Josh was a busy man. With his Gym occupying much of his time and his community service sentence occupying much of the rest of it, it had been months since he returned to the Ultra Wilds for a reason other than to extract Dynite Ore. Doing that unpaid was a good way to fill the community service requirements, letting him bond with his Type: Null while at the same time helping keep the power of Dynamax away from Rocket.

It almost felt good to return to the lightning-filled realm that was Ultra Plant: the realm whose constant thunderstorms bestowed Josh's electric Pokémon with ultra-high speed. Though his Manectric remained at his side, Saber's replica thundercloud saddle was unoccupied; instead, he chose to take some of his new electric Pokémon for a ride. The Gym Leader was seated on a quite-large Kilowattrel that almost certainly looked like it had either been captured in a Space-Time Distortion or was exposed to strong radiation coming from one. The yellow bird was on the precipice of a clifftop, ready to take off and soar toward the abandoned power farm below.

Several of Josh's other Pokémon were out of their Poké Balls as well: Alphamax, a Garchomp, served as a lightning rod to protect Madeline McKenna and be a mount for her if she didn't have one herself. Blitz, Toralf, and Raikiri were present as well, the saddle covering most of the giant Raichu's back perhaps drawing his partner's attention most. The only one of his Pokémon that remained in the Ball was Jiujiu, the Xurkitree having demonstrated his inability to control himself when Ultra Plant's lightning storms were particularly intense. "Madeline, right?" the Mauville Leader asked to confirm. "Josh Devlin, Mauville Gym Leader and Elite Ranger," he introduced himself. "These five are some of the most reliable Pokémon you'll run into out here. Etali, Alphamax, Blitz, Toralf, and Raikiri," he gestured toward his Pokémon, one by one. All four were geared up and trained to be beasts of burden. They looked like they enjoyed carrying people, even; all of them looked ready to run, sparks flying from underneath the Shiny Luxray's paws.

Josh held his hands up, letting Etali's reins rest between his index fingers and his thumbs. "Whoa, I'm sorry if I overstepped!" he apologized. "Madd it is." Her further remarks took him aback, too. "...When? We haven't met before, have we?" He had swiped so many profiles over the AmiGo platform that he had forgotten about the terse remarks he left on the brunette's page.

Once Madd was on Alphamax's back, Josh asked, "You need help getting into his cocoon? Don't want you getting blown away!" Regardless of whether his help was needed or not, once both were situated, he warned her, "Hold on tight!" before the Garchomp began to run. The bio-thrusters on Alphamax's sides began to spool up as Etali spread his yellow wings. The electric bird was the first in the sky. The dragon's takeoff was the roughest part of the ride, a rapid, jarring running strong possibly jostling Madd at uncomfortable rates before getting the speed needed to get airborne.

If Madd seemed shaken up, the Garchomp would let off the thrust and slow to a speed not too far above the minimum needed for lift. It was a pace Etali could keep up with. Any lightning that struck too close to them would be harmlessly absorbed by the Garchomp, keeping Madd safe, as well. The two dipped toward a power station that a large horde of Electabuzz were surrounding. "I have just the thing to distract them," Josh shouted, though Madd may not have been able to hear it over the roaring of the Garchomp's biological jet engines. He swooped in a few hundred feet from the entrance and dropped his ELECTIRIZER below, the yellow and black wilds flocking toward it.

It was only when Alphamax's thrusters dropped to cruising thrust could Josh hear Madd, and even then, it was difficult. He held up a finger to try to communicate he would answer the woman's question once they touched down at the entrance. As they dove toward the newly-unguarded entrance to the inactive power station, the Gym Leader could feel Etali's heart racing; it took a lot of effort from the Kilowattrel to keep up with his Garchomp.

Once they had landed, giving Madd the chance to hop off Alphamax's back before recalling the two, Josh switched to a more appropriate mount for scouting the interior. Toralf, a giant Raichu whose saddle covered nearly his entire back, may have taken Madd by surprise. A stray lightning bolt struck the electric rodent's raised tail just before they entered, making Josh flinch.

"As for why I'm here? I'm here at the League's behest, collecting data about the rifts. They haven't told me what for, but I won't turn them down. I picked this rift over the others because... Raikou isn't dead as far as we know. He's missing. And I want to find him." The flamboyant cavalier felt he could share his dream with the world, what with it being a significant figure in his Gym's décor. Seemingly on cue, he heard what sounded like a distant, echoing Pokémon cry almost indistinguishable from crashing thunder. Electricity suddenly started to flow between two generators. Josh turned his head toward them, Toralf backing away in fear.

"...Is that him?"

Alphamax was used to heavier loads; while Josh was in good shape, he was big-boned, making him a little on the heavier side. It showed just how strong Toralf was to be able to carry him and still move with great agility. "Anything I can do to make things easier for both of us."

When Josh brought up Raikou, the god of speed, Madd seemed naturally perturbed at the Gym Leader's passion to chase him. "One I've been chasing on and off for... what is it, fourteen years now?" Granted, not as fervently as he once did; at one point, he loved Raikou to the point where he would use his pursuit to justify committing heinous inhumanities against Team Rocket. Not anymore. He had it under as much control as it was going to get.

Alarms blared in the power station as wires composing Xurkitree of various sizes came to life. "Jiujiu, you're up! Silence those beacons!" From the Leader's Poké Ball emerged a Xurkitree of his own, this one imitating the shape of a Raikou with its black, thick-wired body. The Ultra Beast crawled toward the wall that the lights came from, out of reach of most of his Pokémon. With a POWER WHIP from the wire mimicking the Beast's thundercloud, Jiujiu smashed the alarm beacon, silencing it. They weren't out of the woods yet, though; there were still several wild Xurkitree advancing upon them!

It was an artifact of his generation; a man that refused to change with the times. As many asinine things Josh's old man had said in his elderly years, that had to be the one that stuck with him. He had nothing against having friends that were ladies; he simply had no desire to enter into an intimate relationship with one.

"I'm single and not looking, Madd," Josh replied in a somewhat monotone voice.

At the request for more power, Josh at first froze; most of his electric Pokémon were engaged in combat or other important tasks. He had one more with him, but it was young, and would almost certainly find the air of the Ultra Plant oppressive. What choice did the Master of Faster have, though? Clicking the release switch on one of his Poké Balls, out came a Charjabug next to a power conduit near the door. "Ghor, can you charge that door opener, please?" he asked the small Pokémon that was still large for its species' standards.

Madd was not the first one that told Josh that he needed a hobby. "Once this damn community service sentence is over, I'll be able to pick up my hobbies again. You see, I'm not getting paid by the League to run these operations. I'm just getting Gym pay right now. Once I can afford to, I'll pick those back up."

Having taken out many of their Ultra Beast foes, Josh's Pokémon swarmed Cherry in a valiant effort to defend the badly-weakened Garchomp from its assailants. All except Ghor, who was struggling to provide enough power to open the door. "More power, Ghor!" Josh ordered, not noticing right away that the battery Pokémon looked in danger of burning himself out. A low-pitched, air-rattling BUG BUZZ accompanied the yellow, blinding light of evolution, Ghor changing forms into a massive Vikavolt easily big enough for the Gym Leader to strap a saddle to.

The extra power the grown insect could discharge with his THUNDERBOLT was enough to get the power station running, yet that wtill wasn't enough to open the door. It was lacking a LINKING CORD to supply power to the door. Thankfully, the Gym Leader had one of those to spare. Clicking both sides of it into sockets, it supplied sufficient power to the door to open it, letting Josh and Madd enter a hidden corner of the plant.

Though the Megalopolans' notes didn't interest Josh, he took every notebook he could stuff into his supply bag; illeana reyes could sift through that information. It wasn't his job to do the research. It was his job to collect data. One notebook in particular he did stop to take a look through, and that was one about the development of the synthetic Pokémon. It was clear that it was the same species as Aleph. He would put that notebook in a special place in his bag, as it would be something he would ask the scientist for a copy of. Perhaps it would be of great help in understanding the Type: Null and why he was so defiant.

By the time Josh returned, his Pokémon and Madd's Pokémon had secured the way out. "I have perhaps too much material to report back to HQ with now. Let's blow this popsicle stand." He would offer Madd a ride on one of his Pokémon to quickly get back to Hoenn from the Ultra Wilds.