Chapter 54: Blue Cola, Even Pigs Wouldn't Drink It

After finally calming Blue down from her impulse to commit suicide, the three of them wore dark expressions and resumed fishing once more.

Since the muddy ground had just been disturbed by a certain flea-like character, it was unlikely any fish would bite for a while, so Brock stood up and went to the back to get some drinks.

Sure enough, even the bikini-clad older girls had gone to fish in the high-roller section, leaving him feeling deeply disappointed.

...

"Here."

After a while, Brock sat back down on his stool and casually tossed a blue cola to each of them.

Ash caught the drink, took a closer look, and his brow furrowed deeply as he said in an unfriendly tone:

"Blue? I don't drink this."

Blue also frowned deeply, chiming in:

"Yeah, back in Pallet Town, we only drink red. Not even pigs would drink blue happy water."

These words caused Brock's eyebrows to shoot up in rare anger.

He could tolerate anything else, but this was something no matter how good-tempered he was could simply not endure.

"In Pewter City, we only drink blue cola. The red stuff is used exclusively for flushing toilets."

The two from Pallet Town were instantly outraged and leaped to their feet.

"Isn't that blue stuff just toilet bowl cleaner?"

"Is there seriously anyone who likes drinking blue foot-washing water?"

"Huh? Could there actually be fools who drink red? The red stuff can't even flush a toilet clean!"

The three of them instantly began arguing with red faces and bulging necks. Whether to drink red or blue cola was a difference in philosophy... To make matters worse, it could even be elevated to the level of ethnic faith and national pride.

This was a major issue.

...

"Jiggle..." "Jiggle..." "Jiggle..."

Just then, the fishing rods set up by the three of them began to shake simultaneously. The three quickly abandoned their crusade for their respective choice of happy water and redirected their attention back to the rods.

"Red is forever the god!!"

Ash roared, pulling back with the strength of his waist like lifting mountains, and violently jerked his fishing rod upward.

"Holoholo..."

A familiar, earthy-yellow little fish once more appeared and landed right in front of him.

Ash: "..."

He backhanded the Feebas and threw it right back out.

Stop coming, Feebas brother! What I want is the rarest Pokémon!

On the other side, Blue also took a deep breath and shouted:

"Red is forever the god!!"

She violently jerked her fishing rod upward, and a dark shadow once again soared into the sky with great momentum, exuding an ancient and weathered aura.

"Beep. Congratulations to the Trainer for acquiring the item [Torn Glove (Left Hand)]."

Her Pokédex automatically broadcasted.

Blue: "..."

Damn it, Squirtle!

At least complete the pair with the right shoe from earlier!!

Seeing this, Brock merely shook his head at the two of them with utter disdain.

Then, revealing his pearly white teeth, he gripped his fishing rod firmly and shouted in a deep voice:

"Blue is the only true god!!"

The next second, a shell-like Pokémon broke the water's surface and landed on the deck.

A yellow spiral shell, coupled with a soft blue body, and a pair of pitch-black, innocent eyes blinked as they looked around.

"Beep-beep. Omanyte, an ancient Pokémon. Due to the ancients finding them delicious, they are now extinct, and methods of cooking them are only recorded in prehistoric recipes."

"Beep-beep. Omanyte, an ancient Pokémon. Believed to have gone extinct tens of thousands of years ago, its ecology remains a complete mystery."

The two Pokédexes simultaneously emitted two different versions of the broadcast.

Ash and Blue: "?"

Did an SSR drop again?

Brock smiled smugly, and with a backhand motion, he threw a Poké Ball to recapture Omanyte.

Catching two fossil Pokémon in a row made him extremely happy, and he no longer cared about the war of faiths, laughing as he said:

"Hehe, I'll go get you two some red cola. Remember to drink up, and whatever you can't finish, I'm taking back to my room to flush the toilet."

Ash and Blue: "..."

Squirtle's ghost!

We've disgraced Pallet Town...!

...

Since Brock had already obtained the Pokémon he wanted, he simply opted to quit the competition.

Two fossil Pokémon were no run-of-the-mill commodities; he didn't want to expose them.

So he simply snapped that broken fishing rod, gave up fishing altogether, and instead served tea and water to the two of them while occasionally stealing glances at the bikini-clad older girls around them.

Meanwhile, Ash continued his streak of terrible luck. Every half hour, he would fish up a Feebas, throw it away, and catch another—an infinite loop.

He even began to suspect if this single Feebas had realized he wouldn't catch it and was deliberately down there taking a free ride on his bait?

Free-loaded fish are bad luck!

On the other side, around Blue's stool, a multitude of items had already accumulated.

[Torn Boot (Left)] [Torn Glove (Left)] [Torn Sock (Left)]...

The most absurd part was that every single item was only for the left side. She was starting to suspect someone was deliberately targeting her, Blue!

But when she looked closely, that flea-like character was still fishing alone not far away; there was no way he could dive underwater just to disgust her with single-sided footwear.

So, was she really just an eternal unluckier QAQ?!

Finally, she could only fix her gaze on the person beside her, her cheeks puffed up as she fidgeted shyly and said:

"Um... fellow hometown friend, since I can't catch any Pokémon anyway, how about trading that fish of yours to me? I'll swap these boots for it?"

Hearing this, Ash didn't even think; he casually tossed the newly caught Feebas right in front of Blue.

The latter instantly broke into a wide, beaming smile.

She no longer harbored any delusions of rare Pokémon; even catching a Magikarp would be fantastic at this point.

Blue tossed out a Poké Ball, and the Feebas on the deck didn't even dodge, allowing itself to be docilely sucked inside.

It didn't even shake once before the capture notification sounded.

At that moment, Blue's Pokédex also chimed with a mechanical prompt.

"Beep. Feebas, the Fish Pokémon. Though its appearance is ugly, upon evolution it becomes the most beautiful of Pokémon. It is an extremely rare Pokémon."

Blue: "!"

Ash: "?"

He trembled with rage, tears swirling in his gut as he whipped out his Pokédex, making a motion to throw it straight into the ocean.

"Pokédex, are you screwing with me!?"

After a long pause, the Pokédex finally emitted a leisurely sound.

"Beep-beep. Battery below 1%. Shutting down automatically."

Ash: "..."

What the hell, isn't this Pokédex solar-powered? There's a huge yellow ball on top of it—could that be the moon?

Psyduck's sake!

...

...

Dusk.

The fishing contest officially concluded, and the judging phase began.

Many people harvested bountiful catches: some reeled in a Gyarados, while others hooked a Tentacruel.

Even the author of that book *The Old Man and the Seafood*, the veteran captain, went down to fish himself and finally reeled in a blue-skinned shark in his twilight years.

"Wow, what a big fish! It's a Sharpedo!"

"Turns out our Kanto region has Garchomp—wait, Sharpedo living here too?"

The surrounding crowd gasped in shock.

As for Ash's trophy, it was nothing special. After giving the Feebas to Blue, his luck seemed to have departed with it, and he couldn't catch a single fish after that.

Helpless, he could only submit the [Torn Boot (Left)] for evaluation.

To his surprise, however, he spotted another familiar item in the exhibition line-up.

[Torn Boot (Right)].

Followed by a line of small text underneath.

Contestant: Pallet Town Gary's trophy.

Ash: "..."

A depressed smile finally broke across his face.

"He actually caught a boot, haha, Gary is so stupid, hahaha...!!"

On the other side, a hedgehog-haired boy simultaneously burst out laughing.

"He actually caught a boot, haha, Ash is so stupid... hahaha..."

...

As for the final winner, none other than a vibrant young girl from Pallet Town.

Blue clinched the championship of the fishing contest by sweeping the entire field with an unassuming Feebas.

Plenty of people knew the rarity of Feebas; even in its native habitat of the Hoenn region, it was an exceptionally rare Pokémon.

Blue stepped up onto the stage, took the microphone, and prepared to deliver her victory speech.

"Uhm, everyone... I only have one sentence to say."

Being the center of attention made Blue's face flush red, but hardening her neck, she roared at the top of her lungs:

"Cola! Only red is the champion!! Blue, not even pigs would drink it!!"

Unexpectedly, these words were like dropping a super bomb into deep waters, and the entire scene instantly spiraled completely out of control.

"Where did this stinky brat come from? Isn't red just foot-washing water?!"

"Is there seriously any pig who likes drinking blue?"

"Just a passerby here, keeping it real, red really does taste like shit."

"Shut up, all of you! In Vermilion City, we only drink Sprite; cola is used for flushing toilets!!"

"Cola is your dad..."

Chaos descended upon the scene...

Yet, looking at the noisy crowd below, Blue stood upon the champion's podium with a flushed expression, as if her soul had already ascended to heaven.

"I've finally brought honor to Pallet Town..."

She said, tears welling up in her eyes.

...

Taking advantage of the chaos, Blue stuck out her tongue and sneaked away shortly after.

With a smug expression, she was clearly extremely satisfied with having instigated this flame war.

She immediately sought out Ash and casually tossed him a small card with a rainbow pattern drawn on it.

Seeing the bewildered look on his face, Blue smiled and explained:

"Hey, this is the first-place prize~ When you pass through Saffron City later, you can go to the Silph Co.—uh, Rainbow Corporation there, and exchange this card for a magical Eevee."

"According to the organizer, that Eevee can evolve infinitely~"

She said with a mysterious air.

----

(2 chapters today, begging for votes!!)

(Thinking about slowing down the pacing recently...)