"If you need me to show you the ropes when the water warms up, I'd be down. The race is really early in the season, though, so there wouldn't be much time between the sea getting warm and race day." Why was there an aquatic race in March? With the climate change thanks to Kyurem's presence, Hoenn's normally tropical climate was a lot less tropical.

"Gwen's more of an acquaintance than a friend. We found each other through the Ranger program," Josh revealed his relationship with the trainee. "And you don't have to worry about that. Pazuzu's in your hands." Bladestorm's eyes lit up at being able to show off, shifting them toward the ground. His angle of attack decreased sharply, causing him to pick up a tremendous amount of speed. Before touching the ground, he reversed course, pulling out of the dive by reflecting blades of air off the ground. Josh whooped as the g-forces pushed him into the saddle, threatening to flatten his guts as the Skarmory pulled back into the air. What a thrill being on such a fast Pokémon was!

Josh would have laughed if he wasn't catching his breath. If only he had seen the spinning dive Robin had put Pazuzu into. As shallow as it was, it was equally thrilling as the swifter dive to the ground. Once Josh had freed himself from his Skarmory's cocoon and was back on his own two feet, he shot a beaming smile toward Robin.

"Thank you. If you ever want to take a rescue ticket with me, just CC me on the email and I'll see if I'm available for it," the kind Gym Leader offered. "It's so useful and so fun, isn't it?" The greatest lesson to Robin today was not learning how to control a Pokémon as a mount. It was that there was far more to being a trainer of Hoenn than war preparations and combat.

In the Gym Leader's thoughts, if only there were certain higher-ups that realized that...