Well-behaved didn't mean friendly; Lathiel's eyes shifted toward Johanna in indifference. It was clear that whoever owned the magnificent, rare Pokémon hadn't fully tamed her yet. Antsy for Shalin to return to her, she watched her trainer go for a run on the Tauros that she had earned the right to ride.

As soon as the gate opened, the normal-type kicked its hind legs high into the air, then followed it up with a rearing leap that powerfully shifted its weight across its body. This bull was not messing around. She wasn't even watching the stopwatch; all her focus was on holding on through the most intense bucking she had ever experienced. One moment, her head was careening between her angry mount's horns; the next, her body threatened to bend backwards from a charge flinging her in the opposite direction.

Even the Wildest Rider in Hoenn was no match for the Tauros when it added spinning and kicking in circles to the mix, a sharp kick causing her to fall and prompting her to flee. Thankfully, the bovines were all well-behaved, returning to being relatively calm once they had unseated their riders.

As she dizzily signed her name on the leaderboard, having earned the second-longest Qualified Ride, she noticed the long, blue hair of someone standing next to Lathiel. She recognized that hair and face from the advertisement posters - that was Johanna Joy !

"Johanna, I think?" Shalin greeted the Gym Leader. "You're the one who organized this whole thing, right?"

While Lathiel didn't try to physically harm Johanna, she would get uncomfortably close to the Ever Grande Gym Leader, though there would be plenty of time to move out of the way if she desired. "Heh, they don't call me Shalin, Hoenn's wildest Pokémon rider, for nothing!" she bragged. "I am gonna have to get back on him later in the month, though." For posterity, she did take a photo of the Tauros Rodeo leaderboard with her name in second place, posting it to AmiGo with the caption, "Guess my work here isn't quite done yet! #Funtasia"

"Thanks for letting me run my own show, too," Shalin said as she, and Johanna if she chose to join her, walked away from the anger-feigning Tauros and toward other attractions. "Shalin's Believe-It-or-Not has been a success. Were you there on any of the days I was there? I don't remember seeing you. I also don't run it every day; gotta enjoy the carnival myself!" She whistled for Lathiel to come to her side, but instead the quirky Type: Null stood next to Johanna again, though this time at a more comfortable distance. "If you're not up to much, how about we wander the carnival together for a while?"

Shalin frowned at Johanna's answer. "Even if you know what's coming, you still have to see it to believe it! Hopefully you can make it when it's in Mauville or Slateport." She would share a photo she took from one of her past performances; in it, there was a clear shot of her left hand holding onto a giant Beedrill wing, the perspective looking down said wing. It was clear that she was sitting on it when she took the photo.

She wasn't kidding, was she?

"You looking more for a snack, or more thrills?" Shalin asked. "The legendary Pokémon carousel looks cool, as does getting whirled around on one of those!" she pointed to one of the rides that would wildly spin its subjects about. The Type: Null whined, wishing she could go on the whirling attraction. She was too big for it, sadly. "Don't want to eat until I know I'm done with the rides, after all!"

Johanna was right; one of the few that could accommodate a rider of that size was the Ferris wheel. Its spacious cars had room for one Pokémon of Lathiel's size. While it wasn't particularly thrilling, like the ride the Gym Leader and Shalin were in line for, it gave them a view of the entire carnival grounds. That alone was worth it, even if she could get the same view by hopping on one of her flying Pokémon.

"Sounds good to me!" There was something she loved about the kind of motion, especially when the ride reversed directions and flung her to the other side of her seat. That was what she lived for, despite having a few Pokémon capable of replicating that motion.

By the time the two boarded, the Type: Null leaned up against a rail, her eyes closed. "I've still been traveling to those Distortions to track down a giant Floatzel. Could you imagine doing this but with one of their tails?" she mused aloud, not realizing at first how absurd that would have to sound to a normal person. To anyone without the kind of Sygna Suit she had, the speed those tails whirled at would be like being thrown into a blender were one to attempt to cling to one of them...

As the whirling got faster and faster, Shalin's stomach churned from the increasing force of being pushed against the side of the car. "Wheee-haaaa!!" she whooped as the ride suddenly reversed direction, whipping her to the other side of her seat. While this was tame by Shalin's standards, the ones wild by them a bit too unsafe for anyone that wasn't a professional, she still looked like she had a lot of fun with it.

As their ride began to slow and Shalin's senses returned to her, she grinned at the thoughts of doing this with a Floatzel. While the tails were much shorter than the cables that tethered the cars to the main rotor, they also spun much faster. Those spun fast enough to hum like a bug's wing. "This makes me want to track one down and try. I've been looking for a Distortion near the water, but I can never make it to one in time."

Even Shalin stumbled as she stepped out of the car. "Phew! Gonna need a break after that one," she exhaled as Lathiel woke up just in time to depart. That was quite a statement coming from the girl who put on a show by sitting on bug-types' wings in motion.