Day 20 of survival on the deserted island. Cloudy.
They say a day's plan begins in the morning. Metapod was still asleep, digesting its evolution energy.
Reiji and Poliwag were up early to train—though really, it was just Poliwag doing the exercise. Reiji still had an injury on his foot and couldn't run, so all he could do was make breakfast for Poliwag.
As Poliwag finished a half-hour run and took a break, Reiji's fish soup breakfast was ready. Poliwag could eat while resting, then go straight back to running after the meal.
This morning's schedule was running. In the afternoon, it would be Water Gun training.
While Poliwag ran, Reiji tended to his foot injury. The treehouse had been stuffy lately, and he'd been sweating a lot at night—it had to be taken care of.
Once that was done, he started preparing lunch.
There was no choice—Poliwag, his little eating machine, was always hungry, so lunch prep had to start early.
The scavenged food from two days ago was gone, and the fish caught yesterday had been eaten too. Even though Magikarp looked big, once dried and roasted, there wasn't much left.
Today's lunch had to rely on his backup food stash—Wishiwashi from a previous find.
When the meal was done—fish soup and grilled fish—Reiji called Poliwag over for lunch.
"Poliwag, food's ready..."
"Yoh-ho! Yoh-ho!" Poliwag stopped its training the moment it heard the call, ran back to the water bucket to clean up, then sat in front of the treehouse, ready to eat.
"Poliwag, I made ten fish for lunch. Eat up—you've still got Water Gun training this afternoon..."
"Yoh." Poliwag nodded at the sight of the delicious grilled fish in the pan, meat juices sizzling, and immediately started scarfing them down.
Reiji ate too—his own lunch was one grilled fish, one boiled fish, and some soup. Compared to Poliwag, whose exercise required much more food, Reiji couldn't eat much.
Magikarp was placed in a water bucket during lunch, allowed to eat a little and splash around.
After eating, the man and the tadpole took a short midday rest, then returned to the shore. Reiji prepared to fish, while Poliwag continued training with the three-float drill.
"Poliwag, I'll be fishing nearby. You keep practicing Water Gun. I'll check your progress this evening," Reiji said as he reached the shore and parted ways with Poliwag.
"Yoh-yoh…"
But just as Poliwag turned to resume training, it suddenly called out again—"Yoh-yoh, yoh-yoh!"—then darted forward toward the reef, barking urgently as if it had found something interesting.
"Poliwag? What's up?" Reiji was puzzled by the cries and looked up in the direction Poliwag had run. That's when he saw it—and understood.
"A Krabby?"
Staring at the dejected-looking Krabby, Reiji scratched his head in confusion. Why was it still here?
He hadn't caught it yesterday because it was too small, didn't have much meat, and they still had other food reserves.
But today—if he didn't catch it, he might as well stop calling himself Reiji. After all, even mosquitoes count as meat.
This poor little Krabby had no fight left in it. Weak, helpless, and miserable—it didn't even require a battle or effort. No need to weaken it—just toss a Poké Ball. The thing wouldn't resist anyway.
With a light thunk, the Poké Ball struck the Krabby and sealed it successfully.
Reiji figured it out—this Krabby had clearly given up on life. It probably thought living had no point and was simply waiting for death.
But that wasn't Reiji's problem. If the thing wanted to die so badly, might as well let it become food—it'd help him and Poliwag in the process.
He walked over and picked up the Poké Ball, then checked Krabby's proficiency panel—and was stunned.
[Krabby]
Type: Water
Gender: Male
Potential: 56%
Level: 6.55%
Ability: Hyper Cutter – 0.62%
Hidden Ability: Sheer Force – 0.53%
Moves Known:
(Hammer Arm – 0.22%)
(Leer – 0.43%)
(Water Gun – 2.41%)
(Harden – 4.34%)
"…Huh?" Reiji stared blankly at the sky, completely stunned.
Was it just him, or did every high-potential Pokémon seem to have something unusual about them?
First Caterpie, then Magikarp, now Krabby...
He couldn't help but wonder—was his mouth somehow blessed?
He ate Caterpie and ended up with Little Green.
He ate Magikarp and got Little Carp.
Now he ate Krabby and got Little Crab.
If he ate some other species, would something else pop out…?
Ahem. He had thought "even mosquitoes are meat," but now—how was he supposed to eat this? The potential was exactly like Little Carp's: not high, not low—just enough to be frustrating.
Too good to waste, not good enough to be exciting.
Even if he did want to keep the Krabby, its mental and emotional state wasn't looking great.
Reiji had no idea what had happened to this Krabby or why it was like this. Even if he wanted to talk it through, there was no place to start.
Still, all things considered, it was a pretty solid Water-type Pokémon.
Pros:
A 56% potential—not bad at all. With proper training, it could reach the Elite Four level.
It also had the Hidden Ability: Sheer Force.
Sheer Force: Increases the power of moves with additional effects by 30%, but those additional effects are removed.
This trait wasn't just strong—it was explosive for Krabby.
Give it the right item, and considering that Krabby's evolution, Kingler, has a base Attack of 130, one of the highest among Sheer Force users, its damage output could be devastating.
For example, Krabby's STAB move Razor Shell would benefit from Sheer Force—but unfortunately, Razor Shell only has 75 base power.
There's also the Fighting-type egg move: Hammer Arm.
Hammer Arm: A powerful punch that damages the target but lowers the user's Speed. Power: 100.
Though it lowers Speed, Krabby's Speed wasn't high to begin with. Using Hammer Arm with those massive claws would make the damage terrifying.
Cons:
Physical issues. Like real-world crabs, Krabby can regenerate limbs, so losing one isn't a big deal.
But the real issue was... its left claw had grown larger than its body.
What kind of dumb crab grows a claw bigger than its own head?
The claw was so big it couldn't lift it. Not even one pot could fit it in. Reiji was speechless.
This wasn't just underdevelopment—it had grown in the wrong place.
And there were psychological problems too. This Krabby had been lying on that reef since yesterday, still there this morning, so dehydrated it was foaming at the mouth.
A suicidal Krabby… if it truly wanted to die, no amount of help could save it.
"Yoh-yoh…" Poliwag looked at Reiji's dazed expression with a mix of laughter, helplessness, and pity.
"It's fine, go back to training your Water Gun. I'll be right back," Reiji waved Poliwag off, then took Krabby's Poké Ball and returned to the treehouse.
Inside, he grabbed a plastic basin, filled it halfway with freshwater, and released Krabby into it.
But Krabby still looked half-dead, motionless. When it saw Reiji, it only glanced at him with pale eyes and dark pupils before falling silent again.
Even when he poked its claw, it didn't react. Still, now that it had water, the foam at its mouth began to fade.
Reiji then grabbed a Wishiwashi from the bucket and dropped it into the basin, placed a foam lid on top, and let the basin sit next to Magikarp—neighbors now—before returning to the shore…
(End of Chapter)
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