The fingerlings of the "Four Great Domestic Fish" are priced at 150 fish per Happiness Point, Seabass fingerlings at 100 fish per Happiness Point, Cod fingerlings at 50 fish per Happiness Point, and Sturgeon fingerlings at 1 fish per Happiness Point.
Meanwhile, the fingerlings of the "CJ Four Fish" are all priced at 10 fish per Happiness Point.
(Note: These prices are purely the author's invention and bear no relation to real-life values.)
After some deliberation, Angie decided to purchase 30,000 fingerlings of each of the "Four Great Domestic Fish," which totaled 800 Happiness Points—affordable.
For Seabass fingerlings, Angie also bought 30,000, costing a total of 200 Happiness Points—also quite cheap.
For Cod fingerlings, Angie bought 15,000, spending 300 Happiness Points—not expensive.
As for Sturgeon fingerlings, Angie purchased 10,000, which cost 10,000 Happiness Points—a bit pricey.
Next, Angie turned to four other types of fingerlings: knife fish, hilsa, bream, and silverfish. Angie bought 10,000 fingerlings of each species, spending a whopping 400,000 Happiness Points—utterly outrageous.
These fingerlings were even pricier than the average price of fully grown fish meat!
After deciding on the types and quantities of fish for farming, Angie did not make an immediate purchase but instead added everything to the shopping cart.
Unlike seedlings, live fish fingerlings cannot be stored in the system's backpack; they must be picked up immediately upon purchase. Since there was no suitable place at home to rear them yet—and they could easily die—Angie planned to wait until they could be released into the designated environment before buying them.
Once the fish fingerlings were selected, Angie moved on to shrimp and crab.
Raising shrimp and crabs would not only provide food for Angie but could also serve as supplementary feed for the farmed fish—a win-win!
For shrimp, Angie considered the options carefully and chose three types: white shrimp, green shrimp, and crayfish.
White shrimp are small-sized, green shrimp are medium-sized, and crayfish are large-sized.
White shrimp fingerlings were priced at 3,000 shrimp per Happiness Point, so Angie bought 600,000 shrimp, costing 200 Happiness Points in total.
Green shrimp fingerlings were priced at 2,000 shrimp per Happiness Point, and Angie bought 300,000 shrimp, costing 150 Happiness Points in total.
Crayfish fingerlings were priced at 1,000 shrimp per Happiness Point, and Angie bought 300,000 shrimp as well, spending 300 Happiness Points.
(Note: These prices are fictional and have no real-world reference value.)
After adding the selected shrimp fingerlings to the cart, Angie turned to crab fingerlings.
Finally, Angie chose two types of crab fingerlings: swimming crabs and mitten crabs.
Swimming crabs, like white shrimp, were priced at 3,000 crabs per Happiness Point. Angie bought 600,000 swimming crabs for 200 Happiness Points.
Mitten crab fingerlings were priced the same as crayfish at 1,000 crabs per Happiness Point. Angie bought 300,000 mitten crabs, spending 300 Happiness Points.
Actually, Angie mainly planned to raise the white shrimp and swimming crabs as food for the fish—they were cheap, after all.
Once the selection of fish, shrimp, and crabs to be farmed was finalized, Angie and the family of five enjoyed dinner together. As usual, they spent the evening chatting, playing games, watching dramas, and later practiced cooking in the training room before heading off to their respective rooms to sleep.
The next afternoon, while the other Pokémon were planting trees—almost finishing up the planting of the Pinap Berry and Bluk Berry Trees—Angie, Munchlax, and Sobble stood alongside the Politoed and a few Poliwrath by the shores of Nebel Lake, located directly opposite Angie's house. A pile of equipment, including nets and poles, lay stacked at their feet.
Since Angie was planning to farm fish, it was necessary to set up a proper fish farming area. Simply releasing the fish into Nebel Lake wouldn't work—most of the fingerlings would likely swim down the waterfall into the Nebel River, drifting downstream to an unknown destination, or worse, become prey for other aquatic creatures or Pokémon.
"All right, let's get started," Angie announced.
"Poliwrath! Poliwrath~"
The Poliwrath nodded in response. Some carried poles into the water, while others dragged nets, swimming off into the distance to begin their task. Politoed also leaped into the water to assist.
Angie then retrieved a fishing boat from the system's inventory and placed it in the water before hopping aboard with Munchlax and Sobble.
If you're going to start fish farming, you can't do it without a boat! Angie had purchased this small fishing boat just today. It was easy to operate and quite intelligent—so simple that even Angie, who had never piloted a boat before, could handle it effortlessly.
The technology in the Pokémon world is truly amazing!
That said, the boat wasn't cheap. It had cost Angie 300,000 Happiness Points, and it was only a small one. A medium or large fishing boat was far beyond Angie's budget.
The recent fusion of the secret fortress had drained a significant chunk of Happiness Points, and now the purchase of fingerlings and the fishing boat had further emptied Angie's reserves. The Happiness Points were running dangerously low.
Happiness Points really don't last long—just one or two big-ticket items, and they're gone.
The boat slowly made its way toward the center of the lake. Munchlax, sitting at the stern, curiously touched everything around it—it was its first time on a boat. Meanwhile, Sobble was having a blast. It alternated between jumping into the water to swim alongside the boat and nimbly climbing back onboard to spray water for fun.
Out in the lake, the Poliwrath had reached the center. One by one, they dove into the water to secure tall poles into the lakebed.
Angie's plan was to enclose the part of Nebel Lake nearest to their home with nets for fish farming. The poles the Poliwrath were anchoring served as supports for the nets.
The nets had very fine mesh, making it impossible for shrimp, crab, or fish fingerlings to slip through. By enclosing only the section of the lake near Angie's home, the setup wouldn't disrupt the ecosystem of the Nebel River upstream or downstream, nor interfere with the fish's migration the following year.
The Poliwrath were impressively strong, their bulging muscles clearly visible. Each of the poles they carried was thick—much thicker than Angie's waist—yet they swam with them through the water effortlessly.
In addition to the poles, the nets were also quite heavy, especially when submerged in water. Despite this, the Poliwrath moved with ease, dragging the nets without difficulty.
The nets Angie purchased were incredibly durable, made from special materials that could withstand even the powerful impacts of large Water-type Pokémon without breaking.
These nets weren't just meant to partition Nebel Lake for the fish farm but also to subdivide the farm into smaller sections.
Currently, the fish, shrimp, and crab fingerlings were still small and unsuitable for mixed farming. If they were kept together, there would only be one outcome: mutual predation. Fish would eat fish, fish would eat shrimp, shrimp would eat fish, and Angie would end up with a disastrous financial loss.
As Munchlax watched the Poliwrath laboriously sink poles, diving in and out of the water, it suddenly leaped in with a splash, swimming swiftly toward them.
It turned out Munchlax was quite the swimmer, agile and quick in the water.
"Munchlax! Munchlax!"
I want to help! I want to help!
Once it reached the Poliwrath, Munchlax eagerly announced its intention.
The Poliwrath looked at it doubtfully.
"Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~"
Are you sure you can handle it?
"Munchlax! Munchlax!"
No problem!
Munchlax patted its chest confidently before diving headfirst into the water, mimicking the Poliwrath.
After a moment of hesitation, the Poliwrath followed suit.
Munchlax was indeed capable. Its swimming skills were excellent, and in the water, it was so nimble that one could hardly believe it was a land-based Pokémon. With its help, a pole was quickly secured into the lakebed.
Seeing this, Angie called out from afar, "Munchlax, great job!"
"Munchlax!"
Munchlax waved back excitedly.
Sobble, perched on the boat's railing, glanced at Angie and then at Munchlax. Suddenly, it too jumped into the water with a splash, quickly swimming to another Poliwrath.
"Sobble~ Sobble~"
Let me help too!
It declared enthusiastically, copying Munchlax's mannerisms.
"Poliwrath?"
The Poliwrath was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~"
Be good, don't cause trouble—go play elsewhere.
Not taking the rejection well, Sobble planted its hands on the pole and pushed with all its might, attempting to right the pole lying across the water's surface.
"Sobble~ Sobble~"
It clenched its teeth, shut its eyes tight, and used every ounce of strength it had—but the pole didn't budge an inch.
"Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~~~"
The Poliwrath laughed even harder.
"Sobble~ Sobble~"
Sobble, frustrated, clenched its fists and punched the pole hard, only to end up hurting its own hand terribly.
o(╥﹏╥)o
Sob…
Tears welled up in Sobble's eyes.
"Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~~~"
The Poliwrath laughed even more gleefully. It proudly flexed its muscles in front of Sobble and effortlessly hoisted the pole upright.
(ಥ﹏ಥ)
"Sobble~ Sobble~"
This time, Sobble burst into tears for real.
The Poliwrath, still basking in its display of strength, hadn't realized the gravity of the situation. Sure enough, before long, it too started crying along with Sobble.
"Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~~"
What's going on?!
The Poliwrath asked while wiping away its tears.
"Sobble~"
I'm not telling you!
Sobble retorted angrily before suddenly turning transparent and disappearing from the Poliwrath's side.
What the Poliwrath didn't know was that Sobble's tears contained a potent lachrymatory agent, said to be as strong as 100 onions. Standing so close to Sobble, how could the Poliwrath not cry?
At this moment, the Poliwrath's companions noticed the commotion. Seeing their comrade being outwitted, they showed no mercy and joined in laughing loudly.
The laughter never disappears; it simply shifts to a new target.
Everyone worked diligently while sharing jokes, creating a lighthearted and pleasant atmosphere.
Following Angie's instructions, the Poliwrath swiftly planted the pillars one by one. The next task was to hang the nets.
Poliwrath, Politoed, and Munchlax dragged the nets through the water, attaching them between the pillars. Gradually, the fish farm began to take shape.
Once the nets were secured, dividing the farm into sections of various sizes, Angie pulled out heavy metal chains and tossed them to the edge of the nets. He directed the Poliwrath to fasten these chains to the bottoms of the nets.
These chains, known as anchor chains, were used to stabilize the nets. Without them, the fish in the farm could escape through the bottoms of the nets.
By the time the anchor chains were secured, the day was already turning to evening. Angie and the others worked on some finishing touches, and before they realized it, the sky had turned orange from the setting sun, casting a warm glow over Nebel Lake.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud as a lively, large fish was thrown onto the fishing boat by one of the Poliwrath. It was a massive black fish, about 1.5 meters long, and who knew how many years it had lived in Nebel Lake?
Munchlax, now back on the boat, saw the fish. Angie quickly shouted, "Munchlax, catch it!" He himself leaped forward as well.
Before Angie or Munchlax could make their move, Sobble darted in first, grabbing the giant fish tightly. Beaming with pride, it turned to Angie and asked.
"Sobble~ Sobble~"
Am I handsome ? Am I powerful?
Given that Sobble was only about a fifth of the fish's size, the scene of it hugging the fish was hilariously ridiculous.
Sure enough, in the next second, the giant fish smacked Sobble into the water with a flick of its tail.
"Sobble~"
Ouch!
By then, Angie and Munchlax had leaped into action. Angie grabbed the fish's head while Munchlax held its tail. As the fish struggled, Angie delivered a solid punch to its forehead.
The fish stopped moving immediately—it had been knocked out cold by Angie's blow.
Strength truly comes in handy.
Angie blew on his fist and mimicked Sobble's usual demeanor, coolly asking the now-surfacing Sobble, "Am I handsome? Am I powerful?"
Sobble: ...
With the fish farm enclosed, the next step was to clean it up, which meant it wasn't yet ready for the fry. The wild fish in the water needed to be removed, as they could pose a significant threat to the fry, shrimp, and crab fingerlings.
Seeing that it was getting late, Angie told the Poliwrath and Politoed, "Let's head home for now. It's getting dark. We can finish cleaning the fish farm tomorrow."
The Politoed and Poliwrath all responded cheerfully, gathering around Angie's fishing boat and swimming alongside it back to shore.
Once ashore, Angie and Munchlax lifted the massive black fish together. As they walked, Angie called out to the Poliwrath and Politoed, "Let's have fish soup tonight!"
Black fish soup is highly nutritious!
"Poliwrath~ Poliwrath~"
"Politoed~"
The Politoed and Poliwrath cheered, and Munchlax and Sobble couldn't hide their excitement either.
By the time they returned home, the Pokémon who had been planting trees were already back. They were gathered in the square in front of Angie's house, either playing tag or chatting happily, waiting for Angie and the others to return to prepare dinner.
As Angie walked home, he called out, "Just wait a bit longer, everyone! Dinner will be ready soon!"
Once home, he and Munchlax took a quick bath before heading into the kitchen to get to work.
Angie left the fish cleaning and cooking to Sobble. He had taught Sobble how to cook fish, and today was the perfect time to test its culinary skills.
Still holding a grudge over being smacked by the fish earlier, Sobble worked with gritted teeth. The one-meter-long fish was quickly sliced into fillets by Sobble's Water Blade.
The black fish from Nebel Lake was truly remarkable. Its flesh was translucent, snowy white with a hint of pink—a true delicacy!
Sobble had a natural talent for cooking, whether it was fish porridge or fish soup. A large pot soon filled with steaming broth, and Sobble stayed by its side, diligently seasoning the soup. Before long, the rich aroma spread throughout the kitchen.
Seeing the soup was done, Sobble grabbed a small ladle and bowl, scooped a bit of the soup, and tasted it.
( ^ -^)/
Wow~ It's... so delicious!
Sobble was instantly enchanted by its own culinary masterpiece.
Carrying the ladle and bowl, it ran excitedly to Angie's side, offering the bowl expectantly.
"Sobble~ Sobble~"
Angie, you've got to try this!