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 ANDREW WEISS, Josh's scheduler, echoed over the Gym's loudspeakers:

"Challenger robin coello , please report to the Main Sector. Challenger Coello, to the Main Sector. Thank you!"

Provided Robin 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 Crash, a Boltund whose tail was wagging as fast as a lightning bolt. "Hi, Robin!" Josh greeted the Ranger. "Please, Josh is fine! I'm excited; this is my first Gym match since becoming a Champion!" 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 and Champion 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 two-Pokémon Doubles match. The first side to incapacitate their opponent's entire Pokémon will be the winner. This match will have a seven-minute time limit, and ties will be broken by sudden death. 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 Boltund ready to do battle. He wouldn't be fighting alone; with a whistle from the Gym Leader, a black Charizard swooped in next to the giant, yellow dog, his tail burning brightly. "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.

Such was the purpose of the Gym circuit. Each Gym had its own list of precepts to pass onto new trainers, and a particular type of obstacle to overcome. Mauville's lessons to teach Robin included trust of one's instincts and the ability to act well under extreme time pressure. "Thanks. It means a lot to me to have made it so far," Josh answered. He wished he could have shared the other reason for his happiness, but that had to remain under wraps for at least the next several months.

What a passive start; Josh had once battled like this relying on finding a moment to charge up power and ending the battle in one strike. Not anymore. "Trying to beat me at my own game, are you? Try again," he began trash-talking the challenger. "Ares, DRAGON DANCE!" The fire-type's tail turned a dragon purple, the black Charizard jetting above the battle court faster than a Charizard had the right to fly.

Crash was fully aware of what the Toxtricity could do; he had sparred with Amp several times to get the Gym Leader's own ready for battle. He had the perfect counter ready: baring his teeth at his fellow electric-type, the Boltund chomped down with PSYCHIC FANGS, trying to prevent the Toxtricity from being able to play its natural instrument.

"Now, Ares, DRAGON CLAW!" Josh shouted, tilting his head skyward. With him too busy spiraling through the sky to notice the Sinistea had intercepted Crash's PSYCHIC FANGS, the dragon was unaware his extra-powerful flyby attack would likely not down the poison-type, leaving him in point-blank range of the unavoidable sonic burst. Crash didn't get off easy, either; the dog's sensitive hearing made his head thump. Even Josh himself could feel the vibrations of the strengthened shockwave. Had he not been around Shalin Nariya so much, he would have had a migraine from being so near it.

The disturbed air grounded Ares for a moment: long enough to get one goot shot on him before he could get back into the air. Crash wouldn't make it easy, though; bounding toward the Sinistea, he would bury his face into the adorable steel-type, NUZZLING it in an effort to prevent Robin's Pokémon from protecting the Toxtricity again.

"Gotcha," Josh mumbled as his DYNAMAX BAND began to glow red. His fears doused after his long discussions and training sessions with lam logan and annalise henderson , he recalled Ares into its Poké Ball after Robin's Pokémon had slammed its venom-laden fist into the dragon. Surrounded with DYNERGY, the Poké Ball grew to half his size, Josh needing two hands to hurl it back toward the battle court.

Joining Crash was the now-colossified GIGANTAMAX Charizard, who immediately swiped toward the Sinistea with hut-sized claws coated in MAX LIGHTNING. The ELECTRIC TERRAIN that followed made the Boltund even faster than before, giving the Toxtricity far less time to react to PSYCHIC FANGS aiming to put its musical act on notice!

The SHADOW BALL was coming, fast and with greatly amplified strength thanks to the STELLAR form Robin's Pokémon sported. "Not fast enough, Robin!" Josh taunted. "Crash, QUICK ATTACK!" The Champion knew of the Stellar Tera Type, having used it in his match with Kyle. To his understanding, the Pokémon that invoked it shed all its type affinities, becoming the Stellar type itself.

How wrong he was, the lightning-fast lunge passing right through the ghost-type's ethereal body. The SHADOW BALL surrounded and assimilated the Boltund, leaving him no more than an eldritch heap in the GIGANTAMAX Charizard's shadow.

Ares sounded a roar whose volume was so great that it knocked Josh off his feet: a sign of just how dangerous the Dynamax phenomenon was. Shrugging off the effects of Tox's poison thanks to his enormous size and bring inebriated with DYNERGY after his Dynergy Barrier broke, his claws, arms, and wings began to glow with a yellow-white inferno. Deeply inhaling and ingesting grass like a vacuum cleaner, the dragon beat his wings and exhaled a G-MAX WILDFIRE in a gigantic cone all in front of him.

The SHADOW RAVE not only melted through the rest of Ares' DYNERGY BARRIER, but also ate into the Charizard's colossal scales. With a loud roar, the dragon reverted from his GIGANTAMAXED state. Where Robin may have expected a congratulations, he instead received the unbridled fury of the Mauville Gym Leader. "Stop the match right now!" he ordered.

"Robin!" he sternly shouted across the battle court now swirling in the cloud of darkness Tox created. "Using a Shadow Pokémon in a Gym Challenge?! Despicable. Unthinkable. You should be ashamed of yourself!" His voice rumbled across the Racing Grounds, loud as thunder, like a parent who had discovered their child had downed an entire jar of peanut butter in a single day. "What did you do to that poor Pokémon?!"

Josh listened to Robin's monologue completely before giving his retort, a counter-argument that could have stung like a Beedrill's rear barb. Who knows how Tox would have reacted, Josh fearing the unpredictability of a shadow Pokémon? It would not be a pleasant retort, either; Josh was livid. He could not stand Shadow Pokémon, bred for only one nefarious purpose.

"Robin, Shadow Pokémon... they're only good at one thing. War. Destruction. Robin, do you understand what Shadow Pokémon are?" He absorbed the righteous anger, reciprocating it with his own. "You raise Pokémon for all the right reasons. But using a Shadow Pokémon to do it makes you no different than Rocket. That's why I'm upset. They are Pokémon that have had the door to their hearts artificially closed. You can't bond with them like normal Pokémon. They only listen to one thing, and that is blood. Death. Devastation. The upending of lives."

Josh sobbed. He wanted to give Robin the Quick Badge so badly. But to use a Shadow Pokémon to do so? "Robin, you can never truly be one with a Shadow Pokémon. I went through this myself. Though it was only for a short time, Saber, my Manectric, was a Shadow Pokémon. The door to his heart slammed shut so tightly that it broke the unbreakable bond of Infinity Energy that a Sygna Suit serves as the conduit of. They know only war. And if they can't feed that... they'll feed on you. Attack you. You won't be able to control your Toxtricity. It could kill you."

Thoughts of MATIAS SILPH 's Shadow Pokémon came to mind from their last visit to the Jagged Pass. It was his last great memory of the Volatile before he fell from grace, in the Gym Leader's eyes. He didn't want the same thing to happen. "Robin, you're welcome to issue another challenge in six weeks' time. But promise me this. Don't bring another Shadow Pokémon here, okay?"