TO: Shalin Nariya (shalin.nariya@hoennrangers.gov)
CC: Noel Parker (noel.parker@pmail.com)
MISSION: "Caverns"
PROTOCOL: Recon
DANGER: ★★★★★

The demolition team has located an entrance to the Terastal Caverns beneath Dewford. The task should be right up your alley, Nariya: poke around down there and find out what Rocket's up to. Once you're inside, take photographs of anything you think is important. We would appreciate it if you brought back some Terastal Crystal samples and one of the so-called Paradox Pokémon for study. If any Rockets get in your way, you have clearance to terminate them, but try not to be too obvious about it.

Your objectives are as follows:

A) Gain entry to Terastal Cavern
B) Photograph anomalies
C) Obtain Terastal Crystal samples
D) Capture Paradox Pokémon
E) Escape to safety

Good luck! We're all counting on you.

This mission really was right up Shalin's alley, except for one thing. The very last point in the mission sent chills down her spine: she was authorized to "terminate" any Rockets that got in her way. That was just a fancy word for killing. She had never taken the life of any intelligent creature, Pokémon or human, in her entire tenure as a Ranger.

"Noel, I'm a bit nervous, Noel," the Captain-to-be admitted. "I would love it if we could just avoid Rocket altogether." Dressed in her Sygna Suit making her look like a Flygon, she was seated on her Kommo-o, Treble. The dragon-type, sensing his trainer's nerves, flourished his scales, vibrating them just fast enough to hum and giving the young woman an intense massage that cheered her up. "Whoo-hoo!" she chirped, still a bit woozy from the shaking. "Thanks, Treble - I needed that. I'm ready - let's head in." The Kommo-o's rattling fists would almost certainly be useful in extracting Terastal and Dynite Ore, and he was quite the fighter if the right type of Pokémon came up, as well.

Wishful thinking from Noel, that was. Perhaps he forgot that this place was a warzone? Thankfully for Shalin, this sort of recon was some of the least likely activity to leave her in combat, though the bow she had stowed away was a reminder that she may need to use it. Thankfully for them, the hidden entrance was totally unguarded; perhaps they had gotten to it before Rocket, after all? Either way, she wasn't going to turn down such a gift. She led the way into the Terastal Caverns.

OBJECTIVE A: COMPLETED

There were small Terastal Crystals scattered all over the place, though Shalin was not happy with their size. "The League won't want these. They want larger ones. We'll have to go deeper," the Captain-elect suggested, Treble keeping his eyes peeled for trouble as his scales gently rattled beneath the saddle Shalin sat in. The vibration kept the girl awake and alert.

Shalin rubbed her eyes when Noel pointed out a shadow in the distance. She squinted to try to identify it. "Looks like... a Gallade? What's a Gallade doing here?" She reined her Kommo-o to a stop. What if the Gallade was a Rocket-owned Pokémon?

Except it wasn't a Gallade. Its digital eyes shifted toward the invaders, a PSYCHO CUT from the Iron Valiant's sword-like arms racing toward Treble and threatening to slice and dice the Ranger's precious dragon.

That was no Gallade. The sight of the robot-Gallade, the Iron Valiant, made Shalin cringe. Just what types of Pokémon lived in these caverns? Could one even call them Pokémon? To her they weren't Pokémon. They were... wholly unnatural. There was no doubt in her mind that Noel's assessment was right. Fight was the only option. If this was one of the so-called Paradox Pokémon, one of them needed to catch it and bring it to the League for study.

"Cover your ears, Noel!" Shalin cried as the SHELTER began to fade. With precise timing once it had faded, Treble and Shalin lunged at the Pokémon, the rider letting fly with an AVIAN ARROW while the Kommo-o slammed a vibrating fist into the bladed Pokémon in CLOSE COMBAT. Though the twin blows weakened the Iron Valiant, it was quick to retaliate with a devastating SPIRIT BREAK uppercut upon the fighting and dragon-type.

The Fairy-type attack left Treble unnaturally squealing, in the most pain he had ever been in under Shalin's care. Dragon blood sprayed from the long cut, blemishing the foe's reflective body red. Shalin herself was not immune, either, the recoil sending her flying back toward Noel. She desperately reached for her Kommo-o's Poké Ball, but kept missing it in her dizziness. If they didn't do something fast, the dragon was going to bleed out and die!

Shalin had brought one emergency dose of Hyper Potion with her, attempting to spray the Kommo-o's bleeding wounds in her dizziness. She dropped the bottle midway through the treatment, the dragon screeching as the end of the handle dug deeper into his wounds. Carefully picking it up again, she held it with both hands and shakily finished the treatment before recalling the ailing Pokémon.

To aid Noel, Shalin clicked the switch on her blue Beast Ball, Nymris the Pheromosa leaping out of it toward the ceiling. Toppling the Iron Valiant with a BOUNCE, she weakly pointed toward Noel, still reeling from the blow she had suffered alongside Treble. "Now's your chance, Noel! Catch it!" she urged as Nymris circled the fairy-type with blinding speed.

Shalin was on edge the entire time as the Poké Ball clacked against the cavern walls, the Iron Valiant doing everything it could to shatter the capsule from within. She breathed a sigh of relief when the beast within stopped moving. "For the hard part, anyway," Shalin reminded Noel. "But I should be able to handle the rest." When offered the Iron Valiant, Shalin raised her hands. "I actually am not interested in that Pokémon. This is gonna sound weird, but if a Pokémon can't wear a saddle, I don't want to raise it." It was an odd quirk, for sure, but it was part of what defined her, both to herself and to those she called her friends.

"You can head on back; I have a little unfinished business to take care of," Shalin assured Noel as she took out her phone, fired up its camera, and started snapping photos of the unusually large Terastal crystals within. Strangely enough, there were few signs of Rocket within; where were they? Had they stumbled upon an unexplored section of the cave?

As she waved goodbye to Noel, Shalin sent her Flygon out, etching cuts in it with precise swipes of her DRAGON CLAW so that the Ranger could bring a sample back to the base for study. That went way better than it had any right to!