Josh was running out of Pokémon to battle with, and fast. He gave a call to his secretary at Mauville Gym requesting six more of his Pokémon be sent to the island town to help with the skirmish there. They at first protested, insisting the Gym no longer had enough Pokémon to operate. "I need them. Send them to Dewford, please. Close the Gym early if you have to. This shit in Dewford is serious." The rare curse from the Gym Leader was plenty to get the reluctant Gym staffer to act upon the Leader's wishes.

Very few of Josh's ride Pokémon would be available for today's expedition. He passed through the rift astride Steel Needle, a quite-large Gliscor that was capable of fully free flight within the depths of Ultra Deep Sea. She had the most combat experience out of Josh's Pokémon; the rest were fresh recruits that had only ever done sparring at the Gym. Still, it was all he had left.

Before he could even get to the rift, though, he heard a taunt from a young woman. With silent commands from Josh through the Gliscor's reins, Steel Needle swooped around the large, artificially-lit cavern that gave even flying Pokémon space to battle, though it was still more cramped than the rider would have liked. "You're in our way," the young man asked kindly as his Gliscor steed swooped in next to her. "If you know me as the Master of Faster, then you must know I'm Mauville's Gym Leader. If you know what that means, then you'll move. Now."

When he encountered resistance from the lady, the Gym Leader's mount flourished her pincers. He also showed his Elite Ranger badge and credentials. "Yes, but I have business at the rift, which you are blocking the only entrance to," the young man astride his Gliscor pointed out. "If you were paying attention during the briefing, you would have been made aware of this."

Josh reached for one of the Poké Balls at his waist. While he was a bit nervous about using some of the new Pokémon he had at his command, plus he didn't want to wear them out before he got to the rift. That was where the real information war would take place. "All I need you to do is step aside so Steel Needle and I can make it to the rift. That's all I ask."

It seemed the lady didn't truly understand how dangerous the rifts were. "I don't want to go inside. I have to go. As a Gym Leader, it is a duty I have been tasked with." Of course, he wasn't at liberty to namedrop illeana reyes . The nerves of such a well-trainer Purugly were telling. He would give the normal-type a gentle pet on the head if Kelpie allowed it.

"That's Steel Needle," Josh corrected, not giving her any more pleasure. If she wanted to know why Steel Needle was named so, she could mess around and find out. Ultimately, it seemed the intimidation tactics worked; while it wasn't ideal, she did yield. "Thank you. We'll be on our way now. Have a good one, and stay safe!" With that, the Gliscor raised her wings into an awkward position, crawling past Kelpie awkwardly; Josh was still within arm's reach even while mounted.

In Josh's eyes, Calpurnia didn't understand duty. Those who served in the line of duty would be repaid many times over, whether in this life or the next. Suffering for a century in this life, or suffering for an eternity in the next? The choice was easy. The Mauville Leader was aware, having met with Laurence Anderson and talking about his Avatarship many times, that the journey to become an Avatar was far less painful than the journey following it. To him, becoming a soldier in dahlia goode 's army was not the true reward of being Raikou's Avatar. It was to be a soldier in the Great One's army.

Josh moved his hand away rapidly at Perseus' reaction. "Sorry! I raise a lot of feline Pokémon, and most of mine love being rubbed there." Seconds later, the HYPNOSIS caused Josh to pass out and Steel Needle to stop advancing. Neither the violence of the nearby battle nor the venomous injection woke Josh. It took the sound of a crystal shattering near him, pelting him and piercing his SYGNA SUIT to wake him up. Blood gushed through the hole created by the shrapnel, yet he did not feel pain. His mind instructed his hands and arms to manipulate Steel Needle's reins, but he could not move. Neither could he speak. Calpurnia's venom was far worse than mere venom.

It was a paralytic.

With him cocooned to Steel Needle's saddle, Josh would be in constant danger as the gliding scorpion Pokémon extended its barbed tail toward the vile lady, an effort to get around her and retreat out of the cave to get his trainer the medical attention he needed.

Calpurnia may have been able to see subtle shifts in Josh's facial expression belying disgust, but there was little he could do with the paralytic remaining in effect. There was little Steel Needle could do, what with her cocooned rider unable to resist the force of her movement. Without being able to use his entire body to support him, he could suffer a serious upper body injury if the Gliscor made a sudden move!

Steel Needle's options limited, the poison-type reached toward Calpurnia with the voltage of a THUNDER FANG -- or twin Thunder Pincers, rather. The best course of action she could come up with would be to try to immobilize the Rocket with paralysis of her own. At this point, Josh had written the mission off as a failure; he just wanted to get back to Dewford HQ and live to fight another day.

Steel Needle's recoil from Purrseus' AERIAL ACE snapped some feeling back into Josh. While his limbs still felt like static was running through them from the paralytic, he could at least move them some. More importantly, he could speak again. The Gliscor hissed from the air blade cutting across her left side and grazing Josh. With her condition becoming increasingly dire and Calpurnia apparently stunned from the sound, the Gym Leader saw an opening.

"Sting 'em, Steel Needle," he weakly commanded, pointing his finger at the Purugly. The Gliscor leaped toward the top of the tunnel and attempted to bear down on the normal-type with a sting of her tail. Provided that landed and caused Calpurnia's Pokémon to become stunned, or he saw another opportunity to do so afterward, he would attempt to glide over the duo in a retreat to safety.

Indeed, Steel Needle had dropped her guard as she saw the Purugly stagger back from her venomous sting plucking the feline. Just as it was looking like the Gliscor would be able to carry Josh to safety, WHAM! A critical hit in the form of a headshot prompted Josh to undo his cocoon while he had the strength to do so. He slid down from the Gliscor's back seconds before she keeled over, her neck starting to swell. Recalling the poison-type, Josh sent out... a saddle-wearing Greninja. Was there limits on Pokémon with even a somewhat appropriate body shape the Gym Leader was willing to rein up?

Fighting through his tingling limbs, Josh stumbled toward the nimble water-type and scurried aboard. Not even unhooking the reins from the end of Winky's saddle, he trusted the rather large Greninja would be able to make her escape with Josh in tow. Taking advantage of the large, underground space he had drawn the battle into, the amphibian attempted a tall leap over the Purugly, leaving a trail of SMOKESCREEN in their wake as cover.