The city had requested its Gym Leader's help for a Pokémon roundup mission. It was a routine task for the Master of Faster and one high up the chain of command of Mauville's Rangers. Zata wouldn't be alone on the scene for long; not far behind him was a bounding Boltund that stood nearly the height of a human, carrying Josh on his back.

At the building's entrance, Josh slid off his mount and entered on foot, behind the saddled electric sprinter. He was grateful that the production floor was tall enough that his Pokémon could maneuver without issue, but he had to be careful with using Crash's electric attacks. He didn't want to short out their entire network!

After the Yamper took down the first Porygon, Josh and his Boltund addressed Zata in the moment of reprieve. "Gym Leader Devlin or Elite Ranger Devlin, but you can call me Josh," he introduced himself. "This is far from a one-person task. Crash and I are here to back you up as much as we can." He got the feeling he would quickly be leading the operation, though.

The novice trainer turned his head to the voice. 'The Gym Leader,' he thought. He considered himself lucky. Zata's gaze lingered a while on the Gym Leader, wanting to interrogate the man right there and then, but he knew better that it was not the appropriate time. Perhaps after they deal with the Porygons first.

"Zata." he nodded simply.

Only then that he noticed the much larger hound accompanying Josh. He did not know a pokemon such as his little Yamper could grow that big.

He agreed that this was a much larger operation than he could handle himself, but then again, he was new to matters such as this than what he would assume a much experienced gym leader. "Please, lead the way." He said humbly, awaiting for an order from the Gym Leader.

Josh Devlin

☉

"We'll get through this together, Zata," Josh answered, Crash barking at yet another Porygon circling about the younger Pokémon. Interrupting a TRI-ATTACK with his crushing PSYCHIC FANGS, the fragmenting creature's rigid body started to spin, directing the attack at the larger dog instead. Sparks flew from his paws, charging up a lightning-fast leap to evade the three beams. His reaction time was not quite fast enough, taking a direct hit and leaving him with a nasty burn.

"Try to draw them away from the workstations," the Leader suggested as his Boltund cast the Porygon he was fighting aside. "If you see anyone around, help them evacuate. I'll try to hold the fort the best I can." Zara would be able to get a good look at the saddle adorning Crash's back. It looked professionally made, care taken into the equipment's upkeep as well. It seemed the Leader had either a passion for Pokémon as mounts or a lot of money. Possibly both.

It seemed like unplugging the computer resulted into more Porygon appearing in the office. The older Boltund was quick to react when a Porygon charged to attack the Yamper, taking the hit instead. In the Yamper's eyes, the Boltund was now his, quite literal in the sense, hero. He looked up towards the Boltund and aspire to become one himself, maybe get a fancy saddle, but he doubt his current owner would ever want to mount him.

Zata heard the Gym Leader's instruction. "Understood." his response short and simple. From what he heard, his job was to protect the people, and he never saw a day like this to come. Protecting people meant caring about what happens to them, his old self would have found it ridiculous, but at that moment Zata must give a good impression to the Gym Leader if he ever want a chance at finding some lead.

He looked at his Yamper and stretched out his arm to point at a more open space in the building. The Yamper understood immediately and started barking and jumping, attracting the Porygon towards the open space. Zata decided to secure the staircase to make it safe for evacuation. He brought out a Mantyke to help him, who appeared happy to help. "Guard this area." he instructed. The Mantyke hovered over and spread its fins/wings forming a Wide Guard adjacent of the staircase. The few people left in hiding then bolted towards the staircase making an exit from the dangerous scene.

Inside, Zata hoped he had done well, this was his first protect and rescue mission. It felt a bit odd.

Josh Devlin

☉

Riding a Pokémon was not for everyone, and ferrying their trainer around was not for every appropriately-shaped Pokémon. Josh understood that from his many students. There were some Pokémon that, simply put, did not get enjoyment out of running with their trainer astride them. While many Pokémon were pliable enough to be broken in without too much trouble, the occasional time he had to break the news to a student that their Pokémon didn't seem like they wanted to share a bond on that level broke his heart every time.

Maybe if they met again after again after the little one evolved, Josh could be a passenger on the run the electric-type wanted to go on.

With Zata helping get workers down the stairwell and out of the building through the lower-level parking garage, Josh could shift his full focus to the Porygon trying to follow Zata. Crash wouldn't allow it. In chasing one of the Porygon down, the electric dog bumped a wobbly-looking table, causing a stack of folders to go flying and their contents scattered about the floor in a chaotic mess. Josh nearly slipped on one whilst chasing after his partner. A quick CRUNCH forced the normal-type back into cyberspace, but there were still more coming!

As the last few workers made their way to the staircase, Zata scouted the area swiftly, sneaking past through the Porygons. He checked cubicle after cubicle when he encountered a terrified middle-aged woman.

He knew he must convince her to follow him to safety but when the time came for him to do it he got tongue-tied, dumbfounded on what to say. But with the help of some adrenaline he tried his best, "Hey, if you want to get out of here alive you have to follow me.".

Looking back at the moment, it probably was not comforting, but it was convincing. The already-terrified woman gave him a confounded expression but Zata took her by the arms and lead her out of there. As they ran a Porygon charged up its Tri-Attack at them, but the Mantyke came just in time to guard them against it. The woman ran down the staircase without further hesitance, almost crying from the experience.

Now that the area was cleared Zata aided Josh with the onslaught of Porygon. "Mantyke, Yamper." he mentioned their species name in that specific order. Through their training together, the Mantyke striked first Bounceing upon a couple Porygon before the Yamper followed up Nuzzleing its electrifying cheeks unto the Porygon, an attempt at paralyzing them.

Josh Devlin

☉

The Porygon had grown in numbers since Zata had left; the latest wave of them had grown smarter, utilizing CONVERSION 2 to turn themselves into Ground-types. It had rendered Crash's electricity useless, no longer able to corral them into one spot. For each one the electric dog PLAYED ROUGH with, another emerged, LOCKING ON to him. Whatever they were doing next was really going to sting, and Crash had been worn down to begin with.

Seeing an unpleasant end coming for Crash, Josh withdrew him. He could no longer hold back his big red button. "Raikiri!" he cried, a Zeraora leaping out of the Gym Leader's Poké Ball. Unlike many of his kind, this fearsome specimen moved on all four paws like a feral cat, the riding gear adorning his back bigger than what the Boltund was wearing. It had to be in order to accommodate the creature's flexing back when he ran at speed.

As he faced one and prepared to lunge at it in a QUICK ATTACK, the power went off on the main production floor where the attacks were stemming from. "Good," the Gym Leader exhaled right as Zata returned. "That should stop any more from appearing."

The situation was growing at an overwhelming rate until the Gym Leader pulled out another Pokemon of his. Being new to the Pokemon world Zata was unaware of the existence of legendary and mythical Pokemon but he could feel something different by the aura given of by the Zeraora, an aura unlike any he had sensed from other Pokemon he had encountered. It was a bit of a spectacle seeing it in action.

With the power off they were able to try and regain control of the situation, being an effective duo the Mantyke and Yamper fought well together handling a few couple of the Porygon on the side. Zata only observed from the backline.

When the last of the Porygon was dealt with the trainer returned the Yamper and Mantyke into their pokeballs. He approached the Gym Leader, now one would have said something akin to 'good work', or 'nicely done'. But instead Zata went straight to the point, "I was hoping to run into you. I wonder if you could tell me more about an attack that happened here, in Mauville, a few years back. I could offer you a drink in exchange." he waited in anticipation for an answer.

Josh Devlin

☉

The environment Josh and Raikiri in was restrictive; to fight at his full strength, the Zeraora needed lots of room to run. The Pokémon could only get a single Electro Ball off before Zata's Pokémon cleaned things up. Working together, they handled the Porygon outbreak. Questions remained: why did the outbreak happen here? Who could have orchestrated the DDOS attack? Was anyone hurt? Those would be questions that medical and investigative teams were to answer. Their work was done.

Josh was at first taken aback by the strange offer, but he wasn't going to turn an opportunity to get to know Zata well over a meal, or even just a snack. "Oh, if you're looking for a good place to wind down, there's this place not far from my Gym, called the Checkered Flag. They're one of the biggest sports bars in Mauville. What say you?"

Provided Zata agreed, Josh would lead the way out, scooting forward in his Zeraora's saddle. "It's a bit of a jaunt from here. Will be way faster to take the back roads. Wanna hop on with me?" If there was anything that gave Zata second thoughts about joining him, number one on the list may have been the sense of speed. With the mention of taking back roads as being much faster, the speed the electric feline was capable of had to be dizzying.

The trainer didn't know it would be that easy to get a gym leader to talk with you. Perhaps he was a bit too pessimistic. "Sounds good," He was unfamiliar with the area regardless so the suggestion was a welcomed one.

He turned to his Mantyke and Yamper, "Good work," He said to them before returning them into their respective pokeballs.

Devlin's second suggestion was not as easily welcomed as his first, Zata glanced at the Zeraora with its saddle. "Uh... Sure?" His response sounded very much unsure. But he was less scared than not getting a lead to his case.

Josh Devlin

☉