wasn't so busy with his Gym, he would consider applying to the position.
Josh's position as an Elite Ranger gave him the opportunity to embrace a new duty: passing his skills as a rescue expert on to new Rangers. In the thread Greyhound Prowl, he attempted to recruit Ettie to the ranks of the Rangers, and he would be looking for more opportunities going forward!
4) Gym Leader Duties / Pokémon Racing Federation
At the end of the day, Josh's primary job was still Mauville's Gym Leader. In addition to teaching its challengers battling and racing Pokémon, he had spent time teaching prospective challengers the storied history of Mauville Gym, formerly headed by war heroes Katherine Fairburne and John Sullivan , who both are part of the AQUA Initiative. Josh wanted history to repeat itself. It was a contract he wanted to join, as he felt that with a legendary partner that leaned into his high speed skills, he could make a difference on the task force. Threads of this nature include A Lesson in Speed featuring Keenan Toral , Mauville Gym? Or Mauville Zoo?, featuring Ettie , Cyclizar Racing, featuring Ned Clark , and Obedience Schooled, featuring ELAINA PIERCE .
Current active and recently finished Gym Challenges include:
Phantom Racer, featuring mint frost .
The Josh Fight Begins, featuring Josh Dragomir .
Gwyar's Gym Log: Quick Badge, featuring Gwyar Wledig .
Star Road, featuring a match with Amor Rose that Josh used his skills developed through Melody Miro , Elinor Anderson , and Callan Young to keep the battle close despite Amor's Hisuian Goodra being a nearly perfect foil to the Leader's strategy.
Pop Meets Passion!, featuring KLAUS CARTIER .
A Race to Remember, featuring ghost fireheart .
5) Road to Champion Rank
Josh was in a unique position as a Gym Leader. He was fantastic at all aspects of his job other than the most important one: being a paragon of Pokémon battles. This attracted the attention of Councilwoman Elinor Anderson , as well as several of several members of the Elite Four, including former Mauville Gym Leader Katherine Fairburne the Malevolent. She stopped by to evaluate the new Leader's performance in Deja Vu. She would find that while Josh's battle skills, while improving, still were not quite up to League standards. Ultimately, the Master of Faster would remain under probation as a Gym Leader until his battle skills met quality standards, though he would be allowed to keep his job. He would receive multiple suggestions to take the Champion Assessment.
With Josh shelving his pursuit of Raikou after discovering the probable death of Johto's Raikou, this would be a wonderful long-term goal to pursue. Perhaps he never truly crossed the Rubicon in the events of Bonfire Bonanza when he burned all his Gym notes in the bonfire. While Raikou might have been indifferent to the prospect of Josh achieving Champion Rank, it would make him look impressive in the League's eyes. He had Alexei Ivanov 's badge, noah faber 's badge, Callan Young 's badge, and his own badge. He was two Badges away from being eligible for the Interview Stage of the Champion Assessment, and planned to register with Elite Four Callan Young for it the moment he had at least two more Badges. He had his eyes on Eris Halla ' Exploration Badge in the thread Even in Pokémon, F.O.E.!, as well as Johanna Joy 's Joy Badge in The Greatest Show on Earth.
His shortcomings versus CIAN MAHER in New Blood Duel made him realize that there was more than EXTREME SPEEDing his way to victory on the Gym Circuit. If he wanted to collect Badges, he not only had to execute well in battle. He needed to study. This would be by far the easiest part of his road to Champion Rank. Hoenn's Champion Assessment was the most difficult regional Champion Assessment in the world. If he wanted to get to Champion Rank, he would have to defeat many legendary Pokémon in battle, as he knew four out of the five trainers had legendary Pokémon in their possession, and he had to assume they would use their full might against him. It would be a long and hard road, but it would get him war-hardened and prepared for the next Rocket invasion.
With six Badges in hand, Josh headed to the Pokémon to begin the first portion of his Champion Assessment. Elite Four MATIAS SILPH is conducting his interview in the thread Tough Questions, where the Volatile has already taught him to temper the pressure he was putting on himself in anticipation of the Elite Test.
6) Assassination Attempt
Weeks after becoming a Gym Leader, an attempt was made on Josh's life, threaded in Anarchy's Rainbow. Unbeknownst to him, the assassin was none other than one of his best friends, Isaac Merlo , under the moniker Blackjack.
Josh spent a week and a half in a hospital bed in Mauville City, discussing the assassination attempt with Elinor Anderson in the comms thread Live Fast, Die Young. Shortly after being discharged, he also discussed the assassination with Laurence Anderson in Barrel Behind the Curve. The Mauville Leader is highly motivated to learn the identity of his assassin and make their life a living hell.
The events of End of a Life caused Josh to be put in a living hell of his own. He learned that one of his best friends, Isaac Merlo , was also the identity of his assassin. This put Josh in an impossible moral situation where he would almost assuredly have to either sell out the League or sell out his best friend who was simply trying to teach a lesson in his own demented, theatric way. If he turned Isaac over to the League, it would solve a high profile criminal case, land Josh a hefty reward, and laud him as a Gym Leader with exceptional problem solving skills. The price would be his best friend rotting in prison for life.
On the other hand, if word ever got out about that Blackjack was Isaac, and he willingly let the treasonous criminal go, the Gym Leader would be equally guilty. Merely being discharged from his duties from Gym Leader would be the best case scenario; if he was found to be withholding information that could lead to Isaac's arrest, Josh would be just as guilty as his he was! He did have one thing going for him, though; Aslan's Z-MOVE, EMPEROR'S ROYAL ROAR, alongside SPORE from Isaac's Pokémon, ensured that no video, audio, or eyewitness evidence remained. With all three agreeing set aside their morals and keeping knowledge of Isaac's identity secret, the case would forever remain cold and remain one of Hoenn's greatest mysteries in recent history.
Thank you so much Isaac Merlo and Julia Davis for making this small but important plot blossom into what it did!
Screenshots of Member Directory and Face Claim:
QUICK BADGE Award:
Please award the Hoenn League QUICK BADGE to Eva Morales. Her ability to withstand Rayquaza's EXTREME SPEED, a speed not even Josh could withstand, shows her mastery over the tenets Mauville Gym is trying to teach.
Any other notes/comments:
I can't believe I've accomplished so much in seven fleeting months here at Hoenn! I am still a bit nervous about Josh's current plots not being relevant enough to the overarching site plot, but I'm doing my best to use my canon position to vault non-canon characters, especially new characters, into the spotlight. The constant encouragement by staff has made me a lot more comfortable making my plots feel like they're more of the overarching site plot more organically. I love the plots I have going with ghost fireheart , ELAINA PIERCE , Elise Calcifet , and several other new members. Reaching almost 1,500 posts in seven months is something I'd never thought I would do on a site, and I've never been more engaged than I am now. I've been having a blast with my Gym and the Pokémon Racing Federation, and I hope to keep it going strong into 2023. Thank you so much for all the opportunities you've given me shiv . Take a bow. You and the rest of Hoenn. Every single one of you deserves it!
P.S. I do things other than eat, sleep, work, and Hoenn, I swear!
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