The Safari Zone was vast.
Any place capable of letting so many Pokémon live free of worry could hardly afford to be small.
So there was no need to rush. They could take their time and enjoy it. Going in without any pressure to come back out right away — spending a whole week inside would have been perfectly normal.
Today.
The afternoon sun filtered through scattered clouds and spilled over the quiet riverside within the Safari Zone. The water babbled and murmured, its surface alive with sparkling ripples.
Ash, Misty, and Brock had chosen a wide, open stretch of riverbank. They let all their Pokémon out at once and settled in to enjoy the unhurried afternoon.
This was the natural state of a Pokémon Trainer's life.
Generally speaking, there wasn't much pressing urgency to anything. A regional journey was just that — a journey. Life was free. In peacetime, there were no mandatory tasks hanging over your head. As long as you weren't breaking any laws, you could do whatever you liked.
That was the margin of error life allowed you.
The regional tournament was held once a year, true enough. But not every Trainer participated in the tournament of the same year they set out on their journey. Taking two or three years of travel before entering the competition was perfectly normal — like college entrance exam top scorers. There was a new one every year.
Once everyone had released their Pokémon, the riverbank erupted into cheerful noise and movement.
Around Ash:
Pikachu splashed happily at the edge of the water, pawing at the ripples with curious delight.
Pidgeot soared high overhead, great wings spread wide as it circled in a loose, watchful patrol.
The Golden Gyarados rolled and turned in the deeper current with lazy contentment, sending small waves lapping at the banks. Its brilliant body caught the sunlight and threw it back in dazzling flashes.
Misdreavus drifted giggling through the shadows cast by the other Pokémon, occasionally darting in to give Charizard's tail a mischievous little tug.
Charizard let out a snort of smoke in response — but didn't actually bother retaliating. It simply found a sun-drenched patch of ground, flopped down, and half-closed its eyes in drowsy satisfaction.
The most composed of them all was the one that could only be described as the "Golden Fearow."
It stood quietly a short distance behind Ash, sharp gaze sweeping the surroundings in a slow, methodical arc — completely at odds with the leisurely mood around it.
Ho-Oh, it had to be said, was not exactly a deity of strict moral principle.
But the weight of consciousness accumulated over long ages of existence made it impossible for him to simply play around with ordinary Pokémon the way they played with each other.
Ho-Oh had concluded that he needed to find a way to shrink his current form a little more.
At this size, it was completely impossible to be scooped up and held in the arms of his Rainbow Hero.
Perhaps... he could hold his Rainbow Hero in his arms instead?
Like incubating an egg.
Ho-Oh: Perhaps I could try it tonight?
Among every Rainbow Hero throughout all of recorded history, Ash was the type Ho-Oh cherished most.
In this regard, Ho-Oh was very different from Mew.
Mew's personality hadn't grown or matured with the passage of time. An ancient creature of unknowable age — and yet it behaved exactly like a child.
If it were Mew, she would have long since thrown caution to the wind and gone looking for Ash to play with, without a second thought.
Ho-Oh thought fondly of his old friend and decided: once they parted ways in Viridian City, he would go and find Mew. She wandered all over the world and wasn't easy to track down — but Mew's home, the Tree of the World's Origin, was easy enough to find.
There were many powerful deities in this world. That didn't mean they all got along.
Those who were easy to get along with: Ho-Oh, Mew, Lugia, Zygarde... that sort.
Those who were not: Groudon, Kyogre, Yveltal, Rayquaza... that sort.
The moment Misty's Blue Gyarados hit the water, it drifted straight over toward Ash's Golden Gyarados with an air of affectionate familiarity. The two enormous creatures rubbed their scales against each other in the current, looking remarkably comfortable together.
They were the same species, after all. That counted for something. Gyarados as a species were short-tempered, but they also had a high threshold for pain — when a companion roughed them up a little, the answer was simply to rough them back. It was just another way of building friendship. With hides that tough, there was no need to worry about actually hurting each other.
In the shallows, Starmie and Staryu spun and frolicked together.
Horsea trailed behind them carefully, puffing out tiny water bubbles.
Psyduck sat on the bank with both hands pressed to its head, staring blankly at the flowing water with a vacant expression — as if wrestling with some profound philosophical question.
What was Psyduck thinking about?
Psyduck: ...
Psyduck wasn't thinking about anything.
Psyduck was just zoning out.
Psyduck.
Brock's Pokémon, on the other hand, were decidedly of the "heavyweight" variety.
Onix and Steelix were coiled along the riverbank like a pair of small mountains.
Golem and Geodude rolled and tussled around them in a boisterous game.
Well-behaved Vulpix sat quietly at Brock's feet, enjoying the gentle strokes of its Trainer's hand.
"Huh? Brock, what's this one?" Misty's attention was caught by a Pokémon near Brock — one that resembled an ammonite, its entire body encased in a hard, spike-covered shell.
It was poking at the river water with curious tentacles.
"Oh, this is an Omanyte," Brock said with a smile, giving the Pokémon's shell a gentle pat. "Rare, right?"
"I got it when I was helping out at the Pewter City Museum a while back. A researcher friend of mine passed it to me to look after."
The Pewter City Science Museum was one of the city's famous attractions. The building had two floors — the first housed a reception area and a fossil exhibition, including specimens of Aerodactyl and Kabutops. The second floor held a space exhibition, featuring a space shuttle model and a large Moon Stone that had fallen on Mt. Moon.
Brock had worked part-time as a security guard at the Pewter City Science Museum. And his hobby — in his spare time — was fossil hunting in Mt. Moon.
The same hobby as a certain rock-obsessed madman he knew.
"A Fossil Pokémon?" Misty leaned in with curiosity. "Aren't they supposed to be extinct?"
Brock shook his head and explained:
"A lot of people think so." "But in truth, a portion of the Pokémon categorized as Fossil Pokémon never actually went completely extinct. They simply fell into a kind of suspended dormancy — buried deep underground."
"In some especially significant fossil excavations, they turn up occasionally — and under the right conditions, they can even be awakened. We have a few at Pewter Gym ourselves, like Kabuto and Kabutops."
He paused for a moment, as if something had just come to mind, and added:
"I also have a friend who's absolutely obsessed with digging up rocks. Travels all over the world for it."
"According to him, in those ancient geological strata that most people can't even reach — there are still quite a few remarkable things very much 'alive' down there."
"He was actually bragging to me once about finding a Lileep root with faint traces of biological activity..."
That said, when it came to this particular friend, Brock didn't go into further detail.
"Strictly speaking, we're more online acquaintances than anything else. We just happen to hit it off really well when it comes to rocks and minerals."
Brock smiled and moved on from the topic lightly.
Because this good friend of his happened to be Tsuwabuki Daigo — Steven Stone.
The eldest son of the Devon Corporation, out of the Hoenn region. His background and history would take quite a while to explain, and this wasn't the right moment to get into it.
Just as Fighting-type Trainers had their own little circles, Rock-type and Ground-type enthusiasts had their niche communities too.
These circles weren't formal professional organizations — just interest-based chat groups.
And sometimes rather unstructured ones at that.
Did you think they spent their time exchanging expert knowledge? Quite possibly they were just shooting the breeze and talking nonsense.
With Brock and his crowd, what they chatted about in the group chat day in and day out was usually not Pokémon at all — it was rare rocks, fossils, and other precious mineral specimens.
But that wasn't the main point here.
The main point was that Fossil Pokémon like this one were genuinely uncommon.
Ash and Misty both had eyes sparkling like stars, clearly itching to get their hands on this living "fossil" for a closer look.
That kind of wide-eyed fascination made the Omanyte distinctly uncomfortable. It shrank in on itself a little — then extended its tentacles again and resumed exploring the water world that was both strange and thrilling to it.
As an ancient Pokémon, even now that it had gradually adjusted to this era, everything still felt wonderfully new.
Not that Ash and Misty actually did anything too forward. After all, there would be plenty of opportunities down the road.
"If you're interested, there should be a chance at our next destination — the Great Fool's Valley," Brock said thoughtfully. "Though the archaeological excavation requirements over there are fairly strict."
"Everyone take note when we get there — don't do anything reckless," he added.
"I'm just curious, honestly. I'm not really interested in catching one," Misty said plainly.
"Same here," Ash agreed.
Everyone took out their fishing rods and settled in for some casual angling along the riverbank, savoring the quiet of being surrounded by Pokémon.
This was the good life.
Pikachu occasionally batted at the fishing line with its little paw.
Misdreavus tried using Illusion to spook the Pokémon in the water, sending ripples of laughter through the whole group.
The last light of evening painted the sky in shades of amber and red, washing over the riverbank where Trainers and Pokémon lived side by side in easy harmony — a warm, beautiful scene, like a painting frozen in time.
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan ;)🔥👻
🔥 New history: Reborn as Naoya I Really Am Here for Revenge!
Help smash these goals:
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