This was not Josh's first firefighting operation, though it was his first time overseeing such a large project. As difficult of a task as it was, it was why the blue uniform came with a substantial pay bump. He gathered the local Rangers together to huddle up and come up with a game plan. The Lapras' RAIN DANCE would help, but due to the breadth and intensity of the fire, the few Rangers they had wouldn't be able to hold the blaze back on their own. "Thanks, Kolya. That's a lot easier to remember, heh. Anyway, I need to gather everyone else for the briefing."

Once all of the local Rangers on site had gathered around Kolya and the Elite, the Ranger spoke up. "Unfortunately, we don't have the personnel on hand to fight this fire traditionally," Josh addressed Nikolaj Volosenkov and the rest of the Littleroot Rangers that were in the line of duty. "Once the backup from Petalburg comes, we should have the staff to actually contain this fire. Keep as much distance as you can, and don't let yourself get surrounded. I do have flying Pokémon to back you up, but I'd rather not use them if I can avoid it. A-Team, I want you to cover the southwest side. B-Team, you will be on the southeast side. Lastly, Kolya, we can work on containing the east side until our backup arrives." Teams assigned, Josh would take to the air to supervise, his two Samurott discharging WATER SPORT and WATER GUN to further battle back the out-of-control flames.

Seeing Nikolaj Volosenkov 's Garchomp race toward the B-Team, Josh knew something was up. That dragon was well-trained, going fast enough to intercept the falling trunk yet not so fast that it disintegrated into burning cinders. It was speed control he wished Alphamax had... but that was the price of his Pokémon specializing in raw speed. Where some Pokémon excelled, others did not. Every Pokémon had its strengths and weaknesses.

Diving toward the B-Team, Resheph reared and started flicking and swishing her AQUA TAIL toward the blaze, augmented by his partner's RAIN DANCE. "Is everyone okay?!" Josh shouted. To his dismay, there was one that was not. Surrounded by flames that edged closer with every passing moment, Josh knew he didn't have long. He reined his Dragonair to ground level, holding on tight as she whipped her AQUA TAIL toward the ring of fire repeatedly. While it didn't put the ring out completely, it doused the flames enough that Resheph could fly above them now. With urgency, Josh flew his Dragonair toward the female in red. With Josh offering a hand to help the winded Ranger aboard, she accepted the help, sitting behind him on the floating serpent.

Securing her immediate safety, Josh let the brave firefighter off Resheph a safe distance away from the smoking blaze. Seeing her face for the first time, it was covered in black marks. Springing into action again, he immediately called for backup. "Dispatch, this is Elite Ranger Devlin. We're fighting a fire at a campground not far north of Littleroot. We have at least two burn victims, one of which is League personnel. Requesting immediate medical assistance, over." He smiled at the agent's responsiveness. "Understood. Over and out." He smiled toward the expressionless Cadet Ranger, who was clearly trying to save her strength. "Help is on the way. We'll get you airlifted to a hospital as quickly as we can."

With the situation under control, Josh returned to Koiya's side. "We've got two burn victims, one of which was from the B-Team. I've got them taken care of." As his Pokémon continued to pump water attacks into the blaze, Josh mused about the severity of the disaster. "This came up way too quickly and is way too big to be a natural fire. Keep your guard up. We may be battling more than just a fire."

This operation was growing in scale a lot faster than Josh wanted. The presence of the Magmortar complicated things. "Toshiro, stay with Kolya and help push back the fires," the Gym Leader ordered. "Fumiko, come with me. Gonna need your help too, Kairi," he waved for his Unovan Samurott, releasing a quite-large Vaporeon that was also wear riding gear. The long-tailed Pokémon's HYDRATION kept her cool despite the fires nearby.

Josh and his water-types approached the Magmortar on the other side of the blaze. "Kairi, Fumiko, work together to stop them!" With battle cries, water began foaming around the two in different ways. Kairi's mouth ejected a WATER PULSE toward one, and Fumiko rammed down the other, pointing water-enveloped seamitars in an AQUA JET-fueled ramming attack. The fire-types roared and recoiled. Cornered, they had nasty surprises for the Gym Leader's Pokémon, ejecting twin THUNDERBOLTS from their arm cannons. Both of his Pokémon screeched, a critical hit knocking down the Samurott in a single blow. Kairi was far from well, her HYDRATION shield electrolyzed away. Her skin began to dry from the heat surrounding her.

Withdrawing his fallen Samurott, Josh ordered Kairi to stand her ground before soaring high on Resheph to get out of the way of the carnage. He radioed for Kolya again. "Kolya, this is Josh again. We have a serious problem with the Magmortar; they both know how to use Thunderbolt. My Samurott's down, and my Vaporeon's not in good shape. If you have a Pokémon you can spare to help with them, that would be very helpful. Over."

"Understood, over," Josh answered, promptly getting his wounded Samurott and Vaporeon out of combat. Thunderbolt was not a move the species could learn naturally. Fire Pokémon that could use lightning attacks were incredibly powerful weapons of war. With water Pokémon being the natural predators of fire-types, and how fast fire-types typically were, Magmortar could take down many of its would-be checks with a single blow.

Once his two Pokémon had been withdrawn, Josh and his Dragonair likewise retreated, taking back to the air and observing the carnage Nikolaj Volosenkov wrought with his Garchomp... from a safe distance. Even that became impossible after a while, the SANDSTORM making it impossible to see the battle and challenging to hear it. Only his experience in CIAN MAHER 's Gym gave him the skills needed to discern what was going on.

The violence was dangerously close to where several of the Rangers were, as well. "A-Team, this is Elite Ranger Devlin," he radioed to the team's Senior Ranger leader and everyone the young man oversaw. "Fall back to the east side of the blaze and resume operations there. Once Kolya's got things under control, we'll have the fire mostly contained, over."

The sandstorm was still raging fiercely. Just what was going on inside...?