Dewford's streets, skies, and shores were filled with the Mauville Leader's Pokémon. It was all hands on deck; every single one of them was out and about, Josh closing his Gym for several days at Navy 's request for help. He wouldn't turn down the man that helped him get out of his rut and turn his life around. Dozens of Pokémon, their saddles bearing the Mauville Ranger logo, ferried construction equipment and workers around the city to help with the reconstruction.

Forbidden from flying at his doctor's behest, Josh arrived at Dewford Island after many of his Pokémon did, Genbu the Blastoise gently ferrying him toward the Sheriff and now Warrior. As he arrived on the beach, he switched rides to the crouching Ixion, his Shiny Rapidash. His short-sleeved shirt left his left arm's wrappings largely exposed. Keeping his Pokémon to a canter, Josh approached the standing Elite Four member, slowing to a stop when he was near him.

"Navy! Glad to be able to see you again after... well..." Josh trailed off, his eyes shifting toward his recovering arm and the RAINBOW FEATHER pinned to his shirt gleaming brightly in the sunlight.

INTERNAL LEAGUE EMAIL

FROM: Josh Devlin (joshdevlin@hoennleague.gov)
TO: dahlia goode (commissioner@hoennleague.gov)
CC: Hoenn Elite Trainers (10 recipients); Hoenn Council Members (3 recipients); Hoenn Ranger Authorities (1 recipient); Hoenn Science Authorities (2 recipients); Hoenn Gym Leaders (9 recipients)
SUBJ: Re: NEW MEASURES FOR REGIONAL SAFETY

After carefully reviewing the proposed policy, I think the League is making a fatal mistake with this new law. Safety is important, yes, but the League has failed to consider the complete ramifications of what is effectively a declaration of martial law.

The economic impact this will have on Hoenn will be catastrophic. This new law will effectively make Pokémon breeding, a multi-billion PD industry here, illegal for all commercial purposes. Farming will be made needlessly difficult without being able to possess more than three Pokémon. This will cause great and unnecessary hardship by skyrocketing food prices.

Any business that relies on the ability to use Pokémon in large numbers will go bankrupt, and this will have a cataclysmic ripple effect as those employed by these companies will be forced into unemployment. If these laws pass, I will be forced to cut over half my staff from Mauville Gym and turn it into a battle facility only. Mauville Racing Grounds pulls in a tremendous amount of revenue for Mauville City and the League as a whole.

The environmental impact would also be catastrophic. Before we had Pokémon aid us in our everyday tasks, both at work and at home, we had machines to do many of them. Fossil fuel-burning machines that irreparably pollute our environment. Such a law will necessitate reintroducing those machines into widespread use and disrupt our diverse and sensitive ecology.

We already have the ledger the Pokémon Storage System uses that you can pull a database from; requiring all trainers to register their Pokémon into a separate regional database seems like needless work. As a Pokémon League, you should have administrative access to the Pokémon Storage System. It would be much more efficient to use the framework that is already there. This proposal also reeks of a giant invasion of privacy. It is unprecedented for a League to have this level of access to a trainer's Pokémon data.

As much of a concern as the economic, environmental, and sociologial impacts are, the biggest issue, by far, is the humanitarian impact. Pokémon are living, intelligent things. How are you going to care for the millions of displaced Pokémon in the region? Are you going to compensate people for the Pokémon you are taking away from them? Even if you have a plan to take care of them, enforcing this type of legislation is going to be a logistical nightmare.

Limiting League personnel to six Pokémon is needless and interferes in their capability to do their jobs. Six Pokémon cannot possibly cover every circumstance even a Ranger will encounter. As second-in-command of Mauville's Rangers, I can already see that this needless restriction will impact our ability to respond to disasters and even perform our daily functions that make the Rangers as useful and reliable as they are now.

If this declaration of martial law -- I will not mince words, that's what it is -- goes public in its current form, there will be mass riots across every street in Hoenn. Exemptions for Avatars and select League personnel will come off as a power grab by the bourgeoisie. These are the same types of tactics that dictatorships uses -- the type of dictatorship that declan walsh would establish were Rocket to overthrow the League. We don't need our own civilians fighting against us. We need to be united and utilize every scrap of power we have if we want to win this war.

As someone who has an exemption due to Champion status, I implore you. Please seek alternative measures to this overreaching act. There are a myriad of ways to keep Hoenn's streets safe. This is not one of them.

Sincerely,

Gym Leader and Champion Josh Devlin

--

This communication is HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL and shall not be disseminated outside official League channels. Any dissemination of this communication or its contents shall be punished to the maximum extent of the law.

recipients

The following characters have ICly received this email:

dahlia goode FERNANDO SILPH freya morningstar PENELOPE LIVY Eva Morales illeana reyes kyle lopez MATIAS SILPH Navy Melody Miro Greyson Connors noah faber CIAN MAHER Hideo Kino Gwyar Wledig lam logan DESIREE BLOOMS Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki ollie morales

"Not under his thundercloud," Josh teased as that very part of his Beast's body flashed white briefly, "on his thundercloud." He fully intended to share his childhood dream with Melody when he was feeling better. Depending on how long the war lasted or when an armistice was reached, maybe they would do so as a way to celebrate its end. "Did you get to watch the video of our match? I authorized it to be released to the public now that the world knows he passed Swift on to me before he died."

The Champion's smile grew as Melody seemed warm toward his offer. "Tell you what. When I'm feeling better, I'll take you to my favorite route to run with him. Mauville to Lilycove. It's one of the few places in Hoenn open enough where Swift can actually reach his top speed." He was under doctor's orders not to do so while still in rehab, and even if he was, he knew better from the RKS Simulation. He had ridden Koraidon there after returning from the prison, and he felt like he had died within from how much his arm hurt.

He was not going that fast again until after he was fully healed. Depending on how much he was needed in the war, he might be waiting even longer. "He truly was impossible to understand. Him passing the Raikou on to me was completely out of left field at the time, but now I know why he did. I can't imagine how agonizing it would be to know the hour of your own death." He wondered if Kyle knew the circumstances of his death, too. From what he had discussed with Matias, it seemed like Kyle gave himself up as a martyr.

The Mr. Rime swapped out empty plates for filled ones, performing a janitorial role. "Just hors d'oeuvres then, Melody? Reminds me of my family's Christmas tradition. That's what we have every Christmas Eve. Everyone cooks something so addicting. I always feel miserable afterward."

Josh let out a chuckle at Melody's suggestion. "Right, because we probably won't be able to hear each other too well over the wind when we're moving at the speed of a lightning bolt. Where do I even start...?" He paused, humming while collecting his thoughts. "Should I start from when I first met him? I know we talked about that when you introduced me to Cobalion when I first asked about AQUA."

Depression was beginning to set in as Josh gently rode Janus across his Gym's concourse. Even after one month of rehab, his doctors had not authorized him to ride his big cat Pokémon. He could not lead his Pyroar brigade on Ranger rescues. He couldn't give Blitz the full appreciation the Shiny Luxray deserved. Most crushingly of all, he could not live his childhood dream.

He had the means to, but lacked the strength to.

As Josh felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, he gently tugged on the Espeon's reins. "Can you stop for a bit?" the Champion asked, his psychic steed obliging as Aleph the Type: Null ran ahead of them. Looking at his Caller ID, it was one of his best friends. "Hey, Zachary, what's up?" he asked, sounding slightly blue.

The Top Champion's reassurance earned a sigh of relief from Josh. "Finally, someone who believes he's still out there. You and Noah. How's he been, anyway? I haven't seen him since the Gym Leader summit." He figured the Gym Leader was just busy, like all Gym Leaders were. Josh had just been in his position long enough to complete required tasks with lightning efficiency. "Hope he's been okay."

Melody's understanding of Josh's emotions got a laugh out of him. Swift mirrored the Champion's facial expression with a smile of his own. "Heh, remember when I first met Cobalion? How I wanted to be Raikou's Avatar? Now, Swift's right here, at my beck and call, and I don't want to be an Avatar anymore. Like you get much of a choice, from how I understand it. I love Swift and I want to be with him, but I'm afraid he'll leave if I turn that kind of relationship down. It's not joining AQUA I'm afraid of. If they'd let me, like they let Navy , I would. I'm a Champion. One of the most elite trainers in Hoenn. It's just... my childish ambition didn't understand how fickle legendary Pokémon can be."

In his current form, Swift was everything Josh revered him for, and nothing more. Exactly what Josh thought him to be deep down within his subconscious. For him to truly be a Beast of legend, Josh would need to realize there was far more to Raikou that just extreme speed all the way down to that level of his psyche. His unaugmented running speed had already peaked. But he could not fight like a Beast. He could not protect like a Beast. The relationship between trainer and Pokémon was not there like it was with the rest of his team. Josh desperately wanted the Raikou to truly be alive. But he also didn't want the Raikou to dominate him. His greatest fear was not being able to do what he enjoyed most with the Beast: shooting across the land at the speed of lightning. He couldn't do that now. Not while he was still in rehab. But he at the very least could look forward to it.

"I know now that it's not their fault," Josh answered. "If anyone is to blame, it's their Patrons for not understanding that for best effect, the relationship between Avatar and Patron should be two ways. It should be a friendship, not one side dominating the other. Like Andrea Vaneau told me while I was in still in the hospital, even gods need friends, right? I just wish I could read what Swift was thinking."

Avatar or no, a Pokémon and its trainer could only truly peak when they were of one mind.

"I get it, Melody. No one can. Kyle tried, and the only person he couldn't protect was himself. Tell you what. When I'm feeling better, I'll share my memories of Kyle with you the best I can. After all, there's room for two on that thundercloud."

Rounding the final corner while leaving a trail of dust and leaving skid marks on the course, Josh saw how far behind he had fallen. Eron's Jolteon had passed him, and the challenger was way in front of him, threatened only by his coworker's Purugly. This was not acceptable in his eyes. He was throwing down the gauntlet now.

Leaning as low as he could, almost laying on top of Toralf now, he temporarily let go of the reins with his right hand, turning the Z-GLOVE it was on around and exposing the Raichu's QUICKINIUM-Z to its linked catalyst. "HYPERSONIC..."

Once the duo started gleaming a brilliant white-yellow, wreathed in lightning bolts, Josh put his hand back on the reins and squeezed Toralf as tightly as he could. Not to urge the Raichu to go as fast as he could, but to avoid falling off.

"...PLASMA CHARGE!!!"



The Raichu's gait turned from rapid to incomprehensible, his strides so fast that his entire body began to hum like an insect's wing. The motion was completely paralyzing for Josh, his face locked in an expression of pure focus as he felt like his entire gut would fly out of his rear. The sonic explosion and display of vicious velocity left the gallery dazzled.

This was the entertainment their their season passes bought them.

The ALOLAN RAICHU zachary stellar surfed with could easily avoid wiping out by using the moguls as ramps, though it was not without its flaws. At the very last set of them, the psychic-type landed on the back corner, sending them careening toward the left side of the home stretch and forcing them to expend enough speed in a corrective measure for ARAVAN ESCHER's PURUGLY to slip past. Perhaps underestimating the feline's speed would be his downfall; they would need to focus harder for the last lap if they wanted to retake the lead.

The Gym Leader, Josh Devlin , had a statement to make. Rather than react to the bumpy terrain and make split-second corrections. he raised his Z-GLOVE to prepare what may have been the fastest Pokémon move in existence. In a sensational display of Z-Energy, his RAICHU leaving ERON IUNIS' JOLTEON and ACE SHEEKE's distant HOUNDOOM behind in a bone-rattling Z-MOVE: HYPERSONIC PLASMA CHARGE. Though the Z-Move got them duo back in the race, completely turning the rough terrain into a flat straightaway with how fast they were going, Josh Devlin would feel a notable elevation in the RAICHU's heartbeat. Their portrait on the leaderboard would begin blinking red...

The fans cheered loudly as the white flag waved to the side of the starting arch; it was the last time around the track! For the final lap of the race, the Leader's rolls will be capped at 170, before modifiers are applied.

Prompt: The opening three right turns were made quite a bit more difficult now that the racers had to avoid their Pokémon's skid marks! Some of the marks the clawed Pokémon in particular had made were quite deep, and tripping over them would be a brutal way to wipe out! Furthermore, the bridge connecting the upper and lower sections of the course was still out, meaning they would have to make the long jump one more time!

Target Number: 115 (Speed)

Special: Pokémon that roll beneath the Obstacle's Target Number lose double the normal amount of TP for Obstacle failure.

With the impact of its colossal fists against the ground, the steel-type loosed enormous shockwaves laced with grudges, hatred, fear, and envy. Each threatened to sandblast everyone in their paths. Was this the Ruination? Josh had been on the receiving end of shockwaves of similar power, reducing him to a mere drop of life force. Even the Master of Faster was stumped; his role in this battle was offense, and he needed defense. There were many of his friends in need, and he felt powerless to help them. He did not have defense. He had to accept it was his Gogoat's role to smash this REGISTEEL to pieces.

He had to stay the course.

"Nitro, TRAILBLAZE!"

The Gogoat lowered his horns and zoomed toward their collective foe, seeking to part the veil of the sandstorm with his fleet-of-foot charge.

Gwyar had told Josh to talk to the hand. To stuff his aggression. Did he not understand who these people were? Avatar killers. Killers of people who expressed interest in becoming Avatars. When he heard Gwyar's intent to join the Hexenzirkel.

"Gwyar, are you out of your mind?" Josh protested. "I beg of you, please reconsider. They've tried to claim my head once already. What's stopping--"

He was cut off by the odd voices filling his head, the scene fading to white as creepy eyes opened in the void surrounding them. "It'll be a miracle if I don't wake up covered in sweat from dying in this simulation..." Josh muttered.

The mention of cheese caught Josh's attention. "Like I said, Pidove are attracted to food. If they can smell it, they'll come," the Elite Ranger reiterated. "Do you know if there were any spills around here recently? Perhaps a dumpster they can't get into?" He continued to probe likely causes of the Pidove flock's aggression. "Might be worth investigating."

As Josh peered upward, his Pokémon continuing to repel the nasty Pidove, one landed on his head and pecked at him. "Ow!" he yelped, Ixion rearing sharply and scaring the bird away. "It might be worth investing in a guard Pokémon - one that's a natural predator of Pidove. Have you given that any thought?"

Time and time again, The League proved they could work with Rocket only when both their existences depended on it. It was survival instinct at its finest. Outside those instincts, both sides were ravenous and feral. And Josh had been dogmatized that the League were righteous. The Champion's lashing out was due to his own weakness, unable to resist the allure of Elisabeth Fiorelli 's Patron. And only she would ever know the truth.

"Yup - it's actually the same one, in Ever Grande," Josh clarified. "When it was touring Hoenn, I made sure to get on the legendary carousel at least once every day I went. There's probably more there - I've been hearing rumors of an attraction based on a Venusaur's vine. Doesn't that sound really fun to go on?" It was all too similar to what Shalin Nariya did with her Sygna Suit; Josh wondered if she was behind the design...

Josh happily slid down from Raikou's back and took his position in front of Lutgarde, grabbing onto the Koraidon's blue steering bones. "I'll see if he can get up to speed a little more smoothly than he has when I've been on him alone," he nodded, respecting his friend's limitations. Josh had years of training with incredible speeds. "Hold on tight!"

Koraidon began to bound forward with a powerful running stroke, much like the Cyclizar was when it was getting up to speed. The Winged King's gait became more and more rapid until it made a low leap, its giant wheels spinning. Darting forward as they caught the ground caused Josh to jerk backward, and perhaps Lutgarde as well. Even so, it was not like being fired out of a cannon, as it was the last time Josh hopped onto the red paradox Pokémon.

Raikou and Suicune galloped alongside the graceful creature, Josh's visor shielding him from the brunt of the wind. With each turn, a screeching noise echoed throughout Area Zero's caverns. Though they were going at quite the clip, faster than they were when they rode Zacian, it would be easy for Lutgarde to see that Josh was holding Koraidon back. Nonetheless, he let out a triumphant whoop as they passed his Raging Bolt and Walking Wake.

It seemed Yuina was not as close to the Top Champion as Josh was. While not quite an idol, his rainbow-colored light bolstered the young Champion's inspiration and will to fight for his region. "He was one of my best friends," Josh replied, sniffing. "About a year and a half ago, not long after I became Mauville's Gym Leader, he dropped by my Gym to give me a birthday present I'd never forget. He let me live my childhood dream: being Raikou's friend and racing him across the land." It meant the world to him, and the freedom Kyle let him have with the Pokémon now known as Swift was part of what inspired him to finish his Gym Challenge, take the Champion Assessment, and become among the few who held the illustrious title of Hoenn Champion.

"You've entrusted me with your secrets, so I'll entrust you with mine," Josh continued, stepping toward Yuina's ear and whispering into it. "Right before Kyle died, after the title match, Ho-oh handed his Raikou down to me. That Raikou... is mine now." It was something he had to keep as tight-lipped as possible until the war, so Swift could be deployed as a potent ambush weapon. That the two shared such well-hidden secrets with one another was a sign of how much they trusted each other.