Josh remained silent and without banter for a reason: time was of the essence. The closer that rig got to alignment, the closer Rocket was to claiming the huge deposits of Dynite Ore and Tera Crystals for themselves. It would be a blow that could leave the League's operation in Dewford in shambles. They had lost the Seal Stone to Rocket last time the warring sides met near the island town.

Over Josh's pride as a Gym Leader would he allow that to happen again.

Not expecting the Haxorus, its powerful tail knocked Josh off his steed and Clyde over the platform's edge. The Gym Leader's quick reflexes kept the saddled Flareon from falling to his death, but that didn't make the crushing tail swipe sting any less. He sent the Flareon back out, only to withdraw him after seeing him limping. Had he dislocated something?

There was little time to spare. With the alarm blaring more frequently, the Master of Faster had to live up to his name. Clicking the switch on his next Poké Ball, another giant Eeveelution materialized from within, this one a Shiny Sylveon. Wearing a saddle and reins much like the others, Pinky bounded into the mist with Josh in tow. The tips of her feelers danced with MYSTICAL FIRE as she galloped into the steam, attempting to absorb enough of the fog to catch up with Xenon Antheil again.

60 seconds until realignment!

Josh's focus was sharp as a Kartana's blade. He wasn't sure what Xenon Antheil was fighting for. The Gym Leader, though, was not fighting for himself. He was fighting for Hoenn as a whole, but especially for Mauville. Were he to fail here, those people could be at great risk from Rocket amassing so much power that even the League, with all its talent and Avatars, could be rendered helpless against the technology that could be developed from such huge quantities of this mysterious ore.

He could not allow that to happen.

With the fog thinning, this was his chance: they were approaching the bottom of the rig. There were few twists and turns, with two long catwalks wide enough to accomodate a sizable Pokémon. Once the silhouettes of both Xenon and her Gothitelle became visible, the Gym Leader squeezed his Sylveon steed's sides. Hard. "Pinky, QUICK ATTACK!" Josh cried, leaning into his Pokémon as low as he could. With the blistering speed he was famous Hoenn-wide for, Josh and his Sylveon stared down the Rocket and her Pokémon, aiming to ram and trample them both. The apparent wind from his charge assaulted his ears to the point where he could barely hear the next warning:

30 seconds to realignment!

Josh ignored the madlad as she monologued on and on. He couldn't afford to waste time; they had to disable that console. Every second mattered, and the platform the console was on was too narrow to safely jump onto. Dismounting and withdrawing his Pokémon, he slid down the long ladder, a computerized voice counting down from ten. His heart thumped, ready to hurl Pinky's Poké Ball toward the device and order her to detonate an orb of MYSTICAL FIRE all over it. Just as he touched down on the platform, the message he didn't want to see popped up at the very top of his RaiCorp Vision:

Mission failure: Rocket has successfully completed the realignment!

OBJECTIVE A: FAILED

Josh hung his head in disgust, eerie silence filling the cavern now that Xenon Antheil had vacated it and most of her troops were dead. Dejected, he climbed the ladder and retraced his steps to the point where he had room to send out his Flygon. Mounting up, the insectile dragon's wings echoed with a hum as they carried the Gym Leader out of the deep chasm and back to the surface.

What would Greyson Connors and Hideo Kino say when they found out that all their efforts had been for naught?