Josh's skin shook as Swift accelerated, making wide circles around Minerva and giving her plenty of space to remain out of the elements. It was like watching a Linoone hunt, their stubby legs moving impossibly fast as they sprinted after their prey too fast for wildlife their size to bear witness. The ashen Raikou's strides were just as rapid, only with much longer legs that multiplied the speed of the charge. Were she to focus on Josh, she would be able to see how far and how frequently the Champion was being bounced up and down on the black cloud. How were his thighs not sore from that kind of punishment his legendary mount put him through?

The Master of Faster was ready to show the true prowess he had honed. Making his final lap around Minerva even more wide than before, he tugged on the right, outermost tuft of thundercloud to get the Raikou to line up for a charge Minerva would be able to get a wonderful view of. "Swift, QUICK ATTACK!" the Leader shouted over the wind.

With a thunderclap that sounded like a violent motorcycle kick from having pure nitrous oxide mixed with its fuel, legendary Pokémon and knight sprinted wide of minerva valentine , giving her a sense of the speed god vestige's pace. The concentration it had to take to remain seated on the Raikou, let alone direct the feline, may have been unfathomable. If she had seen an Arcanine use Extreme Speed before, this put that to shame.

He could travel between Verdanturf and Mauville in minutes.

Swift and his trainer truly were of one mind; it was almost like the ashen Raikou was an extension of Josh himself. The intensity on their faces mirrored one another, the wind whipping and pounding at him faster than he had every right to survive. Over the wind, Minerva would be able to hear a whoop of pure joy from Josh's voice, much like one would make happening upon an exorbitant windfall. In his case, that windfall was getting to live his dream of zipping across Hoenn's grasslands on a tiger Pokémon that was faster than a firearm's discharge. The distance covered with each stride was staggering. Seemingly impossible.

What was perhaps even more graceful was the sight of Swift pumping the brakes, taking longer to shed speed than he did gather it. Compared to the blistering pace they were going at before, the still-breathtaking speeds looked effortless for the Raikou to maintain. After making several more wide circles around Minerva, Swift would come to a stop next to her, Josh's entire body shaking.

Did the vestige of Johto's god of speed break even the Master of Faster's limits?

The tales of Raikou being Johto's god of speed were in no way exaggerated. The supernatural rates that Swift reached physically wore on Josh; parts of his skin were red from wind burn and being stretched against his bones. While not hyperventilating, his breaths were heavy as he heard Minerva's concerns over a mental state that would allow himself to be exposed to such danger.

It was speed that made even Raikiri, his Zeraora, look like one of his more beginner-friendly ride Pokémon.

After quite a delay while he waited for his body to stop shaking so he could speak, Josh at last answered Minerva. "That's... Swift's Quick Attack," he stated in no uncertain terms. "I'm not called the Master of Faster... for nothing!" He only started sweating after coming to a stop; the intense winds that surrounded him during the run on the Beast's back had evaporated any perspiration he had produced before. This kind of speed would take a lot of getting used to, but if he wanted to use the Raikou to his full potential, it was speed he needed to be able to withstand. Speed that exceeded what the Raikou managed in a Quick Attack while under Kyle's command.

Had the transfer of ownership somehow made the ashen memory of the big cat even faster than before?

As fitting as it was, Quick Attack wasn't even Swift's fastest attack... but Josh had not yet pieced together the puzzle enabling his precious ashen partner to use Extreme Speed. A speed that not even the most powerful supercars created by human hands could reach. A speed he had to conquer if he wanted to wield his childhood idol's power to its fullest for the sake of the League. He had experienced it once when the Beast was under Kyle's command. With the ashen creature now reformed in Josh's vision, such a move would reach new heights. Heights that putting a number to a unit might not let an observer fully comprehend without sitting on the thundercloud and experiencing that speed for oneself.

"You're not far from the truth," Josh laughed, at last having recovered his breath from struggling against the wind that threatened to blow him off his seat. "I've been called both before. As fun as it is to let Hoenn's wilds fly by so fast, there may come a day where I need to use that speed to come to the region's aid. Swift can do things no other Pokémon can do. The best way to describe what it's like... is riding a lightning strike that never touches the ground. Instead of the bolt being absorbed into the ground, it expands parallel to the ground and just keeps going." He even struggled to say that; his body clearly never trained to withstand that kind of speed, he looked weary after his dazzling spectacle.

Deadly was one way of putting it, though mere possession of the RAINBOW FEATHER was deadly in its own way. Though Swift was but a husk of the Raikou that battled tooth, claw, and bolt to hold back Rocket from seizing Johto, even that piece of Raikou was enough to attract Rocket's attention. By now, the Sign was well-documented, and he was still uncertain if just anyone could summon the Raikou by drawing the Sign. That might be something worth testing at the Pokémon League.

"I've seen what it can do to people, and I've learned from them," Josh nodded, amazed at the female's wisdom. Was she a prophet of some kind? It sure felt like it. "This has worn me out; I need more time and experience to condition myself to it." Though her last point of advice felt like a farewell, he wasn't quite ready to say goodbye yet. "Are you headed toward Mauville or Verdanturf? Cause I can take you back there if you want. At a reasonable pace, of course."

Josh did as Minerva asked, giving her a hand to help her sit on Swift's black thundercloud. The Beast stood up, giving the two a perspective on just how large he was. "Alright, Swift, to Verdanturf," the Gym Leader commanded, the ashen construct mirroring his desire to reach noah faber 's city -- one Josh was worried would be on Rocket's hit list.

The light kick to Swift's sides would be met with the fastest canter imaginable for a Pokémon on land. While it was slow by the legendary vestige's standards, the wind still howled around the duo, the big cat's back flexing with far greater vigor than a horse Pokémon. Even at these slower speeds, the two would be able to feel the powerful strides fueled by Josh's will to reach the rural town.

There was truly nothing like riding an apex predator.