As much as Josh wanted to calmly socialize with Shinobu, he was in the middle of a match that required all his focus. With how fast his Pokémon were, taking his eyes off them for a split second could have led to losing track of them, at which point he would be the victim of his own blitzkrieg.

It would have been easy for Saber to dodge the ZEN HEADBUTT in clear weather; it was the lack of visibility that gave the challenger's Pokémon enough time to smash into the Manectric at an oblique angle. It was no direct hit, but it sent him flying toward Marrow and Etali.

Seizing the opportunity, Saber opened his jaws wide, a cold mist effervescing from them. Etali was in trouble, a haphazard strike from Marrow grounding the yellow bird and leaving him highly vulnerable to follow-up attacks. Were the Manectric's ICE FANG strong enough to force the Marowak to let go of Etali, he would take the opportunity to ROOST just long enough to catch his breath.

Eddie's excitement was contagious; as much as he dreaded the pain he might feel within the simulation, Josh was ecstatic to go for the first truly fast ride he'd been on since acquiring the ashen Raikou from the late kyle lopez .

Once he was seated on the Koraidon behind or in front of Eddie, wherever he preferred, Josh drew the Sign with his RAINBOW FEATHER, its four strokes heralding a yellow and white light show. From the swirling ashes maintaining the Sign formed the shape of a monochrome Beast: the Pokémon of his dreams.

"And when I said buckle up, I mean it. These two are competitive racers," Josh bragged, both at Swift's speed and at the Koraidon's. "Ready?" he asked his friend, making sure he was comfortable before they would assuredly do the thing that brought the most joy to the Champion's heart:

Going fast.

"If you'd prefer to hop on Swift instead, nothing's stopping you. You just won't be able to control him like the Koraidon."

As Josh carefully rolled up his sleeve, Melody would see just how much the Gym Leader had suffered during his harrowing stay in Ultra Space. "Not nearly as much as it used to," he answered, letting his sleeve fall back down on its own. "I don't have full motion in my arm yet, though; I'm taking some rehab for it. I can still ride, but I can only hold the reins with one hand, and I need a psychic Pokémon to lift me onto the saddle. Dashie, my Galarian Rapidash, has been getting quite the workout," he smiled, appreciative for how much action the psychic equine was getting in the wake of his injury.

"It is," Josh confirmed, turning around to draw the Sign. With four linear strokes resembling the shape of a lightning bolt, the electrified ash coalesced into the form of the sacred feline.

There were even thin, ashen reins sprouting from the Beast's sides, reflecting Josh's desire to ride upon him. Every time he saw them, resisting the temptation to defy his doctor's orders and go speeding across the land became progressively more difficult.

Josh's mouth, and Swift's, both hung wide open at the Top Champion's revelation. "No wonder you and Kyle were so close... I was grateful to him for resurrecting two of my Pyroar that Kyurem and Hoopa killed at the beginning of the year. My pride wouldn't know what to do without them. But to be given a second chance at life courtesy of the Great One..." he trailed off. As much of a privilege as Kyle left Josh, leaving the Pokémon of his dreams in his hands, Melody's gift from the late Kyle was far more precious.

Fear of failure. Fear of being dominated by a Patron that clashed with Josh. One of his worst fears, as his training session with illeana reyes and Palkia, was to earn a Raikou's patronage, only for him to not be able to enjoy what he did with Swift in the days leading up to his imprisonment.

It was for that reason he suspected the Great One did not bless him in the same way Avatars were. Without a personality to balance, Swift could be exactly how Josh wanted him to be... if he trained his subconscious to reflect his surface desires.

"An ideal partner..." Josh trailed off, thinking about Remiel Calcifet and how his Patron represented ideals. "Perhaps I should see the Galarian crown prince again when I have an arm that won't feel like it's on fire from doing something as simple as grabbing the TV remote," he mused. Perhaps he would invite the man to his Gym for a race: Swift vs. Zekrom.

"Let's count on that. Perhaps after my first stage of rehab," Josh proposed. "And one of these days, I think we need to take another trip away from Hoenn. To the most wide-open fields in the country, where we can go as fast as Swift can carry us without a care in the world."

As much as Josh wanted to have Toralf floor it for the adrenaline rush of being on a Pokémon with such a rapid gait, he knew that going all-out so early would get them a big lead, only for it to slip away as his Raichu tired out. With how vigorous Hermes was, the psychic-type would simply outlast them. Timing was key. The ELECTRIC TERRAIN his rival discharged had the potential to rocket both the giant vermin forward, making it effectively a duel of speed while their rivals would struggle to catch up.

While Josh enjoyed the speed boost, it would be short lived, as Toralf would not attempt to match Hermes' breakneck pace. Instead, the Gym Leader tensed his hold on his Raichu's reins, ready to flick them just before running off the edge of where the bridge once was. Aiming to land on the inside of the landing zone, Josh pulled his left arm back briefly, causing the Raichu to make a quick turn before thrusting as high as stubby limbs could carry him.

ACE SHEEKE and his HOUNDOOM led the way down the straightaway, embers dripping from his mouth as the redhead held his steering horns tightly. They had to pick up the pace if they wanted to keep pace with the challenger's SURGE SURFING psychic-type, who also gave Josh Devlin 's RAICHU a slight speed boost. The ELECTRO BALL startled them both, forcing them to sharply veer out of the way near the end of the road. Leaping across the gap at an oblique angle, the fiery duo came up short, landing near the starting line.

While race rules permitted them to leap up to the main part of the course again, provided they had taken all of the turns as intended, turning around to accelerate to the speeds needed to make such a leap set them back almost all the way to last place. They witnessed an angry-looking PURUGLY leap over the gap in a well-executed QUICK ATTACK, ERON IUNIS and his JOLTEON landing next to them from a jump of their own.

Josh Devlin 's RAICHU landed on the inside line, just as the Gym Leader had planned. Champion and challenger were close enough to one another to both be in range of the THUNDERBOLT cushion. Though Josh's was on the inside line and had the advantage, the speed zachary stellar 's RAICHU held kept them so close that it was impossible to tell who was ahead!

Prompt: The second time around the course, the long left curve felt sharper than it was before, perhaps due to the increased speed from the ELECTRIC TERRAIN. Speed-boosting moves did take time to gradually wear off, after all. The sharp, narrow curve toward the end of the backstretch was coming, too. Positioning coming out of both the long curve and the hairpin turn would be extremely important coming into the home stretch.

Target Number: 125 (Endurance)

Special: None

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Elaine Highland

Your challenge has been accepted! Please tag Josh Devlin in a new thread in Mauville City. Your movesets are not locked in until the first post of your Gym Thread. You have until June 19, 2024 to post your Gym Thread or you will lose your spot.

Your Milotic does not currently know a move that could reasonably be used to increase speed. This may put you at a slight disadvantage. It is recommended, but not required, that you teach your Milotic at least one such move. Those moves include, but are not limited to:

Dragon Dance
Double Team
Flip Turn

AQUA was a very sensitive topic for Josh; it was something he had flip-flopped on multiple times since learning what it was about. "No. And I'm not sure I want to be, either," the Champion answered. "And I think it might be for the best that it turned out this way. You know how badly I wanted to be Raikou's Avatar when I first came to Hoenn and found out about them?" he asked, reminiscing of his first Avatar conversations with MATIAS SILPH . That was almost two years ago; how much had time flown by since!

"Last fall, I had this vivid dream about being Raikou's Avatar," he recounted, completely muting the television as it was still being a distraction. "The powers I had were unreal. I had this sword, shaped like a lightning bolt, that could cut cleanly through almost anything. My Pokémon were all much faster than they are now. I felt like I could ride at the speed of sound for hours and never get tired. And craziest of all, I felt like I could see in slow motion for short periods of time." It was certainly a synergistic power to have when riding on a living lightning bolt that might be able to give the Skylord a run for their money.

"Let me put it this way: until I'm an Avatar, the easiest way for me to get into AQUA is to apply for Head Ranger. And I'm not giving up Mauville Gym to do that. Plus, I've seen some... toxic Avatarships. Laurence Anderson . MATIAS SILPH . I don't want to end up like those people."

Josh had a long time to think about what happened in the immediate aftermath of Mount Chimney, as well as his training with Raziel Beckett and illeana reyes . His cabin fever had him pondering what Swift could do well and what he couldn't do well. To improve Swift, he would need to improve himself.

"You see, I'm starting to understand it. Swift is a Raikou... that's exactly how I've imagined him to be. Not like the one that died in the invasion. I think that's why he's super fast, but that's the only thing he's good at. It's just... so sad that the person who could help me best understand Swift is gone. And no one else in Hoenn, to my knowledge, has studied Raikou like I have. Maybe battling your friend will make me realize something new about Swift and point me in the right direction."

The only Glastrier that remained was Hylda as the two emerged in the depths of Area Zero, a famliar sight. Josh had been here many times, and he loved to share the experience he got with as many people as he could. Knowing Hylda would be the key to the battle, Josh slid down from the Glastrier's back, wincing as his shoulder and arm absorbed a little more shock than his rehab had made him used to thus far. This was the one place he could get away with getting hurt more; as it was just a simulation, all the pain he experienced here would not carry over to the real world.

It was a great place to test his limits.

"Hylda, HEAVY SLAM!" Josh ordered, the ice horse galloping toward the Apex Koraidon at high speeds. The two on a COLLISION COURSE with one another, both went flying toward opposite sides of the cavern, mist gushing from cracks all over the Glastrier's frozen body. That one blow was key for the red, Cyclizar-like Pokémon to wheel its brethren to the ground, Josh too focused on withdrawing his precious equine to see the battle's end.

When their Koraidon was the only one standing, Josh sheepishly smiled, rubbing his shoulder to try to ease the pain away. "Remember what I promised you: a ride on Swift?" he asked Eddie. "Can't give it to you here, but I'll let you know... what's about to go down here will prepare you for the day it happens. Buckle the hell up. You'll need it."

Swift's SPARK attack would be simple for the front line of Pawniard to repel with their steeled IRON DEFENSES. Perhaps the legendary Pokémon's electric charge knocked one down. The Raikou was still lightning fast after all; Josh doubted even the most well-trained Pawniard truly had the reaction time to steel itself against such a blow.

The sheer number of PSYCHO CUTS was overwhelming. How could Swift possibly withstand so many psychic attacks coming from all directions, each one capable of causing ash to fly out of his black body?

The Beast's body began to glow dimly, covered in a REFLECTIVE sheen that the Gym Leader didn't notice right away. It was only until the sound of shattering glass brought Josh's attention back to the battle, formerly lost in thought over what he could do. It was nowhere as close to as resilient as an ordinary Pokémon's REFLECT, shattering after just a few strikes.

A thunderous purr rattled the air around Razz, Josh, and their Pokémon. "Swift..." he trailed off. "Whatever defense that was, he couldn't hold it for long enough. I've never seen him try to do that before, though."

As Josh listened to the Underboss' words, GRUDGES familiar to him from the day they escaped the Megalopolan vessel were the catalyst that popped his top. Ultimately, it was the revelation that Elisabeth Fiorelli herself was indirectly responsible for the death of his one of his best friends that caused him to embrace the negative emotions within. Emotions cultivated by both Matias' past, corrupted self and the evil before him now.

His blood was boiling now.

"I knew it! He wasn't at all himself until Kyle died. When I first met Matias, he was a hero. A role model. Someone the League could look up to. Now it all makes sense. It isn't Matias I should have been furious at all this time. It's YOU!" A crashing roar left Swift's mouth, rattling and rumbling the night air loudly enough to wake any sleeping Pokémon in the area -- and possibly Mauville residents on the west side of town.

If there was a time he wished he wasn't injured, it was now. He wanted to beat the Scorned to within an inch of her life, haul her to Ever Grande's penitentiary, and question the Avatar himself. Of course, he couldn't fight at full strength, and Swift was far too weak in his eyes to stand up to WO-CHIEN. "So you set them both up..." he muttered, thunder rumbling from Swift's jaws. "You're... you're a monster. Upon the Great One's most holy name, I swear, Elisabeth... you will reap what you have sown. If not in this life, then the next... you will pay the price for your unforgivable sins."

Enthralled with the ruinous GRUDGES instilled upon him, Josh pointed toward the grass-type. "CRUSH CLAW, Aleph." The legendary normal-type galloped toward the slow-moving Pokémon and leaped at them, sharp claws and talons glinting in the moonlight.

Though Josh was no electrician, he knew enough about the element from his Gym to be aware of its volatility. "On it!" the young man replied, returning a thumbs up to Ana. "Alright, Etali and Toralf, on three! One... two... three!"

On "three", both the electric Pokémon began absorbing power from the generator. The readings slowly came down, though they remained high for the time being. "Oh, I never properly introduced myself, did I?" Josh asked, his eyes shifting back and forth between his companion and his Pokémon. "Champion Devlin or Elite Ranger Devlin, but please, Josh is good. What about you? If you said your name, I missed it, and I apologize."