Chapter 122: Regional Tauros

After having our Pokemon stored away, the Safari Zone's Rancher, Kaiser, who is an acquaintance of Professor Oak, welcomed us. Wishing us good luck, we equipped the ball belts he gave us over our waist, and saw the door close, leaving to our own devices.

We were immediately blasted by the scent of nature, coupled with several different kinds of Pokemon noises. This place housed some of the rarest Pokemon and it was up to a trainer's luck to encounter one.

Most trainers liked to wander around but it was quite easy to get lost in this place, considering it was big enough to house forests, small ponds and even a small lake with a waterfall. Not to mention it had a plains biome as well, for those who enjoyed running freely. Most of this was housed for Tauros, Rapidash and Ponyta.

And perhaps we each had luck to our own. Each area is separated by a Zone, and there were four or five total Zones. The three of us decided to stay along the main dirt path. Every so often we would come across a device of sorts that acted as a container to put food and berries inside to attract the wild Pokemon here. One could also anger a Pokemon, but let's be real here, who in their bright mind would want to make a Tauros angry?

Seeing us on the road once again, we couldn't help but marvel about how many Pokemon there were. Aside from the first pond that had those Slowpoke we saw at the very beginning there was a larger one toward the center of the Safari Zone. It was quite a ways away, but given enough walking we could approach it. Yet as I gazed upon this small lake for a moment, I couldn't help but look toward the lake for a moment, seeing a bunch of Magikarp and Gyarados swim by.

It was hard since we were still on the main dirt path, but a lone fish Pokemon suddenly leapt into the sky. Its color was completely different from the red Magikarp, but was of a similar species. Its body is light brown, and sported blue colored scales. It only lasted for a moment, as this particular Pokemon jumped back into the small lake.

Serena saw that I was currently observing the lake without moving.

"It looks like something has already caught your eye, Itsuki?", Serena asked.

"I just happened to stumble on a Feebas further out into the lake over here. I didn't think there'd be one here.", I responded, with even more anticipation.

"A Feebas...That's even more rare than a Dratini, isn't it?", Lillie wondered. By the time she checked out the lake, the Pokemon that appeared on its surface were no longer there. The Feebas was likely swimming back down underwater.

"It's not spotted frequently, I'd say that much. We're probably going to spend most of our day here, but why don't we drop by the other side of that lake as we reach it? I'd love to try a fish up a Feebas.", I said.

"Fishing huh? That doesn't sound bad. We can explore the first couple zones and make our way to the fourth one on the other end of the lake for lunch. My current interest is our next zone.", Serena said, nodding her head.

"That works for me. I'm looking to catch both Kangaskhan and a Chansey too. I'd love to see if there are any fighting types around here too.", Lillie said, saying where her interests lay.

"I am not sure if I'll find a Snorlax here but my best bet would be those shady trees in the third and fourth zone. Snorlax are said to sleep most of the day. Better there than the open plains before us.", I said, only to look at the second zone again.

Before we could even do anything, beyond another fence that led into the rolling plains we all heard a rumbling sound, only for several figures to come out dashing from the right side. The tiny scattered rocks were vibrating next to our feet thanks to the rumbling.

Which made sense, as there were several Pokemon currently dashing over our view. There were likely twenty or thirty of 'em too. All of them made a mooing noise.

We were seeing what was likely Ash's future herd of Tauros currently dashing before us. All of the other Pokemon made way for them, as they didn't want to get trampled over. There was even a Miltank or two watching on as these Tauros blasted through the plains like they owned the place.

As they did, I saw excitement appear in Serena's eyes. And at the same time, her head quickly turned toward a particular area among the herd of Tauros. It was hard to see this far away and with the glare of the sun beating down on the grass, but one of these Tauros appeared to be a pale green color. It seems Serena was quick to spot it.

"That's a shiny Tauros, isn't it?", Serena asked with anticipation.

"It sure was. What luck to find one too. We should head to Zone Two. From the way those Tauros are running, they are either going to stop and get a drink or rest in the shade of the trees nearby--", I tried to say, only to have something else quickly catch our attention on top of the shiny Tauros we just saw.

"That is...", Lillie also tried to say, only to have her eyes become confused. In fact all three of us became confused. We saw another smaller herd of Tauros let out another round of mooing, but we could only blink at them.

These Tauros were dark gray and pitch black, completely the opposite of what the other Tauros were. If one had a close look at these black Tauros, some had red specks while others had blue specks over their manes.

"...Have you two ever seen black Tauros before?", Lillie asked, still doubting what she just saw right now. As she asked that, we saw this herd of black Tauros head off toward the side to where the main herd was. It almost appeared... as if they were out-casted by the others? In the far distance, we saw the main Tauros herd ignore them, only to have the black Tauros lay down by themselves further away.

I guess not all kinds of the same Pokemon behaved with one another, huh?

"I for one have not. They still appear to be Tauros. I'm getting a very familiar feeling with them too. This behavior is very similar to how our Vulpix are. The Vulpix Lillie has and the Ninetales I have are from the Alola region, while yours is from here in Kanto, Serena. These Tauros could very well be regional forms.", I said with a muse.

"A regional variant. That's starting to make sense. Aren't they typically only found in the region they changed though?", Serena also wondered.

"That poaching story is starting to make me more questionable on the matter. But it isn't farfetched to say that these Tauros could have migrated from their homeland. Or that some poachers were very, very unlucky and Kaiser rescued them.", I also wondered to myself.

"Hehe, best to go see for ourselves. Even if these Tauros are of a different region, they're still here in the Safari Zone. And that means they're up for grabs.", Serena replied, revealing a grin.

"Hmm, I wasn't expecting such a thing either. I did happen to spot those color differences too, maybe I should catch one?", Lillie wondered with interest.

"I don't see a problem if we each catch one, but we should hurry up before their resting ends. I should probably call Professor Oak about these regional variants too. I wasn't expecting to call him again for a while, but I guess it's sooner than I anticipated.", I surmised.

"Didn't Professor Oak say he would be unavailable for a while too? Something about a trip?", Serena asked, tilting her head a bit.

"There was that, wasn't there? Hopefully he'll be able to pick up. Thankfully our Pokedexs can act as a phone should we need it. I hear there are talks of upgrading Pokedexs as well to improve its functionality like that. Turns out there's a Pokemon who can help with it.", I responded.

"Mmm. We can reach out to Professor Oak once we reach those trees in the distance. The fence gate is open, so we should head to the second zone.", Lillie said, acknowledging me.

And that we definitely did. We continued on the main dirt path that lead directly into the third zone, probably about halfway down. Serena couldn't contain her excitement anymore and immediately dashed off to where the normal herd of Tauros were for drinking some water. It seems she wanted to go see if that shiny Tauros was still over there. I guess that leaves the regional variants to Lillie and I. We quickly glanced at each other with similar intent, and we quickly dashed off the main path, heading toward the trees to where those few black Tauros were.

And sure enough, when we approached them, they could be seen enjoying some rest time in the shade. They really were different from the other Tauros. Their gazes shifted our way seeing us approach, but seeing us not walk any closer, they positioned themselves again, only to calmly watch us. It was a bit hard to see, but we could see reluctance in these Tauros's eyes, quickly catching glances at the other herd.

Maybe they really were being left out. We don't even know how long these Tauros have been in this Safari Zone. Makes me wonder if other trainers have already caught some of this herd. We should look to catch one of each, but before deciding to throw our first round of Safari Balls, I let Lillie know I was going to contact Professor Oak with the Pokedex.

I grabbed it out of my pocket, and opened it up. Working its buttons, the Pokedex started to send a signal out, proceeding to call...

*

Power stones please?