As much as Shalin wanted to ride the Chien-Pao again, she knew when she was beat. That cat was fast. If it sighted her again, it would be at least as merciless as before. She wore her CLEANSING TAG around her neck to discourage the evil spirit from prowling anywhere close to both herself and robin coello . It had become clear to her that the snow cat was a Pokémon that was beyond her capability. It was not just the ferocity with which the feline bucked and swerved: there was an overwhelming aura of malevolence about the creature.

Her Flygon was out and about, flitting and fluttering above to keep an eye out for the snow cat in case it got too close. Closer to the ground, Shalin was astride a new member of her team: Michiko, a Frosmoth that was just as big as the rest of her giant insects. Ahead of them, Lathiel the Type: Null was on the prowl, almost looking for trouble. "Let's see if we can go past where that bridge collapsed on us before," the Captain suggested. "You have a flying Pokémon with you, right?"

"Great, we won't have to worry about--" Shalin cut herself off as the bridge leading to a large island seemed to stretch to its limits. She could have sworn she heard cracking, crumbling noises from the bridge. "It's way worse than it was before," she replied, taking video of the crumbling, semi-ethereal bridge to show to illeana reyes when they were done. "We'd need to ride ghost Pokémon to cross a bridge like that on land."

One of the figures was high in the air above them, well out of sight. As the two crossed above the bridge, one of the ground-bound ones was on the other side. It was the spirit of a female Pyroar, its ethereal form snarling at both of them. "...Kiara?" Shalin asked to no one in particular. The lioness looked ready to lunge at both of them, but her true intent was trying to warn Shalin about the source of the shadow that was blotting out light above them.

It was a giant Hydreigon whose heads dripped three different elements of attack. The main head, embers that looked like they would eat through anything they contacted. The left head, a fell mist that would chill anything to the bone. The right head, electricity that would short-circuit the consciousness of anything it fried.

Truly death incarnate. A dangerous foe, indeed.

Thankfully for Shalin and robin coello , the remnants of the three-headed monster from the deepest depths of the Halls of Origin were not nearly as strong as the original. She was fortunate that only her Pyroar lost her life that day. A savage dragon with that many different breath weapons could have easily killed more of her Pokémon, or even Shalin herself.

The explorer breathed a sigh of relief as the Marshadow's DRAIN PUNCH felled the dragon. "That Pokémon of yours is adorable! I've never seen anything like it before," the girl clapped, swooping down to ground level to get a close look if Mar allowed it.

Any close encounter with the ghost-type would be cut short by the sound of shrill buzzing, a deafening Z-MOVE: FLITTING FORTISSIMO making it impossible for Mar, Shalin, or their Pokémon to hear. An intense ringing noise replaced all other sound in their ears. Shalin and her Frosmoth backed away as the figure landed next to them. It appeared to be a Yanmega and a human-shaped figure seated on... one of its wings?

Was this what it was like to be on the receiving end of her suit's powers?

Shalin couldn't hear a word of what Robin said. Despite the danger her shadow clone put her in, she was mesmerized by how her other self grabbed onto the wing and kept her balance. Even at a hovering wingbeat rate, she was nearly invisible, a black blur against the multicolored sky. For the first time, Shalin had a true perspective on just how fast she was going when she used her suit to ride on a giant insect Pokémon's wing. She was jealous of her shadow's ability to wing ride through a Z-Move. She could only hold on at all with her suit active, and the energy needed to do so conflicted with what was needed for the move to fire.

Shalin would be broken out of that trance as her shadow zipped past her, her mount landing on her and trying to pull her from Michiko's back. The Frosmoth fought back with a BUG BUZZ of her own, Shalin taken off guard from the ice-type's ability to do that in the first place. Those wings didn't look rigid enough to vibrate, but they somehow were! It would be another that Shalin would have to try with her suit on and get a feel for... if she made it back alive.

The vibration quickly overwhelmed the Frosmoth. Shalin's suit kept her from being torn to shreds, but only its inert protection was not enough to prevent her skin from tingling all over. The giant insect caught sight of Robin, looking to POUNCE her from above using Shalin as ammunition.

Robin's Hydreigon had broken their fall, Shalin dizzily withdrawing her Pokémon as her senses came back to her. The drone coming from the doppelganger and her shadowy Yanmega steed continued to pound the air around them, the Captain's head starting to thump. As much as she wanted to take to the air and match vibration with vibration powered by her Sygna Suit, she was simply too dizzy to do so in her current state. Sandy would be fighting on her own.

The two zipped around one another, trying to land on top of each other and shred each other with their churning wings. Flying into each other's wakes proved to be a challenge, the swirling winds making it difficult to maintain their balance. Being locked in combat with someone who used her own tactics against the girl opened her eyes to how brutal her style was. Damage to the outside of the body was much easier to repair. The fierce vibrations her Pokémon used to fight pierced the skin and did their damage on the inside. Internal injuries were much more painful and much harder to reverse.

Shalin covered her ears, then warned robin coello to do the same. Sandy churned her wings loudly, pointing them at the foe in a deafening BOOMBURST. While the Normal-type attack inflicted no direct harm on the Captain's clone, the wake of the extreme winds made it impossible for the Yanmega to fly. As the Shalin-clone fell, twisting an ankle, its shape changed to that of a MARSHADOW. Nodding toward the worthy fighter, the ghost-type leaped into her arms. She was unsure what she would do with such a Pokémon, but it seemed insistent to join her. Perhaps she would need a second, smaller, and equally flashy saddle for her new Marshadow companion to use with her other Pokémon!