"I actually got Protect?!"
Looking at the notification that appeared from his cheat ability, Caster was overjoyed.
[Protect: Normal-type move, completely blocks the opponent's attack. Consecutive use tends to fail easily.]
Protect was undoubtedly a godly defensive technique in Pokémon battles!
Although Magikarp couldn't learn it yet, Caster could save it for later.
Once Magikarp evolved, Caster could teach it all the stored TMs at once, and Gyarados's strength would truly undergo an explosive improvement.
At the same time, the stats panel for the caught Krabby quickly appeared.
[Pokémon: Krabby]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Shell Armor (Protected by a hard shell, opponent's attacks won't hit critical points)]
[Moves: Water Gun, Harden, Metal Claw, Mud Shot, Protect, Guillotine]
"Guu~"
The hooked Krabby was not in a great mood. Its giant pincers kept snapping, making "clang clang clang" sounds like metal striking metal.
In Krabby's view, it was undoubtedly this fisher, Caster, who had interfered with its meal.
Unforgivable!
So after spitting out the hook, Krabby's four legs kept moving, coming ashore sideways as if to teach Caster a lesson.
Fortunately, Krabby wasn't very fast, and after Caster realized the danger, he quickly retreated with his fishing gear.
"Guu~"
Seeing it couldn't catch up, Krabby felt somewhat helpless.
It didn't dare venture too far onto shore, so it slowly retreated back into the lake and disappeared.
"Krabby came ashore to pinch people! That pokemon is really aggressive!"
Seeing Krabby retreat, Caster also breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Krabby wasn't large, its strength was genuinely formidable, especially its physical attack and physical defense, far surpassing ordinary Pokémon.
In game terms, Krabby's physical attack stat was a whopping 105, and its physical defense was 90, a perfect balance of offense and defense.
Of course, Krabby's weaknesses were also obvious: extremely weak special attack and special defense, plus relatively slow speed.
The moves Magikarp currently mastered were all physical attack-oriented, so fighting Krabby would be attacking its strength with his weakness.
And if Magikarp got caught by Krabby's pincers, it would be done for.
Guillotine was a one-hit KO move!
"Crab-specific bait? What's that?"
After confirming Krabby had gone far away, Caster turned his attention to the other reward, and its information immediately appeared.
[Crab-Specific Bait: Special bait with extremely strong attraction to crab-type Pokémon like Krabby, Dwebble, and Crabrawler, but non-crab Pokémon show no interest.]
Caster's eyes flickered, and with a thought, he retrieved a box of bait from his space.
Opening the lid, he saw a mass of bright red sticky substance inside, giving off a unique fishy-sweet smell.
"Looks pretty impressive. Let's test its effectiveness."
Caster pinched off a small portion of bait and attached it to the hook, then cast his line into the water.
Plop!
The bait hit the water, creating ripples on the lake surface.
Caster waited quietly.
Truth be told, Krabby-type Pokémon mainly lived on beaches by the sea.
However, since Celadon City bordered the Kanto inland sea, and the lake connected to the ocean through waterways, Krabby also lived in this lake.
"I'm hungry, better eat something first."
Caster picked up the already-opened bento and was about to take a bite, but just then, the float moved again.
"A bite, a bite!"
Caster put down the bento again and quickly pulled the rod.
The catch was pulled from the water; another Krabby.
[Caught "Krabby," reward: 1 Energy Orb.]
"Guu~"
Like the previous one, the Krabby whose meal was interrupted was displeased, waving its large pincers and coming ashore to chase Caster around again.
It's just that walking sideways made them rather slow, so they really couldn't catch up to Caster and eventually gave up.
"Do I have to get chased every time I catch a Krabby?"
Coming back to the shore, Caster scratched his head, feeling rather odd.
Clearly, he was the fisher, the hunter.
And Krabby was just the catch, the prey.
But now, Krabby was chasing him around. Was this reasonable?
"If only Magikarp had evolved into Gyarados, why would I be in such a sorry state?"
Caster sighed inwardly.
So for the rest of the time, Caster seemed to enter a time loop of casting his line, preparing to eat his bento, catching Krabby, and being chased by Krabby.
As long as the bait entered the water, there would quickly be a bite, and without exception, all were Krabby.
The specialized bait seemed to have attracted all the nearby Krabby; there was a whole group of Krabby underwater lining up to bite the hook.
"Wow! That guy's amazing, constantly catching Krabby."
"He must be a skilled fisher!"
Caster's commotion was quite noticeable, attracting the attention of many people by the lake, who came over to watch.
"Why are there so many Krabby here? I feel like I'm getting numb!"
After casting his hook into the water again, Caster spread his hands to the surrounding onlookers.
Although he hadn't actually kept the caught Krabby, Caster was definitely showing off!
Hearing this, the onlookers praised Caster's fishing skills, and some fishers even came up to ask what kind of bait he was using.
After catching over a dozen Krabby in a row, Caster's bait was nearly exhausted.
However, his harvest was extremely bountiful. Besides Energy Orbs, he had obtained 2 Water Gun TMs, 1 Harden TM, and 1 Icy Wind TM.
Most importantly, Krabby, known for its physical attack prowess, had contributed a Muscle Feather.
"What a haul, what a haul!"
After taking inventory of his gains, Caster was delighted.
Although it was a bit regrettable that he hadn't caught a Kingler, Caster was already very satisfied with this harvest.
By now, the sky was getting dark, there were basically no more people walking around the lake, but mosquitoes were becoming more numerous.
"Forget it! Let's call it a day!"
Caster packed up his fishing gear and put it back in his backpack, then recalled Magikarp from the water.
But when he prepared to pick up the bento he'd set aside, he was surprised to find it was gone.
"Huh? Where's my bento? Where's my huge bento box?"
Caster was furious.
To catch crabs, he hadn't taken a single bite of this bento!
But now, it was gone!
"Could it have been taken by one of those onlookers just now?"
Caster was puzzled.
He remembered that some fishers had come to chat with him earlier. Could they have taken his bento as a trophy, following the principle of "fishers never go home empty-handed"?
But thinking it over carefully, Caster felt that was unlikely.
He guessed it was probably taken by a wild Pokémon.
Caster, hungry and puffed up with anger, said, "The local Pokémon here are really rude!"
At the same time, not far behind Caster in a small grove, a light yellow figure was hiding in the bushes, devouring the food with gusto, eating until its belly was round.
...
Nothing eventful happened that night.
The next day.
Caster slept in for once, and after finishing breakfast, he finally arrived at a grassy area in a park.
This was precisely the venue for the Magikarp high jump competition.