"Krac krac," the Krabby leader hadn't expected it. Despite taking every precaution, it still got hit.
The stalking Poliwag glared at them like a predator.
The Krabby had already dealt with its opponent and circled around.
There was also the Wingull that had appeared on the rooftop of the treehouse at some point…
And Butterfree, now releasing Sleep Powder…
In this situation, they were doomed.
Rustle, rustle—
Even paralyzed, the Krabby leader endured the status effect and immediately started digging into the grass, trying to escape.
The other three Krabby saw the tide turning and realized their numbers no longer gave them any advantage. Following the leader's example, they too began digging to escape.
Seeing this, Reiji quickly shouted, "Krabby, go stop the Krabby! Don't let them escape! Poliwag, you too!"
Krabby was already ready and dashed forward the moment Reiji gave the order, pinning down one Krabby to stop it from burrowing.
Poliwag also rushed in, lashing out with a flurry of slaps.
Slap slap slap—
But after just one combo slap, Poliwag's body twitched. Its legs gave out, and it dropped to one knee in the grass.
It had inhaled some of the lingering Stun Spore while moving around in the rain and was also paralyzed.
Even so, Poliwag gritted its teeth and fought through the paralysis, grappling with another Krabby.
In the end, Poliwag and Krabby both fell asleep on the grass alongside the two Krabby after being hit by Sleep Powder.
The Krabby leader and the last remaining Krabby managed to escape underground at the last moment.
If Reiji had ordered Wingull to intercept them, maybe they could've caught another Krabby. But Wingull wasn't his Pokémon—it might not listen without a formal bond.
"Butterfree, come pick me up," Reiji said once the battle ended and saw the battlefield full of holes. The treehouse roof was five to six meters high—he couldn't get down with his injured foot. If not for that, he might have jumped.
"Buiii," Butterfree gently lifted Reiji down, then fetched the unconscious Poliwag and dropped it into the water bucket. Krabby went into the basin.
The three defeated Krabby were dragged to Reiji. One of them had already been hammered to death by Krabby—no need to check its stat panel.
Reiji took out Poké Balls and captured the other two Krabby, then checked their stat screens.
[Krabby]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 23%]
[Level: 11.89%]
[Ability: Hyper Cutter / 4.12%]
[Known Moves:(Leer / 0.53%) (Water Gun / 3.67%) (Harden / 2.87%) (Metal Claw / 2.54%) (Dig / 3.98%)]
——
[Krabby]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 26%]
[Level: 12.33%]
That was enough to tell. All of these were female. The two that escaped must've been male.
Meaning… they'd just taken down another harem.
Which also meant he'd gained another crab with a vendetta seeking revenge for its dead wives. Reiji was getting real tired of this cycle.
If they couldn't kill the Krabby leader in one shot, it would just keep getting smarter, escaping whenever the tide turned. That meant they'd always be at risk of a sneak attack.
You can only guard against thieves for so long—if he wanted peace, he'd have to either eliminate the vengeful Krabby leader or grow strong enough that Krabby wouldn't dare approach.
"Whatever… as long as they don't come in big numbers, they're just free food." Reiji released the Krabby and began prepping them for lunch.
Same as always: boiled Krabby. Three would make a fine lunch.
Poliwag and Krabby woke up after being placed in water. Poliwag, seeing Reiji safe, relaxed and floated in the bucket. Krabby, however, looked ashamed, hiding its face in the basin and blowing bubbles.
Sensing Krabby's mood, Reiji comforted it. "It's alright, Krabby. Just be more careful next time. You couldn't have known they'd try a sneak attack!"
He was also baffled—why did Krabby love cheap shots so much, always aiming below the belt?
Out here in the wild, digging was too easy. In a city with concrete roads, they probably wouldn't get away with it.
But regardless, he didn't want Krabby blaming itself.
Because of the morning's ambush, Reiji cancelled all training for the day. The Pokémon relaxed and played while finishing their honey and waiting for lunch.
The three Krabby were soon cooked. Reiji also prepared some fish meat—for Krabby.
The Krabby meat was divided among Poliwag, Butterfree, and Wingull.
Reiji had grilled fish and crab legs for himself.
After lunch, everyone took a nap. Then, training resumed.
Only by becoming strong would they no longer be bullied by Krabby. Motivated, Poliwag and Krabby trained especially hard.
Even Butterfree stayed focused, earnestly training its Psychic ability—it could now move its food bowl with it.
Wingull also joined in, interested in Poliwag's Water Gun target practice with floating balls.
At first, Wingull could only land two hits in a row—still better than Krabby—but Poliwag soon surpassed that. Finally, Poliwag had something over that annoying bird and regained some confidence.
Later in the afternoon, Reiji took Butterfree to the beach to fish.
But once again, he caught nothing. Strange—where had all the fish gone?
It wasn't until Butterfree called out from above that he saw the problem.
Looking into the clear water, Reiji spotted several Krabby chasing fish along the seafloor.
No wonder he couldn't catch anything.
He wasn't sure if these Krabby were the same ones as before, but it didn't matter. He wasn't about to send Poliwag down there to fight on their turf, underwater, outnumbered.
Too risky. Better to go home with some seaweed and shells instead.
"Poliwag, Krabby—come back, time for dinner," Reiji called while gathering the seaweed.
Tonight, he'd use his emergency rations—and he needed to hide his Wishiwashi.
He had five buckets of them stored outside the treehouse. If those damned Krabby launched a night raid, he'd have nowhere to cry.
He already had a plan: hide them deep in the forest. Krabby never went into the woods.
All he had to do was find a big tree and stash the buckets behind it in the underbrush, camouflaged a bit, and it should be safe.
When dinner was ready, and Reiji was calling everyone to eat, Wingull showed up again.
It seemed the thing hadn't returned to its nest all day. Was it not worried some dumb bird might take over?
"Wingull, come down and eat," Reiji waved from the rooftop. He'd made extra food.
Dinner was fish. As each Pokémon received their share, they were soon distracted by the spicy aroma of Reiji's hotpot.
He had only seasoned their food with salt—boiled or grilled fish.
But his own spicy hotpot fish drew the curious stares of all four Pokémon.
Grinning, Reiji scooped up some soup with a spoon. "Poliwag, want to try?"
"Yo yo," Poliwag sniffed and nodded—it smelled delicious.
But the moment it drank the soup—
"Yoh?! Hoh!!" It spat it right out. Too hot, too spicy! Completely undrinkable!
It dove into its bucket and frantically gulped water to rinse its mouth, emerging with a numb, burning tongue.
"Hahaha, anyone else want to try?" Reiji asked, laughing and lifting another spoonful.
"Buiii," Butterfree shook its head. It knew the soup contained Stun Spore and a Charti Berry. It didn't understand why Reiji would cook with that stuff. Was it actually good?
"Krac," Krabby shook its head too. After seeing what happened to Poliwag, there was no way it was trying that.
"Woooh," Wingull also shook its head. It had wanted to try, but now… no thanks.
"Fine, I'll eat it myself." Reiji took a bite. His tongue went numb—he'd definitely added too much Stun Spore. Next time, less.
Still, the spicy hotpot gave him a nostalgic satisfaction, like dining out in his past life.
After dinner, he sat by the fire, quietly listening to the four Pokémon chat.
Poliwag in the bucket, Krabby in the basin.
Butterfree asked him to stick a branch in the grass—it preferred perching.
Wingull, too, liked branches.
As night fell and the fire went out, Reiji interrupted their endless chatter. "Poliwag, Butterfree, Krabby—come inside and sleep."
He also waved to Wingull. "We're turning in. See you tomorrow."
"Woooh," Wingull seemed disappointed but nodded and flew off with its white wings.
But once Reiji closed the treehouse door, Wingull circled back and perched in the nearby branches.
It had built a crude nest there the previous night. From now on, this would be home. No way it was leaving.
There was food, water, and sweet honey. Only a fool would leave.
Even if there was no dessert tonight, staying close meant better odds of mooching some honey in the future.
Inside, Reiji locked the wooden door, unaware Wingull had moved in. He said goodnight to his three Pokémon and then opened Butterfree's skill panel.
[Butterfree]
[Type: Bug + Flying]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 69.96%]
[Level: 14.96%]
[Ability: Compound Eyes / 1.21%]
[Hidden Ability: Tinted Lens / 0.21%]
[Moves: (Confusion / 6.44%) (String Shot / 5.15%) (Gust / 1.13%) (Bug Bite / 1.29%) (Supersonic / 0.91%) (Poison Powder / 0.93%) (Stun Spore / 5.22%) (Sleep Powder / 4.35%)]
Butterfree was almost level 15. Its XP was rising fast—no surprise with proper food and honey.
Its ability, Compound Eyes, had even leveled up—likely because it dodged Krabby's Water Guns during the battle and improved Stun Spore accuracy.
Compound Eyes gives a 360° field of view, so it not only boosts move accuracy, but also enhances evasion.
To catch an insect, you either need to be faster or use area attacks—that's the simplest way.
Looking down, he saw Confusion had gained 2%, Stun Spore also gained 2%, and Sleep Powder over 1%.
Not bad overall. The frequently used moves leveled fast. Those rarely used barely moved—unless specifically trained.
Still, Butterfree would focus on training Confusion. The rest? Let fate decide.
Next, Reiji opened Poliwag's panel.
[Poliwag]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 34.11%]
[Level: 17.99%]
[Ability: Damp / 1.13%]
[Hidden Ability: Swift Swim / 3.13%]
[Moves: (Mind Reader / 0.21%) (Ice Ball / 0.31%) (Refresh / 4.11%) (Hypnosis / 0.82%) (Double Slap / 8.12%) (Water Gun / 12.11%) (Water Sport / 3.21%)]
Poliwag's potential had almost stopped growing—even with more honey, there wasn't much effect.
Butterfree was proof. No matter how much honey it ate, potential barely budged. Growth would only come over a longer time scale and more resources.
If you had money to burn, you could raise whatever Pokémon you liked.
But without money, a trainer had to be thrifty and plan carefully.
Poliwag was nearly level 18. If nothing went wrong, it would reach that tomorrow.
Only seven more levels to evolution.
Its ability leveled up to 3% during the rain battle—not bad.
As for moves, Refresh climbed to 4%—probably from curing its paralysis mid-fight.
Double Slap was now over 8%.
Water Gun hit 12%. It was still working on mastering the four-target float ball challenge. Once that was solid, they'd move on to five.
Finally, Reiji opened Krabby's stat panel.
[End of Chapter]
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