Chapter 72 – A Poke Safari!
May and I continued riding our Pokemon across the countryside of Fuchsia City until, in the middle of the wilderness, we came upon a ranch style house with wooden perimeter fencing to either side of it. The wooden fence directly to the right of the house had 2 large wooden doors, above which there was a sign with the words "Safari Zone" in huge letters. "I guess this is it" I said to May, as I still sat on Tauros' back, with Flamefox in my lap and Firestorm and Arcanine standing on the ground next to us. She was still sitting on Fierymane's back, with Amber in her lap, and Inferno, Redfur, and Fiona on the ground next to her. I asked her, "You were here last year, right?" She answered, "Yeah. I should warn you, the warden is not very nice. In fact, he comes across as a real loose cannon." I replied, "That's reassuring" and dismounted from Tauros. She said, "You have to pay an entrance fee inside the building, and he'll give you a box of Safari balls. You can't use any of your Pokemon to battle the Pokemon in the Safari Zone. You can only throw Safari balls at them and hope they'll catch. You can also buy lure food to get them to come closer, or use fishing rods to catch water types." I said, "I read about the Safari Zone before. I wish we could use our Pokemon to battle them, but the rules are the rules, I guess." May dismounted from Fierymane, and we each recalled our riding Pokemon, and Arcanine, to their pokeballs. We passed the entrance gate to the house, and walked in the doors, accompanied by the fire foxes and dogs. Inside, there was a reception desk, and behind it stood a woman. She asked us, "Can I help you?" May replied, "Yes. Is the Safari Zone warden here?" She answered, "I'm the warden." May said, "But when I came here last year, there was an older man, the guy in all these pictures." The walls were lined with framed pictures of the man with a Dratini. She said, "Oh, he's on vacation right now." May replied, "Oh. Well, he definitely needs one." The woman let out a laugh, but quickly covered her mouth. Then she said, "I know he comes off as a lunatic, but he really does care about the Pokemon here. He's very protective of them. Many trainers used to take advantage of this place, and caused a lot of the Pokemon wild population to go down. Some of the Pokemon that are here you're not likely to find anywhere else." I replied, "Don't worry. I won't take more than my share." Then I paid my admission fee, and she gave me a box of 30 Safari balls. "There you go. You have one hour. You'll be notified when your time is up. And you can't use any of your Pokemon in the Safari Zone confines, only the Safari balls." I replied, "I knew about that last part, but only an hour?" She answered, "Those are the rules. We had to place a limit on the amount of time and balls due to the people who took advantage in the past. You may also purchase bait to attract land Pokemon closer, and rent fishing rods and lures to catch water types." May said, "Come on , Joe. Let's just buy some bait." I asked, "Aren't you buying any Safari balls?" She answered, "No, I did this last year. You remember." I replied, "Oh, yeah. Well, you can use some of my Safari balls if you change your mind." The warden then said, "Wait a minute! Joe! You're not Joseph Ehlle by any chance, are you?" I answered, "Yeah, that's me." She then took a package out from behind the counter and said, "This was delivered here by a mysterious stranger, who told me to give it to you when you arrived." I took the package and asked, "What did he look like?" She answered, "He had a hat and spiky hair." May said, "That sounds like Martin." I asked, "But what would he be doing here in Kanto?" May said, "I don't know." I opened an envelope that was attached to the package, and inside was a note that read, "Use this bait in the Safari Zone. It will help you attract some powerful Pokemon. Good luck! Signed, a friend." I said, "That's really strange. If it is Martin, he sure is being mysterious." May said, "Well, you know how he is." I nodded, and asked the warden, "Is it really okay to use our own bait?" She answered, "Sure. There are no rules that say you can't bring your own bait. We just provide our own as a courtesy." I said to May, "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
May and I exited the building, and walked into the Safari Zone through the two large wooden doors in the perimeter fencing. Inside, there were lots of woods, ponds, and open grassland. We were still accompanied by Flamefox, Amber, Firestorm, Redfur, Fiona, Inferno, and May released Clefairy to walk with her, as well. I could see Nidorans, both male and female, here and there throughout the area, as well as Paras, Parasects, and Venonats. In the pond, I saw a Krabby scurry into the water, and Magikarps jumping. Suddenly, we felt rumbling. I saw a cloud of dust coming at us from a distance, and as it got closer, we could see it was an approaching herd of wild Tauros! "Everybody stand aside!" I shouted. We all moved over as the herd of buffalo-like Pokemon ran past us. I said, "I just can't resist" and threw them some of the bait. Two or three of the Tauros stopped to eat the bait. I didn't throw any Safari balls, but just watched them eat, and petted one of them while he ate. When they were done eating, they caught up with the herd and continued ahead, out of sight. May asked, "Why didn't you try catching any?" I replied, "I don't know. I just felt like I should just let them stay with their herd." She said, "If you don't catch any, someone else will." I replied, "I suppose you're right. Okay, next time they pass, I'll try." We continued ahead, walking through the grasslands. After a while, we saw a Rhyhorn in the field, sleeping. I said, "I'll try catching this one" and threw a Safari ball at it. The ball seemed to successfully catch it at first, but it burst open and the Rhyhorn materialized, rather angry. "Safari balls don't have a high rate of success, Joe" May told me. I replied, "Thanks for warning me earlier" as we all began to run in the opposite direction of the now charging Rhyhorn. She asked, "What did you think I meant when I said 'and hope they'll catch'?" As we ran, I threw several Safari balls at it, most of which it deflected off it's horn like a baseball bat to a baseball, but finally, one captured it! May and I, and our Pokemon, stopped running. The ball shook a few times, then stopped. It was caught! I said, "Well, that wasn't so bad." May said, "But you wasted 8 of your 30 Safari balls. You've got to use a little bit better strategy if you want to catch a lot." I nodded, and we continued walking. I saw some Scythers fly by, and some Pinsirs in a tree. But then, up ahead, I saw a really cool Pokemon – Kangaskhan! We hid in some bushes. May said, "Now here's what to do. Put out some of your bait, like you did with the Tauros. After it's eaten a bit, throw the Safari ball. That's how I caught my Tauros and Kangaskhan last year." I replied, "Yeah, I remember when we got them at Professor Oak's sanctuary. You also caught a Cubone, Doduo, Nidorina, Nidorino, and a bunch of others. You did pretty good." She said, "And I want to see you do good. I want to see you catch a Dratini! But for now, let's go for this Kangaskhan." I nodded and carefully and quietly placed my bait. The Kangaskhan was apprehensive at first, sniffing the bait, but soon began to eat, while we remained hidden in the bushes.. I asked, "Now?" May answered, "Not yet! Let it eat a little more, so it's guard is down." The Kangaskhan really seemed to like the bait – if it was Martin who sent it for us, he sure was right about it. After a few more moments, May said, "Now!" I tossed a Safari ball at the Kangaskhan from behind it, and it was taken into the ball! The ball fell to the ground, shook a couple times, then stayed still! "You did it, Joe! Good job!" I said, "Thanks, May!" and walked out from the bushes to retrieve the ball. I asked her, "How much time left?" She answered, "About 35 minutes!" I said, "Wow, not much! We better keep moving." She agreed, and we all continued to walk through the Safari Zone. I used up a few balls along the way on easier to catch Pokemon, such as Nidoran, Paras, Krabby and we placed bait to catch a couple Doduo, Pinsir, and Scyther. With only 10 Safari balls left and about 15 minutes to go, we still hadn't seen a Dratini. I said, "It doesn't look good as far as catching a Dratini." May replied, "Don't give up yet, Joe. There's still time."
We came across a water cove, surrounded by rock and boulder formations. I said, "Maybe there's a Dratini here." May said, "Only one way to find out. Toss some of the bait into the water." I did so, and we waited. Some Magikarp began to chow down on it and I said, "Darn! Just more Magikarp. I can catch then anywhere – I'm not using up Safari balls on them!" Suddenly the fish scattered, and something big was coming up from under the water! Some storm clouds began to form up above in the sky. "What the…" I began to say, when up emerged a 6 foot long Dratini! May shouted, "Quick, throw the ball!" I did, but it missed, and the Dratini dove back under the water. I saw it coming back up, and May said, "Get ready…" It splashed back up, and I tossed another ball, which it slammed away, before it dove back into the water. "It finished the last of the bait you had in the water that last time, Joe. Throw in some more. And be careful – you only have 10 minutes and 8 Safari balls!" I said, "I know" and threw some more bait into the water. Whatever the stuff was made of must have been like caviar to a Pokemon, because Dratini shot back up again, and I tossed another Safari ball. This time, it captured the Dratini! The ball landed on the water and floated. I shouted, "Yes!" Just then, the ball burst open, and the Dratini shot a hyper beam at us, causing an explosion which knocked us down, before it dove back under the water. As we stood back up, I asked, "Is everyone okay?" May nodded, and dusted herself off, while each of the Pokemon replied with their individual calls. I said, "Okay – now, its personal!" I tossed more bait onto the water, and watched as the Dratini shot up once more. I tossed 2 Safari balls at it. The first one it slammed away, but the second one captured it again! It landed in the water again, and this time, I dove in! I took the pokeball in my hands, and I could feel it trying to break open! I held it tightly, grasping it as hard as I could. Dratini struggled, putting up a good fight, but the ball finally stopped moving and remained still. May asked, "Well?" I floated in the water, holding the Safari ball. When I was completely sure, I said, "Got him!" The storm clouds dispersed as quickly as they had appeared. I swam back to shore, and May said, "Way to go, Joe!" and hugged me, even though I was soaking wet. "Thanks" I replied. Suddenly, we heard rumbling again. "The Tauros herd!" May exclaimed. I said, "Right! How much time?" She said, "About 3 minutes." I said, "Just enough time." As the Tauros herd approached, I put out the rest of the bait. I had 5 Safari balls left. About 10 of the Tauros stopped to eat. After they'd had a bit of time, I tossed the rest of my Safari balls. They began to run off, but all 5 balls caught Tauros. However, one broke free and ran off with the rest of the herd. "Four more Tauros! Not bad. They can stay with yours at Professor Oak's sanctuary" I said to May. She smiled, and then we heard the announcement, "Joseph Ehlle, your time is up. Please return to the reception desk."
May and I walked out of the Safari Zone through the wooden doors, and the warden said, "You had a good catch today!" I said, "Thanks!" She then said, "Great job on catching that Dratini! However, I think it best that the regular warden not be told. Dratini are pretty rare around here." May and I both agreed. I called Professor Oak and had all the Pokemon I had caught sent to his sanctuary. I was accumulating quite a variety. My 4 Tauros joined May's 5 in the corral. Between both of us, including my riding Tauros, we had 10 all together, our own herd! I knew all of the Pokemon would be in good hands with Professor Oak. He congratulated me on my catching the Dratini and the Kangaskhan, both of which he looked forward to getting to know better. After that, we said goodbye to the warden and thanked her. Then we mounted up on our riding Pokemon, along with our Vulpixes, and accompanied by our fire foxes and dogs, left the Safari Zone area and continued on our journey.