Hearing Alex call out to him, Josh turned his head toward the Birdfather's voice and chuckled. It came to no shock that he was atop the Therian Turnadus. It almost looked natural, as if it was meant to be. "Ah, Alex, great to see you!" he waved back as the seats of the Ting-Lu and Wo-Chien around him became occupied, as well. For some of the legendary Pokémon replicas, the artists had taken significant creative liberties to make them comfortable to be astride. "I'm putting on an attraction while the carnival's in Mauville, so I figured I'd come out here to enjoy it while I can. It involves my gym Pokémon, unsurprisingly." He may have been able to figure out what it was going to be about just from that.

"I'll be coming back to this thing a lot. It's amazing!" he chirped, a bit more excited than he should have been, considering he had been on the backs of real legendary Pokémon before. "I've got my eyes on the Raikou, the Latios, and the Solgaleo! Oh, and the Ho-oh!" Despite the giant Ho-oh adorning the roof, there was also a Ho-oh within the ranks of the carousel. Of course, he would never ask for a ride on kyle lopez 's Ho-oh for real, unless it was a life-threatening situation; to him, being ferried about by the Great One was blasphemous.

Once the boarding time was up, round and round the riders went, losing himself in the fantasy of riding the swift snow cat that was Chien-Pao. He even pulled on the feline's ice-colored reins to simulate a left turn. While it was certainly a "safer" carnival attraction, it was still fun! It made him want to return to The Border and catch that feline for real...

Josh, on the other hand, showed no signs of panic at all being around the artists' renditions of the four ruinous beasts. He was riding one of them, even, and seemed to be enjoying it! Was it just because he had seen Chien-Pao's incredible speed first-hand, blissfully unaware of the sheer hatred the creature possessed?

"I'll need to check them out later in the week, then!" he answered, curious as to what Alex had cooked up to entertain carnival guests. Was the location really close enough to the Sanctuary that the Leader could run an attraction off-site? Thankfully, Josh didn't have to worry too much about that; with his Gym staff able to back him up, he could get his Pokémon to and from the carnival with ease.

"I have, but I don't have any interest in participating in the Tauros contest," Josh answered as several onlookers took pictures of him astride the snow cat. He recognized at least one of them as a season-pass holder at his Gym. Fanatics would really follow him anywhere, wouldn't they? "There's a reason that Angrath, my Tauros, is one of the few Pokémon at my Gym I don't actually ride. He's used for construction and maintenance, mostly. They get out of control at a hair trigger, and their bucking hurts. I don't know how Shalin does it. Have you seen her spot on the leaderboard in that game? She might win the whole thing if she keeps it up."

The exciting part of the ride came as the legendary carousel transitioned from half speed to full speed. It brought joy to Josh's heart when he heard the scream of the young child seated on the Raikou. Josh, too, had a big grin and let out a whoop of his own, daydreaming about speeding across the land on the real thing.

Josh's smile grew as he thought of the perfect joke to retort Alex's quip with. "You spelled Shalin Nariya wrong," he replied in laughter alongside the Fortree Leader. "It's the bucking and kicking that makes me not like it. I'm just not used to that like she is."

As they sped up, Josh leaned lower as though he was riding a real Pokémon, closing his eyes and imagining the wilderness flying by on his legendary partner. "Akuji, faster!" he couldn't help but cry, visualizing the Chien-Pao's strides that were harsh and long even by feline standards. From his experience in the Border, he was aware of how blistering fast the snow cat was. He had to go back there to catch it. He already had a name in mind, even.

As Josh felt the carousel slow, he opened his eyes, his time in fantasy land over for the time being. Raikiri slid down from the Suicune and rejoined Josh, who took a picture of the Chien-Pao before leaving for their next destination. "That snow cat is so cool," Josh remarked after meeting up with Alex, letting the next group board the carousel. "If Raikou really isn't out there, that would be my second choice. Anyway, where to?"

Josh laughed at Alex's reaction. "Raikou, too. If he's still out there, there's no better name than Swift! It's what I named him in this full-sim MMO I play on and off. Even if I only truly get to control Raikou in a digital universe... what can I say. You know my feelings about him." With no leads, though, all he could do was bide his time. It was for the best, given how he ruined a young child's life through his at-the-time unhealthy desire for the Johto Beast.

At the suggestion of the Drop Tower, Josh smiled. "That sounds like a lot of fun, long as the line's not too long!" With how close it was to the divine carousel, Josh didn't even feel the need to get on Raikiri's back. He did want to, at some point, take the Fortree Gym Leader on the fastest ground ride he had at his fingertips. "Apparently Shalin has her own living Drop Tower now by way of a Venusaur. You should see the size of that thing - it's a real behemoth!"

"If that's how you feel about him, then that's fair," Josh answered as they rose up the tower. "I just don't see what's fundamentally different about those Pokémon other than them being rare. Ultimately they want to bond with people who share their line of thinking... you know?"

What a naive fool Josh was. It was folly to think that way. There was no befriending a god. If anything, the gods enslaved their chess pieces. It was merely the appearance of that slavery that varied with the Patron.

"In a weird way, but she does! Her Venusaur's vines are so big that she can hop on them like any of her other Pokémon. She told me I'd like it because of how fast they go. I had to tell her no way. You expect me to ride on a Vine Whip cracking at full speed?" It wasn't the sheer speed of the whip that was a problem; Josh's very fastest flying mounts approached the speed of a whip. When her wings started to vibrate, Tiamat, Josh's Dragonite, could go supersonic. The issue was being yanked in a circle at those speeds. If a light turn on Raikou stretched his skin, such a turn would rip his arm off.

With Josh and Alex strapped on, their ride dropped from underneath them, making them feel like they were in free fall. "Is this what Shalin feels when she's on that vine?!" Josh cried as he felt the car accelerate further, feeling like he was being pushed against its ceiling...

Josh loved the drop, too. It felt like the day he rode the emerald serpent, their DRAGON ASCENT sending them soaring high above Hoenn, then the back half of it hurtling toward the surface faster than a meteor. Only this was at an intensity that the average person could endure.

Upon reaching the bottom, their ride recoiled upward, shaking them both harshly. "Yeeeee-haaaa!!!" Josh cried as though he were on the back of a Pokémon making a sharp, vertical turn, such as the ones his Dragonair was capable of. One moment he was floating in his seat, the next he was being squeezed by it from below. The momentum shift was whiplash-inducing. Perhaps this really did feel like riding a Venusaur's Vine Whip, again only at strength the average human could withstand.

The machine let its riders down gently after the main attraction had ended. "Woohoo, that's so much fun!" Josh exhaled. "It's more fun doing it with a Pokémon, though!"