As a pure Water-type Pokémon, one of the reasons Octillery remained such a formidable battler was the incredible variety of moves it could learn.
In theory, Octillery could learn Ice-, Poison-, Rock-, Psychic-, Grass-, and even Fire-type moves like Flamethrower.
Silas had never quite understood why a Water-type Pokémon could use Flamethrower.
Then again, Slowpoke and its evolutions, as well as Gyarados, could do the same.
Well, that's why they're called Pokémon, they really are mysterious creatures.
Of course, not every Octillery possessed such an extensive movepool.
Outside of its Water-type techniques, most Octillery specialized primarily in Ice-type and Poison-type moves.
So seeing this fisherman's Octillery use Bullet Seed was genuinely surprising.
Fortunately it was only Bullet Seed.
"Prinplup, use Peck!"
Hearing Silas' command, the Prinplup floating in the water nodded.
Its small yellow beak became coated in brilliant white light.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
To the fisherman's complete astonishment, Prinplup's upper body blurred into afterimages as it darted toward the incoming Bullet Seeds.
Then it swallowed every single green seed.
Burp~
Prinplup let out a satisfied burp before grinning foolishly at Octillery.
Not bad.
A little sour, though.
The fisherman fell silent.
He had imagined countless ways Water-type Pokémon might respond to Bullet Seed.
But he had never imagined this.
Silas wore an easy smile.
The tactic looked simple, but in reality, it had severe limitations.
First, the Pokémon using Bullet Seed couldn't be a Grass-type.
Otherwise, thanks to a Grass-type's natural control over seeds.
Who knew whether the swallowed seeds would suddenly sprout inside the opponent?
Leech Seed alone would be enough to make any Pokémon suffer terribly.
Secondly, Prinplup was still a penguin.
It could practically be treated as half a bird Pokémon.
Although it lacked the Flying type, dealing with a relatively weak Bullet Seed wasn't particularly difficult.
Most Water-type Pokémon couldn't pull off the same trick.
"You young people really do think faster than us."
The fisherman wasn't frustrated at all.
Instead, he praised Silas sincerely.
"You too, sir. Your Octillery knowing Bullet Seed is pretty impressive."
Silas gave him a thumbs-up.
He could tell this Octillery had only recently learned the move.
Otherwise, even without receiving STAB, its power wouldn't have been so underwhelming.
That meant the fisherman had undoubtedly invested considerable effort into teaching it.
The fisherman waved his hand modestly.
"Ah, the little guy deserves most of the credit. I just spent a bit of money."
Silas glanced at the Premium Fishing Rod the man was holding and nodded in complete agreement.
He absolutely believed him.
After all, not everyone was willing to spend around 10 million Poké Dollars on a fishing rod.
Fishing as a hobby had always been that way.
Some people spent almost nothing.
Others spent fortunes.
"Alright then! Octillery, close the distance and use Constrict!"
Noticing the referee beginning to look impatient, the fisherman immediately launched another attack.
Several of Octillery's tentacles instantly drew together before snapping outward.
A powerful burst of water erupted behind it, propelling it rapidly through the pool.
"Use Agility, then Bubble Beam."
Silas responded immediately.
Compared to Prinplup's swimming speed, Octillery's lengthy preparation before accelerating was a fatal weakness.
Especially after Prinplup enhanced itself with Agility.
The two Pokémon simply weren't on the same level in terms of mobility.
Bathed in soft white light, Prinplup sped effortlessly through the pool while maintaining the clear-water zone created by Aqua Ring.
Even in the wild, Octillery generally hunted through ambush rather than active pursuit.
"Prin!"
After widening the distance, Prinplup opened its beak.
Countless bubbles surged toward Octillery.
As expected the advancing Octillery had no chance to dodge and took the attack head-on.
However, thanks to both its higher level and favorable typing, the damage was negligible.
If Silas intended to win using Bubble Beam alone, it would probably take well over half an hour.
Naturally neither side wanted the battle to drag on that long.
"Lock onto it! Then use Ice Beam!"
Seeing Octillery's movement slowing amid the bubbles, the fisherman immediately changed tactics.
He hadn't expected Prinplup to possess the inherited move Agility.
Otherwise, his Advance-level Octillery should have been able to keep up with a Normal-level Prinplup.
A faint crimson glow enveloped Prinplup.
At the same time, icy white energy condensed inside Octillery's elongated mouth.
"Water Sport... Water Pulse."
Silas' expression became serious.
This attack wouldn't be easy to stop.
With the assistance of Lock-On, Ice Beam couldn't miss.
That meant Prinplup had no choice but to confront it head-on and weaken its power as much as possible.
Otherwise, one hit might cost it most of its stamina.
Fortunately Octillery wasn't an Ice-type.
Otherwise, with STAB boosting Ice Beam's power, things would have become even more troublesome.
Whoosh!
A brilliant blue beam shot from Octillery's mouth.
Wherever it passed, frost spread across the water, threatening to freeze the surface.
"Prin!"
At the same moment, Prinplup swung its wing.
The clear currents surrounding its body instantly gathered into an almost transparent sphere of water.
Although the sphere looked perfectly calm.
The water inside vibrated at an astonishing frequency.
Hummm—
The freezing blue Ice Beam collided with the transparent Water Pulse sphere in midair.
Strangely there wasn't the slightest sound.
Instead the Ice Beam gradually became thinner.
Meanwhile, the Water Pulse sphere steadily shrank.
Silas sighed inwardly.
Finally when the Ice Beam had narrowed to the thickness of a chopstick.
It pierced through the Water Pulse completely and struck Prinplup directly.
"Prin!"
Prinplup cried out in pain as it was forced backward.
Several patches of ice immediately formed across the point of impact.
Crack!
Without hesitation or waiting for Silas' instructions Prinplup swung its left wing.
The ice shattered instantly.
If it allowed the ice to remain, its movements would become severely restricted.
The reason for this outcome was simple.
The level difference.
A ten-level gap wasn't something that could simply be ignored.
Moreover, Ice Beam itself was an extremely powerful move.
The fact that Prinplup had managed to reduce the attack to this extent was already impressive.
The remaining Ice Beam energy, combined with Prinplup's resistance to Ice-type attacks, dealt damage that it could still withstand.
The fisherman frowned as he searched for a path to victory.
Repeatedly using Ice Beam clearly wasn't practical.
After all, Octillery wasn't an Ice-type Pokémon.
Launching Ice Beam over and over consumed a tremendous amount of stamina.
Prinplup also didn't look like the sort of Pokémon that would collapse after only three or four hits.
Not to mention it still had Aqua Ring restoring its health.
The fisherman finally realized this battle was becoming rather troublesome.
"Octillery use Octazooka again."
Since the battlefield pool was supplied by flowing seawater connected to the ocean, the black ink had gradually begun dispersing as the battle continued.
The fisherman decided he first needed to regain control of the battlefield.
Dark ink once again poured from Octillery's tentacles.
Silas narrowed his eyes.
A rather unusual idea had just occurred to him.
"Prinplup, fire Water Gun continuously. Listen carefully for my next command and be ready."
Before attempting it he first needed to wear Octillery's stamina down to below half.
"Prin!"
Prinplup nodded seriously.
Although it couldn't pinpoint Octillery's exact location, its keen control and perception of the surrounding water allowed it to fire one Water Gun after another toward the area where it sensed its opponent swimming.
"We'll answer with Water Gun too!"
Under the fisherman's command, Octillery began spraying Water Guns in rapid succession.
Unlike Prinplup, Octillery was completely familiar with fighting in this kind of aquatic environment. It had little trouble locating its opponent.
After several exchanges even with Aqua Ring gradually restoring its health, Prinplup's stamina declined noticeably faster than Octillery's.
Before long, the little penguin was breathing heavily.
A surging current quietly enveloped its body.
"Looks like I'm about to win this battle by bullying the little guy."
The fisherman chuckled as he looked at Silas.
Although Prinplup's Torrent Ability had activated, he didn't believe that Silas and Prinplup could turn the battle around.
"Not necessarily."
Silas shrugged.
"Now! Use Brine!"
A powerful stream of seawater burst from Prinplup's beak.
The instant it struck Octillery the Pokémon let out a painful cry.
Against a Pokémon whose remaining HP had already fallen below half, Brine's power doubled dramatically.
Prinplup itself had less than one-third of its stamina remaining.
Even if Octillery was in better shape, there was no way it still had more than half of its HP left.
"Octillery!"
The fisherman cried out in alarm.
Another unexpected move.
Normally, Prinplup only learned Brine after reaching the Advance level.
Generally speaking, learning the move meant it was approaching evolution into Empoleon.
He had never expected a merely Normal-level Prinplup to master it this early.
Empowered by Torrent, Brine dealt devastating damage to Octillery, whose HP had already fallen below half.
Its condition visibly deteriorated.
Had it not shared the Water type and resisted the attack. Octillery might have fainted from that single hit.
"Water Gun."
Before the fisherman could issue another command.
A sharply angled Water Gun struck Octillery immediately afterward, delivering the finishing blow.
Octillery's drooping eyes instantly turned into spirals.
It had fainted.
"Octillery is unable to battle! Prinplup wins!"
Even the referee's voice unconsciously became more enthusiastic.
Witnessing such an exciting battle was a welcome break from an otherwise repetitive job.
"Honestly you're really impressive."
The fisherman smiled helplessly.
This was exactly what made Pokémon battles so fascinating.
You never knew what trump card your opponent would reveal when cornered.
Only after everything was decided could the victor truly enjoy the cheers and praise they had earned.
Under the referee's increasingly impatient stare, Silas and the fisherman quickly left the battlefield and headed for the recovery station.
Their battle had gone well beyond the expected time limit.
"You really shattered my goal for this tournament."
The fisherman complained jokingly.
Judging by his expression, though, he wasn't genuinely upset.
As a middle-aged Trainer with a comfortable income, he had long since passed the age of chasing fame and glory.
He had entered the Whirl Cup simply because it was fun.
In fact, meeting a young Trainer like Silas had made the event even more enjoyable.
"Come to think of it, I still don't know your name, young man."
The fisherman gave Silas another hearty slap on the shoulder.
"I'm Silas Alaric from Viridian City in Kanto.
What about you, sir?"
After a brief hesitation, Silas introduced himself openly.
The fisherman held an unlit cigarette between his lips.
"My name's Daisuke. I'm a ship captain though I feel like I've heard your name somewhere before."
He frowned as he searched his memory.
"I've got it!"
Just as Silas thought the man had remembered him as Ho-Oh's Messenger.
Daisuke suddenly smacked his forehead.
"Lt. Surge mentioned you before. He said you were the greatest rival of one of his juniors."
"Huh?"
Silas tilted his head in confusion.
As both a Gym Leader and a Trainer of Elite-level caliber, Lt. Surge certainly wasn't someone an ordinary person could casually know.
Judging from Daisuke's tone, the two seemed to be quite close.
Then another detail struck Silas.
Earlier, Daisuke had introduced himself as someone who worked on ships.
The question was what kind of sailor carried a top-tier Premium Fishing Rod worth a fortune?
"The S.S. Aqua?"
Silas blurted out the name that came to mind.
Daisuke looked at him in surprise.
"Oh? Pretty sharp."
He didn't deny it.
The S.S. Aqua was the luxury liner that regularly traveled between Vermilion City in Kanto and Olivine City in Johto.
In terms of prestige, it was only slightly less famous than the S.S. Anne.
Since Daisuke said he worked aboard the ship, he certainly wasn't an ordinary sailor.
At the very least, he had to be something like the first mate.
Considering how close Olivine City was to the Whirl Islands, it wasn't unusual for him to be here.
"...Wait."
Silas frowned again.
"If I remember correctly the S.S. Aqua should be docked in Vermilion City around this time."
"Oh, don't even get me started!"
At those words, Daisuke immediately looked irritated.
..
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