"He's right. Let's do that. I don't really want to risk antagonising an entire Kingdom, or stay in there any longer than I have to."
Silver and Gary nod at you at the same time, which you honestly find far more amusing than it ought to be.
"Alright, revised plan then," Silver says. "We land halfway between Fuchsia and the Safari Zone, blitz an Oddish and a Nidoran on the way, stash our additional equipment, then make our way in for the Kangaskhan."
"Glad you're not suicidal." Gary shrugs.
"To be fair," you point out, "going into the Safari Zone itself is alrea--arguably suicidal."
"Actually... If you guys aren't even going to be catching Pokémon from inside the Safari Zone, I can probably do it myself, you know? You don't need to risk your lives for me."
And she finally speaks. Fine by you, to be honest, but--
"--Absolutely not!"
"--Not happening."
You shake your head as the two boys stop, look at each other, then suffer a brief-but-awkward silence before Gary allows Silver to say his piece first. Leaf's an idiot if she thinks Silver will let her weasel her way out of a debt that easily, especially one that involves multiple debtors, but... yeah, she's an idiot.
"We're not letting you head in there on your own. Even if you refuse to admit it, the Safari Zone is far too dangerous for a cadet who doesn't even have a Pokémon to venture into alone."
"My Dad caught his Starter--"
"--he had backup, Leaf!" Gary snaps. "And honestly, he got lu--"
"--Gary!"
You slowly roll your chair away from the table.
Silver glares at Gary (not surprising) and starts to placate Leaf. "Leaf, listen. It's true that your father didn't have a Pokémon too when he caught his Kangaskhan, but he wasn't alone. And so if you have to be without a Pokémon when you go catch a Kangaskhan of your own, at least we can make sure you won't be on your own, too. Isn't that fair?"
"I--I--I just--It's that--" She swallows. "I know that, too. But I mean, your Pokémon and Kotone's Pokémon can all be caught outside of the Safari Zone, and Gary's already changing his entire plans to go with Ash and make sure he--just--I--my family doesn't take charity, okay?"
Gary cuts in, starting to raise his voice. "How can you think I'm doing this out of pity?"
"That's not what I mean!"
Whew.
"Enough." Silver's voice is soft, but surprisingly, both of them shut up. Despite the fact that they're both still glaring at each other, you can tell that they're listening to him. "Leaf, yes, we're doing this out of goodwill, but it's not pity. We're doing this because we're your friends and we care about you, okay?"
"....."
"It's not that we don't think you're capable. But this is Pokémon that we're talking about. We just want to support you and have your back. Cover your sixes and all that."
"I just don't want you guys to worry about me," she mumbles.
"...Of course we'll worry about you, idiot." Gary sighs.
"The threat of death is very real, Leaf. And as much as he's a legend that everyone looks up to, even... even your father ran out of luck, right..?"
"What if you guys run out of luck?"
"Then you will have our backs."
"I--" She lower her gaze, gritting her teeth.
"..."
"..."
"You know what? Let's--let's just talk about the plan. So. So, Kangaskhan."
Silver and Gary share another look.
Finally, still looking at Gary, Silver says. "So, Kangaskhan."
With another sigh, Gary says, "Alright. No better way to show what we mean than to get back to work."
The drama seemingly over, you roll slowly back to your place at the table.
"Right. Kangaskhan is a strong Pokémon, but capturing one should be relatively simple, since it's always a mother-and-young. A mother can have up to three joeys at once -- an adolescent out of the pouch, one still inside the pouch, and another still in the womb -- but a Kangaskhan mother always has at least one joey in the pouch. If you take out the mother, capturing one of its joeys is a simple affair."
"Wait, can't you just capture the adult Kangaskhan? Or tranquillise it and kidnap the joey?"
Gary shoots you a look. "Adult Kangaskhan are impossible to tame. Trying to kidnap the joey is not only much riskier, but it's also more cruel. The mother is likely to go on a rampage and eventually commit suicide if you do that. It's simpler to just take it out straight away."
Well, okay. Silver puts his hand briefly on your shoulder, and Gary continues.
Pointing to the diagram on the whiteboard, he says, "Here or here is where you'll want to aim. Although it'll be a nigh-instant kill, I don't really encourage a headshot, even with a large-caliber bullet, because of the thick angled skull. The bullet is likely to just bounce off, unless you get a good angle and manage to penetrate the skull, or shoot it straight through the eye.
Instead, try to get a broadside double-lung shot, which will kill it faster and give you a better blood trail. It should bleed out within thirty minutes, and you can recover the joey. If the best you can get is a heart shot, it will take maybe an hour. If you can launch a Repel bomb into the area, it should also disorient it enough so it doesn't wander too far away, and hide the smell of blood from any opportunistic scavengers.
Or alternatively, you can hit it with a tranq first, and then track it and kill it once it starts to slow down, but it's likely to run further away before it drops compared to if you just put a bullet through it with the first shot.
Now, Kangaskhan has three, large claws that are likely to leave furrows in dirt or grass that look..."
The meeting goes smoothly after that, but carries on for a few more hours, and by the time it's done, you're too tired and your head too stuffy for you to even look at any of the others before you head straight back to your room.
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Snipers and Navigation against Kangaskhan are now less likely to fail.
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It is the 17th day of the Latewinter, in the 48th year of the New Pokémon Calendar.
Your interviews are in 5 Days.
What do you do next?
[x] Study Gary's Notes (1 Day)
→ [x] Scyther (preliminary)
→ [x] Kangaskhan (preliminary)
→ [x] Nidoran (preliminary)
→ [x] Safari Zone West (Safari Area 3) (in-depth)
→ [x] Safari Zone North (Safari Area 2) (in-depth)
→ [x] Safari Zone East (Safari Area 1) (in-depth)
[x] Do preliminary research on a Pokémon. (2 Days)
→ [x] What Pokémon?
[x] Talk to someone. (1 Day)
→ [x] Topic?
[x] Do some training. (1 Day)
→ [x] STR : Focus on training your body.
→ [x] AGI : Focus on training your reflexes.
[x] Write-in.
