"Life Dew: A Water-type move that sprays a miraculous mist of water, restoring the HP of the user and all allies on the field."
"This Shellder actually knows Life Dew, a group healing move?" Caster's face lit up with delight as he murmured, "What a find!"
In the world of Pokémon, there was no shortage of HP-restoring moves, but most of them, like Recover, Rest, and Slack Off, only worked on the user.
Moves like Life Dew that could simultaneously restore HP for both the user and all allies on the field were genuinely rare.
This was the ultimate support skill — a healer's dream.
In wild battles, it would be invaluable.
With that thought in mind, Caster quickly pulled up the Shellder's stat panel.
[Pokémon: Shellder]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Skill Link (Multi-strike moves always hit the maximum number of times)]
[Moves: Water Gun, Life Dew, Icicle Spear, Rock Blast, Helping Hand, Toxic Spikes]
"Skill Link ability, fits the requirements!"
Caster checked the ability first — that was the make-or-break criterion.
Then he turned to the move list. "Six moves, not a huge number. But the quality seems... actually outstanding!"
His eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together in excitement.
Among its Water-type moves, aside from the standout Life Dew, Water Gun was the most basic move and practically every Shellder knew it — nothing special there.
Icicle Spear and Rock Blast, however, were both multi-strike moves that hit two to five times, and with the Skill Link ability guaranteeing the maximum five hits every time, the damage output went completely off the charts.
That alone made this Shellder's combat potential remarkably strong.
Then there was Helping Hand, a superb support move that sacrificed the user's turn to boost an ally's attack power.
And finally, Toxic Spikes made Caster's pulse quicken all over again. He thought to himself, 'This Shellder seems to have quite the talent for Poison-type techniques!'
Caster had reeled in no less than two hundred Shellder, yet this was the first time he had ever seen one with Toxic Spikes.
Shellder wasn't a Poison-type Pokémon, but it was still capable of secreting venom, which meant it could theoretically learn moves like Toxic and Toxic Spikes.
This was actually evident from Slowking's Pokédex entry.
According to the Pokédex, Slowking comes to be when a Shellder bites a Slowpoke. The venom then spreads through the Slowpoke's brain, miraculously awakening its hidden intelligence. The toxin boosted its intellect to a level rivaling the world's greatest scientists, granting it extraordinary wisdom, flashes of brilliant inspiration, and the ability to manipulate psychic power with complete freedom.
That train of thought sparked a curious idea in Caster's mind. 'If I continuously strengthened Shellder's venom, would Slowpoke's intelligence and psychic abilities increase even further when it evolved into Slowking?'
For an ordinary Trainer, enhancing a Shellder's Poison-type capabilities would be an enormous challenge. While Shellder could secrete venom, its poison glands were pitifully weak compared to those of actual Poison-type Pokémon.
But Caster had his TM System. As long as he obtained the right moves, he could keep pushing Shellder's poison abilities further.
More importantly, his fishing-space inventory already held a stock of TMs for both Toxic and Toxic Spikes — rewards he had pulled while fishing for Tentacool back at Hutber Port. He'd had no suitable Pokémon to use them on at the time, so they had been sitting there collecting dust.
Now, however, he was starting to think they might finally come in handy.
As eager as he was, Caster wasn't one to act unilaterally. He turned to the Pokémon beside him and asked, "Slowpoke, what do you think?"
"This Shellder seems solid enough — worth keeping as a candidate. If nothing better shows up, let's go with it."
The red Slowpoke was anything but slow-witted. Sharp and calculating far beyond its age, it had already developed a remarkably shrewd streak, sensible enough to keep its options open and hold out for the best possible outcome.
"Sharp as ever," Caster thought, giving Slowpoke a silent thumbs-up. He turned to the Shellder and said, "Congratulations, Shellder. You've passed Slowpoke's initial evaluation. Please wait to one side patiently. Once we've met with all the Shellder, we'll announce the final decision."
"Bwee!"
Hearing this, the Shellder was overjoyed. It bounced away happily to wait, clearly convinced it already had the spot in the bag.
Meanwhile, the other Shellder all wore grave expressions, visibly feeling the weight of the pressure.
"This is full-on 'shell-ection' at this point," Caster thought with amusement. "And Slowpoke and I are just sitting back watching it all unfold."
He chuckled to himself and rebaited his hook, casting his line again. "Come on then, next one — take the bait!"
The Icefall Cave's lake was vast, but it still couldn't compare to the open ocean. There were only seventy or eighty Shellder living there in total, so by late morning, Caster had cycled through every single one.
In truth, most of his time had been spent checking stat panels. If he had just fished without stopping to evaluate, he could have finished much faster.
But what disappointed both Caster and Slowpoke was that no Shellder came close to surpassing the Life Dew one — not a single contender could even match it.
Back on the shore, the Shellder with Life Dew sat flicking its little red tongue, gazing up at Caster and Slowpoke with wide, expectant eyes, waiting eagerly for the final verdict.
The way it was practically fawning over them — it had 'eager to please' written all over it.
It was practically fawning over them — it had 'eager to please' written all over it.
It couldn't help it. It wanted to bite Slowpoke's tail so badly, wanted to grow stronger so desperately.
"Then it's decided — you're the one."
Caster smiled, crouched down, and gave the Shellder's shell a gentle pat. He placed a Luxury Ball in front of it and said, "Shellder, will you become my Pokémon?"
"Bwee! Yes! Yes! Yes to everything!"
The Shellder let out a string of thrilled cries, then immediately stuck out its tongue and pressed it against the Luxury Ball's button before Caster or Slowpoke could have second thoughts.
Click.
The Luxury Ball snapped open, and Shellder dissolved into a beam of red light, drawn inside.
Not a single wobble. The ball clicked shut right away.
Another perfect catch.
"I caught a Shellder!" Caster struck a classic pose, channeling his inner Ash.
"Pika!"
Pikachu followed right along, playing the role of enthusiastic hype partner.
"Caster, congratulations on catching such a remarkable Shellder!"
Lorelei had made her way to the lakeside at some point, though her eyes held a quiet flicker of surprise.
As an Ice-type Elite Four member, she knew Shellder well. When she noticed Caster taking an interest in that particular one, she had looked it over out of curiosity.
At first she had glanced at it casually, but the more she examined it, the more astonished she became.
Every aspect of it seemed genuinely impressive.
But what puzzled her was how Caster had managed to single out this specific Shellder from the entire group and recognize its potential.
Even she would have needed careful, methodical observation to reach the same conclusion.
Yet Caster seemed to have cast one line, pulled it up, and immediately zeroed in on the right one from among dozens.
That kind of instinct didn't belong to a Trainer — it belonged to someone who could see things others simply couldn't.