Thomas Benoit would be arriving later tonight. The two of them had unfinished business on the other side of the rift at the holy mountain's peak. The Gym Leader had two souls to avenge, and his friend had a meeting with his former Patron. His arrival had been delayed, giving Josh a chance to visit the gravestones of Nala and Rani, two of his Pyroar that had fallen in battle.

There was a presence on the prowl, but it would be a lot more pleasant than perhaps Zachary had anticipated. Glowing red manes lit up the nearby woods; were those Pyroar? They were awful big - easily the size of fully-grown equine Pokémon such as Rapidash. There wasn't just one, either; there were three of them. As they came closer, if Zachary was to more closely observe, he would be able to see riding tack on them. There appeared to be a man sitting astride the Shiny one of them, too. Was the golden-maned Pyroar their pride leader? And what were they doing so late? If he looked closely, there would also be a much more sinister-looking shadow behind the lions...

As Josh remained in prayer for his fallen allies, he caught in his peripheral vision a Delphox forming a rising funeral pyre. While wild Delphox were occasionally found on the mountain, given the man chasing the Pokémon down and how well-behaved the Pokémon was (though the trainer didn't seem to think so), it had to be owned by someone. He would get his answer as Dizzy's partner sheepishly apologized to the Gym Leader.

"It's not a huge deal," Josh reassured Zachary. "It's one of my off days, so I'm in no rush. Just want to give Nala and Rani a proper sendoff so they hopefully don't get stuck in The Border." He didn't elaborate further directly. "Nala, Rani... you won't be forgotten. You were two of the best Pyroar of the entire pride. You didn't deserve to go like that." One was at the hands of Unbound Hoopa, one by the boot of a Paradox Pokémon imitating one of the Sacred Swords. Speaking of which, Sigmund... what a mess it would be to prove himself to and get the Iron Crown to truly be a part of Team Devlin.

"Mauville Gym Leader Devlin, but please, I go by Josh," the kind official introduced himself. "What about you? What brings you to such a holy place?" Zachary might have been distracted by the chimeric, frightening-looking Type: Null that, with the lions having scattered, was now in plain sight.

The surprise on Zachary's face was not alarming; those kinds of reactions were part of being a celebrity, The people's Gym Leader, if one would; Josh was very active in the community, going above and beyond his duties as a Gym Leader to make Hoenn not only a safe place, but one where its denizens could be merry. "Yep, Mauville's Gym Leader, the Master of Faster!" he confirmed. "Haven't been there too long; only about a year and a half."

Though it may have been awkward for Zachary to reach up so high, Josh took his right hand off the Shiny Pyroar's reins long enough to extend a hand for a cordial handshake. Even with him lowering his arm, it may have been difficult for the psychic trainer to reach, given Josh was sitting so far off the ground. "Great to meet you too, Zachary. While I don't raise Pokémon exclusively of a traditional type, I get the value wanting to raise one kind of Pokémon. This is one of the best places to find psychic-type Pokémon in the whole region."

The story was interrupted when a Haunter crashed the party. "Let's give him a hand - all Pyroar, NOBLE ROAR!" The three lions assembled and deeply inhaled. With powerful, yet majestic bellows, the lions' voices boomed in the night, rallying the Delphox to greater strength while simultaneously lowering the Haunter's morale. Perhaps that would cause the Haunter to drop the Delphox's stick.

Aleph, now standing next to the fire-types, remained on standby in case things truly got out of hand. Where were the Ultra Beasts, though? He really wanted to spar with an Ultra Beast...

Josh braced himself for the DARK PULSE's impact; with it headed for all three of his Pyroar, including the one he was seated on, he was in the line of fire, too. Being on the front lines in Dewford not once, but twice, had toughened him up, as well as testing his own war courier gym challenge in the works. Little did he know his work would be for naught, at least in the meantime; his challenge as it was would be declined by the League.

"Ghost Pokémon are tricky to handle," Josh answered Zachary's question. "A lot of them like to play pranks on people and other Pokémon. Are you okay? The venom of the Gastly family of Pokémon is a potent numbing reagent." It was part of a growing knowledge base that being a Ranger gave him. Much of that knowledge base was learned from experience rather than studying, reinforcing that experience was his best teacher.

Though Zachary had all but won over the Kirlia, he had lost his Delphox's attention. Josh and his Pyroar sprung into action, treating the incident like a Ranger rescue. "We'll get your Delphox back," the Ranger assured with confidence as Kovu, the other male, crouched next to Zachary. "Hop on. Ever ridden a Pokémon before?" From their riding gear, it was easy to see that the lions were well-trained, but the prospect may have been intimidating nonetheless. Pyroar were fast.

Even Aleph was ready to spring into action. If need me, an X-SCISSOR to the legs would be a good last resort to trip the fleeing Pokémon up.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

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

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] FEMALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] WATER COMPACTION
[attr="class","wildtabox"]SAND ATTACK	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]ASTONISH
[attr="class","wildtabox"]ABSORB	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]MEGA DRAIN
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

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

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

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

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] CLEAR BODY
[attr="class","wildtabox"]INFESTATION	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]QUICK ATTACK
[attr="class","wildtabox"]ASTONISH	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]BITE
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

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

[attr="class","wildnote"] WHAT WILL YOU DO?

zachary stellar CAUGHT THE KIRLIA!

Kovu was friendly as the rest of Josh's pride, tame as a house cat, yet ferocious as a wild when in the heat of battle. He would wait for Zachary to get on before taking off after the psychic specialist's missing Pokémon, Josh and Aslan following close by. The two big cats remained at a canter, Kovu only breaking into a true run if Zachary allowed it. As rough and tumble of a ride as the lion was with the large, specially crafted saddle, it would have been far worse without it; the masterwork riding seat was designed to absorb as much shock as possible from the feline's flexing back.

Josh looked impressed that the captured Kirlia listened to him immediately. Most of Josh's Pokémon had to be broken in for days or even weeks before they would obey his every command. Some, like Aleph, had taken months and still had minds of their own.

With the apparent wind dying down from going into the woods surrounding the big lake, the two could more easily carry on a conversation as they rode the Gym Leader's lions. "It tends to be that way for specialists of any kind," Josh answered. "When I first applied for Gym Leader, I wanted to be an electric specialist. I could be if I wanted to; I own one specimen of every variety of electric-type ride Pokémon." Some of them, particularly Toralf the Raichu, may have been a surprise to Zachary were he to see them. "Some of the best Psychic Pokémon trainers have psychic powers themselves."

The tarot card caught Josh's attention. While he was not a believer in divination through tarot, he was aware that they were a common tool for psychic specialists to use to get in sync with their Pokémon. "No, I get it. I connect the same way with Pokémon that are fast. Just like you bond closely with psychic Pokémon, I bond with Pokémon that are good at running." He paused briefly to examine his surroundings, a pair of wild ghost-types paying him no heed. "Perhaps if we see each other again down the line, you can see Janus and Expresso, my Espeon and Espathra. Not many psychic Pokémon get big enough for a human to ride. They have quite the different feel to them, too." Even now, the mental harness a psychic-type mount wrapped around its rider was unsettling. Perhaps it would not be so much for a psychic specialist?