The Tohjo University Library is the pride and hallmark of your academy, holding copies of almost every Pokémon-related piece of research accumulated over the past 50 years. It also has multiple meeting rooms, and as you walk into one of them, you find Leaf swivelling around in her chair while... Gary Oak is drawing on the whiteboard with a quarter of markers in his hand.
What is he doing here..?
"Alright, we're all here!" Isn't she getting dizzy? "Strategy meeting!"
"Yup." Silver nods, gesturing for you to take a seat. "So. Since none of us are that strong academically, I got Gary to help us check for blind spots."
That's just like Silver, but... you're not sure you're that comfortable with it. And it looks like Gary's definitely doing more than just 'checking for blind spots'. But what the heck. You'll roll with it. "I am okay with this."
"So you're all confirmed for Kangaskhan, Nidoran, and... Oddish, right?" Gary peers over his shoulder at you, and now that you pay attention to the whiteboard... are those detailed diagrams of your three Starters..? Wow.
Act cool, Koto. Act cool.
Silver waves a hand in front of your face. "Koto? You've settled on Oddish, right?"
"Um, Oddish, yep." You quickly take the seat next to Silver. "That's the one."
"Good pick." Gary smiles, capping his markers and putting them down on the table. "A Poison-type always comes in handy, just like I was telling Silver. If you can evolve it, Vileplume and Bellossom are long-lived, too, which makes it a great pick for a Starter. Nice to finally meet you, by the way. Silver's been telling me a lot about you."
"Thanks." STAY. COOL. "You too."
"Right, down to business, Gary?" And Silver to the rescue. Thanks, buddy.
"Alright. Since Nidoran and Oddish are both pretty common, I assume you're going to want to get those two captures out of the way first?"
"Uh-huh," Leaf answers for you, which isn't really her place since you haven't discussed it yet, but Gary still looks at you for confirmation.
You nod. "I'm fine with that."
"Leaf, do you maybe want to stop spinning? It's a little bit distracting."
"Fiiiine." She pouts, but does stop, rolling her chair over to the table and next to you. "Ooh, dizzy."
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Gary continues. "Let's talk about Oddish first, then. What do you have?"
"Right, um. I'm not going for a combat capture, that's for sure." You don't want to attract the attention of every predator in the vicinity with your gunshots or its screaming, after all. "Since Oddish are common, we should be able to find a suitable one just by following the telltale patches of discoloured soil. Find one during the hours before dawn, and then start the capture once it's settled down to sleep."
You start to explain the details on how you'll pick out the Oddish you want to capture, since you've decided you want a stronger specimen that's closer to evolution. The diagram on the whiteboard really helps.
Leaf is surprisingly paying close attention without interrupting, and despite the awkwardness of having three of your peers (including Gary Oak) listening so intently to what you're saying, you continue. You describe your precautions against its leaves and poison, and your plan to infuse fast-acting fertiliser with Sleep Powder.
"I also have calculations for the dosage of Sleep Powder needed to make sure it stays asleep for about ten minutes, which should guarantee a capture," you finish.
"That's a pretty good plan, although you probably don't need to dig it up or restrain it, if things go well. Drug it to sleep, and then Pokéball its exposed leaves. That will save you time and energy, too." Gary hums. "Have you considered inducing its hibernative autotomy by agitating its leaves during the day?"
"That's the backup plan if the Sleep Powder doesn't work, but it'll be harder to find it and dig it up if it does that."
"And I thought you were the worst student amongst all of us." Silver smiles at you, and the pride swelling up in your chest forces you to give him a punch in the arm.
"Shush," you say. You're not embarrassed, nope.
"Looks like you're set for that, then. What about you, Silver?"
Now that you're out of the hot seat, you sigh -- half in relief, half in disappointment -- and turn your attention to Silver.
"We need to find a wandering group of Nidoran without any of its evolved forms around. But if we can find a lone one, even better. Male or female doesn't really matter to me. Snipe the target from afar with a tranq, and then track it until it drops, which should take about an hour, and last for another half. Kotone should be able to use it effectively at around 200 metres, right?"
You nod. "Not a problem. I'm not carrying that extra 3kg or so, though."
"I'll carry it. Anyway, if it ends up around other Nidoran, suppressive fire from Leaf's AR and my SMG should be able to take down the others while Kotone secures the capture. Then we'll use a Repel and quickly clear the area before any other Pokémon show up. But if there are any Nidorino or Nidorina, we'll start over with a different target."
Gary sighs. "It's more refined than what I was expecting, but Leaf was the one who came up with this plan, huh?"
"Ehehe..."
"It's good enough." Silver shrugs.
"If you want to lower the risk, you should look for one before you even enter the Safari Zone, actually." Gary peers at you. "That goes for you, too. You can find both Oddish and Nidoran even several kilometres away from the Safari Zone, and you're more likely to find lone ones. That way, you'll cut down the amount of time you'll actually be in the Safari Zone for. Just camp outside until you secure your captures, and then just head in for the Kangaskhan. You can stash the equipment you won't need to lose some weight, too, and just come back for it once you're done and back out."
"Huh. Why didn't I think of that? I'm pretty happy with that, actually. What do you think, Koto?"
[x] "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."
[x] "I think that's a good idea for your Nidoran, but my Oddish shouldn't be a problem."
[x] "The specimens you find outside are going to be weaker, though. And I bet it'll take us longer to find a suitable one to capture."
[x] "I don't know. What do you think, Leaf? You haven't said much so far."
[x] Write-in.
