It was the last day of the school trip to Fuchsia and while Quinn knew she could come back again in her own time, she didn’t really want to fork out the cash to cover the expensive entry or wait another month to go in for free. It wasn’t that she was short on cash, because working long hours for The Post enabled her to put away some savings after paying the rent and bills, but that money was something she was saving for special occasions like birthdays or Christmas. It wasn’t something she really wanted to spend on herself. And she didn’t want to wait to catch something because she really wanted something new in time for tryouts that she could surprise people with. 

The only problem was that she’d been in the park every day that week and everything had either been too weak or not something she’d ever dream of catching. She was starting to lose hope. But at the end of the day, Quinn was a Fabray and while they were many things - alcoholics, liars and religious nuts to name but a few of their worst qualities - they weren’t quitters and Quinn especially wasn’t one to give up on anything once she’d put her mind to it. 

Which was how she found herself hunched over and creeping through the tall grass in the south quadrant, trying to sneak up on an Absol that she’d spotted in the distance. She probably didn’t have to go this far, but she was taking no chances. Today was the last day and she refused to go home empty handed. 

Scout was to her left, stalking through the grass with her and making sure nothing else was around them. “Just a little further,” Quinn whispered to Scout, as they finally got close enough to the Absol for them to be able to make their move. 

Just as Quinn was about to tell throw bait towards it to lure it out, a noise from behind her startled her and the very Pokemon she’d been trying to catch. The Absol looked up and saw her and proceeded to bolt. There wasn’t even any time to try to take it out with Scout had she been allowed to. Instead Quinn had to watch on as it ran from her, taking all hope of catching anything good with it. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She shouted, beyond pissed that she’d somehow blown her chance. Turning to look at whatever had made the sound, Quinn saw a shape in the grass that hadn’t been there before. She slowly moved towards it, parting the grass as she went and stopped when she saw what had interrupted her earlier catch attempt. 

There in the middle of the long grass was an Abra - one of the few psychic types she was dying to get her hands on. 

Her right hand moved to grasp one of the Safari Balls on her belt, while her right tossed some bait towards it. The Abra saw the bait but did nothing to move towards it. Quinn sighed and tossed more in it’s direction but still, nothing. She was at a loss for what to do and considered throwing the ball anyways, when the Abra decided to teleport away from her. 

Quinn was about to swear loudly, but the Abra never gave her a chance to because it hadn’t teleported to get away, but rather it had teleported to get closer to her. She laughed and held out more bait to the Abra and this time it took it straight for her hands. Distracted by the bait, it could do nothing when Quinn finally tossed her Safari ball at it, capturing it on her first try. 

Kurt had gone to the Safari Zone pretty much every day of the trip. He wasn’t sure why, but he was determined to add a new Pokemon to his team. Maybe it had been the realization that he only had two types of Pokemon at his disposal; what kind of trainer only had two types? He needed to diversify if he wanted to succeed as a coordinator. 

He had, of course, been tempted by the Smeargle and the Electrike that he had encountered, but catching either of those Pokemon would have been counterproductive, wouldn’t it? So he set off for the zone again, knowing that this would be one of the last few times he would be able to go until next month. 

Kurt set out early in the morning, before the sun had even risen. He figured that going at different times of day would expose him to a wider variety of Pokemon. By the time the sun had risen, though, he was hot and sweaty, ready to give up. He took a detour off the path to sit by the river where he had watched a Lotad swimming around the day before. He had just broken through the trees when he heard the sound of something disrupting the water. He had just enough time to let out a sound of surprise before something solid bounced off his chest. It seemed at first glance to be a very vicious-- bubble?

He took a step back, looking down at the little Pokemon that landed right in front of him. It was a tiny Azurill, maybe twice the size of Java-- which wasn’t saying much, considering how small his little spider Pokemon was. It stared up at him with big eyes, bouncing on it’s tail before launching it up to eye level with Kurt a few times, letting out a little ‘mmf!’ sound with each bounce, before letting out a stream of little bubbles into Kurt’s face. 

He giggled, the bubbles obviously not an attack but the Pokemon’s attempt at playing with him. He dug through his bag, pulling out one of the poffins that he had brought with him before sitting on a rock near the river bank. He broke off a small piece, bite sized for the baby Pokemon before offering it to her. She bounced over to him, greedily eating the little treat before knocking it out of his hand, taking bites of it after it had landed on the ground. Chuckling, he reached out to rub her head gently. 

The man continued to feed her bits of food for a good while, making a game out of it and hiding the little bites in his hand and making her choose which one it was in. Finally, she seemed to tire, yawning our a little ‘riiii’ sound before bouncing into his lap, settling in for a nap. Kurt blinked in surprise, rubbing his fingers over the mouse Pokemon’s blue fur. 

It was her third day in the Safari Zone, and Madison just prayed that this effort would go better. She’d been tripped by a Slowpoke and tormented by a gross Gulpin, and all she really wanted was to find something cute, or better yet, good, to add to her team.

Popple flapped his wings beside her as they flew through the zone. She wasn’t allowed to use him to attack, but it was nice to have eyes in the sky as she wandered around, her belt filled with distraction balls, treats, and Safari Balls for catching things with.

The bushes beside Madison ruffled, and she tensed, just in case something came charging at her unexpectedly. But instead of a large, scary beast launching itself at her, the bushes cleared a path for a small, pink Snubbull that seemed to be waving its arms frantically in Madison’s direction. 

Madison recognized the Pokemon instantly, but what she didn’t realize was what it was doing... until Popple drifted over to get a closer look at the little fairy dog, and Madison realized that the movements it was making were mirroring her Woobat. 

“Oh my gosh, you’re so cute!” Madison squealed, absolutely enamored with the way the little Snubbull was waving its arms and trying to pretend it was the other Pokemon. It was the most adorable thing she’d seen in days, and she just wanted to crouch down then and there and give the little Pokemon a hug.

Instead, though, she reached into her belt, needing to do this the right way. She pulled out a treat and tossed it to the Snubbull, hoping it would take it and realize that Madison wanted to be its friend. She was pretty sure she’d go home in tears if she didn’t add something so precious and perfect and pink to her team, and she waited with bated breath for it to topple forward to take the treat.

“Please join my team, please join my team, please join my team,” Madison chanted hopefully as she pulled a Safari ball out next. She knew that she couldn’t weaken the Pokemon, so hopefully it was happy now from the food and from her delighted squealing, and would let the ball trap it without putting up much of a fight.

Light flashed in the air, and Madison stared as the ball engulfed the Snubbull and teetered back and forth. Popple landed on her shoulder, nudging her for reassurance, and when Madison saw the ball finally stop rolling back and forth, she jumped up and down, clapping her hands together.