Ever since they arrived at Indigo Plateau, Slowpoke had been in a state of deep meditation.
According to Slowpoke, Sabrina had taught it a secret meditation technique.
Meditating deeply for nine days before evolving or facing an important battle would put it in the best possible condition.
"Today should be day six, right?"
Caster counted the days. Three more days until Slowpoke's coronation! It probably wouldn't be ready for the match against Ash, but it would make the semifinals and the final.
With the final eight decided, the remaining Indigo League Conference matches would be full six-on-six battles.
To give the competitors time to prepare and their Pokemon time to recover, the schedule would slow down.
In the first five rounds, every competitor had fought once a day. The matches had come thick and fast.
From here on, they would fight every other day, giving the Trainers more time to adjust their teams and plan their tactics.
In that respect, the Indigo League Conference treated its competitors much better than the Silver Conference.
In the anime, Harrison's Blaziken had beaten Ash's Charizard, but it had taken a terrible beating in the process.
A single day wasn't enough for Blaziken to recover. Harrison couldn't use his ace in the next round, and he lost. By extension, Ash's performance looked less impressive too.
If Blaziken had recovered, Harrison might well have beaten Jon Dickson.
Caster took his Pokemon outside to eat and stretch their legs so they wouldn't disturb Slowpoke's meditation.
With Ash as his next opponent, he wasn't worried.
Ash wasn't going to come up with some elaborate strategy, so Caster didn't need to plan a counterstrategy.
As for Ash's unpredictable moves, there was no point trying to prepare for something he couldn't foresee.
He'd just have to fight and see what happened!
Caster woke early the next morning.
After breakfast and feeding his Pokemon, the urge to fish hit him. His hands were itching to pick up a rod. "Come to think of it, I haven't gone fishing in days."
He opened a satellite map and looked for nearby ponds and lakes.
"There's a big lake east of the competitors' village? Perfect!"
Once he'd chosen his destination, Caster shouldered his backpack and set off.
The lake sat high on the plateau. It wasn't especially large, though it covered about 165 acres, and sunlight glittered on its surface.
The area around it was pleasant, with landscaped grounds and walking paths. Plenty of people were out strolling or cycling, so Caster would have company while he fished.
He even spotted a few Trainers nearby who had let their Water-type Pokemon out to play in the lake.
"Come on out, everyone!"
Caster released the Pokemon he had brought along. "You can play in the lake too. Just don't go too far."
"Roooar!"
The enormous Gyarados and Dragonair plunged into the water, throwing up great splashes and drawing startled cries from the people nearby.
"Wow! That Gyarados is huge! Look how thick it is!"
"That Gyarados, the Dragonair, and the Pikachu on his shoulder... Isn't that Caster, one of the eight remaining competitors?"
"Caster? The cute guy? Should we go ask for his number?"
"Oh, I couldn't!"
"Shel!"
Shellder stuck out its pink tongue, looking disgruntled.
Am I too small?
Do I need to stand somewhere higher?
Why doesn't anyone notice me?
But the thought of joining with Slowpoke and evolving soon lifted Shellder's spirits.
Caster assembled his tackle, baited the hook, and cast his line.
Plop!
The bait hit the water, sending small ripples across the surface.
Before long, the float began to move.
"The fishing's better here than I expected!"
Caster pulled on the rod, his hopes rising. "This one feels pretty big. What could it be?"
Splash!
He hauled a huge blue water mouse out of the lake.
It had long ears with red insides and a round blue body marked with six white spots of varying sizes. A white zigzag pattern ran across its belly, and its black, curved tail ended in a blue ball.
[Caught Azumarill. Reward: 1 Belly Drum TM.]
[First Azumarill caught. Bonus reward: 1 HP Up.]
The reward notices appeared, followed by Azumarill's status panel.
[Pokemon: Azumarill]
[Type: Water/Fairy]
[Ability: Huge Power (doubles the Pokemon's Attack stat)]
[Moves: Water Gun, Rollout, Defense Curl, Superpower...]
"Azumarill!"
Caster's eyes lit up. "And it has Huge Power! This one's a real dragon slayer!"
Then he noticed something odd.
Instead of fleeing after he reeled it in, Azumarill boldly swam toward him.
More surprising still, it held a card in its hand and carefully offered it to him.
"Is this... a room key?"
Caster took a closer look. It bore the name Indigo Grand Hotel and the room number 1503.
"So this Azumarill has a Trainer?"
He gave the card a strange look. "And its Trainer is making a pass at me?"
"Hmph! As if I'd let a woman distract me from the tournament!"
With a snort, Caster flung the key card into the lake.
Azumarill looked disappointed. It promptly dived after the card, retrieved it, and vanished into the depths.
Caster had no interest in the business with Azumarill, but he was pleased with the rewards for catching it.
An HP Up was useful for any Pokemon, especially one as fragile as Pikachu.
The Belly Drum TM, though, had taken him by surprise.
[Belly Drum: A Normal-type move that uses half the user's stamina to raise its Attack as high as possible.]
Belly Drum was undoubtedly one of the strongest boosting moves.
It cost half the user's stamina, but it raised their Attack to the maximum.
In the games, that meant four times its usual value.
In reality, the increase wouldn't be fixed at exactly four times. It would depend on the user's mastery of the move. Even so, it was extremely powerful, far stronger than Swords Dance.
Caster figured that even a Belly Drum at the Learned level could rival two or three uses of Swords Dance.
"If I remember right, Slowpoke can learn Belly Drum. I'll save the TM and teach it once Slowpoke and Shellder evolve into Slowking."
Caster rubbed his hands together, delighted. "Let's keep fishing!"
He had a feeling there were more good catches ahead today.
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