When the match ended, Caster strolled out through the players' tunnel, looking completely relaxed.
From start to finish, the whole match had taken less than five minutes.
Otoshi was painfully average, so Caster had felt no pressure at all.
Beating three with a single Pokemon was the limit of the format, but it was nowhere near Shellder's limit.
And precisely because the match was so one sided, Caster had not even bothered to stream it. It was only a few minutes long, after all.
If he had streamed it, his viewers would definitely have called him short.
That was something Caster could not accept!
"Caster!"
Outside the side arena, Misty had already been waiting for a while. When she saw him, she hurried over. "Got any plans? Ash's match is about to start. Want to go watch?"
"Togepi! Togepi!"
Togepi, nestled in Misty's arms, chirped a warm welcome.
"Then let's go take a look!"
Caster reached out to tease Togepi with a finger and grinned. "I've got nothing better to do anyway!"
With Misty leading the way, Caster soon arrived at another side arena.
This venue was the Water Field, essentially a pool the size of a standard battlefield with a few floating plastic platforms on top where Pokemon that could not swim well could stand.
"Caster, you made it? Did you win your match?"
When Brock saw him appear, he quickly asked about the result.
"In the bag!"
Caster sat down, completely at ease.
"That's our Caster!"
Brock looked exactly as if he had expected nothing less.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for waiting! The third battle on the Water Field is finally about to begin!"
As another announcer introduced the match, Ash and his opponent, a boy with long green hair wearing a pink outfit, stepped up to their trainers' boxes.
"Caster, you actually came to watch my match? I'm so touched!"
When Ash spotted Caster in the stands, his eyes filled with tears. "You really are the rival I respect!"
Caster smiled and waved back quickly to cheer him on.
"So Ash's first opponent is still him? I think he was called Mandi?"
Caster glanced at the boy across from Ash and muttered to himself, "My flapping these little butterfly wings didn't cause any butterfly effect?"
Mandi was Ash's first opponent at the Indigo League Conference. Before the tournament he had performed magic by the roadside and looked down on Ash.
During their battle, Ash's Krabby evolved into Kingler and beat all three of Mandi's Pokemon in a row.
Thinking of that, Caster thought of that punk Ritchie whom Ash would meet later, and rubbed his chin. "But Charizard obeys him now, so Ritchie probably won't get that lucky win to move on. If everything goes smoothly, Ash might actually make the Top 8 this time!"
As for anything past the Top 8, Caster did not like Ash's chances.
At best, Ash only had eight Pokemon worth fielding right now: Pikachu, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Pidgeotto, Kingler, Muk, and Tauros. That was simply not enough.
"Go, Krabby!"
"Come out, Exeggutor!"
While Caster was mumbling to himself, both sides sent out their opening Pokemon.
"Exeggutor, Psybeam!"
Mandi struck first, but Krabby had the terrain advantage and hopped straight into the water to dodge.
"Next, Exeggutor should turn its psychic power on the pool water to make a whirlpool and force Krabby out, right?"
Caster recalled how the anime had played out and muttered under his breath.
What Caster did not notice was that Brock, whose eyes were small but whose ears were sharp, caught his muttering, though he did not think much of it at the time.
On the Water Field, the battle played out exactly as Caster had muttered. Krabby was forced out of the water by Exeggutor and even got trapped in a swirling vortex.
"This is exactly what Caster predicted!"
Brock's perpetually squinted eyes seemed to open a crack, and his face filled with disbelief.
He glanced at Caster without drawing attention and thought, "Caster might be even more frightening than I imagined."
Krabby had been forced out of the water, but it used the momentum to leap hard and clamp a pincer down on one of Exeggutor's leaves. The pain left Exeggutor unable to use any moves.
"Krabby, use Leer!"
Ash perked up and called out quickly. "Now Stomp it!"
Its Defense dropped from Leer, and the follow up Stomp knocked Exeggutor out on the spot.
Just then, a dazzling white light began to spread over Krabby. In the blink of an eye, its stunted little body swelled several times over and turned into a massive crab.
"Yes! Krabby actually evolved into Kingler!"
Up in the trainer's box, Ash was thrilled and decided to press on and win it all in one push.
Mandi sent out Seadra and Golbat next, but Kingler beat them both, exactly like in the anime.
"Ash beat all three with one too?"
Watching a smug Ash celebrate his win, Caster suddenly felt his own 3-0 win did not seem quite so special anymore.
It stung even more when a reporter with a shoulder camera came to interview Ash. Caster pouted. "Why didn't any reporter interview me when I won? Am I just not big enough yet?"
"You probably just walked off too fast."
Misty laughed. "I did see reporters in the stands, but you made your cool exit right after you won. They couldn't even catch you. I had to hurry outside to catch you at the exit."
"Huh? Really?"
Caster rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed.
Ash's moment did not last long, though. The interview was very short, since this was only the opening round. The further the tournament went, the more camera time the battlers would get, and the longer it would last.
As the matches continued and the next battlers entered, Ash had to leave the field, reluctant as he was.
The group headed toward the athletes' village. Caster looked calm and detached, while Ash was beaming and strutting.
After all, he had beaten all three with a single Pokemon, and his Krabby had evolved. In nearly a year since setting out, this was the first time Ash had pulled off such an impressive record.
Just then, they ran into Gary, who was also coming back from his match. The moment he saw Ash, Gary turned snarky.
He laced his hands behind his head, looked up at the sky, and jeered, "Ash, you didn't lose, did you? If you go out in the first round, don't tell people you're a Trainer from Pallet Town next time. Our town is the cradle of champions. We can't afford the embarrassment."
"Gary, what are you talking about? Of course I won, and I beat all three without breaking a sweat. Ask Caster if you don't believe me."
Ash shot back, then sidled up to Gary with a smug whisper. "Oh, by the way! Caster cares about me as his rival so much that he watched my whole match. You didn't get that treatment, did you? So who is the real rival in Caster's heart? Such a tough question!"
"Bullshit!"
Gary snapped. "Caster only watched your match because your arena was close by. He was just passing through."
The two of them were soon bickering again.
"Caster, look at these two!"
Misty and Brock turned to Caster for help, and Caster was left speechless.
He made up his mind. If these two lovebirds showed up together again, he would stay out of it.
When two guys started getting jealous over him, who could take it?
If Caster rashly jumped in, he would only end up torn between them!
"Good luck in tomorrow's matches, everyone. See you when we're all still in it!"
Caster waved and chose to slip away. "I'm heading back to rest. Bye now!"
With that, he slipped away.
"Hmph! Just you wait."
With Caster gone, Ash and Gary lost interest in arguing and parted ways, still grumbling.