[Absent-Minded Mark: A mark belonging to a Pokémon with an empty mind]
That really suited the two ducks.
As Silas flicked the three tufts of hair on their heads, the two Psyduck immediately became anxious and loudly quacked, scrambling to snatch the Oran Berry from his hand.
"Here, here, don't fight."
Pushing the two Psyduck aside, Silas tossed the Oran Berry out.
The Psyduck instantly changed targets, chasing after the rolling berry as they ran out of the house without sparing him even a glance.
"Cinccino, want to go fishing with me?" Silas scratched under the little hamster's chin with his fingers and asked with a smile.
"Cin!"
Happily hugging him, Cinccino nodded vigorously.
It even took the initiative to run to the storage room to fetch the fishing rod for Silas, along with its own special plastic toy fishing rod.
Fishing with Silas was one of its favorite things.
When Silas arrived at the winter fishing lake behind the mountain, two figures were already sitting among the lakeside reeds, fishing as usual. Sure enough, it was the farmer neighbor John and Gario.
He waved to greet them, but the two could only nod faintly, their eyes fixed on their floats without blinking.
"Cinccino, you want to fish over there?"
Fishing was the kind of thing that required at least a tiny bit of luck, so believing in luck was unavoidable.
Noticing three or four Slowpoke in the middle of the lake fishing lazily with their tails, Cinccino cried out excitedly, "Cin!" (Silas, Silas, let's go there!)
"Alright!"
Rubbing its head, the human and Pokémon walked straight over and stopped beside the Slowpoke.
The Slowpoke slowly raised their heads and gave a dull cry in greeting.
Setting up his chair and attaching bait, Silas cast his line into the water with great anticipation.
Beside him, Cinccino imitated his movements, tossing its little plastic fishing rod into the water.
Then it propped the rod up with two small supports and dashed off, running to make friends with the Slowpoke.
As for fishing, that was just a side activity.
Silas took out four or five berries and handed them to Cinccino, letting it feed the Slowpoke.
Before long, Cinccino had become friends with them.
"Slow~"
One of the Slowpoke lazily flicked its tail, splashing water as it did so. At the tip of its tail was a silver gray salmon, which it casually flung onto the grass in front of Cinccino.
"Slowpoke!"
"Cin (≧▽≦)!"
Cinccino happily hugged the Slowpoke, rubbing its cheeks against it, eyes full of joy.
The Slowpoke being hugged showed a rare change in expression, its mouth curling into a big smile. It was happy too.
Patting the Slowpoke on the head with its tiny hand, Cinccino puffed out its chest proudly, as if declaring that it had accepted this little follower.
From now on, if anyone bullied it, it should come to her, and she would call others to fight back.
"You, honestly…"
Silas walked over, shaking his head with a laugh, and poked Cinccino's forehead.
"You're not allowed to bully other Pokémon."
"Cin Cinn!" (I'm not, everyone likes being friends with me.)
As it spoke, Cinccino scampered up onto Silas's shoulder, acting spoiled in a soft and sweet voice, looking incredibly adorable.
Silas picked it up from his shoulder and set it on his lap, rubbing its soft and warm belly with both hands.
"Yes, yes, our Cinccino is the most lovable."
After asking for some snacks, Cinccino ran off again, feeding the Slowpoke one by one.
And so, a scene appeared.
Cinccino fed the Slowpoke snacks, and in return, the Slowpoke used their tails to fish and give their catches to it.
Before long, a small pile formed beside them, and the fish basket was filled to the brim.
Common fish like salmon, big eye fish, tiger trout, and herring were all there, along with a rare pink Dratini.
Hm?
When did shiny Dratini come here?
Silas reached out with a swift dragon claw grab, quickly catching the shiny Dratini that was trying to hide.
Pulling it out of the pile of fish, he tickled it with his fingers.
The shiny Dratini squirmed as it was tickled, its pink body twisting into a little knot while making soft "Ti Tini" sounds. Its plan to hide in the ranch had completely failed.
It wrapped its slippery body around Silas's wrist, pleading for mercy with tearful eyes.
Just as Silas was about to let it go, Dragonite descended rapidly from the direction of the ranch.
Soon, Silas learned from Dragonite why shiny Dratini had been hiding.
He flicked its forehead hard and put on a stern face to scare it.
"A cute little dragon like you running around in human areas might get caught by a red-haired kid with buns who breathes fire and get skinned alive. Are you scared?"
Hearing that, the Dratini froze stiff in fear and immediately burrowed into what it thought was the safest place.
It slipped from Silas's neck into the inside of his sweater, its body trembling slightly, faint whimpering sounds coming from within.
"Now you know to be scared? Will you still run around without an adult next time?"
"Wuu!" (╥﹏╥)
Only half its head poked out as Dratini shook it vigorously, indicating it would never dare again.
"That's a good kid."
Silas pulled the shiny Dratini out and held it in his hand.
"The outside world is very dangerous. There are big bad wolves that catch sheep, and people who captures dragons and stirs up the sea…"
At some point, Cinccino popped up nearby, asking curiously, "Cin Cin?" (Silas, Silas, are there ones that catch mice?)
"There are, there are."
Placing both Cinccino and Dratini on his lap, he pinched its cheek gently.
"There are two cats. One is a righteous black cat that punishes evil, and the other is the champion mouse catcher, the blue cat."
"Cin…" (So amazing, I want to be friends with them.)
"Sure."
He rubbed its fluffy head.
"If you ever meet them, you can be friends with them."
Since birth, his little mouse had only met good people and kind Pokémon, so its way of seeing the world was very simple. Everything could be divided into those it could befriend and those it could not.
When the last rays of sunset appeared on the horizon, Silas packed up his fishing gear and prepared to head back.
Behind him, Dragonite carried a large bucket filled to the brim with fish.
Although the fish had been caught by the Slowpoke and given to Cinccino, Silas's snacks had played a key role.
By equivalent exchange, these fish also counted as his share.
Yes, that was exactly how it worked.
He had not come up empty today.
As the sky grew darker, John and Gario also began packing up, both wearing wide smiles.
When luck came, it could not be stopped.
They had a huge haul today.
"John, Gario, come eat at the ranch. Indeedee and the others have already prepared everything."
"No, no, I have to hurry back and show Panny. Let's see if she still says I only feed fish all day."
John waved proudly, refusing, then mounted his Gogoat and hurried off, clearly eager to show off.
Gario had the same idea, rushing home with his Diggersby.
Watching them leave, Silas crouched by the lake and extended his hand.
A shadow approached from beneath the water, and a Dratini quickly wrapped around his finger.
"Thanks for your hard work, little one."
"Tini~"
That was right, the reason those two "rookies" had such a massive catch today was entirely because Dratini had been hanging fish onto their lines underwater.
"I know, I know."
Rubbing its head, Silas reassured it that he had not forgotten.
"Dragonite, later remember to go back to Dragonite Island and tell Dratini's parents, okay?"
"Draa!"
(End of Chapter)