"At least they're breaking for lunch after the next round. I'm getting Alto Maren with Alexei Ivanov - there's this place not far down the road." While Josh was used to the waves of challengers coming to and from Mauville Gym, it had been a long time since he was a tournament grinder. These events took a totally different kind of energy to soldier through.

Unsurprisingly, it seemed that Lam was paying more attention to the experience he got through the tournament than the size of the paycheck he would get. Maybe he was being sponsored to show up at the event. "Hopefully I'll finish up there. Gotta pay for my Sinnoh vacation somehow - Arceus knows I need one after Dewford!"

Enough about the past. He was there to win a match. Though the foe was small, Raikiri would show no mercy, lunging at the bird with a frighteningly fast QUICK ATTACK the moment the starting horn blared.

Josh once enjoyed that perk when he was helping at Johanna Joy 's Funtasia, providing his Gym Pokémon for children and adults of all ages to saddle up. Working together, the two provided the joy of a trail ride to thousands of Hoennians unable to travel far from their homes.

He had a match to win, though.

While the Pidove was quick and evasive, the AIR SLASH that came at Raikiri was not so. With a loud screech, the Zeraora about-faced to avoid the brunt of it, his paws igniting from the friction. Taking advantage of them, the Zeraora leaped at the small bird, bearing down upon Poppy with the force of a master martial artist's FIRE PUNCH. If he had his way, the arena would smell of fried fowl!

The arena did smell like fried fowl, the poor Pidove rocked by Raikiri's burning paws and claws. The bird's shadow pecked at the long ribbon floating above the feline's mane, but could not hold him down for long. Josh had Lam right where he wanted him. Though his ultimate technique was violent, Josh was one to never show mercy in battle and give each and every tournament match his all.

Sorry, little Pidove.

Zipping to a corner of the battle court, the lightning-caged Zeraora faced the small bird before disappearing from sight in a HYPERSONIC PLASMA CHARGE. Three waves of violent attacks would befall Lam's Pokémon: paws and claws slashing across its body at supersonic speed, a line of lightning bolts spreading from the space he passed through, and the shockwave of the sonic boom from Raikiri breaking the threshold of speed where hearing was impossible.

"Checkmate, Lam," Josh smirked as the windburst washed over him.

The two Z-Moves collided with one another near the center of the court, their combined energy not even leaving Josh safe. The explosion repelled Raikiri nearly as fast as his own ramming attack got, leaving him delirious and open to a follow-up attack as soon as he stepped back in bounds. The penalty for being thrown out of bounds was just as frustrating for Josh, Pops being awarded a point by the judges. Even the Gym Leader himself was thrown on his rump from the shockwave.

Having to fight without Josh's help, the Zeraora charged a triad of ELECTRO BALLS from his blue faceplate and bolt-shaped whiskers, ready to loose them upon the Pidove at a moment's notice. With his speed lower than it normally was due to recovering from exertion, the projectiles moved at a snail's pace by comparison to the maddening speed he reached before.

Josh, too, had been pushed quite far from the intense fight. The clash of Z-Moves left him weak, feeling like he had come back from a war zone. "It shows why we're both Gym Leaders. You're talented," he complimented the tagteam expert. "It's also just a tough matchup for a bird. That Pops can even remain standing after being rocked by Raikiri's fastest and strongest attack says something about your talent."

After turning in the match slip, Josh walked over to Lam and sat down to chat with him a bit. "Sometime after the tournament, when it gets a little warmer, would you have fun experiencing Raikiri's speed for yourself? Going for a ride on him together might be fun. I need to get used to his full speed again after being bedridden for so long after the war."