Waterway Fishing!

Once they were outside, everyone breathed in the fresh air greedily. Ripley was still carrying the egg she was assigned by Galen.

"Hmm, that egg is going to hatch soon, you'll need to be careful to not break it until then." Galen could see the timer on the egg running out, it would take just under 8 hours to hatch.

"Oh, it's going to hatch." Ripley held the egg up and analyzed it, she wondered what was inside of it.

"Just keep talking to it, let it recognize your voice so it can become accustomed to you when it hatches." Galen believed this would be the right approach for an egg before it hatched, she could also be the first person it saw.

"Okay, I'll do that often." Ripley nodded.

'I may as well summon him. This is a good time to bond with this fella since he'll be a part of my team in the future.' Galen reached into his pocket and grabbed the Dusk ball within.

"Wow, that's a really cool-looking ball, did you steal that from Norris too?" Lars said when seeing the shrunken Dusk ball.

"No, I had this for a while." Galen said and continued, "Speaking of balls, you're going to need this, Ripley." Galen handed Ripley a Pokeball, she would need one for her unhatched Pokemon.

Galen originally had 38 Pokeballs, but now he had a total of 13 balls left. He would have to be careful since he was limited.

"Come out, Kubfu!" Galen tossed the Dusk ball and summoned it.

"Kubuu~" Kubfu appeared before immediately turning to Galen and bowing.

"Wow, it's a real-life teddy bear!" Siena's eyes brightened when she saw the fluffy Kubfu, she really wanted to rush over and pet it but it was still a Pokemon—so she didn't.

Galen could only smile, this Pokemon was simply too amazing. He felt blessed to have one, as this Pokemon surely wasn't in the region and it was hard to come by in general.

'Now, for the moment of truth.' Galen's eyes scanned over Kubfu, as he unconsciously smiled in the process.

===

<Name: Kubfu♂>

<Type: Fighting>

<Level: 1>

<Aptitude: B->

<Ability: Inner Focus>

<Moves: Rock Smash, Leer,

<Moves(TM): Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Mega Punch, Mega Kick,

===

'This is both good and bad!' The aptitude of Kubfu was extraordinary, even Galen knew how big of a problem this would be.

He could never reveal this to anyone, or it would be a problem for him. Kubfu's unknown species would probably spark some curiosity among others, to begin with.

'I'm gonna need a Psychic-type, the best ones would be something like an Alakazam or Metagross.' Psychic Pokemon were good at mind control, ranged sensory, could use teleport, throwing people from afar, Etc.

This also got Galen thinking about the guilds, perhaps he should join that Origin guild in the future. With the information he suddenly obtained, Galen knew that raising a Pokemon's aptitude required resources.

The main and easiest way to raise a Pokemon aptitude was a really good diet. Like going to the gym and working out and training, then eating really healthy to grow rapidly.

The best foods were Pokéblocks and the 6 expensive drinks—Carbos, Protein, Hp-Up, Iron, Zinc, and Calcium. Galen wasn't in a hurry, he was still young and wasn't rich; there was so much that needed to be accomplished.

Galen came to the waterway, and right away, they could see Magikarp floating at the top of the water. Goldeen could even be seen, but when Galen scanned them, he could see that their aptitudes were merely (F-) with a few of them having an (F).

"There are fish in the water, the red one looks really silly while the one with the full lips looks dangerous." Siena could see the horn on Goldeen's head, it looked like it would deal a fatal blow to anyone hit with it.

"Yeah, it's dangerous alright. That Pokemon is actually quite aggressive, so be careful not to fall in." Galen grinned and said playfully.

Siena's expression changed a bit before she nodded in rapid successions, taking Galen's word to heart. At that moment, one of the Magikarp was assaulted by another fish that appeared on the scene.

"Karp~" Magikarp's cries of terror rung out, but it didn't matter. The area around that school of Magikarp showed a pool of blood floating on the surface.

"W-what was that?" Darius was stunned.

Galen had seen it as well and he made sure to scan the attacker. From what he saw, it was a Red-Striped Basculin.

"A Magikarp was killed by a Basculin, that's just nature." Galen shook his head and went over toward the water.

"Let's start our fishing, we need to find some enjoyment in our lives." Galen waved everyone over before placing some bait onto the rod. He used to fish with his dad and grandfather back in his old world, so he was quite experienced.

Everyone was still staring at that swirling pool of blood. Pokemon like Magikarp were defenseless, they had no moves to protect themselves. Basculin didn't dare to attack Goldeen, lest, it would have a life and death fight on its hands.

"Alright, take a look, you apply the bait on the fishing line like this before tossing it into the water. This berry has more of a sour taste to it, so it won't attract certain Pokemon but the one I want to find."

Everyone stood around Galen and watched him closely—learning as he explained. After all, these things were unfortunately new to them, but it was a start.

"Here we go, we simply toss it in like this...that easy" Kubfu was also watching and nodding to the side during the explanation; showing that he was also learning.

The surface Pokemon such as Goldeen ignored this berry, it didn't smell too appealing to them. Magikarp, however, had zero problems eating something sour—as they were capable of surviving anywhere and eating anything.

The fishline tugged and they pulled a Pokemon up to the surface. Galen quickly identified what Pokemon it was before verifying its status.

===

<Name: Poliwag♀>

<Type: Water>

<Level: 8>

<Aptitude: F>

<Ability: Water Absorb>

<Moves: Water Gun, Pound, Hypnosis, Water Sport,

<Moves(TM): N/A

===

Poliwag landed onshore and frowned when it noticed that it had been baited by humans. As soon as Miltank saw Poliwag, she stepped up to challenge it. Poliwag bounced away, putting some distance between Galen's group and it.

"Miltank, it's okay. Kubfu, go forth, you'll be fighting this battle." Galen turned to Kubfu, who was just looking on in silence.

"Fu..." Kubfu nodded before stepping forward for battle, he seemed nervous and excited at the same time.

"No worries, focus, you got this. Put up your guard and prepare yourself for combat." Galen wasn't worried despite the apparent gap in level, this was obviously because of the aptitude difference.

"Kubfu! Use Leer, first!" Kufbu's eyes lit up with white light as he glared at Poliwag. Poliwag's body shivered as its skin and body had weakened, its body quickly flashed with blue light—indicating a defense drop.

"Go! Don't look it in the eye and attack!" Poliwag had the move Hypnosis, which could be troublesome if it connected.

Kubfu dashed towards Poliwag with its fist raring, preparing to attack. Poliwag was already in hostile mode, it quickly fired a Water Gun off.

"Dodge to the side!" This is all Galen had to worry about when it came to damage-ranged attacks.

Kubfu sidestepped the Water Gun with ease before continuing its dash.

"Thunder Punch!" Kubfu's fist broke into sparks of lightning bolts. Poliwag couldn't sit by and be defeated, it decided to challenge Kubfu's attack with a tackle, instead.

Using its feet as leverage, Poliwag pushed its body forward headfirst to attack Kubfu. Both connected, causing the area to burst into thin strands of lightning.

Poliwag's eyes widened before they turned blank, its pupils had disappeared before it fell to the ground unmoved.

"That was amazing, you beat it so easily and professionally!" said Ripley. Everyone watched in excitement, they all wanted to be able to do the same thing one day.

"I wish I wasn't scared of Pokemon, I want to fight with some Pokemon too!" Siena felt really depressed because she was just too much of a coward.

"We'll work on that right now." Galen was surprised himself, but he knew he needed to train to be a true master.

"Are you going to catch this Pokemon?" Darius stared at Poliwag and asked.

"I have limited Pokeballs, but a water Pokemon is needed right now." Galen wanted it mainly for its Hypnosis move, it would make catching Pokemon easier. He also wanted to use it for something regarding their fishing.

With a toss of a Pokeball, Poliwag was caught with ease. Afterward, Galen summoned a group of Geodude and ordered them to dig up a wide and lengthy rectangular hole.

Galen scanned Kubfu and saw that it had leveled up to 4 from its battle.

While the group of Geodude were at work, they continued fishing. Galen let Poliwag out of its Pokeball, so it could be restored for later use. Galen had to squeeze some berries juice into its mouth because it had taken heavy damage from its previous fight.

"What is that hole for?" Lars wondered.

"I'm going to have Poliwag fill it up with water, so you guys can put the Pokemon you catch with the fishing rod inside of it." Galen would sort out the best ones and see if they were interested in them.

Siena and Lars followed Galen's instructions from before and started fishing. Of course, Ripley stood by them and helped.

"Hmm, I have a question, I remember you mentioning a Pokemon that many people underestimated. The way you described it reminds me of the appearance of this redfish swimming around in that water."

Darius had been staring at this derpy-looking fish for a while but he couldn't remember much about it until now.

"Yes, that's the fish." A lot of people actually didn't know Magikarp evolved into something as outrageous as Gyarados.

"You said it didn't have any attacks except 2 I think." Darius was interested in this little fish—the fish that many looked down on.

"It does, for now. When it evolves, its strength skyrockets to the extreme. You'll need to be careful about catching weak ones, there's a talent system for Pokemon from what I've heard." Galen made sure to point this out, this was common knowledge in the world.

"Talent, this makes sense." Darius nodded before gazing down at Galen's Xtranciever and asking if it could read things like talent. Galen told him that it couldn't but he was sure they had something that could do that at the Pokemon Alliance.

Darius went over and joined them, while Galen watched the Geodude work together in their landscaping. Over a large margin of time, Poliwag finally woke up, it took it about an hour to do so. By this point, the trio had already caught about 30 Magikarp that Galen saw as faulty (F-) to (F+) Pokemon.

Once Poliwag woke up, he fed it again before ordering it to fill the hole up with water. This hole in width and length was quite big, so it could fit a large number of fish-type Pokemon.

"Eww, what is this fish, it's so ugly—throw it back!" Ripley's tone was filled with disgust. Galen turned and was shocked from the first sight of it.

"WAIT! Don't throw it back!" Galen yelled hurriedly.