Shalin and Kiara were both bleeding, and in different places, at that. She wished she had brought Levy, her Milotic, for his LIFE DEW, but it would make little sense to bring the purely aquatic Pokémon to such a high-altitude location otherwise. She needed as diverse of a Pokémon lineup as she could get. It was a good thing that Shockmaster had landed the finishing blow, otherwise Isaac's effort to rescue the girl may have been in vain! The only unlucky one would be Shockmaster, as the dragon threw a deadly COUNTER in the form of an uppercut headed toward the Electivire's chin in one last act of desperation before keeling over.

Shalin's breath was at first labored, but Isaac helping her get to a sitting position helped tremendously. If Starr's WISH wasn't still on cooldown, healing up would have been simple. "I should be alright for now." With Kiara and Letheia still reeling from their battles, Shalin couldn't rely on them for travel within the dungeon. She withdrew the lioness and sent out another of her partners, Tari the Scolipede, who crawled next to her trainer. When she was feeling less woozy, she climbed into the bug's saddle, being careful not to touch her highly toxic exoskeleton. "I don't think you've met her yet," she mused. "This is Tari, one of the first Pokémon I caught after getting to Hoenn." She was big, but just narrow enough that she and her rider could fit through the door frames now uncovered by the slabs that had receded into the walls.

In the following room was an altar overlooked by a yellow statue of a dragon Pokémon Shalin didn't recognize, having a turbine for a tail. Hanging from the statue's "mouth" was a SMALL KEY with a dragon-shaped head. While the girl wasn't quite able to reach it from the saddle, Tari could help! She hooked it onto one of her horns and let it slide off, putting it well within reach for her to pick up. "This must be important for getting to the Medallion. It's an awful lot of work for just some key."

You obtained a SMALL KEY! This key will open any one lock. You can use it only in this dungeon.

In the corner, under what appeared to be a grow light coming from the statue's tail, was a MAGO BERRY tree. As long as Pokémon didn't have a disdain for overly sweet food, the pink, curved Berries were wonderful natural curatives with the effectiveness of Hyper Potion! "You got Pokémon that can handle really sweet foods, have them eat up!" Shalin suggested as Letheia and Kiara munched down, the fox puckering up from how sweet the Berry was. She snapped a piece of Berry off its curved end and chopped into it with her teeth. One bite was all it took for her to start coughing and spit it out. "Arceus, this is way too sweet for me!"

After any rest and recovery needed, Shalin would lead them back through the tunnel the duo came from, no sign of the Pokémon that used SIMPLE BEAM on them anywhere. Its effects had worn off, making their Pokémon's abilities once again their own. Once they had arrived at the entrance hall, Shalin, still astride Tari, touched the ALTAR OF WISDOM once more. A rock slab slid into place over the door they had just went came from, sealed with the image of a purple dragon head. Superimposed over it was a message in the ancient script:

"Your abilities are once again your own."

The field of oppressive Dragon Energy lifts! Pokémon can use Special Attacks again!

"One down, two to go, Isaac. What's next?" Her eyes shifted between the ALTAR OF STEEL on the west side, and the ALTAR OF KNOWLEDGE on the east. "If you need me to, I can reread them."

The Shark's Maw was a brutal place to hide the Meteor Medallion. It was not only filled with dragon Pokémon, who could repel common elemental attacks of almost all varieties, but forced the explorers to have Pokémon with a wide variety of battle strategies, as well. "It seems like there's an easy path back, so if things get really bad, we can always come back and change it," Shalin suggested. While she wasn't certain that's how the altars worked, she had an educated guess.

With the MAGO BERRY having done its work and Letheia able to use her ranged Ice and Fairy-type attacks again, she felt confident bringing the snow fox back out. She walked toward the ALTAR OF KNOWLEDGE and placed her hand above the yellow jewel shaped like a dragon's head. Much like with the ALTAR OF WISDOM, the jewel floated out of its recess and into the eastern door frame, the entire area bathed in a soft, yellow glow. Text in the ancient script hung in the space of the now-opened eastern door, the slab covering it sinking into the floor:

"KNOWLEDGE avails you not."

An oppressive field of Dragon Energy engulfs the party! Pokémon cannot use non-damaging attacks!

Once the door opened, Shalin climbed atop Letheia again, the Ninetales excited to, at last, get her time in the spotlight. Her ICE BEAM and DAZZLING GLEAM had the numbers of whatever dragon-type foes awaited them on the other side. The duo would also do well to recall what Pokémon were in the rooms they had already traveled through, as their battle tactics may have significantly changed in adapting to the changing Dragon Energy fields. The girl braced herself for what awaited her in unknown territory...

It was little wonder that passage within the Shark's Maw was forbidden by the Hoenn Rangers. The design of the ancient dragon shrine was deliberate and downright devious. With the inability to use Pokémon healing, any Pokémon that stepped on the obviously Dragalge-shed Toxic Spikes would be a ticking time bomb. Their inability to use arguably their Pokémon's most useful moves was far more of a detriment than Shalin initially thought.

When presented with the challenge of navigating a room filled with deadly toxic spikes, and a perched Noivern with eyes out for blood, she knew her flying Pokémon would be far too noisy to. As it turned out, a Beedrill whose wing was large enough for Shalin to sit on if it could only support her weight, beating a rough one hundred times per second, got really loud. She did have a quieter solution, though. Stepping back into the previous room, Shalin sent out her Scolipede, Tari. "How about we hop on Tari's back? That way we can ride right over the spikes." Her larger saddle was conducive to carrying two people, which was important due to how toxic her exoskeleton was.

Provided Isaac agreed to the idea, Shalin would guide the bug-type across the spikes, and slam on the metaphorical gas pedal once they were out of the Noivern's domain. There were still Dreepy and Drakloak circling the rooms ahead of them, and with the ALTAR OF WISDOM no longer suppressing their ranged attacks, the speedy insect would find herself dodging DRAGON PULSEs and SHADOW BALLs headed their way.

At the end of the gauntlet, Shalin would return to the locked door barring their way forward and open it... only to find another locked door in the antechamber's west side. "Welp," she sighed. "Guess we'll have to look elsewhere."

Isaac's suggestion to check the dark path again made Shalin's eyes light up. "That's a really good idea! Let's take a look at it!" The two wandered the area where the tunnel was... only to find they couldn't get there. Not with a lock blocking their path one way and a purple slab blocking their path another. "Ugh, what a pain. I don't think we can get there without another key or going back to the entryway. And if what we've done so far holds true, changing the altar is gonna change this place completely. It's making my head hurt thinking about it. The clan that maintained this place put... an unhealthy amount of time into thinking about how it works."

Unable to proceed, she headed for the far northeast corner. Well, as far northeast as she could; she wasn't making it to the alcove with the Haban Berry tree; that was blockaded by yet another purple slab. Riding through the north exit, she could hear the sound of vibrating wings from beyond the following room. Etched into the floor was the head of a dragon that didn't resemble any Pokémon she recognized. "Hey Isaac, do you know what kind of dragon Pokémon can vibrate its wings? Flygon is the only one I know of."

Shalin squinted, trying to identify what Pokémon it could be from the buzzing noise. She listened to all of Isaac's suggestions and offered her feedback. "Kommo-o's are more of a ringing noise; while they do make a humming sound, the ringing noise they make when they vibrate is much more prominent." Noivern was a good guess, but the noise their ears made wasn't as steady as that of a Flygon. "I doubt it's a Vibrava, either; they don't have the control over their wings to make such a clean noise like that. Can you hear how steady the buzz is? I think it really is a Flygon. If you've got an ice Pokémon, get it ready."

Shalin withdrew Tari for Letheia, her Alolan Ninetales, and got on. She sounded a moan as Shalin grabbed her reins. "We'll sit down and get you looked as soon as we can. For now, though, I need your help fighting the dragon beyond there," she pointed through the open doorframe with one hand, giving the chilly fox a gentle pat with her other. Reining her mount forward, she asked Isaac if he was ready.

Provided they both were, Shalin and Letheia would lead the way into what appeared to be an empty chamber, reliefs of dragon Pokémon of various kinds carved into the walls. As her eyes peered upward toward the source of the buzzing at the tall, large chamber's ceiling, the source that was a quite-large Flygon made its presence known with a loud cry. "Letheia, ICE BEAM!" she commanded.

A simple cold attack wouldn't be enough to bring down the clever dragon; the moment mist began forming from the Ninetales' mouth, the hum of insectile wings filled the air. With bug-like agility, the Flygon swerved out of the way and landed at the chamber's center. Facing Shalin and Letheia, the green dragon's wings disappeared in a BUG BUZZ, trying to shear fox and rider between two clashing shockwaves produced by some of the most rapidly-beating wings known to mankind. Grey slabs sealed both door frames, as well, leaving them locked in with the Flygon that was none too happy with their intrusion.