Mauville Racing Grounds' facility was enormous indeed; while the office space had little signage due to its size being on the smaller side, the property where the action took place, just outside the city proper, was enormous. Luckily, Josh had experienced staff who knew the facility well, and signage that could guide challengers to the correct location. The voice of SHELLY SPIEL, Josh's scheduler, echoed over the Gym's loudspeakers:

"Challenger Marya Kareva , please report to the Main Sector. Challenger Kareva, to the Main Sector. Thank you!"

Provided Masha followed the ample signage to get to the Main Sector, where the facility's battle courts were located, she would find Josh removing the saddle from Vitani, one of the most muscular Pyroar she may have ever seen. Though the female looked friendly enough, being on the receiving end of one of those paws did not look pleasant. "Ah, Masha! Great to see you back so soon!" Josh greeted the lady, the vast battleground behind him. While most Gyms' battle courts had some variance to how large they were, Mauville's was notable for being extremely large; it was triple regulation size, and it was wide open, with plenty of channels for aquatic Pokémon to swim. Pokémon had plenty of room to run and nowhere to hide, playing into the ultrafast Pokémon on Josh's Gym squad and giving them quite the home field advantage.

The Gym Leader directed the challenger toward the west side of the triple-sized court, toward the Trainer's Box on the challenger's side. "According to your application, this will be a one-Pokémon Singles match. The first side to incapacitate their opponent's Pokémon will be the winner. This match will be untimed. Good luck to you; you'll need it."

Once the two trainers were positioned, the small gallery cheered, primarily for Josh, as the platforms rose to a height of roughly ten feet. The Gym Leader pointed toward the circular pool surrounding the inner ring of the battle court, the Pyroar ready to do battle. She bucked and thrashed like a Tauros, as if to goad Masha into giving it everything she had. "Now, bring forth your Pokémon and ponder your opening move. I can assure you it will be the only decision you will have time to think on," Josh taunted.

A Banette, was it? A ghost-type was a natural counter to a normal-type like Pyroar, as long as the Pokémon was nimble enough to avoid her powerful jaws capable of piercing the ethereal. It was clear she had done her homework some. The command to use Screech, though, confused Josh. His Pokémon were known for their incredible speed at the expense of defenses. While there were exceptions, such as Nitro the Gogoat, they were far between.

The grating noise wasn't for naught, though; it even prompted Josh to cover his ears. How much worse must it have been for Vitani, with how sensitive her hearing was. Driven to anger from the loss of her hearing, she bucked and thrashed harder than the wildest rodeo Tauros in Hoenn, slicing and kicking haphazardly with her clawed paws in a terrifying FLARE BLITZ.

Even the most talented cowboy in the world wasn't riding this lion for long.

Josh squinted, covering his ears as the ghost-type SCREECHED a second time. The deafening sound had already deprived the lioness of her hearing. What was the point of continuing to attack the enemy in this way? Surely, Masha had come better prepared. Yes, this was an unfavorable matchup for them both, neither able to use their most powerful attacks against one another, but they had to have other attacks, right?

With her hearing already masked by the ringing noises of the previous SCREECH attack, Vitani didn't even know it was there. When it looked like she was going to charge in for a second Flare Blitz, she swerved around the Banette, bucking and kicking with her powerful paws. Were she able to slide and heave the Banette off the ground, she would BOUNCE the ghost-type into the air and launch her with a potent paw strike from below.

Masha's tenacity to continue the battle was a good start. No matter how tenacious she and her Banette were, they weren't beating the Pyroar without doing a little homework. The Gym Leader was impressed with Matty's recovery. There were very few Pokémon that could withstand Vitani's Flare Blitz.

The blue wisps floated toward the Pyroar. No matter what attacks she hurled at them, they refused to be put out, as though they were of the ethereal world. She growled and grunted as one of the three exploded right on top of her nose. They were surprisingly more effective on the lioness due to their ghostly nature. She could not open her jaw wide enough to crunch at the Banette's soul gem with her Psychic Fangs. It disabled one of her most potent weapons, but she had so many more.

"Vitani, end it! WILD CHARGE!" Josh ordered. Training alongside the Gym Leader's many electric Pokémon, the lioness had mastered a unique ability among the pride: that of lacing her extended claws with electricity. With a swift gallop, she looked to be on a collision course with Matty, ready to electrocute the vessel Masha's Pokémon was inhabiting!

And with that, their match was over. Vitani didn't come out of the battle unscathed, though the vast majority of the harm the Pyroar suffered was self-inflicted from using reckless moves. The Pyroar still had plenty of energy as the trainers' platforms receded into the ground. Josh flicked his wrist and drew his arm back, gesturing for Masha to come toward the center of the battle court. While he waited for her to arrive, he would get to work putting Vitani's saddle back on her. He had become such an expert at it that it wouldn't take long for her to be ready to ride again. The lioness crouched, letting Josh sit on her back. While she didn't stand back up, the Gym Leader stayed atop her anyway. He was at home in the saddle, even if he wasn't in motion.

"How long have you had your Banette for?" Josh asked Masha. He expected the answer would be something along the lines of not too long; from the moves the ghost-type used, it seemed she was aware of Pyroar being a normal-type Pokémon. That was already better than some of Hoenn's past Gym Leaders were! Even so, she had a long way to go if she wanted a Badge from the Master of Faster.

Five years? That was an awfully long time. "By now, you really should have a good grasp on what your Pokémon can do. Are all of the attacks your Pokémon knows normal-type and fire-type?" Given that the only harm that Vitani suffered all match was self-inflicted, he knew the answer. Whether Masha remained silent or admitted the Banette's shortcomings, the Gym Leader would have a suggestion for her.

"Sadly, ghost-type Pokémon aren't my specialty. You could say my Pokémon speciality is saddle-type," Josh added with a laugh. "I'd recommend doing some research into what attacks are compatible with your Banette and work on them. There's a wonderful resource on the Hoenn League's official app. You can look up attack compatibility lists for Pokémon on it." Guiding Vitani toward Masha, Josh had the lioness sit down next to her so he wouldn't be towering over her. Procuring his cell phone, he logged into the app and pulled up Banette in it.

"Banette are really versatile, as you can see," Josh said as he scrolled through the list. "While they can't learn any moves that can strike a Pyroar's weak points, they can learn attacks of a variety of types." He mentioned Thunderbolt, Psychic, and Gunk Shot by name, but there were a plethora of others. Sucker Punch was another great option, but that attack was for more experienced trainers.

Josh also brought up one more point to consider. "Banette is a Pokémon that is capable of Mega Evolution. Infinity Energy is quite the power boost to your Pokémon. It's like a second wind, and they're almost invinsible as long as the energy lasts. They're not cheap, but if you want my best recommendation for a sizable investment, get a Mega Accessory. You'll be happy you did." He whistled for his Absol to come, the horn-bladed dark-type bounding toward Leader and challenger at great speed. She, too, wore a saddle on her back. Did all roughly one hundred of Josh's Pokémon wear saddles? It was wild to think about.

"If you want to see for yourself, Twilight here can also Mega Evolve."

"Right, ghost-type," Josh chuckled in embarrassment. "That's what I meant to say." He had a bad habit of mis-speaking and not hearing his own incorrect words. With speaking skills like that, he would never make it as Council. Thankfully, he didn't plan on rising in the ranks any higher than Gym Leader. He loved Mauville too much to give this place up. "Correct. Very good. Most of my challengers that see one of my ten Pyroar in battle forget that they are also Normal-types."

As Masha gasped over the list of known attacks the Banette was capable of, Josh started smiling again. "I would highly recommend downloading the app for yourself. Some of the newer species, like the paradoxes, aren't in the system yet because we're still studying them. Most of the ones you can run into in Hoenn's wilds will be there, though!"

Masha sure was easy to impress. A simple compliment, a simple app, and a simple demonstration seemed to go a long way. "Mega Accessories can be bought from any Pokémon Mart; Key Stones are trivial to manufacture and are easily mass produced." He turned the back of his left hand toward Masha, showing the Key Stone embedded within his MEGA GLOVE. He approached Twilight closely and exposed a necklace hidden beneath the Absol's white fur. Embedded in its center was a marble-sized hunk of ABSOLITE.

"Mega Stones are a totally different story. No one knows how to synthesize them; you have to go out into the wilds and find them. And it's not easy. If you want help locating a specific kind of Mega Stone, talk to Dr. Eva Morales . She has a machine that can detect Infinity Energy signatures, and she can tune it to the frequency of Banettite. If you can procure one, there will be very little that can stop you."

Once he had given Masha time to process and digest his lecture, Josh opened up his right hand and pinched the Key Stone of his glove between his first two fingers. "This is how you activate the Key Stone." Both the glove and the Absolite glowed a brilliant white that was almost too bright to look at...