Cracking the Magikarp Code Read online

“Let’s see,” said Ethan, “I’m going to lead with Vaporeon. That’s my toughest Pokémon now.” He also threw in Drowzee, his newest Pokémon, just for fun. Then he rounded out his team of six with a few more powerful Pokémon.

  When he saw sparks fly from the top of the tower, he realized Devin was already battling. “Hey, wait for me!”

  Pretty soon, he was tapping the screen, too, attacking the flopping Magikarp. He filled the blue bar at the top of his screen quickly. Then he held his finger down to release Vaporeon’s Water Pulse attack.

  “Again, Vaporeon,” he ordered. “Destroy that dirty carp!”

  He delivered Water Pulse twice, and then a third time.

  And then the battle was over—almost too soon.

  “We did it!” said Devin. “Team Mystic takes control. Which Pokémon are you leaving here?”

  “Drowzee,” said Ethan while he healed his Vaporeon. “Because that battle almost put me to sleep.”

  Devin rolled her eyes. “And that was a total Dad joke.”

  Ethan glanced over his shoulder to see if Dad was watching them, but he seemed to be playing his own game of Pokémon GO—one-handed, while the other hand kept Mystic under control. Dad’s fishing line was still in the water, but it didn’t seem to be getting much action.

  Then something caught Ethan’s eye in the lake below. “Duck!” he said, nudging Devin. The duck dove underwater. It was apparently fishing, too.

  “Duck butt,” said Devin, giggling at the cute tail feathers poking out of the water.

  A sharp bark rang out, which meant that Mystic had her eye on that duck butt, too. When the duck resurfaced and swam a little too close to shore, Ethan cupped his hand over his mouth and called out a warning.

  “Dad, hang on tight to …”

  Too late. Ethan saw the look of horror on Dad’s face as he looked down at his open hand—that hand that seconds ago had held the dog leash.

  Mystic yapped and ran alongshore beside the squawking, flapping duck. Her leash bounced along the ground behind her.

  “Grab it!” Ethan called to Devin, who was running toward her already. “Step on the leash!”

  She tried, but tripped. Devin face-planted in a spray of reeds, and Ethan tore past her, his eyes fixed on Mystic.

  As the duck flapped its wings and finally rose into the air, Mystic stood up on her hind legs. Ethan saw his opportunity and dove for the leash.

  But Mystic had already moved on. The leash slipped out of reach.

  Ethan pushed himself to his feet, scanning the shoreline for the dog. Where had she gone?

  There she was, rolling on her back with her feet in the air. Ethan couldn’t help laughing. “Are you scratching your back?” he whispered, as he snuck up on the puppy and grabbed the end of her leash. “Does that feel good?”

  That’s when the stench hit him.

  Mystic wasn’t rolling on the ground because it felt good. Mystic was rolling in something.

  Something dead.

  And something very fishy.

  CHAPTER 3

  “Ugh,” said Devin, pinching her nose. “What is that?”

  “That,” said Dad, “would be a carp. A very big, very dead carp.”

  “A Magikarp?” Devin asked, her voice coming out all nasally from beneath her fingertips.

  “No, there’s nothing magical about that carp,” said Ethan, trying to pull Mystic away from the dead fish.

  “They’re fun to try to catch, though,” said Dad. “Carp put up quite a fight. Just like the Northern Pike I saw that summer.” His eyes glazed over, as if he were back on that boat, still reeling in the big one.

  “Dad, snap out of it,” said Ethan quickly. “Mystic is going to need a serious bath. We should go home.”

  But Mystic wasn’t going anywhere—at least not with Ethan. She tugged harder in the other direction, back toward that dead fish.

  “Here, let me try,” said Devin, reaching for the leash.

  Good luck, he thought as he handed it over.

  “Mystic, come,” said Devin, sounding an awful lot like Mom. And sure enough, that puppy followed her.

  Ethan sighed and fell back in step with Dad, who was gathering his gear. In the sunlight, he could see that Dad had gotten sunburned—at least across the bottom half of his face, which the brim of his hat hadn't been covering.

  And Ethan was feeling a little burned, too. I’m the one who wanted the puppy! he wanted to holler at Devin’s back. So why does she like you better?

  Gianna crouched beside Mystic, letting the puppy sniff her hand. Mystic looked up at Gianna warily, as if to say, “Now who are you again?”

  Maybe it’s because of Gia’s bug cap, thought Ethan with a smile. Gianna wore the cap any time they went Pokémon hunting. She thought the antennae on top brought her good luck, especially when it came to catching Bug-type Pokémon.

  When she bent over, Mystic raised a tentative paw and batted at one of the antennae, which made Gianna giggle. That made the antennae bounce. And Mystic raised her rump in the air and growled at it.

  Carlo grinned and shook his head. “She’s pretty cute. So, was your mom mad about the rolling-in-the-dead-fish thing?”

  “Nope,” said Ethan. “Mom didn’t even know about that. We gave Mystic a bath before Mom got home from work. And when she asked if Mystic got lots of exercise at the dog park, we said yes. Because that was true. It’s a lot of work chasing ducks and rolling in dead fish, right?”

  “Right,” said Carlo, wrinkling up his nose.

  Gianna laughed. “Carlo’s not big on fish, but I love fishing. Does your dad have extra poles?” She looked hopefully toward the willow tree, where Dad had set up shop again.

  “Don’t even think about it,” said Carlo in his big brother voice. “We’re not here to fish, Gia. We’re here to catch Pokémon. Like the Voltorb that’s sitting on your foot right now.”

  Ethan pulled out his phone, too. “I don’t even know what a Voltorb is,” he said. “Oh! It looks like a giant Poké Ball. An angry one!”

  “Or a giant fishing bobber,” said Gianna, staring over his shoulder.

  “Give it up, Gia,” said Carlo. “We’re not going fishing!”

  She crossed her arms. “Fine. Then can I borrow your phone to catch the Voltorb?”

  Gianna was the only one of the four who didn’t have her own phone. Her mom was making her wait till she turned ten—which would be next year. But Ethan could tell that the wait was just about killing her.

  Carlo sighed. “Sure.”

  But he forgot to sign out first. So after Gianna caught the Voltorb, she said, “Hey, you have enough Voltorb candy to evolve it. Can we?”

  “Wait!” said Carlo, snatching the phone back. “Let me do it.”

  Ethan and the girls all crowded in to watch Voltorb evolve on Carlo’s phone. The Poké-Ball–like Pokémon was sucked into the big ball of light, spun around, and emerged as …

  A grinning, eyebrow-waggling Electrode!

  Ethan laughed out loud. “That looks like Dad!” he joked. “The bottom half of its face is sunburned red, and the top is white as a ghost.”

  They all glanced at Dad, who sitting in the shade of the willow tree, protecting his half-sunburned face. When he saw them staring, he grinned and waved, looking an awful lot like the Pokémon on Carlo's screen.

  Devin covered her mouth, hiding a smile. “Poor Dad. I sure hope this is the year he catches the big one.”

  “Me, too,” said Ethan.

  “So where’s this gym you guys were talking about?” asked Carlo, spinning the map around on his phone. “Over there by the bridge?” He shaded his eyes against the morning sun.

  “Yeah,” said Devin, pulling up the gym on her own phone. “Oh, look, the Magikarp kid is back!”

  “Really?” said Ethan. “I thought we took care of him yesterday.” But there was that ugly Magikarp again, flopping around at the top of the gym. His Combat Power was a lot higher today, too. “Should we fight him together, now th
at we’re all here?”

  “I wish I had a phone,” complained Gianna, kicking at the ground with her shoe.

  “Here, use mine,” said Devin sweetly. “You’re a better fighter, and besides, I have to keep an eye on Misty.”

  “Wait, who’s Misty?” asked Gianna, her eyebrows scrunched together.

  Ethan shook his head. “Never mind,” he said, hoping Gianna wouldn't pick up the nickname and start using it, too. “Just get logged in, Giadude99, and let’s get closer to the bridge so we can take down this gym!”

  Giadude99 was Gianna’s Trainer name. And with her and Carlo—or Carlozard14—battling beside Ethan, that Magikarp didn’t stand a chance.

  Pretty soon, the Badfish Creek Bridge gym was Team Mystic blue. And Carlo was the new Gym Leader.

  “You left your Electrode at the gym?” asked Gianna, laughing.

  “Yes!” he said. “For Ethan and Devin’s dad. Maybe Electrode, the giant, sunburned fishing bobber, will bring him good luck.”

  Ethan was checking out the Electrode on his phone when something floated by in the breeze—a scrap of paper. And then another.

  “Hey, is someone littering, or what?” he asked.

  “Uh-oh,” said Devin, whirling around. “Mystic!”

  Ethan’s eyes followed the leash from her hand to the puppy on the other end, who had found a piece of paper on the ground and was ripping it to shreds.

  Gianna picked up a scrap and studied the blue and green swirls. “No big deal,” she said. “I think it’s just an old fishing map. See? These lines show how deep the water is in different parts of the lake.”

  Carlo held up a piece, too. “But there’s handwriting on it, too—see? The red ink marks look like some sort of symbols. Are those fish?”

  Ethan tilted his head sideways to look at the symbols. They were ovals with little triangles on the end, like fishtails. “Yeah,” he said. “That piece has two fish drawn on it.”

  “This one has three,” said Devin, holding up a triangular piece of paper. “What do you think it means?”

  “It’s like a secret code,” said Ethan. “A fish code. The Magikarp Code!”

  Gianna’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, I’ll bet Team Mystic can crack it! We’re good at solving mysteries.”

  “Yes!” agreed Devin. “If we put the pieces together, maybe we can figure it out.”

  Pretty soon, all four of them were on the ground, sliding pieces sideways and spinning them around to try to make them fit. As Ethan slid a piece next to Devin’s and watched the lines match up, he felt a shiver of excitement. “That’s a match!” he said. “Those three fish are drawn next to this marshy area—a good place for fish to hide, maybe?”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Carlo, studying the map.

  Ethan nodded. “Someone marked where all the best fishing spots are. And if we can put the pieces together like a puzzle, maybe …”

  “… we can help Dad catch the big one!” said Devin.

  “Yes!” said Ethan. “This is going to be Dad’s year. I can feel it.”

  And all thanks to Mystic, he thought, reaching over to scratch the pup’s head.

  CHAPTER 4

  Ethan spun the scrap of paper around in his hand and studied the map that he and his friends had been piecing together on the ground. They’d been at it for fifteen minutes now, but it was slow going.

  He sat back on his heels. “This is really hard. It’s like trying to put together a puzzle without all the pieces.”

  “And no box, so we can’t even see how it’s supposed to look when its finished!” said Devin, sounding just as discouraged as Ethan felt.

  When Dad wandered over, Ethan barely noticed, he was so into the puzzle. “Whatcha doing?” Dad asked, leaning over.

  “Trying to solve a puzzle,” said Carlo, holding up a piece. “We found part of a fishing map.”

  “Oh,” said Dad, studying the piece. “Does it look like this one?” He pulled something from his pocket: a smooth, crisp, freshly folded fishing map.

  The same fishing map.

  “Yes!” said Ethan, blowing out a breath of relief. “Where did you get that?”

  Dad pointed toward the information center—the giant wooden sign near the parking lot. “There are about a hundred of them in a box near that sign. Free for the taking. Do you want me to go get you one?”

  “No,” said Devin. “Those aren’t exactly like this one. This one has a secret code on it.”

  “Sounds mysterious,” said Dad. “What kind of code?”

  “A Magikarp Code,” said Ethan. “Or at least a fish code. We think it might tell you where to catch the big one, Dad.”

  Dad’s eyes lit up like a kid in the candy shop. “Well, in that case,” he said, “how can I help?”

  An hour later, Ethan and his friends had found every piece of the map that had the Magikarp Code drawn on it. And they’d taped those pieces over the matching parts of Dad’s new map.

  It wasn’t perfect. They’d had to use the lure tape from Dad’s tackle box, which was sparkly and kind of distracting. But now they could clearly see which parts of the map were coded with groups of fish.

  “I’m pretty sure the places with three fish are where we want to start fishing,” said Gianna.

  “What do you mean we?” asked Carlo.

  “I’m going to help Ethan and Devin’s dad!” said Gianna. “Maybe I can be the navigator.”

  “Great!” said Dad, nearly bubbling over with excitement himself. “We could rent a boat.” He nodded toward the racks of aluminum fishing boats near the boat launch. “It’ll be fun.”

  Ethan’s stomach suddenly flip-flopped with nervousness. Sometimes when Dad used the words It’ll be fun, he jinxed whatever they were about to do.

  But the big one was out there waiting somewhere. So if Dad needs help, Ethan thought, I'm in!

  The fishing boat had two seats and two oars. Ethan and Gianna squeezed together on one seat, while Dad rowed from the other.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Gianna called to Carlo, who had decided to stay onshore.

  He just tossed his hair and shook his head. He was already hunting for Pokémon.

  But Ethan thought Devin looked pretty disappointed as the boat left her behind onshore. She lifted Mystic’s paw and gave a tiny wave.

  NO DOGS ALLOWED IN BOATS. That’s what the sign at the rental counter had said. So Ethan had agreed to trade places with Devin after a half hour in the boat. He was secretly hoping that Dad would have bagged his Northern by then.

  “Where to?” asked Dad, glancing over his shoulder at Gianna. She had the taped-up map spread out on her lap.

  “That way,” she pointed. “Toward the reeds. That’s a three-fish zone.”

  Dad rowed hard, zigzagging toward the reeds. By the time they reached the marsh, he was out of breath. But he dropped the anchor into the water with a smile. He hummed while he chose his lure, and did a little dance as he cast his line over the side of the boat.

  Then they waited.

  Ethan stared at the bobber for so long, he started to imagine that maybe it had moved—at least a little.

  But Gianna assured him that it had not.

  Time ticked down on the stopwatch Ethan had set on his phone. Ten minutes left, then nine minutes, then eight …

  Finally, it happened. The bobber dunked under the water and popped back up.

  “You’ve got a bite!” shouted Gianna.

  Dad quickly reeled in the line, smiling from ear to ear. “It feels heavy,” he said. “This could be it!”

  Ethan held his breath and watched the line grow taut. Whatever was on the hook was fighting. Hopefully it’s not a carp, he thought.

  It wasn’t.

  The little orange fish that broke free from the water looked more like a goldfish. But Ethan wasn’t going to be the first one to say it.

  “What’s … that?” asked Gianna.

  Dad sighed. “A Pumpkinseed,” he said. “Th
e perfect pan fish.”

  The only person who was even remotely excited about the Pumpkinseed was Devin. When they got back to shore to pick her up, she admired the orange fish—and then compared it to Mystic.

  “I’m going to call you Pumpkinseed,” she said to Mystic as she handed the puppy’s leash to Ethan. “Because you’re little, orange, and loveable.”

  Ethan tried to hide his irritation. But as soon as Devin was on the boat and out of earshot, he said, “Her name is Mystic.”

  Carlo laughed from a few feet away. “Got it,” he said. “I just got a Poliwag, too—one of those tadpole-like Pokémon. The rocks over here are crawling with them!”

  “Whatcha catching?” a voice called from the bridge up above. “Tadpoles for bait?”

  It was a fisherman—the one with the bright white hair that Ethan and Devin had seen yesterday.

  “Not real tadpoles,” Carlo explained. “Poliwag. Pokémon.”

  The man nodded, but Ethan was pretty sure he had no idea what Pokémon were. There are people here catching fish, and people here catching Pokémon. But there aren’t a lot of people doing both, he realized.

  “Can I watch you catch a Poliwag?” Ethan asked Carlo. “I’m trying to work on my throw.”

  “Sure,” said Carlo, kneeling. “There’s one now.” He showed Ethan how he waited for the circle around the Pokémon to shrink about halfway down. “If I throw the ball now, I can hit the Pokémon right in the chest—when the circle is at its smallest. Then I’ll get the excellent throw bonus.”

  He almost did, too. His throw was only slightly off. It bounced off the Poliwag’s head. “Great!” said the screen.

  Ethan practically turned green with envy when Carlo collected his extra fifty experience points.

  “Gia is the real expert,” Carlo admitted. “You should watch her new technique. She holds the phone upside down when she throws the Poké Ball!”

  “No way!” Ethan spun his phone around to try to catch the Poliwag. But every time he threw a Poké Ball, Mystic tugged on the leash, and the ball flew off the screen.

  Who am I kidding? I can’t even throw a Poké Ball when I’m holding my phone the right way, he thought with disgust.