Lorelei was the kind of person who lived entirely in her own world.
In the original anime, when Ash challenged her multiple times, she'd been so caught up admiring the scenery that she literally couldn't tear herself away. She just... ignored him completely.
Her thoughts were pure, her worldview simple.
She was curious about Caster, and if the chance came up, she'd happily spend time with him to figure out what made both him and his Gyarados so mysterious.
The problem was, what she'd just said was loaded with implications.
"OH MY GOD. Elite Four Lorelei just invited Caster to her place. What kind of development is this? I can't even process it!"
"First Miss Clair, then Miss Iono, and now Elite Four Lorelei. What is it about Caster that pulls in every beautiful female trainer?"
"Wait, Miss Lorelei isn't married yet, right? Could this mean..."
"No! Miss Lorelei is mine!"
"Yesterday Caster went after a Gym Trainer, today it's an Elite Four member. Tomorrow he'll be going after a Champion!"
"Listen up, people. The Sinnoh region's Champion is under our protection. Caster, if you so much as set foot in Sinnoh, my Garchomp will take you out on sight!"
"Kill the fish, save the Champion! Kalos doesn't want you either!"
"Unova's Champion is Mr. Alder, but we've also got the lovely Miss Caitlin in our Elite Four. Old Fish, online we're buddies, but offline? If you come to Unova, I'm breaking your legs!"
The livestream chat was full of outraged male trainers, terrified that the beautiful female trainers from their regions would fall for Caster.
After all, there was precedent.
Of course, Caster had no idea any of this was happening.
After hearing Lorelei's words, he stood there stunned for a good few seconds.
But he wasn't about to let down another gorgeous older woman, so Caster nodded enthusiastically. "Totally convenient! I couldn't be more available!"
He even pulled out his Rotom Phone, ready to exchange contact info with Elite Four Lorelei.
And she didn't refuse.
Male viewers ground their teeth watching it happen.
"Caster, you really need to drop dead!"
***
With everything wrapped up, Lorelei waved goodbye and left.
"Caster, I lost this time. But I'm going to train twice as hard from now on. See you at the Indigo League!"
A newly energized Gary shook hands with Caster, then left with his entourage of cheerleader girlfriends.
He still had to prepare for tomorrow's exhibition match against Lorelei.
Even though he knew he'd lose, Gary wanted to give it everything he had and at least go down swinging.
Only then did Caster finally have time to grab his phone and check his stream stats.
"Huh? I'm in the top three on the popularity rankings?"
Caster blinked in surprise. "Wait, seriously? Am I reading this right?"
It didn't take long for the chat to fill him in on what had happened.
First, Iono had streamed his stream, which sent his viewer count skyrocketing.
Second, his battle with Gary had been genuinely exciting and dramatic, and his skill earned him real respect from the viewers. He'd ridden that wave of hype, and plenty of Iono's fans had casually hit the follow button.
Finally, Elite Four Lorelei's surprise appearance had pushed his stream to its absolute peak, drawing in countless Lorelei fans.
With all three factors combined, Caster's follower count exploded. He'd jumped from 300,000 to 1,020,000, blasting straight past the million-follower mark.
"So I'm actually a big-time influencer with a million followers now?"
It felt surreal, like a dream.
Before, he'd worked so hard fishing, recording videos, battling Gyms, pulling all those stunts with Magikarp, and his follower count had barely cracked 100,000.
But ever since meeting Iono, his numbers had shot up like a rocket.
"Guess I need to stick close to Iono from now on."
The thought dawned on him, and he let his imagination run wild. "Of course, Miss Lorelei works too. And if it were Miss Cynthia, that'd be even better..."
Then Caster glanced at the donation total from the stream, and his face lit up. "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands... 236,800₽?"
Even after the platform took its cut, he'd still walk away with more than half.
Just doing the math, Caster had made over 100,000₽ from one stream. That was what an average person earned in a year.
"Streaming really is profitable!"
Caster let out a low whistle. "At this rate, I'll have enough money to get Sea Lion bait ready in no time."
Speaking of fishing for Sea Lions, Caster perked up immediately.
Because that meant he might run into Lorelei again, right?
And if things went well, they might even spend some time alone together.
"Hehe."
Just thinking about it made him giddy.
The next day.
Caster didn't get up early to fish. Instead, he snuck off to watch Lorelei's exhibition challenge match.
Gary got destroyed.
Not just Gary. Every single trainer who participated got absolutely demolished.
That was Ice Queen Lorelei's battle style.
But on the flip side, after losing, some of the trainers' smaller Pokémon got the consolation prize of being held and comforted in Lorelei's arms, which made every guy in the audience lose their minds wishing they could trade places with the Pokémon.
"Lorelei! Lorelei! Lorelei!"
After the battle ended, the entire crowd chanted her name.
Standing in the sunlight, Lorelei practically glowed.
"Is this the strength of an Elite Four member? Absolutely terrifying."
Caster's expression turned serious.
Sure, he'd beaten Gary, but there was no denying that Gary's strength wasn't that far off from his own. Otherwise, the two of them wouldn't have been so evenly matched.
But in front of Lorelei, Nidoking looked like a helpless baby, taken out with a single Ice Punch from Slowbro.
And Slowbro was known for its Special Attack. Its Physical Attack was only average at best.
"Looks like I need to fish even more."
His gaze sharpened. Caster touched the fishing rod in his backpack, turned, and left the venue. Then he took his little boat back out to sea.
For three days straight, Caster fished for jellyfish at the coral reef.
He didn't know how many he'd caught. All he knew was that the fishing space was packed to the brim with rewards.
He caught three more Tentacool, but only one of them gave him a reward.
Caster quietly put away his fishing rod, thinking to himself, "Time to move on."
The more Tentacool he caught, the more obvious the diminishing returns became.
He needed to let the jellyfish in these waters recover and multiply, so he could come back next year and harvest a fresh batch.
Glancing at the little golden lizard still feeling out the waves on the boat's deck, Caster couldn't help but smile.
Iono's Helioptile had genuinely been trying to learn Surf from Pikachu these past few days, but unfortunately, the move just didn't mesh well with its type. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get the hang of it.
But now that he was getting ready to leave, it was time for Helioptile to learn it.
With that thought, Caster silently activated the Surf TM he'd saved in the fishing space and used it on Helioptile.
"Heli~"
The Helioptile that had been carefully studying the ocean waves suddenly went wide-eyed with wonder.
It felt like it had entered some kind of enlightened state.
Knowledge and understanding of the Surf move flooded its mind, unstoppable and impossible to forget even if it wanted to.
Splash splash!
As Helioptile focused, a small wave rose beneath its feet, carrying it smoothly across the water.
"Heli~ Heli~"
Helioptile was ecstatic.
I did it!
This lizard totally nailed it!