The Z-Move's breath-stealing speed shook the Champion to his core, not from the terrain's bumpiness, but from Toralf's impossibly fast gait. For the few seconds that the burst lasted, it felt like being in an intense earthquake, every hair on his body standing on end from both the static and from being tossed about like a salt shaker.

Josh was closing in on the competition ahead of him, but was racing on razor-thin margins. Even a brush with an obstacle or another competitor would be race-ending, Toralf's heartbeat an indicator of the Raichu running on fumes. "Stay to the right, Toralf," Josh huffed, shakily reining the electric Pokémon away from the inside as he came down from the adrenaline high of the fastest charge his Pokémon as a whole were capable of. He could not only hear his own heavy breaths, but those of his mount, too.

As Josh Devlin 's RAICHU came down from the adrenaline rush of their Z-Move, others in the field saw the opportunity to regain their lost time. With great confidence in their partners' speed, ERON IUNIS and ARAVAN ESCHER leaned in, coaxing QUICK ATTACKS from their JOLTEON and PURUGLY. The red-headed Gym trainer, ACE SHEEKE, dug his heels into his HOUNDOOM's sides, TRAILBLAZING a path along the inside line in a heroic effort to keep pace with the faster electric Pokémon in front of him.

zachary stellar , sensing the threat of the Gym Leader passing him, raised his TERA ORB above him, its TERASTAL ENERGY morphing the surfing rodent into a PSYCHIC-TYPE. Their greatly elevated speed squeezed his body with every turn after the jump, at times making him feel like he was being wrung out. Much like Josh Devlin , he would be able to feel the ALOLAN RAICHU's heartbeat accelerate after the PSYCHIC explosion propelled them forward into a solid second place. Were Zachary to glance toward the scoreboard, he would find that two more portraits were flashing red: those of ERON IUNIS, and himself.

Prompt: By now, the racers were probably used to the course getting narrow on the backstretch. What they weren't used to, though, was handling the half-pipe-like mound on the outside of the hairpin curve leading to the home stretch while at the heightened speeds of boost laps. Their experience would give them a good idea of how to handle the Obstacle: play it safe and brake around the turn, or take a risk and try to use the dirt mound to their advantage in navigating the 180 without losing momentum? This would be the last real opportunity for a major position shift to occur. Better make it count!

Target Number: 130 (Reaction)

Special: None

Gleaming brilliantly in his Terastal body, Hermes looked excited to show his true colors. That Raichu was a speed demon! He'd have to ask for a turn clinging to the psychic surfer's back. While it wasn't what he was used to, it looked very fun still! That would be for another day, and preferably a cooler one. Josh had to keep his focus on the course, and on the Jolteon behind him.

Feeling the thumping of the electric vermin's heartbeat, Josh loosed his hold on his partner a smidge. "If we cut this tight, we'll be able to hold them off," he coached the Raichu, showers of sparks from his cheeks representing the Pokémon's trust in the Champion. Not even using the half-pipe, the duo cut the corner tightly, using their quick turning prowess to slide along its inside more tightly than he knew his Jolteon could.

The field of five racers took two different approaches to the turn. Some, such as ERON IUNIS' JOLTEON, ACE SHEEKE's HOUNDOOM, and Josh Devlin 's RAICHU, pumped the brakes to round the hairpin turn as tightly as they could. They were trainers that trusted in their Pokémon's acceleration and ability to recover from mistakes. While this wasn't a traditional mistake, the speed lost from braking was similar in concept.

The two in front of them took a more daring approach: running or surfing up the outside of the corner, using the downslope to maintain or even exceed their normal top speeds. With a perfectly timed PSYCHIC explosion beneath its surfboard, zachary stellar 's ALOLAN RAICHU propelled them forward fast enough for his clothes to whip about in the harsh winds that came with racing Pokémon.

ARAVAN ESCHER's PURUGLY was determined to hold him off. With great precision, he slowed the normal-type for a split second to offset the relative positions of the moguls, galloping over them as though they were flat ground. Both of them desperately wanted to win, and the challenger was closing the gap quickly. It was unclear if the big cat's lead would hold, for there was not a small amount of real estate left before the finish line!

Prompt: The racers tearing away at the track's loose dirt had created a flat and straight path in the center of the formerly rough terrain leading to the starting arch. There was little risk of an accident on this straight sprint to the finish! Now was the best opportunity for the Pokémon and trainers to give it everything they had!

Target Number: 0 (Speed)

Special: None

As close as Toralf was getting to Hermes, all Josh could do was smile, feeling his Raichu's exhausted heart thump. The big, electric rodent needed a long rest after the exertion of his Z-Move. His friend, too, had pushed Hermes a lot farther than he thought the psychic-type specialist would. He had studied the precepts of Mauville Gym and taken them to heart. The two were truly an inseparable team, with a competitive spirit that had seen them to a stellar performance.

"Keep it steady, Toralf! We're almost there," Josh cheered for his Raichu, whose gallop was unsteady at best coming into the home stretch. Rather than try to outrun the Jolteon behind him, he would try to cut Blinky off with every move she and her white-haired rider made.

The five teams put forth their greatest effort yet in the race's waning moments, ACE SHEEKE far behind. The hotheaded, brash boy squeezed his HOUNDOOM's sides sharply, even the hardened dark-type dog squealing as he began to TRAILBLAZE a burning path toward the finish line. He was gaining on ERON IUNIS and Josh Devlin fast, the nature of the HOUNDOOM's speed burst and the way the rider's hair blew in the wind making it look like it was on fire. Time was on the electric-types' side, able to just barely hold off the sprinting canine long enough to cross the line before he did.

The PURUGLY's legs became stubby blurs, the plump feline dashing faster than its species had a right to upon ARAVAN ESCHER's order to QUICK ATTACK. A red web crawled across the big cat's eyes in an applause-inducing role reversal from the blue-haired gym trainer and zachary stellar 's amped-up, AGILITY-fueled ALOLAN RAICHU. In quite the spectacle, the mouse was the one chasing after the cat, the TERASTAL Pokémon sparkling in hot purple-pink trails. Both were evenly matched, the PURUGLY holding onto its lead to the very end. Were zachary stellar to glance back after finishing, he would see he finished ahead of the other three by quite a large margin.

Cameras flashed from the stands as the top three finishers stood upon the podium. Stage right, Josh Devlin and his RAICHU. Across from him, zachary stellar holding onto the back of his ALOLAN RAICHU. And stage center, atop the first place step, was ARAVAN ESCHER and his PURUGLY. All three were presented medals for their achievements, the psychic specialist's photo taken to be attached to the report of his successful Gym Challenge.

"You two were fantastic out there," Josh said to Zachary, walking off his third-place step. "I remember fighting Hermes on the beach and how hard he was to catch, even with my fastest water Pokémon. Amazingly, you two have gotten even faster since then. You could seriously make a career out of racing, what with a Pokémon like that." Competing against one another on the circuit's most challenge tracks... what a dream. "That kind of drive and enthusiasm will see you far in the Pokémon League."

Reaching into one of his pockets, Josh presented Zachary with a closed fist. Opening it up, the Hoenn League QUICK BADGE was in the palm of the now-visible hand. "This is yours now. For your second-place finish today, you have earned Mauville Gym's badge. You and your Raichu shall be enshrined in the Gym's list of Qualified Riders as champions." Though he had given the speech many, many times, it hit differently giving it to such a close friend.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Josh guided Zachary back to the Gym's entrance. "Not now, but some day soon, I'd love a run on Hermes myself. What say you?"