Shalin had thought she learned her limits from her adventures in the alternate-world Galar. She had apparently underestimated even how fast the Flygon's BUG BUZZ could get. After just one run on the churning, screeching wings, she was exhausted. Until she got used to the vibration at lower speeds, that kind of practice would be a no go for a while, putting her out of commission for at least the better part of the day. With little else to do as she returned to her hammock inside the Romping Grounds' hollow tree, she would log back into the RONDEZ-VIEW OF LUV app and play until she fell asleep. Why was this game so addicting?

The scenario involved an adorable talking Growlithe that took her by surprise as she read the opening scene. Talking Pokémon always intrigued her, even if they could only speak mentally, like Prance did. Come to think of it, when was the last time the Wyrdeer mentally spoke to her? Thoughts of why running through her head, she swiped the option to be surprised.

> "Whoa! You can talk!"

A talking Pokémon? Those were the things spoken of in myths and legends. Reading on about the Hisuian Growlithe reminded. Wait, the fire-type said he was a person? This was turning from a crazy legend to a mad science project in a hurry. It gave her chills, and for a moment, she wanted to back out of the route. Lathiel's synthesis came to mind, and with it, the losses of Pharika and Ellie. Pharika in particular was an incredibly valuable marine ally, and nothing was bringing her back.

As much as she wanted to move to a more lightheaded route, something in her told her to get to the bottom of this. Rangers, after all, can't exactly pick who they want to help. If there's a person or Pokémon in need and you can help them, you did it. That was the Ranger way. Reading through the options, she chose the best one that felt like it was helping the talking canine.

> Pull out some lab-grown Tauros jerky

Did this Hisuian Growlithe have the instincts of a Growlithe, but the intelligence of a human? What an odd Pokémon. She had seen wilder adventures on this app, though, including her own. Macro Cosmos must have had some damn good lawyers if their app's servers were still allowed to function. Perhaps they won their case? It could have been settled out of court, too. Smiling as she faintly heard the hum of Sandy's wings in the night, she continued reading.

The further she read on, the more she realized that in the context of the game world, this Growlithe was likely merged with a human. Was this how all talking Pokémon existed, being merged with a life form of upper intelligence? She wasn't going to question it, though; that puppy looked adorable, and was in need! While she wasn't going to raise an Arcanine herself, as their sustained speed was too fast for her to ride comfortably, she wasn't going to turn away from this Growlithe in need!

> "I'm always ready to help someone in need."

This Growlithe talked like a human, breathed like a human, ate like a human, and even had the body language of a human. Shalin had read stories about people being transformed into Pokémon before. Of course, those were all rooted in fantasy. The closest a human could ever get to becoming a Pokémon was wearing a Sygna Suit, which often took years to both accumulate the resources for and develop the bond needed to craft.

He had to be a human in Pokémon form.

Shalin felt there was no point in beating around the bush. It was best to be direct. What in the world happened here, she wondered as she swiped the top option in the response tree.

> "Ask for him to tell you what happened"

Those words confirmed it: this Growlithe was a human in Pokémon form. Was there, then, a Growlithe that had the body of a human? She could infer from context that Bow-Wow was the name of the Growlithe. She didn't have the name of the person that had swapped bodies. It was a bit unsettling to hear about this kind of technology.

Sygna Suits were as close as she was willing to get to becoming a Pokémon. Even with that, she felt she had given up a bit of her humanity with that bond. While it let her perform incredible riding feats impossible for an ordinary human, it was slowly causing her to become more in-tune with nature to the point where she was instinct-driven perhaps to an unhealthy degree.

Wanting to get to the bottom of the mystery as efficiently as possible, learning about all the characters involved would be great at doing so. As such, she made her selection.

> Ask him for his human name

This Biscotti sure was a nice guy, being so calm despite the grave situation he was in. If this was real, Shalin would have started to believe his story that he was turned into a Pokémon.

As much as she wanted to get going right away, it would be rude to ask for his name without providing hers. As such, she would introduce herself. She was tempted to use the custom field to add her tacky title to it, but felt that might scare him. He had enough to worry about as things were.

> Introduce yourself

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