Caster had fished through all of Professor Oak's Pokémon, but he did not leave right away. He stayed on as a guest at the lab and spent his days fishing the lakes and coastal waters around Pallet Town.
One morning, arguing woke him up.
He went downstairs and found Ash had arrived.
Normally polite and mild, Gary always changed around Ash. He turned into a sharp-tongued kid who picked apart everything Ash did, and the lab turned noisy.
"Huh? Caster? What are you doing here?"
Ash, Misty, and Brock all stared at him in surprise.
"I have been fishing around Pallet Town lately. Professor Oak kindly let me stay here."
Professor Oak shook his head at that. "Kindness has nothing to do with it. If anything, I should thank you for letting me measure your Gyarados and Dragonair. You have given me a whole new research direction."
Then he sighed. "Too bad I am getting old, with no capable assistant beside me. Even with a worthwhile subject, I doubt I have the energy to pursue it."
"Caster, battle me!"
Ash looked at Caster, eyes burning. "Charizard and I have grown a lot lately. You are my rival. I want to challenge you again."
Before he finished, Gary jumped up with a sneer. "Ash, you think you rate as Caster's rival? Do you have any idea how far off you are? Caster has only one rival, and that is me."
"Gary, what is that supposed to mean? Why don't I rate?"
Ash had come to challenge Caster, but in seconds it turned into Ash challenging Gary. The two were soon wrestling on the living room floor.
They fought over the title of Caster's rival.
"Ash, stop it!"
"Gary, calm down."
Brock and Professor Oak tried to pull them apart. Neither listened.
Misty rushed over and grabbed Caster's hand. "Caster, say something!"
"Huh?"
Caster did not know what to say.
It was the first time two guys had fought over him.
Ash pulled out Charizard's Poké Ball. Gary answered with Blastoise's Poké Ball. They were about to come to blows, so Caster stepped between them and shouted, "Enough! Both of you, stop fighting!"
"Fine! You decide, Caster. Which one of us is your rival?"
Ash and Gary stared at him, eyes blazing.
Anyone watching would have thought it was a love triangle.
"Well, this... Gary is excellent, and Ash is outstanding too. You are both promising trainers."
Caster covered his face and peeked at them through his fingers. "If you really want to settle it, do it at the Indigo League Conference. In front of everyone, the winner will be obvious, and nobody can argue with it."
"Good idea!"
Gary and Ash both nodded, but neither backed down. They each gave a loud huff, turned away, and ignored each other.
"All right, I am going fishing. You guys talk!"
With that settled, Caster grabbed his pack and fled outside.
He worried that staying longer would set those two close friends off again.
He had no intention of getting in the middle.
He hurried to the pond in the yard and called out, "Mudkip!"
"Mudkip~"
Mudkip leaped from the mud, landed on the bank, and rubbed against Caster's pant leg.
"Good boy!"
Caster smiled, then his consciousness sank into the fishing space. He activated an Energy Orb and channeled it into Mudkip.
He had not caught it yet, but he already counted this Mudkip as his own.
So he started early, bonding with it while it was young.
Energy Orbs were a key part of that.
"Mudkip~"
As the energy nourished its body, Mudkip closed its eyes.
It leaned against Caster.
They grew close fast.
Caster patted Mudkip's head and soothed it. "Don't worry. I will take you away soon."
"Mudkip~"
Mudkip half understood. After playing with Caster for a while, it jumped back into the pond.
After that, Caster took his rod to the sea outside Pallet Town to fish.
More than a month passed.
Caster kept fishing for rewards and raising his Pokémon.
Gary did much the same, mostly training and thinking about how to beat Caster at the Indigo League Conference.
Only Ash stayed restless. He went surfing on Seafoam Island one day, visited the Xanadu Nursery the next, and met Elite Four Bruno training on nearby Mt. Hideaway.
At last Ash settled down to train, only to stumble into the ruins of an ancient Pokémon civilization and accidentally break the seal on an ancient Gengar and an ancient Alakazam, nearly causing a disaster.
All Caster could say was that Ash was the protagonist. Trouble found him wherever he went.
One day Gary came to Caster and said the Indigo League Conference was about to open. It was time to leave.
Caster shook his head and said he would go to Saffron City first.
Picking up Slowpoke before the tournament started was a promise he had made.
"Fine!"
Gary left disappointed, setting off ahead.
After saying goodbye to Mudkip, Caster mounted Dragonair and flew back to Saffron City, where he found Slowpoke again in the Saffron Gym.
"Trainer, guess what moves I learned?"
The moment it saw Caster, Slowpoke rushed over.
They had split up barely a month before, but Slowpoke had missed him.
"Oh?"
Caster raised an eyebrow. His Slowpoke was testing him now?
He narrowed his eyes, pretending to examine Slowpoke, while actually calling up its status panel.
Compared to before, it had five new moves.
Caster pretended to count on his fingers, then said, "Let me guess. Psychic Terrain, Expanding Force, Wonder Room, Future Sight, and Dream Eater?"
"Huh? You can tell that?"
Slowpoke stared, shocked.
It had thought Sabrina was godlike. Now its own trainer seemed stranger and harder to read.
"How have you been?"
Caster smiled and patted Slowpoke's head. "Did you gain a lot?"
"A ton!"
Slowpoke grinned. "My control of psychic power is way better than before, and I learned those five new moves. Especially Future Sight. The secret technique will surprise you."
Slowpoke chattered like a kid seeing a parent after a long time. It told Caster everything it had gained and said Sabrina, its teacher, had praised it.
Finally it looked up at Caster, eyes bright. "Also, Sabrina says I can evolve now."
Caster perked up.