The possibilities of INFINITY ENERGY truly were boundless, weren't they? Perhaps that was the reason it was named the way it was. Shalin had tapped into the powers of her suit to take her riding talents to supernatural levels. Barring legendaries, there was no Pokémon that could forcefully dismount her while she wore it. She had proven that already with her Yanmega. She had also learned that, through the power of her suit, she could amplify the strength of some of her Pokémon's sonic attacks by riding on their wings mid-buzz. While it was exhilarating moving invisibly fast, it didn't have any practical combat applications. If she wanted to use the suit for combat, she would need to find a way to harness that same energy a different way.

That wasn't what she was at Rustboro's Law Enforcement Academy for; she was there to work on her mounted archery. Her accuracy when riding her bug Pokémon left something to be desired, what with having to adjust to their constantly-rumbling exoskeletons. Taking out her AVIAN BOW, Shalin noticed a young man around her age practicing with a bow of her own. It looked like he was in pain from having smacked his wrist with the drawstring. "Are you okay?" the SYGNA SUITED Shalin asked after landing her Flygon next to him. Her quiver had been completely refreshed with AVIAN ARROWS thanks to having personal contact with the man that Tornadus traveled with.

Shalin breathed a sigh of relief. "It takes more strength than you think to keep the drawstring held, especially on longer bows," the rider girl answered, smiling as the young man acknowledged their temporary partnership that could blossom into a friendship over time, if things went well. "Generally, two people working together are better than the sum of their parts, or that's how the saying goes, anyway."

When Mikael asked if Shalin had experience, Shalin smiled. "Not that much; only about a year's worth," she answered. Had it truly been a year since she had procured the Djinni-blessed bow alongside Alexei Ivanov ? "But I can try to pass on what I know about shooting a bow," she offered, grabbing an AVIAN ARROW surrounded by a veil of wind.

Shalin, likewise had forgotten to introduce herself, too! "Right! Name's Shalin, wildest Pokémon rider this side of Hoenn!" The girl sent out two more saddle-wearing Pokémon, these even more unusual: a Yanmega and a Beedrill. both of which looked unusually friendly for their kind. If anything, the Beedrill was acting the exact opposite of their species' typical disposition, waving the broadside of one of her foreleg stings like a human would wave a hand. "These three are Sandy, Flit, and Queen Zing," she introduced them in order. The excited Flygon chirped her wings, a loud but pleasant hum coming from them as they briefly disappeared. "Whew! That's why I'm not ready for your wing yet, Sandy!" she exhaled, stumbling after sliding off her Flygon's back from her legs feeling slightly like jelly.

Shalin had suffered through that painful lesson as well when she was learning to use her AVIAN BOW. "Everyone makes that mistake. If you hold the bow at a slight angle rather than completely vertical, you can avoid that. Being accurate that way can be a bit harder, but it's safer." As the conversation drifted to more general weapons mastery, Shalin shrugged. "I only learned how to properly use a bow after finding this thing." She retrieved an AVIAN ARROW from her quiver and nocked it, a veil of wind swirling around the projectile as it glowed a faint green.

"Sure! I can show you what little I know." Before she could get started, she heard Mikael introducing his Pokémon: an Espeon and an Umbreon that seemed quite in sync with one another. "You've done a good job raising them," Shalin complimented. "I'll give them a friend to talk to. Come on out, Starr!" With that, she let out a fourth Pokémon: a shiny, female Espeon that was the size of a small horse. She was easily large enough to carry one person on her back. "This is Starr," she introduced her own psychic-type. With how much she preferred to chat mentally rather than with noises, it would make it easier for the duo to concentrate.

"I'm not surprised!" Shalin chirped at Mikael's lack of experience with bug Pokémon. "Verdanturf Leather and Saddle charged me quite a premium to fit these two. They can be really disorienting to fly on, given how agile flying insects tend to be. Plus, there's the vibration. It's only intense on the ground, though; once you're in the air, it's not too bad." She took note at the young man's talent. "You're quite skilled if you can jump off a Pokémon on the run like that. It takes a lot of flexibility to do that. If you want, you're welcome to try flying on one in a bit. But for now, some pointers. That's what we're here for, right?"

Shalin invited Mikael to stand in front of one of the target lines from which archers would stand to hit the targets on the far side of the training facility. "When you're aiming, the single most important thing is to only have one eye open. Close your other eye while you've got the drawstring pulled. If you have both eyes open, your eyes can play tricks on you and cause you to miss."

"Quieter than a gun, too," Shalin added, still unaware that Mikael seemed fixated on the relic she held in her hand. "In steady hands, deadlier than a gun, too. It's just got a lot bigger of a learning curve than a gun, and you have to reload after every shot. That's why they've fallen out of favor. But this one's special."

As she let go of the drawstring, the wind itself seemed to guide the arrow she had let fly toward the center of the large, distant piece of plywood, hitting the black bull's-eye in its center. "You probably wouldn't believe me even if I told you. I can still do so, but it can be a hard story to believe. I did tell you that I'm an explorer, right?"

Listening to Mikael's story, Shalin smiled, even laughing as it went on. "You were right to do what you did. Rapidash are very easy to learn with, yes, but new riders underestimate just how fast they can get. I was even afraid to ride one for a while because of how fast they got at full gallop." She laughed again, this time at herself. Afraid of a Rapidash, but would get on a Beedrill with no hesitation? What kind of person was she?

Shalin noticed Mikael had already performed the next step she had in mind: one eye open, staring as though he was looking down the shaft of an arrow ready to be fired. "You're a step ahead of yourself, actually! Hold that exact stance, but nock an arrow and pull it back. Depending on the range of your bow, you might have to pull back pretty hard. Once your aim is right, just let go of the drawstring. Don't forget to account for wind, too!" Of course, with Shalin's bow, it was a lot easier for her; with it being blessed by a deity of wind whose human partner she personally knew, the wind surrounding them could make tiny corrections needed for improved accuracy. It was accuracy that would prove important when firing from the back of a mount capable of... rather violent motions.

While Shalin wasn't great at reading body language, it was obvious enough to her that he didn't seem to be a fan of firearms either. "The way I look at it is since I know how to ride a Pokémon, it would be better for me to focus on learning to fight at range." After all, the Shiny Beedrill's stings were more than capable of skewering anyone foolish enough to get close to her. Perhaps the most painful sting in the world, the rear barb of a Beedrill, especially one the size of the one she rode, was often enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the hardiest fighters.

Expectations set, Shalin shared her story of the origins of the Avian Bow. "You're not that far off, actually! It's a relic of the first known trainers of bird Pokémon. Alexei Ivanov , Fortree's Gym Leader, has one just like this." She took another shot at the target before her, the wind itself seeming to guide the arrow to its center.

Shalin observed Mikael's practice, smiling when she noticed his shot were at least hitting the target, though not as centered as he may have liked. "You've got a lot of natural talent for a beginner. The most important thing is learning your own margins of error and adjusting to them. When you take your next shots, look down the shaft, see where you end up relative to where you're aiming, and adjust accordingly."

Every trainer and every fighter was different. Some preferred raw power. Others preferred finesse. Still others loved raw speed as a weapon. All were viable tactics in war. "I don't have the strength to use a sword like you do," Shalin admitted. It took a very different kind of strength to hold onto a bucking Pokémon than it did to cut through flesh and bone. "And ranged combat can have its disadvantages, too."

It seemed Mikael did believe Shalin's far-fetched story, after all. "Heh, I've got seven more stories like it to share with you. If we spend some more time together, maybe I'll share them with you!" Each one was just as crazy, if not more so, than the one she had shared.

Learning from clear directions was easier for some people. Others, like Shalin, learned best from experimentation. "Alright, I think I'm going to give the mounted archery course here a try. Wish me luck!" Her quiver full of AVIAN ARROWS, she once more took a seat on her Flygon's back. The insect dragon's wings hummed as the two prepared for flight. The excited female giggled, Sandy getting a rise out of her from putting on a sharp but brief spurt of BUG BUZZ-fueled vibration.

Beedrill were deadly, both in melee and at range. Their TWINEEDLE could inject venom into even distant targets, and her own Beedrill's could even curve them around cover. The dangers of being close to one could not be understated; unscrupulous folks harvested Beedrill venom for a reason. It was one of the most potent contact poisons in the world, and was easy to harvest in large quantities due to how rapidly the bug-type multiplied.

"I can relate to that all too well," Shalin smiled, having been put in more than one tricky situation even so early in her tenure with Verdanturf. "I'm not even fully-fledged with Verdanturf's Rangers and I've already had to run away from one assignment that I was in over my head."

With a nod, Shalin waved to Mikael one more time. "Shouldn't be more than a couple minutes!" She turned to face forward, bow in hand. "Alright, Sandy, just follow the course's trail!" With that, the Flygon leaped into the air and fluttered along the path as instructed, her rider nocking an arrow and staring down rainbow-colored targets at varying distances. Each colored ring had a point value. With there only being five targets and two passes across each, she would have to be fast and accurate to make any of the target scores listed on the sign near the start. There was also her Flygon's wings to contend with; not only would the vibration upset her aim, but she had to shoot around them, as well.