Shalin was too delirious to hear Dorian's first cheer; by the time she was able to slide off the Beedrill's wing and did so, his Volcarona was already fluttering around them. She steadily walked toward her Venusaur, who extended both of her giant, thick vines. "Thanks! It's what a Sygna Suit can do when synced to a Flygon!" Shalin explained right before Queen Zing buzzed her wings loudly, as if goading the Volcarona to see if it could churn its own six wings just as fast.

Saria's throat rumbled as the noise from the two giant bugs calmed down. "And that's only the first half of the show!" she advertised as one of the vines snaked toward her, the girl sitting on the thick pod at the very end of it. It was the part that Venusaur used to smack their foes with: one of their Power Whips.

As the intense rush of Infinity Energy filled Shalin, it left her just as swiftly, her vision fading to white. She wished she could have kept her Avatar powers, too, what with what was lurking at the bottom of the EPOCH RUINS.

Or perhaps it was more of a blessing that they didn't come along, for being Rock-weak would have been an awful way to go, given she was staring down REGIROCK. With little time to think, the girl reached for Treble's Poké Ball, clambering aboard the Kommo-o as quickly as she could. "Don't worry about me! Just grind that thing to dust like you do any other rock wall!" Shalin bravely ordered, her mount entering CLOSE COMBAT with the legendary.

Shalin's exposed skin violently rippled as her dragon mount's vibrating fists clashed with the broad side of the rock-type's STONE EDGES. "Faster, Treble!" she encouraged. Faster and harder the Alolan dragon's fists shook, the Captain and her Kommo-o beginning to blur from the attack's incredible frequency.

It was hard to recommend a place to start. There were so many fascinating tales of Hoennian history hidden throughout its ruins, strongholds, and other geographic features. She, too, was overwhelmed by how vast Hoenn was. As she dredged up memories of her expeditions, she came up with a good starting one.

"What about the Braviary's Nest northwest of Fortree?" Shalin suggested. "It's a stronghold where the first-known bird Pokémon trainers lived. You need a flying Pokémon to get there, but it's worth seeing. We could go there together sometime if you don't have a flying Pokémon of your own!"

Shalin wasn't quite sure why Reinier wanted to cut the conversation short; 121 was a very rural route. It was unlikely anyone would be eavesdropping on them in the middle of nowhere. She paid the Gallade nearby no heed as she and her Type: Null watched Reinier's battle with Golett.

One weekend in late April, Shalin and the Mauville Gym Leader had their schedules align to the point where they could go to the arcade and play Step Step Revolution in front of a crowd at Slateport City's Round One Arcade. Shalin could clear much of the game's hardest content, and wanted to give the newest level 19 chart a try; unlike the rest of the folder, the chart she wanted to unlock and play was a bridge between the much easier level 18 folder and the highest level of difficulty seemingly in a league of its own.

That would not be the case; Rangers throughout Hoenn had been overwhelmed with missing persons reports toward the end of the month, some of which were VIPs. The Champion and Knight of Thunder, Josh Devlin , was on that list. She felt miserable for the young man. He, at long last, fulfilled his dream of befriending Raikou, and didn't even get to be with the Beast for a month before disappearing. The number of other people that had vanished was alarming, too. Every city had Rangers searching for the missing people around the clock, and Rustboro had become so overwhelmed that the Captain herself had joined the effort. She had loaned out almost all of her flying Pokémon to Rustboro Rangers who needed aerial assistance. The only two left in her possession was Sandy, her Flygon, and Sol, the Shiny Volcarona upon which she was seated and ready to soar atop.

"Beckett, right?" Shalin asked the young man. "Captain Shalin Nariya of Rustboro. The Mauville Gym Leader is one of my best friends, and I couldn't bear it if I learned something horrible happened to him so recently after becoming a Champion."

So it was even the more innocent-looking bugs that were problematic, not just the dangerous-looking ones that Shalin saddled primarily to look more intimidating than she actually was. Zachary really was a psychic specialist, like Josh warned, wasn't he?

The fire and ice moths landed just as Zachary's Swadloon defended him against a Croconaw that looked like it wanted to take a bite out of the poor, scared young man. Despite how he felt toward bug-types, the Swadloon repelled the wild with a leaf barrage, forcing the amphibian's retreat.

Curious, Shalin approached the Swadloon to give the grass-type insect a pet if they allowed it. "Swadloon are bug-types in addition to grass-types. You seem comfortable around them," she noted aloud. "What about them makes you like raising them more than another bug Pokémon?"

Right. They had come to the bottom of the Power Spot to extract Dynite Ore and Tera Crystals. "I got it!" Shalin did her best to smile, though she was not the ball of sunshine she normally was. The LIFE DEW helped patch up the Captain and the rest of her team, but it wouldn't help poor Bass Boost. Only treatment at a Pokémon Center would help them. Shalin slid off her dragon-type mount, needing to conserve her energy for the flight out.

With the bellow of a dragon, the Kommo-o slammed his fists into the mineral vein and began to vibrate every sale on his body. The hum turned into a loud rumble, Lutgarde possibly able to feel the vibrations themselves. The CLANGING SCALES dissolved the rock into sand, the much harder Dynite and Terastal ores floating to the top. Shalin didn't fill Sandy's saddlebags too much; with how sharp they were, a dislodged crystal could puncture even her scales.

Once Shalin had finished transferring their small haul aboard their flying-types, she followed Lutgarde into the air, the echoing hum of Sandy's vibrating wings the only ambient noise all the way back to the surface world.

Shalin and Sandy darted across the sands of Hoenn's great desert with the agility of a hummingbird, the Rustboro Captain hooting and hollering from within her SYGNA SUIT. JOLLY as could be, the INFINITY ENERGY flowing between the two let the Flygon break her normal limits, the two of them looking like one Flygon with how indistinguishable she was from her synced Pokémon. She had to get ready for war, but even Petalburg Woods was a bit too close for what she wanted to do. The Great Desert was vast enough that the enormous shockwaves from her wings at speed would not cause much disturbance. It was the perfect place to practice the ultimate synced technique the duo could unleash.

Shalin guided the Flygon to a rock formation a few feet off the desert's sandy surface. "Let's get warmed up, Sandy!" she chirped, sliding off the dragon-type's back and onto its insectile yet sturdy wing. Both of them glowed a faint green, the flow of Infinity Energy enabling the Flygon to support Shalin in this unusual way. "It's been a bit, so don't go too fast right away!" With a nod and a chirp of her own, Sandy's wings began to hum and vibrate, turning Shalin into a blur even at the relatively low frequency.

Little did she realize that some nasty winds were going to ravage the Great Desert sooner than forecast...

After seeing the Beartic's facial expression, it seemed Leo wasn't being forthcoming. The past Shalin, before she ascended to Rustboro's Ranger Captain, wouldn't have seen through such a ruse. She had to deal with a lot more people now. That experience let her see right through Leo's little fib. "It's called Meteno. As in meteor. The meteor that was on a collision course with Hoenn before Eva Morales and Rayquaza shattered it to pieces."

When asked about the Type: Null's armor, Shalin's instinct was to caution Leo about petting the creature, but it was too late; he had already done so. A menacing-sounding hybrid of a purr and a growl, one strong enough that he would feel vibration if he continued to try petting the Pokémon, would be the only warning he would get to stop. "That's a question I've been trying to answer for over a year of raising her," the Captain answered. "You see, Type: Null were originally designed to be a bio-weapon solely for killing Ultra Beasts. That mask she wears is a retainer. Even if you know how to remove it, doing so makes the Pokémon almost impossible to control. She's moody enough as she is. I couldn't imagine it then."

As Leo explained how long his tenure was and the motivation for joining the Rangers, Shalin nodded along, waiting for a huge gust of wind to stop before replying back. "If your primary goal is to punish Team Rocket, Law Enforcement is more your field. We do a fair amount of Rocket busting as Rangers, too, but not quite as much as the cops get to do. Let's put it this way. Rangers are to Pokémon what Law Enforcement is to people."

Electric-types were perfect. Shalin didn't have many of them; those were her Gym Leader friend's specialty. Activating the HoloWear and scanning for Thievul energy signatures, the device didn't return any nearby. It seemed like their quarry was still quite distant. "That will work wonderfully," Shalin nodded. "Being able to slow it down will make it much easier to trap it. Then we can get it re-captured and transferred back to its proper owner."

After traveling a short distance, the glasses manufactured by Josh Dragomir 's company returned a signal. Though it didn't confirm that it was the Thievul they were looking for, a Thievul was nearby. "We're getting closer," Shalin whispered as she slowed her Type: Null to a walk out of need for stealth. If she had the opportunity to, she would ambush the fox from above and mount it, fighting the Pokémon until it was tuckered out. She doubted the terrain even allowed for the height difference needed; after all they were in a forest far from the Rusturf Mountain Range.

Lutgarde's ploy worked beautifully, the weakened heads unable to overcome their delirium induced by the Rapidash's CONFUSION. The fire head and ice head discharged their attacks into one another, creating a violent explosion that ripped Shalin from her mount and sent her team flying toward the ground. Her friend's Pokémon may have had a similarly difficult time. It accomplished its purpose, the Hydreigon dissolving into pure Dynergy.

"Thanks..." Shalin panted. "...Couldn't have done it... without you..." The girl struggled to get to her feet, doing what she could to get onto the back of a Pokémon that had more balance than she did. Her Kommo-o helped her stand before the dragon crouched to let her aboard easily. Treble knew better than to vibrate Shalin like he normally did; she was in no shape to withstand such powerful shaking, Sygna Suit or no. "If I ever... see that thing again..." she trailed off, her tired mind unsure where she was going with the thought.

The saddle the Glastrier wore wasn't quite the same as the one that was on the ice horse that used to be here, now in the Galarian princess' care. Not recognizing it in the moment, she climbed onto the regal creature. With a powerful rear, the ice-type slammed its front hooves into the snow before kicking up quite the drift with its hind legs. The legendary Pokémon bucked and heaved, at first glance trying to hurl Shalin off its back. Every leap and landing sounded like shattering glass, the girl's breathing heavy as she held on for her life.

As the rodeo went on, Shalin was jostled so hard that her eyesight rolled downward long enough to realize why she could withstand such powerful bucking. The Pokémon was freezing her lower body in place from her feet upward. An intense feeling similar to the Infinity Energy of her Sygna Suit flowed through her, a sword of ice forming in her right hand.

"...Am I an Avatar now?" Shalin asked Cian as the destructive horse at last came to a stop, relinquishing full control to its trainer.