"Andrea..." Josh moaned as the distinctly-dressed dragon trainer entered his room with a Fuecoco on her person. "They've got me on the strongest painkillers I've ever taken, and my upper body still hurts all over," he continued, squinting as one of the Bullet Seeds within his body cut deeper into his skin. "I don't know how Hoenn doesn't have a Pokémon-based assault weapons ban yet. Those Bullet Seed, Aura Sphere, and Flash Cannon guns aren't for hunting. They're for killing. Just outlaw the Arceus-damned things al--"

A loud "oof" came out of his mouth as he agitated another sensitive spot on his back. There was no way he could possibly lay that would entirely relieve pressure on his gunshot wounds; he had them front and back. It was only the miracle of Pokémon healing that kept him from being killed in action against Xenon Antheil and her goons.

"They remind me of Basil, my Leafeon..." Josh slowly answered, taking a whiff of Andrea's gift. "Thank you. Yes, I do like some sports. Watched a lot of baseball, football, and Pokémon racing. Especially with my dad. He and my mom are going to be moving to Hoenn this holiday season."

"Considering that spruce trees have to be imported from mostly Sinnoh, they are expensive, and most of them get used for holiday decorations," Josh added. "Don't worry about it. It's the thought that counts, and I truly appreciate it. When I'm out of here and feeling better, I'd love to go dragon riding with you again. Did I tell you I have my own Mecha-Chomper now?" Junji would prove to be not nearly as much of a handful as Kokusho was, but the dark-type was still an Iron Jugulis, and carried with it much of the ferocity of the species it was based on.

"Unovan Football is... a rules mess. I'll try to explain the basics the best I can. Laurence Anderson calls it handegg, and I can see why he would." He took a deep breath. Perhaps too deep, exhaling with a hiss as he hit another sensitive spot on his skin.

"The goal is for the team with the football - that oblong ball - to run or pass it all the way to the opposing team's end zone. That painted zone at the end of the field. The end zones are 100 yards apart. The team with the ball gets four tries, or 'downs', to advance the ball ten yards while the defense tries to stop them. If the offense gains ten yards that way, they get a new set of downs. If they don't, then the other team get the ball and tries to move it the other way in the same fashion. Reaching the end zone scores your team six points, and kicking the ball through the uprights at the back of the end zone scores your team three points. There are other... less common ways to score, too. After four fifteen-minute quarters, the team with the highest score wins."

Josh shrugged. "There is a lot to it. Even I don't understand all the rules. I just know enough about it to enjoy watching the games." The Gym Leader returned the yawn. "Stop it - that's contagious." Even he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. What a bad time to fall asleep! The injured Gym Leader shook his head, hissing as a tingle of pain made him fully conscious again.

"I did," he answered. "Junji will be their name. I'm sure they'll be a handful to work with, like Kokusho was." The iron-plated Pokémon wasn't particularly his style, but he wasn't going to turn down another powerful ally. Not with how much his Pokémon had suffered in battle, as well as increasing pressure to be more involved with Hoenn's military instead of being the Ranger he always had been. "I've seen a lot more trainers with them. It's a little unsettling seeing them alongside their familiar counterparts."

Josh groaned as Lumiose's defense jumped off-sides again, though he kept his remarks to himself to avoid overwhelming Andrea any more. "You're a Gym Leader, too. Did the League also put a lot of pressure on you to go to Dewford?"

While he understood where the humor was in Andrea's quip, Josh didn't seem too mused. "Rest is about all I can do here. What they have to do to me isn't complicated. It's just pulling Bullet Seeds out of me. It's just... a lot of cutting me open. The human body can only handle so much of it at a time." As many as he had removed already, there were so many more that still needed to be extracted. The small cup of projectiles, each covered in dried blood, was an indicator of just how much the Gym Leader suffered.

He was a true warrior risking his body on the front lines, even if he wouldn't admit it to Michael Navidson .

"Not all of them, for sure. Once I'm out of here, I'll have to show you Junji. And Ao. Did you ever meet Ao? He's my Salamence look-alike. The 'ancient' one, as you put it." Unsurprisingly, Josh wasn't particularly fond of Iron Valiant; while it was a sleek-looking Pokémon, the Gym Leader had his biases toward Pokémon that could ferry him about, especially ones that were fast.

Josh breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the Minor League Gym Leaders weren't pressured into contributing to the war effort. While participation was not mandatory, many, including himself, felt like they had a duty to do so. "That's a good thing. It's worse than anything you could imagine. I think I took more lives that day than in the rest of my time in Hoenn, and anywhere else, combined."

The topic of the war was certainly morbid, but it was what was on the Gym Leader's mind. "You know, Andrea... the more I've been stuck here, the more I'm thinking about it... with all the talent I have as a Gym Leader, is being a Ranger a waste of all that talent? I love saving lives. I love seeing smiles on the faces of every person I save. But I feel like I'm better at taking lives than saving them. And it hurts. It hurts so bad. When I signed up to be a Gym Leader, I never thought I would feel compelled to fight in Hoenn's military. And here I am."

Shell-shocked was one way to put it. Dewford was not the first time the Gym Leader had been put into a warzone. While it was not against his will, the mounting pressure to do so was immense. Andrea's pleading tugged at the agonized man's heart, the brave rider hurting both emotionally and physically.

"I know, Andrea. I know. And that's the problem. I love Mauville Gym and would fight tooth and nail if dahlia goode wanted to pry it from my hands. I love racing Pokémon. I love regulated battle. I love seeing Pokémon throw down within the safety limits you have no doubt become familiar with, given how long you've had your Gym."

Josh's eyes began to well up as Andrea carefully held his handage-covered hand. "That's the problem. Even if I do tame Raikou, every other Avatar I know has been drawn into the war. Even if Raikou seeks me out, will it truly lead to happiness? Or will it lead to me getting more involved in the war?"

He wanted to bridge the gap between the positions of Ranger and Gym Leader, giving the Rangers more cohesiveness with the rest of the League. "The more I think about it... it sounds like I may have to either give up Ranging, which I love, or give up Mauville Gym. The paths they tug me toward feel... mutually exclusive."

The battles Josh had fought in the early Spring in Dewford were all ones where he was in his element. The battles he fought there in the fall were drastically out of his element. Rather than take advantage of the feline's speed, they required him to utilize the feline's stealth. "Andrea, it does. It means a lot to me. I'll never forget the day when you flew on Tiamat and giggled because you weren't expecting her wings to vibrate."

Come to think of it, he hadn't taken a true vacation in a long time. He hadn't even checked his PTO situation, but it would likely be zero after leaving the hospital. Even if he had to take a pay cut, perhaps he needed time away for his own sanity. "Once they discharge me and I'm feeling better, we should make a day to just forget about the rest of the world and soar on our dragons. Maybe even spend some time away from Hoenn. Doesn't a dragon dive from Mount Coronet's peak sound fun?"

"What I want is to be friends with Raikou. Not even the Raikou. Just a Raikou. If being an Avatar means I have to fight in every battle of the war..." he trailed off, lost in thought for minutes at a time. Not even prodding from Andrea would snap him out of his trance. "This is a big decision. It's not something I can make overnight, in a day, or even a week. Maybe not even a month. I'm gonna talk to other people about it. Other Avatars, other Gym Leaders... maybe even the higher-ups again."

The issue of delegating himself back to the Minor League was a complex one. He had grown his Gym so fast that he relied upon League subsidies to raise all the Pokémon he had gathered. Without the subsidy, he could not afford to maintain such a large plot of land, and certainly not the dozens of Pokémon he had. If he wasn't financially reliant upon the League, he would have quit then and there. But how many Pokémon would he have to forever say goodbye to if he walked off the job?

In that way, he was no longer a partner of the League. He was a wage slave.