Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Day 21 of surviving on the deserted island. Overcast.

Ever since he had built the treehouse,Reiji had been sleeping better, and his mental state during the day had improved too.

”Poliwag, time to get up,” Reiji crawled out of the treehouse, stood up, stretched out his arms for a nice long stretch, and called out to Poliwag.

”Yo yo, yo yo,” Poliwag hopped straight into the water bucket after waking up, rinsing its mouth and splashing its eyes awake.

Thump, thump, thump—

At the same time, Reiji released his two dumb fish and the Krabby who had spent the night sleeping inside its Poké Ball.

”Krkk, krkk,” Krabby squinted as it emerged, the morning sunlight still a bit too bright for its eyes.

Once Krabby adjusted to the daylight, it saw Poliwag jogging laps around the treehouse, Magikarp repeatedly flopping up and down in the water bucket, and Reiji tending to the fire to prepare breakfast.

”Krkk, krkk,” Krabby called out to Poliwag as it ran past, asking why it was running in circles.

”Yo yo, yo-ho,” Poliwag only said it was training, not bothering to elaborate further. It had to stay focused—it couldn’t let chatting with Krabby distract it.

”Krkk?” Krabby still didn’t get why Poliwag was running.

Just then, Reiji stepped in to interrupt Krabby’s questioning. ”Alright, Krabby, don’t distract Poliwag during training…”

”Krkk, krkk?” Krabby, getting no answers from Poliwag, turned to Reiji and asked the same question—why was Poliwag running?

”Poliwag is training every day to get stronger. If you want to become stronger too, you can train as well…”

To be honest, Reiji wasn’t exactly sure what Krabby was asking, but seeing how it kept staring at Poliwag, he figured an explanation might help.

”Krkk.” Krabby didn’t interrupt again after being told off. It just sat obediently to the side, silently watching Poliwag run its laps.

It recalled two days ago, when Poliwag had defeated a fellow Krabby it couldn’t beat. Krabby had witnessed it with its own eyes and realized just how powerful Poliwag was.

Before, it had been so fixated on dying that even Poliwag’s strength hadn’t mattered—after all, that was Poliwag, not Krabby.

But now… if only it could become strong like Poliwag…

Krabby’s thoughts started to drift as it imagined its claw becoming powerful enough to take down opponents with one pinch. One Krabby after another, all defeated. It would become an undefeated Krabby.

By the time Poliwag finished its half-hour run, breakfast was ready. As usual, they were eating fish, though today they had a new member at the table—Krabby.

”Poliwag, have some fish soup and rest a bit before you start training again,” Reiji said, watching the hourglass carefully. Once it had emptied for the sixth time, he called Poliwag to stop.

”Yo yo,” Poliwag, panting, made its way to the table outside the treehouse, took a sip of soup, and licked its lips.

Now that it had a moment, Poliwag could finally respond to Krabby’s earlier question. It looked at Krabby and called out, ”Yo yo, you want to join the training too?”

”Krkk? I can?” Krabby, chewing on fish, asked with surprise.

”Yo yo.” Poliwag nodded. As long as you wanted to train, Reiji would train you to the bone. Normally kind, Reiji turned seriously strict during training. But in return, he offered encouragement that made it all worth it—Poliwag found it kind of addictive and was always fired up for more.

”Krkk.” Krabby hurriedly asked Poliwag how it could become strong like it.

”Yo.” Without hesitation, Poliwag pointed toward Reiji.

”Krkk?” Krabby also turned to Reiji, its crab face full of anticipation.

Reiji was in the middle of breakfast when he noticed two Pokémon staring at him. Not knowing what they were looking at, he asked Poliwag, ”Poliwag, what is it?”

”Yo yo.” Poliwag walked away from the table, jogged a lap around the treehouse, then pointed at Krabby with its tail, then at Reiji.

The meaning was clear—Poliwag believed Reiji would understand after all their time together.

”You want me to make a training plan for it?” Reiji asked, pointing at Krabby, guessing what Poliwag meant.

”Yo yo.” Poliwag nodded and returned to its breakfast.

As it did, it gave Krabby’s claw a pat with its tail—telling its new little brother who had just joined yesterday, ”It’s settled. You’re getting your brutal training soon.”

”Krkk.” Krabby took a deep breath. It was ready—ready to accept whatever training Reiji threw at it.

”…Huh?” Reiji watched the two Pokémon communicating in their own language. Other than Poliwag’s body language at the beginning, he hadn’t followed a single word.

And what was this about Krabby wanting to train?

Compared to Caterpie, who only cared about eating and sleeping, this was way more motivated. It actually asked to train.

Since that was the case, Reiji rubbed his chin thoughtfully, carefully observing Krabby as he began forming a training plan.

”Krabby, can you lift your claw?” Reiji watched it for a while and realized that this Krabby’s growth was seriously unbalanced—its body hadn’t kept up with the development of its oversized claw.

If it wanted to train, it would have to start with just lifting that claw. Or… maybe even cut it off.

That mutant claw was hogging too many nutrients, stunting the rest of its growth.

If they removed it, a new one would grow, and the rest of its body could finally catch up and become stronger.

”Krkk.” Krabby stared blankly, not understanding a word of what Reiji had said. It looked to Poliwag for translation.

Poliwag, hearing the word ”claw,” tapped Krabby’s claw with its tail, signaling that Reiji was probably talking about that.

”Krkk.” Krabby looked at its claw, then at Reiji, thinking Reiji wanted its claw. So it dragged it over and offered it up.

Seeing that, Reiji realized Krabby had misunderstood. When Krabby dragged its claw over, Reiji picked it up, put it down, picked it up again, put it down again—repeating this several times.

Then he told Krabby: that was its training for today.

In the end, he didn’t cut the claw. With enough food from now on, it probably wouldn’t suffer from malnutrition anymore.

”Krabby, your training is to lift your claw and hold it up—until you can do it for half an hour straight…”

”Krkk.” Krabby didn’t quite understand, but it got the basic idea from Reiji’s demonstration. It gave it a try.

It could lift its claw—it just couldn’t hold it up for long. It would always have to lower it again from exhaustion.

(End of Chapter)

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