Finally, a worthy opponent!

The moment the Salandit spotted him, it hissed at him—however before he could even react, a powerful blast of Hydro Pump from somewhere caught it mid-hiss, and the hiss became a shriek of terror.

He could only smirk as the salamander then changed course, releasing a blast of Dragon Pulse from its maw—sweeping it around which forced him to dive off to one side.

“Sassy,” was all he would say, before the Frogadier that was hiding in his shadows emerged, in a Bounce attack that had the amphibian soar up into the sky.

The Salandit followed course, trying to snipe it from the skies with an Incinerating burst of flames, however just before the Frogadier landed, another Hydro Pump caught the salamander in mid-shriek, extinguishing the flames and forcing it to choke on the water.

Before it could drown and die on dry land, he threw the last Safari Ball at the hissing, angry, spitting lizard.

---

catch attempt on Salandit!

Why did this extremely tiny little fish look like it had gotten separated from its school?

No matter, he’d ask THEO BECKETT about Wishiwashi next time he got a chance anyway.

Today was another quiet day for reeling in strange creatures of the deep, it seemed.

What was it with him and his thoughts going to skinny-dipping every time he took a dive into the churning waters behind the rocks at this secluded inlet he’d found…?

Then he bristled as he remembered the voice of his long-dead older brother, the one who’d always taunt him about going out for a dip ass-naked in the dead of night.

No wonder.

The fact that he still had his job meant that the other wasn’t taking offense to his critiques of the older man attempting the dang-blasted trick that everyone was trying (himself included).

‘Are you seriously drunk while trying the trick?’ was today’s message.

And no, it wasn’t throwing shade, it was observant criticism about the older man’s technique!

…time for him to ride out and try the Magikarp Splash too.

The next thing he saw was…

Oh, another Remoraid.

It reminded him of the one he’d fished up at the docks, but this one was… nowhere near as impressive as the other one that he’d landed (and thrown back into the water).

He had no idea why, but there was something—strange about whatever else was waiting in the Safari Zone. Like there were multiple sets of eyes watching his every single danged-ass fucking move.

Were there Zubat around these parts? His brows furrowed, but that couldn’t be—there were no Zubat on the notice board of whatever was roaming around the Safari Zone grounds at this time.

Maybe in a few months…

Either way, he left the dangerous fish behind—much as he wanted to get it as a gift for his boss, well… he was pretty sure the other already had this one too.

---

skipping Remoraid

Why did this thing have such an ugly jaw…

Once he’d thrown the Huntail back into the water, he decided to use a different lure this time, wondering if a Magikarp-shaped one would work wonders.

It was cheap, too.

He’d definitely decided:

Diving was… something he could do. In his spare time.

As long as it did not involve a wetsuit.

And no, he is not thinking about skinny dipping.

He wondered what he would find from the shifting sands underwater today as he trawled like a Wailord, looking for krill to eat.

Oh, he was getting a bit bolder now.

‘Sir. Were you drunk?’

He didn’t know why he sent that.

But the smirk on his face meant that he could get away with it. Possibly.

Sorry not sorry, THEO BECKETT!

Anyway… today was another attempt at the Magikarp Splash.

Huh, had it really been three days since he last came by here?

Well, time to try his luck again.

Sorry not sorry to whoever was the unfortunate king or queen of the dunk tank right now—

Whack.

Oh, a Remoraid.

Not exactly what he was looking for.

After setting the fish back into the water (see, THEO BECKETT, even he could tolerate sitting down for long stretches of time and being quiet) he cast the line out again, watching as it broke the surface with a tiny splashing noise.

At least he was able to save costs by not renting the wetsuit to go diving, because that would’ve been expensive in the long run.

Renting a wetsuit for less than five minutes? And all the rental places had a minimum time frame of what, 2 hours?

Yeah, no.

Another dive into the murky brine.

Today’s text, since he wasn’t able to send one yesterday, said only this:

‘So close, sir. Just a little more form on the last part.’

He wondered if THEO BECKETT thought of the texts as encouraging or sarcastic. At least he was there to offer his opinion about the danged trick that even he was trying to land.

Okay, time to try the Magikarp Splash again.

That was strange—

Had THEO BECKETT not gone out today?

Well, this was the first time he was going to do the Magikarp Splash before the older man.

(And he hoped the other wasn’t watching.)