Above the river's surface, the ugly fish with sharp eyes was suspended by Confusion, unable to struggle free.
At this moment, the ugly fish's emotions were so unique that Fang Yuan was completely stunned on the spot.
Indeed, this ugly fish was special...
The ugly fish that had been bullied by them were either fearful or pessimistic.
But this ugly fish harbored neither of those emotions, nor the anger Fang Yuan had imagined.
It was an entirely unexpected emotion.
Humiliation.
Being restrained like this by Fang Yuan and his Superpower Activation, Fang Yuan could clearly feel the intense humiliation stemming from the ugly fish's proud heart.
If what he saw before him wasn't an ugly fish, Fang Yuan would definitely think that the creature experiencing such emotions was some noble empress being bullied by himself...
"I'm thinking of Momoko."
"However, it is an ugly fish with dreams..."
Fang Yuan touched his nose, an ugly fish that saw itself as noble and felt humiliated after being deprived of its freedom?
Such an ugly fish, if given enough resources, should naturally evolve into Milotic, right?
Fang Yuan, intrigued, weighed the Poké Ball in his hand. He had never encountered a Pokémon with such a personality before; capturing it... might be quite interesting?
He questioned himself thrice, pondering whether to throw the Poké Ball directly or not.
On the other side.
Three other Trainers who also wanted to capture the ugly fish were getting anxious, one of the youths even sent out a second Pokémon.
Apart from the Giant Pincer Crab, he also had a Hariyama.
He intended to use Hariyama to stop Fang Yuan from capturing the ugly fish.
But before Hariyama could get close to Fang Yuan, another one of Fang Yuan's Pokémon appeared before Hariyama like a bolt of lightning.
The Fierce Fire Monkey charged like a thunderbolt, descended like the wind, its expression calm, adopting a boxing stance, Iron Fist smashing forcefully onto the ground as a warning!!
Boom!!!
The ground instantly spread with myriad fractures, followed by numerous bursts of firelight shooting out from the cracks, forming a wall of fire.
A Fire Punch, yet the Fierce Fire Monkey's hit gave off the sensation of an earth fissure and Explosive Flame...
Although it didn't have much presence in Fang Yuan's Team, the Fierce Fire Monkey's innate talents were undeniably top-notch among ordinary Pokémon.
Nurtured with a large number of Energy Blocks by Fang Yuan, the Fierce Fire Monkey was still capable of handling non-Professional Trainers.
This rate of progress was also quite terrifying.
After the Fierce Fire Monkey launched its punch, it calmly looked at Hariyama, showing its stance with its strength.
This was its only chance to avoid being at the bottom of the pack; even if Buddha Tathagata himself came, he wouldn't be able to stop Fang Yuan from capturing the ugly fish.
...
In the wild, to compete for the right to capture a Rare Pokémon, the process is simple: it comes down to who acts faster or who has greater strength.
Usually, victory is determined by a formal duel.
For Fang Yuan, no matter which method it was, he wouldn't lose, even against Master Level... cough, of course, no master would be bored enough to compete with him for an ugly fish.
Even Professional Trainers, it's presumed, wouldn't take much interest in such an ugly fish.
After all, a Professional Trainer's team was already formed, and while this ugly fish appeared to have good potential, it was still uncertain whether it could grow successfully.
Moreover, if Milotic's role conflicted with that of other Pokémon in the Trainer's team, Professional Trainers would have to consider whether it was worth the considerable resources to train a new Water-type Spirit.
Of course, if it was a rich second-generation, then there wouldn't be so many worries, as long as the Pokémon in question had a promising natural talent, it would be captured first and then considered.
On Earth, only those trainers who were both wealthy and powerful could afford to capture Pokémon as lavishly as those trainers in the animations.
Like any common Trainer, capturing a Pokemon had to be done after careful thought.
By now, Fang Yuan had finished deliberating.
"It's this one!" Fang Yuan made up his mind and threw the Poké Ball in his hand.
Although his throw wasn't very accurate, the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster caught it perfectly.
Zap.
The Self-detonating Magnetic Monster first used an Electromagnetic wave to stun and paralyze the Ugly Fish into unconsciousness.
Then, it controlled the unconscious Ugly Fish, moving it into the trajectory of the thrown Poké Ball.
Straight after, the Poké Ball thrown by Fang Yuan hit the Ugly Fish as if it was a perfect shot.
Because the Ugly Fish had already lost consciousness, it now didn't even have a chance to struggle free from the Poké Ball and was directly captured by Fang Yuan...
"Ah..."
"No—"
"My fish..."
The Ugly Fish was enveloped in red light, and the other three Trainers were instantly disheartened. As the Poké Ball stabilized and emitted a "ding" to indicate capture, they cried out in agony.
The two boys glared at Fang Yuan, and if real person PK was possible, they would have definitely wanted to teach Fang Yuan a lesson.
Fang Yuan's actions were too quick; they simply didn't have time to react, not even a chance to negotiate.
The rare Pokemon flying off into thin air was a great frustration to them.
The reason they thought about real person PK and not a fair battle using Pokemon to compete for the Ugly Fish Trainer rights was because they realized their Pokemon were likely no match for the fierce Fire Monkey and the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster in the sky.
"This person... looks familiar..." The only female Trainer, upon seeing Fang Yuan, paused in surprise.
She was a Pingcheng No.1 Middle School alumni, who graduated in the same year as Fang Yuan.
Local Trainers from Pingcheng mostly graduated from Pingcheng No.1 Middle School, with age being the only difference.
Fang Yuan was a well-known figure of the 17th batch from Pingcheng No.1 Middle School, while she was just an ordinary student. Fang Yuan didn't recognize her, but she recognized Fang Yuan...
Captain of Pingcheng No.1 High School Team, the first Su Province Rookie King...
Realizing it was Fang Yuan who had captured the Ugly Fish, although she felt a little sad, she was no longer so unhappy.
After all, she was a fangirl of Fang Yuan. The girl hurried over to where Fang Yuan was.
...
Bang!
After the Poké Ball had captured the Ugly Fish, the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster used Superpower to flick it back into Fang Yuan's hand.
Fang Yuan caught the Poké Ball, his palm turning red from the heat, and he felt only satisfaction in his heart.
This was the only Pokemon Fang Yuan had captured through normal means...
Normal means being through battle.
The foundation of capturing was battle—this was a fact that all Trainers had to admit.
But for Fang Yuan... this was his first time using overpowering battle to capture a Pokemon.
Eevee was a Beginner Elf hatched from an egg; no battle was involved.
The Self-detonating Magnetic Monster and the Glutton were swindled, also without battle.
The Fierce Fire Monkey was given during a school activity...
When capturing the Ugly Fish, Fang Yuan finally acted like a Trainer, capturing a Pokemon through battle... Generally, Pokemon captured this way are also more likely to recognize their Trainer, being convinced by the Trainer's strength to obey.
However, thinking of this Ugly Fish's character, Fang Yuan pondered. Though this time the capture was exceedingly easy, why did he feel like this Ugly Fish didn't seem like the obedient type?