"Yo, long time no see!"

The wound up scientist practically launched himself at the pinkette and tightened his arms around her in a bear hug. He was always thrilled to meet up with old friends and see where life had brought them so far. It seemed Desiree was in good spirits, but the grip she had on her Cleffa carried something of fear. Like she held the small pokemon close as if she was protecting it (or perhaps it was meant to protect her.) Maybe she was afraid to drop the creature? Sven often gave the benefit of the doubt with things of that nature, not eager to assume in certain instances.

Slow and steady, his Rampardos followed behind. It seemed to be the pokemon he chose for this particular job at the moment, but he had a plethora of others he could swap out to. Sven backed up and gave the large dinosaur-like creature a pat on its tough head and wrapped an arm around its neck, standing on his tiptoes to reach the Rampardos.

"This is my buddy Zircon, he's helped me out of a few tough situations before so this time, I figure I'll return the favor and let him play around with these rocks! How about your little friends there?"

Sven nodded towards the Cleffa and Doublade that Desiree had out. While he knew Des more along the music scene, he didn't know her much as a trainer. So while the reunion was nice, he felt as though it was a reintroduction. The two pokemon she had with her differed greatly, but both seemed to suit. Maybe it was the pink in the Doublade's sash and the entirety of pink that made up the Cleffa.

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DESIREE BLOOMS

It was no surprise that the Safari Zone had altered once more. Some other trainers clamored about what awaited in there, but Sven took their words with a grain of salt. Maybe he'd be surprised and he'd find something the others had not. This time around, he chose to approach the waters with his newer addition, Sprig the Snivy. The smaller lizard-like pokemon sniffed at the waters as though it tried to coax something out. Sven remained cautious as not to allow the creature to fall in. And the moment that it began to teeter, he lunged foward and caught the pokemon with a laugh.

"Careful now, those rocks can be slippery."

The creature heaved a sigh of relief that its trainer had saved it, and gave him a firm nod. This time, it would approach more carefully. As it scanned the perimeter, the Snivy carefully avoided stepping on the rocks, fearful it might find itself tumbling into the depths below.

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@safarizone

Late to the party, the scientist adjusted the bag that hung on his shoulder as he jogged forward. Thankfully the miserable groans of the zombified Megalopolans were enough to shadow his footsteps. As he approached, he saw the two that were to be on his team and gave a firm nod. It seemed the two were aware of the situation, but the blissful Illumina Shinx in Lam's hands didn't understand the danger. Much like the other two, Sven himself was in the dark about this place, but that wasn't an issue in his mind. Things like these were worth the research.

"I think I got an idea, and hear me out guys. We're just gonna have to do our best to keep quiet and--"

It wasn't long until Sven noticed how one of the creatures lumbered towards them, and soon broke out into a sprint. His body tensed. What was it that attracted it their way? Scent? Sound? As Sven hurriedly dug through his bag, he tried to figure out a solution. But as the lumbering creature made its way forward, his Iron Valiant stepped between the party and its oncoming assailant and lobbed the creature's head clean off in one fell swoop. Sven's eyes widened as he felt his stomach churn at the way the severed head bounced a few feet and the headless body came tumbling down. With a rough swallow of the bile that crawled its way up his throat, Sven reached up and gave his Iron Valiant a firm pat on the shoulder.

"It was a good call, Colissimo, but we don't want to kill these things if we don't have to. There's a chance they're still alive, so let's try to take care of this delicately. We don't want to stoop to their levels."

The Iron Valiant seemed hesitant to listen to its trainer's suggestion, but soon gave a nod. But it wasn't long until the creature turned to look at the Illumina Shinx and allowed its eyes to bore into the pokemon. Sven looked between Colissimo and Noodle, then the idea hit him. With a sharp breath in, Sven dug through his bag. Was it light that attracted these things? Once he managed to find a smaller flashlight he'd packed, Sven flipped the switch and stepped back to wind up the shot. As the small trinket whizzed through the sky, the bright light on it caught the attention of the zombified Megalopolans and sent them on a frenzy.

With the path cleared for the trio to continue, Sven beamed as he stuck out his thumb and pinky and shook it in a short of greeting at the two.

"Name's Sven, by the way. Pleased to make you two's acquaintance. I'm thinking these things are attracted to light, so if you feel your Shinx can outrun these things, maybe we can use it as another distraction? If not, I totally get it, we can improv otherwise! But right now, our best course of action is to just see what's up with this place, maybe we can discover what put these things into such a zombified trance? I'm not too hopeful about that, but if we figure that much out, maybe we can reverse it."

prompts completed
- 13 use a light source in some way to distract a swarm of mad megalopolans.

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lam logan Jasmine Blair

"SASKIA!"

The young scientist practically bursted through the doors as he caught sight of the ranger. She must have just been on her way back home, and here he had decided to try and surprise her. Seemed his timing had been off, or excitement had got the better of him. Nonetheless, he whipped his phone out and was thrilled to show Saskia his own profile.

"There's this new app out called AmiGo that lets you connect with all sorts of people! It's pretty fun! You should try it!"

Despite the excitement he felt about the whole ordeal, he was quick to lock his phone screen and pocket the device once more. Was it his attempt to sales pitch? Not really, he was just thrilled at the idea of meeting up with new people. And he figured Saskia had a bright enough personality that she'd thrive in an environment like the one the app offered.

"I've found so many friends, and they've offered such fun activities! I don't know what spitroasting is, but it sounds like a fun summer activity!"

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saskia volosenkova