PokeWild

The path to the Safari Zone was nothing like the rest of Fuchsia. For one it was cobbled, rough bumpy stone instead of smooth tarmac. That was the least of the changes.

Tightly packed houses and apartments gave way to spacious villas and eventually mansions. Most of these large structures were constructed of the local white wood, but some were built from more exotic materials. David recognized the cream textured walls and green tiles from Celadon, and the old hewn stone and simple designs that had surrounded the dojo in Saffron.

To fill the increased space between the houses, large gardens had been planted. The greenery in them as varied and exotic as the buildings. One garden would have brilliant flowers that drew the eye, the next damp ferns that drank light and hid other undergrowth from view. Dry cacti, ponds full of aquatic horticulture, artificial caves full of mushrooms. None of it fit. The marshes that surrounded Fuchsia were full of life. David had seen plenty of it as he trekked across the boggy, often stinking Route 18. Life flourished in many ways amongst all the decay and fetid dampness. Not like this though.

The sense of wrongness followed him as he walked. The lack of residents only added to it. There was no life in the villas and mansions. No one tended the gardens. The only movement in sight was on the same road he was, the path to the Safari Zone.

More than once, David regretted that he agreed to meet Louis at the Safari Zone and not the Fuchsia main circle.

The unnerving effect settled into a steady background hum as the path came to an end in a courtyard. The courtyard surface was as flat as a lake, perfectly tiled with polished stone. It was a work of art itself, only shadowed by the reflection it carried of the building above. Despite the disquieting feeling, David couldn’t help but gasp as he took in the palace at the entrance to the Safari Zone.

Towering stone pillars bracketed the walls, their surface alternating between slabs of intricately carved Pokemon and flawless polished stone, curved mirrors to match the tiles below. Balconies swooped out from between the pillars, towering glass windows and doors behind. Large sculptures that twisted upon themselves like illusions hung from impossibly thin chains off swooping struts. The struts themselves were thin by the wall and curved out into ovals as they reached further from the wall. It was an odd detail, and one that defied all logic he could think of.

The palace was three stories tall and stretched out past David’s sight into the woods and gardens alongside. It was a building out of a fairy tale. As he stood there taking it all in he could almost see horse-drawn carriages full of noble guests circling the courtyard before him, ready to release their passengers to a party.

It was undeniably beautiful, and the work of generations of architects and artists to build and design. Back home it would have been a major tourist destination.

So why, he wondered, was this the Safari Zone and not the Fuchsia Palace?

“David!”

Following the voice, he spotted Louis waving from one of the side entrances to the palace. Taking one last look at the intricate carvings and the strange sculptures, he followed.

“In through here,” Louis said, ushering him through the door while scanning the other passersby. Taking one last furtive glance around the courtyard, Louis closed the door behind him and slid three locks closed.

David eyed him suspiciously. “Am I allowed back here?”

“Hmm?” Louis asked absently, already moving to scan the corridor behind them. The interior of the palace was as grand as the exterior. The flooring was made of large sheets of some marble-like stone, complete with the fossilized remains of sea creatures of various sizes. The roof was stone as well, and carved to resemble clouds. Only the walls stood out, noticeably blank with several recesses in the wall above eye height where paintings were missing. “Sure, of course, why do you ask?”

He punctuated this by advancing to the next doorway and leaning around the corner like he was expecting incoming fire as he checked.

“That is why I ask!” David hissed, unwittingly finding himself sneaking around the corners too.

“Nonsense,” Louis chuckled nervously. He spied through the next doorway, a small frame that tried to blend into the surroundings as much as possible, before stepping into it. “All Rangers are allowed to give private tours in the safari zone.”

The small doorway led to a narrow, cramped passage. It had none of the trappings of the other corridor, the walls, roof and floor were all plain and while clean the wear from hurried feet stood out.

Even distracted as he was by their surroundings, it didn’t take David long to notice what Louis had neglected to mention.

“Rangers? As in full rangers and not their apprentices?” He whispered, voice rising enough that it was barely that. He did not need to be brought in front of the Fuchsia police on trespassing charges.

By the slight stiffening in Louis’ already tense form, it was clear he had hit the mark. He led them down another corridor. Then they took an immediate turn into a wide hall.

“Ssssh!” Louis hissed back. “The rules don’t specify.”

“Then why are we sneaking?”

“Because the rules don’t specify,” Louis answered with a glare back at him. “Now quiet. We’re nearly there.”

After glaring himself at Louis back, David decided he was already committed. After the number of turns they’d taken it was unlikely he could find his way out without running into someone. Louis' ranger apprentice status was a flimsy protection, but it was an excuse.

Two minutes of careful navigation later, Louis ushered him into a wide chamber, one converted to be an office of some kind. A series of desks cut across the center of the room while the wall opposite their entrance had floor to ceiling windows. Louis hurried towards one of the desks while David found himself drawn to the windows.

The office looked out onto a grassy plain with infrequent shrubs and bushes. In the distance, he could make out a line of blue and motion, flashes of movement and vague shapes that dotted around the blue. The plain was at odds with Fuchsia, closer in nature to the area around Celadon than the nearby bogs. Unlike the gardens surrounding the manors on the way here though, it didn’t fill David with unease. There was still a lingering disquiet, but it was muted somewhat.

“David!” Louis hissed again.

“Hmm?”

Louis waved a sheet of paper in his hand. “You need to fill this out.”

Tearing his eyes away from the windows for good, David retreated back into the office.

The form was odd to him, but in the way that this world was odd to him, and not in an abnormal way for paperwork. There were the now usual questions. Trainer number, number of badges, number of Pokemon. There were a couple of declarations - that he was carrying no pokeballs, no food for the Pokemon in the zone, no equipment to disrupt the environment and that he had no intention of capturing the Pokemon. The only thing that really caused him pause was the field for purpose of visit.

‘I want to examine my likely opponents and identify their weaknesses so I can exploit them in battle.’

No matter how David put it, rearranging words and rephrasing, it just didn’t sound like it would hold up. In the end, he wrote ‘sightseeing’ and left it at that.

-.-

“...and I repeat, if you release one of your Pokemon, we’re both chow. Leave it to me, or run.”

“Hide behind the ranger, got it.” David grinned at Louis. It was funny seeing him in an ‘official’ capacity again after a week of hanging around at his work. Louis’ official duties these days were few and far in between.

Louis narrowed his eyes into a look that spelled trouble, but after searching David’s face and failing to find any snark, he straightened. “Right. Now, I know you aren’t from Fuchsia, so I’ll try to explain everything about the Safari. Stop me if I’m telling you something you already know.”

“Where’s a recorder when you need one..” David lamented.

“Don’t you dare!” Louis snapped, scanning David again.

David held his empty hands out, but inside he was sweating. ‘Thank god they have recorders here.‘ It was a slip. Maybe it was the successful trip through the palace, but he had been relaxed, off guard.

Louis didn’t notice David’s internal conflict. He turned back and led the way towards the water in the distance.

“The Safari zone is split into four rough areas. This is the central area. It’s closest to the palace and acts as a kind of meeting point for all the Pokemon species. It’s the flattest land in the zone and the largest presence in this area is the Rhyhorn herd. They act as messengers and backup of a sort, connecting the four areas.”

“Messengers? You’re saying that like all the Pokemon are cooperating together? And what’s with the land? Why is it so different to everywhere outside the city?”

Louis shot him a dirty look for interrupting the speech. Then he made a pained face. “I guess I skipped past that all. It has been a long time since I had a class here.” He looked around, and spying a Nidorina coming closer, he gestured David over to a nearby bush. Together they watched as the bulky blue Pokemon, the counterpart to Louis’ own Nidorino, came over to investigate them.

Nidorina was the female version of Nidorino, but while being the same species they looked like very different Pokemon. Louis’ Nidorino was a light purple and heavily spiked. There was not a patch of its hide that you could touch without stabbing yourself. The Nidorina on the other hand was a baby blue, with fewer, larger spikes. It also alternated between walking upright on two rear legs and prone on all fours as a quadruped. Nidorino could not support themselves on their rear legs at all.

Nidorina was a softer version of its male counterpart, but both Louis and David watched the meter tall Pokemon carefully. Softer did not mean powerless. Only when she dismissed them and returned to a nearby burrow did they begin talking again.

“This entire area is wrong. Hundreds of years ago it used to be a delta, a massive network of streams and rivers that was the home to unique Pokemon. Pokemon and the food from rivers attracted humans. Humans attracted civilization and civilization attracted a new kind of disease.” Louis gestured at the palace in the distance behind them. “You’ve probably heard of the Voyants in Saffron, but in Fuchsia they were different creatures. With their powers they took control over a wide area, but that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted more, and here in the delta is where they started. They prefer Psychic type Pokemon obviously and the delta held little of them. So they got rid of the delta. Over decades they filled the rivers, they killed the life and created a little haven for their favorite Pokemon. We don’t know how many species were lost forever.”

Looking around the vast plain, it was impossible to imagine rivers and streams. The only water at all was that lake in the distance.

“They gathered rare Pokemon, often culling the native populations in their natural habitats as they did. Some Pokemon in the Safari zone can’t be found anywhere else in Kanto.”

“How?“ David asked. “Why did no one stop them?” In a world where Pokemon were weapons and demigods, how had this happened?

Louis shrugged. “People are still guessing today. Documents show that the project wasn’t meant to be this widespread, but when none of the Legendaries stepped in, the Voyants took it as a sign of their supremacy and expanded.”

“None of the legendaries? What about the people?”

“What do you mean?” Louis asked, brow furrowed.

David stared at him in shocked confusion. “The other cities? Other people?”

“Why would they interfere? It wasn’t their responsibility,” Louis turned back to the lake in the distance. “Nowadays the Pokemon here are carefully managed, but the damage will never - can never be undone. For some of the species here, this is their only home and even if the environment was reverted, the original species are mostly long gone.” He gave David a secretive smile at that last point.

“Shit,” David said, shaking his head. It wasn’t like he was a stranger to environmental problems, habitats being wiped and dying species, but it felt different for Pokemon, for creatures like Cloudburst and Venonat. It seemed crueler, more foolish.

Or maybe it was just being confronted by it in person.

“When I say messengers I only mean roughly. With so many species in one place a pecking order must be in place or chaos would reign. Koga plays a large part but the- never mind, that’s not important today. Quick, let’s get to the viewing point up ahead.”

Louis rushed ahead before David could question him on the redirection. By the time he’d caught up, they’d reached the viewing point and much more pressing questions had appeared.

“So many small pink eggs!” He had to raise his voice to be heard over all the grunts and cries below.

“Exeggcute. They always weird me out too. Each of those egg-like things belong to one creature. All part of this hivemind. They’re some of the few Psychic species that remained after the Voyants left. We don’t really know why.”

“Why the egg shape? And can they even float? They’re very close to the water.”

Louis shrugged, a smile on his face as he watched David. “Best guess is that they look like Pokemon eggs from above. Few Flying types will eat eggs. I don’t know if they can float, but the water doesn’t drop for about ten meters.”

“Shit. And the large pink are the evolved form?”

“No, Chansey,” Louis said with a laugh.

“What? They don’t look like Chansey from here. And why are all the Exeggcute around them?”

Louis hesitated. “Chansey are similar to Rhyhorn, but rather than messengers they’re like bosses? Judges? I’m not sure how to phrase it. They’re important to all species of Pokemon, especially here.”

“What a view.”

They could see across the lake from this hill and surrounding the lake were over a hundred Pokemon of all shapes, sizes and colors. Exeggcute rolled after the larger pink blobs that were Chansey. Nidoran, Nidorino and Nidorina traveled in herds to and from the water, some led by massive Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Rhyhorn butted heads and created rock gardens by the water. The water itself was far from still either. Yellow Psyduck bobbed on the surface. On David and Louis’ side of the lake one was being harassed by several tiny dark blue blobs - Poliwag.

“Psyduck are another of the species that remained after the Voyants left,” Louis said, identifying where David’s attention lay. “They were native to the delta beforehand, so it was less surprising.”

For half an hour David watched, his original purpose for visiting the Safari Zone long forgotten. In all the weeks he’d spent traveling the wild, not once had he seen so many Pokemon in one place cooperating together. Even he, a stranger to this world, could tell that it was something special. That this place was something special. He could have sat and watched for hours more, but Louis had other plans.

“Come on, there’s something I want you to see. It’s out east, near area one, and we can’t be out here when it gets dark.”

The trek across the plains wasn’t as interesting as watching the lakeside, but it had delights of its own. He got to see an Exeggcute up close, which was as freaky as it was interesting. There was something unexplainable about staring into six pairs of eyes and seeing the same being behind each one. It wasn't haunting so much as deeply confusing. The light pink eggs, covered with cracks, didn't feel real. As he looked at the Pokemon, he couldn’t help but feel there was more to them, tucked out of view.

It was the squelching underneath that alerted David to the fact something was up. The grin on Louis' face was only a confirmation.

“You can throw hundreds of tons of dirt into a river, but the water has to go and come from somewhere. Come on, just a little more.”

The terrain continued to get more marshy and boggy until streams cut their way through the soil. The sound of trickling water filled the air and the smell of mud and algae stuck in his nose. Louis led him with practiced ease across the uneven ground, but both of their shoes were soaked by the time Louis crouched and gestured him down.

“By the trees! Over there!”

At first David saw nothing. The trees were green, the grass was green and so were all the other plants. Then he noticed the flicker, the slight haze that was like a mirage but not.

“There they go,” Louis whispered.

The green shifted and the flicker expanded. It wasn’t a shaking. It was a vibration, the beating of many large wings. As one the group lifted, four creamy white wings beating at speed to carry large bodies off the ground. Even from a distance it was clear these creatures were human sized. Their height made it difficult to associate with the Pokemon that he knew. The Pokemon were sleek, smooth lines everywhere except for their exoskeleton's natural weaponry. That was thin and sharp, blades that could cut through anything.

The Scyther flew, and the world parted before them. They weren’t fast flyers, but they were as at home in the air as they were on the land. Some leapt from the trees, switching between running horizontally and flight without pause.

“Shit.” Even from a distance David could tell they were deadly creatures in a world of deadly creatures.

“The original species are mostly gone.” Louis had a wide, confident grin on his face. “Some Fuchsia has managed to restore. The Scyther are one of the big success stories. The Voyants don’t like Bugs, and they were hunted to the ground. While powerful, Scyther don’t like hiding from a fight even if they are good at it. There were only three left after the rebellion.”

The pack of ten or so Pokemon disappeared in the trees.

“Come on, we need to head back.” Louis said, tapping David’s shoulder.

They made it back to the palace with the sun starting to fall behind them. The Safari Zone didn’t help his plans at all. It wasn’t what David expected. It was better.

He walked home happy, ready to see Cloudburst and Venonat again and tell them a story.