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It was funny, as much as he wanted to speak, Reno knew their best play was for him to just look pitiable and quiet. And that left him with so much time to listen to what the Armarouge was trying to communicate. He was worried about any large scale attacks potentially causing a knock-on effect and taking out the entire chamber. Made enough sense, but it seemed like any energy-enhanced moves would be absorbed so what could they do to cause any more problems? And protocol to have a Lightning Rod 'Mon out? So whatever was in there was an Electric type. But how did these...wait, Stellar Locks?

Another burst of information would force it's way into his skull, the spontaneous omniscience quickly settling him with what exactly these locks were. But if it was purely an Electric type within the confines of this trap, why hadn't the lock immediately responded when Aile had led off on inputting chi? There was something else. Doing his best to maintain quiet as the Armarouge stalked away, he went over every detail he had been collecting while he was still focused on the whole Stellar Lock thing. But it wasn't any of the other details that caught his attention, but the one just before the locks were brought up. Stray jolts triggering the lock mechanism? Was the combination a type the Baltoy shared with the occupant? It made sense, especially since their natural levitation would keep any intruder from using Ground moves and combining with any other things they did to accidentally jimmy the lock.

But that still left six options. Except it didn't, seeing as how three of those six were displayed using characters that looked basically the same. And as much as this was a prison, there still needed to be a way to unlock it if need be and having three of your required entries be a guessing game wouldn't make sense. Especially not when their ancient guard didn't offer any insight towards those symbols as his advice to prevent another accident. If it was those three, he would have been liable to offer correcting advice. And those three, oh so coincidentally, were all the weaknesses the Baltoy got from its Psychic type.

Giving a few more moments after the Armarouge left, Reno would speak up. "Thanks to my irreverent eavesdropping and my apparent bout with omniscience, I might have an answer for our lock here. These walls," Reno would reach over with his normal hand and give a gesture to the eighteen metal walls, "are Stellar Locks. They are designed to nullify the chi of whatever the heck it's holding, which is why you can feel big energy but not determine what the heck it is. So all we would need to do to open the lock is hit this thing with the correct weaknesses of whatever is inside."

Feeling himself picking up steam on his little deduction train, Reno would begin to pace around the room as his Wynaut unearthed herself from where she had been stashed away in his bag to stand on his shoulder to aid in the gesturing. "Clue one comes from the one of us designated Custodian and the focus on Lightning Rod as an ability." Pointing towards Aile and Tatooine, Reno would wait for Harleen to nod along before continuing. "While the ability is not uniquely possessed by Ground types, it does have an overlap in that it nullifies Electric moves and Ground type is super effective against Electric type. Thus we have answer one."

Beginning to tap his chin, Harleen would mime along as she scratched her chin with her ear. "But then a new problem. Why didn't it open when it was just Aile touching it? And what would prevent it from accidentally being unlocked by a rogue Ground move in the area?" Spinning on his heel, he and Harleen would both give a snap of their particular appendage. "Simple. The occupant is a dual-type that possesses Electric. But then how could we figure out a second type? And that's when another comment from the Armarouge stuck out, about stray jolts interacting with the Stellar Locks. Which gives six additional options, except that the three that Psychic give Baltoy are coincidentally the three that I can't even read. So the logical conclusion is that our prey is an Electric and Ground type whose prison will be unlocked by using those two types weaknesses." Declaratively pointing to the sand dome as he finished his conclusion, Harleen would hop to the end of Reno's arm to point alongside him.

Lowering his arm and setting Harleen on his shoulder, he would shrug and add, "Or its Electric Psychic and the people who made this are masochists. But I wanna try the Ground one first. Which means....Ground on that one, Ice on that one, Water on the one over there, and Grass on this one." After designation the four required targets for the first combination that he wanted to try, Reno would step back and look to his companions. "Unless, of course, we wanna just leave it alone. Because I'm fairly certain any known Pokémon fitting the type combinations I'm figuring it to be wouldn't be a threat worth imprisoning. So this is gonna be some new thing..."

Aile looked at Tatooine as Armarouge was talking to her. “My Flygon here is my very first partner. I have my utmost faith in her.” She’d also watch Armarouge leave, something it said lingering in her head. A couple centuries ago…That time frame sounded familiar, like she knew something else was supposed to have happened.

That thought would be put on the back burner, though, as Reno began explaining his hypothesis. This made some amount of sense, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt. They had probably one more chance before the cover was blown, and they probably wouldn’t get away with the same act twice. “I’m not leaving without a leaf from the final Herba, at the very least. Let’s try it, and be prepared for a potential failure and dealing with the Armarouge.”

The woman would point Tatooine over to the wall Reno pointed out, trusting Tati to understand what to do. As she picked up her Safari Ball with Sarlaac, she began thinking about the idea of this being something new. Why would that be? The last custodian was here just over two hundred years ago… Wait. Wait. Didn’t Raifort mention in one of her classes someone on an expedition a few hundred years ago? What was that name, and where did they go?

Aile would be standing in front of the water wall, sending out her Palossand as things started to come together. “Heath! That’s the name,” she shouted, getting looks from both of her Pokémon, Tatooine peeking out from behind her wall. “Er, sorry, thoughts are coming together again. Something that sounds like conspiracy, but those books were supposed to be bogus as well.” Tatooine would give a quizzical look, but nodded all the same. Sarlaac just shrugged her towers, not completely sure of what’s going on in the first place. “Right. Sarlaac, Chilling Water. Tatooine, Earth Power.” The Pokémon nodded, with Tatooine aiming her chi blast at the wall. Sarlaac would begin to draw out any water that might have been stored within her body out into an orb in front of her, sending the chilled water out at the wall.

As the Pokémon attacked, Aile went back to thinking, the dots starting to connect into an interesting picture. What if Heath was the previous Custodian, or at least knew the previous one? And brought back something from one of his expeditions? Like that one to… wait, the crater. That’s the one Raifort mentioned in her class. The one that led to Heath writing the books… Oh hell. If this was even remotely correct, they were facing off with a complete unknown, outside of the typing. And probably not in a great mindset after being cooped up for a couple hundred years. Though, that last one was probably a given no matter what.

"If we do," Sol responded, thinking more on all the stuff concerning the Scarlet and Violet Books and their supposed author. "Then I hope we're ready for it. Though, I have to admit way back when I saw the books growing up, I thought they were little more than the sort of tales you'd read to a curious child. Maybe perhaps not entirely without merit, in hindsight." He briefly mused about his younger days in Paldea, but this wasn't the time to keep on them for long. A humorous observation to him, but one that could have context brought in later.

The walls they focused on would begin to glow in the color of their types as the energy from their attacks became absorbed into the wall itself. Unlike before the walls would not flash to red and attempt to ward them off but instead began to glow brighter and brighter before turning pure white and then with an audible 'click' all of the walls would go dark once again. Afterwards everything went dark and silent. No more sounds, no colorful walls, no glowing. For awhile there it might look like nothing else would happen, until a lot happened, all at once.

Suddenly the entire chamber would begin to shake violently, causing the Stellar lock walls to sway. Then they would here a slam from behind them towards the entrance only to find it was now sealed off by an iridescent Stellar wall, trapping them inside. Did they do something wrong? No, this isn't because they got it wrong, but because they got it right. It's a fail safe in case they...well, fail to deal with whatever they just freed.

The symbols on the sand dome would fade away and after they were gone the sand would begin to spin and churn, maintaining its general dome shape however growing in size though becoming thinner as the sand grains drifted apart from one another. As the grains of sand moved away from each other Aile could feel, that large energy presence that no one could deduce what exactly it was. Now that its sandy prison was dispelled she could feel its true tremendous power and its nature as the tremendous amount of Ground energy washed over her. It was so overwhelming that her tremor senses would fail her as its mighty presence just turned her 'radar' all green.

The sand that composed the dome would drift away and appear to collect on the sides of the dome shaped room they were in, so spread apart that the sand just seemed to blend into the walls. Before it even reached that point however they could now see what they were dealing with. It was a Magneton, looking not too much different than any other Magneton they might have encountered. The only difference was it had yellow eyes instead of white, purple markings on the outside of the eyes with the central eye having black markings below it, a tail composed of screws, and it had two very long magnets that touched the ground. On the ground as well was a pile of what looked like iron sand with some sort of yellow leafy plant partially sticking out of the pile. It was the Herba Mystica!

"Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzz bzz!" The strange Magneton cried as it began to flail its body around as it was now freed, only to realize it wasn't completely freed as it appeared to be stuck to the pile of iron sand on the ground, wiggling to get free however its bottom magnets weren't budging and upon closing inspection every section of its body was touching each other, forced together, and to the ground, by some sort of magnetic force that was not its own. The sand dome may have been lifted but it looked like it wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

The 'Magneton' would show keen interest in the Snagems, each eye remaining fixed to one of them, following them wherever they went. What was the big deal about some sort of weird looking Magneton anyways? Why was it sealed away? And with the Herba Mystica no less. Furthermore the thing had a massive energy signature, not unlike a Titan Pokemon but it was clearly not the size of a Titan, just the size of any other Magneton nor did it have that tell tale aura of the power of Herba Mystica. Speaking of, even though this thing's presence was so overpowering that it over road her Tremor Sense she could discern, if barely, the flow of energy between the Magneton and the Herba Mystica growing out of the ground. They were connected somehow, and for some reason. But why?

Aile shielded her own eyes with her arm as the walls grew brighter, watching just barely as the locks faded and the dome began to expand. Well, they definitely got it right this time. Though, confusion would be quite visible on the woman’s face, between seeing the strange occupant and her senses getting overloaded. Which wasn’t fun for her, because even if it might have been dulled at first, she had gotten used to her tremor sense as a sixth sense, or at least an extension of her touch sense. Now, it was effectively muted by the sheer Ground energy radiating from this… very odd Magneton. Smacking her head as she was getting used to being blind in one sense, she took a look behind her real quick, noting that the way out was also blocked. Well, it looked like they had to deal with the occupant in some way. Though, watching how it wasn’t able to move at all, not even its arms, made her kind of pity it. It couldn’t have been fun, all cooped up in there for that long, and now discovered when it had the room to move, it couldn’t.

Aile turned to look at the others, signaling to her Pokémon to be on guard, but stand down otherwise. She still did feel pity for it, and wasn’t going to immediately attack it. However, she didn’t want Tatooine and Sarlaac to be resting on their laurels while she was about to do something potentially stupid. Slowly, with her hands somewhat in front and away from her, she’d walk forward towards the certainly odd Pokémon(?). “Hey there. I’m not here to hurt you,” she’d begin, not even sure that it could understand her. “I just want to get a piece of that herb underneath you. Maybe I can also see about getting you some form of mobility. But I need you to not attack, please.” Her eyes would glance towards the Herba, noting the small iron particles that formed a pile underneath the maybe Magneton, with said herb also sticking out of it. It was hard for her to notice, with that area of her senses being overloaded, but maybe there was something between the two? Maybe if she could get closer, she could tell. That would depend on how this thing felt about her, though.

"Uh... huh..." Sol gave an exasperated sigh. "That sounds like the sort of tabloid that'd go on about calling the Shadow Virus a hoax or that we created it in Silph's labs. Might need the whole salt shaker taken with those articles." He did have to admit if a name had to be given and this Magneton was indeed Ground and Electric somehow, they could do worse than Sandy Shocks.

Aile was thankful as the strange Pokémon was pretty calm, though it seemed to be staring at her for… some reason, like it saw something in her. What was it with her and Pokémon seeing something she couldn’t see? Was it sensing the other Herba? Was it sensing that she was a ground channeller? Hopefully it was just one of those, otherwise she was going to start getting annoyed. As much as people could argue about her being born with a silver spoon in her mouth, that’s all she could say was special about her. She wasn’t some special chosen one, she was some moron who kept stumbling into stuff, and trying her best to work through it. At least she shouldn’t be.

Shoving those confused and frustrated thoughts out of her head, she’d kneel down and pluck a leaf of the Herba from the plant, putting it away with the others set aside for the Nincada. She’d then inspect the iron sand, noting that now that she was closer, she could for certain tell there was a link between the Herba and this sand. She wondered if she just plucked it, that it would be enough to break the link, or if there needed to be a removal of the root system as well. All the while, she could tell the Magneton was trying to do something, but only realizing what was happening when it actually happened. “Whoa!” She’d roll out of the way as Reno’s leg came in, staring in confusion for a moment until she looked up at the Pokémon. It really was a metal thief. And it was quite pleased with itself, apparently. A couple of snickers would break through, trying not to laugh at the scenario. “Hey, you know-”

Aile was cut off when she heard Barbara’s voice, not even turning to meet her immediately. She had forgotten that they were in a race after all of this. “Great,” the woman muttered, shaking her head at what the other woman was saying. Of course they were being used to figure everything out. Arceus, this was cliche. They do all the work, figuring out the puzzle, only to have someone else come in to try to take the prize. And the way this day had gone so far, she wasn’t quite in the mood for some cocky b***h to try and push her way into what she wanted. Aile would let out an exasperated sigh and pat the metal thief on one of the long magnets it presumably used for a leg, with her artifact arm just as a precaution. “Give me a moment please, I need to yell at this woman.”

Aile would then turn around and stand back up, putting her right hand in her pocket. “Barbara, go sit on a Ferroseed. I don’t know what you want with it, but after the events of today, I sure as hell don’t trust your intentions. I don’t trust that you're not involved with the chaos that happened, with the mushrooms, any of that. And I don’t particularly care. We got here first, go get bent.” With a look at all of her allies, she’d turn back around and kneel in front of the Herba again. “Alright, so, if this works, let my friend have his leg back, please. He needs it for his mobility like you probably want yours. Also wouldn’t mind if you helped us out a bit here.” With that final bit said to the Pokemon, she’d pull the Herba out, while Tatooine flew herself between Barbara and Aile to act as a shield and Sarlaac would slowly inch her way over to the rest of the people.

Reno would have enough time to look from Sol after his response to the Sandy Shocks to notice the intense level of focus it had on his leg. "Uh oh?" Reno quizzically said, his right leg disappearing from underneath him as the magnetic effect snatched the limb clear off of his body and even dragged his pockets somewhat towards the strange Pokemon. "Aaah!" He yelped, pinwheeling his arms in an effort to find some form of balance before the slight pull that remained on his pocket dragged him off-balance and sent him sprawling on the ground. Staring up from the ground at his now firmly planted leg that was a few meters away with the Herba, he would let out a huff at his kidnapped prosthetic. Deciding to figure out what exactly dragged him down, Reno would dig into his pocket and find the Pokeball he had been storing inside his arm and a few chunks of debris from the exploded prosthetic that he had apparently pocketed alongside it.

As their opponent entered the area, Reno would stare up at her for a few moments as he listened to Aile and Sol shout towards Barbara. "Wait, are you affiliated with Mister Mushroom? Is that how Raifort ended up mushroomed?" Scrambling up into a sitting position, he would stare towards the Rock channeler. "If thats true, then we are gonna have words! Mostly so you can tell me where bug boy is!" Reno shouted, gripping the chunk of broken prosthetic he had found in his pocket as he calculated out his next move. There was no need to immediately rush her down with everything immediately, not when they could keep a few things in reserve. Looking to Kaiden and Aleister, he would give a small stop motion with his free hand before returning his gaze to Barbara and her Glimmora.

Drawing back his metal-holding hand, Reno would snap towards the strange Magneton and shout, "Sandy! New metal! Fetch!" Throwing the chunk of metal as fast he could, he aimed the piece to go flying behind their opponent. Hopefully either the Sandy Shocks jumped at the new metal and dragged Barbara off her feet, the chunk boomeranged and slammed into her back, or...something to get Sandy Shocks working with them. If it didn't, then it would very quickly turn into dividing up his two fighters between their opponents.