Three teenagers were at a lake fishing on a small boat. One of them, a medium skinned brunette girl named Carly, held onto her line while desperately trying to fight off the boredom that was taking over her mind. The light skinned black haired boy, Freddie, stared intently at his line, while the third person, a light skinned blonde named Sam, was busy reclining, half-asleep.

One of the more underappreciated hobbies of the Pokémon World is that of fishing. It takes patience, determination, and a keen eye to be able to master the art of the line. One can only wonder whether our heroes even have those traits... Anyway, the real question is, what could they be searching for?

"Caught anything yet?" Sam moaned.

"No," Freddie stated flatly.

Carly glanced back at the other girl. "You know, you could actually help us..."

"I could, couldn't I?" the blonde yawned before fanning herself with a white hat with a red stripe and emblem.

"Hey, that's my hat!" Carly went over and snatched the item back. Sam shot back an annoyed glare. "Oh, just get your own."

"Who's got all the money, again? Remind me."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "I do,"

Sam smiled triumphantly. "Good. Knew you'd come along to my line of thinking."

Carly opened her mouth before closing it again. "You're impossible."

"And yet, you love me anyway."

A response to that would have to wait, as Freddie felt a tug on his line. "Uh, got something here!"

Both girls joined him in trying to pull up what proved to be a fighter on the other end. They finally fished it out... Only to get a red fish Pokémon with yellow whiskers: a lowly, pitiful Magikarp.

"All that for this?" Sam complained. "Throw it back, I guess..."

"You realize that it evolves into a Gyarados, right?" the boy noted.

"Eh, I can catch that monster on its own. No need to carry around dead weight for however long to evolve one."

Hearing this insult to it, the fish wriggled off the line and slapped the girl in the face with its tail and left. Sam grumbled something less than polite at the departing fish.

Some hours passed without note. Enough time, in fact, that night had fallen. Stars sparkled in the darkening sky.

With a yawn, Freddie announced, "I guess we're going back, then?"

The other two just shrugged as they got set to turn around...

...only for Freddie's line to snag on something again. He got control before it could slip into the water and fished up a blue jellyfish pokemon with red growths on its head...a Tentacool!

"Nice. I don't think I have a Poison-type yet..." Immediately getting a ball out for a catch, he succeeded, claiming it for his own.

Carly, for her part, did manage to take in the view as time went by (and a few pictures via her Rotom phone). Despite the generally boring nature of the day and Sam's laziness, she did have something nice to take home from this, even if it was only this view.

The contented smile that had been forming on her face disappeared, however, when she heard something off in the distance that sounded suspiciously like roaring, followed by many more just like it.

"D-did you hear that?"

The other two nodded their heads, looking around.

Freddie dared to take a look out for himself, only to immediately regret it. What he knew was confirmed for all to see when a blue tail fin briefly break the water's surface.

Sam was wide awake now. Looking for herself, she realized the obvious. Almost instinctively, she took out a Poké Ball. But before she could send the one who she had in mind out...

The trio were nearly knocked out of their boat as something huge rammed into them.

The trio screamed practically in unison (including Sam, surprisingly enough), and their assailants wouldn't take long to make their presence known.

Five blue and white sea dragons with gaping fanged mouths, Gyarados by name, surrounded them on all sides.

The funniest part about it was that the dragons didn't seem to be interested in the boy and one out of two of the girls. They had their sights squarely set on the blonde of the group.

Their target tried to force a threat into her tone, but couldn't stop her voice from cracking. "What...what do you want?"

The one in the center looked straight at her. Taking aim, it swiped its tail at her, forcing everyone in the boat to duck (or more accurately, for Freddie to force his catatonic friend to the deck). The aide had to scream his next words, as the creatures stirred up a storm seemingly by their very presence. He quickly put two and two together.

"Sam! This is the Magikarp that you insulted! It evolved and now it's back for revenge!"

Sam reached back for her Pokémon again, but realized that any antagonistic move might encourage the already angry serpents to burn her to a crisp. Nothing she or any of them had could throw out was fit to take on this kind of army.

She put her hand back. She'd hate herself for her next move, but it was better than dying.

She put on a smile (which did little to mask her fear) and spoke, "S-so this is your family, eh? Nice... I'm sure that--"

The girl hit the ground, instinctively ducking under a purple blast of energy, Dragon Rage, with it barely missing the boat. A warning shot.

It snapped Carly out of her stupor. "Get to the point before we all die! Apologize. Beg if you have to!"

Sam regarded her coldly. "I. Do not. Beg."

"You do now! Do you want to survive or not?!" Ironically, the brunette was the one begging now.

With a sigh, she forced herself on her knees and..."

"Look, I'm s...so...--"

Her companions screaming her name somehow made it easier to say what would otherwise be a foreign language to her "...sorry! Magikarp aren't that worthless, I guess. They're actually pretty cool. So what do you say we let bygones be bygones and you maybe not fry or eat us?"

A moment of pure terror passed before the creatures actually turned to talk amongst themselves. The trio swapped confused looks before the beasts turned back. One of them went underwater again before coming out, though this time with another Magikarp in tow. It hopped on the deck, flopping wildly. Its brethren looked at the blonde expectantly.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

The looks didn't change. The other humans dared to stand up for the first time since the ordeal began.

"I...I think it wants you to catch it." Carly supplied. The middle creature nodded in affirmation.

"But..."

"Catch it." her voice was low and dangerous now, much like a mother scolding her child.

Grumbling a "fine", she fished out a Poké Ball and did so. It went in without a fight...or a celebration. To Sam, there wasn't too much to celebrate. She looked up at the Gyarados.

"There. Happy?"

The Atrocious Pokémon nodded approvingly and left, taking the rest of its group and apparently the storm with it.

Freddie was busy sailing everyone home. Tired and waterlogged as they were, they would need to dock in order to get to the nearest Pokémon Center.

Carly, understandably, wasn't in the best of moods. "Well, I for one have seen enough Gyarados to last me a lifetime. Thanks a lot, Sam. Must you be so stubborn?"

Freddie tried to interject. "You do realize that when Magikarp evol--"

"Shut it, Benson!" the girl caught herself upon realizing how she came off. "Sorry. Just don't remind me, okay?"

The boy nodded wordlessly as he continued to steer the ship.

Sam said nothing, instead opting to stare at the Poké Ball that housed her newest catch. After a while, she turned around in a pout to her friend. "What am I supposed to do with it anyway? It can't even attack."

"There are other things that Pokémon can do outside of fighting."

"It's a Magikarp, Fredward. What can it do besides flop around and take up space?"

"We'll figure something out." Freddie turned to address her matter-of-factly. "Besides, just because it can't dish out attacks doesn't mean that it doesn't need as much love and care as you clearly give that Houndour of yours."

A knowing smirk was on his face. She knew it, even though he wasn't facing that direction. It was good for her then that he couldn't see her blushing awkwardly at the comment.

"Shut up and keep your eyes on the road."

"Sea."

"Whatever!"

And thus they continued their journey back to the mainland.

And so, it seems like our heroes went on quite the fishing trip, and gained a new friend along the way, much to Sam's chigarin. What adventures await our trio and Magikarp next? The answer is just down the road...or across the sea...as the journey continues.

TO BE CONTINUED...