"I'm all right!"
Slowking shook its head and stood up again.
"Thank goodness." Caster breathed a sigh of relief, then froze.
Slowking hadn't answered him telepathically. It had spoken out loud, like a person. Meowth from Team Rocket was one of the few Pokémon he knew that could do that.
Caster thought of the Slowking that guarded the shrine on Shamouti Island in Pokémon the Movie 2000. It could speak, too.
Could his Slowking become that kind of Pokémon?
He set the thought aside. "What happened to you just now?"
"Something good came out of it," Slowking said.
It looked into the distance, speaking slowly in a deep, steady voice.
Slowpoke had always been clever, but that wisdom had seemed out of place in its small body and young face.
Now Slowking stood over six and a half feet tall. Even without the shell crown, it was nearly six feet tall and could look Caster in the eye.
With its hands clasped behind its back, it looked so much like a leader addressing someone that Caster folded his hands in front of him and leaned forward without thinking.
Wait a second.
Which one of them was the Trainer?
Who was supposed to be listening to whom?
"Ordinarily, when a Shellder bites a Slowpoke, its venom reaches Slowpoke's brain and awakens its hidden intelligence," Slowking explained.
Caster straightened up. As soon as Slowking spoke again, he found himself leaning forward.
"But the Shellder you raised has unusually strong Poison-type abilities. Its poison glands are highly developed, and its venom is more potent than that of most Poison-type Pokémon."
Slowking looked at Caster. Even now, it seemed shaken by the memory. "That venom hit my brain much harder than it would have otherwise. When Shellder first bit me, I almost couldn't endure it."
"Fortunately, I wasn't an ordinary Slowpoke. I've always been able to withstand more stimulation to my brain, and I have good control over my psychic power. That let me limit the venom's effects enough to survive."
Slowking grinned. "Evolving under that much stimulation also gave my psychic power a huge boost."
Slowking released a surge of psychic power. Pink light spread around them.
"Gyaaaar!"
"Pika pi!"
"Droo!"
The three other Pokémon felt the change at once.
"Psychic Terrain?" Caster asked.
Slowpoke had known the move before evolving. It was difficult to learn, but Caster couldn't see why Slowking was showing it to him now.
"Yes, it's Psychic Terrain," Slowking said, still standing with its hands behind its back. "But I didn't use the move. I can create it whenever I want, the same way Dragonair can control the weather, or I can call down rain with a yawn."
Caster stared. "Psychic Surge?"
A Pokémon with Psychic Surge created Psychic Terrain as soon as it entered battle. The Ability worked much like one that set the weather.
"Exactly!" Slowking snapped its fingers. "But my Ability hasn't changed to Psychic Surge. I've gained a separate power that works the same way."
"That's incredible." Caster gave it a thumbs-up.
According to the Pokédex, Shellder's venom made Slowpoke's intelligence soar during evolution, giving Slowking a mind comparable to a leading scientist's and remarkable control over psychic energy.
Caster's Shellder had Mastered Toxic. Most Poison-type Pokémon could spend their whole lives training and never reach that level.
Shellder had gotten there thanks to the TMs Caster acquired through fishing.
Now that exceptional Shellder had evolved with a Slowpoke that was already unusual. Together, they had produced a Slowking that could control both the weather and the terrain.
Caster had never heard of another one like it.
"There's more good news," Slowking said with a smile.
"Oh? What is it?" Caster asked.
"Guess."
Slowking seemed to enjoy keeping him in suspense. Caster summoned its stat panel.
[Pokémon: Slowking]
[Type: Water / Psychic]
[Ability: Oblivious (Prevents infatuation and protects the Pokémon from Taunt and Intimidate)]
[Moves: Yawn, Disable, Heal Pulse, Teleport; Icicle Spear, Life Dew, Rock Blast, Toxic Spikes; Shadow Ball, Drain Punch, Rock Tomb, Earthquake, Foul Play]
Its Ability looked normal. The move list was long, but that was true of all Caster's Pokémon. Fishing supplied him with TMs, so they knew far more moves than most.
Then he looked at the middle of the list again.
"Icicle Spear, Life Dew, Rock Blast, Toxic Spikes..." Caster's eyes widened. "Those are Shellder's moves. Why are they listed under Slowking? Wait, does that mean Shellder...?"
For once, Slowking looked surprised. "You figured it out already? I'm impressed, Trainer."
It turned to Caster. "Yes. Shellder and I evolved together, but it still has a mind of its own. We can act together or handle different things at the same time."
Slowking turned around to show him the back of its great shell crown.
Shellder's eyes were still there, moving as it greeted Caster. Its mouth was gone, though, so it could no longer make a sound.
The crown trembled, then fired a large Ice Shard. At the same time, Slowking's eyes glowed and it sent a wave of psychic energy from its hand.
Ice Shard and Psychic struck the nearby lake together. Water burst into the air, then froze as the Ice Shard passed through it, leaving glittering ice sculptures.
"You can use moves at the same time?"
Caster stared for a moment, then broke into a grin.
He'd thought Slowking had merely gained access to Shellder's moves. Instead, Shellder could still choose and use them on its own.
Most Pokémon battles were one-on-one. If he sent out Slowking, his opponent would have to face both Slowking and Shellder at once.
And no one could object. Under the rules, Slowking was a single Pokémon, and the Shellder that had become its crown was part of it.
This particular Shellder just happened to retain its own mind and the freedom to act.
Two against one? They could file a complaint if they wanted.
"That's right," Slowking said with a smile.
Caster swallowed. Slowking was so strong it almost felt illegal.
Then he remembered it was his Pokémon.
Never mind.