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And just like that, the first Pokémon that comes vaulting his way is… something he’s not seen before. Lars is rather certain that this is a Galarian Pokémon, considering that his Pokénav doesn’t even have information on it readily available.

Sighing, he then fished out a Moon Ball and sent out Alpha, his Lucario. “So. We’re going to have to use trial and error on how to get this… Brick Break it for me?” he tried, before the Lucario gave him a confused look before shrugging.

As the dual-type shot forward, the Eiscue retaliated with a sudden cascade of Crashing Icicles from out of nowhere, which the Lucario had to avoid a few times before landing in the punch that… wait a second, what?

Blinking at the figure, he then sighed because holy crap why did the attack not work?! “Try smashing it with an Aura Sphere!” he called out; and this time the auric blast of energy hit the Eiscue head-on in the face, staggering it for a few moments.

Another round of Icicle Crash caught the Lucario by surprise, before he closed the distance with a sudden burst from Extreme Speed and caught the Eiscue in a one-two Meteor Mash uppercut strike. The weird-looking penguin let out a yelping noise, before soaring in the air and landing close to where he stood.

“Alright, then,” he said as he dropped the first Safari Ball on the Eiscue’s prone form. As they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.

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After picking up the first Safari Ball, he then watched it be whisked away before resuming the hunt. Of course, he was hoping to run into either one of the two he had really come here for—however that wasn’t going to be the case, at least for now.

Blinking as he saw the shadow of something fall from a nearby tree, he backed a few steps away to take a look at it, before realizing that it was… a Scatterbug.

Not something he would have on his team, but one a friend of his would definitely want—considering how many wing patterns its final evolution had.

Lars wondered for a few seconds what flying like a Wingull felt like, soaring on the waves among the updrafts—and imagining a Vivillon doing the same.

“Might as well let him know they’re here,” he said as he took out his phone and snapped a picture before sending it as an attachment.

And on his merry way he went.

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The next Pokémon to catch Lars’s attention made him do a very quick ‘take two’ and he twisted around to follow the ethereal specter, he thought he’d broken his neck! Knowing that Alpha was next to no match for this particular Pokémon, he then recalled the Lucario—only to summon Lynette, his Gardevoir.

There was a… very faint, sweet smell that hung in the air—he then quickly checked his PokéGear to confirm his suspicion. Scrolling through several entries, he finally found the one on Gastly, and looked around quickly—because there was a chance it could have slipped into his shadow and was now potentially trying to kill him!

A sudden flare-up of energy from the Gardevoir was all the time Lars had to duck before a powerful rainbow blast of Psychic energy struck the emerging Gastly—which had indeed slipped into his shadow—before letting out a squeal of surprise and sticking its tongue out.

Lars shivered involuntarily at the reaction of the dual-type emerging from what he guessed was a favored hiding place, before the Gastly approached the Gardevoir to attack with a close-range Shadow Ball attack.

“Whoa!” he yelped as he dodged—and the Gardevoir dodged by using Double Team in return. While the spectral attack had hit one of the copies, it dissipated before a second burst of Psychic energy from the Gardevoir struck it upside the head. A sudden blast of evil energy in the form of a Dark Pulse caught the Gardevoir—but instead of taking twice the damage, it braced through the pain before firing off a third Psychic blast.

That was all the Gastly needed before crashing to the ground, where another red beam of light sought to capture it.

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After the Gastly had given up and allowed itself to be caught, he then realized—he’d caught another Pokémon who was apparently capable of using mega evolution.

He then let out a bark of laughter before the Safari Ball was whisked away as he realized how many of his Pokémon companions could reach a higher form, yet he only had the one mega stone necessary to mega evolve Ro. At least he only used it in dire emergencies!

His attention had gone to dwelling on his thoughts too much when he saw something slithering his—without thinking, the Gardevoir then rushed forward before releasing a powerful Psychic blast right at the Dratini!

“Take it easy, Lynette,” he said with a sigh, before the Dratini literally flung itself at the Gardevoir in an Aqua Jet maneuver. Wait—Aqua Jet?! He then blinked before checking his PokéNav and realized that it wasn’t a move it normally knew in the wild…

Right then and there the Gardevoir retaliated with a Draining Kiss as the Dragon-type got too close for comfort. Letting out a pained squeal, the Dratini countered with a Dragon Rush to the face—only for the Gardevoir to blink at it like… ‘what the hell’?

Lars let out a bark of laughter.

“He needs to learn. Don’t be too hard on him,” was all he said before the Gardevoir did another Draining Kiss that sucked the energy from the Dratini, who then fell to the ground.

Another Safari Ball was thrown at the prone Dragon-type.

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The next thing he had encountered was… well, what the heck was that?

Blinking at it, he then picked up the Dratini’s Pokéball before gazing at it curiously. He didn’t know what it was called, but it looked so… small. Although, he was banking on the fact that maybe possibly this was something his friend would want to chase after?

No, wait, he knew that there was a sunflower Pokémon in the garden they tended—while not meeting up in person, he knew that they did their part in keeping the garden as it was.

Lars sighed softly, before leaving the Sunkern alone and continuing on his way.

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The next Pokémon he would encounter—actually made him backtrack a few moments.

It was then he realized—how come, in all the times that he had fought off kaiju-sized Tentacruel, none of them were shiny?

Yet here was one, right here, whipping its…tentacles…at him in a menacing manner.

“Oh, hell no. I am not going to be the ass of all those tentacle jokes,” he grumbled before plucking out a Safari Ball and hoping that his one in two chance was right—mercifully, it was his Gardevoir, Lynette that chose to make an appearance. It wasn’t until a few moments later did he realize that he was about to make a big mistake!

Right off the bat the Tentacool began to summon a huge tidal wave of Surf to come crashing down on the Gardevoir, but she was—slightly faster as a powerful blast of Psychic caught it head-on, specifically right on the jewel at the center of its head.

“Ooh, nice, headshot,” he remarked as the Tentacool’s attempt to drown her was temporarily halted—although this time it came in for a nice Poison Jab!

“Careful!” he added a few moments later as another Psychic blast caught it mere seconds before it could sink its noxious…tentacles…into the Gardevoir and send her reeling.

“Once more!” and a third blast of Psychic energy emanated from the Gardevoir, sending the Tentacool flying. Before it could land too far away, Lars threw his last Safari Ball at it.

He couldn’t waste it, right?