Not only was Rime a bouncy ride, but she was sensitive, too! Reining the Ninetales around like he would one of his dog Pokémon, the fox twirled around like a professional ice skater, freezing the ground beneath her claws and performing donuts for the blonde. "Whee-hee-hee!" he cried, letting himself be thrown from one side of the saddle to the other as he reversed direction. This was the reason he left Mirage inside his Poké Ball; the Ninjask would have scolded him for wheeling the ice-type around like a race car taking a victory lap.

Thunder ran synchronized circles with the sliding vulpine. Even at a young age, the Galarian Zapdos could run, easily putting on enough speed to keep up with some of the boy's swiftest horses and felines. When the little one grew up, he was going to have a top speed of, as orioncayge put it, holy fuck.

Once Josh had transitioned to combat mode, Josh could have sworn he saw Respiro also locked in battle with an Aipom. Remembering Professor Ash's words that she only wanted one of every Pokémon in Ostellia, he reined his mount away from the normal-type, leaving the monkey to its own business.

Thunder looked disappointed, but followed Josh and Rime out of the combat zone. "We'll find another Pokémon for you to fight," he assured the flightless legendary bird, keeping his eyes out for another Pokémon while the riding training quest forced the Ninetales into a straight line again.

The giant jump startled an Aron that was feeding on the girder of a long-collapsed building. The cry prompted Josh to tug backward on the Ninetales' reins hard: equestrian language for "emergency brake". Rime dug his claws into the pavement, getting as far away from the wild as possible to remain out of range of the Steel-type attacks she was, to put it in no uncertain terms, deathly allergic to. "So sorry, Rime, but we gotta keep you away from steel Pokémon!" he apologized for the sudden maneuver.

Keeping away from it, Josh let Thunder engage the wild with a massive type advantage, winding up for a ROCK SMASH in the form of an arcing kick. The Galarian bird's combat style was fascinating; he never expected a Zapdos to fight like that. The kind of acrobatics Thunder was capable of would make him one wild ride... once he had the experience to do so.

The young legendary and the steel-type appeared to be an even match with one another. The wild Pokémon in Ostellia were much tougher than the ones in Asper -- almost on the level as when Ultra Beasts were the only Pokémon that roamed the streets. They were smarter, too; the wild had the perfect tool to combat the speedy bird.

"Thunder, look out!" Josh shouted, reining his Ninetales steed out of the way of a wide-range ROCK TOMB that greatly cut the amount of road the kicking bird had to run on. "You okay in there, Thunder?!" The only response he would get would be a crackling squawk followed by parts of the Rock Tomb giving way to another sharp kick from his Zapdos. He could toughen his team up fast by having them spar with the young Pokémon -- and he was certain Storm would be the same way.

A follow-up METAL CLAW collided with Thunder's legs just as the Zapdos hooked his beak between two of the steel-type's plates. Both fell and bonked their heads on the Nexus' asphalt, the freshly-rejuvenated Zapdos the first to recover. "Awesome job, Storm! You taught that Aron who's boss!" Josh cheered. "Now, I gotta capture this thing for the Professor!"

With a jab from her rider's legs, Rime trotted toward the reeling Aron that was now blinking red... meaning it was in capture range. The child pitched his GOLDEN Poké Ball toward the dizzy rock-type. He pondered keeping it for himself as a Lairon, but there were better Steel-types, including the one he wanted from the Nexus.

The Metal Menace, Skarmory.