Josh and Twilight were as silent as the Silent Icelands themselves.

This was the first time he had returned to the frozen wastes created by Kyurem's GLACIATE since Meteno. Had it already been four months since Eva Morales and Rayquaza had thwarted the apocalypse? Three months since Josh sat in the dragon's metaphorical saddle and rode in a DRAGON ASCENT, the one move faster than EXTREME SPEED? How time flew.

Josh was in search of the very place where Kyurem shattered his Absolite. Though it was ceremonial, Josh only felt it appropriate to insert the new Absolite into the hollows in the dark-type's saddle at the same spot where she lost it. "The power of a legendary Pokémon is unreal," the Gym Leader mused aloud as he rode the Absol forward, breaking the silence on the calm but cold day. "It makes me wonder if I could even handle the power that comes with Raikou. Kyle's familiar overwhelmed me that day." Twilight simply nodded as her eyes shifted in search of the fragments of her old Mega Stone.

At last, Josh and Twilight stood above the very spot Kyurem had nearly taken their lives. It had been months, yet the memories flew into his head like it had just happened. By simply standing here, the memory of GLACIATE coming at him full steam, he could see Janus bravely PROTECTing Bladestorm and Twilight from what would have been a grisly, eternal fate in the transparent Pokémon graveyard beneath them. He was fortunate none of his Pokémon were among those frozen there. By inserting the ABSOLITE from the derelict Pyre Castle's underground waterway, Josh would conquer that awful memory.

Just as he had slotted the Mega Stone in, an imposing figure caught his eye. It was one he was familiar with from watching the news, and one he was even more familiar with from his run-in with Chu-e Choi , where Beepin had transformed into this man, one of the most despicable criminals to walk not only Hoenn, but the earth.

Cillian Quinn .

Surely he would be in the know of what happened to Raikou. Yes, he was dangerous. He was one of the most dangerous people in the world. This, though, would be his best opportunity to get some damn answers. He had learned from his fateful battle with Eris Halla that not everyone in Team Rocket was equal. He could not get his answers from her. His position high in Team Rocket was well-known. He also knew that the answer wouldn't come easily; if anything, he would have to beat the answer out of the man.

Something the Mauville Gym Leader wasn't afraid to do.

He had to play it cool for the time being. "What brings you out to such a cold, desolate, and dangerous place?" Josh asked Gavin. "Elite Ranger and Gym Leader Josh Devlin. I just have a few questions of you." Though Josh was vainfully trying to hide his emotions of anger, Twilight was on edge, a very rare case of the Absol showing emotion at all. She had foreseen that this was going to escalate, and fast.

Gavin most likely had the answers Josh was looking for, but he wouldn't be getting them without the fight of his life. "Coming from north-central Johto, I'm used to just about any weather," he made small talk with the terrorist in a vain attempt to get him to drop his guard. "We get everything there." Twilight began to grown and grumble, a sign she wanted to brawl. His own emotions were starting to bubble up, too.

This question wasn't going to get any easier to ask.

"Speaking of Johto... I know who you are and what happened in and near my homeland. There is a memorial to the lives of the Great One's sacred Beasts, Raikou and Suicune, dated 2017. That lines up with the year the Kanto war took place. Even if it wasn't you personally, I want to know. Why did Team Rocket kill Raikou?" The fists holding his Absol's reins were shaking, looing like the young Gym Leader was about to short circuit yet again.

In a QUICK ATTACK-like burst, Gavin had sidestepped the PSYCHO CUT with the same speed as the Pokémon steeds the Gym Leader rode on. Not his Pokémon. Gavin himself. The burrowing FRUSTRATION hit Twilight with the force of a SHADOW MOVE, bringing the dark-type to her knees. Josh didn't want to do this so soon, but he had to save his partner that survived Meteno by nothing short of a miracle.

He had to MEGA EVOLVE his Absol.

Taking his right hand off the dark-type's reins, Josh reached toward the MEGA GLOVE on his left hand and pinched his middle and index fingers above his KEY STONE, the Absol glowing with the purple light of MEGA EVOLUTION.



Josh was far from out of the woods yet. A wave of turbulence washed over him from the PRESSURE of the Beast of the Sea, freezing the Absol and rider in place with pure fear. Her presence meant Josh was in the presence of an Avatar.

Alone.

Badly outmatched, it looked like the end was coming when a wicked lightning bolt came roaring toward the Gym Leader from above. Raikiri wasn't going to let Josh die here, though. Fearless in the face of lightning, the mythical Pokémon leaped out of his Poké Ball and above Josh, his VOLT ABSORB drawing the lightning toward him and using it to energize him.

It was not to be.

The legendary creature's THUNDER was on a whole different level of power, even among gods. Not even the mythical Pokémon's electricity-absorbing powers could keep him safe, a screech from the shadow bird dragon amplifying the Zeraora and overloading him with an immunity-piercing lightning bolt. Grumbling, Raikiri flung himself at Lugia with a flurry of PLASMA FISTS before returning to Josh in an impressive display of speed. He forcefully ripped Josh off Twilight and put the Gym Leader in his saddle, the Mega-Evolved Illumina Absol taking the cue to lunge at Lugia with a NIGHT SLASH of her own, looking to plant her scythe-blade into her foe.

The Beast of the Sea was terrifying without having been corrupted. Post-corruption, she may have been the most powerful Pokémon in the world. Perhaps not even the Creator-God Arceus could match her might, evidenced by the SHADOW STORM lifting Raikiri, Josh, and Twilight into the air. Josh was a prisoner of his cocoon, the wind speed of the Shadow Lugia's attack greater than even that which other wind gods could produce. His coat and shirt were completely shredded by winds they were not designed to repel, leaving him at the brutal mercy of the Icelands' arctic environment. The Gym Leader reached for Aslan's Poké Ball and hurled it to the ground, looking to slip off his mythical mount and onto the royal, Shiny lion Pokémon that could keep him warm even with his mildly muscular body exposed to frostbite-inducing cold.

If that wasn't bad enough, a BLIZZARD was on the way. Josh took his hands off Raikiri's reins long enough to withdraw Twilight. Just as the Pokémon had been recalled, he and his mythical partner found themselves encased in ice. Though Aslan had to really turn up the heat to do so, glowing bright as a star, he was largely unaffected, though. The ice block was so big that when it hit the tundra, the bodies of those inside were still fully intact - merely frozen like the GLACIATED ones beneath. The mortified faces of the Mauville Gym Leader and Zeraora were etched within their icy prison, like those who were staring down death and did not expect to.

Aslan, in righteous fury, loosed an intimidating roar toward Gavin and his shadow Sandslash, trying to catch both the foe Pokémon and his frozen trainer with a gout of FLAMETHROWER so they could make their escape.

The sight of Josh and Raikiri frozen drove the riderless Pyroar to desperation. Throwing all caution to the wind, the lion aimed a second cone of FLAHETHROWER directly at the ice encasing Josh. The white flames coming out of his mouth descended in color through the wavelengths of the visible spectrum as the rain hissed against it. He risked thermally shocking his trainer, but he couldn't just do nothing, what with the rainstorm expanding the ice cube with every passing second.

The moment he heard the Beast of the Sea's swirling waters, the Pyroar leaped skyward and inhaled to loose a second stream of fire the moment he landed. It was not to be, though; the legendary Pokémon's rain-powered vortex was far too wide to leap over. He needed to repel them with his Z-MOVE, but with Josh frozen, he could not do that, either. He needed more time.

As the ice melted completely, freeing Josh and Raikiri, Aslan had to put his complete trust in his trainer. When he saw the two moving again, he let the Whirlpool take him, voluntarily collapsing in the vortex's center and feigning his own knockout.