As they pushed forward, Leon saw a few Pokemon but mostly they were scarce. He supposed that made sense, being that Safari Pokemon didn't usually jump out and claim to be needing captured. Well, that damn Voltorb aside. He really was pretty sour about that, wasn't he?

As they made their way down the pathway, Leon spotted something in the path that had him letting out a laugh and bending down to look at the little ant. "Hey, Taft, look." He was sure to keep himself away from the bug type because he knew they hurt like a son of a bitch. "Don't get too close, but, these things are amazing. They're territorial as hell and usually attack in groups. Wonder if this one got kicked out."

Spoke too soon. The Durant quickly turned toward Leon and squabbled something in its language before going close. Before it could get too close, Taft used a PSYCHIC attack. With a small play of events passing, Taft prepared with a FUTURE SIGHT. Leon moved up and away from the Durant as it recovered, watching as it gave a quick and irritated chomp with it's ... mouth claws? Whatever those things were called.

Leon put his hands up in surrender, making his way away from the Durant and behind Taft. "No, seriously, we were just leaving." Leon explained while backing away. "Just, seriously, making my way away."

As the Breeder and his Espeon backed away, the Durant tried to leap forward. Taft quickly moved so that he and Leon could bolt from the Durant, quickly avoiding the little ant as a wave of Psychic energy hit it away, knocking it back toward it's home.

"Hope it stays away, geez. It's the Voltorb all over again." Leon complained as they finally slowed down from running away.

like the devil's in your hands.

Leon's hands moved through his hair as they slowd their run. A smile played his face as he looekd down at Taft, who was just as happy as him. It was strange, because Taft didn't show much emotion other than bouncing. Smiles and the like, they were hard to see. But it was in the tilts of his head, the twitches of his tail, the way his ears moved, those were the new indicators for Leon of Taft's moods and honestly, Leon loved learning more about his eldest friend in history.

When they stopped, he took a seat on a rock and let out a sigh. The sigh was accompanied by Taft moving to take a seat beside Leon and curl his forked tail around Leon's hand. It was how he held Leon's hand. While it was more of a 'Sylveon' trait for there to be handholding, Leon didn't mind it. Taft was always wanting to hold his hand or nudging it with his little nose so Leon would pet him. This was a way they could both pay attention to one another. And there was a connection there that always made Leon so very ... happy.

The small rest was cut short by something pulling on Leon's hair. "Ahhah!!" A laugh of sorts left Leon as his hair was pulled. Something was crawling around on it, gripping it, crawling on his head, then his face. He couldn't see! "T-Taft!"

Hearing Leon's cry had Taft looking up to see an Emolga skittering around on Leon's face. It seemed like it wanted something from the Breeder's hair, and wasn't that interesting? With a quick glow of the gem on his forehead, PSYCHIC energy surrounded the Emolga and threw him into a few rocks.

"Oh my Arceus thank you." Leon spoke quickly, moving his hair back into alignment. It didn't work, not with the static from that damn Emolga. With a frown, he glared over at the Emolga who was already preparing an ELECTRO BALL.

"Whoa!" Leon quickly dove out of the way, Taft dodging as well before using another PSYCHIC against the damned thing and quickly moving in for a QUICK ATTACK. The Emolga tried to use a NUZZLE with how close Taft was, but another PSYCHIC had the Emolga being picked up and slammed into the ground. It's cry was indicator enough that it was down for the count.

Leon's smile never felt as he tossed a Safariball to catch the Emolga. "Seriously... what the hell?" He let out a laugh before finally being able to realign his hair. "Y'know, I think it used nuzzle on my face." Immeidately he was glaring at his snicker Espeon. "Oh, that's funny is it?"

like the devil's in your hands.

Leon watched the ball click with a huff. "Well, that was something." He shrugged his shoulders and smiled, letting the Emolga out and grinning at the pure cuteness that was the little squirrel of a Pokemon. "Y'know, for not being a fairy type, you're cute as hell." At least, he imagined hell was gonna be cute. Logic said as much. All the cute ones did all the naughty stuff, right?

The Emolga sniffed at Leon the quickly crawled up Leon's frame to nestle into his hair. It looked a bit like Leon was wearing a Safari Zone hat. Which, honestly, he didn't mind. It actually made him laugh. "You're insane." He teased the Emolga, looking at his Pokedex. A girl, huh?

Leon's eyes moved down to Taft who was simply studying his trainer curiously. "Yeah, I think so too." Leon admitted before looing back up a little cross-eyed at the Emogla. "What do you think of Momo?"

Something like a squeak left the Emolga before she lifted her head and perked her little ears up. Something came forth from the rocks near the closest pond and she found herself jumping from Leon's head down to the Pokemon. It was a Binacle and it wasn't much bigger than her, but she attached herself to one of the arms and NUZZLEd it. The Binacle was frozen in place, PARALYZED by the Emolga's attack. She bounced off and then looked over to Leon. This was the part where he told her what to do next, right?

"Is she... waiting for orders?" Leon couldn't hold back his laugh, grinning. "Um, yeah. What do you know? Show me your stuff."

Oh true! He couldn't get orders if he didn't know, right? So one of each move it was! She used all four feet to hop away from the Binacle, charging electricity as she did so. With a quick turn, she used a ELECTRO BALL on the poor thing, watching as it quickly slumped over. She gave a quick movement of PURSUIT as it tried to slink away with what little energy it had left. Next, she bounced around the Binacle to show off her ACROBATICS before landing a kick. Which, admittedly, hurt, and now she was bouncing around with a big swollen tiny-toe and blowing on it to try and make it feel better.

"Let me see," Leon had definitely been laughing. He and Taft made their way over. He inspected it and Taft gave the small squirrel a kiss to her forehead to comfort her. With it, he allowed calming waves to wash over her. Leon gave the Emolga a caress before watching her quickly attach to Taft and crawl up to rest between Taft's ears on Taft's head.

"I think she likes you." Leon admitted and to confirm, Emogla let out a high pitched squeal while getting comfortable in the purple fur of Taft's head.

like the devil's in your hands.

Now that Emolga was on the team, and comfortably resting out of her Pokeball and on Taft's head. Leon moved to pick Momo up, placing her in his arms and turning her over to give her a pet and play with her fur a bit. As he did so, Taft simply walked beside him and kept himself alert. When he sensed something close, he pulled on Leon's pants to stop him. Once Leon felt the tug, he stopped walking and looked around. Momo's ears perked up and she sat up to look, giving a sniff, before bouncing off of Leon to glide over to where Taft had sensed something; since that was the direction the Espeon's ears were pointed.

"Acrobatics?" Leon questioned but ordered, and the Emolga dropped to the ground in a Karate Chop of a motion toward whatever was there doing as she was ordered and using an ACROBATICS against the Turtwig. It really wasn't a fair fight and Leon kind of felt bad about it. He moved over and picked Momo up, she was kicking at the Turtwig's shell with her feet to show it 'who was boss.'

"Didn't you learn from your last battle? Maybe kicking things while their down isn't a good idea. You stubbed your adorable little toe last time." He reminded her while tickling her feet. She let out a steam of giggles while wiggling against his hand and flailing her little limbs at him. She gave his skin a cute nibble, a love nibble, before wiggling and beginning to climb up to rest in his hair. A satisfied sigh left her after she forraged around in his hair. She caused it to spike up, which, had him immediately furrowing his brows.

He turned his head down toward Taft with that frown still in place. "Great, now I look like Bastardface." He made a face, pretending to smoke a pipe, and he enjoyed the amusement that came from his Espeon in waves. He took out his Pokegear to take a picture of his spiked hair with an Emolga within and immediately sent it to Lars Anderson with the caption, 'Hey look, I'm cosplaying you!'

Leon had stopped worrying a long time ago about whether or not he should bug Lars and simply did it regardless of whether or not he should or shouldn't.

like the devil's in your hands.

Leon's feet continued forward as he made his way through the Safari Zone. He'd gotten a tip from one of the workers, the one that checked him in every time he got there, and she'd suggested for the Fairy-type lover, that perhaps he should visit a certain area of the park. Circled it on the Zone map and everything! Who was Leon to deny?

Oh, and it seemed the information pulled true. The moment he saw the Swirlix licking a rock - why, he didn't know - Leon found himself letting out a laugh.

"Check it out!" He told Taft in an excited giddy tone before doing a small dance of excitement. It woke Momo up enough to blink her eyes open and glance around. What were her boys up to now? With a lazy gaze, her eyes landed on the Swirlix who was ... licking a rock. Was the rock delicious?

Without warning, she jumped from Leon's head and glided over to the rock and Swirlix. She gave the rock a lick as well, then spat at the rock and glared at the Swirlix. What a liar! It didn't taste good at all! Off she went, squeaking up a storm to tell him just how gross it was. While his licking had paused when she started, he didn't hesitate to stare at the Emolga before licking the rock again. She lit up, glaring at him, continuing to scold him.

Leon's brows furrowed before he let out a laugh. Taft's huff was proof enough that they were just being ridiculous.

"Momo! Use Nuzzle!" Leon called, getting a bit closer.

The Emolga's ears perked at the use of her nickname, which she loved, and she was quickly sparking her cheeks and moving to NUZZLE them against the Swirlix. A jolt later and his body was stiff. He released a FAIRY WIND. Momo used the wind, ignoring the pain of the attack, to glide her up.

"Well done! Acrobatics!"

Momo's body dropped down, using ACROBATICS against the Swirlix to send it rolling back and away from her. Leon quickly threw a Safariball to capture the Swirlix, moving over to pick up Momo and give her praise while he waited for the conclusion of his capture.

"You're adorable."

like the devil's in your hands.