The beaches of Route 118, one of Josh's favorite training spots close to his home town of Mauville, were too busy for him to train his posse of ride Eeveelutions for the upcoming racing season. The season wasn't even supposed to begin until the first week of March, and yet there were preseason races going on already? Wasn't it still a bit cool for this, too?

With his favorite spot already taken, Josh reined Blinky, his Jolteon mount, toward a small lake on the opposite end of the road from the beach. The rest of his saddled Eeveelutions followed, every single one of them similar in size to those scary Pokémon that came out of those Space-Time Distortions. Pinky let out a low squeal and picked up the pace, Kairi keeping up with her while the rest of Josh's team held back. "Hey, what's gotten into you two?" Kairi gracefully leaped over the lake's bank and cannonballed toward its surface, paying no heed to the young woman nearby as the rest of Josh's Pokémon gave chase.

Pinky engaged in small talk with Cream, bragging about how she was the fastest Sylveon on the planet. It may have not been far from the truth; the species was not known for their running speed. Kairi continued to play in the lake, trying to impress the woman with another slick leap. "I do! There's a big series of races coming up around here in the spring and I want to get my Pokémon ready for it." The other five Pokémon approached Carla and made eye contact with her, Blinky greeting her a crackled bark.

"Elite Ranger Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but I go by Josh," the Mauville racer introduced himself as a mesmerized Plusle cheered Kairi on with his red pom-poms. "And underneath me is Blinky," he called out the electric-type's name, his mount reacting with a smile. It may have been a bit unnerving to see so many Pokémon that were very large for their kind... that is, unless Carla was familiar with Mauville Gym.

While that was a reasonable assumption, the race was a bit more open than that. "Not just cat Pokémon and dog Pokémon. If you can ride on your Pokémon's back, it can enter! The two of you enter as a team, and you've gotta guide your Pokémon through the course. Teamwork beyond what is required to battle Pokémon is what my Gym is all about!" Kamuy's eyebrows dropped warily at Carla's remark, the Umbreon turning around and stepping away from her.

It seemed like Carla was quite well off. "Great to meet you, Carla! Unova, is it? You much of a football fan?" Josh asked her. "The playoffs last season were--"

Before he could get an answer, Kairi alerted Josh to a crackling sound in the sky as a Kilowattrel, one that was quite large for its kind, swooped quite low to the ground. Faster than Kairi or Basil could react, it PLUCKed at the Leafeon's forehead leaf, the grass-type squealing in pain. "Basil, hide!" Josh commanded. Without needing to be given orders, Inky was immediately there to come to Basil's rescue. A cold wind blew from the Glaceon's dark blue bangs, FREEZE-DRYing the Kilowattrel and lacing its wings with ice, making it unable to stay airborne. Josh was very quick to toss an empty Poké Ball its way, then run back to check on his Leafeon as soon as the battle was over.