Mauville Racing Grounds' facility was enormous indeed; while the office space had little signage due to its size being on the smaller side, the property where the action took place, just outside the city proper, was enormous. Luckily, Josh had experienced staff who knew the facility well, and signage that could guide challengers to the correct location. The voice of KEVIN STROUSER, Josh's scheduler, echoed over the Gym's loudspeakers:

"Challenger Cain Stille , please report to Sector 2. Challenger Stille, to Sector 2. Thank you!"

Provided the challenger found ample signage, he would see the brash and tall ACE SHEEKE, already seated on Ares, a black-scaled Charizard that seethed aggression and competitiveness; the timid and short ERON IUNIS, on Sirocco the Shiny Hisuian Braviary; and the reserved ARAVAN ESCHER, at the complex-looking reins of Xira the Yanmega. Lastly, he would see the Gym Leader Josh Devlin , making adjustments to the saddle strapped to Verte, a Flygon that started chatting up a storm with the challenger's. With three buzzing Pokémon flitting about, this was going to be one noisy race.

All his Gym Trainers and their Pokémon were ready and raring to go, particularly Eron, who had been waiting for Josh to acquire a flying psychic-type for quite some time. "Cain, correct? Welcome to Mauville Racing Grounds. I'm Gym Leader Devlin, but please, call me Josh," he greeted his challenger. "It's not too often that Verte here gets to stretch his wings in a race like this. This should be a fun one!" he enthusiastically added. The three Gym Trainers introduced themselves and Josh's Pokémon they were borrowing, one by one.

The gallery surrounding Sector 2's LOOP CROSS course was full, small as the stands were. It was titled as such for its two loop-de-loops and long, lateral turns greater than 360 degrees. While those would take precision to enter and exit, as well as stamina to maintain, there was plenty of room in between them for extremely speedy Pokémon to shine. The wind was picking up, with clouds rapidly rolling in from the west. Weather could be an unexpected factor.

Josh went over the rules of the challenge, required by Hoenn League statute. "See that arch near the starting line, with the long and skinny monitor on it? We line up behind that, and the countdown will be on that display. It will sound four horns and display '3, 2, 1, GO'. On 'GO', our Pokémon will start flying. Pokémon are not allowed to use moves like Quick Attack or Extreme Speed on the first lap. After the first lap, though, use them as much as your Pokémon can handle! Beat me to the finish line after three laps, or otherwise prove to me you can handle the pressure of split second decision making, and the Hoenn League Quick Badge is yours."

Once he had finished explaining the rules, Josh climbed atop the insectile dragon, zipping himself inside his cocoon saddle - a very important safety measure when flying on any Pokémon at great speed. "Good luck to you, and remember: with great speed comes great responsibility." Josh reminded his challenger as he slammed his helmet's visor down. If Cain were to glance toward him, the challenger would see a laser focused expression, almost like he was in a zen state as he held Verte's reins in anticipation of the green light.

You will have 8 ranks to distribute among three skills. No more than 5 ranks can be assigned to any one skill.

• SPEED: This represents how fast your Pokémon can travel. Each rank of Speed adds 10 to all your rolls, and an additional 10 to rolls on Speed-based Obstacles.
  
• ENDURANCE: This represents how well a Pokémon can navigate difficult terrain, and affects how often a Pokémon can use its Boost during a race. Your Pokémon can use its Boost a number of times equal to its number of ranks in Endurance (min. 1). Each rank of Endurance reduces the Target Number of Endurance-based Obstacles by 20.
• REACTION: This represents a Pokémon’s cornering ability. Each rank of Reaction reduces the Target Number of Reaction-based Obstacles by 20.

In the OOC notes of your next post, please note your Pokémon's distribution of skills.

You do not need to roll after your next post, but you will need to [ roll ] twice at the end of every post mid-challenge. This roll will be modified according to your Pokémon's skill ranks.

Example: If a player rolls a 60 on a post involving running down a straightaway as fast as possible atop a Pokémon with four ranks in Speed, their effective roll will be 140.

The Leader's next post will include a "mod post" that depicts the course's first Obstacle: a prompt that presents a challenge for the racers to overcome. Each Obstacle will include the following information:

Target Number: This is the number the racers need to roll at or above to overcome the Obstacle without penalty. While it is uncommon, an Obstacle can have multiple Target Numbers.

Intended Skill: This is the Skill that will apply to the Obstacle. It can be Speed, Endurance, or Reaction.

Special: Any extra rules specific to this Obstacle are located here.

Example Obstacle: The track starts out with a bang--a sharp, 135-degree left turn mere tens of meters from the starting line. The width of the turn itself makes recovering from a misjudged angle easier, but the track quickly narrows up again afterward. A guardrail on the outside keeps Pokémon from sliding off the course, but there is no such guardrail on the inside, and there’s a shallow stream that looks time-consuming for non-Water Pokémon to climb out of!

Target Number: 105 (Reaction)

Special: Track Points lost as a result of non-Water Pokémon rolling beneath this Obstacle's Target Number are multiplied by 1.5, rounded up.

After the players make their rolls, the Target Number is deducted from the player's roll, and the difference becomes the player's Track Points (TP) for the round. 100 TP corresponds to roughly one second of time differential. The race will consist of three laps, with three Obstacles per lap. After the ninth Obstacle, total Track Points will determine finishing order. The QUICK BADGE is awarded if at least one of the following conditions are met:

1) The challenger finishes the race in 1st or 2nd place.
2) The challenger finishes the race ahead of the Gym Leader.
3) The challenger otherwise demonstrates their mastery of the tenets of Mauville Gym, at the Leader's discretion.

It was a long-standing tradition, going all the way back to when Josh was in the Minor League, for him to use the same Pokémon species as the challenger. While they likely did not had the exact same capabilities as one another, it would at least create the appearance of a fair contest. Verte conversed with Summer at the starting line before roaring his wings briefly, making the Gym Leader's hair stand on end. It made the vicinity sound more like a motorsports speedway than a Pokémon race course! While designed with Pokémon in mind, some of the courses could be used for motorsports if the Leader could be convinced. Josh only acknowledged the return of Cain's "good luck" with a subtle nod.

He was locked in.

Once the five were lined up, three images of the legendary Pokémon Raikou at full gallop appeared on the banner monitor above the starting arch. Behind them was a "GET READY" prompt, Josh and his Gym Trainers tensing their legs in anticipation. The first of the three images began to fade away, with it sounding a loud squawk as a simultaneous aural warning that the race was about to begin. A second, then a third followed. When the final image of Raikou disappeared, the prompt changed to a green "GO" alongside a longer and higher-pitched squawk. Josh squeezed his Flygon's sides, and with a noisy buzz that kicked up dirt all around him, the dragon was in the air. The feedback made it all the more challenging for the Gym Leader to remain steady, but such was the price of controlling a mount capable of making such zippy turns!

After each posting round, a prompt describing the upcoming section of the track will be posted. These prompts may highlight different sections of the course on each lap. You will react to the prompt, then [ roll ] twice. For the first lap, the Leader's rolls will be capped at 130 before modifiers.

Prompt: Subtle curves pepper the opening stretch. If there were no other racers to deal with, the curves were so slight that one could coast straight ahead, making it easy to get up to speed! With the heavy traffic that was typical of the start of any race, though, finding that ideal line would be easier said than done! Furthermore, building up speed was important, as the first of several vertical loops was marked by a pair of yellow, triangle-shaped signs at the abrupt end of the road beneath them! Much like a roller coaster, the racers would briefly fly upside down before diving onto the adjacent section of the course to their right!

Target Number: 125 (Speed)

Special: A Pokémon that rolls beneath the Target Number by more than 30 will instead result in a penalty of 150 TP from the Pokémon not completing the loop properly.

Josh, too, wore earplugs while soaring on his buzzing Flygon; with how big the dragon's wings were, it was little wonder they were so loud. The last serious challenger he had on this course had used an Altaria, forcing the Gym Leader to use his own. Their bodies were designed for such aerial maneuvers, their cloud-like wings letting them smoothly tilt around the vertical loop. Verte's was far from optimized for such a maneuver, meant to make sudden movements while remaining at a set angle of attack. The constant vibration only made things worse, Josh having to expend more energy pulling back and down on the green, insectile Pokémon to get him to invert.

The inversion itself was scary, the Flygon having to tilt his wings at odd angles to maintain lift with his unique method of flight. He had once made small talk with John Sullivan about the intricacies of insect flight while out in the field together. He could already see sweat oozing through the Pokémon's scales, Josh's heart jumping as his mount briefly lost control. The force of the sudden momentum shift slammed him about in his cocoon. Redoubling his focus, he more firmly held Verte's reins, correcting the dragon's course and exiting the loop. If it was this much of a struggle for him, how much so would it be for Cain?

Most dragons were noisy in flight. ERON IUNIS' BRAVIARY squawked loudly to make his presence known. ACE SHEEKE's CHARIZARD roared to get the gallery pumped. Even their loud cries were drowned out by the menacing drone of a YANMEGA and two FLYGON buzzing, hardly needing to accelerate to get to their top speed on their nearly invisible wings. Cain Stille and Josh Devlin dueled fiercely for the early lead on their approach to the course's first of two loops, which would be difficult for the insectile dragons to maneuver.

With powerful flaps of their wings, the CHARIZARD and BRAVIARY behind the Gym Leader and challenger used their momentum to glide upward. The bodies of ARAVAN ESCHER's YANMEGA and the two FLYGON were not as well-equipped to make sweeping, vertical turns, their less-streamlined frames catching substantially more drag than the fire-type and psychic-type. Near the top of the loop, Josh Devlin 's FLYGON began to destabilize from its wings slowing down while inverted. The skilled pilot was able to recover, zipping forward alongside the blue-haired rider at the reins of the enormous insect.

Cain Stille and his FLYGON, though they lost some momentum, came out of the loop in first place. His lead didn't last long, though -- the black dragon zoomed around him with a bright tail that burned taller and hotter than it did on the starting line. The challenger found himself a close second behind the fierce-looking redhead. Were he to glance back, he would find himself quite far ahead of the Gym Leader.

Prompt: Shortly after the end of the loop enabled gravity to propel the racers forward perhaps past their normal top speeds, one of the most challenging curves on Josh's entire property loomed ahead. Marked by green flags, it was a spiraling, uphill, right turn that lasted for two complete circles. Not only would this test the strength of the flying Pokémon to maintain a sweeping turn for so long, it would be a test of stamina for the riders, having to fly at steep bank angles for an extended period of time!

Target Number: 140 (Endurance)

Special: None

Being one of Josh's favorite courses on the property, easily in his top five, Josh knew the spiraling turn's angle well... on a normal Pokémon. A strong tingling sensation overcame the Gym Leader's left side, Verte squinting as he churned his left wing harder and faster. It looked a bit strange seeing his perspective tilt not nearly as much as it did with his other Pokémon. That tingling sense faded as numbness crawled up his left leg. His cocoon saddle would keep him from falling off, but speed control would be a bit tougher coming out of the curve.

Using one of the flags toward the end of the curve as a visual cue, Josh pulled his Flygon out of the curve toward the its end, catching his breath when the course became straight again. The dragon-type's vibration made that way rougher than with any of his other Pokémon; it was a reminder not to take a Flygon trainer onto this course a second time!

The long curve, spanning two full rotations, was hard on most Pokémon. It was even harder for insect and insect-like Pokémon, for they generated lift in a completely different way that was not conducive to making turns like this one. ARAVAN ESCHER, not confident in his YANMEGA's capacity to make long, sweeping turns, tugged back on the dragonfly's reins a little. They flew to the top of the course's bounds, losing enough speed to make maintaining control easier. Josh Devlin 's numbing leg made it difficult for him, too, unable to feel just how much he had shifted and destabilizing his FLYGON's flight. A quick recovery maneuver saved them from being disqualified, but they found themselves not far from the red flags marking the outside.

ACE SHEEKE's CHARIZARD and ERON IUNIS' BRAVIARY struggled, too. The black, psychic bird had nearly tilted to a dangerous angle from its rider's desire to make a move on the challenger. A roar from the black dragon and a panicked yelp from ACE SHEEKE reinforced just how unpredictable racing could be; whether due to being overworked in the turn or a sheer stroke of bad luck, the CHARIZARD's wing muscle briefly cramped up, causing them to drift past the red flags. Though the pain quickly subsided, it come with not only a loss of distance, but also an out-of-bounds penalty. A single challenge had completely upended the standings, Cain Stille in first place from being the only one to cleanly navigate the double circle.

Prompt: Following the long turn was a straightforward but narrow strip for Pokémon to get up to speed in anticipation of a loop similar to the one at the start of the course. What made this one different was its end was twisted, as marked by the reversal of the colors of flags marking course bounds. The red flags marking the outside border of the track were now on the inside, meaning the racers would need to fly inverted for a period of time until the colors reverted to normal. Halfway through the inverted section was a right-angle turn. Those who relied upon the mini-map provided to them before the race began would be in for a rude awakening, as what appeared to be a left turn on the map was actually a right turn due to flying upside down!

Target Number: 130 (Reaction)

Special: None

As much as Josh enjoyed the LOOP CROSS course for its two vertical 360s, gravity letting Pokémon exceed their top speeds quite a bit when coming out of them, the inversion on the back of the course was tough on his body. He couldn't imagine how hard it was on Verte; unlike most of his dragons, the Flygon struggled with flying upside down.

Rather than remain steady like other dragons, or even his bird Pokémon, Verte banked back and forth to try to get as much lift as he could through normal flight. Josh was sweating beneath his rattling helmet, able to tell his mount was working extra hard to beat his wings harder upward than downward. The sensation of falling into the "top" of his cocoon saddle made it even more difficult for the Gym Leader to maintain control. It was working for the time being, but he and his Flygon had to be careful. If ACE SHEEKE and Ares passed him, that was okay. They would make up for it once boost laps started!

The already loud aerial race became even louder as Cain Stille 's and Josh Devlin 's FLYGON, as well as ARAVAN ESCHER's YANMEGA, were forced to work harder to keep themselves aloft while blood rushed to their trainers' heads. Cain may have been able to feel his skin tingling as he led the way around the corner, likely able to hear the bug's droning wings as the amateur oceanographer closed the gap.

Rocking back and forth seemed to work for the Gym Leader, the FLYGON's wake currents proving to be a real challenge for ERON IUNIS' BRAVIARY and ACE SHEEKE's CHARIZARD to fly through. The two Pokémon soared dangerously close to the ground to evade the moving air -- a maneuver that proved costly when they had to sharply "descend" to remain within course bounds as part of the final loop that set racers right side up again. Worn down after the sudden vertical swerves, the BRAIVARY and CHARIZARD accelerated more slowly than they had off the line. By the time they reached their top flying speed, they were significantly behind the more nimble Pokémon in front of them. If they could keep up their speed, they would make up time, but it was a tall ask.

As the field crossed the starting arch for the first time, an announcer-like voice clip boomed from the scoreboard's speakers:

[player]https://file.garden/ZDeuoB-J4RNQd5aY/gyms/master/You_Got_Boost_Power.mp3[/player]

"YOU GOT BOOST POWER!"

You Got Boost Power! Speed-increasing moves, such as QUICK ATTACK, AGILITY, and EXTREME SPEED are now allowed. Pokémon will be able to use such speed-increasing moves a number of times up to their Endurance ranks for the rest of the race. Speed-increasing moves will grant you ADVANTAGE on Speed-based Obstacles for the posting round, meaning you will [ roll ] four times instead of two for that post and ignore the lowest two rolls. For the second lap of the race, the Leader's rolls will be capped at 150, before modifiers are applied.

Beware! Taking tight turns and stamina-draining Obstacles at high speeds can result in dire consequences, and may impose DISADVANTAGE on Endurance-based and Reaction-based Obstacles, meaning the highest two of the four rolls will be ignored. If the lowest two of the four rolls would still pass the Obstacle, Track Position for that Obstacle will be instead calculated based on the highest two rolls.

Prompt: After the course's opening loop, Pokémon and racers would get a chance to catch their breath between now and the long, spiraling upward turn: there was a long, straight section of track that was ideal for Pokémon to regain their stamina, or for those who were daring, the chance to put on a burst of speed. Better hit the brakes before the long turn, though!

Target Number: 0 (Speed)

Special: None

The moment Josh crossed the starting line, he jabbed at Verte's sides with both his heels, ready for the Flygon to floor it. The insectile dragon's wings grew shrill, but did not speed the duo up as much as he had liked. It had hit him like the walls of one of his overland courses.

Josh had forgotten to teach his Flygon Tailwind after returning from the battles in Dewford.

Now realizing how much of a disadvantage he would be at, he stopped holding back. If he wanted to make this race interesting, he would have to rely on his strong fundamentals. Squinting, the Champion held Verte's reins steady, his right arm tense for when the spiraling curve came. If he couldn't outspeed Cain, then he'd have to out-finesse him!

Insectile wings roared to a shrill pitch as the first boost lap began, ARAVAN ESCHER's hair standing on end as his YANMEGA tilted its wings forward. He and Cain Stille showed restraint; while there was an opportunity to truly let loose, the challenger thought it better to conserve his FLYGON's energy -- and his own. Perhaps he had slowed down a bit too much, the sound of buzzing behind him growing steadily louder, reaching peak volume when the narrow, long-winged insect zipped past. If he continued to coast, Josh Devlin and his FLYGON would threaten to pass him, as well.

The contenders up front would have another obstacle soon: heat. ERON IUNIS leaned in on his HISUIAN BRAVIARY, the black-feathered bird harnessing its mind and whipping up a strong TAILWIND behind it. With how close the two were to one another, the wind would catch the heat of ACE SHEEKE's CHARIZARD's tail, which glowed brightly with purple dragonfire that fueled its DRAGON DANCE. While neither had intended it, the combination of speed-boosting techniques blew a sparse cloud of purple embers forward, making racers sweat more than they already were!

Prompt: After the long, spiraling curve, the second half of the course's titular obstacle loomed ahead. This one was a loop much like the first, but rather than a vertical one, it was a horizontal one, the course's bounds tilting teams such that their right sides would be facing the ground! The straightaway beforehand had given them plenty of speed to build the needed momentum for the loop. While it would give riders and Pokémon an amazing view of the gallery below, that might serve as a distraction; a distraction that threatened to break the concentration needed to maintain sideways momentum!

Target Number: 140 (Reaction)

Special: Boost use does NOT impose disadvantage on this Obstacle.