[attr="class","rigidw"]

They were nearly home free now, the entrance of the Safari Zone clearly in sight. Fresh snow was starting to fall, further incentivizing his expedient retreat from the nature preserve, but before Victor crossed the threshold, he decided to take one more sweep of the area. After all, he had come a sizable distance to get here, and had spent money for the admission, so why not get his money's worth? [break][break]

The clearing he was standing in was largely vacant, outside of himself and Jaakko. A copse of conifers stretched out into the northwest, and there was a large pond to the south, not dissimilar to the one he had caught the Staryu in. To his admittedly untrained eye, there wasn't much to see; perhaps most of the Pokemon had begun to retreat to their own homes in light of the new snowfall. But then Victor saw a shape moving in the pond, distant and hazy at first. He squinted hard, trying to discern what it was through the falling snow. [break][break]

Finally, the Pokemon came into view, and Victor immediately recognized the blue pleisosaur Pokemon. Lapras was a rare but beloved species back home, a mascot for probably a million different sailing and travel companies, and a species known for it's gentle disposition. He half-considered catching it. A selfish part of him was tempted by sheer virtue of it being relatively rare, and another, more utilitarian side of him reasoned that the creature would be excellent for travel over the water. But then he saw something that immediately dashed his ideas for capture. [break][break]

There was another, much smaller Pokemon trailing behind the Lapras. It was another of the same species, struggling to keep up with it's much larger kin. The larger Lapras stopped, waiting for it's apparent child, craning it's neck down to nuzzle the smaller one affectionately as child leaned against it's parent. Something in Victor's chest ached at the sight of it. [break][break]

The larger of the two suddenly looked up, locking eyes with Victor in a stare that was neither threatening nor friendly. It was an assessment of his intentions, trying to determine whether he was friend or foe. Well, there was no good reason to break apart a family, Victor reasoned, so he gave a wide and cordial wave to the pair of them. The smaller of the two tilted it's head quizzically at the gesture, but the larger simply turned it's back to him and began to swim away. Victor watched for some time as the two disappeared across the pond, the increasingly heavy snow obscuring his vision as they sailed off into a world of white. [break][break]

Victor turned and nodded to Jaakko. Stepping out of the Safari Zone proper, he decided it was finally time for the two of them to get home, too.