At the beginning of August, Josh had been cleared by his doctor to ride a limited number of water Pokémon, both on the surface and beneath the waves. He had been advised to avoid Pokémon with great undulations in their bodies when swimming. This eliminated a lot of Pokémon, including Resheph, one of his favorite water types. Restricted to Pokémon with smooth swimming strokes, he had to get a bit creative with his roster.

"That should buy us some time," Josh nodded, clicking the switch on the Poké Ball containing Illumina the Lanturn. "It might get a bit dark down there. She should be able to help us see." Without too many more words, he waded into the shallow water, walking into the water-type and pulling himself onto the fish's saddle. "And if there starts to be a collapse, don't worry about it. Snacker, my Sharpedo, will be able to chew us a way out. You got an aquatic ride? You're gonna want one."

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"Good thinking," Lutgarde grins at the appearance of the Lanturn. "It reminds me a bit of the time I had to go into an abandoned sewer structure ... kind of fascinating what just lays there under a city," they add, before nodding and calling for their Primarina Noh. "We're gonna have to get you a spa day after that's over," they laugh, but the Primarina doesn't seem to mind.

He shyly greets the others as Sylv and Lutgarde get seated. "Alright, let's go!"

However, they are quickly met with their first obstacle only one more hallway in. A door that appears to be jammed. "Noh, can you use a soft Moonblast here?" they ask their pokémon, who seems to look a bit sceptical - however, he nods eventually, gathering some strength, just enough to Moonblast-punch the door a little bit so they could move it further manually.

Josh Devlin
43. Force open a locked or barricaded door to access a critical area.

Seeing Lutgarde seated on Noh made Josh a tad jealous. "I can't wait to be able to get on Staccato's back," he remarked. "He's my own Primarina. The docs just don't want me riding anything that swims with... an undulating swimming stroke." With his arm still not fully healed, it was best to stick to Pokémon that a rider would experience as little jostling as possible. Josh loved his serpentine Pokémon, but simply was not strong enough to be able to travel on them for long. It was largely what his rehab would be targeted at this month.

"Good shot!" Josh cheered as the MOONBLAST blew the door off its hinges. It led to a forking hallway, half of which was submerged. "Illumina and I can scout the lower levels real quick if you need us to," the Elite Ranger suggested, leaving Lutgarde to explore the other side of the fork in search of the missing discs the duo were expected to recover.

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Lutgarde looks sympathetically at Josh's arm, before nodding encouragingly. "Hope that won't take too long - what did the docs say about how your recovery's coming along?" they ask while they were moving along the hallways, opening up a jammed door. There's a fork behind the door, and they nod at Josh's suggestion that they split up for one moment.

"Sounds good! Keep within earshot," they agree, before guiding Noh towards the large hallway. Dim light still comes through the windows, but the situation could definitely be better. There's no time to linger on the scenery, however, as Lutgarde ponders some shelves that might ... "Noh, do you think you can make a bubble that moves the water out of these shelves here? Kinda like, pressing it out sort of?"

It sounded strange, and Noh's reaction confirms it, but he's willing to give it a shot. As the bubble forms enough, Lutgarde carefully reaches for it. It doesn't pop as their hand goes through it.

Josh Devlin
30. Use a pokemon to manage the flooding or water.

"It's going as expected," Josh replied, antsy to be able to soar the skies again. There truly was nothing like diving so fast to float toward the top of a cocoon saddle feeling weightless, only to swoop upward at a sharp angle and feel like being flattened at its bottom moments later, one's weight multiplied by the force of the climb. "Supposedly by September I'll be able to start flying. By October, most of the restrictions will be gone, and November, they'll all be gone." He looked forward to being able to floor it with his legendary Beast, as well as with his paradox Pokémon. Tyrfing, his blistering fast Iron Boulder, would soon have some stiff competition.

Josh and his Lanturn dove deeper, the Lanturn stunning an approaching Qwilfish with a sudden and quick THUNDER WAVE. He peered toward the door to what appeared to be a data center, but did not open the door yet. Lutgarde was still waiting. Turning around, he surfaced and reunited with his companion. "The hall to the data center's clear," the Gym Leader reported. "Got your wire cutters handy? We might need them to get access to the disks they want us to grab."

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"Only a couple of months more then," Lutgarde remarks sympathetically, "Looking forward to a race again when you're all better - Sylph and Oreo are workin hard on gaining speed," they grin. Their Primarina seems to be a bit self-conscious at this discussion, but Lutgarde pats them soothingly. Noh isn't really the type for speed, and while he wouldn't admit it any time soon, he does prefer activities where he can see and also be seen more properly.

While Josh's scouting ahead, Lutgarde opens some of the shelves with the bubble trick. While it's technically dry again, the contents are of course still soaked through, so they're mostly dead ends. They do grab some of the contents, in case anyone might want them still, before turning at Josh's voice and nodding. "Wire cutters, a normal cutter - got a little emergency package earlier from someone," they say, motioning for Noh to follow along.

"Let's move quickly before the water damage gets worse. Do you want Noh to make us some bubbles, too?" they ponder, but eventually would get a move on quickly and dive deeper with Josh. Time's of the essence in this race as the ship steadily sinks and sinks deeper.

Josh Devlin

"As am I," Josh nodded. If anything, he was happy his injury took place through the dog days of summer, when he reduced his Gym hours due to hot weather. "Cause when we race again, I won't hold back. Just because Raikou's a legendary Pokémon doesn't mean he won't race, too!" It was his dream since he first got involved in the racing scene: to hold the reins of the Johtonian god of speed and break every known land speed limit. Once his body could handle it... better buckle up.

Blowing BUBBLES to serve as large air pockets would at least make retrieving sensitive circuitry easier. The container's weight would likely be counteracted by the air of the bubble, making it easier to get their cargo to the surface. "I'd appreciate it," Josh confirmed as he led the way into the data center. Provided Noh was willing, he would make the rest of the preparations.

He scanned the room for the server they were to retrieve the disks from. With the ends of the cables being rusted out, they would need to be cut. Josh dismounted from his Lanturn as soon as the Primarina blew his bubbles. Undoing the straps letting Snacker tow the container that they would be placing the technology in, Josh opened the container's lid and dumped the water out of it. Carefully cutting the wires so that only the rusty tips were left behind, he retrieved a small stack of disk drives and stowed them, making sure the container was sealed before strapping it back to Snacker's saddle. "That should be everything," Josh sighed as he felt the ship jostle unpredictably. "Let's get out of here before it gets any worse."

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Lutgarde grins at Josh's words, laughing, "The races against Raikou must be quite legendary. Let's see if Oreo can be convinced to have a go at it - she doesn't appear too competitive, but actually, I think it could be interesting." Oreo's more of a diva than she is a speed fiend, but she's also impressionable in a way, and easily excitable for whatever someone else might wanna do. The nature of an empath, one could almost say.

Noh nods and follows Josh's lead once they actually arrive at the data center. Lutgarde lends Josh a hand where they can, holding stuff or also applying force if Josh with his injured arm couldn't bring up enough. However, they do leave the data retrieval up to the gym leader, not entirely trusting thmself with such fragile, sensitive hardware. (They aren't entirely brut-ish, but they can sometimes miss the finer marks.)

"Yes, let's head out here quickly. I think there's-" A significant tilt that puts the room further underwater. With only a simple nod, Lutgarde holds onto Noh, who would then follow the Lanturn out of the danger zone as swiftly as possible while trying to not stir the water too much.

Josh Devlin

Josh returned Lutgarde's laugh. "Between lower challenger volume and my doctor's orders, I actually... have yet to race Swift." With Oreo still inside their Poké Ball, the Gym Leader felt comfortable being... perhaps a little condescending of the Rapidash. "No offense, Lut, but... I don't think Oreo and Swift would be a fair race. You're welcome to if you want. Just giving you a warning is all."

With all of the technology they needed secured, the Champion led the way to the surface, Josh taking off his diving helmet. "Phew, the wind sure feels good," he exhaled, withdrawing his Lanturn for the much swifter Sharpedo. "See you in Dewford. There's a nice sports bar on the west side of town. Want to hit that up for supper?" Regardless of their post-job arrangements, the Gym Leader would grab onto the predator's fin and bounce along the water's surface toward the large island city.

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Lutgarde laughs and shakes their head, "Oh don't worry, I didn't mean it like that at all. Just wonder if this race could be somewhat of a motivational boost for Oreo, if she would like to pursue speed some more," the ranger explains - there's certainly no illusion of beating Raikou or even coming too close - but mountains are simply that in pictures, and mountains once seen in reality.

"That sounds very good," Lutgarde agrees as they finally surface again, and put a finisher on their operation here. "Meet you there once today's over!"

Josh Devlin