It was chubby with a cream-colored muzzle, two visible teeth in its upper jaw, but short limbs and a long pink tail with a pale pink tip.
Its most striking feature was the tiny pupils within its large, round eye sockets, giving it a very vacant expression.
"Slowpoke!"
Adrian's eyes lit up.
Slowpoke, an extremely rare Water and Psychic dual-type pokémon, also held a place in Rain teams.
However, after the initial surprise, Adrian suddenly felt a sense of humiliation.
This was because the Slowpoke was floating on its back, exposing its little belly as it drifted around Adrian's float, but it had no intention of biting the hook at all.
It just drifted here and then drifted there!
Looking at the Slowpoke that was right before him and within reach, a '#' symbol appeared on Adrian's forehead. He said dissatisfiedly, "Hey, big brother! Can you show me some respect? I'm fishing here!"
Slowpoke was undoubtedly a 'big fish,' but the problem was that it wouldn't bite the hook; it was just floating by the shore for fun.
Talk about infuriating!
"Pika~ Pi~"
Seeing this, the Pikachu on his shoulder immediately volunteered, indicating it was very willing to electrocute the fish to give this dim-witted pokémon a little lesson.
"Pikachu, you're being too extreme!"
Adrian quickly held Pikachu back, then waved his hand and said, "No rush! Let's play with it first!"
Adrian's hobby was fishing, but unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't resort to electrocuting fish.
This was the bottom line for a fisherman!
"Pika~"
Pikachu wilted upon hearing this, its interest waning.
"Slowpoke, are you hungry? If you are, take a bite!"
Adrian lifted the fishing rod and placed the hook with bait right by Slowpoke's mouth, his voice full of temptation.
"Yaa~"
But Slowpoke just stared blankly, its large eyes empty, seemingly lost in thought, with no intention of opening its mouth to bite the hook.
"Just eat it already!"
Adrian looked helpless and cursed inwardly, "Won't even eat bait delivered to its mouth? This is too ridiculous!"
Adrian was interested in Slowpoke, but he didn't plan on catching this one.
Because the pokémon Egg he received from Clemont had a very high chance of hatching into a Slowpoke, and he didn't want duplicates in his team.
But if he could catch a Slowpoke by fishing, that would be excellent; the rewards would surely be exceptionally generous.
After all, Slowpoke possessed the Psychic type, making it much rarer than ordinary pokémon.
Moreover, the reward for a first-time catch was usually very substantial.
Adrian didn't give up, dangling the hook and bait in front of Slowpoke's eyes repeatedly, trying to catch its attention.
"Yaa~"
But Slowpoke just blinked its eyes and completely zoned out, still ignoring the bait by its mouth.
Just as Adrian was about to give up, the Slowpoke in the water finally moved!
"Yaa~"
He watched as it paddled its limbs, slowly swimming over a dozen meters away, and then climbed up from the sea.
Its movements were very slow; it needed to pause for a few seconds with every step, as if contemplating whether to move its left leg or its right leg first.
Crucially, its movements were also extremely clumsy; there was only a drop of a few dozen centimeters at the shore, yet it struggled for quite a while without managing to climb up.
Adrian stared wide-eyed at this scene, nearly driven crazy by Slowpoke's 'dawdling.'
At this moment, Adrian suddenly hoped that the pokémon Egg in his backpack would hatch into a Staryu.
Because Slowpoke's style was like it was under a slow-motion effect; a Trainer without patience probably couldn't handle it.
They would definitely be driven insane!
"Yaa~"
After several minutes passed like this, Slowpoke finally crawled to Adrian's feet.
Then, it tilted its head and glanced curiously at Adrian, seemingly finally noticing his presence, and even blinked at him a few times, its eyes filled with 'wisdom.'
"Yaa~"
Perhaps seeing the fishing rod in Adrian's hand, Slowpoke turned its rear and lowered its thick tail into the water.
"Hmm?"
Adrian was amused and laughed, "Is this guy trying to have a fishing competition with me?"
According to the Pokédex description, although Slowpoke is dim-witted and slow, it is very good at using its tail to fish for food.
This is because Slowpoke secretes a sweet flavor from the tip of its tail; although it has no nutritional value, biting it brings a feeling of happiness, so it uses its tail as bait to attract and catch pokémon.
But Slowpoke is too slow; it often forgets what it's doing while fishing and might even lie by the river until the end of the day.
Looking at the dazed Slowpoke at his feet, Adrian also became interested and happily continued fishing.
Before long, small whirlpools began to rise beneath the sea surface, and swells kept appearing.
Adrian's eyes lit up: "Wow! pokémon are gathering underwater!"
This was a good sign!
So Adrian quickly stared at the float, ready to lift the rod at any moment.
But to Adrian's disappointment, his float seemed to be under Slowpoke's 'Disable'; though it bobbed with the swells, there were no signs of a catch biting the hook.
On the contrary, a Goldeen had appeared at the tip of Slowpoke's long, thick tail submerged in the water at some point.
The Goldeen was frantically licking the sweetness secreted from Slowpoke's tail, eating with great relish.
But Slowpoke seemed not to have noticed yet, still lying there blankly, lost in thought.
After five or six seconds had passed, Slowpoke finally seemed to realize a prey had bitten, so it gave its tail a sudden flick, and the Goldeen was immediately fished out of the water.
"Yaa~"
Then, Slowpoke tilted its head and looked toward Adrian.
Adrian's face darkened.
He felt like he was being looked down upon!
"I, a grand eighth-rank Fishing Saint, can't even beat a fool like you at fishing?"
Adrian's face flushed red with heat, and he rolled up his sleeves, ready to go all out.
But often, reality does not change according to one's will.
In the face of Slowpoke's sweet-tasting tail, Adrian's bait seemed like a joke.
In any case, ever since Slowpoke put its tail in the water, not a single pokémon had bitten on Adrian's side.
Instead, pokémon were constantly being hooked on Slowpoke's side, making Adrian's temples throb.
Splash!
Accompanied by a massive wave, Slowpoke even fished up a Gyarados, giving Adrian quite a scare.
In the panic, Adrian accidentally stepped on Slowpoke's tail as he retreated.
Adrian was startled and quickly apologized: "Sorry! I didn't mean to."
However, Slowpoke acted as if nothing had happened, its face still bearing that same blank expression.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
Adrian scratched his head.
But just then, Slowpoke let out a "Waa" cry, its voice sounding miserable and aggrieved.
"Yaa~"
Following that, Slowpoke held its tail and kept blowing on it, with a few 'little pearls' even sliding from the corners of its eyes.
Clearly, it had felt the pain from Adrian's step!
"This is just too slow!"
Watching this scene, Adrian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
This Slowpoke's reflex arc was simply longer than the Great Wall!
Seeing the wild Gyarados retreat and watching Slowpoke with its mouth wide open, blowing on its tail, an idea suddenly came to Adrian.
He then stuffed the bait from his fishing rod into its mouth.
"Yaa???"
Seven or eight seconds later, feeling the foreign object in its mouth, Slowpoke instinctively closed its jaws.
Immediately after, two prompts appeared before Adrian's eyes.
[Caught 'Slowpoke,' rewarded with 1 Slack Off TM.]
[First-time catch of 'Slowpoke,' additional reward of 1 special attack enhancer.]
Before long, Slowpoke's data panel also appeared before his eyes.
[pokémon: Slowpoke]
[Type: Water + Psychic]
[Ability: Regenerator (Restores a small amount of HP when withdrawn from battle)]
[Moves: Water Gun, Confusion, Yawn]
"Only three moves?"
Looking at Slowpoke's data panel, Adrian raised an eyebrow.
It was clear that this Slowpoke's potential was quite average.
As for the 'Regenerator' ability, although it was Slowpoke's Hidden Ability, its actual effect wasn't great; it wasn't as good as 'Oblivious' or 'Own Tempo.'
"And, it's just too slow!"
Looking at the Slowpoke still holding its tail and sobbing aggrievedly, Adrian shook his head.
With this kind of dawdling, even if this Slowpoke had good talent and potential, Adrian felt he wouldn't be able to train it.
It was too torturous!
At the same time, a tall and sturdy blue pokémon walked over from not far along the cape.
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