The Kingfisher and the Dratini

Hi there!

This is something a little different from my usual writing here. I’ve wanted to write a shortform, blog thing for a while but wasn’t sure where to start. I’ve been playing a lot of Pokémon this past week, and as always, thinking a lot about Pokémon, which I think is probably as good a place as any! 

(It’s also an excuse to share a cool bird photo I took. So there’s that benefit too.)

Specifically, I’ve been thinking a lot about Pokémon Legends: ZA. A short story first though: A week ago I was in Bath on holiday and I came across a Kingfisher - a bird that has eluded me for an entire year at my local nature reserve. It flew away before I could get a photo, as they normally do, but it was the closest I’d come yet. The story has a happy ending though, as by the end of the day, after scoping out the canals, my partner spotted it again. Luckily the only battle needed here was with my camera, and I caught a photo of the little guy.

In Legends ZA the wild zones are not the only spots to catch Pokémon - the rarest of them can also be found dotted around Lumiose City. I’ve written about the neglected catching experience in modern Pokémon games, but I feel more optimistic about it now. Yesterday I was hunting for a rooftop because I’d been told a Dratini can spawn there. After some (very) fiddly platforming, I’d reached the top and there it was! But, like my kingfisher, it got away. Again, and again, and again. This went on for some time, but after my year long Kingfisher ordeal, the comparably lesser hour or so was easy. Eventually, this story also had a happy ending. That Dratini is now a Dragonair, and has, I think, a very fitting name.