Nothing happened that night.
Early the next morning, Caster got up at dawn, preparing to take the small boat out to the coral reef again to fish for jellyfish.
But before heading out to sea, Caster noticed something unusual—there seemed to be a lot more people arriving at Hutber Port.
Most of them had Pokémon with them, clearly trainers.
"What's going on at Hutber Port? Is something big about to happen?"
Caster was curious but didn't think too much of it.
Right now, he just wanted to catch jellyfish, fill his Tentacool quota, and teach Helioptile Surf to complete Iono's task.
"Yiya~"
Helioptile, who'd spent its whole life in the desert, seemed thrilled about going out to sea for the first time.
But that excitement didn't last long.
Because the poor thing got seasick.
As Helioptile hurled up the Pokéblocks it had just eaten for breakfast, ripples appeared on the water beside the boat.
"Helioptile, we're not even at the fishing spot yet! You're chumming the water way too early."
Caster laughed as he teased it, though he still eased back on the throttle and leaned over to check.
Sure enough, Helioptile's "chumming" was actually working—several Magikarp were already fighting over the scraps.
Before long, the small boat reached the coral reef.
Caster started baiting his line and casting.
As for teaching Surf, that was Pikachu's job.
Caster only needed to step in at the critical moments—no need to wear himself out.
"Pika~Pika~"
Professor Pikachu began the lesson, looking incredibly serious and professional.
Student Helioptile listened just as intently.
After the explanation, Professor Pikachu demonstrated, leaping off the deck.
BOOM!
A massive wave erupted from the sea, carrying Pikachu forward as it rode the surf across the water.
"Yiya~"
Helioptile's eyes went wide with admiration.
That's so cool!
Caster secretly gave Pikachu a thumbs up, thinking to himself: "When it comes to looking cute and showing off—"
[Caught "Tentacool." Reward: 1 Supersonic TM.]
[Caught "Tentacool." Reward: 1 Wrap TM.]
[Caught "Tentacool." Reward: 1 Energy Orb.] *N
[Caught "Tentacool." Reward: 1 Icy Wind TM.]
As Caster reeled in Tentacool after Tentacool, the rewards kept rolling in.
By afternoon, his fishing space was completely packed.
"Time to head back!"
Caster stretched and reeled in his line one last time.
"Yiya~"
When Helioptile saw the boat was about to start up again, its expression changed instantly. It poked Caster with its little claw.
TM Master, I'm requesting to go back in my Poké Ball!
Caster smiled and obliged.
But after returning Helioptile to its ball, Caster didn't head straight back to port. Instead, he started distributing skill points to his Pokémon.
First up was Gyarados. Caster taught it Waterfall and Surf.
Gyarados already knew Waterfall at the Proficient level, but with Caster's point allocation, it finally broke through to Transcendent.
As for Surf, Caster boosted it from scratch straight to Expert level.
Next was Pikachu. Its Dazzling Gleam went from Learned to Proficient, and it also picked up Substitute.
Then came Dratini, who learned quite a few new moves.
First were Supersonic and Wrap. These were basic Tentacool moves, so Caster had stockpiled a ton of their TMs.
Dratini could learn both, so Caster maxed them out immediately.
On top of that, Dratini also learned Surf and Weather Ball.
Caster's fishing space still had a bunch of Poison-type TMs stored away—Poison Sting, Poison Jab, Acid, and so on.
Unfortunately, none of his current Pokémon could learn them, so they'd just have to sit there collecting dust until the right partner came along.
Beep beep beep!
As Caster piloted the boat back to port, he noticed the crowds on the island had grown even larger.
By the time he reached the Pokémon Center, the place was absolutely packed—trainers were practically fighting over rooms.
Luckily, Caster already had a room, so he didn't have to worry about that.
Still, he was dying to know what had caused this sudden influx, so instead of heading straight to his room, he found a quiet corner to lurk in and eavesdrop.
"Lorelei's lecture starts at nine tomorrow morning, right? I can't believe it's attracting this many trainers."
"Of course! We're talking about Elite Four Lorelei! Not only is she insanely strong, she's also gorgeous and has an incredible figure. She's easily the most popular member of the Elite Four."
"I heard that after the lecture, Lorelei's doing a Pokémon battle exhibition. Any interested trainers can challenge her. Just the thought of battling an Elite Four member gets my blood pumping!"
Listening to the chatter around him, Caster felt his heart race as a stunningly beautiful figure floated into his mind.
Lorelei, one of Kanto's Elite Four—the character whose episodes got cut because her figure was too provocative for TV.
Unlike the other Elite Four members, Lorelei didn't have that untouchable air about her. She was more like the cool big sister next door, treating Pokémon like her own children with incredible gentleness.
"Elite Four Lorelei is coming to Hutber Port?"
Caster could feel the excitement building.
Lorelei was a goddess to countless Pokémon anime fans.
Caster was no exception.
"Caster!"
Just as Caster was lost in thought, a familiar voice snapped him back to reality.
He turned to see a handsome guy with spiky hair and his entourage of admirers trailing behind.
"Gary!"
Caster's face lit up with surprise. "Did you come here for Elite Four Lorelei too?"
"Obviously! Lorelei does a battle exhibition after every lecture. It's one of the only chances regular trainers get to battle an Elite Four member. There's no way I'd it!"
Gary said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, then glanced at Caster and grinned. "You came for the same reason, didn't you? Great minds think alike!"
Caster shrugged helplessly. "Would you believe me if I said I came here to fish?"
Gary crossed his arms and shook his head. He clearly wasn't buying it.
"I've been training non-stop this past month, and my Pokémon have gotten way stronger."
Leaving the Lorelei topic behind, Gary looked at Caster with fire in his eyes. "Now that I think about it, our last battle never had a real winner! How about it? Want to have a Pokémon battle right now? Consider it a warm-up before we challenge Elite Four Lorelei!"