"Me too, Lars. Me too," Josh sighed, reduced to some of his newest fighters from the serious casualties his team had taken earlier in the day. Lars may have been able to infer how rough a day it had been when the Master of Faster had been reduced to his choice of steed being his Shiny Gogoat, Nitro. The bright green grass-type was among one of his strongest combatants, but his speed left something to be desired.

"Because you know what -- or who -- I saw in the mist last time I came here? None other than Eris Halla . In the flesh." He went into excruciating detail of how the mists had recreated their altercation, forcing him to not only fight against a manifestation of King Zing, but also to watch the whole thing from an external perspective. He got to see the inhuman violence he had subject Eris to. "I'd also be wary of the mist trying to form into a... certain thundercat. It did that last time I was here, too."

Purple? Pink? Black? Just how many colors were there? Josh had only seen two so far. And if the black stuff was worse... he didn't want to think about it. What could possibly be worse than what he saw the mist trying to murder Eris with the very Pokémon he had used to do so before?

"I'm aware. I've been here a few times. You know that Beedrill of mine the League's got locked up? I saw him here. I saw my Luxray here. I've already put it behind me... and yet it wants to keep haunting me. I just want to get this community service nonsense over with so I can be a Champion. That, and have money to spend on myself and not just on essentials."

That black manifestation would start to form as the temperature dropped. A lot. Even Laurence Anderson may have felt this one...

Josh felt Lars' remark like a MACH PUNCH to the gut. "It's that way with... Raikou. And to a lesser extent, Eris. I feel like I've got it under control again, but it's just something I truly can't let go." Being as of yet unaware of Laurence Anderson 's lack of clearance, he divulged information to the ex-Head Ranger he probably should not have. "I spoke with Commissioner dahlia goode about it. As far as the League is aware, Raikou's official status is 'missing', not 'dead'. I want to make a difference. I really do." And he was. He had repelled so many Rocket operatives already. Makoto Kurumi . howard slayte . Tempest Quinn . Even former Avatar Lulu Flint . He was making a name for himself, wondering if the Commissioner would let him fill the open Elite Four spot even if on an interim basis. Interim Elite Four Josh Devlin . That had a nice ring to it.

The young man on the Gogoat sighed. "About 1,400 hours. Thankfully I'm going to get a lot from this, because the League isn't paying me to be here. The only income I'm getting right now is my Gym Leader salary." The temperature continued to drop, both Nitro and rider shivering. "If it gets any colder, I might have to hop on my Talonflame instead."

"It is," Josh again sighed, though his community service would keep him too busy to truly pursue the Johtonian god of speed in any capacity. "And the League needs him more than ever. With how much the war's escalated, if there was a time for him to seek me out, it's now."

"It was far worse before FERNANDO SILPH got involved," the Gym Leader revealed. "My original sentence was 4,000 hours of community service, but he reduced it to 3,000 when he reinstated me as Gym Leader. Since then, I've been working every single Ranger ticket unpaid to get that total down." He laughed at the idea of picking up another job. "It's not finding work that's the issue. It's time. You know they won't allow me to become a Champion until I get these hours logged, right?"

The discussion about Raikou funneled his mind toward Lars' Patron. "Speaking of which, how is Articuno doing? Any better? I would love to race the two of you again when you're at full strength."

"Yeah, it's horrible. Even 3,000 hours... you know that's 40 hours a week for a year and a half, right?" Josh quickly did the math in his head. "Between that and my Gym Leader duties, I get almost no time to myself. Every single day after work, I'm bushed. Feels like I'm working two jobs." He technically was; the former Head Ranger may have noticed a substantial increase in Ranger tickets worked since March.

"You don't have to tell me to run!" Josh yelped, reining his Gogoat away from the black smoke. "You have a ride, hop on it and let's beat feet!" In the event he didn't, the young man would send out his Sceptile, Oberon, for Lars to hop on. The grass-type was certainly unconventional for the task, but could he put on some speed.

"No, what I mean is that I've got half of the 3,000 hours done. The original 4,000 hours was two years' equivalent," the Master of Faster corrected Lars' math. "Came straight from PENELOPE LIVY 's Accountability department. She doesn't mess around."

Sacrificing sturdiness for speed, Josh stepped down from Nitro's back and sat in Oberon's saddle himself. He withdrew the Gogoat, ready to flee at the super speed the Gym Leader was famous for. Amir was quite fast, too, the grass-type only just able to keep up. He wondered how the Silvally would perform on his race track. Perhaps he would be a good opponent for Raikiri, recalling how poorly Articuno performed the last time they were at his Gym.

"Faster, Oberon! Faster!" Josh cried, wanting to get as far away from the swirling mist as possible. Unfortunately for him, Oberon had not been racing-trained, and did not know a single move that could boost his speed. If this mist was bad enough to scare an Avatar away, it had to be way out of his league.

Josh didn't hear the voice Lars did; the wind from his Sceptile's great pace drowned out its words. Unaware of its presence, Josh continued to tail Lars the best he could. Out of range of Amir's TAILWIND, Oberon simply was not fast enough to keep up, the Gym Leader trying to keep an eye on the Silvally as it faded into the mist from his perspective.

Worse yet, whatever was mimicking evan fader 's voice was catching up to him, to the point where even he could hear it over the roaring winds. With Raikiri and many of his electric Pokémon out of commission from other battles, the Sceptile was the fastest land Pokémon the young man had left. The figure continued to gain on him until it got within range to do something unpleasant to him or his grass-type mount. Or both.