"A Gyaradosite?"
Caster's eyes went wide, and then he broke into a grin that he couldn't quite contain.
Mega Evolution was, without question, one of the most celebrated concepts in both the Pokemon anime and games, and its popularity showed no signs of fading.
Compared to it, the later additions like Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastallization had pulled in considerably smaller audiences and drawn more than a little criticism along the way.
So why did Mega Evolution have such a hold on people?
Beyond the raw power, the answer was simple: it looked amazing.
When a Pokemon underwent Mega Evolution, not only did its stats and abilities change, its entire appearance transformed. New forms. Sharper edges. Wilder designs.
Looking cool really did say it all.
And Gyarados, naturally, was one of the Pokemon capable of it.
"I got a Mega Stone from Gyarados, so does that mean I could pull a Key Stone from another Pokemon down the line?"
Caster reined in his excitement and let the thought settle.
Three conditions had to be met for Mega Evolution to work.
First, the Pokemon had to be holding its corresponding Mega Stone.
Second, the Trainer had to have a Key Stone.
Third, the bond between Pokemon and Trainer had to be strong enough.
Gyarados's Mega Stone was already in hand. As for his bond with Gyarados, Caster had zero doubts on that front.
Which meant the only thing standing between him and a Mega Evolution attempt was a Key Stone.
"If I could get my hands on a Key Stone on top of this, winning the Indigo Conference would basically be a done deal."
The thought had him practically buzzing.
A Mega Evolved Pokemon going up against one in its base form was, by any measure, a complete mismatch. A hundred extra base stat points appearing out of nowhere was nothing to laugh at.
Still, thinking back on how unpredictable his special ability's rewards tended to be, Caster let out a quiet breath and tried to keep his feet on the ground. "It'd be nice if I could run into Steven," he muttered. "He's definitely got a Key Stone."
Steven Stone, the Champion of the Hoenn region and heir to the Devon Corporation, was a man famously obsessed with rare stones. When he wasn't digging them up himself, his greatest pleasure seemed to be passing them along to people he thought deserved them.
"Hoenn is just too far away, though."
Caster shook his head, his disappointment clear. "And being Champion, Steven isn't exactly the kind of person you can just walk up to."
He caught himself getting carried away and reeled it back. His mood settled, and he went back to his usual steady outlook.
Not far off, the wild Gyarados had gathered into a loose group, though they kept a pointed distance from Caster's own. They weren't the sharpest Pokemon around, but even they had figured out by now that the one who led them here belonged to a Trainer.
They'd been played, and they knew it.
The wild Gyarados were furious.
Even so, given the sheer, terrifying strength Caster's Gyarados had put on display, and the fact that they'd at least gotten a decent meal out of the whole ordeal, they swallowed their pride one by one and slipped beneath the surface, disappearing from sight.
The female Gyarados, in particular, left wearing expressions that could only be described as deeply aggrieved.
Caster's Gyarados hung its head and said nothing.
Caster didn't notice. Once the wild Gyarados had cleared out, he just remarked with mild disappointment, "Guess the old 'wine and dine them, then bring them on board' approach doesn't really work on this crowd."
Still, he had the Mega Stone, and that was more than enough to bring his mood right back up.
He spent the next stretch of time teaching Gyarados the TMs he had earned as prizes, and before long its move list had grown considerably, its overall strength climbing another notch.
The Attack Enhancer he kept aside for Dratini.
Being the newest and youngest on the team, it made sense to give it a little extra attention.
"Return, Dratini!"
With everything taken care of, Caster recalled Dratini and then climbed onto Gyarados's back, heading off after the Seagallop Ferry.
The ship had gotten moving again the moment the wild Gyarados were cleared from the lane, as it hadn't been willing to wait around.
Fortunately, large passenger vessels didn't exactly set speed records, and catching up to one was no trouble at all for a Gyarados of this caliber.
It didn't take long before they pulled up alongside the ship, and Caster found himself face to face with Captain Sanji again.
"Caster, you genuinely surprised me. That many Gyarados, and you had the whole thing wrapped up in just a few minutes."
Captain Sanji welcomed him straight to the bridge, his tone warm with admiration.
He hadn't been outright cold before, but the shift was noticeable. He no longer looked at Caster like some ordinary kid. There was real respect there now.
"Oh, it wasn't a big deal."
Caster smiled, though his hands were already rubbing together.
Captain Sanji caught the gesture and didn't hesitate. "Don't worry, not a single P of that P200,000 reward is being held back. Give me your account number and I'll have someone send it over right now."
A few minutes later, the payment notification came through, and Caster's smile got a little wider.
Two wins, one move.
Absolutely worth it.
They talked a while longer, and Captain Sanji learned Caster was still in a standard cabin. Without a second thought, he arranged for an upgrade and moved him straight into a Super VIP suite.
The room had been sitting empty anyway, so it cost him nothing, and offering it felt like the right call. A kid this capable at this age wasn't going to stay under the radar for long.
That was Captain Sanji's take on him.
"Captain Sanji, I really can't thank you enough!"
Caster's face lit up.
His standard cabin had been a four-person room, and one of his bunkmates was a rough-mannered guy whose snoring shook the walls at night and who, to put it delicately, had a noticeable odor about him.
Caster hadn't slept right in days. This upgrade was a lifesaver.
"Don't worry about it."
Captain Sanji waved a hand, the easy manner of someone who was used to being generous.
After learning Caster was heading to the Sevii Islands, the Captain gave him a thorough rundown on each island's culture and character, and by the end of it Caster had a much clearer picture of what to expect.
The Captain glanced over at him with a grin. "So which island are you actually heading to? Up on Kindle Road on One Island, there have been reports of people spotting Ho-Oh. You're a Trainer, so I'd imagine something like that is right up your alley."
"Kindle Road?"
Caster raised an eyebrow and turned the idea over in his head.
The most famous landmark on One Island in the Sevii Islands was Mt. Ember without a doubt.
An extinct volcano that looked unremarkable from the outside, it had a reputation in certain Pokemon side stories as a place Moltres would occasionally visit to submerge itself in the magma and recover from its wounds.
Even so, Moltres only showed up when it needed to heal, and its appearances were sporadic and impossible to predict. On top of that, Caster's team was built around rain, which put it directly at odds with a Fire-type legendary. He had no real use for Moltres, and staking out a volcano on the off chance it might appear someday didn't appeal to him in the slightest.
Zapdos and Articuno were a different story. Either one could actually complement a rain team.
Time moved quickly after that, and before long several more days had slipped by.
Then came the morning when the Seagallop Ferry finally reached the Sevii Islands and pulled into the harbor at Two Island's Boon Island dock.
Caster waved goodbye to Captain Sanji and stepped ashore, only to find that after so many days at sea, the ground seemed to rock under his feet.
It took him a while to get used to solid land again.
He stood there looking out at the open water, his eyes sharpening with focus. "Since I'm already on Two Island, I might as well head over to Cape Brink and do some fishing first."