The next morning, August woke up feeling completely refreshed. He stretched his arms and found them back to normal.
"Human bodies are pretty amazing."
As he marveled at his miraculous recovery, he remembered the golden Magikarp he had acquired yesterday. It was, after all, his fourth Pokémon—time to get properly acquainted.
"Come on out, Magikarp!"
With a fsh of light, the golden Magikarp emerged from its Poké Ball.
It seemed unfamiliar with its surroundings, as its first reaction was to start flopping wildly on the ground. Its golden body reflected the morning sunlight with every bounce, shimmering brilliantly.
Seeing this, August grabbed a basin of water and pced Magikarp inside.
That seemed to calm it down. Instead of flopping, it started zily blowing bubbles in the water, staring at him bnkly with its dull, vacant eyes.
Magikarp: (⊙_⊙)
August: (￣_￣)
The two stared at each other in silence for several minutes.
"…" August frowned.
Yesterday, his attention had been focused on Team Rocket, so he had only checked to make sure the Magikarp wasn’t suffering from any psychological issues.
It seemed fine in that regard.
But now that he was taking a closer look, something felt off.
"Could it have some kind of defect? Is that why Team Rocket threw it into the game corner as a prize?"
With that thought, August opened its status screen.
[Pokémon: Magikarp (♂)]
Type: Water
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 21
Moves: Spsh, Tackle
Held Item: Mystic Water x2
"Hmm… huh?"
The first part seemed normal—just an average Magikarp.
But then he saw it.
"What the hell is with that level?"
August looked back at the bnk-faced Magikarp, then back at the status screen. He could hardly believe this thing was already level 21.
And the held items… two Mystic Waters?
Lifting Magikarp out of the basin, August ignored its wiggling and struggling as he turned it over, checking every inch of its body.
Yet no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find any sign of the two Mystic Waters.
Still, he doubted the system was wrong.
They had to be there somewhere.
With that in mind, August called out Gardevoir. Seeing her puzzled expression, he said, "Gardevoir, use [Psychic] to scan Magikarp’s body for me."
Gardevoir nodded, her eyes glowing blue as she sent a wave of psychic energy over Magikarp.
Meanwhile, August kept the fish pinned down to prevent it from filing.
It only took a few seconds for Gardevoir to finish her scan. Through telepathy, she reyed the results.
"There are two unusual energy sources in its abdomen."
August immediately understood.
"So that’s where you hid them, huh?"
Looking down at the seemingly dopey Magikarp, he recalled how the game corner had run out of Mystic Waters. A theory formed in his mind.
"I don’t know how you pulled it off, but I bet you ate all the Mystic Waters from the game corner, didn’t you?"
Swallowing stolen Mystic Waters to absorb their energy and level up…
If his guess was correct, this golden Magikarp wasn’t nearly as dim-witted as it pretended to be. That vacant stare was just an act.
Bloop, bloop.
Magikarp zily blew bubbles, looking up at him with its usual bnk expression.
Its eyes seemed to say, I am just a fish. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
August raised an eyebrow.
This thing was smarter than it looked.
If it had ended up with another Trainer, it probably could’ve kept up its dumb act forever.
But August wasn’t just any Trainer.
Smirking, he pced a hand on Magikarp and activated his [Viridian Power], using it to read the Pokémon’s emotions.
No Pokémon could hide its true nature from him.
And then…
"Foolish human. You think you can see through my disguise?"
A brief silence followed.
Then a vein bulged on August’s forehead.
His fists clenched.
Did he just get mocked by a fish?
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm.
After quickly adjusting his mood, he looked at the Magikarp still feigning cluelessness.
With a slow, almost too friendly smile, he said, "If I heard correctly just now, you were mocking me for not seeing through your act, weren’t you?"
Magikarp froze.
It even forgot to keep blowing bubbles.
A fsh of panic flickered in its eyes.
It had no idea how August could read its thoughts, but it could sense danger in his tone.
Before it could react, August turned to Gardevoir.
"Gardevoir, it’s all yours. Show it who’s boss."
A shadow loomed over Magikarp.
...
Three minutes ter…
Magikarp sat obediently in the basin, tail tucked, looking utterly defeated.
It then used telepathy—through August’s [Viridian Power]—to rey its story.
According to Magikarp, it had encountered many humans in the past. From their reactions, it realized that its golden body was highly valued in human society.
That was when it came up with a pn.
Rather than struggling to survive in the wild, it decided to seek out humans, get captured, and secure a permanent meal ticket.
And it had worked.
It had lived in Team Rocket’s game corner for half a year, enjoying VIP treatment thanks to its golden scales. It always had the best food, and at some point, it even managed to sneakily swallow two Mystic Waters.
Since it was just a weak, helpless Magikarp, no one ever suspected it.
Then August had come along and taken it away.
Unwilling to leave its cushy life behind, it had pnned to py dumb so August would think he got a defective prize and return it.
But unfortunately, August had seen through its act immediately.
August smirked. "That’s about what I expected. But forget about going back—you’re stuck with me now."
Magikarp’s mood plummeted.
It could almost see its luxurious, easy life slipping away.
August knew that handling this cunning Pokémon required both a carrot and a stick.
Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a Pokéblock and dangled it in front of Magikarp.
The fish’s attention snapped to the treat instantly.
August smiled. "Know what this is? A special Pokéblock made by me. You can’t buy this anywhere, no matter how much money you have."
"As long as you behave and follow me, you’ll get as many as you want. I guarantee your treatment will be better than what Team Rocket ever gave you."
With that, he tossed the Pokéblock into Magikarp’s mouth.
The moment it tasted the delicious treat, all thoughts of the game corner vanished from its mind.
Team Rocket? The game corner?
What were those again?
---
T/N: I AM JUST A FISH
