High above Mount Chimney, Josh and his Dragonair, Resheph, wheeled through the thinning air. They could see for tens of miles: the Great Desert in front of them, Fallarbor Town to their left, and Lavaridge to their right. It brought back fond memories of his first time taking Isaac Merlo into the air, or when Eva Morales took him to near space as a passenger on her Patron's fabled DRAGON ASCENT. Once they were as high up in the air as they could get without risking Josh having trouble breathing, he leaned as low as he could on the Dragonair. "Resheph, EXTREME SPEED!" the Mauville Leader cried, holding on for his life as the serpent entered a steep dive.

Enveloped in purple dragon energy, the Dragonair may have looked like a bright, falling comet to Jethro Haig and others inside the Mount Chimney base station. As their speed picked up, Josh had to reduce his dive angle; while she didn't have the raw speed that the Skylord had, she also didn't have the ability to manipulate gravity around her to soften the whiplash-inducing g-forces that would have otherwise squished Josh into paste.

As the duo hurtled toward the ground, Josh yanked upward on the Dragonair's reins, Resheph cooing loudly before arching her long body upward and slamming her rider into his seat. "YEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" the delirious Gym Leader screamed, a huge influx of adrenaline the only thing keeping him from passing out from his weight being multiplied.

Little did he realize this might be the Champion's last dive on Resheph's back...

The Dragonair's near pass might have messed up Jethro Haig 's hair, the whiplash of the sudden reversal forcing Resheph on autopilot. Josh himself was dazed from the maneuver; while he wasn't bleeding, the dive and swoop had done a number on his thighs. When the EXTREME SPEED faded and the duo slowed their pace substantially, the Pokémon was a lot more recognizable, but who was the mysterious rider on the soaring serpent?

Josh and his dragon swooped in again, this time wider from Jethro, having noticed the man and his Pokémon on the defensive. He gave the Snorlax an even wider berth during the final, spiraling, sweeping descent. "Whoo-hoo!" the Champion exhaled before turning his attention toward Jethro. "Sorry if I cut it a little close there! Usually this place is pretty barren, so it makes a perfect place to fly on Resheph here!" he awkwardly introduced the Dragonair.

"If by 'like a jackass,' you mean fast...!" Josh answered, trailing off before speaking up again. "I just wasn't expecting to run into anyone so far away from Lavaridge. Didn't mean any harm." Resheph sounded a chattering coo, as if the Dragonair were trying to mimic a Palafin's cry. As she made eye contact with the Snorlax, Josh tilted his head toward Jethro and introduced himself.

"And you could call it something special... Champion Devlin or Gym Leader Devlin, but I prefer Josh. Some know me as the Master of Faster!" What a needlessly grandiose entrance. The Mauville Leader loved being extra, but could it ever come off as arrogant to the wrong people. "What about--"

Before he could finish asking his question, he heard what sounded like a Litleo cry, and a pained one at that. Josh reined Resheph toward the source of the noise, and it was indeed a Litleo, its mane dripping red with blood as a fragment of a STONE EDGE attack was stuck in one of its legs. "Oh, no!" He slid down from the Dragonair's saddle to look at the wild more closely. "What happened to you?!"

The wound made Josh shiver. He couldn't dwell on what did that, only doing everything he could to save the young lion cub. "Hold still, buddy," the Ranger gently said in a fatherly voice meant to soothe. That piece of rock was big, not even needing a pair of tweezers to remove. Just how sharp was it on the bottom? He carefully pulled out the foreign object, blood spraying from the wound and the cub kicking and writhing in pain afterward. The Litleo jerked about, narrowly missing one of his arms with his short claws.

Procuring a vial of Super Potion, Josh did his best to spray the gushing wound. Though much of the medicine collected on the ground around the fire-type, enough of it entered the wound for it to at least stop the bleeding. "Poor thing..." he exhaled as he tapped the cub with a Poké Ball.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]✨ A WILD SHINY LAMPENT APPEARED!

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] FEMALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] INFILTRATOR
[attr="class","wildtabox"]FLAME BURST	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]EMBER
[attr="class","wildtabox"]MINIMIZE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]SMOG
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Josh Devlin Jethro Haig

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

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

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

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] SHELL ARMOR
[attr="class","wildtabox"]INCINERATE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]EXPLOSION
[attr="class","wildtabox"]SMOG	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]SHELL SMASH
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Josh Devlin Jethro Haig

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

Josh Devlin CAUGHT THE LITLEO!

There was no one in Hoenn more well-known for raw speed than Josh. Perhaps more than anyone else in the region, he loved going fast. Once one of the busiest Gyms around, volume had calmed down substantially, making Josh reassign some of his employees to the new Pokémon Caretaker position. He had over a hundred and twenty saddled Pokémon at his Gym, each of which needed love and care.

Hey, it was better than having to furlough some of his staff!

"Correct," Josh answered as he stowed the Poké Ball containing the Litleo he had yet to name. Aslan's pride continued to grow; with this one and Nala giving birth to Nuka soon, twelve fire lions would be roaming the Racing Grounds. "Great to meet you, Jethro. Used to live in Goldenrod, but I moved to Mauville about a year after becoming the Gym Leader there. And this girl's Resheph," he gave the Dragonair a pet as she caught her breath from the aerodynamic show.

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

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

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] UNNERVE
[attr="class","wildtabox"]TORMENT	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]HOWL
[attr="class","wildtabox"]SMOG	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]FEINT ATTACK
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Josh Devlin Jethro Haig

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

[attr="class","wildtemp"]

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

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

[attr="class","wildshiny"]

[attr="class","wildpkmnbox"]

[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtab"]

[attr="class","wildtabox"] MALE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] SNOW CLOAK
[attr="class","wildtabox"]TACKLE	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]ODOR SLEUTH
[attr="class","wildtabox"]ICE SHARD	[attr="class","wildtabox2"]MUD BOMB
[attr="class","wildtabox"] ---	[attr="class","wildtabox2"] ---

[attr="class","wildtag"]Josh Devlin Jethro Haig

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

Jethro Haig CAUGHT THE LAMPENT!

Being a chatterbox came with the position; being a Gym Leader meant Josh had to speak in front of people, whether he wanted to or not. Besides, what better way to get to know people than carry on idle conversation?

"Mauville's changed in the... year and a half I've been there," Josh replied. "Since I became Gym Leader, it's the sports capital of Hoenn. You into any or follow pro sports at all?"

Pollution was less of an issue for Mauville than it should have been; while the city was densely populated, it was small in terms of acreage. The surrounding geography necessitated the city to build up rather than out, its tri-level architecture and state of the art ventilation making it a modern marvel. The bottom levels of the city looked like night even in the middle of the afternoon, the bottom of the next level's paved roads blocking the sun completely. Only the top level was exposed to the elements.

Pointing to a Houndoom passing through, closer to the crater, Josh suggested that Jethro catch it. "I've had a lot of success with Houndoom. They get a bad rap, but they're reliable and loyal once you've spent some time with them. They're also... big. Really big. Got one at my Gym."