Val saw the Type: Null before any of their Pokemon noticed it, and their face broke out into a smile. This was perfect! A Pokemon that, upon evolution and with the right items, could change to and from the Ghost type easily enough... such a Pokemon could certainly be of some use to their research.

But first, they would have to catch them.

Val briefly considered using their Medicham, but what really could use the training was their Riolu... Val began to develop a plan in their mind, one that could train their own Pokemon and capture the Type: Null at the same time.

"Riolu, use Force Palm!"

Val's Riolu obliged, hitting the Type: Null squarely in the face, but though the attack had clearly done some damage, the other Pokemon looked more angry than hurt. The Type: Null responded with an Aerial Ace, the Flying move leaving Val's Riolu still able to fight, but clearly ailing.

Just as planned.

"Riolu, time for a Reversal!"

The Reversal attack hit hard, and the Type: Null fell to the ground. Val walked over to them and used a Safari Tag on the wild Pokemon, capturing it.

Val nodded in the direction of their Riolu. "Nice job."

"Ri-ri!"

Val grinned as they continued their search of their surroundings. There was more to be caught here, certainly, but it had already proven to be a fruitful visit.

Val lost sight of their Riolu briefly, then saw that she was playing with another Riolu. Val watched them play together for a moment, then called their Riolu to come back and moved on. They didn't need another Riolu; while they liked Riolu, one was enough.

It only occurred to Val several minutes later that the Pokemon they had seen might not have been a Riolu after all... and come to think of it, Val vaguely recalled the other Riolu's face not looking quite right...

Val cursed under their breath and did their best to backtrack, hoping that they could find the Ditto they had encountered earlier, but to no avail. When they returned back to where their Riolu had been playing, the Ditto was nowhere to be seen.

Val cursed under their breath again, then shrugged their shoulders and moved on. While they wished they had recognized what they were looking at and caught that Ditto, it clearly wasn't meant to be.

In their rush to get to the Safari Zone, Val hadn't thought to bring any Potions with them; they weren't usually much for battling, after all, and hadn't stopped to consider that they might engage in some battles while searching for Pokemon to catch. Between her play session with the Ditto and her run-in with the Type: Null, Val's Riolu was clearly lagging a bit. Val tried to follow the Riolu's pace rather than try to impose their own, and figured that they'd have to make the best of it. A little battling here and there was good training, after all.

Val's eyes fell on a Shieldon munching on some grass not far away, and they got an idea.

"Riolu?"

"Ri?"

"Up for doing another Reversal?"

The Riolu's gaze followed Val's, and her eyes lit up. "Olu-lu!"

The Reversal attack took out the unsuspecting Shieldon, which toppled to the ground, unconscious. Val briefly considered catching him, but decided against it; nothing about the Pokemon particularly appealed to them. But at least fighting it had been good training for their Riolu.

"Nice work, Riolu."

"Riri!"

Val saw the Castform sitting a ways off. Val had noticed the heat of the Highlands, had felt the sun beating against their skin until it was burning, so seeing a Sunny form Castform wasn't too great of a shock. Val could see the appeal of Castform, and studying its form changes might well be a fruitful research topic for someone out there, but... well, they were not that someone, and they didn't particularly care for catching one. Val considered having their Riolu take it out with another Reversal, but decided that the Pokemon could probably use a break; besides, there were others that needed training as well.

"Nincada?"

"Nin?"

"See that Castform? Use Dig!"

Nincada happily obliged, digging a hole and burrowing until it was underneath the Castform, then popping up from out of the soil. The Castform was clearly weakened by the attack, but was still able to fight back.

For a moment, Val wondered if they had made a mistake. There were certain moves a Castform could know that could take down their Nincada in a single hit, making the attempt at a training session all for naught. They held their breath as they saw the Castform about to move...

...and it attacked with a Water Gun.

Val laughed a little as they saw the Castform weakly spray water onto their Nincada. It might have done a fair chunk of damage normally, but in this heat, water couldn't do much. Val imagined that the Water Gun might have even felt refreshing, in a way--they wouldn't mind having a bit of water thrown on them at the moment, though probably not with the full force of a Water Gun.

One more Dig attack and the Castform was down for the count.

"Nice work, Nincada."

"Ninca-nin!"

Val walked onward, searching high and low for more Pokemon to fight or catch.

(Huh. That's especially amusing because Val would quite like a Ditto, I just OOC don't need one. Now I'm imagining Val pissed about missing that one Ditto while completely ignoring several others surrounding them xD)

Val's Riolu was the one to notice their target this time, pointing towards the grazing Amaura with all the excitement the tired Pokemon could muster at this point. "Ri! Ri-ri-ri!"

Val looked at their Riolu. "You up for doing this again? Another Reversal, just like before?"

Their Riolu hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Lu-lu."

Val patted their Riolu on the head gently. "I'll make you a deal. One more Pokemon after this one, and then we go home, you get healed, and we can all relax."

The Riolu nodded more enthusiastically this time. "Ri!"

The Amaura never saw it coming. The Reversal attack took out the Amaura in a single blow, after which the Riolu came running back to Val.

"Olu-ri!"

"Yes, yes, good job, as always. Now keep your eyes peeled. One more Pokemon and we're out of here."

Val's pulse quickened as their eye fell upon a Spiritomb. Any kind of Ghost-type could be potentially helpful, but Spiritomb was especially intriguing, given that it was said to contain 108 spirits and yet had no visible aura... What did death do--if it was in fact death that created the spirits in the first place--that completely severed a being's aura? What could--

Val stopped and took a deep breath, trying to refocus on the situation at hand. Spiritomb were known to be aggressive and malevolent, so getting this one to join them willingly seemed like a lost cause. But battling it would be no easy feat, either--while Spiritomb were slow, they could both take a hit and give it right back. And several of their Pokemon's attacks couldn't even touch a Spiritomb due to type immunities... that is, unless...

Val called their team to their side as they began to form a plan.

"Sableye?"

"Sable?"

"Use Foresight on that Spiritomb over there. And Riolu--"

"Ri!"

"After Sableye's done, use Reversal on it. Last time before we leave, I promise."

"Ri-rio!"

The two Pokemon nodded and ran off to carry out their duties.

The Foresight went well enough, except that the Spiritomb seemed to comprehend that something was awry, that it was being set up. The Spiritomb ambled towards the fleeing Sableye, and Val unthinkingly sucked in a breath as it approached both themself and their Sableye--

But then Riolu hit the Spiritomb hard with a Reversal, the Ghost-type moaning as it fell to the ground and stopped moving.

Val carefully approached the Spiritomb, half-thinking that it was about to wake up and attack them in revenge--but no, he remained still as Val walked by, making no signs of protest when Val chucked their remaining Safari Tag at him.

"Good work, team. Now let's head home."

As Val's Pokemon let out cries of victory and enthusiasm, a smile crept onto their face. This trip to the Safari Zone had proven most fruitful indeed.