The lab looked familiar as ever. It was the same lab where Shalin had learned that her Beedrill did not, in fact, come from one of Hoenn's distortions; she was just among the largest Queen Beedrill in the region. The growing smile did not go unnoticed; she wondered if it was the Flygon SYGNA SUIT Shalin was in. Perhaps her interest would be piqued with a little... demonstration, if she would afford her the space. Perhaps there was a test field in the back of the lab area she could show off her Pokémon and the powers her suit bestowed upon her. She would hopefully find out soon enough.

That was secondary, though. Her primary purpose was to report in on the rifts.

"Mostly as well as can be! One of my expeditions hit a huge payday that let me get Sygna Suited up," the explorer bragged. "It's made going through the Ultra Wilds a lot easier. Wearing one versus not wearing one is like night and day." The girl twirled her Shiny Beedrill's Poké Ball in her right hand, looking for a place and an excuse to let her greet the scientist. "I mostly wanted to provide you an update in that venture, since it's been... what is it, eight months since we've last seen each other?"

Her red eye shields glinted in the lab's light, her vision in light shades of the color while she wore the supernatural attire. "I've taken trips to several of the rifts by now, though Ultra Sea and Ultra Desert are the ones I've spent the most time in. Plus, there's the matter of the Petalburg Woods blight. It's made regional news; I'm sure you've heard by now."

"Thanks so much!" Shalin smiled back, the Flygon scales comprising her suit reflecting the lab's artificial light. "If you've got some kind of testing chamber or field, I'd love to demonstrate what my suit can do sometime while I'm here. It's pretty out of this world, and a lot of fun!" While its primary purpose was to insulate Shalin against the harsh atmosphere of the Ultra Wilds and make her a more effective combatant the next time she would be conscripted into a League operation, which was becoming more likely given her bid for a Ranger Captain seat, having a little fun on the side couldn't hurt!

"You may have already heard this from Gym Leader Josh Devlin , as we spend a fair bit of time together, but whoever did that is really powerful. She supposedly wielded this snail-like Pokémon that single-handedly caused the entire disaster."

Shalin would be content to leave the discussion of Petalburg at that, getting to the meat of the topic. "Right, let's start with the Ultra Desert, since I have more time there." She started to share her temperature data with Illeana, reporting the extremes to be greater than any deserts in Hoenn. It was hotter than the Great Desert in July during the day, and colder than the Silent Icelands in January at night. "Even discounting the normal dangers of the Ultra Wilds' atmosphere, conditions are completely unlivable. Colosaal Orthworm, even bigger than the Pokémon you'd find in Space-Time Distortions, were some of the only non-Ultra Beast life forms I found. And that was just from the first visit. I went there three times with boruta maher , Andrea Vaneau , and CIAN MAHER ."

She continued to describe her traumatic experience within. "The next time I went there, we made a shaded camp to protect us from the elements, and we needed Pokémon-based heating and cooling to survive. That night, I had the craziest dream about the Halls of Origin under Sootopolis." She shed a tear or two thinking about the Pyroar she was once very close to. "You might remember me talking about the Medallions of Eight at Littleroot. Well, that night, I had a dream that deep within the Halls of Origin, I fought this giant Hydreigon that took my Pyroar's life. The scary part is that the dream later came true in frightening detail. It was only thanks to Alexei Ivanov 's heroism that I survived."

Shalin's eyes lit up at Illeana honoring her request; she had been practicing with her bugs and her Flygon, and to be able to show what she could do to someone specializing in biology was wonderful! Perhaps she could even explain what it was what that let her survive being shaken about so fiercely that it would cause anyone else's skin to turn solid red.

For now, though, she delivered the information that the scientist requested.

"While I'm not in the know about what signs to look for, I do have that thing you gave me to collect that kind of data." She rummaged through her bag to find the device, courteously handing it directly to her. "Hopefully you can get everything you need out of it!"

She moved on to her next expedition, the one to the Ultra Sea. "The rift on Dewford leads to this place that feels like it's underwater, but isn't. The air is so dense there that you can swim through it, and it has this weird effect on sight. Almost like you're seeing in slow motion. When I rode my Beedrill there, I could see her individual wingbeats." It was a wild claim, considering Beedrill had some of the highest wingbeat rates of any Pokémon in the world.

"I spent most of my time there exploring the wreckage of this vessel called the Quaestor Lucis," she reported the presence of the former Megalopolan vessel. "Have you received any other reports of it?"

Shalin hadn't considered what was causing the effect. Perhaps it was Ultra Beast toxin, whether from Nihilego directly or it just being part of the realm's surroundings. "Whatever it is, it seems to be limited to that environment. If your device took atmospheric data, you'll have a good shot at finding the answer there. It seems to be purely visual, though; I didn't feel a difference between there and anywhere else when I slid onto her wing."

That was quite the slip. She wanted to get to that later on, but with her Sygna Suit's power mentioned, she couldn't delay it for too much longer. "Right, my suit. We'll get to that in a bit." The ability to sit on something buzzing so fast, let alone keep her cognizance while doing so, bordered on Avatar powers. Was a special power budding and blossoming within her and the bond with her Flygon?

"I did find quite a bit down there," Shalin reported, describing her tales of an entire clutch of Ultra Beast eggs, reports that only Ultra Beasts inhabited the realm, and toxic bubbles floating about the ship's basement. "The vessel also powered on for a few seconds before powering off again. I wonder if we could salvage it if we figured out what it used for fuel."

It was an odd sensation, only affecting her there, and only her sight. She could still experience the overwhelming tingling sensation from the vibration rocking her. "I think so," Shalin nodded. "Never seen anything like it anywhere else. I haven't been to all the rifts yet, though. Still haven't poked my head into Ultra Crater, for one. It's on my list."

A Megalopolan ship? Yikes. "That may have been how they got here in the first place. While my Hoennian history isn't too sharp, didn't they start showing up in greater numbers after May?" she asked, referencing the Galar Memory where she got a preview of what her Sygna Suit could do when fully powered.

The idea of moving the derelict vessel, especially with how infested the basement was and how it had flooded, seemed impossible. "How, though? The lower level was completely buried. Unless... you know any legendary psychic Pokémon that could possibly teleport such a massive hunk of metal that far? Sounds like a behemoth of a task."

"I didn't walk away empty-handed, though. I managed to walk away with three Pokémon I had never seen before," she continued, describing a Poipole, Buzzwole, and Pheromosa. "The way their energies and my Sygna Suit interact is... peculiar."

So it had been a lot longer than just Meteno. That war was years ago, it seemed, and in a way, was still going on. No wonder it had been such a mess for the League to try to clean up, and that they were pushing for every able-bodied Trainer to pitch in.

"If you have the Pokémon for it, we might have to look into it together. It'll be tricky now, though, what with the basement being flooded. And not just with water."

Extracting the vessel would be a tremendous challenge, but not an impossible one. With enough psychic Pokémon, they stood a chance. The League even had several legendary psychic Pokémon in their custody. Perhaps they could borrow Jirachi to help if need be.

"Not regarding the rifts, but regarding those energies. It's like my suit... half works with them. If you've got a testing field of sorts, I can show you there if you're not too busy. With how big Nymris, the white, bug-like Pokémon is, he'd cause too much of a mess in a lab like this." It did make her a little nervous inside; being buzzed off the Pheromosa's wing was a painful experience that she had to be wary of every time she got on the alien insect. "If you're too busy, though. I understand!"