The group was still in Gativa, and the girls had just rented a boat together to go on a fishing trip in the middle of one of the massive lakes around the city. After Sophia gave a brief tutorial on how to use a fishing rod and prepare a lure with bait because the sisters knew how to fish as they had done it a lot in the past, the other girls also gave it a try.
“Fishing is fun!” After around an hour, Ari got the hang of it and enjoyed it a lot.
“It’s so easy, too!” Sounding quite proud, Anna looked at the basin between the couple’s feet, which had four fish between 30 and 40 centimeters swimming in it.
“So true!” Chloe nodded a couple of times while looking at the basin between her and Maya, which even had six fish in it. “We should go fishing together more often!”
“Absolutely!” Maya smiled at the fox next to her. “I always forget how enjoyable it is.”
“…” The sisters were suspiciously quiet as they stared at the tiny and empty bucket beneath them. The two had yet to catch their first fish.
“It’s always like this, isn’t it?” The cat-girl looked at them with a wry smile. “The ones with the most experience and knowledge get the short end of the stick during those group activities.”
“Trying to console us only hurts more!”
“What she said!” Steph and Sophia didn’t want to hear it.
“Your teaching was great, though.” Chloe also tried to cheer up the blonde. “We’re definitely just having beginners’ luck!”
“I’m no beginner, though.” Maya pointed at herself.
“Are you trying to help or make it worse?! Decide!” The fox glared at her.
“I’ll make up for it by preparing a feast of fish tonight.” She reacted with a smug expression.
“That’s not going to make it any-.”
"I love you!" It worked pretty well on Sophia, and she didn't even let Chloe finish her sentence.
“Still upset!” It didn’t work quite as well on Steph.
“Fine, I’ll get you a new ball to play with as a backup to cheer you up.” Maya just rolled her eyes.
“I feel like I’m not taken seriously here.” The dog-girl started pouting.
“You’ve been making cat jokes all day already, so you’re in no position to complain.” The cat-girl didn’t let her have it.
“…” She had nothing to say in her defense. “Sophia, can I try a way of fishing that is more befitting of this world?”
“I have a feeling I know what you're planning." The blonde glanced at the hand of her sister, which had become covered in pink and purple magic particles. “I actually have no idea how fish would react to that. I wonder if they get curious about it?”
“Only one way to find out!”
“I’m not sure I like whatever is happening at the moment.” Ari had a bad feeling.
"She wants to try fishing with magic." As Chloe could also see the particles, she made a guess about her plan.
“Do I want to be on the boat when that is going on?” The jaguar’s bad feeling got worse.
“Let’s go!” Ignoring Ari’s complaints, the dog-girl grabbed a few of the bait balls and bathed them in the magic particles that were coming out of her hand. Afterward, she grabbed the fanciest rainbow lure with the biggest hook they had and pierced five balls of bait on it.
“Ah, wait a moment.” Sophia suddenly stopped her right when she was about to cast the line. The blonde placed her hand on Steph’s rod and bathed the whole thing in her own magic particles. “I went ahead and reinforced it and the line with magic so they’re stronger~.”
“Good call!” The dog-girl smiled at her.
“Also, try to aim really far that way~.” Sophia pointed towards her right and further onto the lake. “I can feel some very faint magic power from down there. It’s about the same as a cow or a horse, so it might be the same size.”
“Now that’s a fish worthy to be caught!” Steph got extra motivated after hearing this. Immediately following suit, she cast the line in the direction her sister was pointing at. The lure made a beautiful arc in the air before hitting the surface almost 150 meters away from the boat.
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“In how much danger are we right now?” The jaguar tilted her head.
“I mean, if it has the same magic power as horses or cows, it should have similar physical strength, too.” Chloe wasn’t worried.
“Phew.” Ari seemed relieved.
“You’ve never seen a horse or a cow messed with enough for them to become enraged, have you?” Maya looked at the fox-girl while shaking her head. “They’re scary!”
“Why and how do you know that?” The jaguar stared at her.
“…” She went silent for a moment while scratching her cheek. “Not everyone had as a sheltered childhood as you and Anna had. Some of us had fun!”
“Don’t mess with horses!” Sophia didn’t like that. “I like them! They sure are scary when angry, though, that is true!”
“And what about cows?” The jaguar noticed that the blonde addressed only one issue.
“W-Well…” Her expression also turned awkward.
“Hehe! Do you remember the time when we visited that farm when we were little and,-”
“Shh!” Sophia silenced her sister before she could finish her sentence.
“That’s my girlfriend!” Maya was proud of her. “I knew you know how to have fun! Good job for you, too, Steph.”
“Thanks!” The dog-girl smiled at her. “To be fair, though, while it was fun as kids because we all apparently were brats, I wouldn’t enjoy it nowadays.”
“True!” Sophia nodded. “Hunting animals, sure, but messing with them for the sake of messing with them would probably feel odd.”
“You have a point there.” Maya also agreed with the sister. “I haven’t done something like that in forever, either. Good memories, but having matured a little, I’d tend to agree.”
“Sooo, back to my concern.” Ari tried to get back on track.
“The chances of getting wet today are higher than anticipated.” The cat-girl smiled at her. “Unfortunately, I’m not talking about the good kind of getting wet, either.”
“Urgh.” The jaguar hung her head. “I hate being cold and wet. Especially if it’s the wrong kind.” She played along a little.
“Hot and wet is indeed better.” Steph just had to. “We can do that later today in the evening, but for now, it's time that the sisters beat all of you in fishing!" There were more important things to take care of for the time being.
“What she said!” Sophia agreed with her. “The second part, at least. The first part shall be mostly everyone’s own responsibility!”
----------------
“Are you sure there was anything big in the water around there?” Around 20 minutes had passed since the sisters started their enhanced fishing when Steph pointed at the area of the lake where her line entered the water.
“Yes.” The blonde nodded. “It’s still there, too. In fact, it’s been circling around the lure for a while now already. With quite a bit of distance in between, though.”
"A shy one, huh?”
“I’d call it wary, but sure.” Sophia rolled her eyes.
“Same difference!” She didn’t care about semantics.
“How about you put some more magic into the bait to make it more appetizing?" The older sister tried to come up with a way to lure whatever was in the lake out.
“Great idea!” Agreeing with her, Steph gripped the handle of her fishing rod a little stronger and poured more of her internal magic into it. The particles then moved up the rod and along the line all the way to where it entered the lake before eventually reaching the lure and hooks.
“Oh!” A moment later, Sophia’s ears and tail perked up. "Someone became interested!"
“Let's go!” Steph’s excitement rose. A moment later, small ripples began to appear on the surface of the water, indicating that something was moving below. “W-Woah!” Instantly after, the line attached to the fishing rod began moving with such force that it almost pulled the dog-girl out of the boat.
"It's a strong one!" Sophia quickly wrapped her arms around her sister's waist to make sure she stayed in the boat. The line was still connected to the fish, though, and it was strong enough to pull the whole boat, causing it to zoom around on the lake, with the girls doing their best to stay on.
“That’s no fish, that’s a monster!” Holding on for dear life, Ari was far from enjoying the current situation.
“I know, right?!” Steph’s voice was filled with excitement. “This is the best!”
“Try to reel it in!” The blonde was firing her on.
“On it!” The dog-girl nodded and started working on her rod. She pulled it towards herself a couple of times while trying to spool in the line to get whatever had bitten on the hook ever so closer. Luckily, as her strength was far above that of ordinary people, thanks to her high magic powers, she had no issues with that. The only struggle was keeping the boat upright from all the shaking.
“Whoa, it’s a sturgeon!” Thanks to the water being so clear, Sophia soon was able to identify the silvery fish, with an elongated body and scutes on its back, long before it surfaced. “And what a fine one, too!” It being way over eight meters long, maybe even getting close to ten, made her eyes grow wide.
“I’ve never seen one of this size!” Steph was equally surprised. “I didn’t know they could get that big! Aren’t the biggest ones usually half this size?!”
“I mean, we are in a different world.” Sophia scratched her cheek.
“Good point!” The dog-girl nodded a couple of times while wrestling with the fishing rod.
“I have heard of sturgeons that size before.” Maya tilted her head. It appeared that the new world did have some peculiarities here and there. “Although, saying it’s rare would be a massive understatement. Sturgeons themselves are common, though, so this one probably just never got caught and grew old as there's an abundance of them to catch.”
“Oh, if they’re not rare here, I want to keep it as a pet!” Sophia took a liking to the big fish.
“I like the way you’re thinking!” Steph was on the same page as her. “How do we catch it, though? It’s kind of a big guy, after all.”
“Just get it closer and I’ll take care of the rest~.” She smiled at her.
“Alrighty!” Steph spent the next couple of minutes getting the fish closer to the boat. Once it was almost right next to them, the sturgeon suddenly got restless and jumped out of the water and right over them. Using that chance, Sophia opened a portal in the air, and the fish had no other chance than to pass through it and disappear.
“And with that, the sisters win the fishing activity!” Sophia looked extra smug after she made the portal disappear.
Afterward, they took a little break because the royal couple needed time to catch up with what had just happened.