The Unfrozen Lake was a wide, open lake hidden within a cavern. Though it lay deep underground, a large hole in the cavern ceiling revealed the sun hanging high in the sky above.
The air inside was bitterly cold, yet the lake's surface remained unfrozen despite the chill, bathed as it was in the sunlight streaming down from above.
Every so often, ripples spread across the water, a sign that Pokémon were active beneath the surface.
"We're here. You can start fishing now," Lorelei said, gesturing toward the Unfrozen Lake.
"Let's do it!"
Caster grinned and immediately pulled his fishing gear and bait out of his backpack to get everything ready.
He glanced over at Lorelei, who was just standing there with nothing to do, then quickly fished out a spare set of gear. "Lorelei, would you like to fish with me?"
"Fish? No thanks."
Lorelei shook her head. Fishing didn't interest her. What she was truly curious about was Caster's Gyarados, though she'd spent most of the previous night watching it and still couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary. That led her to suspect that whatever special ability Gyarados possessed might only activate during battle.
With nothing better to do, Lorelei found a spot to sit down with her Jynx and settled into her favorite pastime: spacing out. She propped her elbows on her knees, rested her chin in her palms, and let her mind go completely blank.
Besides collecting plushies, zoning out was her other great love in life. She enjoyed taking in the natural world and simply existing within it, something that, in its own quiet way, wasn't so different from Caster's love of fishing. They were a surprisingly compatible pair in that regard.
"Slowpoke, come on out! Time to chum the water!"
Before casting, Caster released his red-tinted Slowpoke and gave it a heads-up. "There might be Sheldors in this lake, so be careful that your tail doesn't get bitten."
"Don't worry. I'll use my psychic ability to scan what's underwater first. If anything unusual is lurking down there, I'll sense it."
Slowpoke gave a solemn nod, and its eyes immediately began to glow with an eerie blue light as its psychic energy seeped into the water and spread outward to probe what lay beneath.
"Oh? There really is a Shellder down there."
Slowpoke let out an awkward laugh. With a thought, a series of translucent walls materialized and arranged themselves neatly along the lake's surface.
"Wait, is that Reflect or Light Screen?"
Caster blinked, then quickly pulled up Slowpoke's stat panel. Sure enough, two new moves had been added: the Psychic-type moves Reflect and Light Screen.
The two moves worked along similar lines, both erecting a mysterious barrier to reduce incoming damage; the difference being that Reflect guarded against physical attacks while Light Screen guarded against special attacks.
Without question, Slowpoke had learned these from Lorelei's Slowking the night before.
"My little Slowpoke!" Caster exclaimed, barely containing his excitement. "You absolute genius!"
In a single night, it had picked up two brand-new Psychic-type moves.
If it kept learning at this rate, Caster figured that another week or two at Lorelei's place would be enough to drain every last move Slowking knew.
Now that was what you called a pleasant surprise.
"Not bad, right?" Slowpoke said smugly through telepathy. "Senior Slowking said these are some of the simpler moves — easier to pick up. The ones after these get considerably harder and will take a lot more time and effort to master. He also made a point of telling me: learning a move is just the bare minimum. If I really want to boost my combat strength, I need to work on increasing each move's proficiency level — not only raising its power but also cutting down the time it takes to use it. That's what really matters."
Slowpoke's voice carried its usual soft, babyish tone, but its expression and delivery were oddly grave and world-weary. "I couldn't agree more," it added with a sage nod.
Caster laughed and gave Slowpoke a pat of approval. "Alright, let's start chumming!"
Slowpoke nodded and dipped its tail into the Unfrozen Lake.
A sweet fragrance drifted from the tip, carried by the currents spreading through the water, and the Pokémon below immediately caught the scent.
Splash, splash, splash!
The lake began to churn.
The sweet, alluring scent from Slowpoke's tail had a powerful draw on many Pokémon, but none more so than Sheldors and Cloysters.
Beneath the surface, large numbers of Sheldors and Cloysters that had caught the scent were sent into a frenzy, surging wildly toward the shore.
The Shellder closest to the bank went so far as to leap clear out of the water entirely, but it failed to notice the Reflect barrier spread across the lake's surface and slammed headfirst into it, crashing back into the water in an undignified heap.
Still, as more and more shellfish piled in, the relentless barrage of impacts eventually shattered Slowpoke's Reflect wall, and it dissolved into fragments.
Fortunately, Caster had anticipated exactly this. He'd recalled Slowpoke into its Poké Ball ahead of time and sent out Gyarados as a deterrent, with Dratini standing by as support.
The shellfish had no choice but to mill about restlessly along the shore, unwilling to retreat but unable to advance.
"Chumming complete!"
Caster grinned and quickly baited his hook before casting his line.
Beyond the cluster of Sheldors and Cloysters near the bank, he could see other Water-type Pokémon farther out on the lake. They hadn't been sent into a frenzy like the shellfish, so they kept their distance, watching curiously from afar, clearly having no desire to get caught up in the commotion.
Ever since catching Slowpoke, Caster had upgraded his bait recipe. Everything else stayed the same, but he'd added just a small drop of Slowpoke's sweet tail essence.
Just a drop was enough: for Sheldors and Cloysters, it was irresistible.
The moment the bait hit the water, the shellfish scrambled over each other to get to it first, though the smaller Sheldors were clearly outmatched by the larger Cloysters and didn't stand much of a chance in the scramble.
Snap!
The fishing line snapped taut with a sharp twang, and Caster yanked the rod back immediately.
Dratini surged forward to help, wrapping its thick tail around the fishing gear and hauling with all its strength.
Splash!
A massive, fearsome-looking Cloyster burst out of the water, and the cheat system's reward notification followed right on its heels.
[Caught Cloyster. Reward: Ice Spinner TM x1.]
"Ice Spinner? Now that's a great move!"
Caster's eyebrows shot up, and a look of delight spread across his face.
Ice Spinner was a mid-to-high tier Ice-type move, packing 80 base power in the games.
What Caster valued most about it, though, was its secondary effect: the spinning motion could be used to break terrain. Terrain moves were special techniques on par with weather moves, capable of dramatically amplifying the strength of certain Pokémon. Without a counter, they could seriously cost you in battle.
[Caught Cloyster. Reward: Icicle Spear TM x1.]
[Caught Cloyster. Reward: Mud Shot TM x1.]
[Caught Cloyster. Reward: Energy Orb x1.] x N
[Caught Cloyster. Reward: Aqua Ring TM x1.]
[Caught Cloyster. Reward: Blizzard TM x1.]
The Unfrozen Lake was sizable, but it didn't house many Cloysters, only around a dozen in total, and Caster worked through all of them in short order.
Perhaps because Cloyster had already gone through one evolution, the rewards it dropped were noticeably richer than what he'd been getting before. And given that Cloyster had an Ice typing, most of the moves rewarded were Ice-type techniques.
Alongside the TMs and Energy Orbs, one Cloyster also dropped an Iron, a welcome bonus he hadn't expected.
Then the Sheldors took center stage, jostling eagerly to be next.
While rebaiting his hook, Caster reached out through telepathy to Slowpoke, who was resting inside its Poké Ball. "Slowpoke, take a look at this next batch of Sheldors too. If any of them catch your eye, just let me know."
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