Watching Ethan and his Buizel in the sea, his arms clamped tightly around the Octillery, Victor felt a toothache coming on.
When you're fishing and the line breaks, aren't you just supposed to watch the fish get away?
Why did he jump right in and cut off its escape route?
But then he remembered, this was the Pokémon world. It was probably... normal.
After hauling the Octillery onto the boat, Ethan wiped the seawater off his body.
"Fishing is so much fun," he said, looking at his Buizel as he dried off.
Buizel looked back at him, and they both grinned.
Victor sighed.
"That's some fishing method you've got there," Victor shook his head. "Don't tell me you two jump in and grab the fish every time you can't reel one in."
As soon as he said it, Ethan and his Buizel exchanged a look and fell silent.
Don't tell me you actually do that?!
Victor was shocked.
After a moment's thought, Ethan shook his head.
"Of course not," he laughed. "That would be against the fishing enthusiast's code."
Victor was skeptical.
"Judging by your expressions, you were definitely considering it just now, weren't you?"
Hearing this, Ethan scratched the back of his head and gave a wholesome smile.
Seriously, to jump into the open sea, far from shore, without a powerful Pokémon for backup...
Is he not afraid of running into danger?
Thinking of this, Victor gave Ethan and his Buizel a righteous scolding.
Ethan stood at attention, head bowed, and listened earnestly to Victor's criticism.
So did Buizel.
After he finished, Victor remembered they were supposed to be having fun today, and he didn't want to ruin the atmosphere.
So he let them off the hook.
Ethan turned, grinning, to the Octillery he and Buizel had captured.
It was currently trembling under Gengar's watchful gaze.
Ethan looked at it. He really wanted to catch it. He could feel its power when he was in the water; it had struggled that hard even while clamped in his arms.
The Octillery, in turn, looked at Ethan, also deep in thought.
I was going to use my ink to cloud its vision and escape, but that Gengar over there is staring at me. It's even holding a Shadow Ball.
So scary!
"?"
Ethan was surprised to see a Poké Ball appear in front of him.
He looked at Victor.
"Go ahead," Victor nodded, signaling for Ethan to take the ball and catch the Octillery. He could tell how much Ethan liked it.
Ethan happily took the Poké Ball.
"Thanks, Owner."
He walked over to the Octillery, ready to command his Buizel to begin a thrilling capture battle.
But the Octillery, quick-witted, tapped the Poké Ball itself.
It was sucked into the ball.
There was no struggle. It was captured instantly.
Ethan: ?
Victor: ?
Gengar: ?
Buizel: ??
Octillery: Thank goodness. I'm finally free of that Gengar.
Watching Gengar nearby, regretfully wiping its mouth, Victor swallowed the words he was about to say.
I really need to stop making so much seafood for Gengar.
After Ethan caught the Octillery, Victor sat back down and focused on his own fishing rod.
Gengar and Ethan have both caught something. I must be next, right?
His eyes filled with anticipation.
Then, a rod started to move.
It wasn't Victor's.
He turned his head.
Gengar's and Buizel's rods were both bobbing.
He watched as Gengar reeled in a Magikarp.
Victor laughed at him.
"Gengar—"
What are you laughing at? You don't even have a Magikarp.
Seeing Gengar's expression, Victor guessed what it was trying to say.
He sulkily turned back to his own rod.
Must be patient.
Must be patient.
Must be patient.
Victor's mind slowly calmed, and he focused intently on his fishing rod.
...
After Mime Jr. and Gothita delivered lunch, they ran off to find Lilligant and the others.
"Mime~"
Mime Jr. saw Lilligant and the others on another part of the deck, quietly watching the sea.
"Lili~"
Lilligant turned its head and welcomed Mime Jr. and Gothita.
The group of Pokémon began to play on the deck.
They chased each other, careful not to disturb the people who were fishing.
The other fishermen, seeing that the Pokémon weren't bothering them, left them alone. In fact, some of them would even talk to the Pokémon as they passed by.
When they were playing hide-and-seek, some of the fishermen would even secretly gesture with their eyes to show where a Pokémon was hiding.
But there were also one or two who, in a teasing mood, would deliberately point in the wrong direction.
This made Mime Jr. stomp over to confront them, and the deck was soon filled with happy laughter.
Victor, seeing how much fun they were having, let them be.
It was Marill's turn to hide.
It waddled around, looking for a good hiding spot.
It came over to where Victor and the others were and looked curiously at their buckets.
Gengar's bucket was almost full, Ethan's was half-full, and even Buizel had a few fish.
And then there was Victor's.
Just water.
It looked at the slightly dejected Victor.
"Marill~" it cried, trying to comfort him.
Victor smiled and looked at the Marill.
Its blue and white body was round, and at the end of its black, spring-like tail was a blue ball.
It had round ears with red insides.
He patted its small head, then picked it up and sat it on his lap, using his body to hide it.
"It's okay, Marill. I'll cover for you," he whispered in its ear.
"Marill~"
...
On the other side of the deck, Vulpix was searching for the hidden Pokémon. It quickly found Mime Jr. and the others.
Only Marill was left.
It looked everywhere but couldn't find it.
It came over to Victor's area and saw him, Ethan, Gengar, and Buizel all focused on fishing.
Victor's back was to it.
It looked from a distance. The area was narrow; there weren't many places for a Marill to hide.
But it thought it saw a flash of blue in Victor's lap.
Then Victor shifted his body, blocking it from view.
"Yip?"
Vulpix tilted its head, curious.
It had been about to walk over to get pets from Victor.
But seeing his "serious" fishing posture, it decided not to bother him and went to search elsewhere.
Victor, with his back to the Vulpix, pretended to be completely engrossed in fishing.
Vulpix searched for a long time, then went to ask the other people on the deck.
Several of them said they had seen Marill go towards Victor.
It ran back and watched from a distance again.
Still no sign.
After being told one more time that Marill was over there, it finally walked right up.
It found Marill sitting in Victor's lap, grinning at it.
"Yip!"
Found you!
The game ended with Vulpix as the winner.
Afterward, Vulpix began to scold Victor.
"Yip!"
You cheated!
Hearing its angry little voice, Victor couldn't help but laugh.
He picked Vulpix up and comforted it.
It then happily led Marill back to the main group.
After the game, the Pokémon went back to watching the sea.
Vulpix sat on the railing, staring at a passing Gyarados.
Gyarados, with its fierce temper, was about to come over and teach the Vulpix a lesson.
But then it saw a Lilligant next to the Vulpix, holding a basketball-sized Energy Ball and staring right at it.
Feeling the immense Grass-type energy contained within, the Gyarados immediately turned and fled.
Lilligant, as if sensing something, looked in Victor's direction.
"Lili?"
...
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