Having much more experience at the bottom of the Ultra Sea now, Shalin had a good idea of which Pokémon worked well. The Pokémon that did came with her again, while the ones that didn't had been swapped for new ones. Bass Boost and Treble were mainstays, their ability to grind surrounding rock to dust with vibration making them irreplaceable. Others, such as Hayabusa the Scyther, she gave a trial run.

With their autonomy and Lathiel's increasing reliability as a guard, Shalin felt like doing more reckless experiments with her Sygna Suit in the strange environment. Her giant Venusaur, Saria, shielded Laurence Anderson from the core's radiation as he and his Pokémon were setting up to extract ore with the girl's two noisy partners. In a move that may have raised Lars' blood pressure, the Venusaur extended one of her large, thick vines near her trainer. With a big grin on her face, Shalin sat atop the bulb at the very end of the vine - as close to the tip as it would allow.

The Captain-in-training certainly had a unique way to battle. With the waves of oncoming Ultra Beasts being only Naganadel this time, Shalin breathed a sigh of relief. Lathiel could have a field day with them, not having to pierce through the hard bodies of Nihilego instead. The Type: Null lunged at several of them, tearing them limb from limb with her CRUSH CLAW. As she was cleaving through the enemy lines, two caught her in a pincer attack, injecting TOXIC venom in her. Though she continued to fight, she was profusely sweating from the deadly poison.

With her Sygna Pokémon's help, Shalin's Venusaur would be able to repel them all. Sandy the Flygon, not far from Saria, glowed with a faint green color as the Venusaur raised her trainer higher into the air. Shalin tapped the end of the bulb with both her hands before grabbing on tight. With a wild shake of the Pokémon body, a giant pulse ran down the vine, the rate at which it traveled slowed by their pseudo-liquid environment. It may have been a cue for Lars to cover his ears. Shalin tensed as she felt the tip of the vine rising, bracing herself.

CRACK!!

The pod at the end of the Venusaur's VINE WHIP popped in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it circle, only visible by way of their visually-slowed environment. The already-loud sound was amplified by the girl's presence on the vine, pounding at the hearing organs of all within earshot. Both Shalin and her Flygon emitted an intense green glow at the peak of the unfathomably intense motion. The shockwave in the snapping vine's wake raced toward the Ultra Beasts, knocking many of them out of the sky.

As Shalin let out the most blissful cry Lars had ever heard from her, a burning smell wafted from both the suit's Crystabloom and the Pokémon's Sync Stone. It handled almost the entire horde, leaving just a few stragglers for Lars and his team to clean up. Shalin wouldn't be in any shape to fight for a while after the Sygna-enhanced sonic discharge on par with a Z-Move. Though she was still seated on the end of the vine, she was worn out.

Did that ever put the whip in whiplash.

Lars' reaction was not only understandable, but expected; the crack of a Venusaur's vine was among the most chaotic and violent motions nature was capable of. The lithe Ranger had been yanked around with force that had every right to shred her. Even after the earsplitting snap, there was the recoil flinging her back, on top of the reverberation flying down the vine and shaking her.

The girl was not only alive to tell the tale, but she loved it, even! She had even blown her own mind. Though Sprout's Vine Whip was strong (thanks wren rourke ), Saria's size gave hers so much more power and speed. She wasn't sure if it was the environment or her improved skills since doing all the practice at her Romping Grounds. Either way, it was a huge breakthrough. "Lars, I... did it!" she chirped in her dizziness, the shaking slowly ceasing. "She didn't fling me off!"

The LIFE DEW was welcome for both her and her Pokémon, especially Lathiel. While it wouldn't completely stave off the effects of the Ultra Beast toxin, it would at least delay it long enough for them to pack up and finish their operation. "It's all in my Sygna Suit!" she answered the Ranger's question. "Sandy and I have known each other so long that through the suit, we can't get any closer to one another. In peak form, not even a whip can unseat me!" As she had just proven. "You're so well-off as Head Ranger that you should think about getting a suit for yourself. I think it would be a tremendous help!" Little did she know how bad of an idea it might be for Lars to get one, given his already tumultuous relationship with Articuno...

So Avatars and Sygna Suits rejected each others' power. That would make sense as to why Lars didn't have one. "I've heard that wearing a Sygna Suit and being an Avatar are a lot alike. They both grant supernatural powers. It's just that the source of one is the peak of a bond with an ordinary Pokémon, and the other is the peak of a bond with... a deity."

Lars' thoughts were right about Infinity Energy, though; when she pushed her suit to its very limits in the Galar Memory, going for a Boomburst ride on her Flygon's wing, it was that overload of Infinity Energy that was the root cause of her musculoskeletal issues she developed later in that alternate life.

As much as she wanted to go all-out and experience the peak adrenaline rush her suit allowed her to, she couldn't. Not with her suit in its current form, anyway.

Lathiel yawned upon seeing the Vikavolt racing toward Lars, insensitive and indifferent toward the Ranger in danger. She curled up and closed her eyes. the lazy Type: Null simply letting the electric-type spear Lars.

When it became apparent that the normal-type would not intervene, Shalin hurled Bass Boost's Poké Ball toward the flying insect, counteracting the loud and low-pitched vibration with some of her own. The four-limbed amphibian planted herself on the ground before loosing earthquake-level vibrations from the bumps on her back. The saddle masking the bumps turned into a blur. How in the world did that thing stay on a Pokémon shaking that fast?

She may have been too late, though; if the electric-type was swift enough, it could easily fly out of range of the sonic attack and skewer Lars!