"Thanks!" Josh chirped back, basking in Nabi's compliment. "He's the main way I travel around Hoenn." No matter how the Zeraora ran, being astride the Pokémon was an adrenaline rush. He wouldn't dare do it without a saddle, though -- not with how violent a big cat's gallop could get when at speed. Without one, his spine would shatter! "Best of luck to you as well, Nabi."

There would be little time for further pleasantries, a loud horn signifying the start of their match. Having battled Swampert before, a common Pokémon to take his Gym on with, he knew the species well. The Zeraora built up his speed, running confounding circles around the ground-type with great AGILITY. It looked like the hunter could about face at any moment, ramming and trampling the large, quadrupedal fish in an instant.

Raikiri weaved around Bruno's ROCK SLIDE, moving so quickly that it was difficult to see the cat's black stripes against his yellow body. Even Josh had to squint at times to follow the action; only one other time all tournament had he been allowed to build up this much speed.

With spasks flying from beneath his paws, a screeching sound a sign of how powerful Raikiri's momentum shift was, he zoomed toward the Swampert with paws alight from friction burn. Against another opponent, he would have trampled over it with paws striking like Fire Punches. Not against this one; the Zeraora instead attempted to slide beneath Bruno before BOUNCING skyward, trying to launch him into the air.

It wasn't pretty, but the Swampert was reeling from the uppercut. Josh smirked at Nabi's command to cover the ground in MUDDY WATER. "You think you have time for that?" he taunted as the water levels slowly rose. Slowly to the Zeraora, anyway. Lightning bolts enveloped him as he reached the peak of his jump, the Gym Leader's Z-GLOVE glowing.

Raikiri let out a primal roar at his apex, his QUICKINIUM-Z radiating so much yellow and white light that the mythical cat looked like a living lightning bolt. Striking like one in a HYPERSONIC PLASMA CHARGE whose already surreal speed was augmented by gravity, the water within the wave of MUDDY WATER electrolyzed around him, leaving dirt in its wake. Were the immunity-piercing maelstrom of lightning not enough to down the mud fish, perhaps the supersonic paw attack and the aural explosion that followed it would!

"Checkmate," Josh said with a smirk.

There was no escaping the speed of the fastest Z-Move in Hoenn. At least, not until Eva Morales practiced one with her Patron. That emerald serpent may have been the only Pokémon on the planet capable of going faster than Raikiri was in the midst of such a move. Josh left out the detail that he routinely rode his Pokémon in the midst of such a move. How his body could withstand such high speeds was a mystery.

The Z-Move crashed through the PROTECT shield and the ROCK SLIDE both, prompting the side judge to raise the red flag in nabi park 's direction. He pumped a fist, now guaranteed a payout. "Good match," Josh said to her before stepping forward and offering her a handshake. "Good luck in your next flight, too."