After briefly releasing them for a look, Ash immediately recalled the three Magikarp into their Poké Balls.
There was no water basin in the room, after all—leaving Water-type Pokémon outside for too long wouldn't be appropriate.
As for helping Magikarp learn Tackle, that would have to wait at least three days before he even considered it.
If it looked too easy, people would start believing that teaching Magikarp Tackle was effortless—and that would definitely not be a good thing for him.
In the past, whenever Ash received Pokémon sent in by customers, he would immediately copy their moves.
But Magikarp's Splash… clearly had no value worth copying.
"Rotom, open five new slots for the standard skill-learning service on the shop."
"Pichu, Frogadier—you two continue watching the Indigo League Conference battle footage. Learn combat techniques from other Pokémon."
"Pidgey, drink one bottle of the bone-strengthening supplement Dr. Silas gave you."
"Pi—chu!"
…
The moment Ash's Move Mastery Room listed the service 'Teach Magikarp the move Tackle', the entire Kanto professional Trainer community was shaken.
The news had only been released at noon—yet it immediately shot straight to the top of the trending charts.
Countless Trainers who had never even heard of Ash's skill shop before, and who had never followed it, all rushed in to check it out.
Over the past week of operation, people had already discovered something shocking:
Although Ash's shop officially claimed a ≥95% success rate for skill learning, in reality it was practically a 100% success rate.
This impeccable track record had built an outstanding reputation.
As a result, when the service for teaching Magikarp → Tackle was launched, the vast majority of people believed it without hesitation—while only a tiny fraction questioned its authenticity.
Trainers who already owned Magikarp immediately rushed to Ash's shop to queue for reservations.
Trainers who didn't own Magikarp yet also rushed to queue first—then went straight to rivers and lakes to fish one up.
For a time, because of Ash's shop, the entire Kanto region was swept by a Magikarp-catching craze.
Meanwhile, the Tsuchihara Family, a clan that specialized in breeding Magikarp, also benefited immensely.
Thanks to Ash's announcement, their Magikarp sales skyrocketed overnight.
Ironically, while Ash himself hadn't earned much yet, the Tsuchihara Family was already enjoying booming business and overflowing wealth.
"Ash," Rotom reported from inside the computer,
"the Tsuchihara Family wants to cooperate with us. They're proposing a large-scale contract—500,000 Poké Dollars per Magikarp. Should we accept?"
"Politely decline for now," Ash replied calmly.
"Not just the Tsuchihara Family—decline all Kanto families and factions."
"Tell them the success rate for teaching Magikarp Tackle is not yet stable. We'll reconsider after the three current orders are completed."
"Got it~ Loto!"
After handling shop affairs, no matter how heated the outside discussions became—
no matter how much chaos his announcement stirred within the Pokémon professional world—
Ash himself remained completely unaffected.
He trained when it was time to train.
He studied when it was time to study.
Aside from feeding the three customer Magikarp in the morning, noon, and evening, they stayed quietly inside their Poké Balls, temporarily left alone.
Numerous media outlets wanted to interview him.
Ash declined them all.
Major Kanto families and financial conglomerates—like the Tsuchihara Family—attempted to sign contracts with him.
Ash declined them all under the same reason:
"The technology is not yet mature. The success rate is unstable."
Ash stayed calm and composed.
Yet outside, no one knew how many people—how many forces—were being left in suspense, eagerly waiting for a chance to cooperate with him.
Of course, among those stirred up by the 'Magikarp + Tackle' incident, not everyone had benign intentions toward Ash.
-----
Viridian City · Viridian Gym Underground Base
Inside a residential room for Team Rocket elite members, a young man, a young woman, and a Meowth sat together, brows tightly furrowed as they discussed something intensely.
"That brat is way too hard to deal with," Jessie snapped.
"Ever since the last capture mission failed, he's stayed in Pallet Town nonstop."
"He won't even go out to buy Pokémon food anymore—he just orders by phone and has the shop deliver it straight to his door!"
"Exactly—meow!" Meowth chimed in.
"And after that incident, the League reinforced patrol forces around Pallet Town. Last time James disguised himself as a Pokémon food deliveryman, he was exposed the moment he entered town."
"If he hadn't run fast enough, he'd already be sitting in a League prison—meow!!"
"It wasn't just James," Jessie continued grimly.
"During the last underwater infiltration attempt, the moment I reached the river mouth near Pallet Town, I ran into the League's aquatic patrol unit."
"If I hadn't escaped quickly, I'd have been paralyzed by a Tentacruel and hauled off to jail…"
"Land routes don't work. Water infiltration doesn't work. Paragliding from the air gets intercepted by Fearow. Digging in from underground fails too."
"When did Pallet Town's defenses become this ridiculous? We've infiltrated the Indigo Plateau League Headquarters before, and it wasn't even this hard!"
On the table before them lay a map of Pallet Town—already covered in red X marks.
Whether it was the two young elites or the wickedly brilliant Meowth, all three couldn't help but sigh heavily.
What they thought would be a simple mission—capturing a six-year-old boy from an ordinary civilian family—had somehow turned into a complete deadlock.
Inside the room, just as the trio felt utterly helpless—
Knock knock.
"Who is it?!" Jessie slammed the table angrily.
"Don't you know we're in the middle of a combat strategy meeting?!"
With her explosive temper—and her status as one of the few elite operatives directly under Boss Giovanni—Jessie didn't bother hiding her irritation.
Other than Giovanni himself and Team Rocket's top executives, she feared no one.
"Hello~ It's me~"
A smug, sweet voice came from outside the door.
"The youngest, prettiest, and most favored woman in Team Rocket— Cassidy. Oh ho ho~"
Click.
Jessie yanked the door open.
"Cassidy—you loser! What are you doing here?!!"
Standing at the doorway, staring at her most detested rival, Jessie's face darkened instantly.
--------------
T/N:
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