With Josh so far ahead on his community service work, he felt he could take a day or two off. Leaving his Gym in the hands of his most trusted Gym Trainers, JACKIE MYERS and Elise Calcifet , the Master of Faster would head there to prove he was fast on more than just a Pokémoun mount. He was equally fast on his fingers and his feet. Starting his session with a hand game involving seven piano keys and a turntable, he didn't attract much of a crowd there. He was far from what would be considered a good player, but enjoyed it all the same.

After two credits, the sound of rapid stomping caught his attention, seeing Yujin Ha going ham on some fairly difficult Step Step Revolution content. Thankfully it was early enough in the day that there wasn't a coin line. "Hey there!" the Gym Leader waved to the woman. "Mind if I jump in? It is a great song, isn't it? That song's older than I am!" Despite its age, it was an instant classic, popular among casuals and serious players: a song about a minority man joining the military. It had a fairly difficult EXPERT chart, too... at least for a warm-up.

---

Yujin Ha

{WC: 205}
{PC: 1}

“Nooo! Don’t say that, you’ve gone and made a lady feel old.”

She shed sweet, sweet crocodile tears, but her mock hurt quickly transformed as soon as Josh stepped up next to her. Looking the gym leader up and down, cocking her head to the side, the faintest flicker of recognition in her irises—

“—Are you sure, hun? Alright~””

A pale finger would slip a coin into his side before he had the chance to pay for himself.

As the selection screens flickered and the song loaded, Yujin found herself cracking her fingers and popping her shoulders, suddenly strangely invested in the outcome of this match.

“...You’re not actually the top scorer, are you? You got that vibe, you do.”

---

Josh Devlin

It may have been rather easy for Yujin to recognize Josh, particularly with the murmurs surround the cabinet. Quite a few people, likewise, recognized the Mauville Gym Leader. A teenager in front of the cabinet even wanted his autograph. "Ah, the curse of being a celebrity..." he mumbled, perhaps Yujin the only one able to hear him over the speakers' bass. "You didn't have to do that! I have my own card," he said to his partner for the three-song match.

"Nowhere close," Josh answered. "I played in a tournament last year and almost didn't make it into B-Division. Almost got thrown into C-Division." There was little time before arrows started flying up the screen. A minute and a half later, the energetic song and chart were over, the Full Combo whoosh music to the Gym Leader's ears.

As Josh scrolled through the song wheel, stopping on an upbeat tune about four children playing a tabletop role-playing game, the male introduced himself. "Name's Josh. I'm the Gym Leader in this town." As the song selection timer wound down, Josh entered the modifier menu to try to give Yujin some more time before their second round began.

---

Yujin Ha

{WC: 196}
{PC: 2}

She had been the entertainment hog, and he looked younger; woe is to treat her opponent, especially if they were no good.

(But he wasn’t no good.)

“There are tournaments for these things? Hmm.”

One would think, based on these comments alone, that she would struggle. Yet she did not. If anything, she appeared crestfallen that the difficulty had risen to such a level that it was no longer feasible to theatrically dance.

(Tip-tap-tap-tap, their feet lightcore splat.)

Perhaps she should enter one of those contents? Was money a reward? Yujin was all about capitalism.

“Are you!”

Thankfully Josh had the foresight to increase their downtime. Yujin put her hands on her hips, laughing. “And I'm Yujin. Do forgive me! I’m new in town."

She leaned closer, mirroring his muted words from before. "Should I let you win? I don't mind."

---

Josh Devlin

"There have been tournaments almost as long as Step Step Revolution's been around," Josh answered as the timer for the results screen ticked down, the song wheel at the ready again. "Multiple divisions are out there so players of all skill levels can participate." There were easier difficulties available for every chart if Yujin wished to freestyle rather than play the game for accuracy and score. Money was a reward, but the biggest prizes were in large part at A-Division tournaments, where in the later rounds, the hardest content in the game was fair to select.

"I am. I took over Mauville's Gym last September." When Josh noticed the timer was starting to get a little low, he hovered over his intended song selection but let the clock wind down the rest of the way to socialize with Yujin as much as possible before the game whisked them to the final song of their first credit. "Great to meet you, Yujin! Other than rhythm games, what are you into?"

As the song's banner and jacket flashed on the screen while the softward loaded the main gameplay screen, Josh chuckled at Yujin's comment. "It's not about winning head to head; I'm competing against my own scores." With that, a hard jungle beat blared out of the cabinet's large speakers, assaulting the players with arrows that intended them to perform laterals: their right foot on the left panel, and their left foot on the right panel.

The song and chart were oldies but goodies. The song itself was as old as Josh was!

---

Yujin Ha

{WC: 261}
{PC: 3}

The life of a traveling fixer is a busy one, but the few short hours of respite are wasted idling in a motel room. Why not make more money, why not put your name out there and your face in people’s minds for the small, small price of a sanity that expires when you’re dead anyway?

“I like dancing.” Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “You clearly have a sense of rhythm. Do you also have a sense of style?”

She had been trying to figure it out, but the directional arrows darted across the screen like a school of fish trying to flee from the two sharks, hungry for their devourer score.

When that was done, she was already browsing the next song.

“So you are someone who prioritizes competing against yourself, rather than measuring up to others?”

She pointed at the latest selection, interested in his input of song.

"Is that what gym leaders are about?"

---

Josh Devlin

"If you mean freestyling, no," Josh answered, once more going into the options menu to give Yujin a chance to cool down a little more before their final song. "To me, it's not the dance itself that's an art form. I like the music, and I like the game itself. Plus, it's great exercise. I need it, too, considering I probably don't eat the healthiest, heh," he admitted with a chuckle.

Another "FULL COMBO" celebration flashed across Josh's side of the screen, having executed ever lateral and barrage of jumps correctly. "I find that any game or sport that lets you compete against yourself motivates me the improve the most. Being a Pokémon racer, my favorite opponent to compete against is the clock. There's always room for improvement there. It is a pity that Pokémon battle is a zero-sum game. For every winner, there must be a--"

The sound of an old-fashioned, almost cartoon-like horn interrupted their conversation, the game's way of loudly announcing that Josh's play on their final song had qualified them for an EXTRA STAGE.



"Gym Leaders aren't about winning or losing," Josh answered. If Yujin were to attempt to browse the song list, she would find it locked to a high-octane, techno-trance, intimidating-sounding beat. While far from the hardest content in the game, it was a terrifying song to have to play under the conditions the game set. Twenty years ago, it was the hardest song in the entire game. Now there were over a hundred songs that were more challenging. "Being a Gym Leader is all about teaching. Ultimately, the role of a Gym Leader is to not compete against challengers, but to make sure they learn a particular lesson you as a Gym Leader feels important. Mine is about teamwork, quick thinking, and most importantly, level-headed decision making when under pressure."



"You might want to drop the difficulty some. You're only allowed to miss three notes. If you miss a fourth, you'll fail the song. I'm gonna see how far I can get. I can clear this song in regular play, but never as an Extra Stage before. Good luck!"

---

4s6FBBvJ

Yujin Ha

{WC: 358}
{PC: 4}

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[nospaces][newclass="credit"]FREE TO USE! coded by mad, partial credit to milky for text styling <3[/newclass]

Just because their Extra Stage song wasn't the hardest song in the game anymore didn't mean it wasn't difficult. The song and chart were not only physical, but they were very mental as well, full of offbeats that would keep both players sharp. The song had a reputation for gathering crowds, as well, particularly crowds of veteran players. Midway through the song, both the notes and the music stopped entirely, requiring them both to count beats in their head. Not playing regularly anymore, Josh miscounted the number of silent beats by one, causing him to pick up two misses in rapid succession. He picked up two more in the very end, failing out just a few steps from the end.

He was disappointed but not upset. "It's a shame, but I'm okay with it. Accuracy wasn't great, but I was more focused on a pass than playing for score." The accuracy rating of over 90 percent alongside a failing letter grade told the entire story in one screenshot. "The coin line's pretty long, too. How about we head elsewhere in the arcade? They've got other games besides music games. There's a great food court just outside the back entrance, too."

---

Yujin Ha

{WC: 200}
{PC: 5}

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[newclass=".yujin .bottom a"]font:bold 15px 'Poppins';[/newclass]

[nospaces][newclass="credit"]FREE TO USE! coded by mad, partial credit to milky for text styling <3[/newclass]