Once Josh returned to the main hall of the floor, he heard Andrea Vaneau 's crying. "Awesome stuff! A little teamwork goes a long way... though I'm sure you remember that, with us earning the Tagteam Badge together! That should fit in the door on the far end," he pointed. Were Andrea to try opening the locked and chained door, she would be able to do so easily.

A spiraling staircase beyond the locked door would take the two down to another large hall, this one filled with wires sprawling out from the multi-level generator that the cosplayer and racer had at last reached the bottom level of. The massive device was a miraculous work of alien architecture that operated at efficiencies unlike anything Hoenn had to offer. "These readings... I bet this single generator could power all of Mauville City..." he gasped.

Above most of the room was a storm cloud similar to the one he had run into on the level above. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled from it, though not a drop of water dripped from above. "These are just like the ones upstairs. Swift can jump into these clouds and fly within them," Josh explained. "Out of all the capabilities I thought a Raikou had, flying sure wasn't on my list!"

Were the two to explore the rest of the hall, they would find electronic doors to the south and east... and those doors would not budge by force. "No power. Might need to play with the generator some. See if we can figure out a way to direct power to these doors," the Leader suggested, listening for any hostile Pokémon. If Andrea had sensitive hearing, she might be able to pick up on some crackling coming from beyond the south door...

"It makes sense when you put it that way," Josh replied, thinking about it. If the Raikou's flight was only limited to where storm clouds were present, was it true flight? Even so, it would be incredibly useful... once his arm had the strength to withstand riding the Beast mid-lightning strike. "That's quite the tale. If it's on eBook, I might have to grab it and read it the next time I have to fly out of region." As convenient as riding Pokémon was, there were few, if any, that had the stamina to cross oceans. Riding was fun, but his thighs wouldn't be able to stand being in the saddle for hours at a time, particularly at the blistering speeds a Dragonite was capable of.

Circling the main generator, Josh found a series of levers on its back side, their text in a Megalopolan script he could not understand. "Think I found the control panel, but it's not labeled in a language I know," he relayed to Andrea, who was soaring above the room looking for clues. "Only one way to find out, and that's by moving some of them."

Many of the combinations Josh tried didn't change much, other than make a few crackling noises. One, though, charged the thundercloud above them, making a boom so loud that the noise rung in even Josh's ears used to thunder. The entire room was illuminated by electrical arcs, its lowest level covered with them and making its ground impassible.

Were Andrea to be on the correct side, she might notice a light above the door turn from red to green...

Josh breathed a huge sigh of relief upon hearing Andrea's announcement. It was one of the reasons he had come to the Thunderhead Ruins. "You did? That's awesome! Now we won't have to go all the way to the bottom!" Not yet, anyway. When Josh was at full strength, he would find himself back down here again. "Be there shortly! Swift, jump it!"

With a leap toward the black cloud above, the Raikou latched onto it, then gently let go once he was above the south entrance. There was no way the young man's arm could handle a ride on a lightning strike -- the one that left Josh stunned when he was at full strength. The most memorable part of his first experience with Swift when he was under the Emergent's command.

Peering inside the storage room, he could not believe his eyes. "This is an unreal amount of Quickinium-Z," he added, wide-eyed. "I'm gonna take a few extras to future-proof. Have you thought about grabbing a few for yourself? I'm sure some of your Pokémon know Quick Attack and could take advantage of it."

Once one or both had taken their fair share, Josh would lead the way back up, giving Andrea the choice to ride into the clouds with him or rely on her Iron Jugulis to cross the bottom level coated with electric death. "Couldn't have done it without you," he gave the cosplayer some appreciation. "But I don't think we can make it any deeper into the ruins without Swift and I both being at full strength. See that small gap in the ceiling, where the clouds are?" be pointed to the east side, which was open but covered in horrific electricity that might overload even electric-types. "The only way I can think of to get past that with the door open is riding the cloud. And one lightning strike would probably rip my arm apart as it is."

If she allowed it, Josh would give Andrea a gentle pat on the shoulder, though he would have to awkwardly reach down to do so. "Let's head back to Hoenn."