"Alright everyone, gather around. Time to level up!"
Setting aside the matter of that massive Dragonite, Caster started handing out rewards to his Pokémon.
"Pii~"
"Gyaoo~"
At his words, both Gyarados and Pichu perked up with excitement.
Leveling up was their favorite part!
Only Dratini looked confused, its eyes radiating pure innocence as it tilted its head curiously.
"First up is Gyarados. I'm upgrading your Icy Wind."
Caster called out to his veteran partner first. Gyarados roared and surged forward, its dragon's cry echoing through the air.
Krabby was a Water-type Pokémon, but Water and Ice types weren't completely separate categories.
Water-type Pokémon especially could master one or two Ice-type moves pretty easily.
So this time, Caster had pulled quite a few Icy Wind TMs. Not only were there enough to boost Gyarados's skill proficiency from Proficient to Expert, but he even had a few left over.
"Next is Pichu. I'm upgrading your Agility."
Caster called Pichu forward next. The mouse immediately strutted up with its head held high, looking absolutely thrilled.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Three consecutive Agility TMs activated.
Instantly, Pichu's mind flooded with knowledge about the technique, and it quickly absorbed everything, saving who knows how much time in training and practice.
Before long, Pichu's Agility proficiency rose from Proficient to Expert level.
"Pii~"
Once Pichu had fully absorbed the TMs, it opened its eyes again, face full of excitement.
Right now, its strongest move was Electro Ball, and that move's power scaled directly with the speed difference between opponents.
With Pichu's Agility proficiency upgraded, not only would it gain even greater speed, but its damage output would skyrocket too. Two birds with one stone.
"Finally, Dratini."
Caster looked at the adorably confused Dratini with a grin. "You've got the most techniques to learn this time. Better get ready."
He'd caught Dratini yesterday, but back in the Dragon's Sanctuary, Caster hadn't immediately taught it any new moves.
Now that they'd left the sanctuary, Caster had no reason to hold back!
Time to go all out!
"Yuuul~"
Dratini called out softly and eagerly moved forward.
Though it didn't understand what Caster had just done with Gyarados and Pichu, it could tell this was something good.
Trainer, let's see what you've got up your sleeve!
"Don't worry, I'm just going to teach you a few moves."
Caster crouched down, gently stroking Dratini's smooth head with a smile. "The first time might feel a bit weird, but just hang in there for a moment."
With that, he activated an Extreme Speed TM.
"Yuuul~"
A strange method of channeling energy appeared in Dratini's mind, deeply imprinting itself there. Every step was crystal clear.
Immediately after, Dratini instinctively began circulating this energy according to the steps, and a faint white glow flickered around its body.
Whoosh!
In the next instant!
Its body blurred, and Dratini vanished.
When it reappeared, Dratini was shocked to find itself already dozens of meters away, hovering over the ocean surface.
"Truly worthy of being called Extreme Speed. That velocity is insane. Most Pokémon wouldn't even have time to react, let alone defend against it. They'd just have to take the hit."
Caster observed everything closely, thoroughly satisfied with Extreme Speed's power.
Teleport might be even faster than Extreme Speed and harder to predict, but it didn't carry any offensive capability on its own.
So all things considered, Extreme Speed was clearly the better choice.
"Yuuul~"
Out on the water, Dratini was both surprised and thrilled.
It wasn't unfamiliar with Extreme Speed. One of its companions back home knew the move.
Among the three Dratini it had grown up with, the one who knew Extreme Speed was always using its superior speed to play pranks, and the other Dratini could never do anything about it.
Because they simply couldn't catch up!
After all, even if you were a champion fighter, if your horse wasn't fast enough, you'd still eat dust.
That was reality!
Dratini had wanted to learn Extreme Speed for a long time, but the learning difficulty was just too high.
According to the elders, if you weren't born knowing this move, you'd only have a chance to learn it after evolving into Dragonite.
But now...
"Yuuul~"
Dratini looked at Caster, its eyes practically gleaming with adoration.
It knew it had picked the right person to follow!
But what Dratini didn't know was that Extreme Speed was only the beginning. Caster went on to teach it Protect, Water Pulse, Water Gun, Haze, Icy Wind, and other techniques, expanding its move list significantly.
Water Pulse and Water Gun especially. Caster's fishing space had stockpiled a massive quantity of these TMs, so this time he directly maxed out Dratini's proficiency, bringing both techniques to the incredible Mastered level.
By the time the teaching session ended, Dratini felt like its head was buzzing, having completely lost the ability to think.
Ugh, so fast!
Learning was too fast!
In the past, when learning new moves, Dratini had to watch the elders carefully, listen closely, practice hard, and even then wasn't guaranteed to succeed.
But now, techniques just kept forcing themselves into its body!!
Dratini wanted to refuse, but the skills wouldn't give it the chance to say no.
Waaah!
In that moment, Dratini felt completely overwhelmed by all these moves.
And this feeling of gaining rewards without putting in effort also left it deeply unsettled!
Because this went against everything the elders in the Dragon's Sanctuary had taught it.
"Oh, and here's this Speed Enhancement potion. Since I pulled it from your catch, you might as well use it!"
Patting Dratini's head to help it snap back to reality, Caster proceeded to pour a special drink down Dratini's throat.
Immediately, Dratini felt a tingling sensation throughout its body.
"Yuuul~"
Once the Speed Enhancement potion was fully absorbed, Dratini discovered with amazement that its swimming speed had noticeably increased.
As for the Dragon Cheer technique, Caster had originally planned to teach it to Dratini.
But considering that Dragon Cheer boosted the critical hit rate of the user's allies, with Dragon-type Pokémon receiving double the boost...
In the end, Caster decided to teach Dragon Cheer to Gyarados instead, maximizing its effectiveness.
"You all get used to your new abilities. We'll head out in fifteen minutes."
After giving his instructions, Caster found a corner and began editing today's crab-fishing video.
At the end of the video, he added text announcing a livestream tonight at 8 PM, don't miss it.
"Alright, let's head to Vermilion City's Pokémon Center first."
Once he'd uploaded the video, Caster recalled Gyarados and Dratini, then hopped on his bike with Pichu.
Fifteen minutes later, Caster arrived at the Vermilion City Pokémon Center.
And immediately noticed several Pokémon, charred black from electric attacks, recovering on hospital beds.
Caster's mind stirred. "These must be Lt. Surge's handiwork, right?"
Lt. Surge, the Vermilion Gym Leader, was a tough, no-nonsense trainer.
His Raichu's overwhelming power meant he didn't pull punches against challengers' Pokémon, which resulted in Vermilion City's Pokémon Center always being packed.
"But I'm nothing like those trainers."
Caster smiled and went straight to check in.
After settling in, Caster first fed his Pokémon some Pokéblocks, then enjoyed a nice hot shower before finally pulling out his phone.
"Haven't uploaded videos or streamed in forever, but instead of losing followers, I've actually gained tens of thousands more. Now that's good news."
Caster opened his PokéStation profile page and saw his follower count had reached 150,000. His face lit up with satisfaction.
"Time to start streaming!"
Seeing it was almost 8 o'clock, Caster launched his broadcast.
He knew his fans must be frustrated about his recent hiatus. A simple video upload probably wouldn't be enough to smooth things over. Streaming was the better approach.
"Hey everyone, dinner's served!"
Camera on, Caster greeted his audience.
Since he'd announced it in advance, plenty of fans were already camping in the stream waiting.
The moment Caster went live, comments flooded in.
"Whoa! The missing person returns!"
"Rest in peace, Grandpa! The streamer you followed is finally back online!"
"Grab your bowls, grab your bowls! A happy day starts with watching Fish-boy!"
"Fish-boy, you're actually still alive? I thought you'd used your body as bait and reached fishing nirvana."
"Streamer, did you really get taken care of by a rich woman? Is it true or not?"