With the weather beginning to cool down, Mauville Gym had become busier, attracting "fair weather" trainers that stayed indoors during Hoenn's warmest months. The appointment list had started to fill again. With Josh not having replaced Elise Calcifet yet, workloads were high. It was still unreal seeing her on the Racing Grounds' list of terminated employees.

If it were to remain this busy, he would have to consider offering extra hours... which he didn't want to do. As nice as it was to be on the receiving end of overtime, being on the paying end was not.

The footsteps Eddie heard were the sound of Josh's receptionist, SHELLY SPIEL, approaching him. "Eduardo Hisakawa ?" she asked, trying to get his attention. "The Leader will see you now. Follow the signs to the Main Sector, in the center of the Gym." Provided he was able to navigate the vast grounds, he would see Josh Devlin astride his ashen legendary Pokémon. Taking his racing helmet off, the Master of Faster revealed a head drenched in sweat.

"Hi there, Eddie!" Josh waved, the monochrome Beast and a nearby Type: Null looking noble but stern in the soldier's presence. "What brings you out here? I just got done with my first rehab session with Swift here. A gallop like his really pushes my arm to the limit." No wonder he was so sweaty; anyone would be after traveling at the speed of lightning!

"You can say that again," Josh laughed with Eddie, grateful he was able to not only sit tall in the saddle, but do so on the thundercloud of the Pokémon of his dreams. "After that Nihilego and the warden smashed my arm, I wondered if I would ever ride again. I owe so many people for everything they did to get me back into... almost fighting condition," he corrected himself. "Even from beyond the grave, kyle lopez came to my rescue at Sootopolis. Had Entei, and to clarify, not my Hoennian Entei, not been there to ferry me back to the mainland, I might not have made it."

Eying the Kybfu, Josh waved to the small fighting-type before shifting his gaze back to Eddie. "The sentiment is greatly appreciated. But again I'll ask: what brings you here?"

Eddie was in a good mood... or just overwhelmed at the sight of the Johtonian paradox Pokémon. Josh suspected it was the former; given that his friend had more military experience than he did despite being a Gym Leader, Terrakion's knight had to have nerves of steel. "Ah, so a test run," he confirmed, Aleph suddenly perking up when it sounded like he would get to battle a truly strong opponent.

Josh's eyes shifted toward the Kubfu at Eddie's side. "I've done battle with Navy 's Urshifu before. Shuwen's scary strong. Not my style of combat, but mad respect for raising one." The Gym Leader was looking forward to the impromptu match. "Need a ride to the Main Sector? We'll be able to use the same battleground I use for official challenges. It's open!"

While it would be a battle with no real stakes, Josh wasn't one to pull punches. His battle style was speed-centric but not speed-reliant. He had Pokémon that were more than capable of overpowering foes. More than capable of holding down the fort. One of these days, he would show the Elite Four that his victory over them indeed was valid and deserved. Perhaps before his next deployment, he would be able to meet with Greyson Connors and Melody Miro again. Show them what kyle lopez taught him. How he had learned.

Josh tugged on the outer tufts of Swift's thundercloud like reins, bringing the ashen Raikou to a stop. The Beast crouched next to Eddie, Champion and Gym Leader scooting forward on the black, fluffy mane. "Feeling brave enough?" he asked Eddie with a big smile.

Eddie seemed excited to see what Swift was capable of. Though the Raikou was among the fastest land Pokémon in Hoenn, Josh had to temper expectations. "I want to preface that I'm still in rehab, learning how to withstand his very fastest speeds. I won't be able to Quick Attack with him, but I'm sure you're okay with that, heh!" He didn't want to flatten poor Eddie with the Beast's true velocity. This was their first time riding together at all, making him realize just how big the soldier was. He was taller and more muscular than Josh by a long shot. The big cat let out a thunderous purr that rattled the Knight of Thunder, and perhaps Eddie, too, as he got used to the extra weight on his thundercloud. "With that out of the way, let's go! Hyah!" he cried, flicking the two outer tufts of thundercloud.

With that, the monochrome tiger was off, Josh and Eddie able to feel the raw strength behind Swift's powerful, flexing spine. The acceleration pushed the Gym Leader back, though perhaps Eddie would have better luck maintaining proper posture through it. The skin of his cheeks began to collect at the back of his head, stretching against his bones from its intensity. The craziest part was how long the Raikou accelerated for. It wasn't that they were accelerating slowly; halfway through it, it may have felt like a hurricane crashing into them.

Swift's top speed was just that high.

With every lightning-fast stride, Swift's back seemed to drop out from underneath the two, only for the black thundercloud to catch them on the way back up. He knew the Raikou's top speed well from when it was under Kyle's control. He remembered being paralyzed when Extreme Speed kicked in, zooming from Mount Pyre to Mauville City within minutes. Swift, in his current form, lacked that legendary speed. Not to say that he wasn't still going incredibly fast!

The Beast's speed leveled off, the riders' peripheral completely incomprehensible. Even Josh's other Pokémon, fleet of foot as they were, had to dive out of the way to avoid being run over by the fanged tiger. As much as it may have felt to Eddie that he was riding on a lightning bolt, this was the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. Perhaps one day, when both rider and beast were at full power, Eddie would get to experience the speed of lightning with him.

Once the main battle courts came into sight, Josh relaxed his legs, causing the Raikou to pump the brakes. Just like accelerating to full speed took a long time, so did decelerating. It took several laps around the court complex before the legendary electric-type came to a complete stop, the Gym Leader letting Eddie regain feeling in his legs before sliding off. "Fun, isn't it?!" Josh cried triumphantly, having not gone that fast with the prized ashen construct since before being abducted to Ultra Space.

Josh looked positively giddy to hear Eddie's reaction to blasting across the Gym grounds faster than many thought possible on the back of any Pokémon. Swift was just built different. The speechlessness was a sign of the same joy that Josh experienced the day he first got to sit astride the Raikou and battle the hostile, tornado-speed winds that came from the Beast's run. A joy Kyle had shared with him. Now, it was Josh's turn to take on the former Top Champion's role and share that same joy with his friends.

"That's the same reaction I had when I rode him under Kyle's control," Josh replied, his pitch far higher than normal from how much his excitement overflowed. He, too, was shaking from the physical demands Swift had put on him. "If you thought that was fun, then we should do this again once he's recovered his other abilities... such as the fastest Extreme Speed in the-- on land," he corrected himself, remembering his once in a lifetime experience with Eva Morales and the emerald serpent. In his mind, there was not a circumstance in the world where freya morningstar would allow him to train her in the same way. From what he saw of the two at Sootopolis, their relationship was far deeper than with the doctor. On top of that, a simple flight suit wouldn't keep him safe anymore.

He would need a full-blown space suit. And there was no taking his helmet off to toss his cookies when his body couldn't handle shooting skyward at escape velocity post-Mega Evolution.

Josh huffed as he at last dismounted from the Raikou. "You're the best at determining how strong you are, so I'll show you my team I brought for the battle. That way you can decide which of them you want to square off against. I'll warn you; they're some of my best." Clicking open several Cherish Balls and two Ultra Balls, from them emerged a Type: Null, a bipedal Zeraora with bleched-white fur, and the paradox forms of the Johto Beasts that the Champion revered so much. Zaborg quickly scurried aboard Swift's vacant thundercloud, sitting astride the Raikou with the same discipline and grace that Josh himself did.

"Their names are Aleph, Zaborg, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune," he introduced the Type: Null, Zeraora, Raging Bolt, Gouging Fire, and Walking Wake. "I know that's confusing, but that's how it turned out. I'll have to tell you the story of how their names came to be one day when we go out to eat or something." Clearing his throat, Josh at last stopped shaking, his demeanor becoming quite serious. "Singles, doubles, doesn't matter to me. However many of them you're comfortable staring down, up to you. They should all be more than a match for the little one."