As Ghost got the attention of SHELLY SPIEL, the secretary on duty inside the stormy-looking Mauville Gym office, she would direct the guest to the Leader's current location. "He's in his office. Take the elevator to the third floor and head straight through the double doors on the far end of the hall."

Provided the Ranger could follow the directions, he would find the double doors unlocked. On their other side would be a large office space that had long ago been built to house a mainframe computer. Now, it featured a large desk with two chairs in front, a bookcase on the east side, and in the southwest corner, shelves full of Raikou memorabilia. Posters, trading cards, plush, figurines... the list went on. Overlooking the north windows was a Ride-On plush of the Johto Beast, its purple thundercloud still warm from someone sitting on it recently.

On the other side of the computer desk would be Josh himself, a saddled Glaceon asleep nearby. Inky's presence kept the office at a cooler temperature than the rest of the air-conditioned building. "Ghost!" Josh waved from behind the desk. "Long time no see! What brings you back to the Gym?" Pinned to his shirt was a RAINBOW FEATHER that glinted in the light.

So it wasn't anything special after all; Ghost just wanted to reconnect. That was fair. "Certainly," Josh acknowledged the request, letting Ghost take a seat in front of the desk. Realizing the nature of their conversation would likely be all relaxing and no business, the Gym Leader dragged the giant Raikou toward his half of the desk and sat astride it, holding the tiger's felt reins.

The wind was from the air vent above Ghost, blowing cold air on top of him as the air conditioning kicked in. "They're... related to one another. I could tell the story of it all, but... would you want to watch my title match with Kyle? That will explain a lot of how both happened." Provided Ghost agreed, Josh would dismount from the plush Raikou to turn his monitor sideways and get the video playing. Once he had the playback started, he would hop back on the soft replica of the Beast.

Josh saw Ghost break down into tears as the child-like Gym Leader sat atop the giant Raikou stuffie, holding its reins like he was speeding across the land. "This is just a giant plush toy, Ghost - it's not a real Raikou," he educated the Ranger. "But yes, I did battle him before.... before he passed away. That's what this video is -- a recording of our match." Josh's smile would grow as his team clashed with a Marshadow that rode upon Entei's back. The speed of the Pokémon involved were almost impossible to follow, even for the Master of Faster himself. As fast as they were, they could not keep up with Entei's legendary speed.

The video itself began to waver as the Great One materialized from the ashes of Entei's Sacred Fire, Kyle's voice changing out of nowhere as the Patron spoke through their Avatar. "I got to battle against most of Kyle's legendary Pokémon. It was a match any candidate would have killed for."

The emotion in the room was running high. The phrase "rest in peace" made Josh shed a tear thinking about it, too. In his eyes, it was no coincidence. The Top Champion passed down Swift to him because he knew the hour of his death. Or was it death at all for someone allied with a Patron that could cheat death itself?

It was for that reason Josh believed that rumors of the Emergent's death were greatly exaggerated.

"I don't think he's truly gone," he voiced his inner thoughts. "We've done an extensive search for his body around the area he was last seen, and no one was able to locate it. Given his bond with Ho-oh, I think he's out there somewhere. I have faith him him."

Ghost's question was one Josh had been asked many times. "I..." he trailed off, removing the RAINBOW FEATHER from his shirt and holding its quill in his fingers. "I was incredibly nervous. We set the expectation that I would be battling Entei. The Great One's trial was not in the script at all." He did flip the script a little at Ghost's final question about their facial expressions. "Which Champion? Kyle and I are both Champions," he chuckled.

The Gym Leader raised his right hand, giving Ghost a good look at the felt reins attached to the plush. They were even a realistic length. It was clear a lot of care and detail went into the one-of-a-kind plush, Josh having had it commissioned not long after the birthday he got to first ride Swift when the Beast was under Kyle's command. "Just Josh is fine! Champion is just a title, nothing more. You've always known me as just Josh. Nothing about that's going to change." Sure, he was one of Hoenn's greats now, but he was also a friend to the green-haired young man.

Josh's eyes began to tear up when Ghost asked him about using his Raikou to race challengers. "That's... the hardest part, Ghost. It's not that he can't or won't. It's that... I can't. My body won't let me right now. Did you read about how almost every high-profile figure in Hoenn went missing for two days?" he asked, referring to the events of the Prismatic Penitentiary. "I was one of the people captured there, and during the escape, my left arm was broken. Thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, the League was able to reconstruct my arm. I'm through a month and a half of rehab, but I'm still nowhere near full strength. They say I won't be until November. And it's depressing."

Upon being asked to show Swift, ashes dripped from the feather's quill, blown away from the Ride-On Raikou by the Gym's ventilation system. "If you want to saddle the Raikou with me, I would love to... when I'm feeling better. I'll mess up my arm if I go any faster than a trot. But if you just want to see him... then we can head downstairs."

Josh sighed at Ghost's comment about how he had been treated. "You have no idea how much we were physically and emotionally abused in there. The wardens toyed with the lives of our Pokémon." He pulled up the leg of one side of his shorts to show a scar and darkened skin around it that never completely returned to its natural color. "Anyway, it's not that I can't ride Pokémon at all. It's that I have limitations on what kinds of Pokémon I can hop onto, and how fast I can go on them. It's mostly horse, dog, and psychic Pokémon I'm approved for. Nothing flying yet, and cat Pokémon I can only take up to a trot until my arm heals more. That's what bothers me so much. I've always wanted to race Raikou. I have the Raikou now, and now my body prevents me from doing so. It never ends..." he trailed off, lost in his frustration for a moment before sliding down from the plush and hanging its reins back up.

"Sometimes I wonder who will even write my biography," Josh pondered as he led Ghost to the elevator and to the first floor. "It won't be me; I'm no writer. I couldn't write a short story if I tried. I tried journaling once. That lasted for about three weeks."

The blast of hot air was unpleasant to the Gym Leader as he cracked open the sliding door leading to the Gym. "As promised... behold, my favorite Pokémon." Holding the RAINBOW FEATHER in his right hand, Josh drew the Sign, electrified ash hanging in front of him in the rough shape of a lightning bolt. The ash coalesced into the form of a monochrome Beast, his thundercloud barely moving in the nearly still air. In the Gym Leader's eyes, the thundercloud was a saddle beckoning riders to occupy it.



"Ghost... meet Swift."

The black-and-white Beast was emotionless in front of Ghost, though Josh was far from it. "It was recovering from my deepest, darkest moment that brought this to be." The Gym Leader gave his ashen Pokémon's face a cuddle, his hair standing on end as the Raikou loosed a purr that sounded like loud rumbles of thunder. The imagery of a grown man meeting his childhood idol could have been heartwarming for Ghost. At the mention of wanting to saddle up, Swift crouched, as if goading Josh to do so.

The Gym Leader frowned. "Ghost, I wish I could take you up on that. But I can't. My arm's too messed up to go any faster than a trot on him. And I'm sure you wanted the full experience. Unless you're okay with that, I'll have to take a rain check. But one of these days, Ghost... we'll speed across the land together. I swear it." Where one frustration ended, another began. Such seemed to be his life. But when the day came, it would be glorious: shooting into the clouds and flying amongst them before striking to the ground on one of the most destructive lightning bolts Hoenn had ever seen. Until then, he had to stop putting his entire focus on taking care of others and start taking care of the person who needed it:

Himself.