~ Ferris Wheel ~

If you thought ferris wheels were only available in the Unova region, well, you were wrong. The Pokémon themselves even ride ferris wheels now, since there was one at the new amusement park in the outskirts of Treasure Town. Sure, maybe it was a pretty long trudge away, but it was nothing for a bunch of rescue team Pokémon.

One sunny day, this "bunch of rescue team Pokémon" decided to go to the amusement park. "This bunch" was actually divided into two rescue teams, but they were best friends anyway. There was Silver Rank Team Overgrow whose members were Breloom the leader, Treecko the brains, and the girls Lombre and Cleffy. The other was Bronze Rank Team Red Bow with its young leader Roselio and his friends Froslass and Staraptor.

Breloom had claimed that this was their "day off". No-nonsense Treecko had of course argued with him, but he had been quickly overruled. He had no choice but to tag along.

That was how he found himself standing in line to ride this giant roller coaster named Arceus' Mountain.

"Remind me what we're doing here again," he said with a sigh.

"We're having fun," Breloom replied shortly.

So Treecko stayed put until to Breloom's excitement, they reached the gate of Arceus' Mountain. Just one more step and they'd be inside. Action-loving Breloom, Staraptor, and tomboyish Lombre looked excited. Brainy Treecko and Froslass looked poker-faced. Cleffy looked as if she was about to faint.

Cleffy played with her fingers, feeling frightened, nervous and insecure. "I'm scared," she said to no one in particular. Of course, the other ones who weren't scared didn't hear her, but Roselio, Cleffy's not-so-secret crush, did, to Cleffy's utter embarrassment. Way to look like a hopeless baby.

"Don't worry, there's nothing to be scared of," he said with a smile that almost made Cleffy want to stand in line forever. "Trust me, it's not as bad as it claims to be."

"Have you ever ridden it?" Cleffy asked.

Roselio thought for a moment before saying, "No. I've never ridden it because of that silly height requirement. But Staraptor has, and he said he wasn't the least bit scared."

"Of course he wasn't," Cleffy sighed. Comments from Staraptor didn't count when it comes to stuff like these.

But Roselio just laughed. "Oh, you'll see," he said mysteriously. Cleffy miraculously stayed put, although she didn't know whether it was because she finally had the courage to try and ride Arceus' Mountain, or because she loved the sound of Roselio's laugh. She didn't know how he managed to sound so musical. Whenever she laughed, it always came out sounding like a nervous, baby dinosaur-type wheeze.

Ah well. She really was a hopeless romantic.

She was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't realize that Breloom and the daredevils had gone through the gate. It was a new voice that startled her out of that train of thoughts.

"Stop! Where do you think you're going?"

As the others who had gone through the gate paused, Cleffy and Roselio looked down to see a Stunfisk on the ground. "Stop!" he said again. "I want you two to stand over there." He gestured at a wooden pole.

Roselio recognized it immediately. "Aww man!" he groaned. "You mean I'm still not tall enough to ride?!"

Cleffy had to keep herself from smiling. Roselio even sounded cute when he was complaining.

"That's why I asked you to stand over there," Stunfisk said in a no-nonsense manner. "Now get to it."

They both did. Stunfisk smiled to himself. "See, I was right. A little rose and a twinkle star can't ride Arceus' Mountain. I'm sorry, you're not tall enough to ride."

"But...!" Roselio protested, but Stunfisk was shaking his head.

An impatient Staraptor finally went over. "Why don't you little kids go and play on the ferris wheel?" he half-teased and half-suggested.

Roselio's face crumpled. "The ferris wheel? How lame!"

"Well, would you like to ride the carousel, then?"

Roselio grimaced and admitted, "No." And since Stunfisk was already giving them the "Get out of here" look, they had no choice but to walk away. Roselio, dejectedly. Cleffy, none other than victoriously.

That was when it dawned on Cleffy: she was at the amusement park. She was alone with Roselio. They were going to ride the ferris wheel.

Cleffy blushed just thinking about it.

...

Roselio still didn't look thrilled as he and Cleffy lined up to ride the ferris wheel.

"Still not tall enough? How many inches exactly have I grown since the last time I came here? Haven't I grown at all?" he was still griping as the line moved.

"Ch-cheer up," Cleffy said, then realizing with disapproval that she had stammered. "The ferris wheel looks f-fun too..."

He sighed, but then admitted, "I guess..."

Cleffy smiled. "T-trust me," she said, then sighing silently to herself because she had stammered again.

A while later they reached the end of the line. A grumpy Granbull was standing near the entrance to the ferris wheel, and he first took a moment to glare at Cleffy and Roselio for some unknown reason. The latter was watching him with a frustrated look on his face. "What now, are we too short again?" he mumbled.

Cleffy had to keep from smiling. He was even cute when he was mumbling. Then she realized that she must have looked stupid so she tried to make the grin disappear from her face. Stop it, Clef, she thought. Now you're being downright silly.

"No," the Granbull said to Roselio. "Go ahead." At that Roselio nodded with satisfaction and jumped into the pod. Then Granbull turned back and saw that Cleffy was still staring with a goofy half-smile on her face that couldn't decide whether or not to be there.

"I said, get in," he snapped. Cleffy was jolted out of her trance and then realized what was going on. "Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed, then went into the pod, too. As the ferris wheel began to turn, Granbull rolled his eyes up to the heavens. "Lovebirds," he mumbled. "They're all the same."

OK, so it wasn't really a pod. It didn't have any glass windows and only had a small roof at the top. It was as if they were riding a hot air balloon (minus the balloon) instead of a ferris wheel. Of course, it was nowhere as big or modernized as the one in Unova, but still...

It turned out to Roselio that riding ferris wheels was also fun, especially open-air ones. You could lean out and see the whole of the amusement park beneath you. "Hey, I see Arceus' Mountain over there!" he exclaimed. "Hey, this is actually pretty cool. You're right, Clef! Ferris wheels are fun."

Cleffy hadn't been listening because she was too occupied with staring at him. However, she did catch the part when he said she was right. "I'm right," Cleffy thought obsessively. "I don't know what I did right but hey, he thinks I'm right!"

After Roselio had finished pointing out every ride in the park, he finally settled down opposite Cleffy, who still hadn't finished grinning yet. However, the oblivious Grass-type didn't seem to notice. But he did notice a strange wheel-like device in the middle of their so-called pod.

"What does this thing do?" he wondered, and before Cleffy could stop him, he had grabbed it and given it a good yank. Spontaneously, their pod began to spin.

"Hey, this thing can spin!" Roselio gasped. "Nice!" And he gave the wheel another yank.

"Gaaaaaaaahhhhh," Cleffy cried as the pod spun and spun, making her woozy. Patches of the fading blue sky whizzed around her at an alarming speed. "Stop! I'm dizzy! Stop spinning!"

Roselio grabbed the wheel suddenly, stopping it abruptly. Their pod did the same, screeching and squeaking to a sudden halt, and then Cleffy simply found herself squashed up against Roselio.

"Ah," she gasped, blushing madly, and quickly scooted away. Other, bolder girls might have stayed in that position for the rest of the ride, but Cleffy was obviously not that type. Instead her face was red and she didn't dare look at him.

However, again, the oblivious Grass-type didn't seem to notice... but he did notice that they were nearing the highest point of the wheel. "Wow! We're gonna be the highest up in just a little while. Ferris wheels are better than I thought! Aren't they exciting, Clef?"

Of course, "Clef" was too shy to answer. And of course, Roselio didn't notice that she didn't answer. He was now looking out of the pod again, at the sunset and the orange sky.

Cleffy collected the courage she had to do the same. They were now both looking out, and Roselio seemed to be staring at Arceus' Mountain. Cleffy, on the other hand, seemed to be staring at him.

They got higher and higher. Cleffy finally tore her eyes away from him and decided to watch the sunset. They got even higher still.

And then they stopped.

...

"Is this just me, or did this thing really stop?"

It was a really stupid question, actually. However, whatever Roselio said seemed to be like words of magic to Cleffy that she didn't think it sounded stupid if he was the one who said it (yep. She's that hopeless).

"Yup. It stopped," he answered his own question.

"Wh-what could be wrong?" Cleffy was starting to panic. "Wh-why'd it stop?"

The rose-shaped Pokémon shrugged and didn't seem to be troubled one bit. "Dunno. Power failure?" He eliminated that immediately, "Of course not, silly me. The other rides are still on. Maybe it's just a bit rusty?"

"Ru-ru-rusty?" Cleffy thought it sounded horrible. Science-brainy Froslass once said that rusty or corroded metal was much weaker than ordinary metal. She automatically envisioned the ferris wheel suddenly collapsing into a heap of rusty metal.

"Well, it's nothing to worry about," Roselio said cheerfully. "The ride should start again at about... Now."

30 minutes later

"Aww man. What's taking it so long? Why aren't we moving?" Roselio mumbled, slouching in his seat. "I'm starting to get hungry stuck up here."

Cleffy didn't say anything. She was beginning to think that they'd never get down. Ever.

"Hey, Clef." Suddenly Roselio regained his happy-go-lucky attitude, as if he hadn't been complaining about being hungry just a few seconds ago. "This reminds me of a cartoon I saw."

"Oh really?" Cleffy asked distractedly.

"Yeah! There was also a ferris wheel scene, and the hero was fighting the villain on the ferris wheel, and suddenly the ferris wheel just popped from its stand, and then the ferris wheel began to roll away like a real wheel! But of course that's just a cartoon, and stuff like that don't happen in the real world. It's not like this ferris wheel's gonna suddenly roll away and crash into the other rides and send Arceus' Mountain into flames and-"

If it hadn't been Roselio who was talking, Cleffy would have snapped at him to shut up.

However, for the next few minutes or so Cleffy found that his random ranting was actually her worry's remedy. As Roselio talked about anything and everything he found interesting, which was a lot, Cleffy was distracted from her fears of corroded metal. Of course, that also meant by the time he was done talking, Cleffy had known by heart his first day as the leader of Team Red Bow, his team's first job to find a couple of missing Meowth kittens, his favorite smoothie at Spinda's Juice Bar, and the annoying habits of his older sister which he actually didn't find annoying at all. She now even knew about his teenage sister's love life (single, but waiting for someone).

And still the ferris wheel didn't move.

They sat in silence, for by this time even Roselio had run out of things to talk about. But still it was the Thorn Pokémon that finally broke the silence.

"Hey, Clef? Speaking of crushes and love life..." The next question was so blunt and surprising that it nearly caught Cleffy off guard. "Do you like someone, Clef?"

"Uh... Ah..." Cleffy's face went red. "Like someone? Of course n-n-not. I don't like anyone. Not a-anyone. Y-yeah."

"Oh," Roselio said, not seeming to notice Cleffy's fire engine red face. "Well... Because... You know. I do."

"You LIKE someone?" Cleffy almost shouted. She quickly regained herself. She didn't know what to think.

"Uh-uh," he said, and his eyes traveled to the sky. "She's a quiet Pokémon, actually. She doesn't say anything much, but even so she's really nice to have around. She's a good listener too. She comforts you by just being there."

Cleffy still didn't know what to think. Who was that Pokémon? She wondered. Sounded a lot like... Froslass? Yeah. It sounds like her. She was a very quiet Pokémon, but everyone wouldn't mind having her around, since she practically leaks charisma and the power to turn heads. Everyone knows that.

But then Roselio went on, "The Pokémon I like is..."

And Cleffy held her breath.

"Her name is-"

CLUNK!

Suddenly Cleffy felt herself getting lower. The dark clouds were getting higher. The ferris wheel was moving again.

Unfortunately, at the wrong time.

"Finally!" Roselio exclaimed, leaning out of their pod. "We're moving again!" He seemed to have completely forgotten that he had been about to tell Cleffy the name of the Pokémon he loved.

It meant a lot to Cleffy.

A lot.

She had to know.

But she didn't dare ask.

So she said nothing, succumbing to her usual shyness and insecurity. That night, Cleffy felt badly of herself.

...

Finally they were almost back on the ground. Neither had said anything else.

However, Roselio broke the silence once they drew level with the trees. "Uh... Cleffy?"

Cleffy looked up. Something in her kept her from speaking. Her brain was still playing the same track over and over again: Who's that Pokémon? Who? Who? Who? Who's that Pokémon Roselio liked? What if... What if it isn't me?

"You know..." The rose Pokémon went on despite Cleffy's silence. "The ride was fun." He smiled his usual sunny smile. However, Cleffy thought she detected something else. Was it shyness?

"...We should do this again sometime," he went on carefully. "That is, if you're willing to, I mean! Do you mind riding this ferris wheel with me again, Clef?"

Riding the ferris wheel with him again? Do I mind?

Cleffy was, like I said earlier, a hopeless romantic. Just one move from the right Pokémon at the right time could make her day.

"Willing to?" she repeated with a shy smile and a blush. "I'd love to."

On reaching the ground, Cleffy saw that Granbull was still there. Whatever thing that had developed between herself and Roselio was broken the second Granbull opened their door.

He took a moment to glare at them again. Finally he spoke. "You two lovebirds. Get out. Out. Now."

"Lovebirds?" Roselio's face went red. "We are not." He hopped out of the pod, and Cleffy jumped out after him. Her face was red also.

The others were already there, and of course Lombre pounced on Cleffy immediately and began to nudge her furiously. Cleffy knew that everyone but Roselio himself knew about her crush, but her teammate Lombre was the one who talked about - and teased about - it the most. Luckily for Cleffy, she knew enough to do it when they were out of earshot.

"¡Caramba! So how did it go, Cleffy? You should look at your face. It's a shade of red usually seen on tomatoes." She sneered. "¡Ay! Two lovebirds on a ferris wheel indeed! How very romantic!"

"Lovebirds?" Cleffy protested softly. "We are not."

"But hey!" Lombre went on. "I think despite his sunshine-y obliviousness, he has a soft spot for you too!" She began to nudge her again enthusiastically.

Cleffy shrugged. She didn't really know, and her mind started to replay the tracks it had on repeat. Who's that Pokémon? Who? Who? Who? Who's that Pokémon Roselio liked? What if... What if it isn't me?

It all depended on the name Roselio didn't say.

Cleffy had to know, but she was too afraid to ask. She had to know, but she was afraid of the answer. She was afraid it wouldn't be the one she was hoping for. She didn't want to be disappointed.

Yet she had to know.

But that question would have to wait.

Until the next ride on the ferris wheel.

~END~