The FLAMETHROWER singed the golden Pokémon, but not as badly as Josh expected from a Pokémon capable of making that noise. By the time he could identify it as a Noble Scyther, based on his other encounters with the Pokémon, it was too late; the giant insect was already on top of Kokusho, slashing across the slower foe with FURY CUTTER after FURY CUTTER. Even the Master of Faster could not react in time, the dark-type loudly roaring when the wild's blades cut through his scales like they were fabric. The Hydreigon struggled to fly.

Like Yuina Higashi warned him before, this was no ordinary Pokémon. A noble guardian of Hisui, displaced by space and time. "We have to flee!" Josh called out toward the familiar face he couldn't put a name to. Little did they know that simply fleeing wouldn't get the Scyther off their tails. Unlike the Noble Arcanine, this ancient Pokémon was out for blood.

Josh simply basked in Xuying Zhou 's praise as he led the way, a precise burst of steam from Suicune launching the Archen's Poké Ball into the air so he could catch it and send it back to his Pokémon Storage account. His Pokémon caretakers, such as beckett carlson , would be able to handle the rest. "Thanks," he replied, letting the speedy Metagross keep pace with the Walking Wake if they desired.

Josh remembered this fork from when he had explored Area Zero with Laurence Anderson , the DRK TRIAD's goons attacking him. "The left leads to an offshoot that dead-ends in a known paradox Pokémon nest, and the right leads deeper in," was the Gym Leader's answer. "Go whichever way leads you to why you came."

Josh's medical staff soared above the fields north of Route 117, supervising the Gym Leader's final rehab session. They and their dragon Pokémon kept a close eye on the ambitious Gym Leader and Knight of Thunder, a sky filled with dark clouds above them. Gusty winds blew the tall grass chaotically about. Though it looked like it could start to rain at any moment, not a drop fell from the sky.

A booming purr echoed all over the plains north of Route 117's day care, its source the ashen Beast the Mauville Gym Leader held the outer thundercloud tufts of. The electric excitement emanating from the Raikou mirrored his rider's intense desire to push the revered Pokémon to the limits he was aware of.

"Hyah!" Josh cried, flicking the outer parts of Swift's thundercloud in his hands. With a roar indistinguishable from a thunderclap, the Raikou began his long push to accelerate. Pushed back in his seat, his skin began to ripple from how rapidly his electric tiger picked up the pace. Sparks flew from his four paws, the two looking like a yellow and white comet meandering the gigantic field. With every passing second, it got faster and faster. Not that Swift was accelerating slowly; the Beast's rider was shaking the whole time.

His top speed was just that high.

It had been months since Josh and Yuina Higashi got to truly spend quality time together. The ash forming the thundercat's storm cloud was hard for the Gym Leader to grasp in the windy weather. While it was no tropical storm, the overcast and blustery conditions caused even the wetlands' water to ripple. It was part of what kept him from going truly all-out with Swift like he originally planned. "Wish this could have been on a better day, Yuina," Josh sighed, bouncing on the cloud from the Raikou's natural strides. It was a light jog by the Beast's standards: Yuina's Pokémon would have been more than able to keep up.

"How you been?" Josh asked the Hisuian, the wind shifting and blowing the Raikou's rigid tail around. "It seems like we don't get to spend as much time together anymore." Her senses might start to go off as a purple cloud began swirling above them, descending to an unusually low altitude. The signs that a SPACE-TIME DISTORTION was forming...

As Josh and Sidewinder floated in the spirit world on the other side of the Sky Pillar, a sudden bump knocked both of the ghost-types and their riders back to Hoenn proper, interrupting what would have been quite the thrill ride for the Gym Leader. The Dragapult made a sudden and sharp turn, facing the bump's source and preparing to fire Dreepy missiles at it. The racer tugged backward harshly on the dragon-type's reins. "Hold your fire, Sidewinder!" he ordered in a slight panic, calming down once he had his mount under control.

The flicking tongues and age of the child before him reminded Josh of vanessa rosiello , the racing superstar. Where had she been to, anyway? She had seemingly disappeared. "I thought I'd seen it all! Never seen anyone try to ride on a Gengar. Gym Leader Devlin, but you can call me Josh. Can I see how your Gengar's saddle is attached?" he asked, familiar with the great speed the poison-type species could reach.

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."

So it was unlikely that Nikola survived. A sad outcome, if it were the case, but in wartime, it was truly nothing new. He had lost several Pokémon to the war, and even kyle lopez ... though the former Top Champion's case was more indirect.

"Now take this with a grain of salt, but I do have one more thing to add," Josh interjected before Maisie could take off. "The Pokémon I remember them for most was a Typhlosion. That ghost-type variant we don't know a lot about the origins of. I remember there being some distinct markings and bodily features that made it uniquely identifiable. I'll forward you another brief and debrief. This one was about a Rocket lab hit in Slateport. I remember it distinctly because it was one of the first places I was forced to use Swift, my Raikou, in battle... and that the Typhlosion that appeared there was a remarkable match to what I remember about Nikola's."

Having forwarded the two files by secure email were he able to get it from Maisie, Josh slid off the soft, cuddly Raikou replica and walked with the detective back to the double doors. "Thanks so much. I'll be looking forward to it. You can text me at my personal number; that's the fastest way to get ahold of me."

As Craggro and Josh sped away from the golden Arcanine, he glanced backward, only to see it had stopped pursuing them. With how much speedier the fire-type was, the Champion reined the Pokémon back and eased off with his legs: a command for his partner to slow to a stop. With the wind not roaring around them, he could more easily communicate with Yuina and Ayashi.

"So they're from the past, then?" Josh asked. "That Arcanine had the power of a legendary Pokémon. I could feel it." The girl seemed flustered about the very existence of the Pokémon. "I would have needed Swift, my Raikou, to get away from it if it continued to chase us... and the RAINBOW FEATHER is back at Mauville Gym under lock and key."

Once the Noble's yellow light was no longer visible, he would continue with his questions. "Have you seen any more of them in Hoenn? It's... concerning if Pokémon like this are suddenly appearing all over."

Once Josh returned to the main hall of the floor, he heard Andrea Vaneau 's crying. "Awesome stuff! A little teamwork goes a long way... though I'm sure you remember that, with us earning the Tagteam Badge together! That should fit in the door on the far end," he pointed. Were Andrea to try opening the locked and chained door, she would be able to do so easily.

A spiraling staircase beyond the locked door would take the two down to another large hall, this one filled with wires sprawling out from the multi-level generator that the cosplayer and racer had at last reached the bottom level of. The massive device was a miraculous work of alien architecture that operated at efficiencies unlike anything Hoenn had to offer. "These readings... I bet this single generator could power all of Mauville City..." he gasped.

Above most of the room was a storm cloud similar to the one he had run into on the level above. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled from it, though not a drop of water dripped from above. "These are just like the ones upstairs. Swift can jump into these clouds and fly within them," Josh explained. "Out of all the capabilities I thought a Raikou had, flying sure wasn't on my list!"

Were the two to explore the rest of the hall, they would find electronic doors to the south and east... and those doors would not budge by force. "No power. Might need to play with the generator some. See if we can figure out a way to direct power to these doors," the Leader suggested, listening for any hostile Pokémon. If Andrea had sensitive hearing, she might be able to pick up on some crackling coming from beyond the south door...

Josh, too, hooted in sync Miyako. He loved the speed dragons could put on, and though the tingling bothered him some, Flygon was one of the few Pokémon he could put up with for a long time. He thought about the captured Petalburg Ranger Captain, wanting to bust her out of Rocket jail and learn just how she withstood the motion she did. Even without a Sygna Suit, the vibrations were jarring, leaving him in a limbo between wide awake and worn out.

Once the Quick Ball absorbed the wild Togekiss and landed on the ground, Josh reined Verte toward it, likewise landing without incident. The Flygon's body stopped shaking, letting Miyako retrieve her catch. "That's a really nice catch," the Gym Leader replied with a big smile, knowing the species could learn Extreme Speed. "Ideal for challenging Mauville Gym, when you two get to know one another better." Unlike other Gyms in Hoenn, his own tested the bond of trainer and Pokémon physically in the form of the racing challenge. The coordination needed between mount and rider when flying at the fastest speeds Pokémon were capable of, in Josh's mind, was a far more efficient measurement than a mere battle. "You had your fill with Verte, or you want more?" the dragon rider asked, gesturing toward the cocoon in front of him.

It seemed there was an agreement. With the size of the team, almost all of Josh's lions would be needed. Even king Kovu and queen Nala. "I'll make sure to get my pride booked for the expedition," Josh confirmed with the Torals. "Don't forget your eye protection, either; if it's windy, you'll want something to deal with the sand. I've got my racing helmet, so I'll be okay."

Kee's squeaky voice left Josh concerned on the inside... that he wasn't as confident as he was saying. He went through that pain, too. The first few times Josh sparred against a legendary Pokémon, he felt helpless. He did eventually succeed against Entei and Ho-oh. If he could pass their trial, he could also pass down how he did it and multiply the League's forces capable of going toe to toe with Rocket's Avatars. "I look forward to it!" Josh replied, Swift mirroring the racer's positive demeanor. It was as though their facial expressions were in sync with one another.

With their meetings set, Josh withdrew his Pokémon team other than Swift. The monochrome Beast crouched to let the trainer aboard, the Champion holding his outer tufts of thundercloud as though they were reins. "All marked on the calendar. Thanks so much for the hospitality and the great food. I gotta get the time slot for you blocked off at my Gym and talk to Captain annalise henderson about how many Rangers we can spare for the expedition. See you 'round!" With a thunderous purr from the big tiger, Mauville's Gym Leader was gone in a flash of lightning.

(October 2024) Keenan Toral

Ever since Josh heard Keenan Toral 's account of Greyson Connors 's harrowing Gym Challenge, it had become clear that the confidence that surrounded the Toral disappeared in the presence of a legendary Pokémon, whether a god, a shard legendary, or even the Mauville Leader's unique ally he inherited from kyle lopez . He had been there, too; in order to become a Champion, he had to defeat not only Entei, but Ho-oh, without the use of one of Arceus' Most Sacred Creation. He knew how intimidating it was to battle one; they seemed to be on a completely different level of strength, speed, and resilence than ordinary Pokémon. They weren't unbeatable, but in order to have a hope at defeating one, a trainer would have to go in prepared.

Sitting atop the black thundercloud, Josh and Swift faced Keenan Toral just outside Mauville Gym's rear entrance, the battle courts north a fair distance. "Thanks for dropping by, Kee. Looking forward to sparring with Swift?" he asked, a thunderous purr rocking a column of air spreading outward between the Raikou's dagger-like fangs.