A new day.
Ash and Misty were still living their best fishing-addict lives.
Kids their age were supposed to be just starting their journeys. Somehow these two had skipped straight to "retired old men by the river."
The surface of the river was calm. Even the bobbers looked lazy, the whole scene steeped in a laid-back, sleepy atmosphere.
Misty cast her line and sighed. "Ugh, more Goldeen again today…"
As for Magikarp?
Those didn't count.
Before she even finished complaining—splash! Water exploded beside her.
Ash's wrist flicked, and his rod bent into a terrifying arc.
Good thing the rod Misty lent him was high quality—anything cheaper probably would've snapped under the strain of a Magikarp like this.
Magikarp were heavy.
Spray flew everywhere as an unusually bright golden shape broke the surface of the water, arcing through the air in a shining streak.
Wait.
Golden?
A shiny Magikarp?
Even if its individual values were all zero, he was catching this thing.
Even a completely useless golden Magikarp was worth it for looks alone.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ash grabbed an empty Poké Ball.
The Magikarp smacked into the grass with a wet thud, tail slapping the ground with energetic whap-whap sounds.
"Pikachu!" At Ash's shout, Pikachu instantly fired off a Thunder Shock.
Before Ash could even throw the ball, the electric blast hit home.
Crackle, crackle—
the Magikarp seized up on the spot.
After all this training, Pikachu could control its own power fairly well.
At least as long as it wasn't going all out, it could modulate its voltage.
Thunder Shock had officially become a reliable, easy-to-use basic move.
"Nice! Go, Poké Ball!" Ash moved with lightning speed. The red-and-white ball smacked the Magikarp right on the forehead.
Ding!
The lock sound was crisp and beautiful.
Ash's eyes immediately flicked to the upper-left corner of his vision.
[Capture target detected]
[Pokémon: Magikarp]
[Level: 13]
[Ability: Swift Swim]
[Moves: Splash Lv.5]
[Individual Values: HP·31, Atk·31, Def·31, Sp.Atk·31, Sp.Def·31, Speed·31]
There it was.
Ash's pupils shrank. His heart gave a solid thump.
This was the one.
Ho-Oh's "blessing," it seemed, had landed exactly where it mattered most.
Was that superstitious? Absolutely.
But if superstition came with free benefits, he was happy to believe. If it didn't, then he didn't. Simple as that.
"Pika?"Pikachu padded over to the Poké Ball on the ground and sniffed it, as if it could sense there was something very unusual inside.
"Coo—!" Up above, Pidgey, who'd been circling in guard mode, suddenly cried sharply and beat its wings hard.
A visible, spiraling gust formed in the air and roared toward a dense thicket on the far side of the river.
Leaves tore free and whirled like a green tornado, revealing several startled Spearow that had been lurking in the brush.
[Pidgey's level rose to Lv.9!]
[Pidgey learned a new move: Hurricane!]
"Beautiful work, Pidgey!" Ash shouted. "That Hurricane was perfectly timed!"
"Pika!"Pikachu refused to be outdone. The moment Ash finished praising Pidgey, its small body blurred into a golden streak that tore through the air.
Zzzap—!
It moved so fast it was almost invisible, reappearing on a slick, rain-dark stone more than ten meters away. To the naked eye, it was nothing but a blazing afterimage.
[Pikachu's level rose to Lv.6!]
[Pikachu learned a new move: Quick Attack!]
"Pika-chu!"Pikachu stood proudly on the rock and flicked its tail. The electricity from its cheeks sparked in tighter, more concentrated golden arcs than before, radiating real power.
Misty: "…"
Her own rod slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the stone.
Droplets still clung to her orange ponytail as she stared—first at the Poké Ball in Ash's hand that now held a golden Magikarp, then at the Pidgey spiraling overhead after learning a powerful new move, and finally at the Pikachu whose speed had just skyrocketed.
A huge, absurd sense of unreality slammed into her.
She'd spent three days fishing her heart out and only got Goldeen and Poliwag.
This guy released Magikarp over and over, and then this happens—he reels in a golden Magikarp?
Did that dumb "say something nice every time he released one" routine actually work?
Was fishing luck… real?
And that Pikachu'sQuick Attack—
was that really the speed a rookie trainer's Pokémon was supposed to have?
Even the Pidgey looked stupidly gifted.
Misty felt a sourness rise in her chest.
Pure, concentrated lemon-flavored jealousy.
"Hey, Ash!" She finally found her voice again, sharp with disbelief. "Are you cheating or something?! Did Ho-Oh bless you or what?!"
Ash had been happily checking Pidgey and Pikachu's new status screens. At her words, he looked up, his face covered in that annoyingly pure and excited grin.
"Huh? It's just luck, Misty! Pure luck!"
"See? I told you—fishing is all about the journey!"
"Once the journey is right, the result naturally follows!"
"This must be Ho-Oh's reward for our persistence!"
He carefully polished the Poké Ball holding Magikarp, then clipped it onto the most convenient spot on his belt. After that, he patted Pidgey on the head.
"Nice work, Eye in the Sky. You're really living up to the name."
Then he crouched down and ruffled Pikachu's fluffy head, ignoring the tiny zaps tingling his fingertips.
"And you too, partner! That Quick Attack was sick."
"Eye in the Sky" and "partner" were the nicknames he'd given his two Pokémon.
"Pika~chu!"Pikachu rubbed against his hand, face full of the calm swagger of someone for whom this was just "standard performance, nothing special."
In the time it had spent with Ash, its personality had brightened a lot.
Misty watched this scene, then looked back at the tired Goldeen in her own bucket.
A lump of unfairness mixed with indignation crashed into her chest.
A golden Magikarp.
Sure, there were rarer Pokémon out there, but in terms of sheer aesthetic value? There weren't many that could compete.
Her orange hair practically bristled like an angry cat's.
…Although, to be fair, Misty's hair always kind of did that.
Never mind, then.
"Enjoy the journey? Reward for persistence?"Misty gritted her teeth, snatching up her rod and bucket. "Yeah, right. There is definitely something fishy about you!"
She was convinced Ash was hiding something from her.
Pouting, she spun on her heel and stomped off, splashing through puddles. "Hmph! I'm done playing with you! Bye!"
"Eh? Misty? Wait up!" Ash hurriedly waved for Pikachu and Pidgey to follow, smile still bright as ever.
Don't smile?
He literally couldn't help it.
If the situation were even a little less serious, he'd have gone around asking everyone he met:
"So… how did you know I caught a shiny Magikarp?"
"Didn't you say we were traveling together to become Pokémon Masters?"
"Don't leave me behind!"
Holding a bucket in one hand and a rod in the other, Ash ran after Misty.
Golden morning light streamed through gaps in the canopy, illuminating the boy racing forward—
and the orange-haired girl storming away in a huff.
Yes, Ash had lied a bit.
But as for actually catching a shiny Magikarp… he had no idea how he'd pulled that off either.
It really just came down to luck.
Ho-Oh itself might not even have the ability to change someone's luck.
You honestly couldn't blame him for this.
Right now Misty's mood was basically: "I don't want my friend to suffer… but I also don't want my friend suddenly rolling in jackpots."
She wasn't truly angry. It was just the whiplash.
This kind of thing happened a lot among hardcore anglers.
Especially when grizzled veterans saw some newbie wander in and hit their "beginner's luck" bonus.
That expression… like a lifetime of bent-over casting finally snapping their spine in one go.
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