Arena No. 7 — Contestants' Waiting Hall
Some time ago, after receiving his paycheck, Inagaki asked his girlfriend out to visit a festival. He had originally planned to use his newly paid salary to buy her a more expensive necklace as a gift.
However, on the way to the agreed meeting spot, Inagaki ran into an old man running a roadside stall, selling a so-called "golden-egg-laying Magikarp."
The vendor claimed that this Magikarp could not only lay golden eggs, but that it had also recently shown signs of learning an attacking move—Tackle.
Those words struck straight at Inagaki's heart.
Almost instantly persuaded, he spent his entire salary from the previous month to buy that Magikarp.
As a result, the festival that evening turned into a complete disaster.
Not only did he fail to buy his girlfriend the necklace he'd promised, he didn't even have enough money to eat sushi at a restaurant. After turning out every pocket he had, he barely scraped together some loose change and treated her to a single bowl of udon.
When his girlfriend found out that he had spent all of his wages on a Magikarp that supposedly laid golden eggs, she had a huge fight with him on the spot.
Although they didn't break up over it, their relationship had been awkward and tense ever since.
At first, Inagaki refused to believe he'd been scammed.
But more than a week passed.
The Magikarp he bought neither laid golden eggs nor showed any sign of being able to use Tackle.
By now, Inagaki had no choice but to admit he'd been fooled.
Today, he came to the City Battle Arena to fight a couple of matches to relax, planning to apologize to his girlfriend in the afternoon.
"Sigh… If only that Move Mastery Room Ash runs could really help Magikarp learn Tackle…"
In the waiting hall, Inagaki rested his chin on one hand while idly scrolling through his phone with the other.
When he opened Ash's Move Mastery Room and lightly refreshed the page—
The homepage banner and promotional image suddenly changed.
The old cover was replaced by a massive image of Magikarp evolving into Gyarados.
For a moment, Inagaki thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
But the very next second, he noticed the shop's product list.
Pinned right at the top was a newly launched service:
Help Magikarp Learn Tackle
Price: 50,000 Poké Dollars
Only three slots available, first come, first served
"HOLY—!"
Inagaki's pupils shrank as shock and wild joy flooded his face.
Yet while his mind was still stunned, his hands moved faster than ever.
Years of being single had honed his reflexes to perfection.
With a lightning-fast motion, his One-Finger Zen Technique slammed down on the phone screen.
…
"The current match is about to end. Next up, Contestant XXX and Contestant Inagaki, please prepare to enter the arena."
A female staff member in uniform, wearing a headset, walked into the waiting hall and announced.
"Here!" One contestant stood up.
"Contestant Inagaki! Contestant Inagaki, are you present?!" the staff member called again after seeing only one person respond.
"Ahahaha… I got it!!!"
"…Contestant Inagaki?"
"Ahahaha—YES MORALAAAA!! I GOT IT!!!"
Inside the waiting hall, Inagaki—who had successfully grabbed a slot for Magikarp learning Tackle—completely ignored the staff's reminder and the strange looks from the other contestants.
He jumped up onto his chair, wildly waving his arms in excitement.
"Is this guy crazy?"
"What a pitiful fellow."
The contestants around him looked on with pity and sympathy.
Ignoring their comments, Inagaki turned around atop the chair, raised his phone high, and shouted:
"Everyone, hurry and open Ash's Move Mastery Room on your phones! A new skill-learning service just launched—helping Magikarp learn the attacking move Tackle!"
Contestant A: "Helping Magikarp learn Tackle? That's impossible."
Contestant B: "The Tsuchihara Family has specialized in breeding Magikarp for generations, and even Pokémon academia has researched this for years. Magikarp learning Tackle is only theoretically possible."
Contestant C: "But Ash uses psychic power to temporarily boost a Pokémon's learning ability. Maybe he really can pull it off."
Contestant D: "Stop talking—go check the shop first! If you're late, there won't be any slots left."
"Holy crap!! It's real—there really is a service to help Magikarp learn Tackle!"
"Holy crap!! Only three slots, and they're already gone! The reservation queue is over 600,000 people!"
"Damn it!! Are those three people virgins for ten lifetimes or something?! How fast did their hands have to be?!"
"But honestly, I envy them. Even if Ash says the success rate isn't fully confirmed yet, every Pokémon sent to him before learned its skill 100% successfully."
"For Magikarp learning Tackle, I bet the success rate won't be low. Otherwise, there's no way he'd dare launch this service."
"This service's price will definitely skyrocket later. The three people who got it for just 50,000 Poké Dollars are insanely lucky."
"Yeah… I'm so jealous I'm about to go crazy."
Inagaki grinned smugly.
"Hehe~ Brothers, I got one slot. One of the three Magikarp Tackle slots from Ash's Move Mastery Room—I got it."
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?!"
Just moments ago, everyone thought Inagaki had lost his mind.
Now, the entire waiting hall exploded.
Cries of "WHAT THE—!" echoed nonstop.
And it wasn't just the Move Mastery Room fan groups or the Viridian City Battle Arena.
The moment Ash's shop listed the Magikarp Tackle service, it was like dropping a bomb straight into the Kanto Pokémon Trainer community, triggering massive shockwaves.
Scenes like this erupted all across Kanto.
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Vermilion City — Officer Jenny's Police Station
Fresh out of his morning "reform education," Goh pulled out his phone—
And immediately saw a trending post from a major online influencer about Ash's Move Mastery Room launching a service to help Magikarp learn Tackle.
"Ash…!!"
Staring at the smiling photo of Ash in the article, Goh ground his teeth, his expression twisted with resentment.
Instinctively, he raised his phone to smash it—
But remembering that his parents had already cut his allowance after he was expelled from the summer camp, he forcefully suppressed the urge, his face flushed red as he clenched his fists.
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