Pokemon Safari (1)

Naruto walked through the grass patches and passed by a few Rattatas who were eating their meal. He wanted to catch this particular pokemon to increase his collection but he only had one Pokeball. If he met a rare pokemon on his journey and he had no spare Pokeball to catch it, he knew that he would regret it. He forced himself to turn away and headed to the narrow passageway leading to Area 2.

He noticed that the path was filled with shrubs. He treaded through it and arrived at a big clearing with smaller grass patches and a pond at the middle area. The waiting shed was located at the far-east corner while the feeders were placed within the grass patches randomly.

The first pokemon he encountered while he was on his way to the feeders was a female Charmander.

At first, Charmander was startled by the sudden appearance of Naruto but when she saw that he was a human visitor, she watched him carefully. She slowly stepped forward as she uttered, "Char?!"

Naruto did not know how to react but he noticed that the Charmander was being friendly so he waved his hand. "Hello, pokemon! Can I catch you?"

Charmander snubbed him and turned around.

"Eh, did the pokemon just ignored me?" Naruto muttered to himself as he scratched his head. "Well, whatever."

Naruto continued on his way and met different pokemon. A flock of Pidgeys was flying from tree to tree while a Male Paras avoided him and went crawling to a hole. Even a Rattata almost wanted to approach him but was suddenly scared by his loud voice and went scurrying away.

When he reached the feeder, he sat on the ground and drank his water from his pouch. "I don't know what to catch. Should I just choose the next pokemon I see or will I proceed to Area 3?"

As he was thinking of this, he saw a particular brown head popping out from the ground before him. "Huh?! This is my first time to see such a Pokemon!"

Naruto recalled what Okami said and knew that he had to catch this pokemon without using any Jutsu. Without thinking further, he decided to throw the Pokeball right against the pokemon.

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Sasuke was careful with his steps so as not to scare the pokemon who were strolling through the grass patches at Area 1. Even though he could not use any Jutsu whatsoever, he would try his luck and catch any Pokemon he wanted. He knew that he was not a Pokemon Trainer yet but he recalled that everyone could start catching pokemon even though they could not summon the pokemon outside the Pokeball after catching them.

He looked back and saw Sakura still busy with the Jigglypuff. At first, he disdained such a weak-looking pokemon but after what he witnessed during his fight with Okami, he did not want to underestimate anyone anymore.

Sasuke ignored his teammates for now and concentrated on his plan to capture his first three pokemon. The first Pokeball was his reward from the big event five months ago. He got the second Pokeball from Okami for free as an apology gift while the last one was bought by Kakashi.

He followed the trail and soon reached the narrow pathway that led to the next area. He wanted to stay a bit in this place but he saw Naruto walking through the field. "I should proceed to Area 3. Some rare pokemon might appear in the deeper sections."

After a few minutes, Sasuke bypassed every Pokemon he encountered in Area 2 and went directly to the next. As soon as he reached the clearing, the first pokemon he saw was a Male Venonat. He crouched on the floor and slowly crawled through the grassy areas when both of their eyes met.

They did not move for a minute and all they did was stare at each other. He was not the pokemon Sasuke was looking for but there was something about the pokemon's eyes that intrigued him. Nevertheless, he opted to back out because he did not know the capabilities of Venonat. When he was about to walk away, Venonat started to follow him.

"Go away. You're not the one I'm looking for," Sasuke shooed the bug pokemon as he turned around to continue his search. He still felt the presence of someone behind him and looked back. True enough, Venonat was still on his trail as he hopped on the ground.

Sasuke's eyes twitched. "I said that you're not the one I need to become stronger."

Venonat tilted his round head slightly before chirping out loud. But he did not move from his position and stared at Sasuke.

Sasuke almost wanted to flicker away right there and then but he remembered Okami's warning. Without a choice, he headed to the area where the waiting shed was, hoping that the Venonat would leave him.

When he reached the Waiting Shed, he noticed that two pokemon were on standby outside just beside the door. The first one was a male Geodude and the other one was female Rattata.

"A new pokemon." Sasuke encountered this pokemon for the first time and was legitimately curious about it. He stopped moving at all and observed what the two pokemon were doing.

Geodude sensed him right away and looked at his direction. As soon as he noticed that Sasuke was just standing still, he left the Rattata and approached him as he hopped his way.

Sasuke smiled and waved his hand. "Hello. I'm friendly."

Geodude reached out his right hand and offered a pebble.

Sasuke slowly moved his hand as he took the pebble and studied it. "What's this?"

Geodude slammed the ground and a cloud of dust was formed.

Sasuke felt suffocated because of the clouds of dust so he immediately stepped back to get out. As soon as he escaped from the clouds of dust, he crouched down and fixed his gaze on the area where Geodude was hidden. He was about to approach the pokemon when he sensed someone moving behind. True enough, he saw Venonat when he turned around to check who it was.

Venonat looked at the clouds and chirped loudly when he noticed Geodude. Liquid ooze slowly emerged from his round body as he felt triggered by Geodude's Sand Attack.

Sasuke realized that something was wrong. He was about to hide behind the tall grasses when he noticed that Venonat was glowing. The light went brighter until it entirely covered the bug pokemon's body.

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"Hah! So cute!" Sakura petted the male Jigglypuff. "I really want you to become my starter pokemon."

The female Jigglypuff inflated to almost twice her size and glared at her.

"Eh?" Sakura sensed that the other pokemon was angry but when she saw how funny she looked right now, she could not help but snigger. "Hah! I really want to have you as well."

The female Jigglypuff suddenly slapped the male Jigglypuff's face not just once but five times. As if not contented, she continued her barrage and sent out another three successive slaps.

The male Jigglypuff was angry and retaliated by pounding against her body. The female Jigglypuff was sent away as she crashed against the tree.

The female Jigglypuff stood up and her body glowed once. The male one saw her action and used Harden as well.

Sakura was left flabbergasted as she watched the two pokemon used the Harden skill for as many times as they could. After several minutes, they both stopped glowing and continued with their slapping attacks.

"Should I just leave?" Sakura realized that she ruined their date and slowly left the area. After passing through the grass patches, she realized that she unknowingly arrived at the narrow pathway that led to Area 2. She went on her way and reached a big clearing after a short minute of traveling. "Where am I?"

Sakura scanned her surroundings and saw that there was a pond amidst the grass patches. Attracted by the crystal blue water, she headed to the pond.

"Ah! I need to wash my hands. I don't want Sasuke seeing me unkempt."

Sakura crouched down and was about to dip her hands into the water when she noticed something moving deep below. "Ack!"

She fell to her butt. "What was that?!"

A ripple formed at the water's surface and a female jellyfish with two crystal-like circles on her head appeared. When she saw Sakura, she waved her two tentacles and floated towards the shore.

"A new pokemon?!" Sakura stood up and was about to run away when she realized that Tentacool was waving her tentacles at her. She waved her hand to indicate that she was friendly as well. "Hello, jellyfish. I will not hurt you so please do not hurt me as well."

Tentacool suddenly spurted some bubbles from her mouth and hit Sakura's face.

Sakura did not expect that Tentacool would attack her. She felt the cold wet feeling on her face and her hair was drench with water as well.

"Oh! You should have not done that!" Sakura growled as she rubbed her clenched fist.

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Kakashi went directly to Area 4, thinking that the higher the number, the rarer the pokemon it would have. He saw several pokemon that were familiar to him since Okami always summoned them in the Pokemon Center's front yard. The numerous of them were Rattata and Pidgey, which validated what Shikaku told him while he visited the Pokemon Intelligence Division.

He studied all the Pokedex entry recorded in their archives. What he wanted to catch was a pokemon that was not yet included in their Pokedex.

As he went from one area to the next, he noticed that there were common pokemon that could be located throughout the Pokemon Safari. But there were a number of them that he was not able to encounter inside the Safari. For instance, he never met an Abra nor a Kangaskhan as he passed all the area. Even a Chansey was hard to find. All the pokemon he encountered were all possible to find outside and within Konoha's territory.

Kakashi finished treading through the narrow passage and arrived at Area 4. He jumped up the nearest tree and concentrated his eyes and looked at the farthest distance he could see. "Wow. There's no clearing at all. The entire ground is filled with thick and long grasses, which are taller than me. Looks like my guess is right, after all."

Kakashi leaped down and landed on the ground. He was about to go forward when he noticed that a puppy was sleeping at the far-east corner just before the grasses.

"A puppy?! I've never seen a pokemon like this."

Kakashi slowly approached the area where the puppy was to avoid startling the Pokemon. When he finally reached the place, he scrutinized the physical details of the puppy pokemon.

"Indeed, this is a new pokemon. The Pokemon Intelligence Division has no records on it whatsoever. I'm sure Shikaku will look at me with envy if I have one while their division has not."

Growlithe roused up from his sleep and sensed that someone was inside his territory. As soon as he lifted up his gaze, he saw Kakashi who was observing him as well. He yawned and stood up as he shook his body.

Kakashi noticed that the male Growlithe was awake. He was very familiar with canines and since this was a puppy, he treated him as such. He stooped down and snapped his fingers. "Here, puppy. I mean you no harm. I just want to be your friend."

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