Josh was glad the coronation was over. Organizing it was a headache, but it was necessary to give one of his closest companions the send-off he deserved. Aslan, the king of the Gym Leader's pride, had paid the ultimate price in the attempted Sootopolis invasion.

Long live Kovu and Nala, the Mauville pride's new king and queen.

That afternoon, the Gym Leader was celebrating after his brief convalescent period at Mauville General Hospital. He had kyle lopez 's Entei to thank, the Beast's SACRED FIRE undoing much of the injury Josh had suffered in battle. While his ability to return to full capacity had still been delayed an additional half a month, his latest rehab session was promising enough that his doctor approved him to ride most of his big cat Pokémon unrestricted. Some of his fastest, strongest ones were still off limits, but he could at last hold the reins of a Pyroar again.

North of the beach that keiko mori 's Slowking and Pelipper were sparring shined two brilliant lights. Their sources were two Illumina Pyroar, one male and one female. Astride the male appeared to be a tall man, and behind the two were not one, not two, but nine more saddled Pyroar. The entire pride was quite large, ranging roughly the spectrum of human heights. If she was familiar with Hoenn's celebrities, there was only person all these could have belonged to: Josh Devlin .

Josh's head tilted toward the battle between the two water-types, watching its intensity reach a fever pitch. The Pelipper's HURRICANE grew so strong that its winds ravaged the Gym Leader's pride, Kovu rearing to try to protect his rider from them. Several of the pride, including Kovu himself, instinctively loosed deafening NOBLE ROARS toward the source of the wind, perhaps affecting the combatants' offensive might.

Once the windstorm had passed, Kovu trotted toward the two water-types and their trainer, the rest of the Pyroar following a safe distance behind. Depending on how courageous Keiko was, the Champion's stance and his powerful Shiny Illumina feline steed may have been overly imposing. "You okay?" Josh asked. "That Hurricane was almost enough to blow some of my pride off their feet!"

Josh's heart warmed up at seeing the Slowking and officer embrace one another. "You two must have known each other for a long time," the Master of Faster answered, the ever-curious Zira the female Pyroar walking toward Keiko and giving her a gentle nuzzle if she allowed it. "Excuse her - Zira's a little too friendly with strangers sometimes." He wondered how the girl's eyesight was holding up in the presence of the two Illumina Pyroar, including the one he was sitting on.

Josh appreciated the work HBIC did. If it wasn't for their help before he handed one of his own cases off to Lydia Magnusson , he never would have been able to get to the bottom of Mauville Gym's most recent attack. "It's okay! Battles can get out of control on occasion, especially open-air ones. Great to meet you, Keiko. Gym Leader Devlin or Champion Devlin, but you can call me Josh," he introduced himself. "And these Pyroar are the Mauville Rangers' pride. The one I'm riding is Kovu, and Nala is back there," he gestured toward the Illumina female.

"It's part of being a Gym Leader," Josh answered, his response slightly distorted from one of Kovu's purrs rattling him. "In order to engage trainers of all skill levels, we have to have a huge variety of Pokémon." How many did Josh own now, close to a hundred and fifty? He was close to having one of every Pokémon he wanted... provided he could keep them all alive.

He shed a tear for Resheph, thinking about his precious Dragonair. As much as he wanted to get another Dragonair, there was no replacing her. Her unique, playful personality would be sorely missed, as was shown when he had to break the news to Verte, his Flygon. "Thanks. They mean a lot to me. Every single one of them." If Keiko was so inclined, Zira's continued friendliness toward her may have beckoned her aboard. "Your Slowking's just as breathtaking. While I can't raise one due to the nature of my job, I know how smart and how strong they can be. I'm surprised more people don't use them against me at my Gym. Trick Room is one of the more common tactics educated trainers try to use against me."

Before answering any of Keiko's questions, Josh felt the need to elaborate. "Trick Room is a Pokémon technique that creates a dimension where the fast are slow and the slow are fast. It turns a Pokémon like Slowking into greased lightning and my Pokémon into... well, Slowpoke." Not literally, but with the speed (or lack thereof) of one. "It's a devastating move to use against a speed specialist like myself."

Queen Nala stepped forward, introducing herself and her pride to the Slowking. While he was sure the Pokémon could understand one another, all that he could hear were grunts and purrs. "Yep, Mauville Racing Grounds is indeed open to the public! We have daily and weekly tickets on sale, granting you access to watch as many battles as you'd like. Our best deal is our season pass. Think of it like a Gym membership; gives you access to our second-floor lounge, a traditional gym, and even your own private storage locker." Upsell, upsell, upsell. As the sole proprietor of Mauville Racing Grounds, he had picked up sales techniques long ago.

"Did you say a Zeraora?" he asked Keiko at the mention of the rare species. "Zeraora in general have become quite different of late. Does yours run on two paws or on four? I have one of each."

A good investment, indeed. Though challenger volume had fallen off amidst the war, there were still plenty of matches Keiko could sit in on. There was also access to the Racing Grounds themselves, both for battle practice and for impromptu races.

"Interesting that yours is a hybrid," the Gym Leader hummed. "If you ever take the Gym Challenge, ours clashing could be fun, whether on the track or in the arena. Might be worth having ours meet one another and learning what they can from each other. If you can train one for it, Zeraora are some of the fastest ways you can travel on land." Speed Josh needed to ease himself back into after being out of commission for so long.

Little did Josh know how much each other respected the need for speed. The need for urgent delivery was growing greater and greater during war times, and someone willing to use a Zeraora for transport would be incredibly valuable. Provided Josh could convince Keiko, there might be two couriers delivering supplies and intelligence by lightning strike.

"You've come to the right person," Josh answered with a smile. "Feel free to make an appointment at Mauville Gym, and we can exchange techniques. I'll show you what's worked for me, and see if you can adapt it into something that works for you. I will warn you, though; Zeraora require quick reaction times to control." The two would go on, Josh talking about how he came upon both of them and how differently they had developed. One was Shiny, even!