The swift river snaking down from the mountains separating 118 and 123 was one rough place to learn how to ride a water-type, but Zachary seemed to be stable enough on his Milotic. With how winding the waterway would be until the duo got to the ocean, Josh needed an aquatic mount that was nimble. Few at his Gym were more nimble than Buzz, the great big Floatzel Josh rode alongside Zachary's breathtaking aquatic serpent. His tails sounded like a marine motor as they whirled just beneath the waves at a fairly low speed, trying to let the blue-haired trainer set the pace. It was a challenge, though; Floatzel were just plain fast.

"Highly recommend a saddle for any water Pokémon, especially a serpentine one," Josh nodded in agreement as the current pushed them both to one side of the aquatic body. "Once we get to open ocean, though, it should be a lot easier to control. Surprised you wanted to learn the ropes at a river like this." Even Josh learned how to ride water Pokémon off the coast of Olivine City when he was younger. As long as students stayed away from the Whirl Islands, the sea between Olivine and Cianwood was an ideal spot for easy water travel.

When Buzz saw Cetus take off, he charged after the Milotic, Josh's skin beginning to tingle as the Floatzel shook from the power with which his tails displaced the water behind them. As the two trainers approached the sandbar, Buzz and Josh whizzed past their friend, looking and sounding like a high-performance speedboat. "Whoo-hoo!" the Champion exclaimed as the Floatzel breached the surface, his tails forming a whirlwind behind them until they landed back in the water.

Route 118 was full of small sandbars like the one that Zachary stopped at. Josh, needing a break after the adrenaline rush ended, steered Buzz toward the shallows and let go of his aquatic steed. He let his momentum carry him to the shore, Buzz standing near him in case he needed a hand standing up. The saddle the Floatzel wore looked odd when the Pokémon was standing upright, the buckles and straps completely visible near his chest. He plopped down in the sand near Zachary and his Pokémon, resting his tails after that burst of speed.

He smiled as the name Morgana came to mind for the Sprigatito. "You're much better than I am at naming; often it takes hours for a name to come to me. Sometimes, like with Saber, the name comes to me within seconds. Staccato took me over a day from catching him to come up with a name." Reaching for his belt, he clicked open the fairy-type's Poké Ball, the geared-up Primarina lazily sprawling out upon the bright sands.

When a large figure caught Zachary's attention and he had made Josh aware, the Champion squinted alongside him. "Looks like a surfer... but what's he doing so far off shore? Usually they're closer to the mainland..."

Seeing the PSYCHIC-powered wave coming, Josh knew he had nowhere to run with the Pokémon he had brought with him. There was no way he could get on his Sharpedo fast enough to make high enough of a leap over a wave that size. Instead, he faced directly away from the wave and half-buried himself. If there was any rock formation in the center of the islet, his legs would hit that first. It would still hurt, but not nearly as badly as if he collided with it head-first.

Josh woke up to the Alolan Raichu taunting Zachary and his team. Clicking open two Poké Balls, a Sharpedo and Palafin emerged in the shallows. "Hop on," the Gym Leader gestured toward Ecco while taking a seat behind Snacker's steering fin. "You want to catch it? Then help me chase it down!"

The Alolan Raichu Josh and Zachary was chasing down was quite acrobatic. With psychic powers designed to manipulate water around it, the yellow vermin could put on some real speed, too. Josh saw it as a challenge. "Step on it, Snacker - AQUA JET!" With a thrashing motion that forced Josh to tighten his hold on the shark, they bounced across the waves, rapidly closing the gap. Ecco was not far behind, charging alongside Josh with the force of a JET PUNCH.

The THUNDERBOLT fried both of Josh's Pokémon and even the Champion himself, only able to endure the painful electric shocks by virtue of being around so many powerful electric Pokémon so frequently. Training alongside the facsimile of the Johtonian electric deity helped, too. "O...kay..." Josh huffed. "I'm... done playing around."

Pinching the KEY STONE of his MEGA GLOVE, Josh and Snacker became enveloped in a blue-purple light, the Sharpedo MEGA EVOLVING into his apex form. A form that looked rugged and difficult for even a skilled trainer to control. "LIQUIDATION!" he ordered, a shield of water surrounding shark and rider as they zipped toward their electric target at speeds that would have made a squeamish, less experienced passenger vomit.

ELECTRO BALL was an attack Josh was all too familiar with. It was by far his favorite tactic in battle, leaning into the Champion's penchant for speed. The slower its target was, the harder it would hit. If Josh and Snacker raced toward it as fast as they could, the duo would feel but a tingle. "Faster, Snacker! AQUA JET!" he cried, the Mega Evolved shark opening his jaws wide to take in truly colossal amounts of water. Pushing it through the valve on its rear, the predatory Pokémon bounced atop the rough surf the Raichu was creating.

Just as he was about to close in, the psychic-type blinked away. Could the Pokémon teleport? Maybe he missed what the Raichu Ally Switched with. A little disappointed that the swift Pokémon got away, Josh guided the snark toward where Zachary was at rest on the shore.

"You say that, but those kinds of Pokémon make for the best mounts," Josh smiled back to him. "Snacker was like that when we first met: rebellious and cantankerous. And now, he's like riding on a thunderstorm." He sighed as he and the Mega Sharpedo bathed in Cetus' AQUA RING. "...I want to catch it."

Josh couldn't help but chuckle at Zachary's description of the Raichu. Particularly how on point it was. "Oh, I know how fast Jolteon can get. I've ridden one before. Maybe one day, especially if you come out to the Gym, you'll get to meet Blinky." She was one of the most commonly-rented Pokémon for Josh's Gym employees to use during racing challenges.

The Gym Leader slid off the vicious shark's back when he saw Dizzy drawing something in the sand. It looked like the Alolan Raichu, but with an evil face that looked closer to a ghost Pokémon. As the drawing became more and more complete, it depicted the electric surfer's unhappiness more and more. Some of the Pokémon surrounding it were electrocuted; others, drowned in the wake of its massive waves. Alolan Raichu weren't common by any stretch, but they occasionally made their homes around the beach. "So you're saying the Raichu is upset with the water Pokémon around here?" he asked Dizzy.

The upset posse of water Pokémon clued Josh in to the problems the Raichu was causing. He came to a similar conclusion Zachary did, but it left a very important question unanswered. "But why, though? What would cause the Raichu to be so aggressive?" he asked. "I'm gonna a go on RangerNet and look into Alolan Raichu some. See if I can figure out what's causing the unwanted behavior and what we can do about it."

To the Gym Leader, psychic-types were always enigmatic, hardly ever able to tell what was going on in their minds. "Psychic Pokémon are just built different, aren't they..." he trailed off. The RangerNet articles helped Josh understand what the Alolan Raichu could do, but weren't as helpful as he would have liked. They were on their own for catching this quick little rodent.

"A speed trap, you say?" Josh asked, reiterating Zachary's proposal. "Could create some rough surf for the Raichu to handle. Maybe a whirlpool." He clicked open another Poké Ball with another freakishly large Pokémon for its kind within, this one a Floatzel whose bushy tails looked like they could cut something fierce with how big and strong they looked. "Buzz, while he doesn't know the move, can spin his tails fast enough to create a whirlpool."