"???"
Iono clearly hadn't expected Caster to pull something like this, her brain momentarily freezing.
"Iono-sensei, I'm just joking."
Seeing this, Caster quickly waved his hands with a laugh. "Did I scare you, Iono-sensei?"
With just a casual wave of traffic, Iono had brought Caster over a hundred thousand new followers. How could Caster possibly blackmail her?
His brain wasn't broken!
If Iono exposed this matter, Caster would probably be cyberbullied by Iono's fans into quitting the internet, right?
A super-popular internet celebrity currently at the five-million-follower level, likely to exceed ten million followers in the future—Caster didn't dare offend her.
"How dare you! You actually copied me?"
Iono placed her hands on her hips, displaying an annoyed expression, but quickly transformed back to her signature smile. "Tehe-pero! You're quite different from others, truly interesting."
Clearly, Iono was very interested in Caster's style of interaction.
Immediately after, Iono's smile faded as she said seriously, "However, if you can truly teach my Bellibolt to learn the 'Surf' move, name your terms. Whatever I can fulfill, I'll do my best to accomplish."
"I don't have any conditions."
Hearing this, Caster spread his hands. "Iono-sensei has already helped me tremendously. How could I ask for anything in return for helping you with a small favor?"
"You!"
Iono reached through the screen and poked at the camera lens with her finger.
Since Caster was now adamantly refusing to mention conditions, Iono couldn't say much more.
However, as a veteran of the streaming world, Iono obviously wouldn't freeload off this fresh-faced junior, Caster.
At this moment, Iono's mind was frantically thinking about how she should express her gratitude if Caster successfully taught Bellibolt the 'Surf' move.
Looking at Caster on the screen, Iono's eyes suddenly lit up as she thought, "I've got it! If I give that thing as a gift, he should be able to use it perfectly!"
And so, the matter of Caster being responsible for teaching Iono's Bellibolt the Surf move was settled just like that.
However, Caster was currently fishing at sea and couldn't receive Bellibolt's Poké Ball, so both parties could only agree to reconnect once Caster arrived at the Pokémon Center.
After chatting for a few more sentences, Iono hung up the video call, obviously going to instruct Bellibolt.
"Let's continue fishing for jellyfish!"
Steering the small boat away from the center of the coral reef to the edges, Caster first recalled Gyarados, then continued baiting and fishing.
Although Misty's bait couldn't really attract powerful Pokémon like Gyarados, Blastoise, or Kingdra, for Pokémon like Tentacool it was nothing short of "gourmet food."
Even after leaving the central area of the coral reef, Caster maintained a continuous catch rate, though the intervals between catches were slightly longer than before.
[Caught 'Tentacool', rewarded with 1 'Supersonic' TM.]
[Caught 'Tentacool', rewarded with 1 'Bind' TM.]
[Caught 'Tentacool', rewarded with 1 'Energy Orb'.]
[Caught 'Tentacool', rewarded with 1 'Substitute' TM.]
Continuously catching Tentacool, Caster continuously reaped rewards, his smile growing wider.
But just then, Caster suddenly felt the fishing rod being pulled by an enormous force, making it difficult to reel in.
"Such great strength—it shouldn't be a Tentacool."
Caster's heart stirred as he speculated, "Could it be a Tentacruel?"
This coral reef area was quite large, but due to the Tentacool colony's bullying and hoodlum-like behavior, there weren't many other Pokémon living there.
Fishing until now, aside from jellyfish, Caster had only caught a few trash fish.
"Yoru~"
Seeing Caster struggling to reel in, the newly arrived Dratini immediately came forward wanting to help.
But Caster waved his hand, refusing Dratini's assistance, and said with a chuckle, "No rush, let's play with it first!"
Playing the fish—this was an extremely important part of the fishing process.
As a fisherman, Caster also greatly enjoyed this process.
Unless absolutely necessary, he generally wouldn't actively call on Pokémon for help.
"Yoru~"
Seeing Caster refuse, Dratini immediately became teary-eyed, feeling emotionally devastated.
"Pika~"
Seeing this, Pikachu quickly came forward to comfort her, obviously accustomed to such situations.
Just a fisherman's quirk!
Using all his strength to wrestle with the underwater creature for a moment, Caster finally managed to catch it.
Accompanied by a "splash" sound, a Pokémon with a blue head bearing red agate-like objects—two large and one small—appeared. Its eyes were on the lower black portion, and it had developed blue pincer-like appendages, with poisonous tentacles constantly swaying.
It was the Water + Poison-type Pokémon—Tentacruel!
[Caught 'Tentacruel', rewarded with 1 'Weather Ball' TM.]
[First time catching 'Tentacruel', additionally rewarded with 1 'Special Defense Enhancer'.]
The cheat ability's rewards appeared, followed immediately by Tentacruel's status panel.
[Pokémon: Tentacruel]
[Type: Water + Poison]
[Ability: Clear Body (Prevents ability reduction from opponent's moves or abilities)]
[Moves: Hydro Pump, Sludge Bomb, Poison Jab, Confuse Ray————]
"Wuu~"
Being forcibly pulled out of the water, Tentacruel was in a very bad mood.
Its eyes glared fiercely at Caster, the red agates on its head constantly flashing with red light.
Buzz!
The thick tentacles suddenly flashed with dark purple light, making Caster's eyelids twitch.
Clearly, this was a Poison-type move!
Caster quickly launched a counterattack, decisively calling out, "Dratini, Extreme Speed!"
This was no ordinary Tentacruel anymore, but an absolute sea hoodlum that required a heavy-handed response.
"Yoru~"
With a cry, Dratini immediately transformed into a streak of light and disappeared, striking Tentacruel with lightning speed before it could react.
Boom!
Tentacruel's face showed pain as its body swayed and fell back into the sea.
With this strike, Dratini not only dealt considerable damage but even forced Tentacruel to interrupt its attack skill execution—remarkably effective.
"Wuu~"
Being attacked on its own turf made Tentacruel even more furious.
It immediately mobilized the energy within its body, wanting to raise huge waves to overwhelm everything and knock the damned human and his Pokémon into the sea.
But compared to Dratini, Tentacruel's move execution speed was still a bit too slow.
Buzz!
A blue energy sphere rapidly formed in Dratini's mouth and struck Tentacruel's body at extreme speed.
Boom!
The blue energy sphere exploded, transforming into vibrating water waves that continuously impacted Tentacruel's body, forcing it to retreat constantly.
Water-type move: Water Pulse!
Water Pulse was a mid-to-low tier Water-type move with fairly ordinary power, only slightly stronger than the basic move Water Gun.
But Dratini's Water Pulse was anything but simple, because this move had reached the 'Mastered' level.
With such extremely high skill proficiency, Dratini's Water Pulse was not only fast and powerful, but even the trigger rate of its additional effects had been raised to a terrifying degree.
"Wuu~"
After being hit, Tentacruel's body immediately swayed unsteadily, with stars constantly appearing above its head.
Tentacruel had fallen into a confused state!
Taking advantage of Tentacruel's confusion, Dratini executed another Icy Wind to freeze the opponent stiff, then followed up with Draco Meteor. Tentacruel finally sank into the water with spiraling eyes.
"Yoru~"
Looking at its handiwork, Dratini was extremely excited.
When first facing Tentacruel and feeling its size and internal energy, Dratini had been quite frightened.
But it hadn't expected that in just a few moves, the opponent would be knocked down by itself.
So I'm this strong?
"Well done, Dratini!"
Caster also stepped forward in time to pat Dratini's head and activated an Energy Orb as encouragement.
Although it was the first battle, Dratini already possessed considerable combat power.
Even the sea hoodlum Tentacruel could only take a beating before it.
However, to prevent Dratini from becoming arrogant, Caster quickly administered a preventive shot. "But this Tentacruel is a wild Pokémon, so its strength isn't particularly strong. Truly powerful Pokémon are mostly those with trainers—those are your real opponents!"