When Shalin was called to supervise new recruit Leo Winters on an errand in the Silent Icelands, she was a bit suspicious. Why would the Rangers allow fresh blood to go to such a dangerous place, what with the Giant Chasm there being a hotbed for paradox Pokémon, some of the most dangerous Pokémon known in Hoenn? That wasn't her decision to make; that came from ollie morales , she suspected. Perhaps she had such confidence in him that he could handle himself in such a risky area?

Even so, Shalin wasn't taking any chances. Seated on Lathiel's back, the Type: Null bravely advanced across the ice, her claws giving her superb traction on the slippery ground. Flanking her were Scar and Caprice, a Pyroar and Kantonian Ninetales.

Seeing that the wind was picking up, she, too, needed to find shelter. Though she was warm, thanks to the two fire-types surround her and Scar turning up the heat on his mane, that heat wouldn't last forever. She found the same cave that Leo did, coming across the new Ranger with little difficulty.

"Got room for a few more in here?" she kindly asked, sliding down from the back of her Type: Null steed after nearly bonking her head on the ice above. The face looked familiar; being a Ranger Captain, Shalin got to review new hire rosters for the Rangers. It was one of her lest favorite administrative tasks her position required her to do, but it had to be done; she had to take the fieldwork with the pencil pushing, after all.

"Leo, right? Captain Shalin Nariya. I'll be your supervisor for today's assignment. These three are Lathiel, Scar, and Caprice," she introduced the Pokémon that would be keeping them warm as they rode out the storm.

With Leo's consent, Shalin and her three Pokémon spread out, trying to keep the two fire-types close enough to herself and the Ranger that everyone could stay warm. "It is," the Captain confirmed. "It's all Kyurem's doing. I'm so happy I got assigned to Littleroot that day instead of going into space. Otherwise, it could have been my Pokémon that ended up down there. There used to be even more dead Pokémon here, too. Way more." She estimated the quantity of dead Pokémon within the Silent Icelands' glaciers to be an order of magnitude less than it was at the beginning of the year. "You know about the Meteno story? Was all over the news a while back."

Lathiel was surprisingly friendly toward Leo, making a sound halfway between a whimper and a purr. She even returned a greeting to the scarred Beartic. "A Beartic! Caught one of those the last time I was out here. Still trying to find a good place for him in my Petalburg Woods sanctuary." Scar loosed a friendly purr that Leo may have been able to feel the vibrations of if he was near the lion. "Seems odd that you would be assigned out here; the elements aren't particularly friendly." She looked toward Leo's armband. "How long you been a Ranger for?"

After seeing the Beartic's facial expression, it seemed Leo wasn't being forthcoming. The past Shalin, before she ascended to Rustboro's Ranger Captain, wouldn't have seen through such a ruse. She had to deal with a lot more people now. That experience let her see right through Leo's little fib. "It's called Meteno. As in meteor. The meteor that was on a collision course with Hoenn before Eva Morales and Rayquaza shattered it to pieces."

When asked about the Type: Null's armor, Shalin's instinct was to caution Leo about petting the creature, but it was too late; he had already done so. A menacing-sounding hybrid of a purr and a growl, one strong enough that he would feel vibration if he continued to try petting the Pokémon, would be the only warning he would get to stop. "That's a question I've been trying to answer for over a year of raising her," the Captain answered. "You see, Type: Null were originally designed to be a bio-weapon solely for killing Ultra Beasts. That mask she wears is a retainer. Even if you know how to remove it, doing so makes the Pokémon almost impossible to control. She's moody enough as she is. I couldn't imagine it then."

As Leo explained how long his tenure was and the motivation for joining the Rangers, Shalin nodded along, waiting for a huge gust of wind to stop before replying back. "If your primary goal is to punish Team Rocket, Law Enforcement is more your field. We do a fair amount of Rocket busting as Rangers, too, but not quite as much as the cops get to do. Let's put it this way. Rangers are to Pokémon what Law Enforcement is to people."

Shalin sighed, perhaps being a bit too open with Lathiel's seedy origins. There were enough of them running around Hoenn now that she felt it was common knowledge. If he didn't follow the news much, then it made sense. Still, the Three Day War was pretty well-known in Hoenn. The Type: Null in the region turned on their trainers, and it showed in how difficult Lathiel was to raise. She felt like she was gettig close, though: close to at last breaking through and feeling like she was working with a normal Pokémon.

"If you have a problem with authority figures, I can't recommend you join Law Enforcement. Commanding officers are pretty... blunt and intolerant. You do what they say without objection or even questioning them, or they punish you. Rangers have a lot more freedom, and from my experience, build lasting relationships with their leaders. I've been on both sides of it, believe me."

Shalin, checking the entrance upon hearing a loud wind gust and a rumble associated with it, saw the storm was really picking up. Thankfully, they were upwind, minimizing the risk of snow piling up in front of them. Even if the wind suddenly shifted, they had Scar to melt their way out. "The worst of it's out there now. If we can survive this, then we can get to work."

Shalin hummed as a shift in the wind's direction was a messenger of the beginning of the storm's end. "Honestly, it sounds like the Ranger side of things is the best place for you. I'd stay where you're at. If you work hard and make yourself useful, you'll rise through the ranks. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll be a Captain like me!" When she became Captain of Rustboro, such a position wasn't even on her radar. It mostly fell into her lap.

The girl frowned at the mention of snowy peaks. "Mountains we have all kinds of. There's the Rusturf range, the Chimney range, the Great Desert range..." she trailed off. There were even others she wasn't listing, such as the small one running west of the highway between Mauville and Slateport. "We don't get much snow except around here and Shoal Cave. Hoenn's in the tropics, you know. That the Silent Icelands exist at all... they were created by Kyurem."

The idle conversation would meander on until the sun's rays reflected off a nearby snow drift and into Shalin's eyes. "Looks like it's passed." Stepping outside, she waved for Lathiel, Scar, and Caprice to follow her. In the wake of the storm passing, it was extremely cold but calm. "Ready to saddle up and do what we came here to do? We were supposed to survey wild Pokémon outside the Giant Chasm and file a report with HQ."

"I wasn't in it for the promotions either, but look where I wound up," Shalin laughed, shivering as soon as she stepped outside the snow cave. While snow and wind were no longer threats, one winter threat remained, and that was extreme cold. Basic weather knowledge would afford Leo that on the other side of a massive storm was a substantial temperature drop.

Shalin cuddled Caprice's face and pet her. "It'll mostly be keeping an eye out for unusual wild Pokémon behavior in the wake of the Kyurem attack a couple months ago," the Captain explained their objective. "We already did one survey a month or so back, and the League wants a follow-up one. You got a fire Pokémon? If not, you're more than welcome to saddle up Scar! He's obedient and won't bite or anything." Riding a big cat may have been intimidating, but Pyroar were certainly one of the easier ones for that purpose. They were loyal when trained, fast, and highly responsive. Plus, his mane would keep whoever rode him warm: a big plus in the subzero conditions that had made the Icelands so dangerous.

Shalin whistled when she saw Shiva's size and the energy that came with her. "She's a big one! Shiva should meet Mia someday. She's my own Glaceon; while not quite as big as Shiva, she's one of my rides of choice over ice... if I'm warm enough already. It's just too cold for he to hop on her for long out here." Leo must have been from a region where it was constantly cold. Shalin was somewhat used to the cold, being from Johto, but it was seasonal and not year-round.

With Leo taking care of himself, Shalin hopped onto Scar's back, her pores starting to rise as she felt the lion's muscles tense. It had been a while since she had ridden the male, and she had forgotten how strong they were since Kiara died. "Just be careful not to get too cold up there," Shalin warned as the fox, lion, and chimera took off across the icy wastes, keeping their eyes open for unusual behavior. "Also, try not to get too close to the Giant Chasm. Those paradox Pokémon have been getting dangerously close to the top of it. I fear they'll get into Hoenn proper soon..."