It was a forest the Leader knew all too well. Both Leaders, for Josh had also traversed it during a Gym Challenge. She would have the advantage there, though; her Luxray had a skillset more adept to cramped quarters, as opposed to Josh's Shiny one meant for chasedowns on the open highway.

He had to end the chase now. Before things got out of hand. With the streets near the forest's entrance closed, this was his big chance. There was nothing but wide-open street between him and the child. Leaning as low as he could on the electric lion, Josh dug hard into his mount's flanks, his Z-GLOVE and the QUICKINIUM-Z hidden beneath the Pokémon's fur glowing a brilliant yellow.

As Josh fired his Pokémon's Z-Move, the duo ready to go hypersonic, the Top Champion's voice rang between his ears.

"Are you ready for your judgment?"

He had already ordered the move, and the Luxray was already accelerating, intoxicated by the adrenaline rush of Z-Energy coursing through his innards. "Stop, Blitz! Stop!!" Tugging on the reins with all his might, he would attempt to turn his ultrafast Pokémon to run wide of Eris. The attack wouldn't be completely harmless even that wide, though it would reduce the electricity and physicality of the attack to near zero. The turning and braking flung Josh forward, sapping him of more strength than he would have liked for being on a Pokémon as fast as his Luxray was. 

The Great One's judgment was upon Josh, his precious RAINBOW FEATHER floating above Eris Halla . "Swift!" he called out, completely distracted by the feather's presence above the halted Luxray. He reined his own Luxray to a stop well past them, the electric cat's claws growing hot from the tremendous friction of their emergency stop. He turned around and rode toward Eris at a much more gentle pace.

Josh reached for the vessel containing his Beast. As he touched it, it disintegrated into ash. Ash that covered his glove. As he frantically attempted to wipe the glove clean, all it did was spread across his body like a virus.

And yet, Josh did not weep for the Raikou's loss. If Swift was the price of Eris understanding him once more, than so be it. But was Swift truly lost? His skin tingled the entire time, the ash laced with voltage that should have knocked him unconscious. And yet, it did not.

"...I have made a grave and selfish mistake," Josh admitted as he slid down from Blitz's back, frowning and full of self-remorse. "You aren't the person that has the lead I'm seeking. Do you need a hand getting back to the city?" he asked, being careful not to touch her with his static-filled body.

"Somehow, I think I know who you are. You're Eris, right?"

As Josh slid off Blitz's back, he felt the electric-type's static coursing through him. Static that reminded him of the weeks after Kyle passed Swift on to him. It felt a storm was coursing through him, as though he was holding the reins of a living lightning bolt crackling from the sky to the earth at incomprehensible speed. This ride, though, was far less than thrilling.

It was a harrowing journey from cloud to ground, the crashing bolt hurling him to the ground.

Once the Champion had stepped off his mount, that surge of adrenaline had turned as cold as the air on the far side of the storm's front. On one side, sizzling summer temperatures; on the other, a chilly, fall day. The electricity was part of Josh, and having it torn from within him left only a sense of isolation. One so real that he began to shiver as Eris Halla insisted the Gym Leader was a liar.

The sense of isolation manifested itself physically. His legs stopped working entirely, his knees unable to bear his full weight. The vulnerable hero who once called himself the Determined, then called himself the Signer, was so paralyzed with his own emptiness that his limbs were frozen to the rocky ground as though it were ice in the depths of Shoal Cave.

"I'm..." Josh trailed off. "I'm..." Even Blitz began to walk away from Josh, his frame getting smaller as the Luxray walked past Reiner and Eris. "Whatever it is you think I'm lying about, I swear to you... I'm not. Eris... help me... I... can't move..." His four limbs shook, Josh unable to maintain even a crawling stance. All he could do was wince as he painfully tilted his head toward Eris, laying on the dusty ground belly first.

In the real world, Josh had once made Eris nearly helpless, only her sacred partner saving her life with a discharge of MYSTICAL POWER. In his sleep, he was the one that was helpless. At the mercy of the one he had brutally attacked for even the faintest clue that let him pursue the god he wanted to be a friend of. It was a folly that had destroyed both their lives. He couldn't bear to see it happening again, but there was little he could do about it.

He had to put his trust in Eris Halla .

Even at knifepoint, his resolve remained. He was going to make this right.

"...You know Isaac Merlo ?" Josh asked Eris. "He helped me out of so many jams before he became AQUA. He made me see the error of my ways. Without him, I would not be where I am today." Even as Reiner bore down upon Josh, threatening to tear into him with sharp fangs, he remained calm, yet pleading.

"I swear to you, I will not," he replied, his limbs still. His shoulders, still. His eyes, still, unblinking, and tired. Their red hue a clue of how badly he wanted his paralyzed body to just blink them. And yet, the only muscles he could move were those powering his jaws and voicebox. "It's all in your hands now... please Eris... please..."