[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtag"]Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","wildnote"] 4/4 WARDEN SAFARI BALLS REMAINING!

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Yes. Alone. Alone with nothing but his thoughts. And, perhaps, alone without even them. Thinking was hard and tiring. You know what'd make them quieter? Some sleep. Maybe, just maybe, he earned it . . .[break][break]

Isaac's Musharna, Harmony, drifted out from the Pokeball that he pried open. As she enveloped him in a soothing blanket of lavender mist, he eased his eyes shut and drifted off to sleep.[break][break]

Unfortunately for Isaac, his wake wouldn't be nearly as peaceful as his sleep. The sharp pain he felt in his ass would attest to that.[break][break]

Snapping his eye open, Isaac practically leaped to his feet. He looked around, fighting through the blurry haze of the dream mist to try and find the source. "Who's there?" he asked, already sinking into a defensive stance. It only made the Mareanie sticking out from his asscheek look all the more ridiculous.[break][break]

Against all odds, Harmony maintained her poker face. Instead, she sighed softly, exasperation rippling through the dream mist.[break][break]

It took the Mareanie's telltale snicker for Isaac to realized what was going on. He twisted his hips and back best he could, brow furrowing as he finally got a good look at the culprit. "You little shit," he said, trying his damndest to grab the Mareanie and pluck it out. However, between his sleepy daze, the awkward impact site, and the Mareanie's flexible body, it was able to dodge his clumsy swipes with ease.[break][break]

It wasn't so easy to avoid Harmony. Her Yawn got the Mareanie's eyelids drooping, and soon its attempts at dodging gave way to attempts at napping. As it snoozed away, Isaac finally got a handle on it, plucking its out from his ass with a triumphant laugh and a pained "Ow . . ."[break][break]

In exchange for being such a pain in the ass, Isaac bopped it with a Safari Ball. It was only fair.

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[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtag"]Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","wildnote"] 3/4 WARDEN SAFARI BALLS REMAINING!

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Ugh. Head pounding. Stomach churning. Ass on fire. Not fun. Not fun at all. Isaac was never taking a poison-type to the ass ever again. Two times was enough, damnit![break][break]

Right. Harmony was here. Pokemon. Pokeballs. Oh! He had something for this! Yes. Excellent. Isaac cracked open a Pokeball, a Galarian Rapidash emerging from within. He sighed as he looked down at Isaac, shaking his head with barely-contained exasperation.[break][break]

Oh well. Who cared if a crank like Charles judged him? He was healing now. Just being around the Rapidash's Pastel Veil was enough to start burning the poisons out of his system. Slowly but surely, Isaac shuddered to his feet, sighing in relief. "Thanks, buddy," he said, smile and voice equally weary.[break][break]

Ugh. Being poisoned made him hungry. Isaac reached into his bag, ready to break out some snacks and fill up for the long journey ahead.[break][break]

As he fished around in his bag, he noticed he wasn't alone. A small yellow hamster was looking up at him, an angelic smile spread across her chubby little cheeks. She let out a little squeak, reaching out and shaking her paws in the hopes of getting-[break][break]

"Nope." Immediately, the Safari Ball went out.[break][break]

Isaac knew how this went. He went to the safari zone, a seemingly innocuous Pokemon caused hijinks, and then he was running for his life. Not this time! Not today! Isaac was not dealing with that right after getting poisoned! He scooped the Pokeball up before it could even stop shaking, briskly walking away before a swarm of hangry Morpeko could start shaking him down for snacks.

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[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtag"]Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","wildnote"] 2/4 WARDEN SAFARI BALLS REMAINING!

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Finally. Some peace and quiet. Isaac had caught on and gotten ahead of the usual Safari Zone misadventures.[break][break]

He released the captured Morpeko from her ball, her fur midnight blue and her eyes brimming with fury. Before she could wheel around and attack him, he'd already held a chocolate bar out in front of her. In an instant, her fur snapped back to cream white, her usual happy go lucky attitude returning. She proceeded to nibble on it cheerfully, Isaac offering her a weary grin.[break][break]

"Sorry 'bout that. Didn't have nearly enough to feed a whole swarm," he admitted. "Always a shock just how quick this place changes up its Pokemon. It's almost like a different Safari Zone every time." And they were all shiny. And they were all extra powerful. What the heck kind of reach did the warden have?[break][break]

He wondered what would happen if he decided to pull the trigger and leave. He wondered if he'd have to out who he was, what he was. He wondered if he'd be able to show his face here again.[break][break]

He wondered if he'd be able to show his face anywhere.[break][break]

But for now, at least could enjoy a chance to catch his breath and enjoy a snack with his fellow two-face. If a whole Pokemon species could figure this out, maybe he could, too.

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[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtag"]Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","wildnote"] 2/4 WARDEN SAFARI BALLS REMAINING!

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]A drop of water snapped Isaac out of his daze. Confused, he looked up to the sky. There were no dew-heavy branches sitting above him. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Maybe Isaac was just seeing things. Weird.[break][break]

Shrugging, Isaac went back to relaxing. Then another drop hit him, square between the eyes. A minute passed. Another. A minute passed. Another. It was like the world's slowest rainfall. In some situations, this was a form of torture. In the middle of the Safari Zone like this, it was an anomaly.[break][break]

Luckily, it didn't take Isaac long to find the source of the mysterious rainfall. Standing right in the open, a Slowpoke swayed back and forth at an incredibly slow pace. With every time he swiveled and swayed, another raindrop fell on the terrain. One landed every few seconds, creating what appeared to be the world's slowest rainstorm.[break][break]

"You gotta be kidding me," Isaac remarked. Was that even possible? Did Rain Dances even work that way? Frankly, Isaac had no clue, but he didn't want to stick around and see things get even weirder. With the quick lob of a Safari Ball, Isaac caught the Slowpoke and prepared to move on.

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[attr="class","wildpkmn"]

[attr="class","wildtag"]Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","wildnote"] 1/4 WARDEN SAFARI BALLS REMAINING!

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]The world's slowest rainstorm came to an end, and so too would Isaac's time in the safari zone. Between his contemplation and his nap, he'd used up the grand majority of his time already. Now the time had come for him to move on along. With one ball left, he wondered if he could spot a shiny Pokemon before his exit.[break][break]

Turned out, it was less spot and more smell. Dear god. The stench that washed across the Safari Zone was like something crawled in a hole and died.[break][break]

Suddenly, Isaac longed for the smell of fresh rains again. He plugged his nose, retracting Charles and the new Morpeko back into their Pokeballs. "This is the worst pain," he groaned, his plugged nose making him sound hilariously nasal. "And considering I just got stabbed in the ass and poisoned? That's saying something."[break][break]

Wisps of purple gave Isaac an indication of what lied ahead. The longer he followed them (why? Why!?), the closer he came to figuring out the source of the smell. They lead him towards a dense cloud of purple gas, occasional glimpses of necrotic blue flesh visible through the miasma.[break][break]

For a second, he wondered if he even wanted to add a Pokemon that ripe smelling to his team. Then he realized that with how his head was spinning, either he lobbed a Pokeball or succumbed to the sheer force of the order. The latter was unacceptable. With one hand on his nose and the other on a Pokeball, he threw his ball into the cloud as quickly and accurately as possible.[break][break]

As the ball clicked shut, Isaac remembered just how nice fresh air felt. Arceus, that was a relief. Isaac swore that this better be the last time he got stuck in a toxic mire this month.

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