Caster's plan sounded great. In practice, it fell apart.
Even Professor Oak could not force some of the Pokémon in his habitats to obey him, especially the Champion-level ones.
Still, Professor Oak was the boss around here, and that counted for something.
As long as Caster did not bother or anger any of the Pokémon, Professor Oak could guarantee his safety while he fished.
So Caster had Professor Oak's permission to fish first and ask questions later!
That afternoon.
Professor Oak's Laboratory.
The pond inside the Pokémon habitats.
Caster wore a fisherman's hat and held his rod over the water.
Not far away, Gary sat just as quietly in matching fishing gear.
Between them, the shaggy Arcanine dozed on the ground. Caster's Pikachu used the big dog as a pillow and soaked up the afternoon sun.
Rustle, rustle.
A light breeze rippled the pond and rustled the leaves.
Whoosh!
Without warning, Caster's float plunged beneath the surface.
"Got one!"
Caster's face lit up as he jerked up his rod.
The hard tug on the line made him grin. "It feels pretty big. This has to be a monster catch!"
Gary's float bobbed at the same moment. "I've got one too! It looks like mine is pretty big as well!"
Gary might have become more mature lately, but he was still competitive at heart. Whenever he was with Caster, that competitive streak came out.
If Gary caught the bigger Pokémon, he won!
"Up you come!"
They shouted in unison and hauled back on their rods.
Water splashed as two large crabs emerged from the pond, each waving a pair of enormous pincers.
"Krabby!"
Caster's eyes lit up.
He had caught Krabby many times before, so there would be no first-catch bonus.
But this Krabby was enormous, an absolute giant.
Caster had caught hundreds of Krabby, and not one of them could compare to it.
Gary had hooked a tiny Krabby that looked severely underdeveloped.
They had reeled in their catches at the same time, but Gary's Krabby looked tiny beside Caster's.
[Caught "Krabby." Reward: 1 Ancient Power TM.]
The reward appeared, followed by the Krabby's status panel.
The Krabby Caster had caught was well raised. Its body was huge and powerful, and it knew an impressive range of moves.
That explained the better reward.
The undersized Krabby Gary had reeled onto shore merely sat there, blowing bubbles with a vacant look on its face.
"This giant Krabby must belong to Gary," Caster thought. "Which would make that little one the Krabby Ash caught."
Gary frowned at the small Krabby. "Where did this thing come from? It looks completely underdeveloped! Who in the world would catch a Krabby like this?"
Then he hurried over to the giant Krabby Caster had caught and complained, "Hey, Krabby! I'm your Trainer. Why didn't you bite my hook?"
Losing their private competition had already annoyed Gary.
Worse, the giant Krabby was his own Pokémon. He felt betrayed.
Caster had guessed right.
After catching Krabby, Ash never used it before the Indigo League Conference.
Gary regularly rotated his Pokémon. He tried to make every one of them stronger, then selected the best Pokémon for each battle.
Keeping so many Pokémon on rotating training schedules took more coordination than Caster could manage.
Caster gave Gary a silent thumbs-up.
As expected of Gary, master Pokémon raiser and master of time management!
"Koo..."
Ash's Krabby gave them an innocent look. Still blowing bubbles, it started back toward the water.
It was sick of this size-obsessed world.
Caster rebaited his hook and held it in front of Krabby's mouth with a smile. "Since you're already here, bite the hook before you go. This bait smells delicious."
"Koo?"
Ash's Krabby stared at Caster in surprise.
Its small, underfed body made it easy to overlook at Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Ash had not spent a single day with it since catching it.
Strictly speaking, Krabby and Ash had only met once. Their only later encounter had been over a video call.
Krabby had become deeply insecure.
Gary's scorn barely registered. Krabby was used to it.
But Caster did not laugh at it. He even held the sweet-smelling bait right in front of its mouth.
"Koo!"
Krabby waved its pincers and devoured the bait.
Oh, that was delicious!
[Caught "Krabby." Reward: 1 Protein.]
The notification caught Caster by surprise.
"It gave me Protein?"
Caster broke into a grin.
Protein was much rarer and more valuable than a TM.
"Was I just lucky?"
Caster studied the little Krabby as it ate. "Or is this Krabby far more unusual than its size suggests? Could some of Ash's chosen-one luck have rubbed off on it?"
He wasn't sure.
His fishing ability normally determined rewards from several factors, including a Pokémon's species, strength, and potential.
"Just how much of his Pokémon's talent has Ash wasted?"
Caster shook his head and sighed.
Ash caught excellent Pokémon in every region, but after completing a journey, he usually moved on to the next region with only Pikachu. He left the rest of his Pokémon behind.
It was an enormous waste of their potential.
Now Caster felt sorry for Krabby and for the Sceptile, Infernape, Greninja, and other Pokémon Ash would catch in the future.
"If you like it, have some more."
As Krabby ate, Caster gave it several more pieces of bait.
"Koo..."
Tears welled in Krabby's eyes as it stared at the food piled in its pincers.
In the months since Ash had caught it, Krabby had never been as happy as it was after a few pieces of bait from this fisherman.
"Krrk..."
No one noticed the blue-skinned Pokémon in the pond watching Caster's bait.
It wore a suspiciously wise expression, as though it had already seen through everything.
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