It felt good to be able to be in the saddle at all. For weeks, he had been bedridden, a slave to the aftermath of the battle he bravely represented Mauville's future in. He was fortunate that the bullets had been concentrated in his upper body; his lower body had been for the most part unharmed. Lower body strength was important for controlling any ride Pokémon, and was the only thing that kept his injuries from forcing a massive career change for the racer.

As he kept his eyes on the increasingly-impatient Aleph, a passing Stonjourner caught the Type: Null's attention. The normal-type hissed at the wild, trying to goad the stoic Pokémon into combat. "Aleph, now's not the time," Josh sighed, wincing as his muscles stretched over a sensitive spot that his body was still healing over. "Once we return to Mauville, you and Jiujiu can spar. I promise." It would mean relaxing at his Gym instead of at his apartment, but if it meant making Aleph happy, that was okay.

The TRI-ATTACK that froze a nearby Baltoy solid ripped a line of grass to pieces, scattering the remainder of the horde in all directions away from them. The Safari Warden might not be too happy, though it was within guidelines. Some battles were permitted, as long as there was no significant damage to the environment. This was bordering on it, but ultimately did not cross the line.

"Aleph, I promise! Once we get back, you'll get your match with Jiujiu, Save your Tri-Attack for him!" the Gym Leader pleaded, reluctantly pushing Nitro faster in an effort to chase down the speedy normal-type. While Type: Null were not known for their speed, Josh's was quite fast. Was it because he was constructed with the genetic material of eighteen Pokémon that also possessed super speed?

Sigilyph was not a Pokémon the Master of Faster expected to run into as he turned Nitro around a corner. As unusual of a ride Pokémon as the psychic-type was, a young female had once challenged his Gym with one. He wasn't sure how much time the flying-type would get in action, but he decided it would be worth having on the Gym roster. That roster was getting so large that he might have to start hiring dedicated Pokémon caretakers.

Even if he didn't want to, Aleph was going to force Josh's hand. He wanted to brawl, and he wanted to brawl now. Bounding toward and lunging at the psychic, rainbow-winged bird, the Type: Null's first leap fell short, leaving him open to an AIR SLASH whose blade was fueled by the user's mind. It hurt just as much as Bladestorm's similar moves that utilized compressed air to make cuts sharper than a sword.

The second leap was right on line, grabbing the psychic-type by the tail and grounding it. Aleph's foe squealed after being raked across the chest with X-SCISSOR. Josh hurled one of his Safari Balls at it before the aggressive Type: Null could kill the poor thing.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SHINY LARVESTA APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] SWARM
[attr="class","wildtabox"]FLARE BLITZ	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]BUG BUZZ
[attr="class","wildtabox"]STRING SHOT	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]TAKE DOWN
[attr="class","wildtabox"]MORNING SUN	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Josh Devlin

[attr="class","wildnote"] 3/4 WARDEN SAFARI BALLS REMAINING!

YOUR CAPTURE ATTEMPT WAS SUCCESSFUL!

The loud vibration from a BUG BUZZING Larvesta caused Nitro to rear in pain, Aleph agitated after seeing his trainer nearly slide off. If he rode bareback instead, he would easily have fallen off the Gogoat. Not wanting to expose his Pokémon to the dangerous noise any more, Josh swapped ride Pokémon to Pinky, his Sylveon, who was quick to encase both of them in LIGHT SCREEN.

With the Larvesta being slower, and more importantly, grounded, it would be easy prey for the vicious Aleph. Or so the Type: Null thought, as CRUSH CLAW met FLARE BLITZ in a dizzying discharge of heat that made the Gym Leader glad he had swapped to a different ride Pokémon. Before the Pokémon could recover, Josh hurled a Safari Ball toward the rare bug-type.