Pokémon: Starting as a Farmer Instead of a Trainer

Chapter 51 Taking the "Children" to Catch Goldfish

As the shrine bells rang, almost all the lanterns in the Kitakami Center were lit up at the same time, accompanied by the sounds of firecrackers and drums.

In an instant, the entire North Shore Center became lively, and many people put on masks to match the atmosphere of the festival.

In addition, many entertainment stalls also opened for business after the bell rang, even attracting some wild Pokémon from the surrounding area.

"Wow...it's so lively."

Mingyou stood up and looked at the people coming and going on the street ahead. Although the festival was not particularly large, he still liked the atmosphere.

Seeing everyone else wearing casual kimonos while he was wearing everyday clothes made him feel a bit out of place, especially when he saw some tourists taking their newly bought kimonos to the fitting room to change into.

Hmm... never mind.

He doesn't care much about his appearance. In his past life, his colleagues even teased him, saying that if he dressed up a little, a bunch of girls would definitely come after him. Of course... he doesn't believe that's true.

"let's go."

After asking the horned deer to watch the stall, Mingyou took Ponpo's hand and led the "children" towards the crowd.

Latias hopped and skipped along beside him, while Gible nervously followed behind, afraid of losing him. Smooch, who had been hiding under the stall, finally flew out at this moment.

"Mommy~"

It landed on the head of the little Munchlax, but the matcha scent emanating from it attracted the little Munchlax, which instinctively grabbed it.

"Stop fooling around."

Mingyou reacted quickly, grabbing the little Snorlax, then looked at Smokecha, secretly pleased: "Don't lose him! If you want to buy anything, just tell me. By the way, do you want a mask?"

"Mmm..."

The expression on the tea canister suddenly changed. Did he need a mask? The canister would suffice.

"Alright then."

Since it didn't want the mask, Mingyou didn't force it. However, Ponpo and the others were very curious about the appearance of Simocha.

After all, only Munchlax was present that day, and they even battled each other—a pair of hidden dragons and phoenix chicks.

So Mingyou introduced it, saying, "It's also a Pokémon that Grandpa took in before. It used to live in the villa, but now it's in Greentown, so let's get along well."

"Mmm~"

Ponpo grabbed the mask, carefully revealing half of her face, and greeted Simocha.

Latias also found its tea canister shape amusing, and raised its tiny hand, wanting to take it off the head of the Snorlax.

Smocha originally wanted to avoid it, but seeing such a little girl, it couldn't dodge and was caught by Latias.

"Waaah~"

It smells so good!

Latias was drawn to the aroma of matcha. Mingyou smiled, feeling quite gratified to see that they were getting along so well.

He then pulled the demon mask he was wearing on the side of his head up to his face and said, "Let's go."

"Mmm~"

Everyone followed him into the crowd. Some entertainment facilities had already started operating, and he was definitely heading there first.

Ponpo held his hand and nervously looked around, afraid that it would be discovered by accident. But after observing for a while, and even after some people saw it but did not notice anything unusual, it finally smiled.

They then came to a stall with a banner featuring a Magikarp and where people played with paper goldfish. There weren't many customers there, but many were just there to watch.

There is a large blue inflatable pool where some ordinary goldfish, some carp, and three "gold" fish are kept!

Magikarp (Shiny): A fish-shaped Pokémon, dull-witted, without worldly desires, and incapable of developing feelings for anyone, simply living its life as it is.

"Wow, that's quite an investment! Three shiny Magikarp!"

Mingyou was stunned, but the rules on the side stated that the goldfish that were caught could be taken away, but the Pokémon that were caught could not, which made him slightly disappointed.

After all, it makes sense. How could they let you catch them? It's just a gimmick to attract customers. Besides, catching goldfish here costs 10 yuan per time.

"Want to play?"

Mingyou looked at the "children." He himself didn't care. He mainly brought them here to play, and as long as they were happy, that was enough.

Ponpo and the others looked around curiously, mainly because none of them had ever played with it before. Finally, after Latias saw how others played it, he was immediately attracted and expressed that he wanted to play.

"Oh well."

After paying the stall owner, who was wearing a Slowpoke mask, Mingyou carefully read the rules and told them all to Latias.

The rules for paper goldfish scooping are simple: you are given a paper net and an iron bowl, and you scoop out the goldfish without tearing the net, scooping out as many as you can.

Both humans and Pokémon can participate, but the use of all abilities is prohibited. A wind chime hangs nearby, and it will make a sound if there is any energy fluctuation.

There's also a small activity here: after scooping up goldfish, prizes will be awarded based on the points earned in each round.

One goldfish is worth one point, one carp is worth one hundred points, and one golden carp is worth ten thousand points. The highest-level grand prize requires ten thousand points, which shows how difficult it is!

"What a rip-off..."

Mingyou saw through the trick: they deliberately gave high scores so that tourists would use paper nets to catch Magikarp. But how could Pokémon be the same as ordinary animals? Not to mention that Magikarp is much larger than an ordinary goldfish.

Although it only costs 10 yuan per attempt, which is about the price of a Poké Ball, and with the gimmick of catching Magikarp, not many people will try to catch goldfish.

But since they couldn't catch the Magikarp, their losses were greatly reduced, which explains why so many people were watching the spectacle.

"If I get scammed, I guess I'll just have to accept it..."

Mingyou didn't care anymore, and then helped Latias hold the iron bowl, watching her scoop up the water with a paper net... and the paper net tore.

"..."

Looking at the torn paper net, Latias fell into deep thought, suspecting that he might have mishandled it. He then looked at Mingyou and said that he wanted to play again.

"Okay, okay, do you want me to teach you?"

"Waaah!"

No, I'll do it myself!

"Then take your time playing, don't rush."

Mingyou continued to buy her paper nets, and then once, twice... five times... twenty times. Almost without exception, all of them were "killed in one life" by the goldfish. She didn't even earn back the more than two hundred yuan she spent on a single goldfish.

Even looking at the goldfish in the pond, she could almost feel them mocking her.

Latias... is furious!

What kind of junk is this? I've never had this much trouble catching fish in the sea before. I can't stand it... I'll punch this inflatable pool and blow it up!

"Alright, alright~"

Mingyou smiled and pulled her back. Then, seeing her huddled up on the ground, hugging her knees, she looked to the side and asked, "Anything else you want to play?"

"shark……"

Gible shook its head. It was too difficult. It couldn't handle it. Why should it have to suffer like this?

Smocha was slightly interested, but rather than scooping goldfish, it would prefer to sprinkle matcha powder into the pond. Since it couldn't catch any... then it wouldn't bother catching any at all!

Ponpo was still hesitant. Although it wanted to play, it felt it couldn't do it and lacked confidence.

Finally, Snorlax stepped forward, picked up a paper net, and swiftly swung it towards the pool, easily scooping up a goldfish and dropping it into the iron bowl in Mingyou's hand.

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"Gambit~"

Unfortunately, it couldn't stand the praise, and Munchlax broke through the net a second time, which made Latias, who had been in disbelief just moments before, burst into laughter.

Simocha glanced at her silently...

Those with a 0/21 record, please stop laughing...

Finally, they caught a goldfish, put it in a bag of water, and also earned a point, which earned them a prize... a small bag of blueberry-flavored magic candy.

"It's better than nothing..."

Mingyou distributed the snacks to them, then looked at Ponpon and asked, "Want to play? I'll play with you."

He noticed that Ponpo seemed to want to play but lacked confidence, so he suggested that they go together so that they wouldn't have to worry about anything.

Hearing him say he would stay with her, Ponpo immediately nodded. With Mingyou by her side, there was nothing to be afraid of!

Then Mingyou bought a paper net and hugged Ponpo from behind, preparing to teach it how to play.

He's quite good at this; he did it in his previous life at the orphanage, but he hasn't done it in this life yet, so he might be a little rusty.

Just as the rules were being explained and Ponpo was about to swing the net, a shocked shout suddenly came from ahead: "They actually caught it!"

"Um?"

Mingyou and Pengpeng looked up at the same time and saw a girl wearing a cursed fox mask on the opposite side of the pool, holding a paper net and successfully scooping up a Magikarp...

(End of this chapter)