After the roughest day of his life (even more than the first time he was in Dewford fighting), Josh had come to the realization he was stranded on the island. With public transportation at a halt after the one-day war and all his water and flying Pokémon still on the mend, he would need to wait until a Pokémon Center was able to heal his team. Despite healing machines being flown in from all over Hoenn, the wait time to get just six of his dozens of Pokémon in shape to carry him back to Mauville was measured in hours.

Leaving most of his Pokémon there for healing overnight, the poor Nurse Joys working overtime to provide services as promptly as possible, Josh booked a room at a modest inn. While it didn't have the amenities he was used to when he went to a convention, he just needed a roof over his head, and the price was right. Riding aboard Komainu, his Houndoom, he made his way to the inn, checked in, and plopped into bed as soon as he could. Shutting off the light, he would (hopefully) put himself to sleep with another RONDEZ-VIEW OF LUV route tagged for adventure.

Detective Sokolov? They had met at the Faire once. This was a familiar face! Thinking of the murder mystery at Maple Manor he had helped solve not long ago, he didn't feel like anything too high stakes. Perhaps a case of grand theft would wear his tired mind out.

❤️ Theft

It seemed the AI Nikita didn't enjoy handling low-stakes cases such as thefts. Good to keep in mind if he ever needed a private investigator; it seemed that if Macro Cosmos' database held true, he only really wanted to take on high-profile cases. He would prefer not to need one, but it was a good name to have if the worst came.

Josh started to enter a custom response about a high value object being stolen, but ran out of characters in the text box. Rolling his eyes, he reviewed the premade options. The last one appealed to him, reminding him he should at some point head out to Fortree's Shrine of Thunder northwest of town. It had been a while since he had prayed to Raikou there. He swiped the fourth prewritten option, ready to hunt for something that had value beyond the monetary.

❤️ It's a sacred object

Relics of the gods were priceless. It seemed the detective was interested in them, or at least understood their value beyond money. As he read on, he groaned. Out of the adventures he had played so far, very few required open-ended responses. Had Macro Coamos' AI advanced to the point where they could process them with a low chance of misinterpretation, or worse, glitching?

The Gym Leader groaned, the moonlight of Dewford at just the right angle to barely illuminate his room. A completely original answer was far more brain power than he wanted to expend. He just wanted a bedtime story to put himself to sleep. The first legendary that came to mind was his idol, Raikou. Speaking of which, his birthday was coming up. It was about time for him to go for another run on the back of kyle lopez 's electric Beast. Once he was out of the infirmary, he needed to get logistics set up for the party. Would it be at his Gym? Would it be at another venue?

He didn't want to think about that now. All he wanted to do was read and follow along until he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.

❤️ It was a sword that once belonged to Raikou's last Avatar. It was used to draw the Sign needed for the Avatar to summon his Patron. With command over lightning, the danger would be immense if it were to fall into the wrong hands. It was stolen from a hidden chamber in a small shrine near Fortree within the last day or two.

The sound of three other hotel guests loudly arguing briefly distracted Josh. Whatever it was, it sounded serious. It didn't have anything to do with the war, but it sure was heated.

Turning his attention back to his game, he thought about the AI detective's question. In the real world, Josh had come about it by chance one day from traveling to Fortree. It, of course, was much less hidden than he insinuated in his answer. There was nothing wrong with fantasizing a little for drama, was there? Certainly not in making himself one of the shrine's keepers. It would, in this detective's world, make him feel important. Like he knew Raikou personally.

❤️ I'm a keeper of the shrine

And that was precisely why the Josh in this story would need to get the Lightning Sword back and return it to the shrine for safekeeping. It was a sacred blade to be wielded only by the warrior chosen by the Beast. A warrior he still dreamed of being, whether in the real world or in the world of the full-sim MMO he played. Even if it wasn't in the real world, the Gym Leader would get the time with Raikou that he desired.

Though he yawned, tossed and turned, Josh remained awake to see the gripping story to its end. Reading through the choices, the one that appealed to him was the one that was closest to the real incident he wove his tale around. The day he saved the Raikou shrine with Elinor Anderson, the weather was unusually stormy. That inspired his selection.

❤️ The weather was strange that night

Legendary Pokémon were fickle, quite particular about who wielded their mighty weapons. Josh knew from his encounters with Entei. As friendly as the legendary Pokémon was, he would not entertain Josh's wishes to saddle up and race across the land. Even if the relationship seemed symbiotic, most Avatars, if not all of them, were ultimately subservient to their Patrons. Even Alexei Ivanov 's Tornadus was fickle.

He couldn't imagine how horrible the curse of a Raikou would be. Sensory deprivation from being shocked from within? Electronics overloading just in one's presence? Perhaps being struck by lightning on a routine basis. There were all kinds of things a Raikou could to besides sink its knife-like fangs into one it didn't care for. Josh made his selection, a supernatural defense being the most likely way to protect a supernatural weapon.

❤️ It is said Raikou will curse any who wield it forcefully

Perhaps the curse was not immediate. It was difficult to get into the mind of a legendary Pokémon. Josh knew; he raised one. Aleph, the Type: Null. His violent fickleness had caused many issues in the past, both personal and to others.

Stealing an artifact of the gods could well have consequences reaching beyond that of the thief's well-being. If anything, it would be a stroke of luck if the thief were the only one to die. They had to find him before Raikou's anger destroyed not just him, but swaths of people with him.

❤️ We need to find the thief before it's too late!