"Heat Wave!"
With a cold voice ringing out, the originally frigid high altitude suddenly became sweltering.
A scorching breath surged from Flygon's body, spreading continuously in all directions.
"Skree~"
The several Skarmory flying at the front were struck as if by lightning, plummeting from the sky one after another, completely powerless to fight back.
Seeing this, the remaining Skarmory quickly retreated to the side, not daring to confront the Heat Wave at all.
Just like that, the dangerous ambush battle Caster had anticipated turned into Flygon going on a rampage, plowing straight through the Skarmory formation.
The sky thugs, Skarmory, didn't even dare make a peep.
"She really is worthy of being a gym trainer; her strength is terrifying!"
Watching the Skarmory flee in disarray, Caster was deeply impressed.
Compared to Clair's Pokémon, his Gyarados and Pichu were as tender as babies.
Although Caster had earned three badges now, in reality, aside from Cerulean Gym, both Takeshi and Erika's true strength was extremely formidable; the Pokémon they sent into battle weren't from their main teams.
Fortunately, Caster had his cheat ability!
...
After flying a bit longer, Clair said excitedly: "We've reached Johto!"
Blackthorn City was located in the eastern part of Johto, adjacent to the Mt. Silver range.
However, Clair didn't stop in Blackthorn but went the extra mile, taking Caster directly to the Pokémon Center in Goldenrod City.
"Miss Clair! It's actually Miss Clair! Miss Clair, I love you!"
"Huh? Who's that guy? Why is he riding Flygon with Miss Clair, holding her waist? They look really close!"
Regardless of which city, Pokémon Centers were places where crowds gathered, so when Flygon descended, it immediately caught many people's attention.
No helping it; as one of the gym trainers of the Johto region, Johto was Clair's home turf, so naturally, her popularity was extremely high.
Only Whitney and Jasmine, fellow beautiful gym trainers, could compare to her.
But in terms of strength, Clair was still the strongest!
Too lazy to bother with everyone's gossip, Clair stood on Flygon's back looking down: "You fish in Goldenrod City first. I'll head back to report to the family elders. If anything comes up, we'll contact each other by phone."
With that, Flygon beat its wings and flew high, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Having a flying mount is so great."
Watching Flygon disappear, Caster was incredibly envious.
However, thinking about the wild Pokémon flocks they encountered while flying over Mt. Silver gave Caster a reminder: without absolute strength, even if Gyarados could really fly, he absolutely shouldn't fly over Mt. Silver. That would be extremely dangerous.
"Pi~"
From Caster's pocket, Pichu, who had been sound asleep, poked its head out and curiously observed everything around it.
Caster was no exception!
Although on the same continent, due to Mt. Silver's barrier, the Pokémon in Kanto and Johto showed great differences.
"Wow, that's a Totodile!"
"That's a Chinchou; so cute!"
"Wooper; so adorable!"
...
Just glancing around, Caster spotted several Water-type Pokémon characteristic of Johto, which were relatively rare in other regions.
Most critically, these were all Pokémon Caster had never caught before, making his mouth water.
Just as Caster was lingering reluctantly, a Pokémon appeared with blue skin, its body surface always covered in a layer of sticky, wet liquid, with a white belly bearing a black counterclockwise spiral pattern, and hands that looked like they were wearing white mittens.
The Pokémon walked straight up to Caster, then rudely shoved him, making Caster stagger and nearly fall.
And little Pichu in Caster's pocket nearly got squashed.
"Hey, whose Poliwhirl is this? Watch where you're going; you bumped into me!"
Looking at the rudely departing Poliwhirl, Caster showed displeasure, trying to find Poliwhirl's trainer to complain.
"Something wrong with my Poliwhirl?"
A teenager appeared wearing an orange vest, carrying a tackle box in his hand, with a fishing rod slung over his shoulder.
Caster immediately recounted what just happened, but Poliwhirl's trainer didn't think he'd done anything wrong at all.
He said righteously, "My Poliwhirl was just walking normally. Who told you to stand in the middle of the road spacing out? Besides, you just got bumped a little; what's the big deal?"
"And your Pichu is pretty useless, isn't it? Actually hiding behind its trainer, not even having the courage to face Poliwhirl."
The teenager shrugged with a contemptuous expression: "Can only blame your Pokémon for being too weak."
"What did you say?"
Caster's face instantly darkened.
This was originally a small matter. Pokémon were like children; they often made mistakes, but as long as trainers were reasonable and apologized, most people wouldn't pursue it further.
But someone as unreasonable as this teenager was rare.
His words seemed to have some magic that instantly made Caster's blood pressure spike, filling him with rage.
"That guy looks like Andreas, doesn't he?"
"Andreas? That famous fisherman? He looks really young."
"So that's Andreas. I heard his fishing skills are incredible; he's made quite a name at fishing tournaments everywhere.
Whenever he enters a fishing competition, first place is almost always his."
"Must be here for the 'Seaking Fishing Tournament.' With Andreas's skills, he's practically a top seed for winning!"
...
Many nearby people noticed the conflict on Caster's end, especially as many recognized the teenager's identity, their eyes showing admiration and concern.
"Andreas?"
Looking at the arrogant teenager before him, Caster finally remembered: "Isn't this the fisherman from the Pokémon Johto saga? He ends up losing to Misty at the fishing tournament..."
Hearing everyone's praise and exclamations, Andreas enjoyed it immensely, saying proudly: "That's right! Tomorrow's championship will definitely be mine too..."
With that, Andreas prepared to leave with Poliwhirl.
But Caster strode forward and blocked Andreas's path, his expression unfriendly: "Did I say you could leave?"
"You're really being unreasonable."
Andreas glanced at Caster and said helplessly, "You just got bumped a little; what more do you want?"
Caster's gaze was firm as he declared, "Either apologize to my Pichu, or we'll settle this the trainer's way."
In the anime, when Andreas encountered the main characters, Poliwhirl had already evolved into Politoed with even greater strength.
Yet he still lost to Misty's Poliwhirl, which showed that while his fishing skills might be good, his battling ability wasn't actually that strong.
Caster was confident he could take down Andreas.
"Apologizing is impossible; not in this lifetime."
Andreas glanced at the little Pichu around Caster's neck and sneered: "If you want to get beaten up, I can satisfy you."
"Then we'll settle this the trainer's way; let our skills do the talking."
"Bring it on! Does my Poliwhirl fear you? I just hope that when your little mouse loses, it doesn't start crying."
Andreas clearly didn't take a 'baby' Pokémon like Pichu seriously.
"Fine, let's go to the battle arena."
Caster pointed to the nearby battlefield and turned to leave.
Andreas immediately followed.
Seeing this, many onlookers nearby quickly followed as well.