Chapter 48 – Haunting Escape
It had been four days since we entered route 120. After the Barboach incident Flannery insisted on riding her Ponyta for the remainder of the trip. Naturally this meant she had excess energy left over, which she helpfully used to motivate me to walk faster. Ponyta was only big enough to carry one of us and I didn’t have the faintest idea how to ride the fire horse Pokémon. So even asking for a ride was a waste of energy. Having Oddish traveling with us had been a boon so far, the weed Pokémon had an excellent sense of direction and she made for great company. I was trying my best not to get too attached since eventually we would have to part ways with the quirky little grass type.
“Are we there yet?”
“Not yet we are still around a full day’s travel removed from reaching route 121’sSafari Zone.”
“Ugh… are you sure we are getting closer?”
“Positive, the Safari Zone is situated on the northern side of Mt. Pyre. Haven’t you noticed that giant mountain on the horizon getting closer with each day? Being able to spot natural markers like that is basic 101 for traveling trainers.”
“Odd!”
“See? Oddish agrees with me.”
“You don’t even know what she is saying! And how come Oddish is still traveling with us?”
“Once we get to the Safari Zone, Oddish here will make it much easier for us to find a bunch of wild Pokémon.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense!”
“If you paid attention during trainer school classes you would know that all Oddish learn the move sweet scent. The move subtly lures wild Pokémon to the user’s location. We just have to camp out in the Safari Zone, locate the area most suitable for fire types to live in and wait.”
“Odd!”
“Fine…”
“Hmm we are getting kind of close to Mt. Pyre. I could ask my friend to come with us. She should’ve arrived back in Hoenn weeks ago.”
“Egon… You have friends?!”
“Hey! Just because I don’t have any human friends living back in Lavaridge except for you doesn’t mean I never socialize!”
“Prove it!”
“I don’t get enough credit. Maybe I should've gone for the academic route…”
Grumpy that she didn’t believe me capable of making connections I turned on the Xtransceiver on my wrist and went through my entire contact list showing off all the different trainers and Unovan league staff I managed to befriend during my time abroad.
“See? I made lots of friends!”
“Liar! Those are trainer career relations. I bet you never take the time to call any of those people just to catch up!”
‘She’s got me there… I should at least give Marlon a call and see if he managed to evolve that Feebas of his.’
“Well anyway see this name here? That’s the person I am going to call right now to prove you wrong.”
I initiated the call hoping that Phoebe wasn’t asleep. Being a ghost type trainer made her as nocturnal as the Pokémon that she trained for a living. Phoebe usually slept through the entire morning period to catch up on sleep from her midnight training sessions so I hoped she wouldn’t get angry with me for disturbing her beauty sleep. The call connected and my long time friend’s groggy voice came out from the other end.
“Whosssiz?”
“Phoebe it’s me Egon.”
“Egoooon you… IDIOT!”
“Wha?!”
“You just now decided to call? I’ve been back in Hoenn for weeks! Why is it always me who has to maintain this friendship?”
“Wait wait! I invited you over to Unova, we delved an ancient ruin together and I visited you at the Celestial tower. I am on my journey too, you know that. I’ve already earned two Hoenn badges and prior to that Mr. Moore my sponsor made me go through a two week long hellish training schedule.”
“Hmpff only two badges? Spit it out, why have you only just now decided to call me?”
“Mr. Moore wants his granddaughter to get some real traveling experience before she starts her journey for real. Catch a few Pokémon, get some practice in and learn what to look out for when you are going at it alone on the routes. The next stop on our sightseeing list is the Safari Zone and since that place is basically in your backyard, I thought we could all hang out.”
“You want me to climb all the way down the mountain just to lounge around in the Safari Zone?”
“We’re still a day’s travel away. So, we’d arrive around the time the sun goes down. Besides, when have you ever actually walked down like a regular person? Your grandpa’s Xatu teleports you to wherever you need to go.”
“Ugh… fine I’ll be there tomorrow morning. If that’s all I’d like to hang up now and get some sleep in.”
“Actually, could you assist me with something else? The person I am escorting believes I am incapable of making friends. Can you let Flannery here know the error of that notion?”
“You… making new friends? What are you talking about? The only reason we started hanging out is because your grandpa is friends with mine.”
It was at this moment that Flannery decided to join the conversation. Much to my own chagrin
“Ha! I knew you didn’t have any friends other than me.”
“Just wait a minute there young missy! He might be a social reject, but we are good friends.”
“Can the both of you stop being so hurtful?! If anything, you girls are the ones not fit for polite discourse. I am hanging up now… I’ll send you a text tomorrow morning.”
“Sorr…click*”
‘If the two of them meet it’ll be non-stop riffing on me. Maybe I should have declined Mr. Moore’s proposal to take care of Flannery.’
Oddish encouragingly patted my arm with her head leaves in an attempt to cheer me up.
“Odd…”
“Thank you Oddish. Who needs human friends when I can exclusively hang out with Pokémon like you. Flannery, we ought to get going so we can make it there before the sun completely sets.”
“We would have already gotten there if you bothered to catch a riding Pokémon for your team.”
“All of my team members have unique and handy skillsets I just didn’t get the chance to capture a riding Pokémon yet... Not all of us had the luxury to go to a fancy riding prep school and have their grandfather special order a well-bred Ponyta.”
“Numsy is big enough, why don’t you ask him?”
“Numsy’s entire back is a fire hazard, one accidental sneeze and I am cooked. Besides the bones in his body mineralized making for an extremely unpleasant ride.”
“Don’t be a coward Egon, a little magma never hurt anyone!”
“Do you hear yourself talking? Whatever, I do concede to the point that having a riding Pokémon would shorten down my travel time significantly. Disappointingly there are none native to the Hoenn region that are also of the fire type. I still might get lucky finding one at the Safari Zone though.”
‘At least traveling with Flannery means I never have the time to get stuck in my own head.’
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Late afternoon*
We kept up a brisk pace letting most of our team members shuffle in and out so that they wouldn’t have to stay stuck in their poké balls all day. Halfway through the day’s travels we came upon a sign notifying us that we officially left route 120 and entered route 121. Underneath that sign the rangers posted a short but concise explanation on what to expect from the route we were about to enter. Seeing as the next route was close to Mt. Pyre, they mostly warned trainers about the wild ghost types inhabiting the area and ways on how to avoid or placate them should you come across dangerous specters.
Wild shuppet seemed to be the most numerous on this route. They generally left travelers alone unless they exhibited a large amount of negative emotions which shuppet consider a delicacy especially those emotions that are linked to vengefulness. Next on the list are wild duskull these ghosts love consuming the vital energy of children, which is a demographic Flannery and I are a part of unfortunately.
“Egon this noticeboard says we shouldn’t be on this route when night falls. Are you sure that we can make it to theSafari Zone before the sun sets?”
“It’s fine, we’ll skip our planned dinner break. I’ve already calculated our required travel time in my head. Try staying positive for this last stretch. We can deal with a handful of ghosts on our own but it’s best to avoid their attention in the first place. Orin come on out!”
Seeing as we are about to traverse ghost country, I called out my spooky friend to assist us. The little candle Pokémon would most likely be better at sensing oncoming specters than Victini.
“Lit!”
“Hey pal, can you keep an eye out for wild ghost types? There is only one ghost type Pokémon allowed to drain my vitality and that’s you.”
The cute little guy having been informed of the task at hand was now sporting his serious face. Based on my previous experiences at the celestial tower I knew that ghost types disliked having to share the person responsible for feeding them. So, my Litwick was plenty motivated for the task at hand.
“Alright let’s go. We should be able to get there by keeping to the path.”
We kept moving forwards, Flannery riding Ponyta and myself carrying Orin on my shoulder. Keeping our eyes out for wild ghost types all the way. About halfway through a shadow came out of the bushes picking Flannery as its target. The girl was acting nervously the whole way, which must have been what attracted this particular ghost type to come out of its hiding spot.
“Pett!”
Naturally I didn’t give this Shuppet the chance to make a meal out of my friend. Orin was already ready and prepared to ward off any ghosts.
“Confuse Ray!”
The incoming Shuppet was exposed to a multicolored flash of light. The disorientation took effect immediately making the eager ghost type veer away from my friend and fall into a nearby bush.
“Let’s get out of here before the confusion wears off. Wait! I just remembered that I still have that cleanse tag in my backpack that wards off ghost type Pokémon.”
“What! Why don’t you stick that tag on you at all times?”
“Obviously the tag also affects Orin. I just keep it sealed so that he can actually focus during our training sessions. I’ll let you use it just wait a second.”
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‘Tini, can you scrounge up my cleanse tag? It should be inside a wooden box.’
“The one wrapped in duct tape?”
‘Yeah, that one. You can just tear it open if you have to. I won’t be needing it anymore after this.’
While all of this was happening, I kept running trying to keep up with Ponyta’s brisk but modest pace. The fire horse Pokémon started galloping with my maximum speed in mind. I was thankful we were walking on a nature trail and not on city concrete else her clip clopping would have informed all the wild Pokémon of our whereabouts.
In preparation for my journey I’ve long since worked on building up my stamina. Having gone through Mr. Moore’s hell training I was somewhat confident I could keep up this brisk jog until we arrived at the Safari Zone’s main entrance. My backpack flipped open and the cleanse tag floated out and affixed itself on top of Flannery’s forehead.
“Hey!”
“Victini didn’t know where to put the tag. It should be effective as long as you stick it to a visible spot on your body.”
“Dus skull!”
Once again, another specter revealed itself, this time the more dangerous of the native species a Duskull. It completely disregarded the cleanse tag wearing Flannery and tried it’s best to lock its singular red glowing eye with mine. I started feeling sleepy when all of a sudden my rabbit partner gave me a mental prod to keep me awake.
“Don’t fall asleep!”
“Orin, use Nightshade!”
“Lit!”
Victini managed to keep me awake and I quickly took the opportunity to fend off this hostile actor. Orin’s eyes lit up and fired off twin beams of dark crimson impacting the wild Duskull’s body and flinging it backwards. I wasn’t planning to drag this altercation into a full scale battle; the Nightshade was intended to convey that we were willing and able to defend ourselves. We quickly took this opportunity to dash past the confused ghost types not sparing the Duskull another glance.
“Egon the building over there! Could that be it?”
“I don’t know but let’s not wait to find out!”
We rudely dashed through the front entrance relieved that the double glass panel doors weren’t locked. This seemed to be some sort of transit building judging by the interior design. With a large lounging area snack machines and a green carpet trailing towards the back. We weren’t alone however seeing as there was a figure in one the corners which we quickly assessed not to be another wild Pokémon.
The man who was sitting in the corner on a lazy chair and was wearing a stereotypical cowboy outfit introduced himself. He seemed to be oddly relaxed for someone tasked with running a Pokémon sanctuary.
“Welcome to the Safari Zone. The name’s old man Jack, I am the warden of this here nature reserve.”
The man seemed disinclined to get out of his rocking chair, so I took this opportunity to introduce myself and my companions.
“Good evening, sir. My name is Egon from Lavaridge town, and this is Flannery also from the same town and these are our companions Litwick, Oddish and Ponyta.”
“Why are a bunch of young’uns like you lot out on the routes this late? You should know it’s dangerous out there when the sun starts to fall.”
“Because Egon here thought we could make it from the end of the previous route to here before drawing the attention from the local ghost types!”
“Things worked themselves out in the end, did they not? We’re inside the safari entrance building, probably safe from further ghost attacks. Besides you weren’t the one who got beleaguered by that Duskull! It almost had me under hypnosis.”
“Well, that would make for an interesting tale. You kids want to stay over for the night?”
We both eagerly agreed to accept the man’s generous offer.
“Yes please!”
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Old man Jack was a gracious host filled with much wisdom and experience. He told us his life’s story while I was busy prepping our meals. When the old warden neared retirement age, he wanted to keep performing his duties as a ranger. However, the league association forced him into retirement due to safety concerns. Not willing to stop working with Pokémon he came to a compromise with the league and started working here at the Safari Zone. His job entailed feeding all of the Pokémon that lived in the safari everyday, looking out for poachers and trespassers and also giving trainers like us the byplay of how to conduct themselves inside the reserve.
“I’ll let you two inside first thing tomorrow. So, what kind of Pokémon are you two looking to capture?”
Flannery answered for us.
“Fire types! You got any of them living inside the preserve?”
“Hmmm yes but those particular fire types are a bit too much to handle for your average trainers.”
“Old man Jack, I’ll have you know that we are both experts when it comes to dealing with fire types. Me a bit more than Egon though.”
“Hey!”
“My grandpa is a big shot trainer and he taught me how to handle all kinds of fire types.”
“Young lady you might not have realized this but most of the Pokémon we keep here are ones that have been abandoned by their former trainers. Having been caught and subsequently released by irresponsible trainers you can expect these ones to be untrusting of humans. That’s why this Hoenn Safari Zone enforces a strict no forceful capturing policy.”
“What?! How are we supposed to capture a Pokémon without weakening them first?”
“The Safari Zone provides visiting trainers with treats, and we also require you to leave your Pokémon and poké balls behind in this here facility. You get them back after returning from your tour through the zone.”
“No poké balls?”
“We provide trainers with our specially made safari balls. Unlike regular balls these ones only work when the capture is completely consensual.”
Old man Jack went back behind one of the counters and retrieved a box filled with green rimmed poké balls. Showing them to us before putting them away and walking back to sit back in his rocking chair.
“Green?! That’s the worst color, don't you have any red ones?”
“Young lady you can always paint them red afterwards but if you are going inside theSafari Zone tomorrow it will only be with green ones. It’s a rule we set up after some scoundrels tried to smuggle in regular ones. This way the safari personnel can easily spot what kind of balls you are using from a distance.”
“Fine… hey old man Jack can you please tell us which fire types live inside safari grounds?”
“Can’t, you’ll have to find out on your own. We have strict rules to keep the identities of the Pokémon we take in a secret.”
Flannery seemed to be mollified enough not willing to question the retired ranger any further. Seeing as I was almost done with preparing our meals I gave her the signal to help me with plating up.
“Hey old man Jack, do you mind the two of us releasing our teams inside your home?”
“Go ahead, this here facility was built to accommodate all sorts of Pokémon. It can even house larger sized ones like Onix and Aggron with ease.”
Me and Flannery simultaneously released our teams in front of the old man. Flannery’s team didn’t surprise him as much but when mine materialized he took an interest. Giving the non-native Pokémon like Halo, Glove and Orin a once over.
“Well, I’ll be... Young man you must have visited Unova for a spell and somehow gotten around their iron clad no catching policy against foreign trainers. How did you manage that?”
“My dad’s Unovan so I applied for dual citizenship. The paperwork and testing were a hassle, but it allowed me to bring along my new friends.”
“A Darmanitan, Litwick and I don’t know what kind of Pokémon this little missy is, but I can hazard a guess.”
“Vess!”
Ignoring Halo’s fake outrage from being called missy by a stranger I eagerly questioned old man Jack about his experiences with foreign Pokémon.
“Not many Hoenn trainers are able to recognize my team members. You must be very well traveled sir.”
“Yes, but not to Unova. I did however get the chance to visit the Galar region to train up some of their ranger trainees during an exchange program. The Darmanitan over there didn’t look anything close to this one.”
“Oh right! The Darmanitan living in Galar are ice types. In fact, they are the only ice types that can learn fire type moves. They must have retained species’ specific traits from their Unovan cousins.”
To stop me from going off on a tangent, Flannery, who had just finished filling up all the food bowls, loudly announced that it was time to eat.
“Dinner’s ready! Stop nerding out and come eat Egon.”
The rest of my pokémon except for Litwick eagerly sprang up and gathered around the lined-up bowls of food. Eager to fill their bellies with food pellets and sliced berries. Just like that we all started enjoying my well-prepared meals bathed in the candlelight our fire types naturally produced. That is until old man Jack asked a singular question.
“You kids, which Pokémon is that last bowl meant for?”
Flannery, not paying enough attention, filled up Victini’s bowl as well. Drawing an odd look from our wizened host. Flannery scrambled to come up with a good excuse.
“That ehm…! I forgot Litwick don’t eat regular food.”
“It’s fine I believe we can trust old man Jack. Besides, she is also getting tired of staying in my backpack all the time. You can come out now, Victini.”
The first thing the rest of us saw was a pair of rabbit ears sticking out of my trusty backpack which was followed by the rest of her body. Victini, now finally getting the chance to enjoy her meal levitated to her food bowl and started munching on one of the sliced berries keeping a close eye on the old man who seemed intrigued by the victory Pokémon.
“That’s a funny looking Pokémon kid. I take it Victini are an uncommon find even in Unova?”
“Yeah… she’s been hiding out in my backpack whenever we visit places with people in them. One of our immediate goals is to prove our strength in this circuit so thieves are less inclined to target her when Victini’s existence becomes public knowledge.”
“I understand one of my colleagues has had a similar problem.”
“One of your colleagues?”
“Kaiser the warden running the Kanto Safari Zone. Decades ago, it became known that a dratini had made its home there. Trainers all over the region visited that place to get a chance to catch that elusive Pokémon. Unlike the Hoenn Safari Zone, Kanto's was made with the intent to preserve some of the rarer native species. So naturally the massive increase of visiting trainers became a problem for them. Not one of those trainers managed to catch a dratini so things went back to normal after a while but still… I understand wanting to keep your little friend here a secret for as long as possible. You kids won’t have to worry I’ll keep this encounter to myself”
“Vi!” “Thanks a bunch mister!”
Victini expressed her gratitude by projecting her thoughts outward in a way that everyone in the room could understand.
“It’s nothing, little gal. Rangers like me have a duty to protect endangered species of Pokémon like yourself.”
Mythical Pokémon like Victini were one of a kind and not endangered like the old man was assuming but I wasn’t in a rush to more accurately explain our circumstances.
“I’ve noticed you two carrying around an Oddish. Did you meet this little one on the route outside the Safari Zone?”
“Yes route 120 I mistook Oddish for an herb and tried to pick her. She’s been showing us around since then.”
“Odd!”
“Hmm Oddish aren’t native to the Hoenn region and seeing as the two of you are both fire type specialists, I reckon this one is still uncaught. If you want, I could take her in. We have a great number of her species living inside the Safari Zone.”
I exchanged looks with Oddish. Her body language suggested that she wasn’t against the notion of leaving behind living inside the routes for a safer environment like this nature reserve.
“Odd!”
“Are you sure? You could crash at my grandparents’ home.”
“Dish!”
“Okay then, we are going to miss you once we leave this place.”
Oddish gave me some more leaf pats as if I was the one who needed comforting. The grass type was the first Pokémon who had me almost breaking my self-spun limitation of only using fire types. I knew for a fact that grass types could work really well with fire types in a competitive environment especially once I got Rena’s drought working properly.
“You young ones are about my grandkids’ age so be sure to go to sleep early. I’ll wake you up during opening time so you guys can have the whole day tomorrow looking for fire types. Oddish are active at night and sleep during the day so I could help her settle into the native colony tonight if she is feeling up to it.
“Odd!”
“Stay here huh? That’s fine by me. You can accompany these two to the safari in the morning.”
Jack put down a tarp for any Pokémon who preferred sleeping outside their poké balls and left us to go back to his personal quarters. The rest of us huddled up to discuss our plans for tomorrow.
“You guys can’t come with us into the reserve, so you’ll have to stay here tomorrow. I am thinking this facility probably has some sort of recreation room for Pokémon that have to wait for their trainers. And also… a training area to practice moves in. Numsy try to work on your bulldoze you are now strong enough to learn earthquake the natural progression of that move, Rena and Glove you two need to work on familiarizing yourself with psychic type moves Tini can help you further along and Orin can you start helping Halo with ember practice?”
“Lit!”
“Thanks, when we make it to Mt. Pyre, you’ll have lots of experienced ghost types to give you personal training. Now let’s rest up, we've got a busy day tomorrow.”
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The following morning*
We were sleeping peacefully inside our sleeping bags when we got rudely woken up by a cacophony of screeching sound probably made by a large grouping of bird Pokémon in the nearby area.
“First time being woken up by a dodrio?”
Old man Jack was watching over us sipping a mug of coffee. I guess it was true what they say about old people waking up much earlier than the rest of us. I was mildly distracted by his figure nonchalantly drinking his morning beverage before realizing the issue at hand.
“Wait… that was a Dodrio!?”
“Yeah, we have three herds of them living inside the safari. The alpha males like to announce the coming of the morning every day at the first glimpse of sunlight.”
“Isn’t that a bother for the rest of the Pokémon living inside the reserve?”
“Yeah, at first but they got used to it. Now the lot of them can just sleep on through.”
I knew that I would not be able to go back to sleep, so I packed up my sleeping bag and started preparing early morning breakfast. Most of my team was already up and ready to tackle the day but it seemed that Flannery was used to sleeping through.
“Old man Jack, a friend of ours is coming to visit. She lives nearby so I thought it would be a good idea to include her in the activities.”
“You know someone living on this ghost type infested route?”
“Yeah, you might have heard of her. Her grandparents run the cemeteries on top of Mt. Pyre.”
“Haha! You are talking about little Phoebe. Yes, I know her. She used to come around often playing pranks on the Pokémon inside the safari. She and her posse of ghosts got so bad we had to temporarily ban them from entering.”
“Really!? But she’s not banned anymore, right?”
“Hmmm I don’t know. She is actually the main reason why we don’t allow trainers to bring in their companions inside the safari anymore. Those ghosts of hers lost all control of themselves for a hot minute and started badgering our rhyhorns and ursaring. Let me tell you, that little girl is packing a whole lot of guts to be confident enough to offend those temperamental Pokémon.”
“Egon! Where are you!!!?”
Gulp!*