“Yo yo—pupupupu!” Poliwag fired a triple Water Gun straight into the eyes of the three charging Krabby.

Looks like that training with the floating targets paid off. After all those days of intense practice, now was the time to see results.

“Poliwag, don’t stop the Water Gun! Aim at their claw joints—knock those claws off!”

Let’s see how a tiger fights without its fangs…

Pupupupu—

Poliwag fired again—three rapid Water Guns, all striking a Krabby’s joints—and knocked off one of its claws.

But three Krabby meant five claws total.

Poliwag barely managed to spit out another Water Gun in time, knocking off a second claw and disabling one Krabby’s strongest weapon.

“Krabby, use Water Gun to distract one of them!” Reiji nudged the little Krabby beside him with his foot, in case it hadn’t heard or was frozen in fear.

“Krabby, snap out of it! Quick, Water Gun!” Reiji urged again.

“Krkk—pupupupu!” Startled by the kick, Krabby snapped back to its senses and fired a Water Gun.

At that moment, Reiji shouted another order: “Poliwag! Krabby’s holding one off for you—go in and use Double Slap on the other one!”

“Yo yo!” Poliwag immediately halted its Water Gun suppression. A Krabby was already up close—it rushed in and whipped its tail with all its might, unleashing a flurry of Double Slaps.

Smack smack! Smack smack!

Caught off guard by the barrage, the charging Krabby was completely disoriented. After knocking it out cold, Poliwag suddenly took a Water Gun to the side—the Krabby with the missing claw had attacked.

Seeing that Krabby was still tied up with another enemy, Poliwag decided to finish off this clawless one before going back to help.

Smack smack smack—

With a leap, Poliwag rushed in and hit it with another series of Double Slaps until the Krabby was foaming at the mouth. Only then did it stop and turn back to help Krabby—

But the Krabby leader blocked its path, raising a massive claw.

Snap snap—snap snap—

Seeing how quickly its minions had been defeated, the Krabby leader realized Poliwag was no pushover. It decided to handle things personally.

“Krkk krkk—you’re mine now.” The leader raised its claw, cutting off Poliwag’s route, and signaled to its remaining underling to finish off Krabby and the human.

“Yoyo—yoyo…” Poliwag glanced anxiously at Reiji. It had already used multiple Water Guns and Double Slaps.

It was almost completely drained. Now faced with the Krabby leader, it had to focus—only by taking it down could it protect Reiji and Krabby.

“Poliwag! We’ll handle it—don’t get distracted! Focus on your fight!” Reiji saw the worry on Poliwag’s face and had to speak up.

Of course, by “handle it,” he really just meant “barely manage.” With his commands, Krabby wasn’t falling behind yet, but Poliwag’s situation was dire—the Krabby leader was still fresh, while Poliwag was on its last legs.

“Yo yo…” Poliwag knew Reiji was trying to keep it focused.

No matter how worried it was, panicking would help no one. If it lost here, Reiji and Krabby would both fall too.

Pupupupu—

Poliwag launched a preemptive Water Gun at the Krabby leader’s claw joint.

But the leader had gotten wise. The moment it saw a Water Gun coming, it used its claws to block. And honestly, the blast barely tickled.

Feeling just how weak Poliwag’s attacks were now, the Krabby leader’s face twisted into a sinister grin. It clicked its claws menacingly and slowly crept toward the exhausted Poliwag.

“Yo yo…” Poliwag realized it couldn’t win this alone. It stopped attacking and began backing away while firing shots.

“Yo yo—yo yo!” It started cursing and taunting the Krabby leader to make it mad, trying to lure it away—as far as possible. The further from Reiji and Krabby, the better.

But this wasn’t random. Poliwag was specifically luring it toward the treehouse, where their other partner was still sleeping. It was going to wake Metapod.

Reiji had told it not to disturb Metapod’s evolution—but that didn’t matter anymore.

If it didn’t wake Metapod, Reiji would die. It would die. That couldn’t be allowed.

Even if it meant interrupting Metapod’s evolution—it had to wake it up.

BANG—

But the Krabby leader was running out of patience. Seeing Poliwag’s flimsy attempts to lure it away and its ticklish Water Gun, it decided to fire its own Water Gun.

Poliwag didn’t have the strength to dodge. The blast hit it squarely and slammed it into the tree trunk beneath the treehouse with a loud crash, shaking the whole structure.

“Yo yo—yo yo…” Poliwag couldn’t get up. All it could do was use its last bit of strength to cry out to Metapod inside the treehouse.

“Yo yo—yo yo… Metapod, wake up! Wake up! Reiji needs you—go save him!”

Meanwhile, Reiji was on the beach with Krabby, teaming up to fight one of the enemy Krabby.

“Krabby, use Harden! Raise your claw and slam it—hit hard!” Reiji shouted while struggling with a Krabby that had his cane pinned in its claw. He called for Krabby to fight back with full strength—blow for blow.

“Krkk—krkk!” Krabby had already exhausted itself with Water Gun, but upon hearing Reiji’s command, it closed in to fight hand-to-hand.

Before the clash, it used Harden—its signature move.

After all, it had been bullied for so long, it had used Harden constantly to protect itself. Its mastery of that move was high.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

During the exchange of claw strikes, the enemy Krabby was the first to falter. It quickly retreated and began digging into the soft sand, vanishing within seconds.

“Dig? Again with the Dig—where is it? Where’s it gonna pop up?” Reiji tensed up after the Krabby vanished, a cold sweat forming in his palm. He badly wanted to get off the beach.

Acting on instinct, he immediately called to Krabby and hobbled away. “Krabby, we’re leaving! Get off the beach—now!”

“Krkk!” Krabby didn’t ask questions and quickly followed after Reiji.

Shhhh—shhh—

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. Feeling the vibration, Reiji said, “Krabby—get ready. When I say dodge, you dodge.”

“Krkk?” Krabby didn’t quite understand what “dodge” meant… but there was no time left to explain.

(End of Chapter)

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep