Chapter 49 – Exploring the Safari
Before I had the chance to properly mentally prepare myself the 14 year old girl burst through the main entrance ready to cause all kinds of mischief. She seemed energetic enough, probably having gone to bed early to conserve energy for this morning’s meetup. She took one look at the lounging area before darting over to be her usual rambunctious self.
“Egon.”
“Hi there… Phoebe how’s it been?”
“As if you care. In any case I’ve been in a non-stop training frenzy ever since Shauntal showed me a few of her tricks. Just a little bit more polishing on what we already have, and I’ll make my bid for a position on the elite four.”
“That’s great! You are finally getting closer to landing your dream job. So, who among the four are you thinking about challenging? I know it’s not Sidney that’d be crazy even for you.”
“Hey! My ghosts can wipe the floor with his dark types any day of the week! But no, I am thinking about challenging one of the older ones and Elite Moore’s position seems ripe for the taking. It is about time that old man retired.”
“Grandpa?!! As if he’d let some upstart floozy like you take away his position!”
The mentioning of her grandfather seems to have woken up my traveling sidekick. She awkwardly tried getting out of her sleeping bag in one go but failed then not minding the fact she looked ridiculous hopping on over to join in on the conversation.
“Egon, is this the spoiled heiress you have to look after?”
“Spoiled!? At least I am better than a menace who goes around ruining everybody’s good day!”
“Now now, let’s all calm down before something gets said that cannot be taken back.”
The two of them were eying each other up like two meowth vying for contested territory. Any sensible guy would make for the hills until the situation calmed down. Sadly enough, I didn’t realize that until it was too late. Luckily, I had someone in my corner who was an expert at drawing a lady’s attention away.
“Vi!” “Phoebe!”
Victini flew in between the two girls who seemed to be about ready to start brawling. Using her natural fluffiness she successfully managed to derail their ongoing dispute.
“Aww, hello to you too Victini! Let this big sister get a good look at you.”
Phoebe took the rabbit Pokémon and started fuzzing over her.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I hope Egon has been treating you right. If not, I’ll set him straight.”
‘Can you distract Phoebe while I’ll go through today’s planned activities with Flannery? She hasn’t met Halo, yet I bet you could get a good hour’s worth of distraction just by introducing her.’
“Vi Vi!” “Sunny’s egg hatched. Do you want to go see?”
“Of course I want to meet your newest friend. Let’s go right away!”
Victini led Phoebe back into the lounging room where most of our Pokémon were shaking off the last dredges of drowsiness while I turned back to face my childhood friend.
“She knows…?”
“Yeah, but Phoebe won’t tell. She might be a menace to society, but she won’t actually deliberately harm anyone. After we are done here her old folks’ home is next on our visiting list. Mt. Pyre is the place where I originally caught Rena. The gym doesn’t have any vulpix so I thought it’d be a good opportunity for you to catch a new partner Pokémon. So please try to avoid starting a fight with her.”
“Hmpff! As long as she keeps her comments about my grandpa to herself.”
“We’ll eat a light breakfast and then we’ll set off. Since Oddish isn’t a caught Pokémon I am pretty sure she’ll be allowed to come with us into the safari.”
The both of us went back to the lounge room and witnessed a peculiar scene. Phoebe was attempting to get onto Halo’s nice list by telling her the story of our underground adventure together.
“Egon had this crazy notion that there was a camouflaged passageway down into the ruins, and he was right! My guess is that he just didn’t want those expedition bozos to get all the credit for discovering your mother’s nesting room.”
“Ahem… First of all, that’s not the reason why and I haven’t shared any details of our little adventure together with anyone afterwards aside from my grandparents. Sunny and the Claydol would most likely prefer not to be poked and prodded by eager scientists looking to make a name for themselves.”
“I was just telling this little princess all about the buried castle she stands to inherit. Isn’t that right cutie?”
“Ves!”
It seems like Phoebe’s way of making friends with Halo was more effective than Flannery’s method. Since the bug type didn’t seem to mind the shower of attentions and head pats, she was receiving. Flannery watched on, clearly jealous of Phoebe’s success at mollifying Halo’s queenly temperament in contrast to her own failed attempts at making nice with Halo. Not wanting things to escalate further I quickly got out the bowls and cooking supplies to start making breakfast. Listening in on the conversations while pretending not to be a busy body.
‘Good Phoebe seems busy with her regaling. Now to distract the other hellion in the room.’
“I am on it!”
Victini flew across the room bumping head first into Flannery. After which she gave the girl her trademark wink and victory sign pose.
“You are so adorable Tini!”
Being mildly miffed that Flannery stole my nickname for Victini, but glad that she successfully took Flannery’s attentions onto herself, I continued preparing breakfast. After about an half hour had passed I finally finished up doing so and served each member of my team and that of Flannery’s the usual serving of sliced berries and pellets. Old man Jack had at some point returned to his rocking chair seemingly content at just watching the girls interact with the Pokémon.
“Old man Jack, as soon as we finish these bowls we’ll be ready to head into the safari. But I have to ask, shouldn't you be at the counter assisting visitors?”
“The safari isn’t as popular as it used to be. The only ones who come to visit us are trainers looking to capture themselves a specific type of Pokémon. About a quarter of all trainers are specialists and seeing as we are located inside the distant route 121 far away from any towns or cities… We only get around two visitors a week at best.”
Phoebe nodded as if she had expected this kind of revelation, but Flannery had a much different reaction.
“That’s terrible! I’ll ask all of my friends to come visit even if they don’t intend to catch a new partner.”
“It is what it is. We get our funding mostly from the league association and concerned trainers who donate whenever they can. Since the safari zone is classified as a charity organization we don’t have to pay any taxes on our income. So, we aren’t in any financial troubles at least. It’s just that this place used to be very lively…”
Right there and then I started brainstorming ideas to help the old man out. If all of it came down to trainer visitation rates, then the question to be asked was: what would attract more trainers to come visit the safari zone? There was just one simple answer: rare and powerful Pokémon. With that in mind, I asked a series of hypothetical questions.
“Can’t you just ask the Stone family to relocate some of their beldum to the safari? That would increase visitation rates for sure.”
“I’ve met Joseph Stone. He won’t ever grant the right to capture a beldum to someone who is not affiliated with his company. Besides that, it would do more harm than good just like that story I told you from before about the Kanto safari zone.”
“The Pokémon living in this safari still have to agree to be captured right?”
“Yes, but there are various nefarious ways to manufacture consent. If the safari gets swarmed with eager trainers, I can’t vet everyone who comes in and out of the reserve.”
“Hmm another angle... How about…?!”
Before I could come up with another scheme the warden interrupted me by promptly standing up from his rocking chair.
“Don’t worry about it youngsters, this is a problem for old folk like me to resolve. Just recommending the safari zone to your friends and family already helps out a lot. Now let’s get you set up with all the things you need for a fruitful safari zone tour.”
Old man Jack went inside the backroom before returning with boxes filled with green safari balls and Pokémon treats before depositing the lot of them on the coffee table inside the lounging room.
“These here items are what trainers are allowed to bring with them inside the safari. You have your standard safari balls and treats best used to let the wild Pokémon warm up to you. Each trainer can at most bring thirty balls with them on each run.”
Flannery and I eagerly started taking out the treats and safari balls from their respective boxes. To not be bogged down by the added weight I passed on taking more than ten safari balls. I figured that if I couldn’t convince a Pokémon to come with me within ten tries that I might as well give up on catching them. Contrary to my rational decision Flannery took as many safari balls from the box as she was allowed.
“Flanny, we need to venture across various types of terrain. Thirty balls put together is still quite hefty.”
“There’s no way I won’t catch anything if I bring all thirty balls with us, Egon. What if there are lots of different fire types that want to come with us?”
I highly doubted that the safari zone was flooding with fire types for us to catch but I kept quiet, not willing to debate on the issue. After packing enough treats to feed dozens of Pokémon we followed old man jack to the counter to pay for entry.
“That’ll be 1500 poké dollars in total.”
I gingerly moved to pay the man, but before I could get Mr. Moore’s card out of my pocket, Phoebe being quicker on the draw paid for all three of us. She insisted on paying our way since we would be staying as guests at her place afterwards. Flannery, seeing that Phoebe wasn’t all bad, mellowed out a bit.
“Old man Jack, would it be ok to bring Oddish with us? She’s going to be living at the safari and since technically Oddish isn’t a caught Pokémon…”
“That’ll be fine. However, do note that while she is traveling with the three of you, she won’t be allowed to engage in battle with the other Pokémon.”
With that said the three of us said goodbye to the Pokémon and made our way out to the safari proper but before we had the chance to step a single foot over crossing line old man Jack stopped Phoebe in her tracks.
“Missy, your Pokémon has to stay here.”
“What are you talking about old man? I handed over all of my poké balls.”
“Save it for the rubes lassie. Here at the safari zone we have come to learn about all of your tricks. Let me inspect that shadow of yours or do you want me to bring out the Noctowl again?”
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Phoebe acted outraged until she couldn’t hold it in anymore and started snickering.
“Can’t blame a girl for trying right? Banette sweetie, the mean old man caught on to us. Just go ahead and play with Egon’s darling Litwick over there.”
Phoebe’s shadow started molding into the shape of her most devious Pokémon. The marionette Pokémon zipped open her mouth for a quick cackle before heading on over to the rec room to join the rest of our Pokémon.
“Still can’t get one over you old man.”
“The same methods won’t work twice in a row sweetheart. We’ve updated our security measures since your last visit.”
Mildly concerned about Phoebe’s penchant for mischief even in the face of a league backed facility I decided to quickly move out of the building before becoming an accessory to her crimes. Flannery must have been thinking the same thing because she followed me out of there in quick succession.
“Woooow!”
Our first view of the safari zone was a stunning one. Long patches of grass were being kept short by the many grazers who lived in this part of the safari. Giving us an unobstructed view of the various species of Pokémon who’s combined efforts kept the grasses from growing out of control. Having gone over the reserve’s map I knew this must be Area 1 where most of the completely harmless Pokémon were being kept. Phoebe didn’t seem all that excited, probably having come here on a regular basis during her childhood.
A large herd of doduo led by a dodrio and a smattering of girafarig populated this zone and if my eyes were not mistaken the blue blob sticking out from behind a tree should be a wobuffet. The urge to interact with these Pokémon was overwhelming but I managed to hold off from going over there and acting like a crazed loon. Flannery asked a reasonable question while pointing at one of the girafarig.
“Who’s that Pokémon?”
Phoebe was the first one to take this opportunity to answer her.
“Girafarig is a psychic type. They are gentle in nature but anyone who approaches them from behind without warning is bound to get bitten by the second head attached to their tails.”
I was about to approach one of them to start making a new friend before remembering Victini’s reaction the last time I got cozy with another psychic type. I was pretty sure that even at this distance our psychic link was not completely severed. So even though I really wanted to, it would probably be best to move on. Although I couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment at the lost opportunity.
“Good boy.”
‘…!’
Just like that we passed on mingling with the herd Pokémon and made our way east. According to the map, area six is where the supposed fire type Pokémon reside. At the northeastern edge of the reserve where a steep mountain separated the safari zone from the rest of the route. It made sense really, fire types tended to prefer rockier areas with less greenery. Other Pokémon tended to not appreciate their forests burning down even if it was done by accident.
“Odd!”
Oddish got pumped up all of a sudden and ran off into the tall grass. Worried that we might lose her I ran after the little grass type with Flannery and Phoebe following right behind me. Oddish seemed content with just following us around the safari so suddenly changing course just like that meant that she must have sensed something important enough to warrant her going off the visitor’s path like that. We eventually stumbled across a clearing with multiple holes filled with Oddish leaves sticking out of the ground being tended to by a singular gloom.
“Odd!”
“Gloom?!”
‘Oddish must have picked up on the distinct floral scent of her peers. Although to a human’s nose these Pokémon smell particularly foul’
Me and my companions had to do our utmost not to start gagging from Gloom’s stench. This Pokémon odor was well known for causing selective amnesia to those who stayed in its presence for longer periods of time.
The Gloom walked up to Oddish and gave the smaller Pokémon a once over smushing Oddish’s face with her forelimbs. The evolved Pokémon then decided that it was a good idea to dig out a hole for Oddish motioning for the little weed Pokémon to get inside the hole just like the rest of her fellows.
“Odd?!”
“It’s fine If you want to take this opportunity to hang out with the other Oddish. If you want, we can come visit you on our way out before we have to leave this place.”
“Odd…”
I started petting her leafy head. Somehow, I knew that this would be the last time that I’d get to assuage her worries.
I switched from addressing Oddish to Gloom.
“Now you take care of this little Oddish okay? She’s very special, a top percentage Oddish for sure.”
“Gloom!”
Hearing me describe one individual of her own species in a positive light allowed the Gloom to subconsciously ease up on us somewhat. The stink lessened to a degree where me and Flannery could start talking without making gagging sounds.
“Egon, are we going to stay around for much longer? Although I don’t mind Gloom’s wonderful aroma, we should really hurry up and complete our objective.”
Being without her Pokémon forced Flannery to stay polite to Gloom. Without protection there was a good chance to get doused in stun spore for saying the wrong thing and offending Gloom by mistake. My lessons seem to have worked. Usually the hothead would openly declare the first thing that came to her mind. Phoebe being the more experienced trainer didn’t need any of my lessons on propriety. Naturally spending most of her time around corpses Phoebe’s sense of smell was abnormal to begin with so she didn’t mind staying around for longer either way.
Me and Oddish exchanged on last look before the grass type hopped inside the hole Gloom dug out for it. Hiding inside holes while the sun was up is a common practice that all Oddish adhered to. The sun’s light being too intense for them, especially the younger ones. They did most of their growing under the moon’s light.
Now that my reason for being here was safely sleeping underground with the rest of her kind I waved the Gloom standing guard goodbye and headed back to the path leading to area five. I was still rather conflicted letting Oddish go like that but same species Pokémon tended to look out for each other so I couldn’t have asked for better custodians. Phoebe gingerly patted me on the back curious about the nature of our relationship.
“Looks like that Oddish and you were pretty close. You want to talk about it?”
“I’ve only known Oddish for a couple of days and I wasn’t all that serious about keeping her. We both knew that it would come to this. I just figured I would still have the rest of the day to say goodbye.”
“There there… At least you know where she is.”
“I guess so, let’s head out catching a new team member should help cheer me up.”
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20 minutes later inside area 5*
“Egon… what do you think you are doing?”
“Just wait a minute, let me rest like this.”
“Baaaaa?!”
After the three of us made it to area five I was struck by the sight of these four-legged fluff balls. Their warm fluff looked so inviting that without wasting any more time I gave the closest one a full body hug not even spending a single second calculating if it was prudent to do so.
“I knew it! A mareep’s wool coat is the most inviting; it's like being enveloped in a warm cloud.”
“Egon, I don’t think this is a good idea…”
“What are you talking about? Mareep are known for their kindness even when facing complete strangers.”
“Baaaa….”
“Ssshh it’s okay Mareep, just let me restock my supply of flufftonium.”
Suddenly I felt a rubbery paw poking me on the back. Knowing that this was not the feel of a human hand I looked up seeing an annoyed Flaaffy looming over me giving me a minacious glare. My shenanigans attracted the attention of the rest of the herd. As well as the herd’s protector an even fluffier looking Flaaffy came forward to see what I was up to.
“Flaaaafffy!”
“Excuse me, I wanted to experience the softness of a mareep’s fleece for myself. Please allow me to recompense you and this adorable fluff monster with some treats.”
“Baaaa!”
“Flaffy!”
The Mareep seemed to be offended by my choice of words but Flaaffy seeing that I was not a threat gave me leave to continue my ministrations. I motioned for the duo of girls to pull out the treats from the bag that I dropped on the ground when I first spotted these woolie wonders. The treats old man Jack gave us all seemed uniform, and the nutritional values displayed on the wrappers left much to be desired. The retired ranger informed us that we weren’t allowed to bring our own snacks with us since there’d be the chance that Pokémon could be tempted to come along with visiting trainers for the wrong reasons if they got a taste of better-quality food.
“There there, you should be proud Mareep. This fluffy coat would make for an amazing headrest. Not to mention all the practical uses it has during a battle.”
“Baaa?”
“There’s a bunch of good moves only Pokémon with a luxurious fleece like yours can learn. Like for example Cotton guard. Hey, you girls should totally stick your head in here, a minute of this and you’ll be sleeping like a snorlax.”
Flannery was the first to retort.
“You should stop bothering that cute little Mareep and buy a mareep wool pillows and clothes like a regular person.”
“Not everyone has rich grandparents. Mareep only shed their woolen fleece once a year. Do you know how expensive the genuine product actually is? It costs more than gold by weight.”
“You’ve never been in my room before! How would you know what kind of pillows I sleep on?!”
“It’s obvious that Mr. Moore dotes on you! Besides the fact that you just casually mentioned buying mareep wool products is a dead giveaway.”
Despite her complaints she did eventually cave in and touch Mareep’s wool coat with her hand. Which inevitably led to her mushing the wool in between her hands and playing with it. Phoebe on the other hand seemed content just watching us from the side. Phoebe, being the most senior of us three, probably didn’t want to lose her dignity in front of us by playing with Mareep’s coat like the two of us. She did however help out our endeavor by giving Flaaffy and Mareep the treats I promised.
“Baaa!”
“Thank you for allowing us the honor of touching your coat. My little sister would just love to have a Pokémon like you on her team. I’ll be sure to visit the safari zone in the future together with Zinnia. Perhaps she’ll be the one that manages to convince you to give the life of a trainer owned Pokémon another go.”
“Egon, I thought you told me that Zinnia wants to become a dragon type specialist?”
“Ahem, well regarding Mareep I’ve read a paper somewhere that Mareep are distantly related to dragon types. They also learn a bunch of dragon type moves.”
“Really…? They don’t have any scales or fangs.”
“No, it’s totally true. Mareep give us your fiercest dragon roar!”
“BAAAA!!!”
“See? Totally like a dragon.”
Finally, after a half an hour or so of messing around with the mareep our little group continued on to the last and final area. Which coincidentally also housed the fire types we were looking for. Area six was mountainous terrain, once one crossed past the warning signs and fences one would find oneself off route and outside the rangers’ jurisdiction. Naturally the Pokémon living here were keenly aware of that fact. The benefits of staying inside the Safari zone had doubtlessly been made clear to them at the time of their arrival. Seeing as the Pokémon living here were fed regularly and didn’t have to compete with their wild counterparts most of them would opt to stay inside the reserve. Only battle hardened Pokémon assured of their own strength would seek to leave the comforts of the safari behind.
“Egon, how are we supposed to find the fire types living here? Without Oddish our original plan is in shambles!”
“We can just ask around. Let’s ask the first Pokémon we cross paths with. By the way Phoebes, since you’ve been inside the safari multiple times, why don’t you show us the way?”
“It’s been four years since the last time I’ve come here. The last time I was in this particular area there were only a handful of growlithe living here and those must have already been caught by other trainers.”
Flannery hearing the word growlithe seemed to be enough to stoke the girl’s enthusiasm.
“Growlithe!? Catching one of them would be amazing. I’ve always wanted one of my own, but grandpa couldn’t get one for me. The Jennies get special privileges inside and outside our region. Grandpa says because it’s league policy to give civil servants priority on all purchases with league certified breeders, but I think those ladies just don’t want to share!
“Well that makes sense, growlithe are great in all sorts of roles. Transport, search and rescue, detecting contraband, herding and security. They are easy to train and fiercely loyal.”
“Yes, that’s why I want one! Oh, I hope there’s still some left.”
“I wouldn’t count on it growlithe are hugely popular.”
As we were making small talk, we eventually came upon a Hoothoot who was just chilling looking down at us from a high up tree branch. Seeing as the Hoothoot was already aware of our presence I saw no reason to delay and tried communicating with the owl Pokémon.
“Hey there, Can I have a moment of your time Hoothoot?”
“Hoot?”
“You see we’ve heard that there are fire types living inside this area and we wanted to see if we could try and catch one. Would you mind pointing us in the right direction?”
“Hoot Hoot!”
Sadly, none of us was proficient at communicating with flying type Pokémon. So, I had to completely rely on the bird’s body language to guess what it was trying to convey to us.
“Can you use your wing to point in their general direction?”
“Hoot?”
It seemed like the Hoothoot was waiting for something that’s when Phoebe figured out the Pokémon’s intentions.
“Egon, all the Pokémon living here know that all the visitors carry treats with them. I think it wants to get paid for the information.”
“Is that true Hoothoot?”
“Hoot!”
The bird confirmed Phoebe’s reasonable conclusion with a series of head nods. Naturally I wasn’t opposed to paying for Hoothoot’s valuable information but I was sort of running low. Our earlier encounter with the mareep herd set me back by quite a bit. At this rate I might not have enough for the fire types living here. Reluctantly I fulfilled Hoothoot’s request, tearing open the snack’s wrapper and offering the exposed treat to the bird Pokémon. Hoothoot swooped in, grabbed the snack with its talons and landed on Phoebe’s shoulder. Giving the teenage girl an affectionate nibble on the ear.
“Aww stop it you.”
‘Seems like this one prefers girls over boys. We could work this to our advantage.’
Phoebe didn’t seem to mind as Hoothoot started devouring the treat spreading crumbs everywhere. Hoothoot eventually finished up and I felt him eying me measuring if he could get away with extorting another snack from me in all likelihood. Before he got the chance to pull a fast one on me Flannery jumped and used her patented pout to try and convince Hoothoot over to our cause.
“Can you please help us find the fire type Pokémon Hoothoot?”
“Hoot!”
Hoothoot pointed his right wing in the direction of the rocky cliff side near the mountain’s edge. The owl Pokémon now finally having delivered on his side of the deal didn’t want to leave us and stuck around for the free female attention. I was not looking forward to climbing the steep cliffside, but the mountain most likely had a path carved out for staff and visiting trainers. It was just a matter of finding it. Without saying anything else we departed guided by the occasional hoot from Phoebe’s new feathery friend.