After his first visit to the Ultra Sea, Josh wasn't taking any more changes. Wearing his Sygna Suit and holding the reins of his Manectric, he had the protective wear fully engaged. Clad in electric yellows and blues, he could ride at the speed of a Beast without consequence. "Raikiri and the pride, let's hop to it!" Josh commanded. Upon his orders, the four Pyroar and Zeraora began to cut through the soft rock with their claws sharp as blades, crushing underpaw what they could not cut.

"Why do you think I've brought the big guns here, Lars?" Josh asked, not one mote of humor in his facial expression. "I don't care for here, either, not after what happened in the Battle of Dewford, or the last time I was here. This thing tried to make me afraid of Raikou again. I've told you and many others. I'm not going to let Raikou control me any more. If it happens, it happens. To be clear, I still want him to pick me as his Avatar. If not, I've already proven to the League I don't need Raikou to do great things. It will show in the Champion Assessment." Guiding his Manectric steed next to Lars, Josh raised a STATUS SHIELD to reduce the effects of the radiation on the two.

The Ultra Beasts encroached upon Lars and Josh as the trainers' Pokémon continued to slice, dice, and hack away at the soft rock serving as the ore and minerals' prison. "Lars, I told you that day," Josh reiterated, keeping his STATUS SHIELD up, "I bottled my obsession back up into a dream, like it should be. I still want to saddle up Raikou. It's just not the only thing I want to do anymore. Look how much I've done for the League without him." As much as he didn't want to admit it, he did make a difference in Dewford. A small one, but a pivotal one nonetheless. "I'm not making that mistake again. I swear to you and the League that I will not."

Turning toward the poison-type Ultra Beasts, he called one of his Pyroar forward to defend the rest of his Pokémon from the Ultra Beast attacks. The tentacles of the Nihilego hurt, as did the barbs of the Naganadel, though the STATUS SHIELD repelled their physical and neurological venom. The only thing it didn't repel was the physical pain from the stings themselves. A shout of HYPER VOICE from Simba was enough to get the Naganadel to back down, but the Nihilego was still there, trying to wrap its tentacles around Josh. That STATUS SHIELD was going to run out at any moment!

Saber ducked out of the way of the crisscrossing attacks from Lars' Pokémon, Josh forced to raise his legs to avoid being forcefully stood up. "Great save, Lars! Thanks," Josh gratefully replied as the STATUS SHIELD petered out just in time for the Eternatus core to manifest a horror the likes of which neither of them had seen before.

Josh had a difficult time recognizing what the amalgamated creature before them even was. All he could tell from the blur zipping back and forth was it was electric, and it was fast. Really fast. He didn't even have time to answer Lars' question. Amidst the escalating battle, it was difficult for Josh to muster the JOLLY thoughts and emotions needed to push Saber to the blistering speeds needed to catch up to the ultrafast quadruped. Even Saber's LIGHTNING ROD couldn't fully protect the Gym Leader and his Pokémon from the wicked THUNDERBOLT the Jolteon and Luxray hybrid dropped on top of them. The rider's electricity-retardant suit had again saved his life. He owed his life multiple times over to this thing by now, making the exorbitant price he paid well worth it.

"I can corral it toward you, but it's too fast for me to attack!" Josh shouted, though he may have been hard to understand as Saber and their foe whizzed past.

The amalgamation of Luxray and Jolteon was simply too fast for even the Master of Faster to keep up with. Every time Josh spurred Saber into a QUICK ATTACK, the mutated Pokémon matched his speed and then some, ramming him from behind and sending him sliding across a squishy-feeling floor of purple flesh and eyeballs that made him scream. The attacks, physical and psychological, were too intense. The weight of Saber's saddlebags slowed him down too much.

Luckily, Lars was there to save the day yet again. While it was not the insta-killing COLD WORLD spell that he had seen many times from their virtual trek through the Temple of the Sand Goddess, the crashing icicles were enough to at least put some distance between the Sygna Suited explorer, Avatar, and their pursuers. Josh let Lars grab him, the two taking to the air. It wasn't over yet, though; the amalgamated Pokémon loosed a vicious THUNDERBOLT to try to clip Lars' wings. Josh withdrew Saber, committed to taking stock of their find later. "You're right! We need to get out of here, now!" he agreed, holding the Head Ranger tightly.