As the arena descended into Callan's private chamber, away from the increasingly angry crowd that felt robbed of witnessing a battle of two greats, Josh felt his opponent's piercing gaze cut into his soul. By now, he knew of Josh's misdeeds. He imagined that if Callan had the power to do so, the Elite Four member would have exiled the Mauville Leader from the League a long time ago. All he could do was listen to the monologue; he was aware from their interview that their positions on Team Rocket had clashed. While his viewpoint on Rocket had changed, he would forever carry with him the burden of having nearly killed a minor. Rocket or no, that carried consequences.

Once the chamber had locked into place, there was almost complete silence; the nearly inaudible hum of the navy lights casting an almost aquatic ambiance on the secluded battleground was just about the only noise complementing their words and the cries of their Pokémon about to clash with one another. "Then I'm sure you've been apprised of my misdeeds. I've had long, hard months to think about it. But now is not the time for that conversation. Even if the League refuses to acknowledge it, I want to prove to them that I am more than capable of standing on my own two feet... without Raikou."

A Polteageist... this was not a great start. Josh remembered his battle with Aaron Toral vividly. While not the same Pokémon, it was the same type of tactic. Well-known for his use of speed, ghost-types were the perfect counter to that speed. Not only would their very typing render his interruptive moves moot, but they were liable to leave a much more crippling effect on the battle: the twisted dimensions of TRICK ROOM. Had his Absol not been injured at the Gym, he would have Twilight as an insurance policy against the tricky Ghost-type. He would have to improvise to prevent TRICK ROOM from being set.

"Resheph, THUNDER WAVE!" Josh commanded, a swift, disabling current flying from her blue weather orbs toward the ghost-type. Given the opportunity, the Dragonair would follow up on an immobilized Polteageist by lowering her horn and entering a DRAGON RUSH.

The HYPER-ADAPT pushed the Pokémon League's safety system to its limits, a normally invisible cage around Callan's field glowing a deep red. It was a familiar sight; he had run into this power before, both when watching Michael Navidson 's battle with his interim Gym Leader as well as when he faced Entei at kyle lopez 's Battle Arcade. This, though, was well beyond even what a legendary Pokémon was capable of; even a legendary Pokémon would easily have been felled in one blow. The EVIOLITE completely shattered, having seemingly no effect against the normal-type's Z-Move. Had they not been battling under such state-of-the-art safety systems, Resheph would have died on the spot. Withdrawing his Pokémon in awe, Josh was stunned. "This... is this the kind of anger I had bore at you during our Gym match?" he sheepishly asked.

That timer was running low, though. He had to make a decision, and fast. Play the long game against the Slaking, or attempt a quick takedown with Saber? Josh knew full well of the powerful Pokémon's lazy nature. He would have all kinds of time. Dialing the blitzkrieg back a bit, the Gym Leader ordered the grass-type to spend some time getting up to speed, BULKING UP before ramming, trampling, and TRAILBLAZING a path over the normal-type.

To show such power even without emotions at a fever pitch... was this what being one of Hoenn's top trainers was about? The only two words to come out of the former TERAVOLT star's mouth were cold and austere. Emotionless, and in the Gym Leader's eyes, perhaps heartless.

This Slaking, unlike perhaps every other of its kind, was special. The fake-out had caught both Nitro and his trainer off guard, the added speed from his previous ramming attack the only thing preventing the normal-type from landing a match-ending critical hit. The Master of Faster winced, holding his breath from his grass-type rearing, doing his best to maintain his balance. Red and blue spread from the grass-type's white chin. Despite his muscles continuing to BULK UP and grow, he was hurting.

Josh had little choice. His plan was to build up enough speed to overwhelm his foe's entire team, then ordering perfectly timed HORN LEECHES intended to catapult each of Callan's Pokémon into the air before he could react. There was little Josh's other Pokémon could do against not only the Polteageist he knew about. There was also the unknown factor of the third Pokémon he had to take down if he wanted to advance. "Now, Nitro!" At first, the weary Gogoat looked like he was going about a similar ramming and trampling attack. Just before impact, Nitro lowered his horns and attempted to crash into the Normal-type with as much power as he could muster.

Callan Young 's cold comment was absolutely right. Josh's team was not in peak form. Had he his prized fighter, Twilight, this battle would not have escalated as far as it did between Nitro and Enma. It would be trivial for Saber to clean up against the Slaking, but Trick Room from the Polteageist would make the rest of the battle untenable. Withdrawing the fallen Gogoat, Josh reached for his Manectric's Poké Ball, but instead of hurling his prized partner toward the battle court, he simply genuflected and waited for the decision timer to expire, disqualifying him.

Callan Young WINS - FLAWLESS VICTORY

Not to say the battle was a waste of his time; far from it. Hoenn's Champion Assessment was unique in that it allowed the challenger to bring a different team of Pokémon to every battle. The challenge, of course, had to be balanced around that caveat. He now knew the type of Pokémon he had to bring to the challenge. Twilight would be especially important, blocking Trick Room with the use of Taunt. Slaking meant that Thunder Wave would not be an effective tactic. He had a lot of Pokémon to his name; it was just sitting down and finding the best three that matched up against Callan's battle style.

"I yield," Josh said from his half-kneeling position. "When I originally signed up, I wanted to battle you with Twilight, my Absol. You might remember her. Unfortunately, between the date I registered and today, she suffered a horrible injury that made her unable to battle. Perhaps Melody Miro was wrong. Perhaps I need to go back to the Gym Challenge to learn more. I do want to see you again in the coming months. But not yet. Not until after I've defeated MATIAS SILPH , Greyson Connors , and Melody Miro ."

Mauville's Leader looked around for the chamber's exit but was unable to locate it. "Thanks for at least entertaining my challenge. Do you mind showing me where the door is?"