After a brief transition, the episode of Metagross Meta returns to our scene: our trainers are walking down the road of Route 11, having exited the rest stop. The sun is out, the weather is fair, and birds are chirping in the distance. The dirt road is well walked, and on either side by a fair margin are demarcated fences signifying where is legal to publicly wander, and what is part of the protected Safari Zone. Mari and Farrah are chatting with each other and the camera as they walk.

Mari: "Alright, so get us started, o' wise and fearless teacher! What's the deal with these encounters? Break down those walls, give us the meta!"

Farrah laughs and gestures a hand openly to the scenery around them.

Farrah: "Well, first thing is first. While what Pokemon you encounter on these escapades is always random, you aren’t gonna run into anything unknown on these mano a mano adventures. They’ll always be Pokemon already registered to the Deprin Regional Pokedex.”

Mari: “So if they’ve been recorded, we might see ‘em… how do we know what’s been recorded already?”

Farrah: “I’m glad you asked! The Mistveil Pokemon Laboratory has a phone application that has been made available to all trainers under the same name – the Deprin Regional Pokedex. But a collaboration with the Laboratory, the League, and Salve Co. is coming up with something new: a widely available physical Pokedex, just like the old days, to be accessible to trainers both old and new! But until those are ready, the app is both available to everyone for download, and current knowledge is available at any Pokemon Center, Safari Stop, or League affiliated building.”

As she says this, Farrah pulls out both her phone and a physical pamphlet handed out at the Safari Stop our trainers have just departed, and holds them up to the camera. The app opens up to the available [Deprin Dex] – and the pamphlet is unfolded to reveal a Route Map, complete with the most up to date information on known Pokemon in the area.

Farrah: “It’s very easily accessible, trainers, so don’t be afraid to reach out to your local resources!”

Mari: “No kidding! Wow, there’s a lot of grassland type Pokemon that tend to pass through Route 11, huh? What else should aspiring trainers be aware of?”

Farrah: “Well – once you’re aware of what Pokemon you might encounter, you’ll want to be ready to actually encounter them. It’s always a good idea to have a Pokemon partner out with you for protection, in case the wild ones get rowdy. But I’m just the bystander here today – Mari, why don’t you demonstrate for our trainers back home?”

Mari: “One Poke-pal comin’ right up! The man, the myth, the legend… here’s our mascot – go, Stratagem!”

Mari tosses what appears to be a very old Heavy Ball straight up in the air. It drops like a rock straight back into her hands, but not without releasing a Pokemon in a dazzling display of light. When the glimmering fades, a metallic blue Pokemon in the shape of an arm with a single red eye is floating in place.

An introductory headline pops up on the screen, denoting this as Stratagem, a Beldum. Some miscellaneous information shows, including the Beldum’s typing, and in smaller print at the bottom of the screen is a disclaimer that all Pokedex information shown is provided freely from the Mistveil Laboratory.

Mari: “Not quite grown into the namesake, but we’re gettin’ there. Love this lil’ guy – isn’t that right, Strata?”

Stratagem: “Belllll! Beldum bel!”

Farrah: “Now there’s a fantastic fella – and speaking of encounters and Pokemon… look alive, trainers, there’s some wild ones now!”

As the trainers move away from the river and towards the heart of the Safari Zone itself on Route 11, Farrah points outward towards the sloping grasslands. Approaching the demarcated lines of the route appears to be a group of wild Tauros, frolicking with one another and moo’ing as they run. They’re a diverse group – some black with varying patterns of red and blue, and a couple others in tones of brown. They appear to be crossing the route, so our trainers stop, holding up a hand as a gesture to pause. The intent is to wait until the Tauros have passed so it is safe to walk again.

As they do, bucking and kicking playfully, one of the brown Tauros splits off from the group and coasts to a stop, approaching the trainers. It gets right into Stratagem’s face, snuffling at the Beldum, who holds perilously still as if it does not know what to do; despite having no eyelids, one can tell that the Iron Ball Pokemon is wide-eyed. After a long moment, the Tauros moos at it, and the two Pokemon begin to bounce around and play.

Mari: “Oh, wow. I can’t believe it was so easy for Strata to make a friend like that!”

Farrah: “Especially since Tauros are known to be ornery. Not all Pokemon will be friendly, of course, but between you and me, those battles are known to be a bit… freeform, eh? Well, go ahead and get in there, introduce yourself!”

Mari nods, and approaches the Tauros slowly, who freezes as she does so. She holds out a hand and allows the Wild Bull Pokemon to sniff; after a few moments, she too is mooed at, and the Pokemon butts his head against her chest in a friendly way. As the three of them all interact in the background, Farrah instead shuffles closer in an almost secretive way, addressing the audience directly.

Farrah: “Hey, I’m gonna let you all in on a secret. Normally, if you encounter a Pokemon like Tauros, there might be multiple types or variations you see in the Pokedex. When that’s the case, you’re gonna do an extra dice roll to determine which one you encounter. For the sake of our lil’ tutorial today, we’ve got a Kantonian Tauros, but now y’all know for the future.”

Mari: “What was that, Farrah? Sharin’ some juicy gossip over there?”

Rather than answering, Farrah winks at the camera before turning to Mari and raising a finger over her lips in a playful, smiling shushing action, as if hiding something. Mari laughs and shakes her head, before stumbling forward when the Tauros nudges her from behind.

Mari: “Woah there, fella! Alright, fine, keep your secrets – but this guy’s pretty friendly! Once we’ve got a Pokemon in a good way, what do we do?”

Farrah: “Well, that’s the fun part of being a trainer! Time to give a shot at capturing a Pokemon!”

---

MODTALK:

Alright trainers, what's next?
The previous posts determined the Pokemon Rarity, which Pokemon was rolled, and whether it was shiny. In this case:
Common Roll (3), Tauros (1), and Normal (457).

NORMALLY, in the case of a Pokemon like Tauros, there would be another Dice Roll to determine which variation it is. For the sake of this example thread, we've determined it's a good ol' normal Tauros.

Now that we've written out some roleplay for encounter one, what happens?
The capture roll! After the capture roll, your trainer may react to the attempt, wrap up the first encounter, and continue on (and move to the next sub area if desired, if applicable).
Remember to check the self-moderated rules to determine what the capture roll does.

A little chime plays, and after a transition, an infographic pops up on screen. It has cartoonish animations and bright vivid colors, and details the [capture mechanics] of how Pokeballs work, and how trainers may attempt to catch a Pokemon. When the screen transitions back, Mari has a Pokeball in hand, and the Tauros a few feet in front of her is tossing his head.

Farrah: “Now, there are a lot of ways one might go about capturing a Pokemon. Sometimes, you battle ‘em until they’re tired, and then give it a shot. Other times, a Pokemon might seem friendly enough to ask or be asked to come with you. Sometimes, it might even be by surprise from an unexpected toss! But this fellow seems pretty aware.”

Mari: “Yeah. But it never hurts to ask!”

The red-head trainer turns to the Tauros and holds up the Pokeball, steeling her otherwise cheerful expression into one of focus. Stratagem shifts to hover next to it’s trainer, eye on the wild Pokemon.

Mari: “Hey Tauros! You seem pretty cool – I don’t suppose you’d mind joining us for a while? It’s for a good, educational cause!”

The Tauros seems conflicted. He lows while tossing his head some more, pawing at the grass. For a moment, he backs up as if he means to run, but then he lowers his head and snorts, stepping forward. Right before he can touch his head to the Pokeball, however, a chorus of mooing echoes from afar, and his head shoots up. As the camera turns, our scene pans to show the group of Tauros has returned – or perhaps paused in their running – and is waiting in the grass on the other side of the route. The Tauros near the trainers moos back, and the herd reacts by kicking their feet and snorting. After a few moments of indecision, the Tauros takes a step forward, and then a step back… and eventually turns to run off and rejoin his herd. The group all buck and jump around for a moment, and with a last look back at our trainers, gallop off into the grasslands towards somewhere else in the Safari Zone.

Mari: “Aww… darn. I really thought he was gonna.”

Farrah: “Well, you win some, you lose some. That’s okay, we’ll have better luck.”

Mari: “I sure hope so. Disclaimer, by the way, trainers! The Pokemon we capture today will be going to the Mistveil Laboratory for research! They’re gonna tag the Pokemon, take some info, and then release them back to the wild to monitor behavior, health, and maybe try to learn more about them and their origins! Pretty neat!”

Farrah: “And that is a win for everybody. Well, team, let’s get going!”

---

MODTALK:

Hey trainers! So now we've written out our encounter, and we did our dice roll for the capture attempt. Now that we have that roll, let's talk about what that means for you!

In this thread, we are only using good ol' Pokeballs, so we have no additional bonus for capture. Our roll is 7... so what does that mean?

A 7, which is in the range of 6-14, is neither an auto fail nor an auto success. This means that the capture will be determined at the end of the thread by moderators during review. For now, the Pokemon gets away -- but not all is lost! If mods during review determine a successful capture, you will be given the statblock at the end of the thread along with any other successful captures! It is up to you how this happens in-character.

WHAT'S NEXT? In this post we react to the capture attempt's outcome determined by the dice roll, and then our character moves on to either a new sub-area if applicable and chosen, or elsewhere within the same location. Then, the next posts will be dice rolls for your next encounter! This works the same way the first encounter did.