When Josh had hired a security testing firm to shore up defenses in his Gym, this wasn't the type of security testing he had in mind. He was expecting someone to conduct a mock raid on his Gym and defend it from an "attacker" who had intricate knowledge of the place. It would be to prepare for a worst case scenario of sorts, a League defector laying siege to his Gym. Though Isaac Merlo and dorian westcliff 's attacks were fierce, they didn't have the knowledge needed to deliver a truly devastating attack. Someone on the inside could. Instead, it seemed the young man had a different idea in mind.

Josh walked out of his third-floor office and swung the door open, not recognizing the man before him. Peering out one of the windows, he saw ACE SHEEKE on the main battle court, breaking some of the new Gym Pokémon in, such as Seizan the Skuntank and Toralf the Raichu. Was that a saddle on the great big Raichu's back? It may have looked strange to Kouji if he looked in the court's direction himself. "Just a moment." He briefly returned to his office's desk and paged Ace to vacate the main court. "Ace Sheeke, line 1, please. Ace Sheeke, line 1."

After taking the elevator to the ground level, the red-headed Gym Trainer passed them, Josh kind enough to give Kouji a ride to the main battle court if he wanted one; one of his many Pyroar would be more than willing to do so. The court would be set up just like an official Gym match, except there would be no gallery and no referee. "Thanks for the help. Oh, I think I missed your name!"

Whether he got the young man's name or not, Josh would assign himself and his opponent their places on the court and explain the rules of the challenge. The trainer's boxes would not rise like a normal challenge, as no stage managers were in that day. There would also be no scoreboard. "If it was your idea to stress-test, then I figured the best way to go about it would be bringing some of my strongest fighters." With a shrill whistle, four of his Pokémon came shooting toward the two trainers: a shiny Luxray, an Arcanine, a Dragonite, and an Absol. "You'll have a few minutes to prepare your Pokémon - gotta get these saddles off them all." With that warning given, he proceeded to do as he said; thankfully for Kouji, he was efficient at the task, having to do it before every single official Gym match. The Dragonite's cocoon appeared to be the most cumbersome to remove, likely due to its weight.

Once the trusty mounts' riding gear had been removed, Josh gave the signal for the mock match to start. "Alright, show me what you found and how we can improve it."

"Great to meet you, Kouma," Josh replied, undoing the many straps on Tiamat's cocoon saddle. Redundancy was very important, especially when it involved a flying mount capable of breaking the sound barrier! It seemed like Kouji was full of valid ideas. While Josh had thought of many of them already, perhaps the number of hours between maintenance could be adjusted accordingly. "It will," he nodded as he finished his work, stacking the four sets of labeled gear behind his Trainer's Box. "Learned that back when I was on the Gym Circuit myself. CIAN MAHER 's a great Gym Leader, too. People say his Weather Gym is one of the first ones you should challenge in Hoenn, but it's just as tough as the rest."

The mention of doing a simple before-and-after test made Josh's eyebrows raise; would a single battle really make that big of a difference? Typically, each check was only done after a hundred or more battles. Though he had his suspicions, the Leader would play along for the time being. "...Sure," he agreed after a long delay. "The trainer's box on that side is yours. Take your spot there and have your Pokémon take their places on the battle court. Once all four Pokémon have done so, I'll count us down from three, and we'll start."

As the Absol and Kantonian Arcanine took their places, Josh got a sense of how much work his referees and stage managers did in his official Gym matches. They operated his clock for him, made rulings, and the like. He would have none of that for this battle, meaning any disputes would be difficult to settle. Once both trainers and their Pokémon were ready, the Leader would give the countdown, the swift quadrupeds on Josh's side ready to lunge at Kouji's team from the word go.

The menacing gaze from the powerful dragon was all it took for Twilight to recognize it as a true threat. If there was one thing she had learned from being around one of her trainer's best friends, Shalin, it was that a Kommo-o's scales were capable of incredibly fast and powerful vibration. One punch from its fists was actually countless blows. She couldn't allow that to happen, her forehead blade glowing with the purple-pink energy of a PSYCHO CUT that manifested above the fighting-type.

Only a split second after the neural blade finished forming was Twilight blindsided by her other foe's CLOSE COMBAT, goring her right in her soft underbelly with a gnarly critical hit. Blue bolts of electricity flew from one of four regulators in the corner of the battlefield. A loud bang, followed by smoke, came from that same regulator at the same time Twilight screeched. The Absol had fallen in a single blow, her white fur stained red.

Braver was briefly distracted by the Absol's unearthly screech. Shaking his head, he had to take action. He built up a great deal of speed before slamming on the brakes, flinging SCORCHING SANDS that burned from the heat of his paws unearthing them toward what was intended to be the Absol, but may have been the Kommo-o due to its quick thinking.

Josh was quick to recall his Absol, sending out a Shiny Luxray in its place. The feline snarled intimidatingly, his tail glowing brightly as to telegraph the use of a Signal Beam...

Kouji was at least kind enough to let his Pokémon autonomously battle while asking Josh if Twilight was okay... even if that concern was feigned. "That's hard to say... that's the first time in a long time someone's ever overloaded the paling," he admitted. "It's designed to reduce the stress of knockout attacks on Pokémon... but if you can overload it, your Absol's got some real power behind it. It didn't help that she was looking for the Close Combat from your Kommo-o, not your Absol."

The SUCKER PUNCH disrupted the Luxray's discharge enough to deflect some of the SIGNAL BEAM away. Josh crossed his fingers that the SIGNAL BEAM would be enough to take the Absol down. He knew the power of that forehead blade, which was why he needed to neutralize the extreme threat the dark-type posed.

A new top threat emerged as the Kommo-o's body glowed purple from its CLANGOROUS SOUL. It was one Josh could not ignore, and one that Braver was already on the prowl for, even without a verbal command from him. In a burst of EXTREME SPEED, the blistering fast fire-type attempted to overrun the dragon before those scales could vibrate any louder.

MEDIUM-TERM INJURY

Twilight, as a result of the Gym's safety system being overloaded, has suffered a deep gash from the blade fueling Kouji Matsubara 's Absol's CLOSE COMBAT. While no medical complications will arise from the blow, there will be a plainly visible red mark on Twilight's belly. Pokémon that notice this and land a critical hit on Twilight are treated as though they have the SNIPER ability for that attack. If the attacking Pokémon already has the SNIPER ability, it is treated as though it has a second instance of that ability. Multiple instances of SNIPER on the same Pokémon will stack.

This injury can be removed no earlier than OCTOBER 25, 2023.

The SANDSTORM reduced visibility greatly, which in a way, hampered Josh's speed advantage by giving Kouji's Pokémon a place to hide. All he could hear over the whirling winds was vibration from the Kommo-o's scales growing louder and louder. While the Tyranitar was dangerous, the dragon-type was deadly; even if whatever sonic blast it discharged inflicted friendly fire upon the rock-type, it would make the ears of his hearing-sensitive Pokémon bleed to no end.

That Kommo-o had to go, whether it was through a knockout or being thrown out of bounds. "Blitz, ICE FANG!" he shouted over the storm.

Though the Arcanine had left Extreme Speed, he was still plenty fast, bounding toward the dragon-type before slamming on the brakes and kicking SCORCHING SANDS toward it in an effort to silence the scales by getting burning sand stuck in between them. He was far too late, though; just as the attacks went flying toward the Kommo-o, the vibration peaked in intensity. Josh squeezed his hands over his ears to minimize his own exposure to the powerful vibration that threatened to mess up his Pokémon's insides. It left the Luxray down for the count and the Arcanine just barely standing.

"Maintenance is gonna have a look at them. They may just need to be replaced," was Josh's answer as he hurled his fourth and final Pokémon into the arena, a Dragonite whose wings hummed like an insect's as she zipped above the battle court.

The armored rock-type's Sandstorm seemed never-ending, blasting both of Josh's remaining Pokémon. Though he couldn't see the hulking fire-type clearly, Braver had a clever plan. As the two Pokémon readied their BOLT BEAK and ROCK SLIDE, he tried to stand between Kouji's two Pokémon. When the time was right, the Arcanine disappeared in the blink of an eye, a brief TELEPORT to the ethereal perhaps causing some friendly fire within Kouji's ranks.

As tricky as it was to lead a Pokémon as fast as a Dragonite, the Tyranitar was well-trained, catching Tiamat off-guard and grounding her. She was far from helpless, though, her foe well in range of her AQUA TAIL that threatened to freeze the pores in the brutal Pokémon's rock armor if the swipe connected!

As the ROCK SLIDE hurtled toward the fire-type and flying-type, it seemed the battle was over. That may have been true if Kouji was at any other Gym in Hoenn. Not this one, though. The sound of hummingbird-like vibration rippled across the battle court, Tiamat's wings turning into a blur. Even Braver's legs made a low humming sound, his entire lower body an abstract palette of oranges.

"Double EXTREME SPEED!" the Gym Leader cried.

In a show of speed that Josh may have been the only one able to see, both Pokémon turned themselves into living missiles. Though the Tyranitar was adept at defending against brute force, the momentum from the blistering fast, heavy bodies of two Pokémon ramming into it at beyond full speed may have been too much for even it to ward off.

The Dracozolt was prepared, though, thrusting its BOLT BEAK into Braver a split second after he stopped. The fire-type hit the ground with a loud thud, Josh recalling the powerful dog and leaving Tiamat on her own, the dragon hyperventilating.