The sound of engines resulted from Josh opening up his Gym's racing challenges to those with Starmobiles. While they weren't common, the few that showed up with them had given his maintenance crew fits. They were used to having to patch gaps and bumps caused by claws, paws, and the occasional small tire mark from a Cyclizar. The types of repairs needed to undo the damage caused by a Starmobile skidding and squealing made the Leader's eyes roll; at this rate, he would have to hire a maintenance crew, and he desperately wanted to keep his headcount below fifty. Once he hit fifty employees, he would be considered a large employer, which same with its own legal can of worms.

A can of worms that his recent hire, Cecilia Brooks , might need to help him solve.

Locking his office and taking his boxed lunch next door to the female's third-floor office, he knocked on the door before twisting the knob. "Afternoon," the Gym Leader waved. "Starmobiles sure get loud, don't they?" he remarked, seeing if there was a good place for him to sit down, eat, and see how she was doing in her new position.

Cecilia looked up from her laptop screen, blinking as if emerging from a dream. She rubbed her temples absently, the light from the viewing platform casting harsh shadows across her face. "Oh. Mr. Devlin. Good afternoon." Her words stumbled over each other, fatigue softening her usually precise enunciation.

She glanced around hastily, realizing she hadn’t even removed her coat yet. Papers spilled haphazardly across the table, bearing scribbled margins where legal jargon collided with caffeine-fueled ruminations on existential dread. Not exactly her most professional look.

Gathering herself, she smoothed nonexistent wrinkles from her skirt as she stood. "Apologies for the clutter. I’ve been engrossed in the liability waivers from yesterday's incident," she explained, keeping her tone neutral despite feeling exposed by his sudden appearance.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as he mentioned the noise level, trying to discern whether he expected her to share an opinion on gym matters or was merely making idle chit-chat. "Yes, it's quite something. Much louder than the average courtroom, though perhaps we’re competing with different kinds of roaring."

Josh Devlin

Though Josh appreciated Cecilia's work ethic and respect, he was not one for formalities. "No need to be so uptight! Josh is good by me," the Gym Leader insisted, emphasizing the camaraderie needed for a good employer-to-employee relationship. He didn't seem concerned about the girl's mess at all. "Tell me about it. You and Dan are true treasures around here." Though it was the Gym Trainers and the Leader himself that got press time, Cecilia had an equally important job: keeping the lawyers off his case when someone slipped through his safety protocols.

Josh missed the peace and quiet before the discovery of the Revavroom Starmobile. "You would have loved it here before those things became more popular among highly skilled trainers," he added, watching Entei the Gouging Fire gallop across a distant course, the legendary-adjacent Pokémon under the guise of a living, horned fireball. "Normally, the loudest it'll get down there are a bunch of hooves and paws pounding against the ground, not a deafening motor running." The only kind of motor he preferred to let run on his Racing Grounds were those of feline Pokémon. It was one of the reasons Josh preferred big cats as steeds, even for distance travel.

Their purrs kept their riders awake.

A dry smile touched her lips at his easy dismissal of her scattered desk - at least one thing about working for Team Rocket had prepared her for: expect intrusions and interruptions at all hours. "Well, 'Josh'," she conceded, testing the informality in speech, "I suppose that’s why you keep us around."

But the mention of quieter times brought a faraway look to her eyes, a flicker of wistfulness. The image of simpler problems and less chaotic days lingered in the air almost visibly. Cecilia cleared her throat, shoving the thought back into whatever dusty corner it crawled from. "There's certainly a charm to a more analog existence," she murmured noncommittally. "Though I can imagine dealing with rapidash isn’t precisely boring either."

She closed her computer with a decisive snap, as if to seal away her exhaustion like a demon in a tome. Her desk was her territory, after all, and this... detente felt fragile. "Is everything going smoothly here otherwise? Aside from, ah, vehicular disturbances?"

This might not be a courtroom, but maybe that didn't mean she couldn't learn something from his experiences, apply it elsewhere. A gyms' trials were tests of strength and skill. How similar could they be? How far would she stretch them to extract every morsel of potential advantage?

Josh Devlin

It wasn't that Josh appreciated those who were formal; he just treated his employees like family. Mauville Gym received a flood of applications every time there were openings; the turnover was low, pay was competitive with great benefits, and it was one of the most friendly work environments in Mauville City. The young, passionate man truly understood what it was not only to be a Gym Leader, but an entrepreneur.

"It's not," Josh chuckled, amused that Cecilia picked one of the more tame species at the Gym. Ixion and Keleth, fast as they were, were also some of the most gentle with riders, making them ideal for students that were completely wet behind the ears. "I've still got a handful of Pokémon to bring into the Gym. Breaking a Heracross to the bridle's going to be a bit of a challenge, but not one I can't overcome. I've got an Archeops, a Stoutland, a Swanna, and a Skeledirge to be registered, too. Some of them may not seem fast, but all those memes of me online aren't as far from the truth as you think," he only half-joked.

Josh stood closer to Cecilia's windows along the north side of the building, giving them a great overlook of the action below. It was a special training day; the first one where his best Gym Trainers worked with the Leader's legendary-adjacent Pokémon. Seeing ACE SHEEKE get hurled from the back of Entei the Gouging Fire made the black-haired man chuckle. "Some things never change..."

The clicking shut from Cecilia's laptop as well as her question recaptured Josh's attention. "For the most part," he answered. "Just have to deal with some changing tax codes. I gotta hire a few temps to help out with preparing and getting everyone's W-2's mailed out. It's that time of year. That, and preparing for the new Non-Traditional challenge I'll be rolling out in the spring."