Cape Brink was a narrow strip of land at the northern tip of the second island of the Sevii Islands.
In the games, a cluster of houses stood at the very northern end of the cape, and when a trainer's starter had maxed out its friendship, a Move Tutor inside would teach it a powerful finishing move: Frenzy Plant for Grass-types, Blast Burn for Fire-types, or Hydro Cannon for Water-types.
In the real world, though, Caster had no idea whether that Move Tutor actually existed.
Besides, all three moves were exclusive to the Starter Three, and since he didn't have any of them, meeting the guy would've been pointless regardless.
Still, according to Captain Sanji, Cape Brink was home to a solid variety of Water-type Pokemon and was one of the better fishing spots around. Caster wasn't about to skip it.
After so many days at sea, his fishing gear had been sitting idle for way too long.
After a quick lunch and a short rest on the island, Caster grabbed his bike and headed out to Cape Brink.
A cape is a pointed landmass jutting out into the sea, surrounded by water on three sides. This one was both narrow and long, stretching several kilometers with a single tight road running in and out.
"What a spot!"
Caster was already grinning, fiddling with his tackle as he walked. "There have to be tons of Pokemon out here. Today I'm going all in."
His excitement wasn't misplaced. The cape's jutting shape naturally created tide lines where converging currents formed calm pockets of water, perfect shelter for aquatic Pokemon. The rocky crevices and small caves offered ideal places to hide and breed. On top of that, the currents brought in plenty of plankton, so food was never in short supply.
This was, without question, prime fishing territory.
"Let's go."
After scouting what felt like the right spot, Caster baited his hook and cast his line.
The cliffside dropped off at a steep angle, but for anyone serious about fishing, that was nothing. As long as it wasn't a sheer vertical drop, it was just a slope. Handling slopes was day-one stuff for any angler.
Thunk.
The bait hit the water. The float bobbed and drifted with the swells.
Caster held the rod and waited.
Whoosh.
The float shot under the surface. The line went taut in an instant.
"Got one!"
He pulled back on the rod, grinning. "Cape Brink delivers. Whatever's down there bites hard."
From the feel of it, the Pokemon on the line wasn't very big. Before long, he had it clear of the water: something that looked like a clam, soft body sandwiched between two spiked shells, eyes visible in the dark fleshy interior, with a fat, bright pink tongue that was impossible to miss.
"Shellder!"
Caster's grin widened.
He hadn't caught one before, which meant he was in for a bonus reward. But beyond that, Shellder had real potential. Its evolved form, Cloyster, had a reputation among trainers as a Dragon-Slayer, and for good reason.
With the Skill Link ability, Cloyster could use Shell Smash and then fire off Icicle Spear, guaranteed to hit all five times, sending its damage output into another league entirely.
On top of that raw power, it could learn Spikes and Toxic Spikes for utility, use Icy Wind to disrupt opponents' field conditions, and if things got desperate, it could always go out swinging with Explosion. That last option alone had a dozen different uses depending on how creative you were willing to get.
[Caught "Shellder." Reward: "Ice Shard" TM x1.]
[First-time catch of "Shellder." Bonus reward: "Iron" x1.]
Just as Caster was feeling good about himself, the system notification popped up, followed by Shellder's stat screen.
[Pokemon: Shellder]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Overcoat (Protects the Pokemon from damage caused by Sandstorm or Hail, and from powder-based moves)]
[Moves: Water Gun, Withdraw, Ice Shard, Whirlpool]
"Overcoat? A Hidden Ability, but... that one?"
His mood dropped the moment he saw it.
Everyone knew that of Shellder's three possible abilities, Shell Armor and Overcoat were the duds. Skill Link was the one people actually wanted, because it was the whole point of using Cloyster in the first place. Without the guaranteed five-hit chain, the damage output just wasn't there.
And without that output, Cloyster lost most of its appeal. Sure, its physical Defense was through the roof, but its Special Defense was embarrassingly low and its type matchups weren't great. Take away the one thing it was built to do and the whole package fell apart.
"Pfft."
Mid-air, Shellder spat out the bait. The oversized pink tongue flopped around dramatically before Shellder pulled it together and condensed a small icicle, roughly arm-width, and fired it straight at Caster.
"Seriously? It's attacking me?" Caster took a quick step back and put Pikachu between himself and the incoming ice. "Are all the Pokemon around here like this?"
"Pika!"
Pikachu, for its part, was delighted. Something had actually thrown the first punch. This wasn't some routine catch situation anymore.
The problem was that Ice Shard was a priority move, too fast to counter head-on. Pikachu didn't have time to strike back first, so it threw up a Protect to cover Caster instead.
Then it answered with a full-voltage bolt from both cheeks.
Crack.
Shellder came out of it thoroughly charred on the outside and cooked through on the inside.
With that little interruption handled, Caster re-baited and got back to fishing.
While he waited for another bite, he pulled up his inventory to look over the rewards.
[Ice Shard: An Ice-type move. The user instantly forms a chunk of ice and hurls it at the target. This move always goes first.]
[Iron: A drink with remarkable properties. When consumed by a Pokemon, it raises defensive capability.]
First-catch bonuses were always solid, and landing an Iron was a nice surprise. Caster was genuinely pleased. Ice Shard was a move he liked having access to as well. Priority moves had a way of turning the tide at exactly the right moment.
"Not bad at all."
He kept at it. Over the next stretch, he pulled in several more Pokemon: Kingler, Goldeen, Tentacool, species he'd already caught before. The rewards were fine, nothing special.
That left him a little restless.
Ever since his battle with Clem, where he had burned through both his Physical Attack Enhancer and Speed Enhancer, Caster had been without any real ace up his sleeve. He was hoping this spot would change that.
"God, Arceus, whoever's listening up there, please send me something I haven't caught yet. I'm begging" He pressed his palms together and looked up at the sky.
"And if that's too much to ask, I'll take a Shellder with Skill Link. That's it. That's all I want."
He still hadn't given up on the Dragon-Slayer Cloyster dream.
"AHHH!"
The words had barely left his mouth when a large pink head broke the surface right at the edge of the shore.