"Neither do I, but I've accepted that as a Champion, there's no avoiding drawing attention to myself," Josh sighed as he gently reined the electric wolf around a corner toward their destination, the two Arcanine following him while pulling their precious cargo. "It's part of having a... flashy battle style," he admitted. Many trainers who employed speed also utilized stealth. Josh was not one of those. Unlike many predators that relied on the element of surprise, the Gym Leader's Pokémon had no need to do so. They were simply fast enough to catch any prey.

Petra's interest in the Gym Challenge caught Josh's attention. "If you're interested in the Gym Challenge, then it's a good thing we met! It's a really good idea to get to know all the Gym Leaders and how they fight before you take them on. Until you know how to handle being on the other side of the very fastest Pokémon in Hoenn, you'll have a hard time winning a Badge from me."

All of a sudden, the temperature dropped substantially. Josh looked skyward and saw overcast conditions above. "You feel that cold front pass?" he asked. "I'm surprised there's not nasty weather around here. It's like it dropped two temperature bands--"

This was far worse than a cold front passing. This was winter itself coming, both the Arcanine howling as the carts they were pulling suddenly refused to budge, their wheels frozen in ice. The Gym Leader dismounted his Manectric to free both his dogs from their towing harnesses, asking them to stand near the wheels to thaw them out with their latent heat.

"...There's only one Pokémon that can do this from so far away," Josh warned. "Stay alert, Petra." His Type: Null was on edge, too, the amalgamated Normal-type's eyes scanning for a face that his trainer would find all too familiar...

NOTICE

This skirmish is in danger of stalling. Since it has been two weeks since jayden cross's player, Milky, has posted, Josh Devlin and PETRA MONROE are able to replace this thread with another Skirmish for MP. Otherwise, Josh Devlin and PETRA MONROE can complete this thread by themselves and use an antagonistic NPC/obstacle to fulfill the following MP prompt:

150 MP for having Rocket and League characters and faction-based conflict in the thread (no NPCs).

If this Skirmish does not complete in time and another Skirmish was not taken for MP, Josh Devlin and PETRA MONROE are able to redeem the MP points gained within this thread, but jayden cross will not be able to.

Please keep track of your Skirmishes, and which ones are for MP and which ones are not.

Had the dome remained up, the region would have suffered an equally ruinous fate: complete destruction by a meteoric impact that would have baked Hoenn in a heat flash of solar proportions. An impact that, while it was largely Eva Morales 's doing, Josh contributed to stopping, as well. Though his self-wallow did not allow him to admit it at the time, he had a critical part in Hoenn's survival, as well.

Now, as a Champion, that self-doubt had been largely cast away. Burned in his past self's funeral pyre at the behest of the Great One and one of Her final blessings before severing Her bond with kyle lopez . He was no longer the follower; that title bestowed a mantle of leadership upon him beyond Mauville City. As a Champion of Hoenn, his duties radically expanded, a vanguard of the entire region.

"PETRA MONROE , behind you!" Josh called out as jayden cross 's TREVENANT grew behind the Exeggutor, cursing his Pokémon with the bindings of thick roots that rendered them largely immobile while simultaneously overwriting their PRIMARY TYPES if they had two. "BURN UP, Braver!" he instinctively commanded to try to raze the roots to the ground. It was too late; without a Fire typing to remove, the Arcanine had been stripped of his most powerful attack. With how much they used their speed in combat, being rooted to the ground was a death sentence for the fire-types. Fire-types Josh was relying on to decimate CHIEN-PAO. "Petra! This isn't the real threat!" he warned.

Aleph crushed the roots within his talons, the eighteen Pokémon composing his body inspiring him to fight with his full strength. Rearing high, the now Normal-and-Grass-type bore down upon the accursed tree with an X-SCISSOR intended to sever key limbs from the ghost-type.

PETRA MONROE 's PSYSHOCK was a lifeline for Josh and his Pokémon, proving valuable in saving his life from the Trevenant's vengeful DESTINY BOND. Seeing what was about to transpire, the newly-freed Braver lowered his head and charged into his trainer, knocking him out of the way and onto the ground. "Braver...!" Josh grunted as he rolled along the long, soft grass, getting to his feet far from Petra, who may have been trapped within a field of jayden cross ' swords of ice.

His first instinct was to save his colleague, but instinct was suppressed by the SWORD OF RUIN. Immense HATRED overcame the Champion, compelling him to abandon his cart and the mission at hand -- all in the name of vitriolic vengeance for Resheph, annalise henderson , and MATIAS SILPH . Alone, and with all his Pokémon surrounding him fallen, he left them exposed to the Chien-Pao's brutal elements. Perhaps it would save his life that he was not well enough to ride Swift into battle.

With an artificially hard heart, he plucked the RAINBOW FEATHER from his shirt, ashes dripping from its quill as he hastily drew the summoning Sign. In a violent and deafening strike, the monochrome memory of Raikou met Chien-Pao's gaze, the big cat snarling and snorting ash through his nostrils. Climbing onto the thundercloud, he rode the legendary Pokémon close enough to get within earshot of the Avatar.

"Jayden!" Josh's voice also boomed like thunder as he slid down from the thundercat's back, even though there was not a storm cloud in sight. "We fought on your turf last time. Now, we fight on mine." While not exactly Mauville City, the flats near Petalburg let the Raikou utilize his strengths better. Strengths that might make Jayden respect the Raikou's well-earned nickname of Swift. The feline lunged beneath the rain of icy blades, looking to ram and trample Chien-Pao to the ground with a QUICK ATTACK that could never have been performed to its greatest potential on Sootopolis' uneven cliffs.

There was a part of the region that was his, but Petalburg was not Mauville City. The Master of Faster was referring to "his turf" as a place in Hoenn where Swift could run. Chien-Pao had incredible agility, but the Raikou could outrun them. Under Josh's command, the ashen Pokémon could outrun almost anything.

Except RUINATION.

As PETRA MONROE 's Pokémon claimed the Trevenant's life, the malicious spirit within the ghost-type floated toward Josh, an ethereal scythe impaling him and causing him to instantly lose consciousness. Even with the Gym Leader unable to battle any longer, his mind still powered Swift. The legendary Pokémon struggled against the snow cat, kicking and stabbing with his fangs in an effort to gain control of the grapple. He reciprocated every bit of jayden cross 's hatred with hatred of his own, white and yellow sparks flying from his paws and into the feline in a last-ditch effort to regain mobility.

Were he to do so, Swift would push himself to his limits, the rest of Josh's Pokémon surrounding him to further protect him from harm. His hatred let him fight through the pain of his ashen body dissolving from the outside in. Faster and faster he sprinted, circling around Avatar and Patron in a full-blown QUICK ATTACK. The Beast's current speed limit, what with a key attack in his arsenal beyond Josh's understanding.

With a crash unlike anything that Jayden, Petra, or Josh (were he conscious) had ever seen from the Beast, a myriad of ELECTRO BALLS flew all over the battleground. The HATRED imbued with the shared mind of Josh and his Raikou caused them to fly toward all combatants indiscriminately, sounding like firearm ammunition whizzing toward them alongside the crackle of electricity. The mightiest attack the Raikou was capable of may prove to fell friend and foe alike. Between the friendly fire and Trevenant's DESTINY BOND, only Saber, the Pokémon that Josh had raised since the age of ten, remained standing. He seemed too busy guarding Josh to fight back, the Manectric howling in fear as RUINATION devoured the Raikou.

The RAINBOW FEATHER would turn inert, the Beast unable to be summoned for a time.