Josh was happy to see Elise on the job, considering she wasn't on the Ranger roster. For simple tasks, it was not uncommon for Rangers to forward tickets to civilians looking to make a quick buck. Perhaps Elise was doing it out of the goodness of her heart; she seemed among the ultra-wealthy to the Gym Leader. "A Pyroar?" Josh asked the princess. "Why a Pyroar in this weather? Aren't you burning up?" he asked out of concern. With latent air temperatures well above the internal temperature of the human body, riding on a fire-type was asking for heat stroke.

The Alolan Vulpix would help, but not as much as water-types would. Josh almost brought Rime, but he wasn't sure how long the Alolan Ninetales could handle the heat. "Don't forget to rotate your Pokémon so they can stay cool," Josh advised, swapping rides to his Vaporeon, Kairi. Her AQUA RING kept water-type and rider as comfortable as could possibly be in the extreme heat; there was nothing cozy about weather that forced the crowding of cooling centers.

Magikarp began to collect along the shoreline as the waves retreated. The young man knew that sliding them into the ocean with a water-type move would not be good for the exhausted fish whose consciousness could be leaving them at any moment. Instead, he hurled the Balls containing his two Samurott, Fumiko and Toshiro, in their direction. The two carefully lifted the helpless Pokémon using the flats of their seamitars, gently lowering them into the waves so that they could swim away. To Josh's dismay, some of them simply floated on the surface of the water; it was a sign that some had already succumbed to heat-related illnesses.

"Your Pyroar will still be helpful for getting Pokémon back to the sea if she doesn't mind her fur getting a little wet," Josh reassured her. "It's just a matter of making sure you don't get heat stroke from sitting on a mount that's so warm in hot weather like this." He whistled for Fumiko to come to his side after the two Samurott finished helping a beached Finizen return to the sea. He also used an empty Poké Ball to capture a second one in worse shape, intending to take it to the nearest Pokémon Center to be treated for heat-related illnesses.

Once Fumiko had arrived, Josh gestured toward Elise, then to her. "You can get on my Samurott, Fumiko, if need be. One thing people don't understand is how hot hard surfaces get. Did you know that when the air temperature gets over 100 degrees, concrete and asphalt can get to over 160 degrees?" The Elite Ranger let that sink in. "That's 70 in international units, if you're not familiar with Imperial... hot enough to cook an egg. That's why you should rotate your Pokémon." The sizzling steam coming from beneath Josh reminded him that he needed to do the same thing. "Kairi, come back. Inky, we need you to relieve her." With an impressive mounted quick-switch, he swapped ride Pokémon, one appearing where the other stood within a split second of each other.

The ice-type's teal skin felt even more refreshing than Kairi's HYDRATION-fueled body, though Josh was aware that Inky could handle the extreme heat for less time than the Vaporeon could. They would have to work fast, as there were still many Pokémon to be saved. It didn't take more than a few minutes of wandering the beach, his other Pokémon lifting the still-conscious water-types back into the sea while he captured the ones that were unconscious. His bag was really starting to fill up. "We might need to go to multiple Pokémon Centers in Petalburg," Josh suggested. "I can't imagine how many of these poor Pokémon are dying in areas that Rangers can't get to."

Fumiko, too was helping with WATER SPORT and SOAK where she could, teaming up with Elise and Jellybean to get as many water Pokémon sliding down the hot sands as possible and toward freedom. Some of them had concerning but not severe burns, though in large part those would heal over time. Mist was starting to evaporate from Inky's skin, Josh feeling the Glaceon's heartbeat rise. "We should think about turning back ourselves soon," the Mauville Leader turned toward Elise, meltwater dripping down Inky's skin. "Even for us, it's dangerous out here."

"That's not even why," Josh added. "They're probably already full of victims just like these Pokémon. It's the volume of victims that's concerning. How about you take half of them to the east Center and I take half of them to the west one?" he suggested, noticing even Inky's shortness of breath from the melt on his body. If they dawdled too long, they would have yet another victim.

"You're not the only one that prefers cold over heat," he related to Elise's preferences as the two headed toward Petalburg, regardless of plan to turn the Pokémon in to nearby Centers. "With the cold, you can always put more layers on. In the heat, there are only so many layers you can take off." The ICY WIND was welcome, calming Inky both physically and mentally as Josh kept the ice-type away from the blistering hot asphalt and concrete as much as possible.