[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

"Kids, get inside. Just in case."
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"Daddy, what is it?" answered young Lyra, clinging to her father's leg.
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"Hopefully nothing. But just to be safe, I'll call you out if things are fine."
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Josh had been expecting for the rider to show up, though he hadn't been expecting a massive series of blurs to come rocketing towards the ranch at high speeds. Offhand, Josh couldn't tell what they were, so he had sent the kids inside in case he needed to defend the ranch. Lightning's ears were perked up, giving Josh an idea of how close they were getting. Reaching up, he brought a hand to his ear and hit the button that would bring out the eyepiece. Pushing a few buttons on the holographic interface, he was able to turn the scanners on and zoom in...
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That was when he was able to recognize the person atop one of the Pokemon. It was still a bit of a blurry sight, which meant he would have to do some calibrations to fix that. But at the least, he could tell that the approaching Pokemon were not a threat. Just a very reckless kid. Josh took a deep breath as he turned off the eyepiece, watching as the Gym Leader made his grand entrance. He really did wish the kid didn't toy with his worries like that. Not when they were dealing with Pokemon outbreaks.
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Josh Devlin

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

He just wanted to get a Christmas tree for his wife and kids.
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Josh had gone looking in Fortree. Because, y'know. Tree. Fortree. Clearly there'd be lots of trees to cut, right? But noooo. He had to step up to the one that was actually a Pokemon! It wasn't even Sudowoodo! And he had trained his eyes to tell Sudowoodo from weirdly deformed trees too! What in blazes was this Pokemon and why was it so mad that he had approached it with an axe?
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Actually he'd just answered his own question.
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[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

With the meteor gone, there had been a great deal of cleanup to be done. Josh had been hard at work dealing with rampaging Pokemon and other issues that had come from the aftereffects of tampering with space time as they had. It had been necessary, but now they would have to deal with the consequences.
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One of them was investigating the rifts, and reports of strange Pokemon activity that had begun to appear in Hoenn since. Rumors of a sighting had brought Josh to the outskirts of Slateport City, where people had claimed to have seen a strange Pokemon. Some said it was brown, others said it looked like it was wrapped in tinsel. Josh didn't know if any of these rumors were true. It would simply be the luck of the draw, no?
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@tag

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

Josh had expected this to be hair-raising. It was something devised by the wild mind of the little one, after all. As unpredictable as an aurora borealis. Little Josh had shown he liked things fast-paced and faster still. So as soon as he had been told a race would be involved, Josh knew he was in for it. Still, there was no way he could have been prepared for this. Trying his best to observe his surroundings and take the best path up the ramp he could, he seemed to have it. Or perhaps not. It seemed his lack of racing experience had come back to bite him. Or just a case of bad luck. Either way, Buddy had cleared the ramp, but had gone off course and suffered a time penalty.
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Josh bit back a curse under his tongue in frustration, but ultimately regained himself and spurred the Arcanine forward. He'd found himself in last place, but he didn't intend to be for long. Not if he could help it. The home stretch was coming however, and Josh knew that if he was going to finish this right, he needed to think of something fast. Especially with the coming terrain. And another jump ramp.
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This time at least, Josh knew the angles better. Scratching behind Buddy's ears to help calm the Arcanine after they had failed the first jump, Josh whispered comforting words to Buddy as they surged forwards. The boost in confidence helped keep Buddy's speed up, and the Arcanine would take the leap, hoping to cover as much of the terrain as possible. This time around, Josh leaned himself to the side once they were in the air, taking guesses at where the Arcanine should be oriented in order to actually land on the track this time. Once they landed, Josh had finally put his plan into place.
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"Buddy, use your leaping ability to your advantage! Clear the terrain with jumps after every few steps!" Josh called to Buddy, whom let out a bark in acknowledgement before beginning to leap to and fro. It was a risky strategy, but this time Josh was doing his part as well. Knowing his visor well, he was able to change the dials to adjust the lighting and filter of his vision, letting him specifically see the terrain better, even if his far-vision suffered for it. He would have to trust Buddy when it came to avoiding any possible obstacles. But Josh was able to make use of this to lean and place his foot down if he saw something Buddy shouldn't step in, signaling to the Arcanine to steer clear.
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This race was Buddy's to run, but Josh would spot him all that he could. Josh did not believe in the idea that a trainer was a master and a Pokemon the one that obeys. Trainer and Pokemon worked as one. As equal partners.
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Josh Devlin

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

With the meteor gone, there had been a great deal of cleanup to be done. Josh had been hard at work dealing with rampaging Pokemon and other issues that had come from the aftereffects of tampering with space time as they had. It had been necessary, but now they would have to deal with the consequences.
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But while not dealing with mass outbreaks, Josh had returned to working on the prototypes for the new eye-pieces. A call from Small Josh had inquired about their progress, hoping to get a racing visor done for himself personally. Which gave Josh an idea. One that merited him inviting the kid to Lavaridge.
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Upon arriving at the coordinates, Josh Devlin found himself at the entrance to a large, vibrant ranch. It was filled to the brim with Pokemon, all captured and cared for by the homestead's inhabitants throughout years of travel. It was a living monument to just how long Josh had been on this journey of his.
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Thank Arceus they had the resources to house them all. Or he'd be working as a local dancer on weekends as a second job by now.
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[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

Bringing this thread out of hibernation, Josh watched as Lightning's ears perked up in alarm. Taking a deep breath, his heels lifted as he tried to listen for threats. Josh quickly jumped back when a strange shape would come down to attempt an attack. Morgrem, a Pokemon he had never seen or even heard of before, would use Torment on Lightning in an attempt to shut down one of its attacks. The Raichu however, shook it off.
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Josh quickly turned on the PokeDex app he had installed. It wasn't a HoloDex so to speak, it was just the run of the mill one. But it would do the job for now. Morgrem? Apparently it was from the Galar region... Interesting.
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"RAIIII!"
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Thunderbolt suddenly struck the Morgrem when it turned to stare at the holographic interface. Apparently the attempted attack had succeeded in pissing the Raichu off. Eyes wide, Josh quickly tossed a Pokeball.
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@tag

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me" Josh mutters as the ice wall breaks apart. It's fine, they can always try again. But what they can't try again is the fact that a Carvanha got past their defenses and took a bite out of his arm. The Ranger grit his teeth in pain, quickly drawing his extendable baton and giving the thing a good thrust to get it to let go of him, before Bastilo used a simple brute force attack to try and send the thing flying away. Josh meanwhile, collects some of the ice shards from the failed attack that haven't melted yet and presses them to the wound, quickly pulling out a wrap he had prepared and wrapping up the wound along with the ice. The ice would melt before long, but he could get some cooling on it for a bit this way, and this should put a stop to the bleeding.
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"I've got a bleeding forearm, wrapped until it can be healed or patched later" the Ranger spoke into his comm, taking steady breaths to keep calm before he would hear the sounds of something coming up above them. Josh had hoped to surface temporarily to deal with the wound more properly, but that would have to wait. Sharpedo and Bruxish were headed for the dig crew, which was bad. A real middle finger gift from Arceus, complete with rift.
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"More bogies coming your way" Josh spoke up to the others as Bastilo shot another Ice Beam at their ranks. This time, Josh climbed onto Bastilo's back to better protect himself.
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Izumi Yamamura

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

Josh watched the creatures fade to nothing with a perturbed expression. Of course this was a game, but seeing such life-like Pokemon just disappear tugged at his heart a little. Taking a breath to steel himself with the knowledge that this would continue and he would have to remember this wasn't real at all, he watched with a quirked brow as a bunch of messages began to be marked over his head. Something about levelling up, he didn't really understand this game. Sure, he had played these kinds of games when he was younger, and still did sometimes with his kids. But in VR it was still a little bit... Weird.
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He wasn't getting old, he swore.
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While the kid was busy with his stats, Josh was focused on what was in front of them. Perhaps it was the Ranger's mindset kicking in, but he figured he could look at "skills" and such once they were safe and the mission was finished. They weren't going anywhere, right? If he knew his games, he could make those calls later when he was of the right mind. Speaking of skills, it seemed that their NPC teammate was working on healing them, which was fine with him. It let him focus on dealing damage. The group came to a bridge that really looked like it shouldn't be holding up. Josh couldn't help but be afraid it could fall at any moment. If only they had a Lapras that could freeze the area...
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Little Josh suddenly cast a spell, and Josh found himself almost falling over as his feet became much quicker. Fawkes was the same, and the Charizard flipped over in the air as it moved to return to its trainer. The Charizard looked just as confused as he was. But regardless, Little Josh shot forward on Raikou, so Josh shrugged and mounted Fawkes once more. "Well Fawkes, you heard him. Let's mosey" Josh cheeked as the Charizard seemed to decide to just roll with it and go after them. Though not long after, Josh felt the hairs prickle on the back of his neck.
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Josh Devlin

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVX_bJmCY4
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Calm and collected, this was an approach that had long served Josh very well. Though he could admit that it was nice to do this without the pressure of a life-threatening situation weighing him down, which made it a little easier to appreciate the thrills that these sort of races could bring. Not that he was focusing on that right now. At the moment, he was completely and utterly focused on the goal ahead of him. At the least, he and Buddy shared said goal. That, he hoped, would carry the day for them.
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They were doing well so far, though the others were catching up to them. Josh had expected this, considering they were taking the safe approach. But he had the impression that with this crazy kid, anything was possible on a track designed by a racing fanatic. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after that Josh found himself slipping into 4th. Figures, but this race was far from over. Worse yet though, the first turn was coming up. Arcanine weren't the best at turning, though, so Josh had to get creative. Having Buddy begin the turn a bit early, Josh used his height to his advantage to slam his foot into the ground as one would with a motorcycle to help give Buddy a little more turning room to clear it. It sacrificed a little speed, but it meant they could begin picking it up again more quickly too. Which for an Arcanine, was the best way to go.
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Trainer and Pokemon working in tandem. That had always been his way.
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But Josh was definitely not prepared for what came next -- the ramp.
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"Ah, shit."
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No moves in the first lap either. Josh took a deep breath before whispering to Buddy to ramp up all the speed they could. The little headstart on speed would help, and since he was in 4th, he could watch Little Josh as well. As he also had a Hisuian Arcanine, he would know exactly what angle to hit the ramp from with that kind of Pokemon. Though Josh would have to make some adjustments to make up for his own height and weight compared to Little Josh.
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"Buddy, let's do this! No going back now!" Josh called out to the Arcanine, adrenaline beginning to flare up in his expression. This was just like a snowboarding course, he reminded himself. Just get the right speed, the right angle, and...
[break][break]

Josh Devlin

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

"I mean, that is a perk..." Josh trailed off, shooting Izumi a cheeky grin at that. Thankfully, the kids would not understand any of said banter. And he could look all he wanted without them ever being any the wiser. At least, not until they were older. The older they got, the more cautious he was going to have to be.
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This had gone on longer than a rotted fruitcake, however. They probably should work on wrapping this up...
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Then of course, Izumi would speak up again.
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"Perv" he remarked with a roll of his eyes and a light smirk as he steadily climbed out, before actually forward rolling to his feet of all things to entertain the kids before headed to the food.
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Izumi Yamamura

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

His partner in the literal opposite of crime agreed on the plan, sending her Dragapult after Lightning. Josh nodded in agreement at that, before moving to whisper instructions into Lightning's ear. The Raichu gave a happy chirp in affirmative before dashing off after the brigands.
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The pair of poachers walked behind a set of cages carrying the Pokemon they had poached. Pulling the cages was a Tyranitar and two Tauros, essentially doing all of the work. Josh hadn't been able to catch the shape of their forms on the visor at this distance, something he had already realized and noted would need to be handled later. Pokemon had such different shapes and sizes, and different heat and life signatures as well. It was going to be a challenge to accomodate for every Pokemon, but he was already thinking about how to at least broaden the scope to make them identifiable in even a rough form from a distance while he worked on that.
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For now though, Lightning had been sent purely to disrupt. So he had hoped that any type disadvantage would be negated by its role. Though while there was unfortunately no Mega Raichu that could circumvent those disadvantages, Lightning had been equipped with a few tricks for some cases... Either way, the Raichu would take the lead, knowing its Trainer wasn't too far behind.
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"Oi, do you hear something?"
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One of the poachers overheard the sounds of rocks being kicked up by Lightning's feet, and stopped the poaching caravan. Realizing that it wouldn't be able to play stealth, Lightning motioned for the Dragapult to stay hidden before revealing itself.
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"Hey, it's a Raichu! Wot do you think it's doing in here? Think it's wild?"
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The other poacher turned, before their eyes widened.
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"You idiot! It has a bandana, we need to-"
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On cue, Lightning's body began to broadly spark with electricity and its body was soon cloaked by it. The Raichu would leap over the heads of the two poachers, using Volt Tackle to pick up a drastic amount of speed as it began to bounce around the cave. From the cage ceiling, to the ceiling, to the ground, all around. Giving the Dragapult an ample opportunity, and buying time for the Trainers to catch up.
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Elinor Anderson

[attr="class","dragomirpt"]

They'd actually managed to pull it off.
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Actually warped the damn thing and saved Hoenn.
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Honestly he needed a vacation. But there was so much work to do in the aftermath that Josh didn't really see that happening. Things had been chaotic ever since, and Pokemon had been restless, out of control, or even fighting with others not from their natural ecosystem ever since. So Josh had found himself back on the field quickly enough. While he didn't play some kind of pivotal role, he had been working to keep Hoenn safe while others tried to warp the meteor.
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Except his work didn't end when the meteor was gone. Because one of said ecosystems was in danger again, and a couple of godzilla were the cause. It didn't take long for the veteran Ranger to jump into the fray.
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@tag