Fish Tail 3:
Here There be Dragons

Minato tugged his dark blue coat tighter around his body as he watched the sun slowly rise over the jagged teeth of the Kage Mountains. It was late fall, but it almost felt like winter in the thinner air of the higher elevations. Hana his ivysaur sat beside him, drinking in the morning sunlight and sharing in his body heat.

It had been a long time since he'd been in the mountains. There was no pokémon researcher in his hometown of Myouboku, so to start off as a trainer he'd first had to travel almost a full day by elevated cable cars to Tower City just outside of the mountains. Professor Homura Mitokado was a sour old man, but respected enough to be able to get top starter pokémon to hand out to new trainers instead of having to give out pikachu, pichu, eevee, and more common species like some lesser-known rural professors, or poor professors in big cities had to.

He'd stayed away from home because he knew that as soon as he returned, his uncle would want him to make his challenge. Minato didn't want to disappoint his uncle by not succeeding on his first try. So he captured and trained his pokémon and challenged other gyms and he waited until he felt absolutely ready.

I think we're ready. Minato rubbed his hands together, using friction to push away the creeping numbness brought on by the cold air. Once we get through the mountains, we'll be ready to handle anything that Jiraiya-oji-san throws at us.

They were taking the scenic route, of course. There was no hurry to get to Myouboku Town so he was heading there by the most circuitous route he could figure. So far they'd been in the mountains for two days and, at the least, it would take them just over two weeks to reach their destination.

That was, if there were no delays or detours.

"It's early…why are you awake?"

Minato turned away from the view to see Kushina sticking her head out of the small, dome-shaped tent. Her eyes were barely open and her short red hair was sticking up in all directions. Crusher the croconaw slipped around her and out of the tent to stumble around their small campsite, occasionally yawning and displaying his impressive maw of sharp teeth.

"I just am," Minato answered, doing his best not to laugh at her. "You can go back to sleep if you're still tired."

"Mmph," the thirteen-year-old girl grunted in a very un-ladylike manner. "But I thought we were going to see your uncle. Don't you want to go see him?"

"He knows I'm coming," Minato replied with a shrug. "He won't go on any trips until I get back in town. There's no hurry."

She squinted at him, then sighed and disappeared back into the tent. Minutes later she reappeared with her gray second-hand coat on and, still wearing her washed-out orange pajamas (which was getting short in the sleeves and pant legs), ambled over to side on the other side of Hana. Drowsily fingering Hana's waxy pink flower bud, she scrubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stared out at the view he'd been admiring.

"…So, what cool rock formations are we going to see today?" the tomboy asked.

"Well, let's see…" He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his map of the mountains. Unfolding the paper, his finger traced to their approximate location, and then drifted along the route he had planned. "If we keep along this trail we should see…Taillow Cliffs…Torkoal Rock…"

"What's that?" Kushina interrupted, jabbing her finger at a spot on the map near his own finger.

"That is…Mirage Lake," he said, squinting at the tiny print.

"Mirage Lake…" She combed her finger through her messy red hair as she thought. "Oh! I remember hearing about that place. Can we go there?"

Minato studied the map for a moment before nodding. "Sure."

"Woo!" the girl cheered and scampered back to the tent to get dressed.

He chuckled softly and patted Hana on the head. "I suppose there must be some rare water pokémon in Mirage Lake that she wants…"


Mirage Lake was very remote, and barely big enough to be considered a lake. It was eerily smooth and reflective, making it look more like a mirror than a body of water. Minato admired the magical view as he caught his breath from the strenuous hike to the lake. Kushina immediately began combing along the lakeshore, as if looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" he asked when he caught up with her.

"I knew this old fisherman, who claimed that he's fished all these remote lakes and rivers in all sorts of countries. He said he was here once, and he fished at this one particular spot and hooked something awesome." She critically scanned her surroundings before walking a little further around the glassy lake. "I want to see if he really did what he claimed or if he was just telling me fish stories."

"Ah."

Eventually, she seemed to find the spot the old fisherman had described to her, and the girl settled in to fish. Minato watched her cast for a while before wandering off to explore the surrounding forest. She'd probably be at fishing for the rest of the day so he had plenty of time to kill.

A lot had happened since he'd left home. First there'd been Hana, then Kiroi, and then Gama. And for a while, it had just been them. Next had come Kage the murkrow and Kirin the ponyta. He'd captured a few other monsters, like Senkou the eevee and Kaiju the nidoran, but none of them really seemed to fit into his team. They were good pokémon, but their types didn't quite fit in the rest of his regulars. They just weren't what he was looking for…

Minato came across a stunted berry bush in his aimless wanderings and picked the few ripe sitrus berries that it had produced.

I wonder…what will Jiraiya-oji-san say when he meets her?

He'd never said all that much to his uncle about his traveling companion during his phone calls home. At first, it was because he was trying to ignore the girl that had latched on to him for no discernable reason. And now, it was because he didn't want to deal with how his uncle might react to him traveling with a girl.

I hope he doesn't say anything embarrassing… Minato paused, and shook his head at himself. Of course he's going to say something embarrassing.

Suddenly rather glum, he headed back to the lake. It was a good thing that Kushina had wanted this detour. He wanted to put off the future humiliation for as long as possible.

"So, how's the fishing?"

"Nothing so far," she answered and waved him closer. "Watch the line for me; I need to use the little girl's bush."

Minato sighed and took hold of the fishing pole while she vanished to answer nature's call. Kushina kept trying to get him into fishing. But he still hated it.

And of course as soon as she was gone something took the hook.

"Damn it!" he cursed, fumbling with the rod. "Kushina!"

"Reel it in!" she shouted back. "I'll be right there!"

Clenching his teeth, Minato set himself to the task. Whatever was on the line was strong. After nearly being pulled into the lake, he called on his ivysaur and poliwhirl to brace him. And Kushina was taking her sweet time in coming back.

"Did you get it in yet?! Did you get it in yet?!"

"No," Minato growled as he did his best not to lose the rod in the lake. "Hurry up and take this thing!"

"Nah, you almost got it," Kushina cheered. "Finish it!"

Grunting in annoyance, he wrestled with the rod some more. The glassy waters of the lake now churned and frothed around the line as it zigzagged back and forth in front of him. Gama clung to his elbow while Hana had her vines tied around his waist. They all gave one final heave and in an explosion of spray…

No way…

"Huh. So he wasn't just telling fish stories," Kushina remarked. "There really are dragons in Mirage Lake!"

The dratini whined and wriggled on the muddy lakeshore as it tried to spit the hook from its mouth. It was longer than Minato was tall and despite its light weight it was strong. The serpentine dragon was an exceptionally rare sight, and it left Minato frozen speechless.

"…Well," Kushina whispered in his ear, and with a sharp poke to the ribs, "aren't you going to catch it?"

"But—"

"Hurry! It got the hook out!"

He flinched, and all worries about how it should be hers because it was her rod and she'd done most of the fishing were set aside in favor of catching the rare beast.

"Hana, stun spore!"

His ivysaur immediately retracted her vines from his torso and bounded closer to spray a cloud of brownish paralyzing spores onto the dragon. The dratini wailed and its thrashed slowed as the spores took effect. But then its pale blue and gray skin started to peel and flake off.

"What's it doing?" Kushina muttered.

"Shed skin," Minato muttered. "It won't stay paralyzed for a while. Hana, leech seed and then razor leaf!"

Hana fired a seed from her flower bud at the dragon, which sprouted an energy-sapping plant. And then, before the plant could spread too far, she fired a flurry of razor-sharp leaves from the plant on her back, cutting the dratini's smooth skin. The wild pokémon wailed at the stinging pain and lashed back with a paralyzing wave of static fired from the gray spot on its forehead.

"Whoa, it knows thunder wave?" Kushina said as Minato recalled the paralyzed ivysaur to her pokéball. "Wicked."

"Gama, give it a few double slaps," he instructed.

The poliwhirl bounded forward and began laying hefty slaps on the dragon with his broad white hands. The dratini tried to flip away, but the draining leech seed and the lingering effects of the stun spore made it clumsy. It tried another thunder wave, but Gama managed to dance aside and only get partially numbed.

"Now use hypnosis," Minato ordered.

Gama faced down the dragon and the black spiral on his white belly started to spin. Mesmerized by the swirling pattern, the dratini's dark eyes started to droop. And then, after a lot of wobbling and fighting it, the dragon collapsed into sleep.

Minato had a moment of panic when he couldn't find his ultra-ball (last year's birthday gift from his uncle). But he eventually located the yellow-and-black-topped sphere and immediately used it on the sleeping dragon. There was no way he was taking any chances with this particular pokémon capture.

When the sphere stilled and the red light went out, Minato sagged in relief.

Kushina whooped like a banshee.

"That was awesome!"

"Yeah," Minato smiled weakly and rubbed at his ear. "It was, wasn't it?" He bit his lip. "Are…you sure you didn't want to catch it?"

"Namikaze," she rolled her eyes, "if I wanted a dragon, I'd catch a horsea, get a dragon scale, and raise it up into a kingdra."

He laughed. Of course… It has to be a water type. "Well, thank you."

"No problem," she snorted. "Now that we have what we came for, let's get going so you can show that off!"

"Alright," Minato agreed.

Gathering up their packs, they were soon leaving Mirage Lake behind. If the path back to the main trail wasn't so steep, Kushina probably would've been bouncing. Minato just followed after her, soaking in his unexpected accomplishment.

A dratini, he thought in awe as he admired the now filled ultra-ball in the palm of his hand. A dragon. I think I'll call him…Ryuu.