Something Strange at Sweet Spring Lake

"Charmander, could you light this?" After stacking the firewood, Shen Yue, as a Fire-type Pokémon Trainer, naturally took charge of starting the fire.

"Char~~~" At its Pokémon Trainer's command, Charmander immediately spat out an Ember, and then...

"Cough, cough~~~ That was too much fire! Again! Smaller this time!" That single blast burned away the entire pile Shen Yue had painstakingly stacked. Helpless, she could only cough through the smoke while putting together another pile.

"Why not just use the flame on Charmander's tail? You can take your time practicing Ember when you get home," Xiao Ran said helplessly from where he was fishing by the lake.

"??" At Xiao Ran's words, Shen Yue stared blankly, her face covered in soot. She looked at her Charmander, then at the pile of firewood she had just stacked.

"Char?" Charmander gave a tentative cry. Light it?

"Uh~~" Shen Yue responded instinctively, then watched Charmander cautiously slide its tail beneath the firewood. A little flame slowly set the whole pile alight.

"Oh my god! Am I an idiot?" Shen Yue let out an anguished shriek.

"Hahahaha~~~" Everyone burst out laughing.

"Popplio, don't wander too far! Remember to come back every so often to replenish your salt!" Turning to look at Popplio happily playing in the lake, Xiao Ran called out.

Although Popplio was a Water-type, it was a marine Pokémon. Even the water it usually soaked in was specially prepared, with salt and other substances at levels close to seawater. Spending a long time swimming in a freshwater lake like this was very bad for its skin, so it had to come back at regular intervals and soak in the basin Xiao Ran had prepared for it.

"Arf~~~" Popplio called back, but soon sank beneath the surface again. Clearly, it hadn't taken Xiao Ran's words to heart.

"Pah, pah, pah! Why is it another Magikarp? How many of these things are there?" Jiang Cheng, who was fishing alongside Xiao Ran, shouted angrily. This was already the fifth Magikarp he had caught.

Apart from a layer of skin, these Pokémon were all bones. They weren't even edible—utterly useless fish, yet also the most numerous kind.

"They probably fill more than half of Sweet Spring Lake. They breed far too quickly, and they barely have any natural predators. Before you know it, you've got a whole lake full of them," Xiao Ran said, shaking his head. In fact, he had already caught seven or eight Magikarp himself.

"Do you think these things really can evolve into dragons? Maybe the textbooks are just messing with us?" Jiang Cheng asked irritably.

"That part is true. The legend of Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate probably really does exist, and it applies to a lot of Water-type Pokémon. Before evolving, they're at the bottom of the food chain. Once they evolve, they go from prey to predators. I suppose that's a kind of ecological balance," Xiao Ran said with a touch of wonder.

In the games from his previous life, the difficulty of Magikarp evolving into Gyarados was merely described in a bit of text. Actually making one evolve while playing was very easy. But after coming to this real world, Xiao Ran had discovered that this evolution truly wasn't so simple. Barring some unexpected development, all the Magikarp in Sweet Spring Lake might not produce even a single Gyarados. The buildup required for that evolution was staggering, far beyond what an ordinary Magikarp could accumulate.

"Seriously? Do you think I should raise one? What if it actually evolves?" Jiang Cheng asked, half convinced.

"Forget it. Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate isn't that simple. This entire lake full of Magikarp might not produce even one Gyarados. With that much time and energy, wouldn't you be better off properly raising another Pokémon?"

"Fair point... Sigh... You're useless, and I can't even eat you. Get lost!" Furious, Jiang Cheng tossed the Magikarp in his hands back into the lake. It didn't suddenly evolve to prove him wrong, either.

"By the way, where did Lingling go? I don't think I've seen her since we got here." Looking around, Jiang Cheng asked curiously.

"She said she was going to look around. She should be back soon, right?" Xiao Ran said, a barely perceptible worry in his voice.

"Well, there's not much to worry about with her. A Sneasel who could break through to entry level at any moment could probably beat every Pokémon in Sweet Spring Lake," Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

The Pokémon near cities weren't very strong. The Rangers regularly managed the area to prevent overly powerful Pokémon from threatening the safety of nearby humans, so entry level was generally the limit. Even Rangers couldn't necessarily deal with Pokémon above that level right away. In such cases, they usually had to invite powerful Pokémon Trainers to drive them away.

"Not necessarily. With the sudden drop in the number of Pokémon, I can't shake the feeling that this place isn't all that peaceful," Xiao Ran said, shaking his head.

"Arf~~~" Just then, Popplio suddenly surfaced from its play in the lake and splashed Xiao Ran all over.

"Popplio~~~ You~~~" Xiao Ran looked helpless. He was just about to scold the little fellow when he suddenly froze, hurried to the water's edge, and scooped up a palmful of lake water to taste.

"What's wrong?" Dropping his fishing rod, Jiang Cheng ran over and copied him, scooping up some lake water and putting it in his mouth.

"Huh? This water tastes awful. It's not sweet at all—it's bitter and astringent. Who said the water here was sweet? They even said it lived up to the name Sweet Spring Lake, as sweet as a mountain spring. Pah, what a load of lies!" Jiang Cheng smacked his lips in displeasure.

"Right. It tastes bad, it isn't sweet, and it's astringent. That's because seawater has mixed into it. Seawater is salty and astringent. The concentration in the lake must still be low, so we can only taste the astringency. The saltiness isn't obvious yet," Xiao Ran murmured, tasting the lake water in his mouth.

"Seawater? You're saying seawater has mixed into this lake?" Jiang Cheng was stunned. It sounded utterly impossible. Sweet Spring Lake was a freshwater lake. Its water even came from springs on the mountain beside it, which was why it tasted sweet. And now Xiao Ran was telling him this was seawater?

"It looks like we've found the reason for the drastic decline in Pokémon around here," Xiao Ran said slowly. "Most of the Pokémon here used to be freshwater species. But now seawater has mixed into the lake, increasing the salt content. Marine Pokémon like Popplio might not notice much of a difference, but it's another story for freshwater Pokémon. They've lived in freshwater all their lives and are very sensitive to water quality. The water here has changed and is no longer suitable for them to live in, so migrating away was inevitable."

"But... why would perfectly good lake water suddenly turn into seawater?" Jiang Cheng listened in bewilderment, his mind full of questions.

"Exactly. Why would perfectly good lake water suddenly turn into seawater?" That was what Xiao Ran couldn't understand, either.

Sweet Spring Lake had flowing water that was constantly moving, so someone simply pouring seawater into it couldn't explain this. Continuously dumping seawater into it for several weeks would cost far too much. But apart from someone pouring it in, what else could cause seawater to suddenly mix into a freshwater lake? That was the part Xiao Ran couldn't figure out.

Could it be them? The mark he had seen on the tree suddenly flashed through Xiao Ran's mind. But if it really was the Hall, what were they plotting?

"Popplio! Swim around the lake and see where you feel most comfortable. Be careful. If anything feels wrong, leave immediately, then come back and tell me," Xiao Ran instructed the Popplio in front of him.

"Arf~~~" Popplio answered, then dove back into the water.

"You think someone did this?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"I don't know. But the seawater has clearly come in from somewhere. Whatever the reason, we'll have our answer once we find the source," Xiao Ran said, shaking his head.

"Right! Once we find the source, we'll have all the answers. No wonder you sent Popplio to test the water," Jiang Cheng said with a chuckle.

If seawater was entering the lake, it had to come in at one point and then spread outward. That meant the seawater concentration would differ from place to place in Sweet Spring Lake. Popplio was a marine Pokémon, after all. Although it hadn't noticed the problem at first because the concentration was too low, it would still be able to sense the difference if it paid close attention. It might just take a little longer.

"How's the fishing going? You can come over and start grilling now!" Shen Yue suddenly called from a distance, breaking the two out of their thoughts.

"Oh, coming! Let me tell you, we..." Jiang Cheng was about to explain what had happened when Xiao Ran suddenly grabbed him.

"We just hooked a big fish, but unfortunately it got away! We'll pack up and be right over," Xiao Ran replied hastily, then turned his gaze to Jiang Cheng.

"Don't let them know about this. It's too strange. I'm worried it might be dangerous," Xiao Ran warned him.

"You're right."

Hearing his words, Jiang Cheng immediately took the matter seriously. Indeed, if something really was going on here, having too many people know about it would only make things worse.

"Did you and Yueyue notice something was wrong as soon as we got out of the car?" After packing up, Jiang Cheng hooked an arm around Xiao Ran's neck and asked curiously.

"Let go! Let go!" Slapping the other boy's thick arm, Xiao Ran felt as though he was about to be strangled. "No! I'm not some all-knowing immortal. If I knew what was going on, would I still need to drink lake water?"

"Then what about Lingling? Don't tell me she secretly ran off to some corner to drink lake water too!" Jiang Cheng said irritably, tightening his arm a little more.

"She's really just wandering around nearby. If you don't believe me, just watch. As soon as the barbecue's ready, she'll be back."

"I don't believe you!"

"Don't push it, okay? Do you believe I'll use the Power of the Moon to throw you straight into the lake and let you drink your fill?"

"Damn! You're actually threatening me? You're dead!"

"I really will do it!"

"Sigh~~~ Those two make such a loving couple. I feel like a third wheel intruding on them!" Shen Yue sighed as she watched their antics from a distance.