Soyeon held onto the group's ride, her hands latching onto the saddle. The jerkiness would have surely thrown her off had Nikolaj not been present behind her. She'd slam into him a couple of times during their little take off while watching as Lyune would soar into the air and run around while the huge Vikavolt would sound off behind him. Ignis was a pretty strong combatant on his own, but he was still just a Charizard. This gigantic bug type could take whatever he could throw at him and zap it back out. The skies filled with electricity blasts and more while the party could bob and weave around the space.

As her Charizard would blast the man once more, he'd be hit by an electric attack, sending him back several meters as Soyeon would frown while clutching Lyune's back. "This isn't really working. Anybody have any ideas?" She asked the two while the Vikavolt was on their tail. It would hum unleashing a wind beats towards Lyune and everyone did their best to stay on. The gigantic enemy would attempt to plunge towards them again, sending chunks to fall from everywhere as a chunk would land in Soyeon's hand. her eyes scanned the exposed layers as her eyes would spot something interesting.

"The ground!" The scientist said happily. showing the two her chunk of earth. Despite how crazy she may have seemed, there was a reason for her outburst. "I've studied this before in the Ultra Volcano I mentioned from before. Ah, I should make this easy to understand..." she said, trying her hardest to summarize her thoughts. "But further down in the ground lies this extremely volatile element that's explosive once it's exposed to a large enough heat source. We just have to expose it first...Then somehow try and trick this Vikavolt into exposing it and then applying heat."

🗺️ SOYEON KWAN's expertise and or focus on ultra space studies must be explored in some way.

Nikolaj Volosenkov | freya morningstar

Soyeon did look over keenly at Nikolaj's discovery. Gold coming from the bamboo here? "Oh? That's certainly a new one!" she said while getting ready to take some of the gold that the man had found before their interruption made by the huge bug currently around them. It would continue to u lodge itself from the earth, crackling with electricity while the ground around them would begin to violently react.

Soyeon managed to unlatch her Charizard from her belt, throwing it out while hopping aboard Freya's Salamance. She'd budge over to look at the woman's reddened skin having taken a direct blast of gyser steam. If only Soyeon had some way of how to relieve burns available! "It'll be okay." she offered at a base level, squirming back over as she watched the reaction from the many different elements around them. The Garchomp and the Vikavolt had been thrown backwards from the impact of the former's attack.

"Help that Garchomp out, Ignis! Inferno!" Soyeon yelled. The Charizard would rear its head back before then unleashing a powerful fireball at the Vikavolt. The flames had only licked the exterior of the bug type's carapace, but managed to stun it for long enough to allow the Garchomp to escape or follow up. Regardless, she'd turn back to the other two. "We should try and find more suitable ground for this battle. This area looks like it's ready to explode."

Nikolaj Volosenkov | freya morningstar

To say that an outing in Ultra Space would excite the young scientist was an understatement of gigantic proportions. Ever since the group stepped inside, Soyeon was scribbling things down on her clipboard that she brought with her. Her frantic writing down spoke more about her than she ever could. "Ah, a bit of practicality to break up the day." She said, elated to spend time in her designated field. Her companions seemed to be as excited as she was, at least to her. There was a rugged looking man with an eyepatch and beautiful looking woman. Both of which were new to her, as per usual. She walked silently along and seemed as happy as a Clampearl to be inside of this Crater area. Nikolaj would warn about the geysers here as she nodded in agreement.

"Do watch your step. These geyers contain abnormal amounts of sulfur. More than likely as a result of absorption of this environment's abundance of the element. Which is to say, getting burned by that will be severely painful." Soyeon geeked out during this little factoid, careful to ensure that everyone would stay safe during this expedition. The other female of the group, Freya, would ask her if she had ever been here as the Rocket would gladly answer. "Not to the Crater in person, but I've been to the Ultra Sea before. My research consists mostly from accounts of other people, so a chance to personally visit Ultra Space was too good to pass up! " She said while hopping over another gyser, careful not to upset the distance as she'd look over to the other two people present.

"I've been studying them for quite some time now. It's always a privilege to learn more about them, especially from two capable trainers as help! I actually just worked with a sample of a mineral from the Ultra Volcano just the other day. Did you know that-"

Her rambling was interrupted by the sound of buzzing. It was only faint, but the volume was increasing, and fast. Soyeon had heard it a bit too late as a blurred set of wings would dive bomb towards her. She yelped and dived forward, only narrowly missing certain death. The scientist tumbled towards Nikolaj and spun herself around just in time to catch sight of a gigantic Vikavolt the size of a tower embedded inside of the earth. She hopped right up as her eyes widened in awe and horror.

"Fascinating! I wasn't aware a common bug type could grow to such a size here." Soyeon said, fumbling to call out a Pokémon. "Would you two kindly assist me?"

Nikolaj Volosenkov | freya morningstar

Soyeon couldn't really begin to understand what she was hearing, from a League official no less! Her eyes narrowed at the prelude to her answer. She was dangerous?! Granted, Soyeon had heard reports of her team and just what she was capable of in a Pokémon battle, but that little shred of humanity that had burrowed itself inside of her despite everything was still strong.

"A dangerous individual being a child?" Soyeon repeated after her. "So that gives you the right to use any amount of force to seriously hurt her? Are you going to tell me that the League would be fully prepared to kill somebody that young?"

Her mouth was open to tear her a new one before huffing, looking conflicted. Elinor certainly wasn't going to really budget in her stance in her current state. The fact that Soyeon had an audience with her seemed to be lucky enough. Another beat of silence as Soyeon pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, I got too ahead of myself. Thank you for confirming that." While not really knowing much about what directly happened to Eris Halla , Soyeon wanted to at least help her if possible. Ultimately, it would be up to her on whether or not she wanted to receive that help. "I may as well be truthful as well. My friend is Aaron Toral . We met during the expeditions to Ultra Sea, after running away from you. He's just as brutal as Rocket is if his stories hold any weight. I've read his file multiple times, can memorize each offense and grunt hospitalized forward and back."

Aaron Torres, that little demonic thorn in the side of her superiors. Even after meeting him, Soyeon found herself smirking after every little utterance of his name in some of the forward forces' work. A nice reminder that somebody was proving to be difficult to nail down. Soyeon smiled to herself and leaned back against the wall, looking down at Elinor. "I may be stupid for thinking it, you've probably done that since I started talking. But deep down, I like to think they're good kids deep down, just caught up in this war. Even if I can't save myself, I can at least save them."

Elinor Anderson

"I need a rose bath after this..." Soyeon thought to herself, currently lamenting that she had to splash muck all over her skin. Every part of her was jittering in discomfort, and it was visible for Maverick to take notice of. Following suit after her, he'd splash himself down with mud too, alongside his terrifying Houndoom. The cnaine didn't seem too thrilled about covering herself with mud, but Azula would soon have to go along with the plan. Ferrous looked at the mud and would hover on top of it before splashing a wave down on himself, alongside most of Soyeon. She spat out some muck, silently cursing at him before a break in the swarm allowed them entry into the vantage point nearby.

The party scuttled along into a thick, wax-like Beedrill hive as some precious few were seen buzzing about overhead. The size was massive, as they could easily walk inside and look up to see the ceiling reach upwards. A dilapidated building showed it was at least two and half stories high. The swarm had lessened inside, only having about half as much as they'd tend to the walls around them. By some luck, they weren't being noticed by the Beedrill around them and allowed the trainers and their Pokémon the chance to go further inside. "It's fascinating to watch them up close like this. Imagine what an actual hive would be like, without the poison irritating them." There was some beauty in watching the wildife, even as she was badgered by Ferrous to continue on.

They passed through into what looked like a hallway of tunnels, the draft bringing forth the scent of honey and other questionable scents towards them. Some precious Kakuna would sit encased in the walls, motionless and awaiting the day they could evolve into the next generation of loyal soldiers. "The queen's chamber should be just up ahead. These side chambers are where the eggs are taken until they hatch. Just watch your step." They'd continue on down the path going forward until the tunnel would lead up. SOyeon looked at this for a moment, then frowning.

"Well, this is a roadblock..."

maverick noah ryder