My line jerked suddenly, nearly yanking the rod from my hands.
I gripped tighter and began reeling, feeling something substantial fighting on the other end.
This wasn't a Magikarp; the resistance was too strong.
When I finally hauled it onto the beach, I found myself looking at another Tentacool, this one slightly larger than the first. It righted itself immediately, tentacles whipping aggressively.
"Cool! Tentacool!" The jellyfish Pokémon's red orbs glowed with hostility.
"Gible!" I called, and the little dragon bounded over eagerly. "Another battle. Dragon Rage when you're ready."
Gible positioned himself, crimson scales gleaming in the firelight.
The Tentacool's tentacles lashed forward, trying to deliver a poison sting, but Gible was faster now.
Level 8 had brought increased speed and sharper reflexes.
He dodged left, the venomous appendage missing by inches, and opened his maw.
"Dragon Rage!"
Crimson flames erupted, concentrated draconic energy slamming into Tentacool's translucent body.
The guaranteed forty damage was more than enough.
The jellyfish collapsed immediately, twitching on the sand.
[VICTORY!]
[TENTACOOL DEFEATED - Level 10]
[EXP GAINED: +131]
[Current EXP: 251/205]
[LEVEL UP!]
[GIBLE: Level 8 → Level 9]
[Current EXP: 46/230]
[+1 FREE EV]
[Free EVs: 2]
The level-up notification brought visible changes.
Gible grew slightly.
Not dramatically, but enough to notice.
His scales seemed thicker, his stance more solid. The little dragon tested his movements, clearly feeling the increase in power.
I let the Tentacool retreat into the ocean, watching it disappear beneath the dark waves.
No point in keeping it here to suffer.
"Good work," I told Gible, who was already scanning the water for more opponents.
The next catch came faster than expected.
My line had barely hit the water when something grabbed it, pulling hard enough that I had to brace my feet in the sand to avoid being dragged forward.
'What the hell did I hook?'
I fought the line for several minutes, arms burning from the effort, before finally managing to haul my catch onto shore.
A Krabby.
The crab Pokémon was significantly larger than the Tentacool had been, its orange shell gleaming wetly and its pincers snapping aggressively.
One claw was noticeably larger than the other.
A trait I remembered from the Pokédex entries, used for both offense and display.
"Krabby! Krabby krabby!" It scuttled sideways, positioning itself between the ocean and our campfire, clearly viewing us as threats to its territory.
"Gible, you're up again. Dragon Rage!"
The Krabby was faster than the Tentacool had been, scuttling to the side as crimson flames scorched the sand where it had stood moments before. It retaliated immediately, rushing forward with its large pincer raised high.
"Dodge and counter!"
Gible jumped back, the pincer slamming into empty air, and unleashed another Dragon Rage at point-blank range.
The flames engulfed Krabby completely, and when they cleared, the crab Pokémon was on its back, legs twitching weakly.
[VICTORY!]
[KRABBY DEFEATED - Level 10]
[EXP GAINED: +144]
[Current EXP: 190/230]
[+1 FREE EV]
[Free EVs: 3]
I was beginning to see a pattern.
Level 10 wild Pokémon provided substantial experience.
Enough that Gible was leveling rapidly despite the gap between our opponents and us.
Dragon Rage's guaranteed damage negated the level disadvantage entirely.
Forty damage was forty damage, whether you were Level 7 or Level 70.
'That's going to be our advantage for a while,' I realized. 'Until we start facing Pokémon with more than forty HP, Dragon Rage guarantees we can compete above our weight class.'
The Krabby recovered enough to scuttle back into the ocean, and I cast my line again.
This time I hooked something that wasn't a Pokémon at all.
Just a regular fish, maybe two feet long, with silver scales and a meaty body.
I cleaned it quickly with my knife and added it to the cooking rack over the fire.
Gible watched the process with interest.
'Why do you cook some prey but not others?'
"The regular fish don't have Pokémon energy," I explained, not entirely sure I understood it myself. "They're just... animals. Normal food. But Pokémon are different. They have consciousness, intelligence. Cooking them feels disrespectful somehow."
'But eating them raw is acceptable?'
"It's predation. Natural. You're a carnivore. It's in your nature to hunt and eat other Pokémon. But reducing them to cooked meat, preparing them like livestock... it crosses a line I'm not comfortable with."
Gible considered this, then nodded in acceptance. 'The raw ones taste better anyway. The energy is stronger when they're fresh.'
I couldn't argue with dragon logic.
The next several catches followed a similar pattern.
Alternate between regular fish for cooking and Pokémon for battle training.
My arms ached from the constant casting and reeling, but the results were undeniable.
A Shellder came next, its purple shell clamped tight defensively until Gible's Dragon Rage forced it open and rendered it unconscious.
[SHELLDER DEFEATED - Level 10]
[EXP GAINED: +108]
[Current EXP: 298/230]
[LEVEL UP!]
[GIBLE: Level 9 → Level 10]
[Current EXP: 68/260]
[+1 FREE EV]
[Free EVs: 4]
[NEW MOVE LEARNED: METAL CLAW]
The level-up brought more than just stat increases this time.
Gible's claws elongated slightly, taking on a metallic sheen that caught the firelight.
He flexed them experimentally, scraping them against a nearby rock.
The sound was distinctly different from before.
Harder, sharper, and almost musical.
'Metal Claw,' I thought, pulling up the move data on my Pokédex.
[METAL CLAW]
[Type: Steel]
[Category: Physical]
[Power: 50]
[Accuracy: 95%]
[Effect: May raise user's Attack stat]
[Description: The target is raked with steel claws. This may also raise the user's Attack stat.]
A Steel-type physical move with decent power and an accuracy of 95%. More importantly, it has a chance to boost Gible's Attack stat during battle.
A potential game-changer if we could stack the effect.