The burned electric-type was indeed a trap, and it was a good thing Eddie had not remained long; had he not been so quick to get up to speed, he would have been easily overwhelmed by a trio of Pyroar chasing him down! All three of the lionesses were faster sprinters than Delilah, but Delilah could run for far longer than they could. Two fell back, but the smallest of the three, Vitani, wasn't giving up so easily. TRAILBLAZING her way toward Eddie and his steed, her burst of speed made her just fast enough to take a bite out of the corner of the crate with her PSYCHIC FANGS. Though the speedy lioness did not give chase while Eddie fled along the river, two splashes from the water may have cued him to look back. He had lost two bottles from within his crate. If this was a real wartime environment, that would have been two teams of trainer and Pokémon that didn't get valuable medicine they needed to remain healthy.

For the time being, Eddie and his Mudsdale were safe, and not in danger of being pursued by threats on land. If he had a Pokémon that could do so, he could make repairs to his cargo without putting himself in too much danger... except for Pokémon that were in the air. Most of them seemed to congregate north of where he was at, above the more mountainous areas, but if he stayed in one place too long, a dragon Pokémon might see an easy target and open fire!

Before long, a crossroads would come up: there was another bridge across the river, signage letting him identify where he was on the Gym's property. He seemed to be just under halfway to the safehouse. Directly crossing the bridge would take him to Sector 2, consisting of a maze of rivers. If he followed the larger river west, he would reach Sector 5, filled primarily with wetlands and larger marine environments.

Though Eddie's shirt would make a good makeshift patch for the corner of the crate missing, it left him more vulnerable to the elements. With no clothing protecting his upper body, his bare skin would be exposed to the wind from Delilah's speedy pace across the fictitious warzone. Though it was uncertain how long the patch would last, Eddie's experience in construction would let him be confident his solution would last long enough.

Delilah's speed may have been low, but those hooves were like tires on an all-terrain vehicle. There was little ground that could stop the Mudsdale; her STAMINA enabled her to quickly yank the cart out when one of its wheels started to sink into the mud.

All of a sudden, just as the mountainous foothills of SECTOR 4 was approaching, a flurry of WATER SHURIKEN whirled toward the young man and his ground-type, a saddle-wearing Greninja dramatically leaping out of the stagnant water! Most of them were aimed low, trying to disable the Mudsdale's legs or sever cables their cargo was attached to.

Were Eddie to take the time to look toward the Sector 4 summit he was headed toward, he would be able to see a silhouette of the safe house, as well as an imposing, quadrupedal shadow not far from it. What kind of Pokémon it was would be almost impossible to identify at their distance.

The MUDSDALE's frightened bucking badly jostled the cart she was towing. The patch that was Eddie's shirt remained effective at keeping their precious, make-believe medical supplies intact, though the sudden lurch stretched the fabric more than its weavers intended. While one of the GRENINJA's WATER SHURIKEN collided with the horse's legs, her IRON DEFENSE repelled the rest. Fighting tremendous exhaustion, the ground-type fled beyond the wetlands' confines and into the foothills comprising Sector 4.

It looked empty. A little too empty, as though the presence at the top of the mountain had scared away the rest of the Gym Leader's Pokémon. It had every right to; upon even a distant approach, a bone-chilling cry pierced the tense air around Delilah and Eddie.

[player]https://file.garden/ZDeuoB-J4RNQd5aY/gyms/master/ironcrown.mp3[/player]

The silhouette's bright, blue LED eyes turned on, staring into the challenger's eyes and attempting to burn a hole in his psyche with sheer force of will. Were he to continue his approach, he would get close enough for the creature to appear in full colors: Sigmund, the Gym Leader's IRON CROWN. The paradox of wills lowered his long horns, the earth rumbling as a HYPER BEAM flew between them and toward the hero and his MUDSDALE.

Meanwhile, high in the air, Josh applauded as he observed the carnage below and how well Eddie had handled it thus far. How would he compose himself in the presence of a Pokémon that was equals with a Sacred Sword of Unova?

Cracking earth raced up the trail and toward the Iron Crown, whose body was already steaming from the HYPER BEAM overworking him. The tremors deflected the devastating attack's trajectory enough to keep Eddie out of harm's way, but not his cargo. The beam grazed another of its corners, causing a second rupture. Without a second shirt, Eddie wouldn't be patching the second hole the same way he did the first.

Sigmund, the Iron Crown, braced himself for the Mudsdale's EARTHQUAKE. He still stood after the shaking ground rocked him, though he was dizzy with exhaustion both from holding down the fort from Delilah as well as the exertion of his own attack. His digital eyes had been reduced to one line of bright pixels: a brief respite as the challenger advanced up the mountain. The safe house was in sight, but how much time would Sigmund need to recover his strength?

A shattering sound echoed behind Eddie and Delilah, though it came from the sound system powered by Amp the Toxtricity rather than the glass-like bottle that fell out of the new hole Sigmund's attack had caused. A second such sound repeated when another bottle flew out as the Mudsdale crested the topmost hill.

As if on cue, the safe house's double doors flew open, but so did Sigmund's LED eyes, the Iron Crown waking up and loosing another hair-raising screech. With horns glowing a purple-pink, he lunged toward the cart in a last-ditch effort, aiming TACHYON CUTTERS at Delilah's legs and the cart's wheels.

Some of their delivery had gone missing, but most of it was intact. Once Eddie was inside the Operations Center, the Iron Crown suddenly stopped attacking, his demeanor much more calm. Josh and his Togekiss swooped down to greet the messenger on a job well done.

"Great work out there," the Gym Leader said after dismounting, giving his friend a pat on the back if he allowed it. "It takes a lot of courage to stare down a Pokémon like Sigmund. He's related to the legendary Pokémon Cobalion, you know."

Unsurprisingly, Eddie and his Mudsdale looked spent. He desired for challengers to feel that way after traversing Josh's expansive Gym grounds ending in a hilly, semi-mountainous Sector. He wanted to burn in his challengers' minds the hell that was war. "Heh, we still don't know a lot about them. I don't even know if he has an official designation yet," Josh admitted. "You might have noticed Sigmund didn't have a saddle on him. It's 'cause he won't let me saddle him yet." That Josh could saddle so many different Pokémon, yet not this one, may have opened Eddie's eyes to how special the Iron Crown was.

At Eddie's question, Josh replied, "Well, let's pop the door open and find out!" He began emptying what remained of the delivery, neatly stacking its contents by item type as Sigmund's digital eyes peered through a window. "Not too much was missing! That's one thing you gotta learn when you're out there and Rocket's firing upon you. You don't have to be perfect. You just gotta get enough of it there for the front lines to turn the tide. For the generals to get the message. And I say you were more than a success."

With that, Josh stepped outside and whistled for Tiamat, his Dragonite, to land near the Operations Center. Mastema was there too, the Togekiss floating near the dragon-type as she landed. "When you're ready, I'll get you back to the Gym's entrance faster than you can say Extreme Speed! I'm sure you want a shower about now."