Keenan stopped by the gym after checking up on his team. He said was going to use the same one as he did with Greyson's gym, so he did exactly that. Granted, they were evolved and much stronger than before. His worry was his opening act...already weak to electric type, but still tough and hits like a truck...especially with their combination of Ice Body, Hail, Rest, and Snore while they were resting. Granbul had a good mix of melee attacks, including Outrage. Metagross would be the rist massive powerhouse. Vikavolt provided some trickery and special attacking mix. Steelix was just another beast altogether. Then his ace, his Mega Houndoom that Josh had fought previously.

As he strolled past one of the training grounds, Kee did stop to watching some black clothed blond train his Pokemon. Using gloves that sprayed paint when he touched them, and himself as the target. The blond slowly walked to the front as he watched in bewilderment, not knowing if that was plain insanity, clever, or just plain stupid. The guy was cute though, and seemed to know a thing or two about actual fighting and martial arts...probably why his Pokemon were having issues hitting him. Well, whatever, Keenan soon found Josh's battlefield. At the question, Kee grimaced. "Not especially...but we'll see what happens. By the way, is it normal for a trainer to actually physically train against their Pokemon? I saw I think one of the gym trainers having a sparring match against his Golisipod and Swampert..." Keenan had no idea why that was bothering him.

Team: Houndoom (Mega), Steelix, Vikavolt, Granbul, Metagross, Walrein.

Josh Devlin

Josh scowled when he heard Kee's lack of enthusiasm. "That's not the confidence a Badge holder should have!" he rebuked the young man, Swift mimicking his glare You've got six Pokémon and I've got one. "If you've win my Gym Challenge, then you should have the eyesight and technique to at least follow Swift some. Even legendary Pokémon have weaknesses. Use what you've learned to find his." The young Leader slid down from the ashen Beast's back, walked toward his face, and cuddled him like one would a domesticated big cat Pokémon. It looked like they truly understood one another. In reality, they were of one mind; with the Raikou not possessing sentience of his own, he did the thinking for the both of them.

The unrelated question caught Josh a little off guard. If he was familiar with Hoenn's Gym Leaders, Kee would have been able to answer that question for himself. "Have you been down to noah faber 's Gym?" the courier asked, his voice distorted from Swift purring next to him while he was trying to speak. Kee may have been able to feel the rumble, too, if he was standing close enough. That was one powerful motor the monochrome feline had! "He's Verdanturf's Gym Leader, and he spars with his Pokémon almost on a daily basis. I do, too, but in a different why. Riding at high speed takes a lot of strength." Anyone could casually be ferried about by a Pokémon, but reaching truly high speeds required both Pokémon and rider to be in top shape.

Once the two had reached the familiar battle court, triple standard size, Josh let go of Swift and faced Kee directly. "Use whatever tactics you have to take Swift down. I will have to warn you. He's fast. Faster than any land Pokémon you've ever seen. This will be nothing like our Gym battle; it will require a whole different level of focus." Even with the Beast only knowing how to use three or four moves, Swift would be a handful for Kee if he didn't come prepared!

---

Keenan Toral

{PC: 2}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Swift         Raikou         Good

Keenan jumped back at the rebuke, and gave Josh a glare. He was doing fine! And if thrust upon a situation, he would deal with it accordingly! Fear was a hell of a drug, but doesn't always make you a coward. A lot of times, it makes you move on. Fight. Continue running to a better position. Whatever. Fear was what motivated Keenan throughout his Requiem Badge experience. And his bleeding heart that later provided benefits. After a brief pep talk about how everything has a weakness, it was just finding it, Josh soon asked Keenan a question. Who shook his head no, though would eventually. Of course, he knew that Noah was Verdanturf's gym leader. But he didn't know that the guy boxed against his Pokemon! "Practicing racing is a bit different than literally boxing against your Pokemon..." There were a lot risks in doing that...right? Racing was a lot safer...wasn't it?

The Raikou took to the field, and he was told to use whatever tactics he deemed necessary. Well, he vaguely had a plan. The blond nodded, and threw out a Pokeball, revealing a Walrein, not unlike Blubby back home. They were mother and son. It may be strange throwing a water type, and a generally slow one, at an electric type. But there were a few reasons! When the battle begun, Kee was quick to start it. "Use Hail!" With a walrus roar, clouds darkened above the field, and hail stones started to litter the field, pelting at the legendary. But Walrein was also absorbing them, thanks to Ice Body, and constantly regenerating. Hopefully that would allow at least one hit...be it a Blizzard or a Yawn...



Josh Devlin

Boxing against Pokémon was not unheard of; he recalled a Gym Leader in Johto that did that back when he was taking his Gym Challenge, crossing the Whirl Islands to Cianwood. Since he received their Badge, that Gym Leader had been replaced. "I'm sure that he takes great safety measures, just like I do with my racing challenge. You would be surprised; I've seen some career-ending accidents on the track. As it turns out, there are plenty of dangers when Pokémon faster than race cars are involved." Arcanine being the most common of them. Swift, though, would take it to a completely different level... which was why he could not enter the Beast into official races unless noted otherwise.

The hailstorm was a good start. Kee must have known that he wouldn't win in a contest of speed. Resorting to a method of offense that would use Swift's speed against him showed how much Greyson's Gym had prepared the young Toral. Swift built up speed by circling the triple-sized arena's outer bounds, becoming a yellow and black blur before zipping toward the Walrein in an impossibly fast QUICK ATTACK from the blubbery Pokémon's right side.

---

Keenan Toral

{PC: 3}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Swift         Raikou         Good

Huh...guess Pokemon races were more dangerious than he thought. Wide eyes just kind of showed how ignorant he was. He really didn't want to know what kind of career ending stories Josh had. So for the moment, he focused on the battle at hand.

The hail did part of its duty, pelting the zooming flash, but the blur dove right into Walrein's side in a Quick Attack, not an electric type attack? "Yawn!" The water type's blubber may have softened the blow a little, and the hail absorbed and regenerated a little bit, but it still knocked the Walrein away. But it fired off a cloud of drowsy inducing fog at the cat as it was knocked over to the other side. With a quick touchdown of his front flippers, Walrein pivoted to face the direction that he was just attacked from. "Now use Blizzard!"

It was part of his personal strategy with Walrein, taking a queue from Aaron. The blubbery boy was tough, so he played into it with his Ice Body ability, Rest, Hail, and the powerful Blizzard and Surf attacks. And while Rest was in affect, Snore to continue fighting. But that mattered little against something that could one shot his Pokemon, and had the type advantage. Still, the storm got stronger and soon consumed the battlefield, being so much harder to dodge in Hail. Keenan could only hope to either freeze it or it got struck with Yawn.



Josh Devlin

While the Quick Attack was fairly weak compared to an electric attack, particularly against a Walrein, the ramming attack's primary purpose was not to inflict harm. No. It was to get the Johtonian legendary Pokémon up to frightening speeds. The split second the ashen construct spent in the fog was plenty to make him feel drowsy, particularly with the exertion from running faster than he could sustain. "You won't be able to hide from this, Kee!" Josh shouted over the inclement, wintry weather. "Swift, ELECTRO BALL!"

It was the second half of a one-two punch that exemplified what Josh was all about: speed in its purest form. That inner and outer desire to be the fastest Pokémon trainer in the world was reflected in the Beast's methods of combat. A barrage of electrical spheres swirled around the large field, coming from all directions. To the untrained eye, they may have looked like an electrical tornado that threatened to suck the Walrein inward. The real sting of the attack was the spark-filled projectiles whistling around so fast that even the Champion himself had a hard time tracking them. It was double-edged, ice shards from the Walrein's BLIZZARD caught up in the vortex, as well.

While the YAWN and cold weather would not put the Raikou completely to sleep, the effort it put into the mighty electric attack left him shivering and his movements sluggish... by Raikou standards. For the time the drowsiness lasted, it may have felt like fighting a more ordinary electric Pokémon, such as a Luxray!

---

Keenan Toral

{PC: 4}

NAME          SPECIES        STATUS
Swift         Raikou         Fair

The wintery weather helped Walrein some. The Yawn barely connected for a second, but he didn't know if that would be enough to slow the kitty down. True to form from a legend, however, was the Electro Ball. And that put the wintery weather against Walrein. Once the attack was finished, Walreign was very knocked out, electricity sparking around him. So much for his tanky boy. Returning his blubbery buddy, he threw out another Pokeball, revealing a Granbul. The mean looking fairy type jumped around and was always on the move due to his Quick Feet ability. But that wasn't the main reason Keenan chose him. It was the hope for a burn. Raikou seemed to have slowed down...so maybe he could land a hit?

"Use Fire Punch!" Granbul jumped high into the air, both fists bursting into flames. The first strike would be straight down at Raikou, where if it failed to connect, would stir up quite the duststorm. Then the second punch would be incoming. Either right after the first, or the Quick Feet fairy zooming out for a burning finger punch to the face.

Josh Devlin