Now that was an absolute delight to find! A ferroseed! She only had two pokemon, and she knew one would be all but useless against it. As much as her Mareep might want to come out and help, it would be more a hindrance than anything else. Her Buneary, on the other hand, had some usefulness here. Though those barbs on the Ferroseed were bound to hurt, she was confident her Pokemon could outlast it. That in mind, she pressed the little button on one of her Pokeballs, releasing said Buneary.

“See that there? We’re gonna make him ours, how does that sound?” Her Buneary basically grinned at her and nodded, dropping into a fighting stance, waiting for Honoka to give her a command. “All you have to do is outlast him, okay? And don’t let him hit you if you can help it. Start him off with a Jump Kick.”

Her Buneary would charge at the Ferroseed who hadn’t seen them yet and jumped at it, aimed to give it a good roundhouse kick. It did hit, but Honoka could tell that it hurt some. The Ferroseed, less than pleased at being attacked out of the blue, turned around and Tackled her Buneary. THAT looked like it hurt, and her Buneary staggered backward from it, the sharp thorns on the Ferroseed making the attack more volatile. If it wanted to play that way, fine then. Her Buneary had just learned a fighting type move, and she was going to see if they could use it effectively in battle. Oh they’d practiced, but they had yet to actually use it in battle.

“Buneary! Focus Punch! Don’t let him get the better of you, you’re stronger than him!” Her Buneary would regain her footing and, gritting her teeth, would bunch up for a few moments before unleashing herself upon the Ferroseed that looked poised to Tackle her again. The Focus Punch would hit, if barely, as the Ferroseed was preparing to dodge and Tackle again, but she was more accurate. That hit did a lot of damage to the Ferroseed, and another small amount to her Buneary, but it would faint the Ferroseed and Honoka would toss a pokeball at the steel-type in hopes of catching it.

“Good job, kiddo. You did good. You ok?” Her Buneary waddled back over to her as the Pokeball twitched and nodded, though her fur was noticeably ruffled and she did look a tad worse for wear. “We’ll get you fixed up as soon as we’re done, I promise. And treats.”

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Her Buneary seemed satisfied with that promise, and so they continued to wander the area that was the safari zone. Honoka wanted to see if she could find a few different things while she was in there, and her Pokemon seemed plenty willing to keep going, so they did. Honoka was idling about the new steel type clipped to her belt when they came across another. She knew this pokemon intimately, having worked around them before. Joltik were both a delight and a pain in the ass, depending on what they were doing. They were a great pokemon to have, though, and so cute. And her Mareep would absolutely love the little thing, they’d make the best companions. One who produced too much electricity, and one who ate electricity. What could be a better match?

She pointed it out once again to her Buneary, who hadn’t noticed the tiny little electric pokemon. She herself was small, but she’d feel like she was picking on it, so the Buneary refused to fight it. Well, they could do that a different way, then. Honoka pressed the button on her Mareep’s pokeball, releasing the little ball of static. The air immediately became charged and, just as she suspected, that charge caught the little Joltik’s attention.

Her Mareep, as she also suspected, was so pleased to see another electric type. Another someone he could hug without hurting! And the Joltik was looking at him curiously without malice! How perfect, he thought! Her Mareep would wander toward the little Joltik at a nod from Honoka, and the Joltik just remained where it was and watched. It seemed perfectly comfortable, if a little wary. Her Mareep would stop halfway between his trainer and the other Pokemon, practically buzzing with excitement.

The Joltik would take a few more long moments to consider the Mareep, before walking forward to meet the electric type that was giving off excess amounts of static electricity, making the air sparkle with it. It was in no rush to get to it, and didn’t seem like it would spook if she or her Mareep moved, but Honoka remained where she was and watched anyway. She watched as the little Joltik calmly walked up to her Mareep and climbed into the larger electric-type’s fur and began munching happily away at whatever spare electricity it could find.

This was basically a hug for her Mareep, who came prancing back to her, elated. The little Joltik clung comfortably to his back, delighted to have a meal as it did, and Honoka grinned down at both of them. “Well, what do you think of that. Not something you see every day, but a match made in heaven, I’d say.” She’d crouch down to better look at the Joltik.

“So, my little Mareep here makes far too much electricity and is always zapping people because of it, and because he adores hugs. I’ve worked with Joltik and Galvantula before, so excuse me when I say I think this would be a great deal for you. You seem pretty fond of him already, and I know he already adores you, and you could get free meals out of it whenever you liked. I’m a professor, so I work in a lab and don’t get out as often as I’d like, but you’d never be without company and family who loves you. How does that sound? Want to come with me?” She would hold out a pokeball to the Joltik who looked to be debating it, but seemed like it was leaning heavily toward accepting the offer. It was a pretty decent deal, after all, even Honoka had to admit.

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The Joltik, having decided that it liked the sound of that, now had its own pokeball to return to but it was on the Mareep’s back once again. The two were thoroughly enjoying their newfound companionship, and Honoka was delighted for both of them. Her Buneary was just as excited, especially now that she could touch the Mareep without getting zapped. That was always appreciated. Honoka was used to having burns and frizzy hair from it, but she wouldn’t complain if that became less common.

She still had one safari ball left, so they kept going. She wanted to see what else lived here if she could. She wasn’t sure of the regular habitats of Ferroseed, but Joltik could be found basically anywhere and everywhere. They especially liked cities for the electrical currents running through them, but they could be content anywhere.

Speaking of electrical currents, the Joltik kept looking off to their right every ten steps or so. There must have been another electrical pokemon over there, so Honoka decided to follow the hints from the Joltik. They walked for a few minutes, Honoka keeping an eye on her Joltik, when they finally came across a lake. There were likely plenty of water pokemon here, so what had captured her Joltik’s attention over here?

She saw it a moment later. There was sparking in the shallows of the water, shocks of what seemed to be distress. Honoka hurried over, albeit cautiously, to see what was going on. There in the shallows of the lake was a single Tynamo, which was odd on its own. Tynamo usually ran in schools when they were so small like that, as they couldn’t do much as a single. What was more concerning, though, was that the Tynamo also seemed to be hurt from what she could tell. She couldn’t tell what happened, but Honoka decided she had to help.

The trainer eased toward the water slowly, letting the Tynamo see her coming. It didn’t leave where it swam in circles, letting off little impulses of electricity as if to signal to the rest of the school. They were getting weaker and weaker, suggesting that the Tynamo had been here for a while. If that was the case, the rest of its school wasn’t likely to return for it. It had become a liability, so it was on its own. Cruel as it seemed, that was nature sometimes. Honoka couched in water that came halfway up her shins and, reaching into her small side bag, broke off a piece of her sandwich for it. She slowly reached her hand out and placed the bit of bread and cheese in the water and nudged it toward the Tynamo.

The little pokemon didn’t notice it at first, and when it did, it swam in two short panicked figure eights before circling the piece in small, tight circles. When it had determined what it was, it ate the piece and continued to send off distress signals. This made Honoka sad to see, so she broke off another piece of her sandwich and did the same thing as she had with the previous piece. This time, when the pokemon went for it, it noticed her and froze, bread half hanging out of its mouth. She gave it a small, tentatively reassuring smile, and it unfroze long enough to finish off the piece of the sandwich.

The Tynamo continued to stare at her, assessing the threat she likely posed to it. She tried to make herself as unimposing as she could, and very slowly broke off another piece of her sandwich and held it out to the pokemon in the water. It darted forward three times and backed off before it reached her hand and took the piece. It seemed to have forgotten about sending off the electric impulses, so she held out another piece. It inched forward slowly and took it, backing off again but less than before.

She gave it another smile, and this little dance kept on going for a few minutes longer. It eventually deemed her no longer a threat and swam in circles around her. She remained crouched, still as she could, but her smile had broadened. She was just about of sandwich at that point, but she didn’t mind. As she was feeding it the last piece, she spoke up, softly.

“I know you might prefer to go back to your school, but how about joining me? You seem to like sandwiches plenty, and I can make sure you get more. Better than that, I can make you strong, if that’s what you want. I’ve got others, my own little school if you would, who would love to be friends with you too and help you grow strong enough that you can stand on your own. We can help you with that. What do you say?” She would hold out a pokeball under the water, much the way she did to the Joltik, and let the Tynamo decide. She was hoping it would, as it was definitely considering her and the pokeball she held out to it.

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