The sound of an avian screech filled the air around Mauville Racing Grounds' LOOP CROSS as Suzaku slid past a Paldean challenger with a Cyclizar of his own. "QUICK ATTACK!" the yellow-dressed Gym Leader cried, his helmet's visor keeping vicious winds out of his face during the final stretch. Though he couldn't quite get in front of the Charizard ACE SHEEKE was riding, a second-place finish was strong. The three Gym Trainers and Leader surrounded the young, dark-skinned man and his Pidgeot. "Your fundamentals are passable," Josh gave his evalustion of the racing challenge. "but you'll need to hone them if you want to win a race here. As such, I cannot award you Mauville Gym's badge. You're welcome to sign up again in 30 days. I look forward to your next challenge!"

And with that, he had completed his last challenge of the day. Off to lunch! He had a fairly large class in the afternoon, making this the only time he had to himself until the end of his shift. Soaring toward the enntrance on the back of his Talonflame, Josh caught a glimpse of what he sworn could have been one of his students. Leaning into a turn, the Gym Leader guided the fire-type into a spiraling, controlled descent that June would likely have a hard time missing. After unzipping the swift bird's cocoon, Josh slid down from the saddle, stumbling briefly after having been airborne for so long.

"June?" the Master of Faster greeted her, Suzaku letting out a caw of her own afterward. "Gym Leader Devlin, but you can call me Josh. You're a bit early; class doesn't start for another 45 minutes or so. I'm going upstairs to have my lunch, then I'll be back. You're welcome to look around if you want. Might not be a bad idea to get familiar with the place!" Many of Josh's Gym Pokémon, ranging from the mundane to the unusual, roamed the nearby area, including a pair of Cyclizar, a Shiny Pyroar, an Alolan Ninetales, and an Espeon. While the two dragon-types needed no gear due to their body shape naturally accommodating riders, the tack the quite-large Pyroar, Ninetales, and Espeon wore practically beckoned daring guests to sit on their backs and go for a run. While they were well-behaved, one of the Cyclizar couldn't help but walk toward June out of curiosity.

---

june sleigh

{WC: 397}
{PC: 1}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good

Was that them? June squinted way above her head, unsure of what that figure was. It took a few moments for realization to settle in: that was them! Her teacher! A Talonflame of their own, which made quick work of the descent. A person hopped away from the pokemon and came up to the delivery girl. 

"Oh! Well. Sure! I'll just. Wait here. For forty-five minutes. Yep. Totally..."

Her brain screamed at the top of its 'lungs'. There was no way she had shown up this early! Usually their class met at... wait, no, it started after... but surely she would remember that...

Man, it had been quite some time since she'd been here. How long? She tried to add up the weeks in her head, but she stopped soon after she started to get to a very uncomfortable number. A large number. Maybe that's why Matchstick seemed so aggressive, as it continued to wriggle around in its ball. More restless than last time, anyway. Unfortunately, she too felt that restlessness. The student had come ready to get right down to business, not wait around. Even if she explored the grounds herself, it would do little to quell her 

At least Josh's pokemon seemed nice! They mulled around the area, mostly keeping to themselves. They might've given her a glance or a curious stare but didn't make any moves towards her. All except one of the Cyclizar. It slowly approached her, which caused her to put a foot backward. She'd seen plenty of the things in the region, but she'd never actually seen one this close. Much more lean and spry than June initially thought, but still muscular all the same. A lot longer, too.

June raised an eyebrow to the pokemon People always told her that she should really 'invest' in a Cyclizar but... was that really the right choice? Her bike worked plenty fine, and gave her something throw all her money to in order to keep in tip top shape. This was a tried and true pokemon, flesh and blood. Not a money sink, but a time one. Perhaps more importantly, however, was the nature of the beast. Machines could be replaced with money; these could not. 

"Well, look at you," she said to the Cyclizar. "All... whatever the word is! Wonder how fast you can go..."

She had seen the comparisons to other vehicles and the like. Average speeds, top speeds, the whole nine yards. It always seemed impressive, but it was no surprise that those sorts of statistics always had outliers and cherry-picked results. If only there were some way to--

There was no way she'd get away with something like that, right? Absolutely absurd. Sure, the entire reason she was here was to go really fast and race, but to use someone else's pokemon while they weren't around...

"It wouldn't hurt to go for a quick warm-up lap, yea?" She asked the Cyclizar. She reached over to pat it on the head, in her own careful yet curious way. 

Almost all of Josh's Pokémon were indeed outliers when it came to speed. Even a Pokémon normally not so fleet-of-foot, such as a Sylveon, could reach quite the clip in the Gym Leader's care. What was more fascinating was not his ability to make naturally slow Pokémon fast; it was his ability to make already fast Pokémon even more so. The average Cyclizar already had to watch for speed limits. One raised by the Master of Faster could reach dangerous speeds if pushed to its limit.

With a warm moo, the Cyclizar, who was named Pico, gently touched June with his snout if she allowed it. He turned to expose his side to June to give her her wish of mounting up. Once she was aboard, the docile dragon galloped down the opening straightaway. The running stroke may have been a little rough if she wasn't used to it. That feeling wouldn't last long, though; once the wind was really blowing June's hair around, Pico inflated his two air sacs and began coasting on them like a motorcycle. The ride went from a bouncy gallop to buttery smooth in an instant. Pico leaned into the first three right turns before relinquishing control to June.

In the meantime, other classmates began rolling in. Many of them were impressed with June's performance. Unbeknownst to them all, the Gym Leader was observing from his office on the third floor. With how much of his class was there early, he couldn't ignore them all. Once he was done eating, he decided to make a dramatic entrance. Temporarily disabling the alarm on his office's emergency exit, he took the external stairs to the roof, released and mounted his Talonflame, and made a dramatic entrance to the Racing Grounds.

"Afternoon, everyone!" he waved after the fire-type landed, not quite ready to dismount yet. "We're just waiting on a couple more to show up, then we'll get started." Several had brought their own ride Pokémon, while others were seated on Josh's saddled Eeveelutions. Six out of the eight were present; the Glaceon was missing, and the Espeon was in a Poké Ball at the Gym Leader's waist.

---

june sleigh

{WC: 365}
{PC: 2}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good

June rubbed the head of the creature, got onto its back, and let it take the lead. First impressions were... disappointing, to say the least. Each step rocked her around the mantle, and he barely managed to keep on with a strong grip onto it's body. Certainly not the worst ride she's had, but far from the ride of Matchstick, or even her proper motor bike. As they got on the closest track proper, she realized that she was in it for the long haul on this awful ride for a minute or two. Maybe she shouldn't have eaten lunch early after all. 

But then, everything changed in the blink of an eye. As the Cyclizar sped up to a proper speed, it utilized its air sacs to gain the 'wheels' necessary for its record speeds. Gone was the rough, juttery movement. Replaced with the all too familiar smoothness from her own ride. The wind whipped through her hair, quickly transitioning from a gentle breeze to a full blown assault as it simply went whichever direction it did. It felt odd without her helmet on, but she would be lying if she said it wasn't a pleasant experience.

But the most important thing to her, the speed, had yet to show itself. The straight away had given it the time to reach a typical speed for the course, but then the pokemon went faster. Their first turn felt wonderful, the second exhilarating, and the third? Downright dreamy. That silky smooth ride with excellent speed and some honestly decent control gave her a nice surprise.

Much like when the pokemon decided to stop its manual crontrol. That guard rail only grew bigger and closer!

"ffffffuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--"

Instinct took over, the kind she had when on the wings of her own pokemon: she took the metaphorical reins and steered the Cyclizar. Around the bend and not right into the rail that would do very awful things to their bones and limbs. Far from clean, but a turn nonetheless. Right into another. Then more obstacles and turns. They had gone so far, but there was still plenty of ground to cover. Even if June hadn't run this course in a while, the general path had been burned into her mind. No conscious thought could've helped her on this track anyway. While muscle memory steered them through the bumps and blocks, her mental space echoed two thoughts at equal strength:

"THIS IS AMAZINGGGGGGGGG!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"

Child-like wonder and the existential dread of being just one slip up away from a grave clashed jarringly inside her skull. Appreciation and relief for each bend they didn't run straight past. Wonder and anxiety from just how fast they ran the course. Thankfully, these emotions would dwindle in scope as they rounded the last turn and came back to the straight away. Whether intentional or by sheer luck, June had done the course and not gotten either of them seriously hurt! 

That, or the Cyclizar had only given her the illusion of control. Whatever the case, she pulled back on the living bike to signal a stop. Sure enough, the pokemon did just that. After such an adrenaline rush, as well as the sudden decrease in speed, her head spun on an axis. Right after the Cyclizar stopped completely she half-stumbled-slash-half-fell onto the ground. A blank, blue-and-white canvas greeted her as she tried to get both the world to stop spinning and for her stomach to not eject all its contents. Was that the teacher again, back down early from lunch? It was hard to say. 

"I swear... I'm fine... teach'!" she called over faintly. 

Josh had walked in to the typical reaction of an enthusiastic rider going really fast. There truly was nothing like the adrenaline rush of a Pokémon running, swimming, or flying close to full speed. Thankfully for June, Cyclizar were among the easiest Pokémon mounts to control.

June's shortness of breath left Josh a bit concerned. "How much experience do you have as a rider? It looks like Pico here overwhelmed you a bit." Deflating his air sacs, the docile dragon-type walked next to June and tried to comfort her. "There is a reason the slogan of Mauville Gym is as follows: 'With great speed comes great responsibility.' It's important to find your limits and respect them. Of course, slowly pushing your own boundaries is the best way to improve, but it's important not to take on too much at once."

Josh would hop off his Talonflame and help June get to her feet if she allowed him to and could not do so on her own. "The name's Gym Leader Devlin, but I go by Josh." Several more students rolled in, mainly with docile-looking equine Pokémon such as Rapidash. "Looks like everyone's here, so I'll get started. I know some of you early birds have heard me ask this question, but I want to get an idea of where everyone's at. How much experience riding Pokémon does everyone have?"

---

june sleigh

{WC: 233}
{PC: 3}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good

Suzaku's and Matchstick's cries sounded so similar that Josh thought it was his own bird that was excited. He thought nothing of it as he took questions from the class, as well as listened to their previous experiences. "It sounds like plenty of you have a lot of experience riding a Pokémon, and most of you have brought flying ones, too. I'll go over the basics of riding on a flying Pokémon, then!" With that, Josh whistled for Suzaku, who promptly swerved to land next to him, her burning wings making him a little toastier than he would have liked.

"First off, the most important safety measure of all: make sure that you use a cocoon saddle when on any flying Pokémon." As if to demonstrate, he zipped up the one he was sitting in, securing his upper legs and his waist. "If you need one for your own Pokémon, I highly recommend Verdanturf Leather and Saddle. You can even get a discount from them if you present your Mauville Gym membership card." A sell-out, as usual. He just had to plug them; after all, they were one of his Gym's sponsors!

Once everyone was ready, the teacher would start with the basics. "The hardest parts are the takeoff and landing. Most Pokémon either need some kind of running start or enough altitude to dive from in order to get in the air. In the case of Talonflame, such as Suzaku, either will work." With that, he gave the command for the Trainer's Boxes on the main battle court to rise. "Use your legs to spur your mount to top running speed, then pull back on the reins with both hands to lift off. It's not unlike operating an airplane's joystick."

Once he gave his first demonstration, he guided Suzaku to the top of the platform and landed. "Taking off from altitude is lot easier, but it's more reliant on terrain. Simply have your Pokémon leap off the edge of something high enough, then pull back on the reins with both hands once you've got enough speed. Your flying-type will lift off and take to the skies with you."

---

june sleigh

{WC: 365}
{PC: 4}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good

June clearly had a lot of experience flying on Pokémon - so much that a 100-level class wouldn't be helpful for someone who had not only nailed the takeoff, but had already nailed a manual landing before he had even gone over it. Once he passed the rest of the class off to his Gym Trainers to supervise practicing manual takeoffs and landings, Josh returned to June and Matchstick.

"I saw you manually land your Talonflame while we were flying, even before we went over it. How would you feel about working on 200-level or even 300-level material?" he asked, curious to see just how much expertise June had. "For the 200-level material, have you ever... done a loop on your Talonflame? Flown inverted? Maybe even... have you been on your Talonflame mid-Quick Attack?" That last one was 300 material, but it was important for those interested in racing specifically. "Man, from this perspective, you can still see evidence of the barracks from when John Sullivan was Gym Leader."

---

june sleigh

{WC: 168}
{PC: 5}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good

"Huh? What do you mean '200-level' or '300-level'?" June asked Josh, eyebrow raised as high as she had flown. She looked back to the rest of the group, only to see that none of them had flown up to their platform. They either focused on the other teacher-assistants, looked amazed at her as if she had done something extremely cool, or rolled their eyes at her. Had she shown up for the wrong class afterall? 

By the time she returned her attention to the gym leader, he had started to talk about material covered in other classes, and even mentioned some guy she had no idea who was. "Woah woah woah, slow your roll. I've done loops and inverted flying but... 'Quick Attack'? Yea, Talonflame tend to do that." 

In response, Matchstick let out a high pitched chirp and cocked its head to look directly at her. "What do you mean, girl? You've gone pretty fast, yea? And you've used moves when going pretty fast when I'm on your back, yea? I think that would count as a 'Quick Attack'."

The pokemon did its best to signal its despair at the denseness of its trainer before returning to face straight ahead. Clearly, this had not been the first time its tried to convey this sort of message. Based on how annoyed it sounded, it would certainly not be the last. 

"And who is this 'John Sullivan'?" She asked him. "Was he the guy before you? Your mentor or something like that?"

---

Josh Devlin

It seemed there was a lot of confusion. Perhaps June got entered into the wrong roster? Josh would need to check her registration email to make sure she was signed up for the correct class. It seemed like she had tons of experience with her Talonflame. It was almost like the two were bored with the material he would have taught, as if she knew what he was going to say and had already mastered it. "They're just terms for more advanced material. If you can ride a Pokémon mid-Quick Attack, you're no novice. Have you ever thought about joining the Silph Cup, Hoenn's Pokémon racing circuit? With a Talonflame like that and your skills, you would do well. Did you know that a Talonflame took second place in the season opener this year?"

The trainer's density did not go unnoticed. "No, I mean specifically the move Quick Attack," Josh clarified, subtly shaking his head. "It's the most basic of speed boosting Pokémon moves, and really important on the circuit. A well-timed Quick Attack can make a big difference in position. Plus, it's just fun going that fast!" No wonder his title as a Gym Leader was the Master of Faster. He may have come off as having an addiction to speed.

"Indeed, he led Mauville Gym before I did," Josh confirmed. "Before that was standing Elite Four member Katherine Fairburne . Both of them are some of the greatest Gym Leaders in Hoenn's history, and I hope to follow in their footsteps. Both of them are Avatars, too. I certainly wouldn't want to get on their bad side. The gods are no joke."

---

june sleigh

{WC: 275}
{PC: 6}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good

"Oh, I can time my attacks pretty quickly," June insisted. "I can be pretty slick with my Brave Birds. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

"CAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Matchstick interrupted. The pokemon rocked back and forth to throw off her trainer's mental train of thought. That, or it was getting desperate for more movement. While June got her bearings back, the pokemon would continue to shuffle itself in place. Yep, it wanted to get to the open skies real bad.

"Anyway," she ignored the Talonflame's movement for now, "I can't really speak about how well you're doing, but you're probably doing a good job! You've got, oh, a dozen or so people down there just for this class! With you, probably. Not due to the-- ok, forget what I said. I'm sure Katherine and John are proud of you. Don't know much about that 'avatar' business though. What, you get a really important pokemon to notice you or something?" She asked. While the question seemed innocent enough, her attention got strangely focused on Josh and his possible explanation. As if she was trying to feign innocence while very much wanting an appropriate answer. 

---

Josh Devlin

Every positive comment Josh received about his performance as a Gym Leader made him feel good about being back in his position. The pressure of the League was immense, whether that pressure was genuinely from upper management, or his perception of them. Frankly, most of the pressure was self-imposed, his perception of the League's expectations was far beyond what the League actually standarized. While it led to him going above and beyond in everything he did, it came at the expense of Josh's mental health, stressing out over imperfections he himself blew out of proportion.

"You've never heard of them?" Josh asked. "Avatars are, to put it simply, people that legendary Pokémon - the gods themselves, have chosen to ally with." Little did he know that the first modern Gym Leader of Mauville, cait alfric , was also an Avatar. "I dream of joining their ranks one day." With that, he recited the Great One's prayer:

"O Great One, hallowed bird of rainbow colors, thy will be done, Impart me with thine FORESIGHT, thine JUDGMENT, and thine INSIGHT to carry out thy will, and to deliver Hoenn from thine enemies. O Great One, impart thy faithful servant with the Blessing of Thunder, and make me a messenger of the new kingdom to come. A kingdom where thine Blessed serve your Great Will for ever and ever. Amen."

The more June bragged about her skills with her Talonflame, the more Josh wanted to see her skills in action. "Tell you what. How does a contest of speed at the Multiplex sound? I want to see where you're at and where your skills need work." Talonflame were known for reckless speed. Did June have the responsibility to control that speed?

---

june sleigh

{WC: 286}
{PC: 7}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Suzaku        Talonflame     Good
Goroh         Cyclizar       Good
Pico          Cyclizar       Good
Aslan         Pyroar**       Good
Rime          A!Ninetales    Good
Janus         Espeon         Good