The blazing hoops ahead made Shalin happy she switched rides last moment. Even a single ember from those circus-like rings would have set the wasp's wings alight and sent them crashing to the ground. Though the dragon's were translucent and insect-like, they were much tougher. They could handle the heat. The tail strike hit one of her mount's stabilizing fins, making Shalin counter-steer to compensate. Sandy could largely adjust on her own, but the physical directing was more than welcome.

She wouldn't have a lot of time to find hew new neutral position, one that took effort to maintain, before having to also guide her partner through the blazing rings! Leaning in as low as she could to keep her own hair from being set on fire, she aimed to travel through their center. If they got off course, perhaps the wake of the displaced air from the ground-type's vibration would force any loose embers away from them rather than closer.

Flygon were some of the most nimble Pokémon in the air, able to independently control the thrust on each of their wings to make quick turns that would make less skilled riders squeamish. Alex and Shalin were two of the most skilled in Hoenn, the Birdfather handling the vibration with little trouble.

The noise of the tail strike against the final ring that shifted in the wind made Shalin flinch. It was only the dragon's fire-retardant scales that kept the tail from igniting and forcing her to land early. A surge of vibration coursed through her after the collision, Sandy desperately trying to massage away the pain of contact with a searing object.

Even her thighs were starting to get sore and stiff. As much as she was known for withstanding vibration, there was a reason when she rode upon one of her insects' buzzing wings, the length of the ride was measured in seconds.

It had been a long time since Shalin had been on a ride so rough that it made her thighs ache like his. She had survived some inhuman feats thanks to her suit. Not even the crack of a whip could unseat Shalin when she was synced with her Pokémon, as she had demonstrated to Hoenn's masses with her venusaur. The length and intensity of the course, though, was a real killer. Was this what Josh experienced when he raced Pokémon?

Sandy was so nimble she could easily overcome the myriad of ropes. They could be in a more dense field and she could fly around them all. It was as though a Flygon was the perfect Pokémon for the challenge. There was just the matter of her wings not getting caught in them and shredding them from the speed with which they flapped. Every turn the course took Shalin on flung her to one side, the Flygon's insectile agility taking quite the toll on her lithe body.

The cables snagging on Sandy's tail made the vibration all the rougher; even Shalin, the girl perhaps used to it more than anyone else in Hoenn, could feel every pore of her skin throbbing. The metallic sounds the stuck cables reverberated with was equally unsettling. If they were made of fibers, the vibration would have disintegrated the point of attachment. There was no grinding down metal, though; were Sandy to blast her wings at full speed to try to dislodge herself, she would cause damage to the structure long before one of those cables snapped.

Instead, the challenger glanced back from time to time to see where Sandy was snared. Perhaps she could see how her Flygon was ensnared and try to dislodge herself with a quick, dragonfly-like motion to dislodge the cable's end from the green scales they were hooked on!

Entangled in the cables, Sandy churned her wings faster and harder in an effort to free herself, making Shalin wince. She loved the chaos of the vibration some of her ride Pokémon could put on, but without her suit, it was downright painful for her to absorb as she dragon's body smacked her legs and thighs dozens of times per second. All the crackling sounds were the obstacle's structure giving way with the sheer force of her mount's vibrations.

Once Sandy was free of all the wires, she shot forward from their force no longer slowing her down, causing Shalin to ragdoll in her saddle. It took some time for her to come to after the whiplash, her experiences being a passenger on her Venusaur's Vine Whip helping some, though it made her realize just how reliant she was on her suit.

"If I wasn't Rustboro's Captain, I'd take you up on that offer," Shalin replied with a weak smile. "Being a Captain is a full-time job. Otherwise I would!" she reiterated, taking the Gym Leader's befuddlement as a compliment. "Have you thought about a Sygna Suit of your own? Gym Leaders are pretty wealthy from what I gather. You could fly just as wild as I could with one!" While she wasn't sure Alex would listen, it was a poorly veiled attempt to get him to try some of the nonsensical things she had done with her Pokémon.

While she wasn't interested in the Gym Circuit, she graciously accepted the feather-shaped Badge. "The entertainment of the challenge was what I came here for. Thank you! Who knows? One day maybe I'll find myself wanting to advance in the Gym circuit. That or enough Gyms have interesting challenges. I've got my eyes on a couple others, too." As she was about to leave, she turned around one last time. "We've gotta find you a flying Pokémon you've never been on before and go riding together. It'll be really fun!"