Chapter Two: It’s Decided—You’re the One, Magikarp!

Zhao Fang’s expression was rather peculiar. He’d always thought those strange characters only appeared when he was cooking, but to his surprise, the same script had manifested on his Poké Ball, and the description inside was just as odd.

Magikarp—the everlasting presence of the Pokémon world. In almost every generation, Magikarp could be found, yet it remained one of the weakest Pokémon known to all. Some even considered it the absolute weakest.

Driven by curiosity, Zhao Fang had once looked up Magikarp’s Pokédex entry, only to be astonished to learn that before level fifteen, it knew only one move: Splash. As a child, Zhao Fang even believed Magikarp might evolve into Gyarados simply by using Splash, so he spent some time testing that theory.

Eventually, Zhao Fang came to understand that Magikarp was a certified weakling. Even if you chose a Fire-type starter early in the game, defeating a Magikarp was no challenge, since it could only use Splash and, at best, Tackle.

Magikarp’s base stats totaled only two hundred, and prior to evolving into Gyarados, it could hardly learn any other moves—a true underdog.

But upon evolving, Magikarp would transform, leaping in strength to become a mighty Gyarados. Of course, Zhao Fang knew the evolution conditions in the game: Magikarp evolves at level twenty. But that was just in the game. In the real world of Pokémon, how did evolution actually work? It was a question worth studying.

Still, Zhao Fang was curious about this Magikarp, which had been described as having exceptional potential. So, after leaving his house, he found a quiet spot and released it.

An orange body, vacant fish eyes, and every so often, it would flop about on the ground—yet it showed no signs of suffocating out of water.

Zhao Fang reached out curiously and touched the Magikarp. Instantly, the Magikarp gave a little leap; apparently, it had performed Splash without even realizing it.

This left Zhao Fang a bit disappointed. From what he could see, this Magikarp was no different from the ones that had been featured on television. Nevertheless, he recalled it quickly—Pokémon weren’t permitted to be released for too long in Littleroot Town.

“How vexing… I’ll have to bring it out later to see if it knows Tackle. If it doesn’t…” Zhao Fang felt a headache coming on at the thought. A Magikarp without Tackle, one that couldn’t deal any damage—how was he supposed to defeat wild Pokémon with it?

Would he have to wait until the opponent died of dehydration from watching Splash over and over?

“Zhao Fang! Zhao Fang!” A girl’s voice called out. With a resigned sigh, Zhao Fang stood up and saw a girl wearing a red and white headscarf running toward him with eager excitement.

“So it’s May. What is it?” Zhao Fang regarded her with a complicated feeling.

Since arriving in this world, he’d already met May. The original owner of his body and May had been classmates—not particularly close, but not strangers either; the kind who would greet each other in passing. After Zhao Fang’s arrival, though, they’d quickly become friends.

Because of the anime, Zhao Fang subconsciously thought of May as Norman’s daughter, but it turned out things followed the game’s story instead. Thinking back now, May should be Professor Birch’s daughter.

As for Brendan, he hadn’t moved to town yet, but judging by May’s age, it would probably only be another year or two before Brendan appeared.

“Zhao Fang, look! I found these berries in the woods today!” May happily handed him a bunch of blue berries.

Zhao Fang glanced at them, and as soon as they landed in his hand, that distinctive line of characters appeared before his eyes:

“Eight subpar Oran Berries, can restore a small amount of stamina when eaten.”

“Oran Berries, huh.” Even without the text, Zhao Fang could recognize them—after all, in the early stages of the Ruby and Sapphire series, Oran Berries, which restored ten HP to Pokémon, were the easiest to find.

At this, Zhao Fang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He’d originally thought May was the one from the anime and planned to help her cultivate a Coordinator’s mindset ahead of time, with berries and Pokéblocks being paramount. But as it turned out, May was destined to be Brendan’s rival and, later on, perhaps even more.

“Yeah, Mom says Oran Berries can help Pokémon recover their strength… Huh? A Poké Ball? Zhao Fang, you got your starter Pokémon too?” May bounced with excitement, her eyes catching sight of the Poké Ball at Zhao Fang’s waist.

“Mm, my dad got me a Magikarp as my starter… Want to have a battle?” Zhao Fang asked. He knew perfectly well that May had a Poké Ball; after all, she often went into the woods alone.

“Magikarp? Sure! But don’t cry if you lose—I’m really strong!” May said, hands on her hips, brimming with confidence.

Zhao Fang thought this was the perfect moment for a “Look how amazing I am” meme.

Come to think of it, there really weren’t any messaging apps or reaction stickers in the Pokémon world…

Zhao Fang suddenly saw a vast market and a fortune waiting to be made.

But before he could let his imagination run wild, May dragged him off to the Littleroot Town training grounds.

Trainers weren’t allowed to battle Pokémon on public roads; after all, Pokémon battles could get intense—with the risk of an Earthquake or two, the whole town would be living in temporary housing. Thus, Littleroot Town had set up a dedicated arena for trainers. With the town’s small population, the arena was modest in size.

“I’ll send out my Pokémon then!” May called out, tossing her Poké Ball. With a flash of light, a Torchic appeared on the field.

Looking at the Torchic, Zhao Fang’s expression grew odd. He’d thought he might see some information about it, but nothing appeared. Combined with his earlier experiences, Zhao Fang began to form some theories about his ability.

But now, with a battle underway, Zhao Fang threw out his own Poké Ball.

“It’s decided! Magikarp, I choose you!” Zhao Fang shouted, indulging in a bit of theatrics—he’d longed to say that line for ages.

The stand-in referee cast him a sympathetic glance. He was a novice himself, but even he knew: Magikarp versus Torchic…

No matter how you looked at it, this match was as good as decided.