Once he was done with catching up with Josh Dragomir , the Mauville Gym Leader and his Zeraora finally made the rounds at the buffet table. Some of Oliver Shrakes 's pasta sounded good. Nikolaj Volosenkov 's dish looked decadent, too. There were a couple new pizza places he had never heard of before, courtesy of Orion Lykos . And of course, Josh Dragomir 's burgers. Can't go wrong with Unovan food, after all!

His plate filled, he returned to Julia Davis to get caught up with her after the mission. "It is!" Josh answered. "His name is Raikiri, and deep down in my heart, he's the real Raikou. The next incarnation of the Raikou that died in the Kanto War.`When kyle lopez entrusted me with him, I about cried. You should come to... 111 sometime! Let's go riding on him together!" he suggested, hoping the Ranger wouldn't pick up on both his sudden pause and that he wasn't offering this meeting at his Gym, where he traditionally spent so much time with his Pokémon. While the Zeraora's face looked intense, he was friendly, allowing Julia to pet him or give him scritches if she wanted. "I named him that because he's almost as fast as Raikou!" He wasn't kidding, either; he had taken measurements thanks to his RaiCorp Vision. It was a big reason he wanted to saddle up the other Beasts, too. Just how fast could they run? Of course, that was entirely up to the Top Champion.

Wait, what? Articuno had disappeared since Meteno? Unlike many others at the meeting, Josh had seen a likely reason why. He was next to him when Kyurem's GLACIATE pierced the Mirage's defenses completely, chilling the ice phoenix as though they were a non-ice flying-type. The two had come close to being frozen beneath Route 103 forever. It was little wonder they had separated. A Patron that had disappeared had to be like losing a part of oneself. It would be like Saber running away. Despite Raikiri stealing the spotlight a little more often than he'd like, that Manectric still meant the world to him. He couldn't help but speak up.

"I was very nearby Laurence Anderson when he tried to shield my Pokémon and I from Kyurem's ice blast," Josh recounted with a chill in his voice just thinking about it. "It seemed to strike them both as though they didn't have a bond at all. I imagine Articuno came close to dying out there. If it weren't for their bravery, I wouldn't be standing today, either. And neither would my Espeon, Absol, or Skarmory. It was as though whatever bond the two shared... whatever powers they shared with one another... blipped out of existence in the moment. The Head Ranger can clarify, but that's what I felt happened."

A subtle smile appeared on Josh's face at the mention of Project Sapphire. He recalled that, too. Hell, he was part of Project Sapphire. He was in the know more than others at the meeting, but he kept his mouth shut. NDA was annoying, wasn't it...

He moved on, giving his update on Mauville. "I've led several trips to the Desert Ruins, but that sounds like a topic for later on," he started, then noticing the rifts were later in the program. "Mauville's been quiet... well, as quiet as bustling as a city like Mauville can get. There has, however, been one change... and it's due to circumstances I am not at liberty to elaborate on." Several people present at the meeting, including all the Ranger-Captains, both the Head Rangers, Callan Young , and Elinor Anderson , were all privy to the grim and sad reason why. "I have been forced to name SHAWN RICHARDS as Interim Gym Leader of Mauville for six months. I am still Gym Leader in name, but he will be taking over my responsibilities there until September. This means you will see my contributions as a Ranger increase substantially during that time." He didn't seem enthusiastic about it.

"A lot of what they have me do involves calming wild, unruly Pokémon," Shalin explained to Julia Davis the kind of work she typically took. "You should have seen the stare Verdanturf's Captain gave me when I got transferred there. I'll be right back; I'm gonna get some food and see if I can find any other familiar faces."

With that, she stood up and took her program with her, reviewing it. While she didn't have a lot to say about Littleroot (she was too occupied with her battle with Elisabeth Fiorelli for most of it, after all), did she ever have an earful to say about the rifts. Oh, and about how her Ultra Beast eggs hatched beneath Sootopolis. Once she was done, she left Julia and Josh be, taking a seat near Elise Calcifet , ollie morales , and wren rourke . "Mind if I take a seat here?" she asked.

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

Once Josh had sat down quietly in hopes of grabbing a bite to eat, he was soon joined by the other Josh. The kid was quite cheerful considering all the trouble that he'd apparently gotten into since Josh had last seen him in their Gym Challenge. Some pretty... Gruesome stuff, to say the least. He didn't approve, but he also could understand emotions at his age. Hadn't he brutalized those pirates pretty bad himself back in the day? Like, not even with Pokemon, but with his bare hands? He'd been scolded pretty good for that too... At least until Josh pointed out they took his kids hostage. Then everybody went quiet and it was never mentioned again.
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Also was that... A Mythical Pokemon with him? Josh should be surprised, but... Nothing surprised him anymore at this point. "I am currently fooding. And not planning to make any big announcements this time" Josh admitted to the lad. He had been listening to the talk around him too, of course... So the Silph boy was Head now? And had even given up his Silph role for it? Good for him, he supposed. Josh wouldn't have done the same. Not because of greed or anything, but he felt like he could do more good for people doing what he was doing. Not that they'd promote him to Head anyway, Josh was pretty lowkey. Which he was fine with, to be honest. He'd had his time in the spotlight. And it was pretty overrated.
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Others disagreed with the appointment, however. And Josh couldn't blame them either. Hadn't he thrown a giant petty tantrum at the last big meeting? What had changed between now and then? He wasn't high enough on the totem pole to be in the know, apparently. Also apparently Lars had lost contact with his avatar Pokemon. Which was bad. And then they were handed party cue cards. Lovely.
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"To be honest? I've just been busy with all the cleanup. This whole meteor thing's left Hoenn a big-ass mess" Josh did in fact speak up a little bit. "Pokemon are losing their shit, there's these rifts appearing everywhere. Some more permanent than others, apparently. At least I'm almost done with the eyepieces. Hopefully they'll be fine-tuned before the next big threat hits. Which knowing our luck? Will probably be soon."
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Then Small Josh announced his temporary replacement as Leader, not seeming happy about it. But them's the breaks, it seems. That's what happens when you work within the system. Sometimes the system bites.
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Maybe it was a good thing he stayed below the radar after all. He remembered having to deal with inner politics in Interpol... That hadn't been fun. Not something he would do again, that's for sure.
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@tag