Nagi

Tong Hua was dumbfounded. He had to pass a test just to buy something?

That was the Pokémon world for you...

"I can provide the rod and bait for free, but if you break anything, you'll have to pay the full price. So, want to give it a try?"

Nagi narrowed her eyes, a sly smile curling her lips. With the sunlight shining on her face, she looked just like a fox.

Tong Hua gripped the fishing rod, and the two little ones on his shoulders hopped down on their own.

"Tur!" "Min!"

"Yeah, of course!"

"All right." With his answer confirmed, Nagi brought over a plastic box from the wooden porch behind the house.

The box was filled with krill, which would serve as fishing bait.

The sounds of children splashing and playing came from nearby. Nagi glanced at them, then turned to Tong Hua.

"There are kids playing here. Let's fish in the deeper water over there."

South of Chicory Village, near the coast, stood a breakwater.

The breakwater was built from enormous gray-white rocks. Waves crashed against them, sending up sparkling sprays of water. Tong Hua followed Nagi to its far end, where the water was noticeably deeper and shimmered a dark blue-green.

The sea stretched endlessly before them, with no other islands or land in sight. Only the clouds overhead marked the boundary between sea and sky.

"Not bad."

Looking at the scenery before him, Tong Hua suddenly felt a little moved.

Beautiful. It was absolutely beautiful.

In his previous life, he had never once visited the coast. This was his first time seeing the ocean in person.

Nagi stepped barefoot across the rough breakwater, moving as nimbly as a cat. She casually set the plastic box on the ground and couldn't resist stretching.

"Here we are." Nagi grabbed a handful of krill from the plastic box and helped Tong Hua fill the bait cage.

"Well, then. Show me what you've got."

Tong Hua took a deep breath, feeling the slightly salty sea breeze, and tightened his grip on the fishing rod.

As his class automatically switched to Fisher, the rod in his hands gradually began to feel familiar.

Recalling the instructions he had heard in the shop, he gently hooked the fishing line with a finger.

Then he opened the reel's bail, and the bait cage and string of hooks began to descend slowly.

Tong Hua quickly extended the rod over the water in front of him, letting the hooks drop into the sea.

"Min." "Tur."

The two Pokémon gathered in front of Tong Hua, curiously watching the bait cage in the water.

The line slowly sank, and Tong Hua could feel subtle changes in the current through his fingertips. Soon, the hooks reached the bottom, and the line running through the rod went slack.

Seeing this, Tong Hua closed the bail and began slowly reeling in. As the bait cage bobbed down and up, the scent of the krill inside began spreading through the water.

To Turtwig and Minccino's amazement, a pale red cloud suddenly billowed from the holes in the bait cage, standing out clearly in the transparent water.

"Oh, you're pretty good at this." Nagi stood nearby with her arms folded, a flicker of approval in her narrow eyes. "Guess you're not exactly a beginner."

Tong Hua didn't answer. He focused entirely on the faint vibrations coming through the rod. The sea breeze brushed the ends of his hair, and sunlight scattered flecks of gold across the water.

Suddenly, the line jerked sharply downward!

"Got a bite!"

Tong Hua instinctively wanted to set the hooks, but his Fisher passive skill stopped him.

Not yet. Lift it slowly and try to get a bite on all five hooks!

Several flashes of silver suddenly streaked through the red cloud underwater as five slender fish darted toward the bait at once. Tong Hua turned his wrist slightly, keeping just the right amount of tension on the line.

Three... two... one! He counted silently, then snapped the rod upward!

Splash!

Five little fish, gleaming silver, leaped out of the water together, tracing beautiful arcs in the sunlight.

"Oh, five horse mackerel in one go? You're pretty good."

Nagi raised her eyebrows, though her voice remained as languid as ever.

"That should do it, right?" Tong Hua gave the rod a little shake, while Turtwig helped remove the fish from the hooks.

All five were small horse mackerel. The longest measured fifteen centimeters, while the smallest was less than ten.

"Mm, not bad at all." Nagi crouched down, took a smaller box from the plastic box, filled it with some seawater, and placed the five little horse mackerel inside.

"These fish aren't very big, but if you gut them, coat them in flour, and deep-fry them, you can eat them from head to tail-even the bones."

Watching her movements, Tong Hua really did feel that she resembled a cat.

"Huh? Is that kind of thing important?" Nagi tilted her head and looked at Tong Hua, puzzled.

"Of course it is!" Tong Hua leaned his fishing rod against a rock on the breakwater and said earnestly, "Getting to know each other helps us get along better, right? I'm Tong Hua, the owner of Fairy Tale Ranch.

"Of course it is!" Tong Hua rested the rod against a rock on the breakwater and said earnestly, "It's easier to get along once we know each other, right? I'm Tong Hua, the owner of Fairy Tale Ranch.

"These are my Turtwig and Minccino."

"Tur, tur!" Turtwig proudly puffed out his chest.

"Min~" Minccino happily waved her little paws, too.

Nagi stared at them for a few seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing. "Honestly... why so serious?"

She stood up and brushed her shorts, which had gotten a little seawater on them. "I'm Nagi. I suppose you could call me the face of a little fishing tackle shop, and a river lifeguard."

"So, Tong Hua..." Nagi drew out the words, smiling again. "Since you're so skilled, how about taking on an advanced challenge?"

"So, Tong Hua..." Nagi drew out his name and smiled again. "Since you're so good, want to try an advanced challenge?"

"An advanced challenge?"

Tong Hua's eyes lit up at that. The novelty of sea fishing made him eager to give it a try, and besides, catching fish would also earn experience for his Fisher profession.

Tong Hua's eyes lit up. The novelty of sea fishing had him eager to try more, and catching fish would also earn experience for his Fisher class.

"What kind of advanced challenge?" he asked eagerly.

Nagi smiled mysteriously and pulled a lead sinker from the bottom of the plastic box. "Use this next. You can catch more impressive fish with it."

Turtwig and Minccino leaned in curiously. The lead sinker was tiny, not even half the size of the bait cage.

Tong Hua took the sinker and weighed it in his hand.

Tong Hua took the sinker and weighed it in his hand.

"You mean this rod can catch big fish if I swap this in?"

Nagi nodded. "You need to change your rig depending on what fish you want to catch. That's one of the basics of fishing.

"Adjust the length of your rod and line to suit the waters where your target fish live, then add the right tackle, and you'll be able to catch them."

"Sounds a bit like doing an experiment. So what can this rig catch once I put the sinker on?"

His curiosity piqued, Tong Hua quickly picked up the rod beside him, unclipped the bait cage, and removed it.

His curiosity piqued, Tong Hua quickly picked up the rod beside him, unclipped the bait cage, and removed it.

"Do you know how to attach a sinker? Thread the line through, then wrap it a few times and secure it with an overhand knot." As Nagi explained beside him, Tong Hua's fingers moved nimbly in the sunlight, fastening the sinker securely according to her instructions.

"Watch your surroundings when you cast, especially if someone's standing nearby."

Before Nagi had finished speaking, Tong Hua made a beautiful cast. The sinker traced a silver arc through the air and landed in the deeper water more than ten meters away. Turtwig and Minccino immediately hurried to the edge of the breakwater, their little heads nearly poking out beyond the rocks as they stared intently at the rippling sea.

The float bobbed up and down on the surface, swaying gently with the waves.

Once again came that familiar wait. Compared with small fish, big fish clearly required a greater investment of time.

Five minutes passed, but there was still no sign of a bite.

Nagi lay off to one side, lazily basking in the sun. A bored Turtwig played with the little stones on the breakwater, nudging them with his claws, while Minccino lay at Tong Hua's feet and began to doze.

"The sky's so blue... why am I standing here fishing, anyway?" Tong Hua couldn't help musing as he held the rod.

"Still, this feels pretty nice."

Just as Tong Hua cleared his mind and began enjoying this leisurely moment, the float suddenly plunged beneath the surface!

A fish had taken the bait!