The 37th Daily Great Shiny Hunt

A gentle wind flowed through the tall grass, cooling down what should have been a hot day.  The clear, pale-blue sky was dotted by the m-shape of flying Pigeottos and Swellows.  The soft chatter of Kricketots, Ratattas, and Sentrets rose up from the ground.
Within the tall, dark green grass stalked Scythers and Pinsirs.  They waited for any unsuspecting pokemon to wander nearby.  At the right moment, they grabbed their prey, forced them into the grass, and devoured them.  Occasionally, one could hear infighting as they battled for territory.
Out across the plains, one could see herds of Tauros and Milktanks grazing on the grass.  They created a makeshift playpen by surrounding their children, keeping them safe while they playfully headbutted each other.  A few Kangaskhan also wandered around with their children peeking out of their pouches, on the lookout for any random berries or predators.  Two Luxrays eyed all of this as they waited for the right moment to strike.
To one side of the plains was a small, densely packed forest that seemed to have been picked up from elsewhere and simply placed there.  Vines and roots cluttered the forest floor.  Aipoms swung through the trees, flinging acorns, nuts, and the occasional Seedot or Pineco at each other.  A small group of Hoothoots and Chatots watched their play.  A giant Vileplume, its great, pungent flower plump and bright red, slowly walked across the forest floor with a procession of dancing Bellossom behind it.
An Aipom, intensely focused on this small parade, did not notice that another Aipom had just chucked a nut at it.  The nut smacked it in the head and sent it into the air.  The Aipom landed next to a slim, blonde human who ignored it.  She wore a shirt and somewhat baggy pants that blended with the colors of the trees.  She was looking through a portable, retractable telescope from behind a tree.  The Aipom stared at her, chattered for a bit, and ran off.
"There they are," Heather said, twisting the end of the telescope to sharpen the image.  She was focused on a group of Chanseys that were hidden deep within the forest.  "I still need to get closer."
Heather dropped the telescope into her satchel and began to creep slowly towards the group.  Vines and branches slowly retreated from her path.  She found a bush that seemed close enough and hid within it.
The Chanseys were sitting in a semi-circle as they shared berries and stories in their language.  A few of them petted the egg in their pouch.  A small Happiny with a grey, oval stone in its hands ran around the group until it tripped and flung the stone ahead of it.  It got back up and ran towards the stone.
"Huh.  That hasn't happened before," Heather thought.  "Maybe that's a good sign."  She looked through her satchel to make sure she had everything she needed: 30 pokeballs, a few packets of pokemon food, and her telescope.  She took out a packet of food, opened it, and stared at the Chanceys.  When they were all distracted, she emptied the packet in front of the bush.
The only pokemon that had noticed was the Happiny.  It slowly walked up to the bush, threw away the stone, stuffed its mouth and paws with food, and ran back to its mother.  The mother ignored it to continue chatting with the others.
Heather checked her Poketch.  "It should be here any second now."  On cue, another Chancey appeared.  It had thin, peach colored fur with a green pouch and green tipped hair.  It shined like a flawless diamond.  It was something that many people have never seen in their entire lives: a shiny Pokemon.
"There you are," Heather whispered.  She reached into her satchel for a pokeball.
The group ignored the new arrival.  The shiny Chancey looked at the food and slowly began walking towards it.  Heather tightened her grip on the pokeball.
"Yes.  Yes.  Come to mama," she thought.  "You're mine now."
The Chancey stood in front of the food and looked around.  As it bent down to reach for the food, Heather threw the ball at the pokemon's head, forcing it to slightly tip backwards before being sucked into it.  In a matter of seconds, the other Chanceys dropped their food, stood up, and ran off.  Quicker than the rest, the mother took the egg out of her pouch, replaced it with the Happiny, and sprinted away.
The ball twitched.  Heather stood up from the bush.
"Yes," she said.
It twitched again.
"Yes!"
It twitched again.
"YES!"
The ball exploded in a bright flash of light.  The Chancey leaped out of it, and it quickly waddled away from Heather and into the forest.
"You son of a bitch!  You're not getting away from me that easily,"  Heather shouted.  She gave chase in the same direction of the Chancey.  She dodged branches and leaped over vines, having already memorized their location and position.  The Chancey maintained its distance with a burst of speed it never knew it had.
The Aipoms chuckled as they watched the chase.
The Chancey looked back once it had reached the boundary of the forest and the plains.  It could hear Heather's threats and obscenities getting louder.  Up ahead was what seemed like the only safe haven on the plains: the tall grass.  The Chancey ran towards it.
Heather escaped the forest just as the Chancey entered the tall grass.  "No!  Not that shit again," Heather screamed.  She sprinted towards the grass but stopped just before entering it.  She had already made that mistake once before.
A high-pitched scream came from the grass followed by roars and hisses.  The Chancey had encountered the Pinsirs and Scythers.
"Oh crap.  What did I do?  What did I do last time?"  The Tauros and the Milktanks stared at Heather as she opened packet after packet of pokemon food and threw them into the tall grass.  The Scythers and Pinsirs ignored the Chancey in favor of the free food.  The Chancey stumbled, dizzy and scratched, out on the other side of the grass.  Noticing Heather running towards it, the Chancey fled into the plains.
A Luxray, interested by the chase, began running towards the two at full speed.
"Good God," Heather thought.  "How is this thing so fast when it's so fat?"
Finally tiring out, the Chancey slowed down.  Heather knew that in a few seconds she would be close enough to throw a pokeball.  Without stopping, she pulled one out of her satchel and took aim.  The Chancey looked back, screeched, and ran with a new burst of speed.
"Are you kidding me?  The thing is exhausted," Heather said.  "What could make it run like that?"  Something not too far behind Heather growled.  She turned around.
"God Almighty, it's that Luxray!  This is the third time now!"
Thanks to her own burst of speed, Heather sprinted.  She threw the pokeball behind her to try to stop the Luxray.  It avoided the ball with a snarl and continued its pace.  She chucked pokeballs behind her without looking, and it was not until the tenth ball, the Luxray already dangerously close, that she made contact.
The ball shook furiously as the Luxray tried to escape.  Fortunately, for both Heather and the Chancey, even if it did, they would have been near the end of the plains.
After a few seconds, the ball stopped shaking, began glowing, and disappeared.  Heather was now the proud owner of a feral and extremely dangerous Luxray.
"Huh," Heather thought.  "That hasn't happened before."
A body of water, larger than a pond but not quite a lake, filled with fresh, sky blue water, bordered the edge of the plains.  It was home to Basculin, Carvanha, Krabby, and many other water type Pokemon.  Flocks of Wingulls would sometimes roost on the water's surface.  On this occasion, the Chancey did not see any kind of pokemon, predator of otherwise, inhabiting the water.  It jumped in and paddled with all its might.
Heather reached the shore and groaned.  "I hate this part.  I hate it so much."  She held her breath and dove in.
Due to its near-perfect spherical shape, the Chancey was much slower in water than on land.  It was not long before Heather would catch up to it.  There is a point where one must accept an inevitability, and this Chancey was rapidly reaching that point.
"God damn it!  Why?!"  Something had gotten hold of Heather's pant leg.  Whether it was the claw of a confused Corphish or a stubborn piece of kelp, it held on tightly and refused to let go.  She kicked it repeatedly with her other leg.
Delivering a word with every kick, she shouted, "let!  Go!  You!  Piece!  Of!  Shit!"  She was finally released.  The Chancey was far ahead and already reaching the shore.  After a long string of curse words and a brief stop to catch her breath, she continued her swimming.
Heather swam on without noticing that her last kick had not only forced the unknown Pokemon to release its grip, but it had also caused it to bleed.  Attracted by the scent of blood, a swarm of Basculin and Carvanha rose from the water's depths.
After reaching the opposite shore, the Chancey shook the water out of its fur and looked back towards the water.  Its pursuer was still far off, which gave it some time to rest.  It also noticed the horde of fish Pokemon that were amassing.
"Smug bitch," Heather thought as she watched the Chancey motionlessly stare back at her.
Heather felt something strange.  She felt that she was being stared at by hundreds of eyes.
She stopped swimming and turned around.  A great mass of fins and chomping jaws was beginning to gain up on her.
"Oh no.  Not again!  This is bad!"  Heather resumed her swimming, though at a much faster pace.  The group of fish followed her, each one believing that the blood came from her.
"Okay Celebi, I could really use your help," Heather thought.  "Send me a Pokemon, any one of them.  Just something to help get rid of these fish.
Up ahead, near the shore, the water began to violently bubble.  Something was rising up.  Heather immediately swam towards it.
The Chancey watch the scene unfold, too curious to waddle away in spite of Heather getting closer.
As Heather reached the bubbling water, the Pokemon sent by Celebi itself emerged and leapt into the air.  Its body was covered in the scales of the purest tint of orange, which shined radiantly in the day's sun.  Its long, thin whiskers gave it an essence of elegance and confidence.  On its head rested a golden crown, fit only for the greatest of kings.
"A Magikarp?!  That's what I get?!  I got a goddamn Seaking last time and now you give me this?!"  The Magikarp fell back into the water and tried to swim away.  Unfortunately for the fish, Heather grabbed it by the fin.
Heather swam towards the shore.  The Magikarp was bashed against the water's surface with every right arm stroke.  Deep within itself, it felt only anger.  The day will come when it would evolve and take its vengeance.
Once at shore, Heather stood up and took a stance, Magikarp held behind her like a flopping, fish-shaped baseball bat.
"Batter up," she thought.
A Carvanha aimed for Heather's head and leapt out of the horde.  She smacked it with her impromptu bat and sent it back to the water.  The Magikarp flailed maddeningly.  A red Basculin shot out, followed by a blue one.  Quickly taking aim, Heather sent the first fish into the jaws on the second one.
The Chancey stared in disbelief.
After five more failed attempts, the gang of fish returned to the water's bottom.  "Yeah, you better swim away," Heather shouted as she threw the Magikarp at the disappearing horde.  "You're all lucky I don't fry you all up!  And you!"  She turned towards the Chancey.  It jumped in surprise.  "You're not getting away from me that easily!"
A small desert-like area bordered the body of water, and, like the forest where the Chancey once made its home, it seemed to have been picked up from elsewhere and placed there.  The soft, yellow sand intensified the sun's rays.  Only the hardiest of Pokemon survived here.  Small, constantly shifting dunes also populated it.
The Chansey fled across the desert, and its blonde pursuer followed.  Dancing Maractuses and motionless Cacturnes watched the pair's chase.  Vullabys and Mandibuzzes stopped picking the meat off bones in order to watch the scene.
Up ahead, at the desert's edge, was a small collection of trees that guarded an imposing mountainside.  Few, if any, Pokemon lived in the area.
"Good, I'm almost at the end," Heather thought.  "Once it gets to the mountain, it'll be stuck.  I still have around twenty balls so I should be able to catch it this time."
The Chancey saw the forest and believed that this would be its chance to escape.  It wondered why every trainer that saw it began chasing it for a long period of time.  It had never been this far from home before though.  Maybe someday it would catch a break.
The ground shook as great Hippowdons surfaced from underneath the sand.  Sand flowed into their open mouths and out through their back.  They slowly swam through the sand, snapping at any other Hippowdon that came near.  Their guttural roars filled the air.
"This is going to be bad," Heather said.
The Chancey waddled around them, careful to avoid their massive jaws.  Whenever one was too near, it would grab an egg, seemingly out of nowhere, and toss it into the Hippowdons' mouths.
In the past, many trainers had passed through the desert in the hopes of finding and capturing a Hippowdon.  The herd had lost many strong and capable males and females before, and because of this, they were distrustful of any and all humans.  The first Hippowdon that saw Heather growled and alerted the others of her presence.  They ignored the Chancey and turned towards her.
"Oh no."
The Hippowdons, as graceful as Milotics, swam through the desert sand.  Their jaws rapidly snapped open and closed, in the hopes of crushing this newly arrived threat between their teeth.
"Why are you guys so angry at me," Heather shouted.
When one appeared too close, Heather would reach into her soaking wet satchel, pull out a packet of pokemon food, and throw it into the beast's open mouth.  This would usually satisfy it enough, and it would bury itself back into the sand.
After a few minutes of chasing her, the Hippowdons gave up and sank into the sand.  Now that she had the chance, Heather stopped to catch her breath.  The Chancey was far up ahead and nearing the trees.
The earth rumbled again, and a pure black Hippowdon, enormous compared to the others, rose from the desert depths.  Its roar could be heard all throughout the desert.  Large sand dunes disappeared into its mouth and returned from the hole in its back.  Sand whirlpools formed around it when it moved, pulling prey into its wide mouth and crushing them between its four monstrous teeth.  It was the alpha female.
Heather's eyes widened. "Oh fuck," she whispered.
The Hippowdon swam towards her, slowly and relentlessly.  Heather threw the rest of the pokemon food packets at it, which quickly disappeared into the Hippowdon's massive mouth.
The great behemoth was getting closer.  The sand underneath Heather sloped towards the Hippowdon.  Another minute more would spell death for her.
As she ran, Heather looked up to the empty, blue sky and shouted, "okay Celebi, I could really use your help!  Please, I'm begging you!  Call this thing off or something!"
There was no reply from the heavens.  The Hippowdon continued its eating.
"Fine!  I'm sorry about the Magikarp!  It wasn't as useless as I thought!  It saved my ass back there!  Now please help!  Please!"
The Hippowdon roared out in pain.  Heather took a quick glance back.  Another large black Hippowdon had risen up from the sand and bit the alpha female in the side.  Its blood stained the desert sand a bright red.  The two Hippowdons bared their teeth and snapped at each other.  The alpha female had forgotten about Heather. She wanted to watch, as this fight for dominance wasn't a common sight, but the Chancey was far ahead of her already.
The Chancey had finally reached the edge of the desert.  It looked back and saw Heather running towards it.  Behind her were two Hippowdons tearing at each other.  It seemed as if trouble followed this trainer wherever she went.
The Chancey fled into the forest.  It was not like its old home.  The Pokemon that inhabited this forest were different and the trees had an unfamiliar smell.  With time, the Chancey could probably make a home there.  Crossing the desert, the pond, and the plains was out of the question.
It wasn't long before the Chancey discovered the mountainside.  This cliff face was taller than all the trees of the area and almost completely vertical.  Only flying types had a chance of actually overcoming it.  Because of its round body and paws, the Chancey could only climb about a foot before it rolled back to the ground.  It had to find another way across.
"There you are."
The Chancey jumped. The voice came from behind.
"You don't even understand what I've been through today.  I shouldn't even say 'today' because it's been more than just one day for me."
The Chancey turned around.  Heather, her clothes and body completely covered in sand, stared at it.  Her hand was in her satchel.  The Chancey panicked and frantically tried to climb the cliff.
"I've been through a lot lately, but I know it'll all be worth it once I catch you."  Heather took a pokeball out of the satchel.  It was dark green with brown smudges.  "You're mine now."
Heather took a step forward to throw the ball.
*Ding dong*
"What?!  No!  Not now!"  Heather threw the ball.  It vanished before it could even collide with the Chancey.  She checked her satchel.  All it contained was the telescope.  All of the pokeballs were gone.  "No!  Why?!  I was so close!"
A man's voice boomed from the sky.  "Your time is up.  Thank you for visiting the Safari Zone.  Someone will be there shortly to pick you up."
The Chancey stopped its desperate climbing to watch Heather.  She was furious.  To the Chancey, it seemed that the bell sound served to stop and anger humans.  Now was the chance to escape.
"This is bullshit.  Complete and utter bullshit."
A man with an Abra appeared beside Heather.  He said, "I'm sorry to say this, but your game is over.  This Abra will take us back to the entrance."
"No.  I'm not going.  Sorry, but I'm playing another game.  I was so close to catching that shiny Chancey." Heather said.  She began to slow down her breathing.
"And you can do that at the entrance.  We have to go now."
Heather closed her eyes and focused.
"Listen lady, you aren't the only one that's had trouble with that shiny Chancey.  Everybody's tried to catch it.  Hell, I've also tried.  You've had your chance now so let's-"
The world faded away.  Heather could feel the stream of time slowly, if it can even be described that way, reversing and space was reacting accordingly.  It felt as if her body was tied up and being pulled backwards through thick sludge.
After her first experience with time travel,  Heather was sick for a couple of days.  Her family and friends were worried about her, and at one point, it was thought that she would die.  Eventually, she got used to it, and now all she ever feels is a slight tingle within her head.
Time finally stopped and resumed its natural pace.  Heather could feel that she was no longer traveling against it, but flowing with it.
When Heather opened her eyes, she was back in the first forest, standing next to a tree.  The telescope was still in her hand.  She raised it up, looked through it, and found the group of Chanceys.  She heard the Aipom hit the ground behind her.
"Well," Heather sighed, "thirty-eighth time's the charm, I guess."
The Aipom looked up at her and laughed.