Entertainment The Safari Zone, with Mr. King

[King Serperior]

The Safari Zone is designed to be a multi-article series where my assistant and I, Mr. King, explore the world of Pokemon and make "documentaries" on different Pokemon species (I.E. The Wailmer family). Throughout the series, I will be attempting to get to know these pokemon in their natural habitats like no other human has done before. Along the way, I will experience difficulties of the humorous kind while my assistant just stands back safely shaking his head. As I continue my journey to learn more about these pokemon, I fight through more hardships in order to document these creatures. My questions that I will ask are: Where is their natural habitat? What do wild pokemon do? What are their Breeding cycles? How do they obtain food? What niche do the pre-evos have in this enviroment? These are not the only questions I will ask.

This article series relates to Smogon because we have all wondered why a pokemon is said to do this, or why a pokemon does that. This Safari Zone article will allow me to explain using logic and humor as well as giving my own personal take on these creatures.

The content of this article will include a combination of my humorous attempts to get close enough to the pokemon to document them, the logic behind many questions that some may want to know, and me being sucessful in my adventures despite enduring more than most would take.

The first pokemon species I intend to write about will be Magikarp and Gyarados. They are iconic in Pokemon and would be a notable way to begin. I have spent a few weeks working over and hammering out what details I plan to include in this article as well as future ones.

 

[Birkal]

Hello, KS. Let me come out of the gate by saying that statistically, Entertainment articles are the hardest articles to get approved. They are typically very hit-and-miss, so don't be discouraged if this doesn't work out. Keep thinking, and keep trying.

I'm interested in reading an example of your work. Could you perhaps write up a paragraph excerpt of what you intend to write? It's one thing to say that you will write humorously, but another to actually write humorously to a large array of readers (which is quite difficult to do). If you could give us an example of your idea, that would help us evaluate this approval.

 

[King Serperior]

This is an excerpt from the first edition of The Safari Zone titled Of Magikarp and Gyarados.

Of Magikarp and Gyarados

"Welcome, viewiers, to the first exciting episode of The Safari Zone! I am Mr. King and my assistant, (a different person each time), and I will be exploring the natural habitats and life cycles of Pokemon from around the world! This episode, we will learn about the often misunderstood Magikarp and the greatly feared Gyarados. If you are ready, let us begin!"

Location: Small pond just outside Eterna City

"Now, you might be wondering why we are at this tiny pond when we are looking for Gyarados. Well, the answer is that we are not looking for Gyarados just yet. In order to understand the great beast that is said to destroy cities when enraged, we have to understand their origins. To do that, I will use my handy Old Rod. (Assisstant), please pass me my Old Rod. Thank you."

Three hours pass with nothing to show for it......

I toss my Old Rod to the ground after not getting even a nibble on the fishing pole. "Well, I guess you can't call me a fisherman. Perhaps I should have listened more carefully to that fisherman's instructions when he gave me that rod? Anyway, if I am not mistaken, there's a booth not too far away with someone selling Magikarp. Let's go see what the price is."

I make my way to the vendor and buy a "Great and glorious Magikarp" for about 500 Poke plus tax. The moment I buy the pokemon, the vendor pulls a cord, his stand folds up and he runs away. "How strange, don't you think, (assisstant's name)?"

My assisstant was about to speak when I drowned him out. We had a documetary to film and time was wasting. "This is a prime speciman of a Magikarp. Do you see how the scales are so thick? This is because Magikarp are very defensless in the wild, so they need to be tough so Persian, Purugly, and Fearow don't make an easy meal out of them. Magikarp, unlike most water pokemon, can survive for weeks in nothing more than a puddle of water. How do they do this? Well x-rays and autopsies have shown that Magikarp belong to the lungfish family, as such their lungs are more well developed than say a Goldeen. See these pectorial fins? They are very sturdy and are much stronger than they look. This allows them to crawl along the land should one pond run out of food."

I then turn the Magikarp so the camera has a good view of it's mouth and jaw structure. "The first thing that one will notice is that Magikarp have no teeth. This is strange to most people because they would assume that Magikarp were predators in their own simple way. However, Magikarp are filter feeders and they quickly open and close their mouths, creating a vacuum that sucks microscopic organisms down into their stomachs."

I then toss the magikarp back into the lake where it most likely came from and got into the van with my assisstant and camera crew. It was time to go to the oceans and find a Gyarados.......

I'll be the first to admit that it is a little rough around the edges, but with a little advice and some time, I can smooth it out. I would appreciate any comments and criticisms that anyone has. I really feel that writing this is my calling on Smogon.

 

[Birkal]

King Serperior has said that he's going absent, so I'm shutting this down. PM me again in the future if you'd like to revisit this, KS.