Josh frowned as he listened to Lars' sad story about one of the few true friends he had. It was a side of himself the Elite Ranger rarely showed, as was indicated by his nearly silent tone. When he was finished with the story, Josh took his hands off Nitro's reins and spread his arms wide as though he were going to embrace someone. "Air hug, Lars. Air hug. He wasn't the only one who cared about you. I care about you. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am now. I'm second in command at Mauville Ranger HQ, and I'm the Gym Leader there, too. I may as well run Mauville City now with how invested I am in it. And I have you to thank for a big part of it. If you don't consider me a friend, it makes me sad, but I understand. Trust is a hard and fickle thing. But I want to know that to me, you are a friend. I don't know why you were ousted as Head Ranger. I think you did a phenomenal job. But I'm here for you. If you need to vent, I'm here to listen."

Nightmares? What a coincidence: Josh had nightmares of his own. "You're not the only one who's been sleeping restlessly of late. My past with my family has been haunting me at night, too. The day Rocket took my family away from me and held them at gunpoint, I never thought I would see them again."

Another year or two? They had already known each other for so long and helped each other out of deadly situations before. Meteno, Hurricane Yellen, and to a lesser extent the illicit Gym Challenge. When Josh thought about it, though, it was to be expected. Lars was cold on the outside, both literally and figuratively.

"It's why I've been so happy that they stayed in Johto when I came here last summer," Josh replied after an awkward moment of silence. "If only I could convince them to stay there. They're moving to Mauville City the weekend of my birthday. I'm glad I'll get to see them regularly, but I'm not thrilled about them being in Hoenn. They're in their sixties. They couldn't protect themselves from Rocket when I was younger. What makes them think they'll be safe just because they'll be living with a Gym Leader?"

Josh shook his head. "As heartwarming as this conversation is, can we have the rest of it back at a tent at the League base instead?" he suggested, worried that something else would ambush them if they lingered in the mist any longer.