The mystic struggled for a moment, frantically swinging her arms and kicking her legs, as though trying to swim through the air and back to the ground. Fortunately, she did make it there eventually! Unfortunately, it came in the form of her suddenly sinking to like a stone and hitting the floor with a loud THUD!

"...Ow..."

The pain didn't last, though, and once the shock of the impact had passed, she quickly scrambled back to her feet. This was bad. She hadn't expected the egg to be ACTUALLY haunted! Mitsuru hadn't expected this, but that didn't mean Lady Crane hadn't come prepared. It wouldn't be as easy as she'd like, but there was no other choice.

"W-well... Ahem, well! We'll just have to exorcise it." The occultist declared, reaching within her sash and pulling out a Pokeball. Murmuring a prayer under her breath, she tossed it forth, and out came her trusty Garganacl. "Seimei, cleanse that cursed spirit!"

Wordlessly, the sodium titan stepped forth, its blocky hands moving with surprising elegance. In on single swoop, it grabbed a palmful of Purifying Salt, and tossed it towards the ghastly gamete in an attempt to (Salt) Cure it!

---

GRACIE MAE BEE

Gifting Mitsuru Kagami's Galarian Yamask to howard slayte.

"I can write this off on my taxes, right...?"

It was a long trip back to the Safari Zone, made even longer by her tripping.

"EEP!"

Thankfully, the trip itself was rather short, only lasting a second. Doubly thankfully, she had the fortune of falling on the tall grass, so it was soft landing, too. Still, the shock of it all left her stunned for a good moment as she gathered itself back up, and went to look for what she had tripped on.

And it didn't take long for Mitsuru to find it - A loose Safari Ball, left sitting on the ground. Not only that, but it looked like a full one, too. Had someone dropped it? After looking around for signs of anyone else nearby, she slowly reached forward and examined it closely. It was caked in dirt and covered in rust, as though it had been sitting here for a long time. Upon the lid of the capsule, she could just barely make out a name scrawled around the edge: Pikachu.

Huh... Pikachu...

Once again, she looked around for any sign of an owner, even though she knew full well they'd be long, long, long gone by now. Then, wordlessly, she hid away the Safari Ball in her pocket, before quickly and quietly making her exit.

To get Seedot checked out. And for no other reason.

---

CATCHING MIMIKYU
WE OUT BOIS

They didn't lie - These pastures really were greener.

Really green. In fact, one might even call them verdant, if they wanted to be flowery about it! Oh, and it was flowery, too. A wide open meadow full of daisies and daffodils and more that she couldn't even name. If she'd thought to brought food with her, Mitsuru would've been tempted to stop for a picnic. Alas, she hadn't, and so she had no choice but to keep moving...

...Then again, given that her time in the safari zone is ticking down, that was probably for the best, huh? She'd better finish up here quick before they have to send the wardens to drag her back.

So, looking around, she found her next target snoozing at the base of a tree: A humble Seedot. Though, it did look a little red. Oh no, was it sick? Did it have a fever?! That wasn't good. Pulling out a Safari Ball, she crept up to the sleeping nut and gently tapped it, catching it within. Now, he'd better start heading back quick so she could get this little guy checked out...

---

SAFARI SPEEDRUN BOIS
Uhhhhh technically Mimikyu was supposed to be next but we're on Seedot now and it says the last Pokemon was caught??? IDK I'm fine to either catch this and end it and just add the Mimikyu or do another round to circle back to the Mimikyu ooooo i am not picky.

With Yamask caught and shaky cam footage gathered, Mitsuru carried on.

And so, with another five minutes of wandering, she found yet another Pokemon - A Nickit. Hm. Um. Okay, she didn't dislike them or anything, but weren't they the troublemaking type? And she was already in enough trouble without more being made for her. The last thing she needed right now was to get complaints from her neighbours that a rowdy fox was knocking over their bins and swiping their packages.

Leaving the Nickit to its nicking, she carried onward to (hopefully) greener pastures.

---

SAFARI SPEEDRUN BOIS
SPAWN 3/6, 2 BALLS REMAIN
G!YAMASK > NICKIT (L) > MIMIKYU > SEEDOT > GO HOME

It was Suicune, and yet, it wasn't.

That was all that Mitsuru could really say about the creature she had found in Area Zero. Not that she hadn't tried to learn more, mind! She studied every Johtonian tale she could remember, combed through every tangentially relevant book at her local library, and even scoured the internet for anything resembling an answer. But despite her efforts, all she had found were more questions.

This thing was a mystery. It didn't exist in any prior mythology. It wasn't referenced in any research papers or encyclopaedias. And, well, her social media and message boards were being even less helpful than usual. If she didn't know any better, she'd say this "Suicune" wasn't even real.

But the damp, scratch-covered Pokeball she held in her hands told her otherwise. It was real. It was definitely, totally, absolutely real. It HAD to be real! Because if it wasn't real, then what else could it possibly even be?

She needed answers. And though her heart raced at the thought of it, both her brain and her gut knew where she was going to get them.

And so, the runaway priestess ventured into the Petalburg Woods...

---

Isaac Merlo

After about five minutes of wandering the trails and seeing the sights, she finally came across her first Pokemon: A Galarian Yamask.

On one hand, it wasn't exactly Mitsuru's first choice of Pokemon. She already had to deal with enough "cursed" objects in her day-to-day life, and the idea of inviting one into her team wasn't the most tempting prospect. Buuuuuuuuut, even if she didn't want it, it made for a great marketing opportunity!

So, with her phone in one hand and a Safari Ball, she hit record and tossed the ball forward.

Was it impressive? No, not particularly. But! Once she had a glass of wine in her and some time to edit it? This would do numbers on Lady Crane's social media. Like, at LEAST twenty hits!

---

SAFARI SPEEDRUN BOIS
SPAWN 2/6, 2 BALLS REMAIN
G!YAMASK > NICKIT (L) > MIMIKYU > SEEDOT > GO HOME

What a lovely day! The sun was shining, the skies were clear, and Mitsuru had just bought herself a nice new summery dress on sale. All she needed was an excuse to get out and about, and the safari zone provided just that.

Granted, she wasn't much of a Pokemon battler, nor a Pokemon trainer, nor a Pokemon catcher, but that didn't matter. It was the Safari Zone! All the Pokemon inside were bred to be especially easy to catch, right? At least, she remembered reading something about that on Pokebook, anyway. So, as long as that was true, she'd be perfectly fine. And why wouldn't it be true? What, would people just go out onto the internet and lie? C'mon.

So, with head held high and summer in her step, Mitsuru ventured forth.

---

SAFARI SPEEDRUN BOIS
SPAWN 1/6, 3 BALLS REMAIN
G!YAMASK > NICKIT (L) > MIMIKYU > SEEDOT > GO HOME

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X safari ticket for april (50 PD)

I KNOW I am VERY LATE I am SORRY just let me get my GALARIAN YAMASK and MIMIKYU and SEEDOT and GO

TOTAL

do come again!

50 PD

"Excellent! Walk this way, please."

With a mysterious smile on her face, Lady Crane turned and walked, leading Yuina deeper into her cramped office. Past the front desk, down a short corridor, through the sliding door (singular), and into the innermost chamber. There, the soft carpet beneath their feet became hard wood, the plain walls changing to be covered in ukiyo-e paintings and scrolls. It was as though they had stepped out of modern day Hoenn, and into the Johto of the past.

Moving towards the centre of the room, Lady Crane took her seat on the floor, cross-legged at the low table in the centre of the room. Then, she gestured for Yuina to do the same.

"Oh, please, don't worry about it!" The mystic assured her valued customer. "You're hardly the first to do it, and I doubt you'll be the last."

She really, really, really hoped it wouldn't be the last.

"Tea?"

---

Yuina Higashi

Hm... It was definitely cold, like she said. But that didn't necessarily mean anything paranormal was afoot, did it? After all, she once watched this documentary about Snorunt in Sinnoh, and their eggs could remain icy cold even in warms environments! It was really good, too. Snorunt were so cute! And they seemed so low-maintenance, too! She'd love to have one...

...Ahem! Now, Lady Crane was no expert in Pokemon breeding and eggs and the like, but as far as she was concerned? This was just a quirky little egg. Not normal? Sure. Strange? Maybe! But, haunted? Nope, not at all.

"Well, Miss Mae, I'm glad to tell you that--"

As Lady Crane went to stand up, she suddenly found her feet weren't on the floor anymore. Instead, she was floating in the air, as though in zero gravity, the only thing binding her to the ground being the very egg she was clinging to.

"--EEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"

---

GRACIE MAE BEE