To Caster's disappointment, neither Manaphy nor Kyogre showed themselves even after he arrived at Blue Rock Island.
Kyogre especially—Caster wasn't even sure if it was nearby.
Not only that, but as they approached the shore, all the Water-type Pokémon except the Lanturn stopped accompanying them and returned to the deep sea.
"Take care, Lanturn!"
After reaching the shore, Caster waved to the Lanturn at the water's edge. Pichu mimicked him: "Pii~"
The Lanturn flashed their electrical signals and slowly sank beneath the water.
"Let's go! We've had a long day. Let's find somewhere to rest."
Caster recalled Gyarados into its Poké Ball, then found an inn with Pichu and immediately crashed, falling into a deep sleep.
After all, he'd been awake for a full day and night.
Boom boom boom! Bang bang bang!
The next morning, Caster was jolted awake by lively drumbeats and shouting.
Opening his door, he was greeted by a bustling scene.
In the middle of the street, a large group of Lanturn were parading forward, hopping and bouncing along the shore.
Both sides of the road were packed with people who kept splashing water from basins, like some kind of Pokémon world water festival.
"The Lanturn parade's already started?"
Caster stood there dazed, clearly not expecting he'd slept for a whole day and night.
Suddenly, one of the Lanturn in the parade spotted Caster and immediately waved its antennae excitedly, as if waving hello or showing gratitude.
Seeing this, quite a few other Lanturn in the procession followed suit.
Caster quickly waved back.
"Strange! Who's that kid? Those Lanturn all seem to be thanking him."
The townspeople didn't understand, but they were curious about Caster.
The Lanturn parade continued, but Caster didn't follow.
After all, the town had people specifically assigned to guide them, and this time there was no Team Rocket causing trouble, so things should go smoothly.
"Time to hit the beach!"
After grabbing a quick bite, Caster hurried to the seaside where he'd come ashore and began taking stock of everything in his fishing space.
This was a deserted stretch of coast with a sandy beach at the water's edge and dense forest providing cover on land—very secluded.
Yesterday at dawn, Caster had hooked hundreds of Lanturn on the fishing boat. Aside from a few special rare rewards, he'd stored everything else in his space without any time to examine it.
But now, it was time to take inventory.
"The rewards from this haul are honestly more than what I got from the Seaking Fishing Tournament and the Dragon's Den combined."
Looking at the densely packed items in his space, Caster beamed.
Of course, that was just in terms of quantity.
When it came to quality, the rewards from the Seaking Fishing Tournament and Dragon's Den were still a bit better.
First were the Energy Orbs. After counting, Caster found there were over two hundred, glimmering like stars in the fishing space.
Caster grinned. "With this many Energy Orbs, I should be set even if I don't fish for the next month."
After counting the most easily identifiable Energy Orbs first, Caster turned his attention to the TMs in the space. There were quite a few, and the vast majority were Electric-type moves.
"Electro Ball, sixteen. Thunder Wave, ten. Electroweb, seven. Thunder, five. Volt Switch, five. Eerie Impulse, five."
Caster continued tallying each move, growing more excited. "Charge Beam, four. Electric Terrain, three. Rising Voltage, three. Charge, three. Discharge, three..."
If he taught all these Electric-type moves to Pichu, it would completely elevate its strength to another level.
Especially Charge Beam, Rising Voltage, and Electric Terrain.
Charge Beam was a move similar to Power-Up Punch, allowing the user to attack while boosting their Special Attack stat.
The difference was that Power-Up Punch guaranteed a boost on hit, while Charge Beam was slightly weaker. In the games, it had a 70% chance to raise the user's Special Attack by one stage.
In the real world, this probability was determined by the Pokémon's skill proficiency, but the odds weren't bad—starting at over fifty percent.
Electric Terrain was one of the terrain moves. Its effect prevented grounded Pokémon from falling asleep and boosted the power of Electric-type moves.
As for Rising Voltage, it was a pure offensive move with roughly the same base power as Volt Switch.
But it had one special feature: when used on Electric Terrain, the move's power doubled outright.
Add in the fact that Electric Terrain already boosted Electric-type move power, and the damage output would be insane.
Though it still couldn't compare to the power of Kyogre—but it was still nothing to scoff at, roughly half of Kyogre's power.
Aside from Electric-type moves, the TMs also included moves like Water Gun, Bubble Beam, and Icy Wind.
Some Gyarados could learn, while others neither of his two Pokémon could master, so he'd have to set those aside for now.
Finally, there were the special reward items. Besides HP Up fragments, there were Wacan Berries, Petaya Berries, Health Feathers, DeepSeaScale, and other rare treasures.
"Pichu, come here!"
Caster waved his hand, calling Pichu over.
Realizing it was time for another power-up, Pichu's eyes lit up with excitement.
Trainer, level me up!
Let me see my limits!
"You little rascal!"
Caster shook his head with a laugh and vigorously rubbed Pichu's head.
Pichu initially tried to resist, but as the TM knowledge was infused into its body, its brain started tingling.
Pichu immediately stopped resisting and switched to quietly enjoying it.
It took a full ten minutes or so for Pichu to fully digest dozens of TMs.
When it opened its eyes again, even its gaze seemed different.
At the same time, Pichu's updated stats appeared, with a skill list that could only be described as stacked.
[Pokémon: Pichu]
[Type: Electric]
[Ability: Lightning Rod (Draws in all Electric-type moves. Instead of being damaged, it boosts Special Attack)]
[Moves: Electro Ball (Transcendent), Thunder Wave (Expert), Electroweb (Expert), Electric Terrain (Proficient), Rising Voltage (Proficient), Charge Beam (Proficient), Eerie Impulse (Proficient), Thunder (Proficient), Volt Switch (Proficient), Charge (Proficient), Discharge (Proficient), Agility (Proficient), Surf (Proficient), Protect, Helping Hand, Flash, Sweet Kiss, Draining Kiss]
Not only were Pichu's newly added Electric-type moves numerous, their proficiency levels weren't low either. They all started at the Proficient tier, and there were even several at the Expert level.
Most impressive of all was Electro Ball, which had shot straight up to the Transcendent tier.
After finishing with Pichu's moves, Caster released Gyarados with a grin. "Alright, now it's your turn."
Compared to Pichu, Gyarados had relatively fewer moves it could master this time—only three: Thunder, Thunder Wave, and Icy Wind.
Icy Wind was a move only Gyarados could learn anyway, so teaching it was a no-brainer.
As for Thunder and Thunder Wave, there were only two or three of each left over. They weren't enough to raise Pichu's proficiency to Expert level, so Caster decided to teach them to Gyarados instead.
After the infusion, Gyarados learned the new move Thunder, with proficiency directly pulled up to the Proficient tier.
Beyond that, Caster also raised Gyarados's Thunder Wave and Icy Wind to the Proficient level.
The improvement to its raw power was limited, but the boost in skill proficiency would make Gyarados's tactics far more flexible.
Finally, there were items like berries and Health Feathers that could enhance his Pokémon's base stats. Caster distributed them one by one.
Especially the Wacan Berries, he gave all of them to Gyarados to increase its resistance to Electric-type energy, so it wouldn't get knocked out in one hit.
As for the Petaya Berries that could boost a Pokémon's Special Attack, he gave those to Pichu to strengthen its offensive power.
After finishing all this, Caster let Pichu and Gyarados go off to the side to adapt to their new abilities.
Boom! Boom!
Before long, Caster's ears were filled with continuous thunder and lightning, deafening in its intensity.
But this didn't stop Caster from lying on the beach soaking up the sun, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth as he said leisurely, "This trip to the Whirl Islands has been incredibly profitable. Pichu's strength has skyrocketed too. Life is good!"
What Caster didn't know was that Pichu's commotion was so loud it was causing a stir among the Pokémon in the sea.
And just behind a reef not far away, a blue Pokémon was blinking curiously as it observed him.