Shalin's smile grew, adrenaline filling her body as she rode out Tsukiko's initial bucking and kicking. If this was the warm-up, she couldn't wait for the main event! Suddenly, the Ninetales stopped, craning their head as if to say hello to the unexpected rider. The look of confusion was quick to make way to one of laughter and merriness. While this wasn't the kind of wild ride Shalin expected, she wouldn't say no to what tricks the fox had planned!

She loved every moment of Tsukiko's bumpy and bouncy gait, feeling the fox put extra vigor into their running stroke. She sounded a cowgirl's cry as the SPOTLIGHT shined upon her, getting the attention of Lathiel the Type: Null. It would take quite a while for the normal-type to catch such a swift Pokémon, though.

Part of Shalin wanted to goad the Ninetales into trying to fling her off right away. As her hooting and yelping accompanied their gallop that would have felt like bucking to many a rider, she felt she was having too much fun to agitate Tsukiko yet. She simply held her grip on the fox's fur, as ready as she could be for their next maneuver!

"Not the entire ocean - are you that dense? Just the waters surrounding this island," Shalin retorted with unusual aggression in her lips. She had grown tired of this pest from their previous meeting near Lilycove. She was also growing tired of her own Pokémon's attack; without her suit on, the vibration was harmful to her, too. It was downright numbing[. She sounded a cry for Bass Boost to stop, but that was prematurely interrupted by the Malamar whipping a vengeant tentacle directly at the amphibian.

The impact launched Shalin from her frog steed and into the water. Losing almost all feeling from absorbing such powerful vibration, she reached for what she thought was her Milotic's Poké Ball, only to be ferried to the water's surface by... a Greninja? Even in the water, riding one of those was unusual. The swift swimmer thrust his webbed feet powerfully backward in a stroke that threatened to catch up to the Malamar in a hurry. Xenon would get a great look at the frog breaching the surface with a powerful kick, soaring skyward and attempting to knock the Malamar and rider silly with a BOUNCE that would hit as hard as if used by a FLYING-TYPE Dodrio.

A Gliscor dove in front of Corona's Inferno, the poisonous ground-type an obvious sacrificial Mareep to buy the Corviknight more time. It was clear to Shalin now that the giant metal bird was the Rocket's main offensive weapon, and it was one she had to disable as soon as she could. That Gliscor was too fast to maneuver around without her giant bugs, and Queen Zing simply could not pierce the avian's metal armor with her sting.

Embracing his anger rather than fight it, the Charizard, no longer berserk, tilted his wings at an angle for maximum forward thrust, his acceleration yanking Shalin back in her cocoon. Corona wound up before pitching his DRAGON CLAW toward the wounded Gliscor, aiming to slap it out of the sky so he could once again take a shot at making barbecue out of the Corviknight.

Two of the supply crates had been ruptured by armor-piercing rounds of a FLASH CANNON, liquid medicine and small glass shards pouring out from where the steel-type ammunition had sent sparks flying. With Shalin and her Typhlosion pinned down, a young ally and his Trevenant came to the Captain-elect's rescue. BULLET SEEDS and rounds of ROCK BLAST were aimed at the grass-type, its strong bark holding as the branches and roots set off the mines and other traps in the area.

"Thanks for the save," Shalin answered Aaron, gratefully accepting the aid. Performing first aid on her burn would not be a challenge for him, but she would need to get that tender skin looked at when she returned to the League infirmary. She had already been in and out of there once today. Even Pokémon healing was no miracle cure for the wounds of war. "Captain-elect Shalin Nariya of Rustboro." She eyed the grass-type, getting an idea. "Does your Trevenant know a move that could repair or patch my Sceptile's towing cables? That would make it a lot easier to haul everything back to HQ."

There was a huge difference between seeing the feat and experiencing it. That experience was something that, to her knowledge, only Shalin herself could partake in. The sensory overload was a feeling she could not properly put into words. Did words even exist that adequately conveyed what she felt? "You can say that again..." were the only words that came out of her mouth as she downed part of the Aqua Fresca.

There was also a big difference between what she did and flying on a Beedrill at all. Perhaps they could make a day out of meeting her Pokémon in Petalburg once the festival wound down. "I do! Supper sounds really good." With that, she took her leave of her exhibit for the day and followed the young woman on foot, giving her thighs a break after the pressure she had put on them.

Shalin shrugged at Oracelies' mention of being out of her element. "That was me all day at Dewford," she sighed. "When we have to fight, we fight wildlife, not other people. I had a hard time sleeping after being cornered and forced to kill another person's Pokémon just to survive. Even if it's Rocket, it's just so much. There are a lot of wrongs that can be undone, but death isn't one of them."

Her mood perked back up when Oracelies approached Kiku with no fear at all. The Skuntank took her offer, rubbing his tail against her and even tickling her if she allowed. "You're a brave one! But I like that about you!" Once he had his fun, Shalin slid off the poison-type's back and onto that of her Kommo-o, the Captain letting out a yelp as the scales beneath her started vibrating like a snake's tail for a split second. Kiku crouched to let Oracelies more easily hop on.

Once the two were in place, firmly aboard Shalin's Pokémon, Treble kept pace with the bounding Skuntank. While it wouldn't be an uncomfortable pace for the new Ranger, it would be a brisk one. The Captain kept her eyes out for the roadblock, as well as the Diggersby that caused it...

The potent and effective LEAF STORM left the ground-type screeching, one last brief, but powerful, surge of vibration rumbling through Shalin. "Yeek!" she cried as another bright green glow surrounded her, a physical manifestation of the Infinity Energy making her physics-breaking feat possible.

"That was... tiring... but... so fun!" Shalin huffed as Ollie made sure she was okay. Even her Flygon was sweating from keeping Shalin on the rattle when it shook and hissed with frightening speed. As the tail fell limp, she fell over in a heap, her jelly legs unable to hold her weight. She turned toward the Sandaconda's now motionless rattle, amazed that it was still intact even after giving the girl the ride of her life. "I... want to... catch one... for myself... now!"

Pistachio's THUNDER WAVE did little but corral the suited Elite and wild snake into the same corner of the desert they were already in, thanks in part to its Ground typing. With charging the Dragonite and Ollie no longer being an option, the wild put everything it had into unseating Shalin. The treble of the shaking tail's hiss and the base of its hum harmonized with one another as the rattle and trainer on it turned into a blur.

The girl started hooting and yipping, both her and her Sygna Pokémon glowing a bright green from the discharge of Infinity Energy needed to keep her from being immediately unseated. She let out a shriek as the shaking peaked in frequency, as fast as a Bug Buzzing wing. It was so fast that Shalin's sense of touch was greatly dulled, all four of her limbs tingling as the rattling slowed to a gradual stop. The snake was sweating profusely from desperately trying, and failing, to unseat the Sygna Suited Ranger. As Sandy touched down, even the Flygon looked as worse for wear as Shalin was.

All there was left to do was bring the giant to a Pokémon Center and let ollie morales do as she felt was in the best interest of the Rangers. He was their boss, after all!

The Tropius' SWEET SCENT served its purpose, the noise Treble made and the aroma drawing the Sandaconda exactly where Shalin wanted. Shalin slid down from her dragon steed as the Kommo-o and Sandaconda bellowed and hissed at one another, the fast snake lunging toward Treble and BULLDOZING over him. It was now or never; Shalin had to make her move. And would it ever be a big one.

Just as the enormous ground-type snake was about to turn around, Shalin reached for the dangerous foe's tail and grabbed onto it. Before she could crawl up to a choke point on it to help take the creature down, it realized the girl's presence and pulsed its back half upward, knocking her back to the very end of the tail.

Right on the Sandaconda's rattle.

Hurling her Flygon's Poké Ball skyward to activate her Sygna Suit, both of them glowed with a faint green light as the girl held onto the ground-type with everything she had. The furious Sandaconda raised its tail a noise sounding like a burning firecracker filling the air as the Captain-elect was chaotically yet rhythmically shaken about. The two glowed a brighter green as the shaking intensified. Furious that it couldn't shake her off, the Sandaconda rattled Shalin faster, a hum coming from its tail the indicator of the kind of speed she was being shaken about at.

It took Lathiel's lack of violence and Amir's aggression toward the Vikavolt for her to understand: this Pokémon was like her Pharika. A Pokémon precious to Lars, but had been taken from him cruelly and prematurely. Now she understood why Lars was so scared; they both were empathetic toward Pokémon, despite one being stern on the outside and one being lackadaisical.

The shockwave caused the Vikavolt image to fade, swallowed into the roaring Eternatus core. The core had appeared so close to Shalin that many of her other Pokémon couldn't resist it. Withdrawing her entire team except Saria and Sandy, she cried, "Saria, VINE WHIP me toward the rift!"

The grass-type did as asked, Shalin holding on for dear life as the core's pull threatened to drag her off the vine. Her skin tingled as she felt the whip's pulse race toward her. Right as she felt the peak of the pulse, she let go with both her hands and fired the retraction beam from Saria's Poké Ball. Timing the maneuver perfectly, the whip flung Shalin toward the rift back to Hoenn at speeds that would have made even the Mauville Gym Leader sick.

What was so unusual about her name? It was a traditional Kantonian or Johtonian name. If this wasn't simply a phone game, she would have blushed at her name being called pretty. No one had ever said that about her.

The context of smell before sight caught Shalin's attention. What was the most pleasant-seeming smell of the four? The bakery, silly! The first response did get a chuckle out of her, briefly considering how someone at Macro Cosmos had a dirty mind. Though her eyelids started to become heavy, she was too engrossed in the story to fall asleep. She nearly swiped an unintended response before steadying her hand and trying again, this time entering the one she intended.

> Toward the bakery

TO: Shalin Nariya (shalin.nariya@hoennrangers.gov)
CC: ORACELIES SOLAR (oracelies.solar@hoennrangers.gov)
MISSION: "Digging for Gold"
PROTOCOL: Dispersal
DANGER: ★★☆☆☆

A small horde of Diggersby have been causing big headaches for teavelers between Rustboro and Verdanturf, tearing up the main road between the two cities and making it impassible for most civilians' Pokémon. Find a suitable location to relocate them to and clear the road for general travel. While you are authorized to engage the Diggersby in combat if needed, it would be preferred if you could keep the encounter as nonviolent as possible. Can't have the press calling us hypocrites, you know.

Your mission objectives are as follows:

A) Relocate Diggersby horde
B) Repair Rusturf Highroad

Good luck! We're all counting on you.





Violence? Shalin didn't need violence to relocate some unruly Pokémon. She was a Ranger, not a Gym grinder. Though some may have considered her methods violent, or at least unorthodox, the Rustboro Captain saw her aural overload tactics as mere intimidation. She had a team of Pokémon perfect for the job: with the normal-types' sensitive hearing, it wouldn't take an overly loud sound burst to knock them all out, or at least scare them.

She had been made aware that the fellow Ranger assigned to her would be Pacifidlog native ORACELIES SOLAR , and that she only owned water Pokémon. She would need to provide a ride Pokémon for her partner. Luckily, she had plenty to go around! It was just a matter of her not being intimidated by her unusual choices of Pokémon, such as the Kommo-o and Skuntank by her side...