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Strangely enough, the trio all looked to one another for a moment as the source of the sound became apparent. Another Snubbull. "I guess you can battle this one. You need the training anyway." Clare decided, stepping back a bit and pointing to the canine with their one good hand.

"Why don't we start this battle, then? Use Bullet Seed!" They directed.

M&M nodded and quickly split up, running opposite directions around the Snubbull. The Fairy-type dog whipped it's head back and forth as it tried to keep track of the pair of mice at once. The poor thing quickly fell over, however, as it made itself dizzy in the attempt. Almost the moment Snubbull fell down, it was met with machine gun-like barrages of seeds from different angles as M&M ran around it.

Hopping to it's feet after the second barrage hit and Growling under it's breath, it glared at Clare, trying to Intimidate them. The Tandemaus quickly jumped to their defense, a quartet of Baby-Doll Eyes meeting Snubbull's fierce look. M&M definitely didn't feel great about continuing to fight after that look but Snubbull was feeling similar. How could it try to hurt them when they looked that cute?! Rather than going for a direct harm attack, then dog rushed them and began to aggressively Lick the mice in the most aggressively affectionate way it could.

"Tan tan tande!"
"Mau maus!"

M&M complained, swatting at Snubbull's tongue and trying to thrash out of it's grip for a moment as Clare giggled. How cute.

"Tande tan tan!"
Mau maus mau mau!"

"Ok. Ok. Sorry. Use Double Hit!" Clare directed, shutting off the giggles as the pair of mice complained loudly over the affections they didn't want.

Emery clapped their paws together and swung hard from the left. Emerson did the same from the right. One after the other, their tiny clasps fists slammed into Snubbull's face mid-Lick and sent it careening as it released them.

Snubbull decided that was enough as it landed on the ground. Jumping back to it's paws, it took a deep breath and unleashed a growl that would have rivaled the most intimidating of Roars.

M&M, in spite of their attempts to resist the sound, found themselves returning to their Ball and Clare found themself fleeing the scene afterward. "I'm not fighting that any longer. That Snubbull is not normal!" They told themself, huffing as they found a spot to duck behind a large snowdrift and make sure it didn't follow them.

((All Battles: Duraludon, Snubbull(Captured), Snubbull. 3 Total))

[Cyndaquil second capture roll]

Second verse, same as the first, at least at the beginning. The Cyndaquil was beamed into the Poké Ball, its visage turned into a red amorphous form of light before the Ball closed and fell to the snowy ground, Monique looking on nervously and hoping it wouldn't

It rolled once.

It rolled twice.

It rolled three times.

Click.

Monique walked over and picked up the Safari Ball, now containing a Pokémon.

"Ruff ruff!" ʻOi chimed in, sensing that she had contributed to the capture.

"That's right, you helped me!" She held up the ball like a toy that she was about to hurl, but instead she put it in her purse.

So far, so good—unless something else crossed her path, something that she wanted... She trekked toward the Central Plaza, the meeting point for the end of the Safari Contest.

If they have Alolan Sandshrew, does that mean... Gears were turning in her head.

Crystal and Bronzor would continue searching, throwing out another piece of honey dipped bait. They would walk off for a bit, finding a place to sit by a bush when something they weren’t quite expecting came in to investigate the free food; a Girafarig. The two of them looked at each other, mildly surprised, then Donne went ahead and took the initiative, charging in to fight the giraffe that was multiple times its size. But hey, the Bronzor was probably itching for another fight now. “Alright then, let’s go! Donne, start with a Confuse Ray,” Crystal ordered, scrambling to her feet to catch up with the small mirror. Donne would send out a spiraling blast of yellow energy, catching the Girafarig somewhat off guard and startling it away from the food. Not away completely, though. The long necked Pokemon stared at them for a moment before deciding that yes, it wanted this food, and it didn’t enjoy being interrupted. The Girafarig charged forward and got close before quickly turning and kicking Donne twice with its hind legs, using Double Kick. The Bronzor would be sent flying back for a hot second as it tried to recover its stability, shaking itself. That wasn’t quite a pleasant hit it took there.

“Okay, Donne, use Flash Cannon!” Donne nodded, starting to build up a charge in front of it, while the psychic giraffe would take a bracing stance, blasting Donne with a psychic blast and sending the Bronzor back some. The mirror would keep focus, though, and blast it back with a beam of steel energy. While all that was happening, though, Crystal would dig out an Ultra Ball of her bag, throwing it out while she had a point where it Girafarig was focused on Donne.

Monique made her way gently down the hill, ensuring she did not slip on an icy patch. ʻOi opted to bound her way down, a bit more sure of her footing but not by much. After all, she hadn't grown up in an icy area, either, but rather on the west coast of Paldea. Glaseado that was not. At one point, the Rockruff's front left paw slipped, sending her and a bit of snow sliding down the ground for a foot or two. "Ruff ruff!" she barked, shaking off the snow before rejoining her Trainer.

A Pokémon came into view just as Monique stepped at the bottom, where the ground flattened out into something of a trail again... "Porygon?" she thought out loud. Her mind was taken back to the Shadow Porygon she had rescued from the Under Colosseum by fighting her way through competitors for it. That was fun. I should go back there someday. "How did they get Porygon in the...wild?" The idea of wild Porygon just did not compute for the sheriff. "What sort of academy puts Porygon in the wild?"

Slowly, the block walls delineating the Polar Biome from the others came closer into view as she neared the Central Plaza, a fantastical show of these semi-translucent, illuminated units of light, sculpture, shade, and navigation. Surely one or two Snagems was already waiting there for the group to head back to HQ. Since it was so battling-forward, perhaps one of them was battling in the plaza or nearby. That would explain some of the noise she heard in that direction.

One more Pokémon awaited her just outside the entrance to the plaza... It was a Qwilfish from Hisui, which interested her for a moment (she could feel it was a Dark-type off the bat), but not more than that little Cyndaquil. She didn't really need another Fire-type... But it was so unusual. And she was starting to tire. It was time to head home.