With the tournament winding down, it was only a matter of time before Shalin squared off against some true talent. That talent was before her: the most tenured and arguably most talented of the Elite Four. If she could even land a single blow on the Volatile's Pokémon, that would be a victory in and of itself.

"I've heard a lot of your accolades, Matias!" Shalin greeted the League supersoldier. She had also heard many negative remarks about him, primarily from her Gym Leader friend. No reason to soil the mood, though! "Captain Shalin Nariya of Rustboro," she introduced herself, "and this is Queen Zing." Courageous in the Dynamax Pokémon's face, she buzzed her wings menacingly, ready to zip toward the normal-type when the buzzer sounded.

Shalin knew who the colonel was. How could she not? He was arguably the most powerful supersoldier in the League's army. There would be no further time to exchange pleasantries, what with Queen Zing's wings drowning out any attempt to speak.

The Meowth's gleaming, yellow POWER GEM glowed, a sharp, topaz barrage flying toward Queen Zing. In a whirring TAILWIND, her wings would quickly get up to their maximum rate in an effort to bob and weave around the sharp gemstones headed her way. Were she able to evade, she would swoop in with her FELL STINGER.

Matias' Pokmon were as tough as he was, the Meowth not even so much as flinching when the needle went in. The sight was terrifying to see, Shalin feeling she was in over her head against perhaps Hoenn's greatest fighter.

With a gleam of the Meowth's forehead coin, a wicked lightning bolt dropped onto Queen Zing faster than the eye could see, swatting her out of the sky. Intervening, Shalin raised her right hand's index and middle fingers to her MEGA CIRCLET, it and the Beedrill gleaming with the light of MEGA EVOLUTION.

Taking back to the air with a crackling noise as her wings clicked against the battle court's floor, the invigorated green wasp flung her four whirling stings toward the Meowth in a nasty DRILL RUN that threatened to bore through Matias' partner.

The small cat's body fat indeed protected him from being inoculated. She had more than one venom sac, though, and planned on using it to turn the match around. As hot as the TRAILBLAZE was coming in, she could use that to her arvantage if she was daring enough.

The green Beedrill raised her FELL STINGER, long enough to pierce through body fat and sharp as a spearhead. She would simply hover, raising the venomous barb and letting the Meowth run into it if he couldn't react in time.

The BLAST BURN from the small cat caught Shalin and Queen Zing both completely off guard, its arena-encompassing explosion singing and grounding the wasp. It would take extra time on a healing machine to make those wings airworthy again.

In the unlikely event Queen Zing remained standing after the low, rumbling fireball detonated right on top of her, she would crawl away from the Meowth and shoot a spray of TWINEEDLES at him. With a secret weapon like that, though, it seemed the venom would not incapacitate the Meowth fast enough for Shalin to walk away with a win. Expected, given Matias was among Hoenn's most talented supersoldiers.

At least it wouldn't be a clean sweep!

A brilliant tactician, Matias had clearly realized his Meowth may have been on borrowed time. Shalin had come to that realization, as well. By now, the cat had been stung with every venomous appendage the Beedrill had. There was little more she could do than try to either run out the clock, or wait for the for to collapse from the vile concoction ravaging his insides.

Playing defense, Queen Zing pushed her wings to their limits, buzzing madly and propelling herself with a TAILWIND not to attack, but to retreat.

If Shalin could make Matias sweat, then perhaps she was a better combatant than she gave herself credit for. The Galar Memory had taught her well of the powers of her Sygna Suit. Unbeknownst to her, Kyurem would teach her even more about her suit's strengths. Though she was not as self-toxic as her Gym Leader friend, Shalin's humility did sometimes get in the way.

"Hey, at least I made it interesting, right?" she replied with a giggle before turning around to register for another flight. Perhaps she should have brought her Sygna Pokémon to the tournament after all.