Aslan, the king of Josh's pride, was dead. His body had been miraculously recovered, and his Poké Ball was to be on display in the Gym Leader's office once the coronation was over. There would be time for mourning later. Today was more important. It was today that new leaders of the pride would be selected for coronation. Nuka, a Litleo, remained close to Josh as her older pridemates were on the prowl in the prairie grasses of Route 111's savannahs. It was an ideal place for Pyroar to hunt, and many prides of wilds made the place their hunting ground. "Do your best out there!" Josh encouraged his nearby pride before they dispersed.

For whoever impressed Josh the most today would become the royalty of the pride.

Oricorio had gotten too far ahead, indeed; the fire-type would find himself jumped by a daunting-looking lioness charging toward him at speeds almost too fast to react to. A loud combat roar from another Pyroar in the same direction might grab clover matamata 's attention. Were he to investigate, he would see something unusual about the normal-types:

Her, and the rest of the surrounding pride, all wore saddles with the Ranger logo on them.

The Oricorio's TEETER DANCE left the pride delirious, several of them completely unaware that they were clawing at one another. It took a large spark from two lions' claws colliding for Josh to be aware of what was going on. Sitting astride his Manectric, he reined the electric dog toward where the battle broke out... only to find an Archen chasing the Oricorio away from the hunters. Josh gasped. Was this Oricorio trained and not wild?

He would see his question answered when he saw clover matamata giving the order to pin the Pyroar down with a ROCK SLIDE. "Stop, all of you!" Josh cried. "That Oricorio belongs to someone!" With an apologetic look on his face, the Gym Leader slid down from his Manectric's back and procured a bottle of Hyper Potion for the fire-type bird. "I am so sorry -- I couldn't see that the Oricorio belonged to you," he profusely apologized, presenting Clover with the bottle of Hyper Potion to patch up its wounds.

The entire pride assembled before the Gym Leader and traveler. All in all, there were nine Pyroar, with a fairly even mix of males and females. They were all larger than the average Pyroar, but still varied quite a bit in height. One was even taller than Josh was!

The young, brown-haired individual gushed compliments all over Josh's pride, his smile beaming when they expressed how fast they were. "They are all mine," the Gym Leader answered as one of the lions crouched next to him, seemingly beckoning him to sit in the large saddle adorned with the Mauville Ranger logo. "Kovu, you know I can't yet," Josh turned toward the big cat, giving the fire-type predator a cuddle before turning back toward his guest. "But yes, they are all mine. I do loan them out to Mauville's Rangers, so in a way, they're Ranger Pokémon."

Nala, apologizing for any harm she inflicted upon the Oricorio, sat down next to him and his trainer. She gently purred, letting her red mane blow in the breeze. As scary as the species looked, all of them looked incredibly well-behaved. They had to be, given each and every one of them wore saddles! Pyroar were not easy species to break to the bridle, either, making it perhaps more impressive that Josh was able to do so with so many.

"Gym Leader Devlin or Champion Devlin, but please, call me Josh," the off-duty Ranger kindly introduced himself. "What brings you out here?"

The lioness' legs were warm to the touch, something Josh was certain the Oricorio would appreciate. She purred loudly in an effort to tickle the smaller bird -- a sign of not just how well-behaved they were, but how social, as well. "Great to meet you, Clover," Josh waved before extending his right hand. "This is a great spot to look for Pokémon! There are all kinds of fire-types out here, including Pyroar if you wanted one yourself."

Having his question turned on him made Josh frown. "I could tell you, but... I don't want to trauma dump. These Pyroar have... gone through some hard times, and I have a difficult decision to make." Not everyone took the finality of death the same way, and dumping those kinds of sob stories onto a stranger was not a way to make a good first impression. "If you want to hear, I don't mind telling their story, but... it can be a little heavy."

They were certainly in the right place to find fire-type Pokémon. With Route 111 being a natural habitat for Pyroar, it was easy for Josh to expand his pride if one got too close to the Gym. That was how he had captured most of his lion friends. "As a Gym Leader whose focus is on very fast Pokémon, I'm inclined toward fire-types," he related his own interest in them. "Where are you from, if I may ask? I'm actually... originally not from Hoenn. I'm from Johto, but... circumstances forced me to move to Hoenn a couple years ago."

It seemed like Clover was willing to hear Josh out, at the very least. "I'll... try not to be too detailed, then." While he wasn't keen on physically embracing with the stranger, the Mauville Leader would at least show the kind gesture. "Air hug," he replied, setting his Manectric's reins down to make the embracing motion from a distance. "Wouldn't want Saber here shocking you."

Josh's pride shifted their eyes back and forth between the two. "The short version of the story is that Aslan, my pride's king, died in Sootopolis, when the war broke out. And they're competing with one another to see who will be the next king or queen." He had several good candidates, but he felt he had to narrow it down to one.

After all, the materials to make a Pokémon Shiny were not cheap!

"I don't treat them as my subjects," Josh clarified to Clover. "All my Pokémon are my partners. Friends. Equals." It may have been difficult for some trainers to understand, given that some understood Pokémon mounts to be subservient to their riders. That notion was as far from the truth as possible from what Josh was trying to teach at his Gym. Mount and rider had to be in sync with one another. They had to truly understand one another. Cooperate with one another.

When asked how they could prove themselves, Josh's Z-GLOVE on his left hand glowed a faint white. "What makes the monarch different is the ability to use an art only Aslan could. The Emperor's Royal Roar," he described the Z-Move. "A roar so feared, yet inspiring, that it can turn the tide of battle on its own. Even for lungs as strong as theirs, it is incredibly taxing. And only the strongest of the pride have a hope to reach its volume."

When asked about the circumstances keeping him at Hoenn, Josh frowned. "Remember 99904 Meteno? The asteroid that was predicted to collide with Hoenn a couple years ago?" the Gym Leader asked. "And the invisible barrier that made it impossible to enter or leave Hoenn that summer?"

Pyroar were often challenging to raise. The Pokémon were apex predators, more than capable of killing their trainers if they were to turn on them. The horse-sized ones prowling near Josh and Clover especially so. Those paws looked like they could tear down a wooden shed with ease. And yet, in the Gym Leader's hands, they were a noble family of lightning-fast, powerful steeds for Mauville's Rangers to use as needed. Steeds that could carry their riders faster than the average Rapidash.

Josh raised his hands at Clover's question. "I'm sorry, I might not have been clear. You asked what kept me in Hoenn, and that's what I was referring to. The barrier has nothing to do with my pride." He paused to sweep the area, seeing what his nine Pyroar were up to before continuing his story. "I had traveled to Hoenn to take a two-week vacation before returning to Goldenrod. That two weeks turned into months, what with the barrier preventing me from returning home. By the time the barrier was gone, I was already Mauville City's Gym Leader. I maintained dual citizenship for a while before officially emigrating to Hoenn, alongside my mom and dad, around Christmas of last year."

The white glow on his Z-GLOVE grew even brighter, a lion and lioness emitting similar light beneath the PYROARIUM-Z they carried. "Kovu... Nala..." he whispered under his breath.

Was it them?