Sandy's wing was akin to an unfathomably powerful massage chair that only Shalin could use. Her hair was a complete mess afterward, both from the wind blowing it around and the vibration itself forcing her hair to stand on end. "Believe me, I know," she replied with a tingle in her voice. "When she wanted to battle, she could. She just only wanted to battle Ultra Beasts for the longest time. She's a good girl now, though, isn't she?" With an alien-sounding mixture between a purr and a whine, Lathiel seemed to approve of her trainer's kind words. That she allowed Shalin on her back showed how much their bond had improved. And yet, it still had a ways to go before that bond could peak.

"They are!" Shalin chirped back as she squeezed Lathiel's sides in an effort to keep up with Andrea. "I can fly in mine, too!" In a roundabout and deranged way, sure. It was less flying and more being launched into the air like a ballistic projectile, but details.

As the duo crossed a stream produced by a waterfall, two walls of tall vines sprouted around Shalin and Lathiel. They had trapped her and her Type: Null between them, though Ranger and had plenty of room to maneuver yet. They would need it, too, with a quartet of Brute Bonnet on the offensive. Two danced around Shalin and Lathiel, covering them in RAGE POWDER and drawing out blind aggression from them both. Not only was Lathiel about to fight dangerous paradox Pokémon, but Shalin herself was about to go into combat against them. She looked like she could blow a gasket from how mad she was.

In the meantime, the other two Brute Bonnet, fueled by their PROTOSYNTHESIS, started glowing with a brilliant light. A pair of SOLARBEAMS would be headed toward the duo in the air if they didn't do something... though the pollen in the air might complicate things!

Shalin was just as upset as Andrea was, hurling Sandy's Poké Ball to the ground to activate her own Sygna Suit. Hopping on the dragon-type's wing, she yelled for a BUG BUZZ attack in a threatening tone that was very unlike the normally-cheerful girl. Shalin would get one, and this time, the Flygon wouldn't hold back. She disappeared into a green streak of light atop the wing, both of them shrieking in their own ways: Shalin with her voice, and Sandy with just how fast the vibration was. The shockwave shredded much of the Brute Bonnets' foliage, the grass and dark-types not standing a chance against the Sygna Pokémon. In her anger, she didn't think about what the Bug-type attack would do to Chomper!

It took a Sygna Suit and an extreme weakness for Shalin to keep up with the paradox Pokémon, but it was a confidence builder. Once the Rage Powder wore off, she slid down from the wing, her ankles rolling as she collapsed onto the grass near the stream. "Where... where am I?" she asked Andrea, coming down from the Infinity Energy high made only more intense by being under the influence of Rage Powder.

ROLL ANY NUMBER WITH A 4. - Feel a sudden debilitating pang of fear.

It took time for Shalin to respond with more than groans and moans, but she eventually got to her feet. "I should... be fine," she answered, still a bit shaken up. "The Infinity Energy is just... a lot." Withdrawing the rest of her Pokémon other than Lathiel and deactivating her suit, the Ranger hopped onto the Type: Null's back, feeling a lot less overwhelmed when her steed was... not constantly vibrating. Even her suit had its limits.

Once she had fully recovered her senses, Shalin would let Andrea lead the way... but she seemed hesitant. "If you need to take five, we can." She wouldn't mind it, either. Surely the roaming paradox Pokémon would have second thoughts about an ambush when a Type: Null was present, right?

TOTAL OF ROLLS MADE BY ALL WRITERS REACHES 377. - You experience an earthquake.

Shalin was tired, and very little of that exhaustion was conscientously self-inflicted. Sure, Sandy's vibration contributed some, but it was mostly wearing herself out fighting the paradox Pokémon hand-to-hand, draining her Sygna Suit's Infinity Energy reserves nearly dry. It would take time for those reserves to fill once again. "If you aren't confident in coming down here..." she trailed off. She had asked to be accompanied by a Gym Leader, and Andrea was a Gym Leader. Minor League, but with almost the same prestige as one Hoenn's nine Major League Gyms. If even she was concerned about delving deeper, just how much worse was Area Zero beneath?

Even Shalin and Lathiel was rocked by the vibration, the girl feeling like she was on Treble's Clanging Scales unprotected. She looked even more tired than she was before. It showed just how reliant Shalin was on her Sygna Suit, both to entertain herself and to fight. Were an Infinity Energy overload to occur within her suit, what would happen to her? There were times when its output was dangerously high, particularly when riding Sandy's wing mid-Boomburst. It was the most destructive weapon in her arsenal, but it was also horribly taxing on her. Better than being torn to shreds without her suit protecting her!

Shalin giggled when Andrea gave her nose a friendly bop, snapping her out of it. As fun as it was being flung around faster than the eye could see, it was also draining on her. With how large Area Zero was, it was clear that if she wanted to come back and fight at her best, the place would be a no fun zone, far as her suit was concerned. Certainly no supersonic rides with Saria in this place. She could do that any time she wanted back home.

"This place is... a lot bigger than I thought," she exhaled. "Even the Ultra Wilds weren't this taxing on me. Next time we come out here, I'm only tapping into my suit when necessary." She raised an eyebrow at her last comment; she could have sworn she felt a pang of PRESSURE from deep within. It was so distant that Andrea may not have been able to notice. "Let's head back to Oldale and try again tomorrow." Reining Lathiel into a 180, the Type: Null led the way back up the slope with Shalin in tow.