Okay, everybody, I have some good and bad news.

The bad news is that this is the last one-shot I'll be writing for a while. I'm not quitting writing one-shots or that stuff, but after getting some advice from someone called ExodusClaw, I think I need to focus on my longer stories, or at the very least make the one-shots a bit longer before posting them.

The good news is, doing this will let me focus on my on-going stories: "Chains of Reality," "The Royal Woods Comedy Grand Prix," and "Lori the Fencer," and hopefully make them at least somewhat decent, and improve them. Hopefully.

Anyway, let''s move on.

It was a calm day at the Royal Woods lake, where a pair of girls were trying to do some fishing; Polly Pain, and Lynn. More specifically, Polly Pain was trying to do some fishing, Lynn leaned on the wooden boat, clearly exasperated by the whole ordeal.

"What are we doing at the lake today, Polly?" Lynn complained while her friend focused on her fishing rod. "I mean, nothing is happening!"

"We're here to do one of my favorite activities," Polly answered, rolling her eyes. "It's called fishing, and it consists of trying to catch fish. And most importantly, patience plays a key role: Pull too early, the fish is scared away, pull too late, the fish escapes."

"I never thought one of your activities would involve waiting, of all things," Lynn groaned. "Why do you even enjoy something as boring as this?!"

"Because it helps me calm down and remember how important is it to be patient, and it will also help me teach you how such a skill can be invaluable," Polly sternly answered. "Besides, I like fish; both as animals, and as food, so it's a win-win."

"Maybe for you, but not for me," Lynn pulled her hair. "You know I'm used to far more active sports, rather than the calm kind!"

"This is an activity, not a sport-"

"Even more reason for me to complain! You know me, so taking me to this fishing trip makes no sense!"

Polly, keeping a steady grip on her fishing rod, shot a stern glare at Lynn and said, "Lynn, I'm doing this for the benefit of both of us: You learn about being patience-and hopefully stick to it-and I get to bond with you a bit!" she frowned. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Lynn flinched, and believing she was about to hurt her friend's feelings, she quickly corrected herself, "N-No, of course not! It's just that, you know that I'm not used to calmer, quieter activities like this. I'm basically out of my comfort zone, and now that I think about it, that really freaks me out!"

Polly sighed. "Lynn, sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone in order to enjoy life to it's fullest," she sighed. "Besides, we won't be here for long. Only until we manage to catch a couple fish."

"And how long will take that?"

"Who knows? That's why patience is important in this sort of thing. We just have to wait until we catch something."

"Except for a cold?"

"Let's hope not."

The tomboys laughed, then Polly returned to her fishing rod, while Lynn grabbed hers, put in the bait, and promptly joined on the fishing. For the first couple of minutes, nothing happened, and of course, it wasn't long before this got on Lynn's nerves. It did give her an idea, though.

"Hey, Polly, we need to be patient and all that, but is it prohibited to do something to pass the time?" she asked to the roller skater. "Like tell stories and such?"

"Hmm, no, not really, in fact, that's actually one of the more commons things fishermen do to pass time," Polly answered, focusing solely on her rod. "But the thing is, it's very easy to lose track of time, which causes us to lose potential fish, so we need to be careful if we tell any stories at all."

"...Do you have any stories in mind?"

"Well, to be honest, I usually just shut up and try to patiently wait until we catch some fish," Polly soon got an idea. "But, I can tell you about the time I caught a compliment?"

"Polly, I may not be smart, but I'm not stupid either," Lynn sternly answered. "There's no way you could catch a compliment in the middle of the lake, unless there was some fisherman nearby."

"And what if I found it inside a bottle?" the roller skater argued. "Does it still sound impossible to you?"

"No, but still, why would anybody put a compliment in a bottle, then throw it to the sea?"

"Well, you know what they say, I was "fishing for compliments."

Lynn groaned, but let out a chuckle as Polly laughed a bit. "If I didn't know you any better, I'd start thinking you're hanging out with Luan."

"Her friend, actually," the tomboy explained. "Ever since the Sadie Hawkins dance, we have hung out every once in a while, and she's actually a pretty decent comedian."

Lynn chuckled. "I'm sorry, but I can't picture Giggles being decent at comedy, specially if she's Luan's friend!" Polly rolled her eyes. "I mean, it doesn't make sense! Why would someone decent at something be friends with someone that's bad at the same thing?"

"Hey, I'm friends with you, and you're an absolute disaster at roller skating,"

Predictably, this got on Lynn's nerve. "Now wait just a minute-!"

Unexpectedly, however, something grabbed the bait, which caused Lynn to grab her rod and try to pull back. "H-Hey, what's going on?!"

"A fish caught the bait!" Polly stated. "Pull back, Lynn!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!"

"Don't put too much pressure or else-"

"Don't tell me what I tell Lincoln whenever we exercise!"

Lynn pulled for a while, and eventually, the line snapped and Lynn nearly fell backwards into the water before being caught by Polly. "Well, there goes a fish," Lynn looked at the remains of the rope. "Polly, are these quality or even decent rope?"

"Even the best ropes snap apart when put through too much pressure, Lynn," Polly handed Lynn her fishing rod and went to check on the toolbox. "Now don't worry, I brought some replacements just in case something like this happened. Please watch over my fishing rod while I look for a new rope."

Just then, something hit Polly's bait and reeled the rod as far away from the girls as they could, causing Lynn to try and pull back in response. However, it wasn't long before the fish used so much strength, they basically pulled the whole boat, alerting Polly in the process.

"Whoa, Lynn, what's going on?!" the roller skater asked as she saw the scenery go past them.

"We got a big one, and it's pulling us with them!" the jock answered.

Polly quickly fixed Lynn's fishing rod and threw the bait as she said, "Let's show it who's boss, then!"

The double bait did nothing to falter the fish's bizarrely fast speed. If anything, it just put even more effort into getting away with the bait, which only further motivated the tomboys to pull back even harder. Not that this did them any good, since it wasn't long before the fish snapped both of their hooks, and then escaped, jumping up to reveal it was a giant mutated salmon, before leaving for good.

"Huh, something tells me it's Lisa's fault the salmon looks like that," Polly remarked as Lynn just stood there, seemingly in awe. "Sorry, Lynn, I'll see if I can find a way to row us back to the shore-"

"Are you kidding me?! We can't leave as long as those things remain in the water!" Lynn went to the toolbox and looked for new ropes. "Come on, we still got fish to catch!"

Seeing her friend actually excited to do some fishing brought a smile to Polly, who immediately went to help Lynn fix the fishing rods.

Later...

Polly and Lynn returned to the shore, somehow, and walked back home with no fish in hand, mutated or otherwise.

"So, what did you think of our little fishing trip, Lynn?" Polly inquired, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I know it's upsetting we didn't catch any fish, but that wasn't the point anyway."

"Well... I'm not going to lie, it was better than I thought it would be," Lynn smiled. "It was probably the rush of energy I had when we were trying to catch that massive... Fish thing-"

"A giant mutated salmon," Polly corrected. "Which I still think is your sister's fault to some extent."

"Yeah, that thing, but point is, I really enjoyed when we tried to catch it, and knowing we could experience something like that again made the overall wait more tolerable."

"And?"

"...And I'll admit that patience really is important for certain things, specially in fishing," Lynn brushed Polly's hair. "Thanks for teaching me that."

"No problem, Lindsey."

This earned her a jab from Lynn. "I told you not to call me by my middle name!"

"Lindsey!" Polly exclaimed.

And as the duo continued to go back home, Lynn repeatedly, but gently, hit Polly as she continued to call her by her middle name, with the mutated salmon jumping one last time as the sun set in the horizon.