Whether it was at the dinner table, at the Jagged Pass rescuing Rangers, or at Ever Grande's Pokémon League, Josh had always stood in Matias' shadow. Now, sitting in the natural saddle that was Swift's black thundercloud, he was the one to tower above his nemesis.

Only now, there was something different about him. He didn't look controlled at all. In his memory, Matias looked like he was when they had met at Mount Chimney. At the restaurant in Lavaridge. He longed to eat there, but the eruption had destroyed their building. It would be quite some time before the place opened their doors elsewhere in the city, or perhaps in another city altogether.

To Josh, he looked like a person again, not a puppet of the Hoenn's land god.

"No, Matias," Josh answered from Swift's back, not looking to pick a fight with the Elite Four at all. "It's about Kyle. I just find the timing of... Swift here and Kyle's death a bit uncanny." He plucked the RAINBOW FEATHER from his blue Ranger uniform and drew the summoning Sign with it, despite the monochrome Raikou already being present.

With how remote Matias' ranch was, Josh felt comfortable letting his three paradoxes roam the grounds. Clicking open three Cherish Balls, Raikou the Raging Bolt, Entei the Gouging Fire, and Suicune the Walking Wake leaped onto the property from within them, Swift and Raikou purring at one another with almost identical sounds. He also let Aleph the Type: Null out of his Poké Ball to roam the wide-open grounds, getting to know three of Josh's favorite Pokémon better.

Aleph seemed content to spar with Entei, the Gouging Fire deflecting CRUSH CLAW after CRUSH CLAW with his BURNING BULWARK. Raikou galloped next to Swift and Josh, the long-necked paradox gently nuzzling his trainer after sliding to a stop with his strong claws. While the Raging Bolt lacked the speed that his Johtonian cousin possessed, he was still very fast. On brand for him, the paradox had traded much of its impressive stamina for the raw speed of a Raikou, the two competitive with one another on the course.

"I just find it a bit too coincidental the Great One passed part of their blessing onto me no less than a week before this happened. It's like Kyle knew the hour of his death." He paused, burying his head in Swift's ashen thundercloud before sitting up properly again. While he was appreciative and ecstatic to have even a shadow of his idol's image at his beck and call, the circumstances surrounding it felt wrong. "What happened to him out there? If you're still under NDA about it, you don't have to answer."

Raikou craned his long neck toward Josh and affectionately nuzzled him, the Champion briefly cuddling the paradox's face before guiding Swift a few steps away. A purr from the monochrome tiger rattled him, reflecting his trainer's desire to remain calm in the face of Matias' apathy. "I know that. It's been plastered all over the news. I just find it suspicious that, after having that power for years, his Patron passed it onto me less than a week before his passing." He wondered if the ashen Suicune had also been passed down to someone, though he kept those remarks to himself.

"He was one of the toughest men in Hoenn. He wouldn't go down easily. Just... what happened to him up there? Surely it wasn't just the eruption..." he trailed off. Swift maintained a decidedly neutral expression, much like Josh's external feelings toward Matias. He wasn't friendly with the Volatile, but the animosity toward him was not like it was during their Elite Four challenge. Something had changed about Matias, but Josh couldn't quite put his finger on it...

For the first time since talking to Matias in the restaurant that had been destroyed in the eruption of Mount Chimney, the Elite Four felt... like a human being. A human being that understood emotions of others. His tone didn't come off as grating. It came off as genuinely wanting to educate the new Champion.

As it turned out, the education process did not stop at the pinnacle of the League.

"...You're right. That wasn't my intent," Josh replied, calm as he had ever been around the Volatile since then. It was hard to believe that it had been close to two years. Bad blood that had built up since Eris and the beginning of his Elite Four challenge had cooled substantially after hearing not just Matias' words, but they way they were spoken. "It could be coincidence. And I'm grateful to him. It's just how I feel about this whole thing. And I just want some... closure."

Before he could continue, the sparring match between Entei and Aleph got a little too hot for Josh's tastes. "Excuse me." He turned around to see the large scrapes on both Pokémon, the cuts of DRAGON RUSH and CRUSH CLAW slicing a bit deeper than he would have preferred. "Time out. Both of you." Shaking his head, the Type: Null stopped, the more well-behaved Gouging Fire backing away from the impromptu match. Turning back to Matias, Josh breathed a deep sigh.

"You've changed, too. For the better. This is the Matias from when we met up at Lavaridge. The Matias I looked up to. Not the one that battled me at the Pokémon League." He rambled on a bit longer before shaking his head again. "I just want to know what could possibly have taken Kyle's life. He was one of my best friends, and he's had far worse than a simple eruption. That not one person's heard a peep out of Terrakion, Entei, or Ho-oh since then is... worrisome."

The revelation of Kyle's final moments struck Josh like an array of PRECIPICE BLADES through the chest. His muscles began to convulse, sweat dripping from every hair on his body. As a low purr rattled the Beast's rider, tears began to flow from his eyes, as well as those of the ashen Raikou that reflected the young man's emotions.

The Champion slid off his mount, walked toward the electric-type, and cuddled the legendary tiger like a child would their favorite stuffed Pokémon upon learning of the death of their mother. In a way, Kyle was like a parent to Josh, subtly guiding him on the road to improvement. From the day they first met after Melody Miro and Thomas Benoit offered him to Josh as a clue to locate Raikou, to the day he got to saddle up the very ashen Beast next to him for the very first time, to the day he got to command Kyle's ashen Suicune at Dewford, to the day he was crowned a Champion. And now, the Champions' dinner he wanted to organize with Melody Miro , CIAN MAHER , Navy , and all the recent Champions would be without the Top Champion himself.

Josh wept. Bitterly.

"...Why?! Just... wasn't he your best friend?" he babbled just coherently enough to be heard. His face was red with mixed emotions: anger, sorrow, perhaps even a hint of despair... yet trust. That Matias was willing to share such information with Josh without a fight was another sign that the Matias he remembered and looked up to was back. A Matias he admired. This was not the first time Matias had trusted Josh with a close secret. That he was Groudon's Avatar.

Josh needed to trust him, too.

"This conversation won't leave your ranch. I swear it. But... what did Kyle do to..." The rest of the sentence came out an incoherent mess.

So Kyle remained pure to the League. Matias had gone rogue. As he listened to the Volatile's story, his suspicions were all but confirmed. Matias had lost control. Groudon had controlled him, and it took spilling Kyle's blood to wrench himself free. That was the way Josh understood what happened on Mount Chimney.

Would a Patron really order their Avatar to kill their best friend?

"I was so desperate because I felt... like being Raikou's Avatar was the only way to bond with him," Josh explained, listening to the Elite Four's argument of how being a pawn of the gods was a net negative. He held back his tears as he said his piece. "My pursuit of Raikou and my position as a member of SAPPHIRE have taught me much. It really seems to depend on the Patron. I've seen Avatars and Patrons that work together, like Kyle and the Great One. Like illeana reyes and Palkia. Eva Morales and Rayquaza. Ones that truly understand one another and aren't controlling of their Avatars, like Groudon was of you. Like Elisabeth Fiorelli and that snail of hers I can't remember the name of."

The destruction that woman had wrought upon Shalin's home, and western Hoenn in general, was a scar that she would not soon forget. "Entei and Suicune are noble. While I would hazard Raikou would be as well, it's so hard to read his intentions. I'm still trying to learn more about him. What Raikou is looking for." He paused; while it would be incredible to have the powers that Macro Cosmos came up with, particularly the supernatural riding prowess that came with it, having to answer to a potentially haughty thunder god was frightening to think about. "And I think it's turned out better this way. Like I said, my desire for Avatarship was never about joining AQUA or being a superhero. I just... I just love Raikou."

At the same time Josh's tears ceased, Swift's did, as well. The Beast crouched to let the Champion aboard, but he didn't hop back on just yet. "How's Virizion been holding up? It's been some time since I've heard from them."

After an expectant purr, Josh took his place back on Swift's thundercloud, the Raikou standing back up. He tilted his head to look down at Matias and keep up eye contact with the Avatar. "What's wrong with those two? Especially Dr. Morales? She seems to have a really strong grasp with her Patron. Even as early as the end of 2022, she let me fly on them. And even at the full speed of their Dragon Ascent, they both kept me safe. I... about threw up my entire gut, but that's to be expected when dealing with the fastest Pokémon in the world." Of course, he knew little of the possible internal conflict between Peacemaker and Patron, or of their aggression toward Matias.

Josh didn't look as shocked as he should have been; with all the heinous acts Matias had committed, the misinterpreted news that Virizion had abandoned him came as no surprise, given what the Swords of Justice stood for. "I'll have to pay him a visit. I'm sure they'll get along wonderfully."

Before he could say anything else, a gusty crosswind caused Swift's ashen body to deform some, only reconstituting when the wind died down. It wasn't the wind; it was the HYDRO STEAM of Suicune the Walking Wake that created a highly localized microburst, often used to propel the dinosaur dragon to high speeds.

It was how the creature kept up with the Suicune that Josh mistook it for.