Chapter 203: Magikarp's Nest

For many veteran anglers, the joy of fishing lies in that stretch of time waiting for a catch.

You never know what the next one will be, nor how heavy it might be, whether it'll snap your line, or even drag you in to make you the bait.

Baimu, who had a clear goal in mind, shared much the same feeling as them, but he wasn't really enjoying it.

After all, after finally getting a bite and hauling it up with great effort, he looked—

Who are you?

Magikarp!

Who?

Another Magikarp!

... Who?

Still goddamn Magikarp!

Munchlax tirelessly kicked it back into the water, kick after kick; Baimu looked forward to the next one time and again, yet over and over he hauled up the same species of Pokémon—Magikarp.

Fortunately, a few of them differed in size and appearance; otherwise he would have truly thought he was catching the same one over and over.

Even so, Baimu still suspected he'd poked straight into a Magikarp nest—otherwise how could there be not even a shadow of any other Pokémon?

The old man two spots down from him had even caught a Starmie!

Granted, the reason it got hooked was that the line and bait snagged on a gold fragment sticking out of the Starmie, but it was enough to make the people around gasp for several dozen seconds.

"Baimu, bro, why not just pick a Magikarp? I saw a few that still look pretty lively." Xiaosheng scooted over and whispered.

Pick a damn Magikarp—even if he were to raise one, it'd have to be an Arowana; an ordinary Magikarp didn't suit his taste.

Baimu let out a small breath. "I have my own plan."

"Alright..."

Xiaosheng silently moved away. Right now he actually had his hands full, because ever since that Neon Tetra that had leapt aboard on its own had escaped, he hadn't caught a single Pokémon.

A Lanturn had almost been hauled up by him, but unfortunately his reeling was too slow and it slipped the bait and fled—a most regretful near miss.

The Kirlia beside him was getting anxious too, itching to use its psychic power to help him catch one, but that would be cheating.

So don't be fooled by the two of them fishing in silence, not making a peep—in truth, both were a little restless inside.

Xiaosheng was fretting that everyone around him was getting catches; the strongest one so far had landed a Clauncher, and subduing it had taken some effort, but everyone had already tacitly accepted that person as the championship frontrunner.

Baimu was fretting that the target he'd been waiting three days for still hadn't shown up to see him.

If there weren't so many people around, he reckoned he'd just jump in and swim out to sea to find out exactly which immortal was tormenting him like this.

Maybe it wasn't caught by fishing at all, but obtained through some other method?

Things like winning the Fishing Contest, the post-contest Pokémon Trade Convention, and so on—the lavish grand prize bundle stuffed with all sorts of goodies was also well worth being curious about.

As he was pondering.

Someone nearby began shouting: "A school of Magikarp is coming!"

—Damn it all!

Baimu was so annoyed he just reeled in and quit fishing. If it was already nothing but Magikarp after Magikarp, wouldn't a whole school of them coming make it even worse?

What the heck are those chumming boats doing!

He looked into the distance; within his field of view, one motorboat after another, large and small, would occasionally dump Pokémon food into the sea, luring all sorts of aquatic Pokémon toward the Love Goddess Milotic.

And apart from the chumming boats of the Love Goddess Milotic, there were also a few small motorboats drifting quietly on the water's surface, a few fishing rods poking out as they fished in silence.

g.

Those folks probably weren't taking part in the Fishing Contest—they were independent fishing boats.

"Let's take a break."

Baimu decided to ease his mood, took out biscuits from his bag, and shared them with Munchlax.

"Chido!"

Munchlax's eyes lit up. As a lover of sweets, how could it possibly resist such a temptation? It quickly snatched one up, covered its mouth with its little paw, and nibbled away in tiny bites.

Crunch crunch crunch—within seconds, one biscuit had been stuffed entirely into its mouth.

Baimu saw its cheeks still bulging and moving as it reached for the next one, and couldn't help the corner of his mouth twitch. He took out a thermos from his bag and poured it a cup of black tea. "Eat slowly... would you like one too?"

He asked the Kirlia, who had been sneaking peeks at them from the corner of its eye, a smile on his face.

"Kirlu~"

Kirlia was a little embarrassed. Xiaosheng, who was fishing, noticed and simply propped his rod to one side. "Baimu, bro! I want some too!"

"Help yourself if you want some."

Baimu waved a hand, understanding that Xiaosheng was trying to spare Kirlia the awkwardness.

The two humans and two Pokémon thus silently slipped into afternoon-tea mode, utterly unlike the tense, intense anglers around them.

Of course, participants slacking off or resting like them weren't few in number. The Fishing Contest, unlike the fiery Battle Tournament, was a relatively leisurely competition... well, almost entirely without a battle segment.

After eating for a while.

It seemed Xiaosheng's line had a bite; he rushed over to look, saw nothing there, and regretfully pulled his head back.

"Man, that's great—they're all getting catches."

He looked enviously at the veteran angler who'd claimed the Clauncher. "At this point, probably only catching a Gyarados could beat him..."

"Catch a Gyarados? Not very likely."

Baimu shook his head.

"It's still possible! Among a school of Magikarp, there are occasionally a few Gyarados mixed in, and the odds of a large number of Gyarados swimming past along with the Magikarp school aren't low either!"

Xiaosheng pulled out his Pokédex and explained.

Baimu said, "I mean our fishing rods aren't up to it. Do you think your rod could lift a Pokémon that size? And even Milotic wouldn't want to provoke that kind of temperamental Pokémon—how could the chumming boats possibly lure Gyarados over?"

"Uh... good point."

Xiaosheng scratched his head awkwardly.

Bibarel and Kirlia sat on the little stools with ladylike poise, but the cookies were being devoured with gusto—one for you, one for me—and before long the two of them had swept them clean.

"I didn't pay attention just now."

All Baimu knocked on Bibarel's head. The latter covered its forehead, lifted its chin slightly, puffed out its cheeks, and looked at him indignantly. "Bib!"

"We agreed you could only eat ten, but you and Kirlia ate them all. Am I not allowed to say anything?" he said with a helpless laugh.

"Bib!"

Saying it is one thing, but you can't lay a hand on me!

Bibarel glared. It had its pride too, you know!

"Fine, I was wrong. I shouldn't have hit you. But were you wrong?" All Baimu apologized to it and asked in return.

Bibarel pouted. "Bib~"

"You little rascal—even your apology is so half-hearted…"

Boom!

"Roar!

The roar from afar cut off All Baimu's words. He looked over and immediately saw a fishing motorboat being capsized by a sudden Gyarados, with the people and Pokémon on board all tumbling into the water.

"Ah! They really did hook a Gyarados!"

Xiaosheng's surprised voice came through, but his tone didn't sound all that surprised.

The onlookers turned their gazes over one after another, buzzing with chatter.

The boat operators quickly dispatched a lifeboat to head that way.

Soon, as a trainer on one lifeboat lured that Gyarados away, the people and Pokémon who had fallen into the sea were rescued by another lifeboat.

The Love God Milotic seemed very experienced in this regard, clearly knowing how to soothe a hot-tempered Pokémon like Gyarados.

But for some reason, All Baimu had an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

Sure enough.

Among the group that had been rescued, one person—whether out of revenge or intending to capture it—directly sent out a Beautifly to attack the Gyarados that had been led away by the lifeboat.

An Air Cutter was launched over, and the Gyarados's hatred immediately locked onto Beautifly, and further extended to the lifeboat where the trainer was.

"Roar!

The furious Gyarados roared at Beautifly and the lifeboat. Those fellows immediately froze like idiots and stopped attacking.

And at this point, the "hatred" was already locked on. A Clefairy on the other lifeboat tried using 【Attract】 to draw the aggro, but couldn't pull it away, and could only watch from afar.

"Roar!"

The frenzied Gyarados opened its mouth and blasted a cyan-blue dragon-shaped fury at the lifeboat!

Dragon Rage!

"Idiot! How could you use an attack to provoke a Gyarados!"

Xiaosheng was getting anxious too.

But All Baimu knew very well that the person's biggest mistake was failing to knock the Gyarados down or capture it on the first strike. Who attacks a Pokémon and then stops after just one hit?

Is it because of the Intimidate ability?