It would take the better part of a weekend to do so, but Josh was excited to show robin coello his many Pokémon, some of which were quite unusual. "Oh, you'll see I wasn't kidding when I have a whole army of them," he bragged as he opened the sliding door to the vast Mauville Raciing Grounds and its two dozen courses divided into six Sectors. Before them was his Zeraora, Raikiri. "Like I said, you're welcome to take any of them on a test run. They're all used to it from being involved in the Gym's riding classes. And yes, any of them includes Raikiri," he pointed to the Zeraora. "He can seat two, you know." The cocoon saddle may have provided some reassurance that she wouldn't be falling off, if that was what she chose.

Also assembled before her were an entire rainbow of Eeveelutions each the size of a small Rapidash. In a bygone age, they all would have been called Alphas due to their enormous size. All of them wore riding tack much like an equine Pokémon, though the Flareon's saddle was raised to prevent riders' feet from dragging on the ground. Being just shy of five feet tall, it was necessary for a grown man to ride the fire-type. The Shiny Sylveon, Pinky, sounded a low, almost alien-sounding squeal as she reached toward Robin with her feelers.

It came as no surprise whatsoever that Robin was timid around Raikiri; the electric cat screamed blistering speed just by appearance. Cats were known for their speed, and this one looked fast as a lightning bolt. The Gym Leader took a seat on the feline's back and zipped his cocoon up, ready to kick things into high gear for a demonstration before he gave the grand tour of the Racing Grounds.

The Togekiss' gentle demeanor toward Robin caught Josh off guard. "Usually Mastema isn't so warm toward strangers," he mused, feeling his mount's heartbeat as voltage built up within the electric Pokémon's legs. "He must really like you." The Togekiss floated closer to Robin as though beckoning her to mount up. "Don't pressure her, Mastema. I don't think she's ever been on a Pokémon before, and flying is not a good first way to get that experience." Of course, if she had confidence in flying, Josh wouldn't say no.

"A lot of them came from investigating Space-Time Distortions as part of my Ranger duties," Josh explained, an insect-like hum interrupting him as a Dragonite that also wore a cocoon saddle touched down between Robin and the Leader. The most impressive part of the creature was not the size, but that his wings beat as fast as a hummingbird. "No Extreme Speed around Robin, Tiamat. Please." With a harumph, the Dragonite became still, waving toward Robin with about as much friendliness as could be expected out of the aggressive creature. "Tiamat here is one of the few Pokémon I have that actually can break the sound barrier," he explained, trying to honor his friend's request the best he could.

Lining up on the SPLIT OVAL's starting line, Raikiri looked ready to show Robin just how fast he could run.

If the Pokémon before Robin weren't the very fastest of their species in all of Hoenn, they were close. Even traditionally slower Pokémon, such as Gogoat, could put on quite a lot of speed under Josh's care. It was hard to tell what the Mauville Leader was known better for: making slow Pokémon fast, or making already fast Pokémon even more so.

Each of Josh's eight Pyroar had different personalities and different capabilities, just like people did. A silent smirk slowly formed on Josh's face as Kion volunteered to let the timid Ranger saddle up. Kion was among the smaller of his pride, and was not the greatest distance runner, but he could put on some real speed. All of his lions could, but Kion outclassed them all in that way. He wasn't afraid to show his speed, though he would respect Robin's wishes at first.

If Robin were to hold Kion's reins firmly, he would ease her from a trot to a canter. His saddle crafted for felines would reduce his much she felt the power behind the Pyroar's flexing back, but the running stroke was still more pronounced than an equine Pokémon she may have been used to.

"Alright, here we go!" Josh cried, leaning low on his Zeraora as the electric-type at first kept pace with Kion. The lion mimicked the striped cat's powerful purr the best he could, Robin perhaps able to feel its feedback. With tremendous acceleration feline Pokémon were renowned for, Josh and Raikiri zoomed around the oval-shaped raceway, their speed peaking faster than a race car. It was like watching a yellow comet circle around the course, the wake of the wind as they passed the fire-type perhaps startling Robin.

Robin may have been able to hear an excited cry from Josh as the thundercat roared past. Kion, used to the Gym Leader's antics, loudly purred, the guest possibly feeling feedback from it. He wanted to have Raikiri use his Quick Attack, too, but the course was too short; the turns needed to maintain boosted speed would be so sharp that even Josh would pass out in his cocoon. Instead, he gradually slowed Raikiri, circling the oval ahead of Robin and Kion one more time.

"Woohoo! What a ride!" Josh huffed in joy, not looking sick at all. Though it was obvious he had done this before many times, it never got old. There were few Pokémon in the world faster than Raikiri was, and many of them were gods. The canter that the electric-type matched was leisurely by Josh's standards, but he wasn't opposed to it; the feline's heart needed time to calm down, after all!

As the rest of Josh's pride ran near Kion, including the Shiny pride leader, Aslan, Josh pointed toward an exit lane leading toward the Racing Grounds' outer concourse. "Most of my water Pokémon are over that way if you want to meet any of them, too!" the Leader suggested. If they kept going past those, the terrain would give way to foothills where many of Josh's dragon Pokémon were roosting.

As the two passed by the aquatic courses, Robin's inquiry prompted Josh to rein the thundercat to a stop. Several of the Leader's water Pokémon swam toward the wide course's bank, including a Dewgong, Sharpedo, Lanturn, and most odd of all, a Greninja. All of them were similarly geared, though the seat on the blue frog's back looked most unusual of the four. It was clear that for those who could withstand the dark-type's running stroke, they could zoom.

"I have a Kingdra, but she's on the other side of the channel," Josh answered. "If you can evolve your Seadra, it will make a fantastic aquatic mount. They can swim in any direction while independently facing any direction. They can even swim backwards!"

The question Robin raised was a good one. "That's... hard to answer. Other than these four, I have the aforementioned Kingdra, a Milotic, a Barraskewda, and a Vaporeon. Many of them are bigger than the norm for their kind, some of them substantially so. There are plenty of them to choose from, so you can find one that works. You can go for a swim with one of them if you want - I don't mind!"

The very nature of Josh's gym challenge, and his position in Ranger leadership, necessitated he had a large menagerie of Pokémon. He routinely loaned out his Pokémon for other Rangers to ride when they were on the squad he was supervising. As unusual as some of them were for the task, most of them looked obedient. "Pokémon can be frightening if you don't understand them," Josh gently answered, empathizing with Robin. "If it would help you, I can whistle for Keiga and you can go for a ride on her. She's my Kingdra. She's reliable and won't let you fall."

Regardless of whether Robin was willing to face her fears in front of Josh, he would relate his own problems with the species. "They're just too big to keep at the Gym. They're so big you could comfortably fit a couple dozen people on them. I just have no place to keep one here. Almost everyone who raises a Wailord either lives on the coast or on one of the islands surrounding the mainland."

Josh perked up when Robin mentioned Barraskewda. "It's pretty well-known in the sports world that Eva Morales won one of the first celebrity Pokémon races with a Barraskewda, right in Mauville Bay. Ripley, my own Barraskewda, is incredibly fast, but I'm still getting used to riding on him. They're really sensitive to control; I'm just more comfortable with my Sharpedo if I need to go fast in the water." He had only recently had Ripley fitted, too; the Barraskewda was still getting used to swimming while wearing a saddle.

Josh whistled for Keiga, the saddled Kingdra surfacing and letting Robin play with her. The regal dragon was at first hesitant to allow the Ranger to touch her, though she warmed up when it was clear she would be treated with the respect she deserved. She started swimming backwards much like a Seadra could, showing her great manuverability and agility in the water. "Sadly, even the largest Galvantula I've been able to find can't bear my weight," Josh replied. "As fun as it would be to wall-climb and slingshot around, they just don't have the strength. A smaller person might be able to, though."

Clyde the Flareon was barely large enough to carry Josh around. Some Pokémon, such as Galvantula and Ninjask, were large enough but lacked the strength. Others, like Butterfree, were strong enough but were not large enough for a human to fit on their backs. Having a Butterfree latch onto a tracker's back to carry them was not unheard of, but their backs were simply too small to sit on.

"Yeah, Robin," Josh confirmed. "Barraskewda can make really tight turns. If you pull on Ripley's reins as hard as you can with one hand, you'll move in small circles and probably go flying off." It was less that Barraskewda were uncontrollable and more that their full capabilities were beyond that which a human could reasonably withstand. While all of the Gym employees' responsibilities included caring for the Leader's Pokémon to some extent, Robin did have a good point. Perhaps he should hire a dedicated team of Pokémon caretakers, especially as his menagerie grew. It was already one of the largest in Hoenn, and all his Pokémon were so big, too!

"I do," Josh chirped back, "and I make sure everyone gets their money's worth!" Normally, this was something he charged the general public for, but Robin had been so helpful on their Ranger tickets that he felt he had to return the favor. "Eventually I want to have one of every common ride Pokémon at the Gym. If there are any Pokémon you're interested in learning with, just say the word. If there's one here, you can practice with them!" By now, the rest of Josh's pride had caught up, several of them looking to nuzzle Kion.