The Little Fighting Fish's Mountain and River Adventure

[Extremely Pretty-Fish E x Top-Tier Shut-In Socially Anxious I Dragon]

As a wild betta fish, Lan Ya was accidentally caught and taken to a completely unfamiliar city.

Determined to escape, Lan Ya leapt out of his fishbowl and struggled his way into an old well in the courtyard. The water was cool, and above him was the round patch of sky at the well's mouth. Below him was... a slender, long-whiskered little fish, black from head to tail.

They were both fish adrift in a strange place, so Lan Ya and the little black fish became companions.

The old well connected to an underground river. After a long adventure, Lan Ya and the little black fish finally reached the hills outside Ancheng, where a stream flowed by. Ancheng's climate was warm and humid, and tropical plants flourished. Tender leaves, sweet fruit, flowers, birds, snakes, and insects could be found in every season.

Lan Ya had the time of his life, showing off his beautiful red-and-blue fins in the sunlight, like a fish trailing a dazzling gown. Bettas love to show off their beauty, and they're lively and feisty. Whenever Lan Ya played and enjoyed himself, he would see the little black fish watching him from the shadows, its pitch-black scales seeming to absorb all the light.

Poor little black fish.

Trying to spare his friend's feelings, Lan Ya stopped showing off his beauty so much. Whenever he went out, he brought back a tasty treat for the little black fish.

But longing for beauty was in a betta's nature.

One day, Lan Ya overheard children by the river watching a cartoon. Suddenly, he asked the little black fish, "Do you think if we swim to the end of the water, we might turn into dragons?"

Little black fish: ?

"Let's leap through the Dragon Gate together!" Lan Ya said happily. "Let's become the most beautiful fish in the world!"

Across mountains and rivers, plains and lakes, they stood up to injustice and openly competed to become beautiful. Even the taciturn little black fish gradually grew livelier, swimming all around with him.

They never found the Dragon Gate. All they found were spring blossoms falling onto the water, forming ring after ring.

The red-and-blue betta leapt among the petals and caught a perfect flower in his mouth. He wanted to tell the little black fish that it was all right if they couldn't become dragons. As long as they were happy every day, they would be the most beautiful fish of all.

When he turned around, he saw the little black fish leaping from the water, transformed into an elegant, slender black dragon. Its smooth, fine scales were a dazzling, iridescent black, the most beautiful color Lan Ya had ever seen.

The Dragon King of the Well merely climbed onto a flowering branch. A pink peach blossom dipped into the water, and his whiskers drifted in the breeze as he placed a flower crown on his little fish.

For a thousand years, he had never left Ancheng. Then, all at once, he fell in love.

Theme: Travel far and wide