Josh and Snacker were tired after such intense competition, particularly after that awful traffic jam on the second lap. He and his Sharpedo felt like they had gotten off the bumper cars at a carnival rather than a high speed contest; there was an awful lot of contact. Noneo of it was illegal; in Pokémon speedsports, particularly in capacity, thirty-entrant races, even severe, race-ending contact was inevitable for the unlucky or inattentive in the field.

The Gym Leader was still resting after pushing his body harder than he wanted to in the final stretch. The uneducated might believe that riding was stressful only on the Pokémon bearing the rider's weight. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Soon, he found the dock his resting Sharpedo was moored at surrounded by Squirtle, a HNN interviewer greeting him as he bobbed up and down on Pacifidlog's seas. "Still a little winded after that one, but sure thing!" he answered August, the dark-type lazily remaining afloat.

Ah he agreed. Of course he agreed, who could resist having their brain picked by the media. August smiled coyly, reaching into his coat to pull out a notepad that had a pencil resting within the binding. Now, he had very little knowledge of how the race had actually gone due to zoning out. It was imperative that he did not let Josh catch on to this, yet he would need to use this interview to gather enough details about the race to write a full article.

Easy as pie.

He pulled the pencil out of the binding and flipped to the middle of the notepad, bobbing quietly upon his excited squirtles. He tapped the pad twice for good lucky before finally starting the interview. "This is the second Silph Cup, correct? How do you think this one pan out in comparison to the last one?"

Josh Devlin

"Actually, this is the third Silph Cup," Josh corrected August. "We had an abbreviated season in 2022 due to the Meteno crisis keeping those outside Hoenn from entering the region." It was one of Hoenn's most perilous days; Josh had fought a battle on the meteor itself before it had been destroyed. It was, to Josh's knowledge, the origin of the Terastal phenomenon in Hoenn.

"The Silph Cup is also more than one race. It's an entire circuit. This is just the season opener; it's one of the biggest races of the year. And considering it was an aquatic race, the type that's the least popular among the three, I would say it was a bigger success than I thought it would be."

There was one circuit race every week during the season, running through the warmer months. Josh would have loved to grind the circuit like he did in Johto, though his Gym Leader duties kept him too busy to do so. It was nice having a steady paycheck, his income not being directly linked to his performance.

August raised his eyebrows, calmly jotting down highlights of Mister Devlin's answers. He had not heard about the first Silph Cup at all, likely due to the very event he had described. That had overshadowed most news across the world, it was not surprising that something as athletically festive as a race might have been lost among the chaos.

What did surprise him was his comment about the aquatic races being unpopular. That detail would help develop his next question. "Color me elated, I'll have to catch the other circuit races for sure to get the full story." He probably would not, more likely he would attach cameras to his squirtles and watch the highlights of their recordings later. Would they be allowed into stadiums without supervision? A question for another time.

August leaned forward, "Tell me Josh, can I call you Josh? Why do you think the aquatic races are normally unpopular, and what has caused this one to break that trend?"

Josh Devlin

Sports coverage was monopolized by professional media through contract with the venue, though if August worked through any reasonable media company, securing such a contract, or rights under it, would be little trouble. Such was how money flowed in the business. "I would assume you're subscribed to the PSPN News All-Access Pass? If you are, you should be able to access archived footage of the past events. I don't agree with them paywalling it so long afterward, but they do have to pay for hosting."

A wave rose Josh and Snacker high enough for August to touch the shark if he so desired while the rider answered his question. "I think it's because aquatic races are limited by geography. Only those who spend a lot of time near water, or have a facility like my own Mauville Racing Grounds, can raise water Pokémon. There aren't too many Pokémon out there that are fast on both water and land. Greninja are the best example, but you have to be pretty brave to hop on one." Their gait was markedly different from other amphibious water-types, such as Swampert and Vaporeon. Plus, they were almost uncontrollably fast. Even Josh had a hard time controlling his from time to time, especially at speed.

August wrote everything down feverishly; even if he did not intend to follow up with any of these sports events he at least thought it would be a good idea to get all of this information down. "No one tells me about these things." He mumbled as he scribbled in the finer details. Meanwhile his squirtles were enchanted by Josh's shark, and with the front two raising their hands to feel its bristling skin. One would withdraw after feeling how rough the skin was, while the other seemed pleased with the texture.

When August was finished jotting, he would shoot Josh a vague look. Something between concern and scrutiny. "Now how are you, Mister Devlin? This was an intense race, what are your thoughts coming out of it?" This was both a genuine attempt to see how the fatigued Josh was feeling while also acting as a ploy to possibly gauge who actually won the race. Hopefully it pays off.

Josh Devlin