“You need patience when fishing for Water-type Pokémon.”
Ash, his face flushed, stared at the water's surface, muttering to himself about needing patience.
“Patience, my foot!”
What he was currently seeing was a bit too challenging for his common sense; the fact that he hadn't thrown his fishing rod away already showed great restraint.
Yu Feng next to him had already reeled in more than one catch. Every now and then, it was a Poliwag, or perhaps a Shellder, Goldeen, or Marill—all Water-type Pokémon.
And the Pokémon he caught didn't even leave; they gathered around, watching Yu Feng fish for more Pokémon.
Then he looked at himself; he hadn't caught a single thing yet.
“Ai Wan!”
Hearing Indeedee’s cheerful cry, Ash already knew that Yu Feng must have reeled in another one.
The joys and sorrows of humans are not interconnected; Ash only felt that the Pokémon sounds he usually liked were a bit too noisy.
Suddenly, Ash's fishing rod began to twitch, a clear sign that a Pokémon had taken the bait.
This made Ash, who had caught nothing so far, extremely excited, and he quickly pulled up his fishing rod.
“I got one! I got one!”
“Wow! It’s a Magikarp!”
A Magikarp, looking more spirited than an average Magikarp, was hooked on Ash's fishing rod.
The Magikarp, which had been fixated on the fishing rod, suddenly had a sharp look in its eyes, staring at the delighted Ash.
“Huh?”
Ash felt a bad premonition but didn't know what was about to happen.
Using the fishing line, the Magikarp turned and used Flail on Ash's cheek, its tail slapping Ash's face with loud smacks.
It then knocked Ash to the ground and leaped back into the water.
“This kid is really healthy; he's as big as Ash,” Yu Feng exclaimed, looking at the Magikarp that was about the same size as Ash. An average Magikarp is usually just over 0.9 meters, but this one was almost as big as Ash; it seemed to have developed very well, and it could even use Flail, so its level wasn't low either.
“Hmph.”
A boy with spiky brown hair appeared on the opposite bank of the river at some unknown point. Dressed similarly to Ash, the boy let out a scoff.
He then cast his own hook into the water and closed his eyes, waiting for a Pokémon to bite.
“Hey, Gary!”
Hearing the splash, Ash instinctively thought it was Yu Feng's hook, but then he remembered he hadn't heard Indeedee's distinctive cry this time.
He looked up and saw that it was none other than his arch-rival, Gary, which made Ash immediately scramble to his feet.
“Hi, you're awake.”
Seeing Ash get up, Gary gave a perfunctory greeting, then continued to focus on his fishing rod.
“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?!”
“Fishing.”
“I can see that!”
Ash waved his arms like in an anime, questioning Gary, who was fishing for Pokémon.
“Isn't that enough? Or do you want me to answer you in a more philosophical way?”
Gary held his fishing rod with one hand, answering Ash's question with a relaxed expression.
“Philosophical? What does that mean? Is it a new Pokémon?”
Ash looked at Gary with a confused expression, wondering if “philosophical” was some Pokémon he hadn't seen before.
This left Gary on the other side utterly speechless. Was it really okay for such a person to be his rival?
“Ash, ‘philosophical’ isn't a Pokémon.”
Yu Feng, who had been trying to minimize his presence, finally couldn't hold back. When Gary appeared, he had only wanted to quietly witness the famous scene unfold, but he hadn't expected Ash to ask such a question, and he couldn't help but intervene.
“Oh, and this is?”
Gary raised an eyebrow, looking at Yu Feng. He had noticed earlier that this person didn't seem like someone who came to fish for Pokémon.
Why didn't he seem like it? Who goes fishing with black tea and cake?
Not to mention, the Pokémon gathered around him that weren't leaving, apart from that humanoid Pokémon he hadn't seen before, were all wild Pokémon.
“I'm Yu Feng. I came out with Ash today to look around nearby.”
Yu Feng answered Gary's question with goodwill. After all, this person could be said to be Ash's closest friend and rival.
Although he didn't know which league he would be traveling to, it was always good to build good relationships.
“Are you the one Grandpa mentioned, who temporarily came to receive a starter Pokémon?”
“Nice to meet you.”
Gary also nodded. He had heard his grandpa say that a descendant of an old friend was coming to receive a starter Pokémon. He hadn't expected this person to look... quite delicate.
“Hey, hey, Gary, Yu Feng is my brother, you're not allowed to bully him!”
Seeing Yu Feng interacting with Gary, Ash felt an inexplicable annoyance and interrupted their conversation.
“Don't be noisy, quiet down.”
“Pokémon won't come near like that, I'm telling you, Ash!”
Gary was a bit helpless with Ash's boisterousness; such behavior could scare away Pokémon.
“Who says? Look over there.”
Ash looked unconvinced and pointed to Yu Feng, who had just reeled in his rod again.
The two watched Yu Feng, who had just caught another Poliwag, and fell silent. Even Gary had to admit this wasn't very scientific.
Seeing Yu Feng catch another Goldeen immediately after casting his line, the two tacitly changed the subject.
“What I mean is, if you want to fish, go fish somewhere else!”
“Why?”
Gary ignored Ash's words, his hand in his pocket as he continued to watch the somewhat anxious Ash.
“This is my territory! It's been my secret base for a long time!”
Saying this, Ash also cast his hook into the water, looking defiantly at Gary.
“I've been fishing for Pokémon here for a long time too.”
“Because you can catch many types of Pokémon here.”
“I decided a long time ago that I would choose a Water-type Pokémon before I even got a Poké Ball, so I came here.”
Gary closed his eyes and told Ash his thoughts. This kind of thing wasn't something he couldn't talk about.
“Exactly! This is the best place to play with Water-type Pokémon.”
Hearing Gary's words, Ash was overjoyed, as if he had found a kindred spirit, even though they were already good friends.
“But it looked like you just got played by a Magikarp, didn't you?”
Thinking back to Ash getting slapped by the Magikarp, Gary's words carried a hint of amusement.
Ash awkwardly covered his face, muttering, “Oh no, you saw that.”
“You know, Magikarp are the weakest of all Pokémon.”
As if to deflate Ash, Gary continued with very harsh words.
“I know.”
Ash continued to cover his face. Even he knew that Magikarp were one of the weakest Pokémon.
“Then tell me, what moves can Magikarp learn?”
“That's too easy!”
“There's... this...”
Gary saw Ash still being stubborn and challenged him to name the moves Magikarp could learn.
As a 'top student,' Ash certainly couldn't miss this opportunity to prove himself.
Of course, this question plunged Ash into a long silence.