Alexei had already prepared himself for the long haul—he did have years upon years of experience walking around and just taking in the sights.

Of course, how was he to know that he would encounter all of the sighted Pokémon at least once today? He happened to pass by a patch of blooming flowers, and saw something waddling around in an area where the flowers were just beginning to sprout.

“Oh, Arceus, so cute,” he said to himself—phone on hand, he snapped another picture, as well as a short video and sent it to Florian Laurel with the caption, ‘Look at this one! Tending the flowers! #tryingitsbest’ and chuckled softly as he watched the little Budew waddle around.

Besides, he already had a Roserade to call his own, so there was that.

Leaving the cute little sight behind, he continued his travail even deeper into the Safari Zone.

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Not too long after he left the Budew behind, he continued his stroll. Looking up in the sky, he saw that the sun had moved since the last time he looked to check what time of day it was.

While he was no expert at guessing the correct time without a watch, he could reason out that from the position of the sun in the sky, it had bern an hour since he had entered thr Safari Zone.

Looking down at his feet, he noticed that the shadow was slightly getting shorter the further he walked.

He had gotten so absorbed with his observations, he missed a Meowstic staring right at his very soul. It's as if there was something conspiring against him, but he didn't know what.

Alexei normally didn’t believe in the notion of ‘déjà vu’, but today was going to be the exception to the rule this time around. He continued to walk through the area, keeping his eyes (and ears) peeled for another Eevee sighting.

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After he left the Meowstic behind, Alexei had decided not to expect so much. He had pretty much encountered all of the contents of the Safari Zone today, and was wondering how many more times that would happen—

That was, until he caught a second flash of brown. A bottle brush-shaped tail tipped with a lighter shade! His eyes quickly raked the surroundings, wondering where the Eevee was. It was his second one, should he get lucky. Hoping that this would work, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a Love Ball, popping it to full size.

As the Ribombee came out, he said to Carina as softly as he could, “Give me a Pollen Puff, please,” while holding out his hand. He was determined not to fight any of the Eevees, so having the Ribombee around was a good idea. He watched, and waited.

The scent of a delicious, yellow-colored Pollen Puff soon wafted throughout the clearing, eventually luring the Eevee he had seen for a brief second out of hiding. The smell was fantastic, admittedly. While it was no Chansey egg, it was better than nothing!

“Would you like to join us for a snack?” he inquired of the Eevee, delicately taking the offered Pollen Puff and taking a bite out of it. “Carina, please make another one for our guest today,” and off she went, spinning the sticky, sweet threads together before flitting over to the Eevee and presenting it to the lupine Pokémon.

“Take it, I mean no harm,” he added a few moments later, watching as the Normal-type cautiously sniffed at it, before nibbling at it as well. A second Pollen Puff was made for the Eevee after it had finished the first one, and a third. And then a fourth.

It was after the sixth Pollen Puff Alexei’s eyebrows went up in concern.

“Have you not been eating well?” he inquired of the Eevee, slowly approaching it and holding out both his hands. “Why haven’t you eaten anything? What’s wrong?”

Without warning the Eevee leapt into his arms, eager for a cuddle. It was here he noticed that the Eevee’s fur was dirtier than normal, and it was a little on the thin side of things. “Carina, get me some more, the poor thing’s starving.”

A dozen and a half Pollen Puffs later, the Eevee wasn’t so hungry anymore. Closer inspection revealed that there were bite marks on the Eevee’s ears. What had attacked the poor thing?

“We’re taking care of this one… looks abused, don’t you think?” he asked his Ribombee, who gave a serious nod. “Stay close,” he added in Carina’s direction, and off they went, carrying the sleeping Eevee in his arms.

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Now that they had a sleeping Eevee with them, the strange traveling duo had to keep their noisy footfalls as quiet as possible to avoid the risk of the Eevee waking up. The Ribombee buzzed ahead, spinning more Pollen Puffs for them to eat.

They weren't expecting to see the Chansey. Well, the Ribombee wasn't, at least.

The pink, round, egg-like Pokémon caught sight of the Ribombee and began pointing at the Pollen Puff she was holding, before producing an egg of her own to trade. The Ribombee looked at the Chansey in confusion, before gesturing again at the yellow-colored sweet treat and pointing at the egg.

Wandering over, the two exchanged treats, before the Chansey waddled over to Alexei and gave him another egg before leaving them.

"Wait!" He called out, but the Chansey was gone.

Now they had two Chansey eggs.

What the heck were they going to do with them?!

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Not too long after the Chansey left them, they came across another fruit-like Pokémon. This one looked much more menacing than the one they met earlier.

The Ribombee wanted to throw the egg that it was now carrying, but a slight shake of Alexei’s head made her stop considering that. Besides, they were here for Eevees, and nothing else.

“Leave it alone, Carina. Some other time… definitely not now,” he said with another shake of his head before gesturing at the sleeping Eevee in his other arm. The way he looked, holding a Chansey egg in his left hand and the Eevee curled up in the crook of his right, made him feel so ridiculous.

But hey, if it meant sweet dreams for the sleeping Normal-type in his arms, then he would endure the weirdness of the position.

“Come on, let’s go,” he called to the Ribombee, and they both left the Applin alone to wander around the place.

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Another few meters, another icicle-crusted crater on the ground.

Alexei didn't need to guess what it was, having encountered one of them earlier a few hundred meters ago. He didn't know how far in the Safari he was right now, all that mattered was that he was still on the hunt for two more Eevees.

Shaking his head at the Ribombee, the two left the Snom behind to wander further, deeper into the Safari Zone wilds.

Maybe the Chansey eggs were the way to getting Eevees? He didn't know. All Alexei knew was that he had two of the Chansey eggs now, and no idea what to do with them for the moment.

He was pretty sure they weren't for him to eat, though.

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So carrying the Chansey egg around proved to be a little tiring.

Not only that, he was also balancing a sleeping Eevee in one of his arms, so needless to say Alexei was starting to wonder if the sleepy one would notice that the world around it had changed. Quickly tapping one of the other Safari Balls he had on him, he then watched as the sleeping one was sucked into the beam of red light without further argument.

As he looked up, he saw that Carina had flown ahead, and was now dancing in mid-air around a… wait! How did she find one so fast?!

The two were now exchanging sweets, as the Eevee had a Watmel berry in its mouth. In exchange, the Ribombee then spun together a yellow Pollen Puff, before handing it over and taking the Watmel Berry in exchange. Alexei couldn’t help but keep his distance as he watched the two Pokémon interact, exchanging treats and Berries along the way.

Eventually, the Ribombee remembered she was travelling with a human, and therefore began to lead the way, still hanging onto the Chansey egg. She had given so many Puffs out today, but she didn’t mind in the slightest. All she wanted was to make other Pokémon happy with them.

The Eevee looked a little hesitant, but a humming reassurance from the Ribombee, along with an actual offering of the Chansey egg she was carrying, made the Normal-type change her mind. Now, Alexei wasn’t sure how to tell male and female Eevee apart, but the moment this Eevee caught scent of the human companion, who already smelled so much like an Eevee—

She broke out into a bolting run and snuggled his foot, purring like a contented animal.

“Carina, what did you do?” he asked the Ribombee, grin on his face.

The little dual-type could only smirk as the Eevee continued to rub herself against him, wanting cuddles.

Was he going to die of cuteness?

Definitely. That was in the immediate future.

But he still had one more Eevee to find, though…