Shalin considered having her 24th birthday party in Rustboro Park this year instead of her backyard deep in Petalburg Woods. It would be more accessible, especially to her coworkers. She couldn't bear to celebrate it without all her Pokémon, particularly some of her newer ones.

The vast fields of Petalburg Plateau looked more like a fairground than a Pokémon sanctuary. It took a lot of sweet-talking ollie morales to convince her to let her borrow the Hoenn Rangers' squad of Braviary to fly in grills, charcoal, and the like to have a giant cookout for all her friends. Several of Rustboro's more prominent Rangers brought their families to give the city's Captain birthday wishes. One brave child was giggling nonstop as he sat in Bass Boost's saddle, the bumps beneath it vibrating at the lowest speeds the Seismitoad could muster. Another squealed as a familiar Yanmega zipped about, the young girl seated on his back grabbing onto the black scales in front of him for dear life.

It would be one carnival that didn't have long lines... except for the Venusaur, Saria. Though she could seat two people at a time, one on each of her vines, the whirling and twirling those vines were capable of attracted many thrill seekers from through Hoenn, even ones she only had been acquaintances of. Shalin had left the grass-type strict orders to never crack and lash the vine, for she and perhaps Isaac Merlo were perhaps the only ones who could survive such a fast, chaotic ordeal. It would certainly be wilder than any experience at Johanna Joy 's Funtasia carnival in Ever Grande. How was her version of Shalin's ride coming along, anyway?