“Wow…” Nina awed in fascination at Rapidash's warm mane. Despite it being pure flames, the little girl was barely tickled by the heat. It seemed as if the equine pokemon had full control over its temperature. “Is this pyrokinesis or some sort of rudimentary psychic ability? Their Galarian cousins are part Psychic Type after all,” wondered Nina.

The Rapidash continued grazing, not bothered at all by the strange girl who had latched on to her. Maybe because humans were rarely a threat in the Safari Zone, the pokemon here tended to be quite friendly.

Nina leaned in, pressing her face against Rapidash’s flank, deriving a sense of pleasure from the horse pokemon’s rippling muscles. She continued luxuriating in the pleasant sensation, feeling every calm breath flowing through the pokemon when suddenly, as if struck by a terrible revelation, Nina bolted upright. “Shit! Am I a horse girl?!”

For all that she made fun of horse girls in her past life, Nina refused to believe that she would fall into the same cliche. She shook her head to knock herself out of that stupor, only for her expression to soften again when a Ponyta, Rapidash’s colt, snuggled up to her to beg for more Berries.

Nina smiled, hugging the child sized pony to kiss his forehead, before holding out a few berries in her hand. She found out earlier that this particular Ponyta liked Leppa berries the best. That specific combination of sweet and spicy seemed to be his favorite.

“Maybe being a horse girl isn’t so bad after all…” She thought, before being interrupted by a call from Charlie.

“Nina, Nina! Come quick. I found something really cool!”

Charlie’s loud voice must have irritated Rapidash because she huffed aggressively at the boy, causing him to pause in his step.

Nina gently caressed the irate pokemon, along with her startled child. “It’s okay… It’s okay, my friend’s just being an idiot,” she said, as she reluctantly walked away from the two horses. Ponyta seemed to have wanted to come along but his mother held him back with a look.

“This better be good, Charlie,” snapped Nina, the irritation in her voice barely contained.

Charlie gulped. “Yeah, I promise. Swear to Arceus you’ll find this interesting.”

And he was right. Because what they found were Tauros, but not just any Tauros. Because these bulls were jet black, as opposed to the brown coat of Kantonian Tauros.

“Paldean Tauros…” Whispered Nina. The two children were currently crouched under the cover of some tall grass above a hill, not wanting to startle the herd and risk a stampede.

“You know what they are? I thought those were just shinies or something.”

Nina shook her head. “Nah, Shiny Tauros are golden. These guys are a species of Tauros exclusive to Paldea. See those flecks of red and blue some of them have in their mane?” She pointed. “The ones with red are Fighting and Fire Type. The ones with blue are part Water.”

Charlie looked at his friend in disbelief. “Are you sure, how’s that even possible?”

“I don’t know. Paldea has its Great Crater which resulted in some odd Pokemon mutations over the years. I wouldn’t think it’d be possible for Kanto to host Paldean Tauros either due to how different the environment is. My best bet is that these Tauros will adapt and turn into regular Tauros after a couple of generations.”

Charlie nodded, pretending to understand the intricacies of what Nina had just spouted. “They look really cool though,” he added.

Nina giggled. “Do you plan on catching them?”

“Er… that depends. Can they evolve?” Nina shook her head in denial. “Then probably not,” answered Charlie.

It was hard to fault Charlie. Pokemon with evolutions tend to have a higher ceiling when it comes to their potential. Whereas Pokemon that don’t evolve are often easier to train, thanks to them not really having a long adolescent phase, but their potential is capped in the long run.

“You should call your dad over and see if he’s interested. These guys seem right up his alley,” suggested Nina.

Charlie seemed a bit unsure but still went and called Stephen over anyway, since he wanted to show off his find.

It did not take long for the hulking Machomp of a man to crawl up to them. “Incredible…” Exhaled Stephen.

“Nina said that these Tauros are Fighting Types.” Informed Charlie, trying to show off his newfound knowledge.

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Nina held back a laugh and supplemented with information that some of them were part Fire and Water as well.

“They’re really cool, but I don’t think I’ll be catching one,” concluded Stephen.

Nina tilted her head. “Why not? Not a good fit for your team.”

“It’s not that,” replied the experienced trainer. “Tauros in general need a lot of space to run around in. It’d be irresponsible of me to catch one only to keep it locked up in its Pokeball or our tiny yard.”

Nina nodded in understanding, she had completely neglected the domestic aspect of owning a pokemon. Another reminder that this was not a game.

“What about Donphan?” Asked Charlie. “You plan on catching one of those right?”

Stephen hummed. “Good question. What do you think, Nina?”

The child prodigy recollected everything she knew about the elephant boar hybrid. “Donphan lives in the forest so space shouldn’t be an issue. Though I do recall reading that their species are fairly aggressive. So long as you battle it on a regular basis, it should be fine. They’re also primarily herbivores and eat just a regular amount so you wouldn’t need to go bankrupt feeding them.”

“Then I’ll see if I can get one to join our family,” nodded Stephen.

“Do you want to go right now?” Suggested Nina. “We’re not really doing much here since Charlie’s being a Psyduck.”

“Hey! What does being a Psyduck mean?!” Yelled the indecisive boy, alerting the herd of Tauros and causing them to run away.

Stephen laughed at his son’s indignation. “You’re right, he is being a Psyduck. Come on, let’s go get your mother and head over to the forest.”

***

Since the nearest forest was only an hour’s walk away, The group decided to just forgo flying and head there on foot instead, stopping right on the outskirts of where the trees began to have a little picnic.

They were without pokemon since any personal pokemon had to be surrendered to the Safari Zone’s Pokemon Center before entering, but at least the two Pidgeot’s they rented were friendly enough to let Nina play with. And as instructed, she limited her feeding to only berries that the birds liked.

After lunch, the group split up. Having a large group of seven humans moving altogether in the forest would only alarm any wild pokemon with their clumsy footsteps and rustling. Stephen took charge of Charlie and Nina.

He took Charlie, because he wanted to show off his pokemon trainer prowess to his son, and Nina because he did actually want to catch a Donphan and thought that the girl might have some useful insight for him.

The trio stalked across bushes, shrubs, and luscious elm trees. As they went, Nina could not help but notice the distinct lack of cicada chirps in the middle of summer. Here in the Pokemon world, regular animals were quite rare. There were a myriad of fish species out in the ocean but land animals and insects were practically nonexistent, having been completely displaced by Pokemon.

It was almost eerie how quiet it was. There was the rustling of tree leaves, the whispers of the wind, and the occasional cries of pokemon, but not insects. It was one of those uncanny things that people simply take for granted and don’t really notice until it’s gone, leaving only an unexplainable void in the back of their mind.

“Is there anything that we need to look out for, Nina?”

“Donphans like to curl up like a tire and roll around,” replied Nina to Stephen. “So look out for tire tracks. I think I also read that some Donphan like to roll against trees for sport, competing with their peers to see how far up they can go. So maybe keep an eye out for any damaged trees as well.”

Stephen nodded. “And you say they travel in herds right?”

“Typically yes, which is why we should be careful of a stampede. Even a solo Donphan will be dangerous since they’re prone to rampaging when angered.”

That really drew a frown from the older man. “Alright, if we have to deal with rampaging Pokemon, then I’ll send out Pidgeot to buy time. I want the two of you to run away in the meantime, alright?”

The two kids nodded at their guardian’s instruction. And Nina was reminded of the waiver that they had to sign before entering the Safari Zone. Or actually, the paperwork was signed by the adults on behalf of the underaged children.

“Oh look, a Scyther,” pointed Nina, during their journey across the forest.

The trio lowered themselves and slowly snuck forwards to get a closer look.

Scythers were cool, they were also among Nina’s favorites. Even their evolution was cool. She had always been more partial towards Scizor, but there was a rugged appeal to Kleavor as well.

Turns out, the Scyther they found was currently in a stand off against a Heracross. Both Bug Pokemon were primed and ready to leap towards each other at a moment’s notice. Probably a territorial dispute of some kind.

“You know, Scythers are quite strong. And they evolve as well, though it might be a bit difficult to source the items you need to evolve them,” commented Nina, for Charlie’s benefit.

“Scyther can evolve?”

“Yeap, into a Scizor if you use a Metal Coat, which should be easy enough to find with our abundance of Onixes in the region. Or into Kleavor, with a Black Augurite. You quite literally have to dig deep to find Augurite, let alone a black one. So that’ll be quite difficult, though not impossible.”

Charlie groaned while Stephen just hummed in interest, not knowing about Kleavor before this. Once again, the man was quite impressed by the six year old’s breadth of knowledge.

They watched the two Bug Types go at it for a while, before promptly evacuating when the battle got too intense and threatened to expose their location.

It took a long time before they came across any signs of Donphan, and when they did, it was through the most ridiculous of circumstances.

Charlie had gone off for a bathroom break when, during his euphoria, he noticed that the tree he was peeing on looked a bit scuffed. He racked his brain to think about what drew his attention when he recalled the ramblings of his childhood friend. Something about how Donphan liked to roll against trees.

With that epiphany in mind, he hurriedly zipped his pants, the zipper almost snagging his little Charlie in the process, and hurriedly rushed off to find his companions.

“Those look like Donphan tracks alright,” confirmed Nina. The girl was careful not to get too close to the tree, having known what Charlie was doing there not too long ago.

Stephen pumped his arm in triumph and praised his son for a job well done. “Do you think we can track them down?” He asked Nina.

Since she now knew what to look for. Nina observed the surrounding area, now seeing similar tracks all over. However, everything just looked messy and chaotic to her.

“I see tracks, but I have no idea on how to do any tracking.” Nina was six years old afterall. Sometimes, it felt like the adults overestimated her just because she knew stuff.

Stephen gave a smug grin. “Alright, this is a great opportunity. Pay attention kiddos, let this old man teach you how to track Pokemon.”

There wasn’t really any secret to tracking. What Stephen demonstrated seemed like common sense to Nina. First off, he released his rental Pidgeot and asked if the bird would be willing to do aerial reconnaissance for us. She was hesitant at first since that wasn’t part of her duties, but then conceded after Nina offered up a few of her favorite berries.

Then Stephen went through some of the more obvious tracks, kneeling down and rubbing the dirt between his fingers. He explained that newer tracks will feel a bit more moist than older ones which had been exposed to air for far longer. The lack of any overgrowth was also a good sign that the tracks were fairly recent.

They continued walking, steadily tracing signs of Donphan as they went. Nina even met a friendly Caterpie at one point who was kind enough to point them towards a general direction with its cute little snout.

But in the end, it was Pidgeot who pulled through as the bird pokemon circled above their heads, screeching to get their attention, before leading them towards the herd of Donphan.