The Young Goblin and the Sea (Sturs)

As the ox-pulled wagon traveled through the valley, Trippka sat upon it with pipe in hand. He bought the carriage in a previous town, along with extra supplies. He was en route to Kazzekton, a Goblin port-town. It was nearing the time for the annual Biological and Amazing Discoveries convention, or B.A.D. for short. It was a convention in which Goblins (and the occasional creature of another race) met, talked about, and showed off new technology and discoveries that they made over the last year. This year, Trippka wanted to have the most prestigious and awe-inspiring discovery so that he could get recognition within the community.

However, he had not found such a glamorous thing to show off. At least, not yet! His latest discovery was a concoction that he had dubbed as Moor'feen. Using a fungus that can be found almost anywhere, it is able to be grounded down to a liquid form and then injected into the bloodstream. It then numbs the pain and helps the person relax.

While beneficial to the medical field, it was certainly not large and magnificent. It would likely be overshadowed by a flying machine or some sort of robotic chicken.

Nevertheless, it was all he had. Trippka chiefed the pipe as the carriage bounced down the dirt road. The cool autumn breeze blew his robes softly about and some of his hair began to blow out as well. It was nearing dusk and he would have to make camp soon, and perhaps fish for some dinner. As he peered out over the road he spotted what appeared to be a bay somewhere to his right. He had the oxen turn towards it. Within ten minutes he'd come upon it and, with some searching, found a good spot to stop for the night. He stopped the oxen before it turned into beach and tied them to a sturdy tree so they could not run off.

Trippka grabbed a few things from the carriage. Namely, a sleeping bag, wood, and flint and steel. He got a fire going within a few minutes and then grabbed a fishing pole from his supplies. After putting a worm on for bait he wandered over onto the beach and cast the pole out as far as his strength would allow.

Mark was swimming around. He liked swimming around. Swimming around might be considered his thing to do. Maybe, he figured, he might even find a nice Pokémon with which to settle down and start a family, like a cute Goldeen or Finneon. Or maybe a Wailord. He'd heard good things about Wailord.

And then he saw something bobbing in the water. Something strangely alluring. He made a dash for it.

He hadn't been waiting for more than five minutes when he felt a tugging on his fishing rod. Filled with excitement, Trippka pulled the pole up and quickly reeled it in. There was a decent amount of resistance from the fish and he was pleased with himself. It must be a pretty big and muscular fish to put up such a fight! Trippka had to begin walking backwards in order to help pull it ashore.

He ultimately won the battle. With one final pull something came flying out of the water. Trippka stuck the pole into the ground and held his hands out. It was hard to see because of the reflection of the sun in the lake, so it came as a shock when a fish nearly the size of himself collided with his face and knocked him onto his back.

Suddenly, Mark’s world turned upside-down. Suddenly, he found himself out of the water. He landed on a strange creature with a thud. Sliding off the creature, he found himself on the ground for the first time in his life. He reacted the only way he knew how.

Trippka quickly rolled to his feet. The fish that he'd caught was red and white, with whiskers, and the yellow fin on its back looked like some sort of crown. The fish merely stayed in place and flopped about, and appeared to be saying "karp, karp, magikarp" over and over again.

With some fast-thinking he ran to the carriage and dived into it. He began sifting through everything. "C'mon, c'mon, where is it? Aha, there!" Trippka came running out with a large tank of water. Somehow it had remained fairly clean, and it was of enough size that the fish would be able to swim a little bit.

Trippka placed the tank in the small camp he'd made and then walked over to the fish. It was still flopping around. He reached out to grab it and found that it continued to flop, as he expected. It was a bit of a struggle, but he finally managed to get it into the tank.

He sat down next to the tank and tried to catch his breath. He worked up a bit of a sweat wrestling with the creature. After a minute he turned and tried to get a closer look at the fish in the tank.

Mark used Splash!

… But nothing happened.

Nevertheless, he kept splashing. He didn't stop when he was picked up, either. He only stopped splashing around when he was placed inside a tank filled with water. He looked around. It wasn't a very roomy place to swim around in. In fact, he had never swam around in something so small before.

He wasn't sure what to think of his new situation. It was too small for his liking, with no good hiding spots or room to flee. However, there didn't appear to be any threats around to hide or flee from. In the end, he considered it a mixed blessing.

Then he noticed his captor. It appeared to be a strange green Pokémon. Mark prayed to Arceus that is wasn't hostile.

"What in the world is this?"

Trippka had literally seen nothing like this before. This fish was so large and colorful, it seemed almost unnatural. Yet, here in his tank, he had some never before discovered species. Its blank stare drifted about before coming to a stop. The two of them locked eyes for a moment, and then Trippka turned away. He went around the camp and collected a few plants before coming back. Once he did he took his shirt off and went to dive in the cool water. He collected a few pieces of seaweed and then returned to the fire.

He began to prepare a salad, and created some Low-calorie Salad Dressing out of the plants he collected. His clouded mind buzzed around and around. "Maybe it'd taste good in a stew?" He thought aloud.

"Or, maybe it can lay an egg!" He started getting excited. "Or maybe it's a legendary creature!" He was practically screaming.

He began to laugh and then slumped over on the ground. "I could put a legendary egg into an omelete," he laughed. A few moments later, his laughing began to slow down and eventually dissipate. It was then that he had his brightest idea yet. "Or, maybe.... maybe... maybe I'll bring it to B.A.D.? No one would expect it..."

Trippka finished cooking and repeated those lines to himself. "Bring it to the convention... yeah!" He smoked heartily from his pipe until the meal was finished. He poured the salad dressing over it and then began to eat. A few spoonfuls later, he glanced up and looked at the tank. The sun was minutes away from setting and the tank was now on the edge of darkness. He wasn't worried something may happen to the fish but it seemed... lonely.

He stared for a couple of more seconds, and then he put his plate down. Rising and walking over to the tank, he dragged it until it was placed next to the log he had been sitting on. "I bet you're hungry. I wonder if you'll like this salad?"

He picked up some of the pieces - lettuce, tomatoes, and olives - and dropped them into the tank. Trippka thought for a moment and then poured some of the dressing into the tank. "You'll enjoy that!" he laughed and resumed eating.

Mark overheard his captor talking like a human. He wondered if it might actually be a human. Its appearance was humanoid enough, but it was far, far too small for his age, and green to boot. He’d heard rumours that not all humans were white (a silly idea, as far as Mark was concerned), but he’d never heard of humans with the body of a child and the face of an adult. The fact that it had captured him in a tank, rather than a Pokéball, didn’t help either. Mark decided that the creature that had captured him was probably a very, very strange Pokémon.

And then the strange Pokémon dumped food in Mark’s tank. While he was suspicious, he realized he had to eat eventually, and so he took a bite of some of the food.

He didn’t quite know what happened next, only that it involved rainbows. Lots and lots of rainbows. He also vaguely remembered evolving into a Gyarados and blasting stuff with his Hyper Beam, which was odd, because when he was fully conscious again, he could tell with a fair amount of certainty that was not, in fact, a Gyarados, nor did he know Hyper Beam. He wondered if there was something in the food the strange Pokémon had given him.

The goblin shoveled the food into his mouth, giggling the whole time. He was on an empty stomach and so he knew the effects would hit him soon enough. After finishing the meal, he relaxed and slumped backwards until he fell off the log and landed on his back. The starry night sky filled his vision and he felt comfortably numb.

After some time had passed (and the effects of the Low-calorie Salad Dressing continued to escalate), he decided to check on his companion. Trippka slowly rose to his feet and took a few steps to the tank.

Most noticeable were the fish's eyes. No longer were the pupils small and beady. They took up almost all of the creature's eye. It swam in place while staring forward, jaw agape, and saying its name with a tone of never-before-experienced pleasure.

"I feel as though you are very much out of it, Magikarp."

"That is not my name," it seemed to say back.

"...What?"

The Magikarp shook its head, "that is not my name, Trippka."

Trippka reached into his bag for his pipe and slowly lit it. "How do you know my name?"

"Miracles," the fish mouthed.

"Miracles, huh?" Trippka took a few puffs and then fell to his knees, pressing the left side of his face against the tank. "Miracles," he repeated. Trippka closed his eyes and began to rub the tank. "You're my best friend, Magimark. Er... Markkarp," he slumped over more until he was laying on the ground. "No, Mark was your name, yeah!"

He turned over so that he was no longer face-down in the dirt, but face-up into the sky. His eyelids grew heavy with such sudden force that he passed out right there on the spot.

The strange Pokémon was passed out, and Mark had no idea when it might wake up. He began to grow worried; what if he’d starve before the strange Pokémon might notice him? What if the strange Pokémon had evil designs in mind for him? Mark worked himself into a panic. Finally, he decided that he didn’t want to wait for what would come next. With all his strength, Mark used Splash!

He ended up outside of his tank, and started flopping back towards the water. He prayed to Arceus that he would make it.

Trippka slept for an unknown amount of time; the effects of his culinary put him to sleep easily. He did, however, wake up when he water splashed onto his face. Startled, Trippka jumped up and spun around in an attempt to understand what was happening. He fell onto his back in front of the tank and noticed the fish was gone.

"Oh no, where did it go?" Trippka jumped to his feet and ran in a panic. He didn't know what to do or what to think. As he ran off into the darkness, he tripped and fell on his back once again. The source of the trip was the fish which was flopping back towards the lake. "No, don't run!" Trippka approached it and picked it back up. "I'm not gonna hurt ya! You'll be safer with me, not in that lake! Therr' probably sharks an' other beasties in there that'll wanna eat you."

Mark’s mad dash for freedom was rudely interrupted when the strange creature grabbed him by the tail. He used Splash endlessly, but to no avail. As he was being returned to his tank, Mark decided to just accept that he wasn’t going to lose his new-found company any time soon.

After depositing the fish back into the tank, Trippka prepared some more salad (though without the special dressing) and dumped it into the tank. He figured if he kept it fed that it would realize he meant no harm and simply wanted to treat it right. "There there," he said while patting the side of the tank. Soon afterwards he fell back asleep.

Once the sun had rose and he awoke, Trippka began to take apart the camp. The last thing he did was load the tank onto the back of the caravan, put a makeshift rag-top over it, and tie it in. He placed the tank right behind the rider seat so that the sunlight would not beat down on the tank and warm the water. After all, cooking the fish was not his intention.

Trippka figured that tomorrow he would reach the town sometime in the afternoon, and then he would be able to transfer his newly acquired friend, Mark, into a larger tank. There he would likely be happier, and the Goblin intended to make sure that Mark was as comfortable as possible. And hopefully his discovery might lead to recognition for the young Goblin.

Trippka packed his pipe and began smoking it as the cart tumbled down the road.

Mark once again found himself in his tank. He figured he ought to try and get used to it, as he’d probably be in it for a long time. Suddenly, the tank was lifted, and covered with a rag. Alarmed, Mark used Splash, but to no avail. Then, everything started shaking. Mark was heading for the Convention.