The flip side was for this match, there would be no external distracts, no adrenaline-pumping music, and perhaps most concerning to him, no witnesses. If Matias were to use one of his many weapons of war against the Gym Leader, no one would know. His ambition to ascend to Champion Rank could well land him back in a hospital bed, depending on how volatile the Volatile truly was today.

Unsure of how serious the imposing trainer was, the Gym Leader returned his remarks with a sarcastic-sounding greeting. "About as well as i can be, given how long I was in the hospital for. How did Dewford Two treat you?" He did his best to at least try to feign interest in small talk, but the tension he had with Matias was apparent in not only his own body language, but the body language of the quadrupedal Zeraora next to him.

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
Raikiri         Zeraora           Good  
Bladestorm      Skarmory          Good  
Aslan           Pyroar**          Good  
Rime            A!Ninetales       Good  
Twilight        Absol             Good  
Expresso        Espathra**        Good  

"Easy for you to say," Josh scowled. "Must be nice having a god watching your back. Even so, my time has helped me learn my role in the war. And I have kyle lopez and Michael Navidson to thank for that. Suppliers and messengers are equally as important as those who fight on the front lines." While they did not get to bask in the glory that supersoldiers did, without updated war briefings made only possible by those who braved the battlefield to relay those updates, their victories would not be possible.

Josh crossed his arms the moment Matias woofed the "puny" Gym Leader's way. "That's not funny," he replied with a scowl. Raikiri purred menacingly toward the older man, as well.

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
Raikiri         Zeraora           Good  
Bladestorm      Skarmory          Good  
Aslan           Pyroar**          Good  
Rime            A!Ninetales       Good  
Twilight        Absol             Good  
Expresso        Espathra**        Good  

The remarks were belittling, in true Matias fashion. Unlike their last meeting, he wouldn't let them get to him. He knew from both Dewford One and Dewford Two that the front lines were not his place. The intelligence war was at least as important, if not more important, than the physical fighting. It was just as Navy said. "Without someone to keep you informed what's going on behind enemy lines, and without secure deliveries of Potion, what happens to the front lines? They crumble. It's not a glorious job, but somebody's gotta do it. And there might not be a better person for it than me." Raw speed was folly to use on the battlefield, but there was no one in Hoenn that could deliver medical supplies to needy units. There was no one in Hoenn that could deliver messages faster in a form that no technology could intercept.

"I plan on it," the Mauville Leader replied, leaning toward Matias, his head past the front rail of the Trainer's Box. "I've answered a lot of your questions, and you have yet to answer mine." Even Raikiri was fired up, Josh's prized mythical steed loosing the roar of a great cat.

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
Raikiri         Zeraora           Good  
Bladestorm      Skarmory          Good  
Aslan           Pyroar**          Good  
Rime            A!Ninetales       Good  
Twilight        Absol             Good  
Expresso        Espathra**        Good  

Didn't... want to battle Josh? What was Matias' problem? Did he think a clash between the two would be boring? Or was it that he didn't think the Master of Faster was worthy of the title of Champion? The remark about Josh's skill level was even more demeaning. "Isn't the job of the Elite Four to screen high-level Gym Circuit performers for the title of Champion?" he returned the question with one of his own. "Do you have a problem with how Melody Miro and Callan Young evaluated me or something?"

Not getting direct answers was starting to get under the Gym Leader's skin. "I'll just say this. I'm planning on using Raikiri no matter how many Pokémon we use per side. Singles, doubles, does not matter. Use what you feel is a fair assessment. If you've been at this long enough, then surely you know what the League's expectations are." The young man set aside his Pyroar's and Ninetales' Poké Balls aside, leaving three more in addition to his Zeraora's. "If you're telling me to name my format, I'm good with four per side. Whether you feel a singles or doubles match is a more fair assessment is up to you."

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
Raikiri         Zeraora           Good  
Bladestorm      Skarmory          Good  
Aslan           Pyroar**          Good  
Rime            A!Ninetales       Good  
Twilight        Absol             Good  
Expresso        Espathra**        Good  

Agreeing to the format, Josh stowed Aslan's and Bladestorm's Poké Balls. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to bench you two this time around." The Gym Leader, locking in his four selections. He squinted at Matias' belittling remarks. Wasn't so fun being on the receiving end of the trash talk, was it, Josh?

Finalizing his decisions, he hurled Rime's Poké Ball into the air, the device landing near the center of the court. From it emerged Rime, the Alolan Ninetales that was, like most of the Leader's Pokémon, big enough to ferry him about. The ice-type's tails floated above her back, her SNOW WARNING heralding blizzard conditions. "Less talking and more brawling," was the only retort Matias would get.

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
Raikiri         Zeraora           Good  
Rime            A!Ninetales       Good  
Twilight        Absol             Good  
Expresso        Espathra**        Good  

It was true; Josh did like yapping. He just didn't like yapping with psychopaths that could not see the good within the people at the bottom of Rocket's rungs, stuck there because they were desperate enough to take illicit work. The ones that genuinely believed in Rocket's dogma of Pokémon being only tools for profit, sure. They deserved to rot in prison; the Gym Leader would feel no remorse toward even slaying one of them himself. Genuinely nice people swept under their rug, though? Absolutely not. He could not sentence all those people to death.

It was a point of contention they would never agree upon, and could very well result in them locking horns on a real battlefield. It was a terrifying proposition, given he knew Matias' identity as an Avatar.

Having never seen the mysterious Pokémon before him, Josh needed time to study it. Rime's great speed, and the speed of the rest of his Pokémon would buy the young man all kinds of time, at least in theory. "Rime, DOUBLE TEAM!" Josh ordered, the icy fox zipping back and forth so fast it was impossible to tell her true position in the low-visibility conditions. The SACRED SWORD felled the Ninetales' entire set of trailing images in a single attack, but left her otherwise unharmed.

Was this Pokémon a fighting-type? If so, he had the perfect weapon to use against it if he could find a window to do so.

NAME            SPECIES           STATUS 
Raikiri         Zeraora           Good  
Rime            A!Ninetales       Good  
Twilight        Absol             Good  
Expresso        Espathra**        Good