Yes, it's fun! If a little dangerous...

(This chapter is somewhat lengthy and is more about happy feel-good stuff than progressing the story. Feel free to skip it if that’s not your thing.)

Finally it’s your turn to enter the Safari Zone. You leave your pokemon behind, as is required for entry, and stock up on bait, rocks, and Safari Balls. The old geezer even gives you a free meal voucher, possibly because he realizes that if you can’t afford entry, you can’t afford anything inside either. With that, you’re ready to start your safari!

You step outside and are immediately greeted by a group of Nidoran, both male and female. They’re so cute! You bend down to give one headscritches, and it stands perfectly still and closes its eyes. It’s so docile… and so adorable! You give headscritches out to every one of them, some of them just basking in the feeling and others pressing back against your hand. You pick out an especially cute one and pick it up, pressing your nose against its affectionately. It licks you! “Aww, so cute…” You reach into your backpack and toss some bait, making sure each one gets a little something to eat. With some regret, you say goodbye and move further into the park. After all, there’s a lot left to see!

Walking further in, you find the hub of the Safari Zone. Signs point you in different directions, though it’s a mystery which pokemon will be in which area. There are also numerous food stands and gift shops. One look at the price tags in one of the gift shops has you scampering back outside with your tail between your legs. A-At least you can eat for free, right? You’ll come back here later.

You pick a direction at random and start walking, eager to see what kind of pokemon you can encounter. Before long, you find a Doduo! A tall bird like this one is a bit intimidating at first, but as you approach, it starts chirping musically. Aww, how sweet. You walk up and pet one head, but the other gets jealous and presses itself against your arm. So cute! You pet both heads as their singing mellows into a few occasional, satisfied notes. “Good birdie…” You give each head a piece of bait and pet them both on the beak before heading on your merry way.

You spot a body of water ahead of you. You’re not sure if the Safari Zone would have any rare Water pokemon, but it’s worth a try, right? You peer into the water, searching for any signs of movement. You’re about to give up, when suddenly a small blue creature appears out of the water before sailing right back in. Was that… a Dratini? It leaps out and into the water again, confirming your suspicion. It is a Dratini! You watch attentively for it to come out a third time, and you’re pleasantly surprised when it pops out and hovers in the air for a few seconds, making a cute “nyew” noise at you. It’s the cutest!!! After diving for a few seconds, it re-emerges and starts doing flips while levitating. You gasp. “You’re performing for me?” It nods before submerging again. You take a seat on the ground, ready to enjoy the show.

Dratini starts off with a few routines of flipping, twirling, and gliding around elegantly. Then it mixes water into its routine, dragging the tip of its tail along the surface to make water spray out like a sprinkler during its acrobatic feats. You applaud for every move, cheering it on with a huge smile on your face. It even splashes you a little bit, which only convinces you to giggle and cheer even harder. For its finale, it starts spinning at an incredible speed before abruptly plunging into the center of the water, then rocketing back to the surface a split second later. A huge plume of water follows it, big enough that you’d think a Gyarados caused it. But no, after the water clears, it’s just little old Dratini, looking very pleased with its work as it floats above the surface. You make as much of a ruckus as you can, acting as its own personal crowd gone wild as it bows its head appreciatively. You reward it by placing some bait in the water, which it quickly munches on. It must be hungry after all that exercise! With a “nyew” of thanks, it descends back into the water, and you decide to head back to the hub in order to get some food of your own.

Looking over the food stalls… a hot dog looks good! Oh, but a pretzel does too… This is tough. You decide you’ll go with a hot dog. You show the vendor your voucher, which confuses him for a second. Once he flips it over, though, he just shakes his head in exasperation. “Yeah, this is from that old geezer, alright…” He hands you a hot dog with ketchup paired with your favorite fizzy drink, along with your voucher. Out of curiosity, you flip the paper over and- oh. It’s another drawing of boobs. Okay, Mr. Morals. But the vendor didn’t keep it, which means…

“One pretzel please!” you request. Handing over the voucher at the pretzel stand gets similar results, except that he remembers to keep the voucher. Well, you had a good run at least. Now it’s time to feast on junk food!

You sit yourself on a bench and formulate your plan of attack. The pretzel is fluffy and will leave room for the hot dog after, so it gets eaten first. Eating is an art. You ravenously bite into the pretzel, and are rewarded with a salty explosion in your mouth. There’s so much salt, and grease, and salty grease, and it’s all mind-numbingly delicious. You continue chomping into the pretzel and tearing away at it like a carnivore devouring a stake, but you gradually slump over as the intensity of the salt gets the better of you. You resort to gnawing at the pretzel like a rodent, oblivious to some of the odd glances being thrown your way. You reach for your drink and gulp it down quickly before going back to your original strategy of ripping up the pretzel, letting the last bite slide its salty flavor down your throat. Hot dog time.

The first bite is a guilty pleasure that has you groaning in delight around the meat and bun in your mouth. You attract a bit of attention, but remain unaware of anything but the taste you’re being graced with. A bit of ketchup gets smeared along your lips as it dutifully enhances the hot dog with its tangy flavor. You chomp down again, producing a quick spurt of juices which you try to slurp up, but it’s too much and it ends up running down your chin. Oh well. The next bite is too delicious for you to stop, so you end up taking another one without chewing, and now your mouth is stuffed full of meat. Drink, drink, drink… “*Fwuah!*” That’s better. Now for the grand finale. You shove the remaining length into your greedy facehole. It’s clearly too big, but that’s not enough to stop an ambitious girl like yourself! You slowly but eagerly work the remainder of your meal down your throat, and only once you’re done do you reward yourself with multiple gulps of soda. Your pallet is cleansed, your mouth is cool and wet, and your stomach is full of yummy food. This is the dream!

Refreshed and renewed, you set off again in a different direction. At first, the place looks completely empty, but the tall grass everywhere isn’t helping your visibility. You’re about to turn back when you see a figure looming above the surrounding grass. That’s a Kangaskhan! They can be pretty touchy about their young, but if you show that you’re not a threat, maybe it’ll be okay? You slowly walk towards the Kangaskhan with your arms raised, but the loud grass ensures it hears your approach long before you’re anywhere close. It turns sharply to face you, yet doesn’t seem agitated. On the contrary, it hops over to you calmly. Sheesh, this pokemon is taller than you! It smiles as it reaches an arm out and pats you on the head. Wait… the pokemon is petting you!? Apparently its maternal instincts run awfully strong… It’s not bad though. You close your eyes and get lost in the novel experience of being cared for by a pokemon. When you come to, your arms are wrapped around it in a hug while it continues doting on you. As nice as it is, you still have more places to see, so you give the kind Kangaskhan some bait and move along. Pfft, being pet by a pokemon? That was crazy!

The rest of the area remains mostly quiet, so you carefully venture into the tall grass to look for more pokemon. Nothing here, nothing there… It looks like no other pokemon are hanging out here. Maybe you should look somewhere e-

“SCYTHER!”

“AAAAAHHHH!!!”

You scream in shock as a Scyther springs out of the grass and flies above you. Uh-oh, it looks like you made it mad! It flies at you and swings one of its bladed arms aggressively. You barely manage to dodge backwards. It almost took off the last button on your flannel shirt!

“Hey, Nurse Joy washed this thing for an entire day! You can’t mess it up!” The Scyther cares not for Nurse Joy’s labors, and lunges at you again.

“SCYTHER!!!”