Maan, the Ferris wheel seen sure has become infamous among fans.

Polaris–Ponyta, Tsuki–Servine, Mamoru–Dewott, Tlaloc-Braviary, Carrara – Purrloin, Croatan - Whirlipede

Spinning Debates

As he'd promised, Burgh gave me a few pointers on my "art" (My human anatomy was what needed the most help).

Benga spent the rest of the day with us, and we accompanied him to the docks the next morning as he went to catch his ship.

And then Ben, Hari, and I continued north towards Nimbasa.

It was a hot, sandy trek through the desert. And really dry – the kind of windy dry that chaps your lips and makes your face dry. And when wind kicks sand into our face, it really sucks. We were only on a thin edge of a much larger desert (the rising golden sand dunes looked pretty beautiful from a distance).

It was a relief to arrive at Nimbasa and wash all of the sand off in the Pokémon Center showers.

And then…

"Theme paaark!"

Yeah, we'd been looking forward to it. And the three of us sprinted from the Pokémon Center.

"Race to the Ferris wheel!" Hari called as he pounded across the bridge, narrowly avoiding a collision with two startled girls. Ben and I dodged around them too.

I fixed my sights on the Ferris wheel and quickened my pace, panting and grinning.

"Hey!" Ben shouted as I pulled ahead of him and started gaining on Hari. Ben started gaining again (not surprising considering he's so much taller than me, with longer legs). Still, I might be able to keep my lead until we reached the Ferris wheel. Too bad I can't fly anymore.

Except at that moment, someone stepped in front of me. I hit the brakes and wheeled to the side to avoid plowing into the guy. I missed him by maybe 2 inches. I broke into a sprint again, shouting "Sorry!" over my shoulder. When I turned back to the front, Ben was way ahead of me. He and Hari jumped into the Ferris wheel seat. The compartment rolled into motion and spun upwards, out of reach, leaving me panting on the ground. Ben and Hari grinned triumphantly and waved down at me.

"Not fair!" I shouted, waving my fist at them. "I was obstructed!"

"Wow. My reputation must be pretty bad if I'm nothing more than an 'obstruction.'"

I wheeled around and found – yep – N. N was the guy that I'd almost flattened a couple seconds ago.

I stared at him stupidly for a couple seconds. "How are you here?" I asked. Such a smart, intelligent question.

N stared back at me and cocked his head. "I'm just traveling north. I came to see the Ferris wheel." He gestured ahead, where another compartment had come to rest, waiting for some people to climb in. "Did you want to ride?"

I hesitated, and walked up to take a seat. N joined me in the compartment, and we started to move.

N looked out the window and smiled. "I love Ferris wheels. The circular motion, the mechanics, they're like collections of elegant formulas."

I burst out laughing and N turned to me, startled.

"Sorry," I said, still grinning. "That sounds like something Ben might say. Especially about computers. He's amazing at computer programming and such."

N nodded silently. And for a little while neither of us said anything. I glanced at him, but he was watching the view of Nimbasa City and the desert beyond. So I did the same.

Finally N sighed. "I should tell you something?"

"Hm?"

"I am the king of Team Plasma."

I stared at him for a couple more seconds, and then started laughing again. I stopped when I saw N's hurt expression.

"What? Wait… are you serious?"

"Why would I kid about something like that?" N asked.

"Wait… wha, seriously?"

N nodded.

"King… You're in charge of Team Plasma?"

N seemed shocked by the obvious disgust in my voice. "Yes, I am. Ghetsis asked me to work with him to save Pokémon."

My shock slowly dissolved into disgust. "You're the one who's in charge of those horrible people?"

"Team Plasma is not horrible!" N exclaimed, suddenly very defensive. "We're trying to help Pokémon! In Nacrene, you said you also wanted to help them! Was that a lie?"

"The only thing I've ever seen Team Plasma do," I said, a hint of a snarl to my voice, "is hurt Pokémon and people. They stole a Lillipup from a little girl, leaving her crying. And they beat up my Blitzle. That guy even kicked her in the side! Hard!"

"I would never let Team Plasma do anything like that! Why would you say such things?"

"Well," I growled, "You claim to be in charge of these people, but you sure don't seem to know much about what they do. These are things I saw myself. You can talk to my Blitzle if you want. But I saw a guy In a Team Plasma uniform kick her hard enough to knock her over."

N was silent. It was the first time I'd seen him angry. But so what? I was angry too. Yeah, I never really saw eye-to-eye with this guy. But I figured that if he could talk to Pokémon that he would never do anything to hurt them. And here he was, saying that he was the one in charge of Team Plasma. I wondered if I could throw him out of the Ferris wheel without killing him.

N's cool voice caught me off guard. Apparently he got over anger much faster than I did, because he now looked almost as calm as usual. "I'll look into this. But I can't believe that anyone in Team Plasma would act to hurt a Pokémon."

I tried to get control of myself too. It wouldn't be much of a helpful debate if N was calm while I was screeching my head off at him. Considering every encounter with him so far had left me completely frustrated. "Look," I said, managing to keep my voice (mostly) even. "I'm an idealist. I like to think that things can end up great. That all problems can be fixed. And I wish that things could be close to perfect, even if nothing is ever completely perfect. I know that not every human treats Pokémon well. But … I don't know. Maybe people who are really awful to Pokémon shouldn't have Pokémon at all. Like Team Rocket. They don't deserve any Pokémon. And people who are in-between, well, maybe if they understand Pokémon better… but still! There are plenty of trainers and other humans out there who get along great with their Pokémon! And there are plenty of Pokémon who love being with people."

N smiled. "See? You just admitted that not all humans should be allowed to keep Pokémon."

"Sometimes. But that's not…" I broke off again. Why was it so hard to phrase these things in ways that made sense? "Look. Are you anti-Pokéball? Or are you against the entire relationship between humans and Pokémon?"

"Well, let's start with Pokéballs," N said. "The very act of catching a Pokémon is hurtful for the Pokémon. The trainer sees a Pokémon they like, and they simply attack it and try to catch it. They don't ask how the Pokémon feels about losing its freedom."

My mind flicked back to how I'd captured my Venipede. "It's a challenge," I said, defensive. "The trainer challenges the wild Pokémon. And if they win, if they manage to defeat the wild Pokémon and catch it, then that means the trainer is strong enough to train them."

"Just because a trainer is strong doesn't mean that they have a right to take a Pokémon's freedom without asking."

As I tried to think of a response, the Ferris wheel came to a stop and to door opened. N stepped out and I followed.

"My Pokémon would never chose to leave me," I told him. "And same goes for many other trainers in Unova, Kanto, Orre, and any other region."

N turned back to me. "Maybe. But the first step is to offer freedom to those Pokémon. I bet most trainers would never do that. Just in case it turns out that their Pokémon really do want to leave."

I wish I had debate responses planned out in advance. It's hard to think of convincing arguments on the fly. And I didn't want the conversation to go in circles, like the Ferris wheel. Endless circles, without ever reaching a conclusion.

N nodded to me. "I think I'd better be going. Perhaps we'll meet again?"

Without another word, he turned and walked away.

I stared after him. Yeah, I stared at him a lot today. It's hard to avoid that, with some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth.

When I turned, I found Ben and Hari staring at me.

"That green-hair guy came back?" Hari demanded, shooting an annoyed glance at the place where N had disappeared. He obviously hadn't forgiven N for saying that Pokémon and people should be kept separate.

"What did he want this time?" Ben asked.

I hesitated. Both of them already disliked N. What would they think when they knew that N was in chare of Team Plasma? "King" of Team Plasma. Really? Of all titles, why "King?"

N had seemed genuinely shocked at my accusations against the group. But I guess that doesn't say much about his leadership skills.

"Well," I said. "You know Team Plasma?"

They nodded.

"N's part of it. Apparently… apparently he's in charge of it."

Hari growled. "I knew he was no good."

Ben didn't say anything. He probably noticed that I was upset. Thinking about all this Team Plasma "liberating Pokémon" stuff got me all worked up. Ben at least was perceptive enough to realize that I needed to be distracted.

"Do you want to check out the gym?" He asked. "I hear there's a rollercoaster inside."

I gave a small smile. "Well, I do love rollercoasters."