[S][C/Alicia] Back in Time

Bolter ranks helped Josh withstand the high speed, but it wouldn't help him as much with the cat's flexing back. It really was like riding on a cheetah, both in raw speed and in how quickly the Liepard turned. Without a Double Team TM from the Arena Shop, her speed would be limited to what Josh was going at now. Even now, it was plenty fast; he let out a loud grunt when Luna extended her claws to make a sharp turn around a lone tree marking the base's edge.

"Whee-hee-hee!" There came the whoop Alicia may have been used to. Even at the speed they were shooting around the exploration guild's base at, Crios' height let Alicia easily track him, if she wanted. It was nowhere near Raiden's sprinting speed from within the Surge Steppes, but perhaps with an Electric Type Mod, he could change that! With the right set of cosmetics, he could make a pretty good Raikou impression out of Luna.

Quickly tiring from the powerful running stroke, Josh reined Luna to a stop near Crios and Alicia. "Whew, that's so fun!" the boy scout exhaled. "More tiring than Raiden, but so fun!" More tiring for the big cat, too; unlike the Zebstrika, Liepard were not built for distance running...

With Josh's body having less surface area, the force of the charging cat was able to exert more power than it did as an adult. As he continued to catch his breath, the eyeroll didn't go unnoticed. "I'll save that for the real thing, heh!" he exhaled, still unsure what he would do with his Type Mod.

The conversation quickly shifted to the guilds. "I've actually got to dabble in most, but not all, of them. I'm not staying with the Creed long; enough to get in, get my Absol, and get out. The other two, though, I'm giving serious long-term membership thoughts to. What about you? Does Mythstar or Round 2 appeal to you more?" That was a decision he had yet to make, as well. Both were appealing; he would certainly hear some amazing stories more within Round 2's halls, and Mythstar's exploration premise would yield endless adventure.

Josh scowled at Alicia's self-deprecation. "Haven't done anything? You helped us clear out that lab in the Forgotten Nexus. You've been to the Everworld and back. You helped pioneer UNOVR's Pokémon Racing League. Arceus, you've done more than I have! Honestly, the only reason my level is still higher than yours is because of my job's generous PTO package. I'm gonna be taking a week off in September to be on UNOVR almost the whole time." And that was just the adventures he knew about. There were surely all kinds of other trouble that Alicia had gotten into without him knowing about it.

Josh nodded and listened to Alicia and Crios talk to one another. Was creating one's own guild even possible? "I'm sure there's a guild creation item out there for an exorbitant price. I can't imagine it costing any less than 10,000 BYTES, though. With that kind of money, you could max entire skill trees. But to immortalize yourself in the server's annals by being a guild leader."

Could Josh do it? Being in management in the real world, he understood the logistics of running an organization. Many of those skills would likely carry over to the virtual world. And it was that experience that led him to a bold retort.

"Alicia, if you don't do it, then... I will."