Josh laughed at Robin's enthusiasm toward his swift Pokémon. "We do sell weekly and season passes at Mauville Racing Grounds if you want to watch me race my Pokémon!" he shamelessly advertised. "That's one of the ways challengers can earn Mauville's Gym Badge." It was the more difficult of the two, for certain, but it was also the more engaging.

The Elite Ranger stepped off Saber's back to pet the powerful, golden lion before gently patting the saddle on his back. Aslan responded by crouching to let Josh aboard, the feline so big that he could only climb on unaided with difficulty while he was standing. The normal-type's lungs were so powerful that he experienced a tingling sensation from a low and possibly intimidating-sounding growl from Aslan, though the lion meant no harm. "I've asked League scientists about it. It's called the Shiny phenomenon, and it's typically a combination of rare recessive genes that gives the Pokémon a different coloration than most of its species. Supposedly collecting large amount of Ledian dust and mixing it into a formula can induce the Shiny phenomenon at will, but it's prohibitively expensive. A far easier way to do so is to grow a Rowap Berry, but even then, they're not native to Hoenn and have a hard time around here."

Josh guided the Pyroar toward Robin, letting her pet and play with the king of his pride. "Counting the one I just caught, Aslan here is one of seven Pyroar at the Gym." While he didn't explicitly say anything about it, there was easily room for Robin to sit in the lion's saddle behind Josh, if she wanted. "Like I said, Elinor recruited me after I helped her defend a shrine dedicated to Raikou. Then when I joined them, I discovered that my ride Pokémon would make me a good search-and-rescue specialist. That's how I became second-in-command to annalise henderson at Mauville. I'm their director of rescue operations. My six, soon to be seven, Pyroar are pretty frequently used as mounts by other Rangers I lead."

Disagreement was something Josh was no stranger to. He had many arguments with those above him in the League. Callan Young came to mind after their interview and first battle. As did FERNANDO SILPH , who tried to give him a wake-up call that Avatarship isn't as rosy as the Ranger thought. And of course, there was MATIAS SILPH , whom he would never, ever agree with on just about anything. "Get your supervisor involved," Josh answered. "If it's a Ranger matter especially, get a higher-ranking Ranger to try to bring both of you to an understanding. Of course, disagreements in leadership get a lot more complex, but that's beyond the scope of what I can teach you. Not because I don't think it's important to learn, but because I'm still learning those skills myself."

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD EMBOAR APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] RECKLESS
[attr="class","wildtabox"]HEAD SMASH	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]ASSURANCE
[attr="class","wildtabox"]HAMMER ARM	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]TAKE DOWN
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]robin coello Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD STARMIE APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] GENDERLESS	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ILLUMINATE
[attr="class","wildtabox"]POWER GEM	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]SPOTLIGHT
[attr="class","wildtabox"]PSYWAVE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]WATER GUN
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]robin coello Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

robin coello CAUGHT THE GOLETT!

Josh couldn't help but laugh when Robin voiced her regret over not catching the Pyroar. "I tell you what. Usually we have a pretty good size litter every winter into spring. If you get a perfect score on your graduation test's written exam, I'll give you one of the cubs from the next litter. No less than a perfect score." It was a tall order; the Ranger exam not only texted knowledge, but test-taking skills as well. Questions were sometimes worded in tricky ways to make sure the candidate comprehensively understood the material.

The gushing compliments were a bit too much for the young man to handle at first, his ears and cheeks turning red. Though it may have been a bit terse, he had to break his own embarrassment with a comment that could have come off as rude. "If you're trying to hit on me, I don't want to disappoint you, but I'm single and not looking," he answered with a laugh, Robin perhaps able to read the only semi-serious nature of the remark. "Thanks, though; you're the kind of people that keep me going."

Just as Robin asked Josh for a lift on the Pyroar, the Elite Ranger received a call from Ranger Dispatch. "Sorry, I gotta take this call real quick. It's urgent." After a couple minutes, he turned toward Robin with a frown. "They need me at Ranger HQ. If you're headed in that direction, I can give you a ride there, and we'll go our separate ways. I'm sorry to have to cut this short." If they were headed in the same direction, the Gym Leader would wait for Robin to climb aboard before taking off to the south. "Remember, if you ever need me, I'm a RangerNet message away."