Time flies, even more if you establish a routine. Before I knew it, a week had passed, and although nothing too notable had happened, the slow and steady progress had its own charm.
The first few days I was busy fixing my shovel, as the shaft had broken when I used it to bat the Shadow Ball in my battle against Cap. The process itself wasn't very complicated; I just needed to infuse my strange wand with Ghost-type aura and, with the right intention, it would almost regenerate on its own. It was a little more difficult having to wait for the two broken parts to stick together, as they did so at an incredibly slooow pace, and without the spade (which no longer even looked like a toy, having kept its bone appearance), my control over the aura was greatly diminished, making me unable to speed things up.
While I was repairing my second most precious possession in this world at the speed of a water snail, I spent my time instructing the Corphish gang, looking more than anything to entertain myself for a while.
With The Red Tide (official name approved by Mr. Krabs), I limited myself to giving them a few tips. I told the little ones that, to avoid injustice in their eternal struggle, the best thing they could do was to split into groups of three. That got their attention, as they were starting to get tired of the classic free-for-all with temporary alliances, and they all gathered around me to see how they could improve their game.
Honestly, it was pretty boring spending all day doing the equivalent of gluing the ends of a broken stick, and I was curious about what the little crustaceans would be able to achieve if they followed my instructions, so I drew a basic line formation in the sand on the beach, explaining the roles each team member would play if they decided to listen to me.
The one in front would take care of the vanguard and keep the enemies at bay, the one in the back would watch the rear and thwart ambushes, and the one in the center would provide support by being the eyes of the team and attacking from a distance. They could rotate positions whenever they wanted, and the role of 'leader' would fall to the oldest brother in the group unless they agreed otherwise, encouraging them to change teams at intervals to find the brothers with whom they had better synergy.
Simple, but effective and entertaining. Perfect for the little Corphish.
With those instructions, the 'Red Crustacean Horde Game™' adapted to the new meta and 'evolved'. By adopting that setup, even their older brothers were unable to keep up when a couple of teams ganged up on them. They made me feel both proud and afraid of the monster I was creating, but much more the former than the latter.
For The 24 Claws (also approved name), I divided their training between physical and special. The special training was the same as what they had done on the first day, using their aura in 'external/special moves' and practicing using them in various ways. The physical, on the other hand, was much more like conventional training, exercising their bodies by learning and using 'internal/physical moves' such as Harden, Knock Off, Double Hit, and, for the more advanced ones like Mr. Krabs and Pincitas, Night Slash and Razor Shell.
That also helped me to understand how things worked in that world.
The physical and special divisions still existed, but only for attacks, not defenses. At the end of the day, it didn't matter if one was hit by Razor Shell or Bubble Beam, a layer of aura naturally covered all Pokemon and it took the brunt of the hit. Once the layer was broken or the Pokemon's aura dropped too low to maintain it up, the 'pocket monster' would always faint, ending the fight in a similar way to the anime.
Did that mean my knowledge of the games was useless? Not at all.
From what I could observe, the types worked almost the same as I thought, affecting mostly the nature of each individual's aura and this layer that I had yet to name appropriately. On the other hand, the stats were still there, somewhere, and most of them had acquired… other purposes.
Attack and Speed remained unchanged at first glance, working just as the name suggested, although I theorized that the last one hid some nuances related to Evasion and Accuracy. I was almost sure that Defense dictated the thickness and hardness of the aura layer protecting me, and HP was the amount of total aura I had left (as a quick aside, I discovered that I actually had a limited maximum aura capacity after eating too many berries, and the only way to increase it is through training or fighting).
With Special' Attack and Defense, things got a little weird.
The first one was not very complicated, but it was complex. The Special Attack, from what I was able to notice, influenced many things; such as the control, focus and distance at which I could use the aura outside of my body, its quality and density when I used it in moves and, in essence, the ease with which I could bend this wonderful energy to my will.
It was like the 'magic' stat in a conventional RPG, but if this stat meant something more than a random number in an Excel spreadsheet.
On the other hand, I didn't understand anything about Special Defense, which made a lot of sense since it was the most esoteric stat I was trying to research. I didn't have many samples to contrast too, to be honest, and my methods were far from being professional, precisely. Very, very far.
My 'investigation' was based primarily on the difference between Sandygast's and Corphish's base stats, after all, as well as some extrapolation on my part, trying to match the obvious differences in our capabilities with the supposed differences in those stats. Quality research, as I like to say; no notes, no rigor, with data that varied significantly from one individual to another and also using data collected from myself, an almost certified anomaly, to finish putting the icing on the cake.
Wonderful.
The only saving grace was that I was aware of the flaws and planned to remedy them when I could, whenever that was.
Anyway, the only thing I got more or less clear from that was that the Special Defense worked like something similar to stamina, mental stamina to be precise, with some hints of improving the concentration, preventing moves from being easily interrupted, and a couple more things which I could not properly verify.
Perhaps it would also help with the status conditions? And also with stat reductions or increases with status moves? What else was I missing?
It would certainly require further investigation, an adequate investigation, but it would be worth checking out… later. It was a fascinating topic, don't get me wrong, and I was already starting to think of tree names to use as a surname, but I preferred to leave these things for when I returned to civilization, since that was another matter; I'd finally decided.
When I finished repairing my shovel, all my doubts and worries vanished like that yogurt you left in the fridge the day before. My mood improved a lot, going from 'good' to 'great'. That was a little odd, as I hadn't really felt bad those days I spent fixing my shovel, but in retrospect, my indecision arose right after that battle, so the breaking of the spade affected me.
I wasn't heartbroken as the Pokedex entries said, but I could see how a normal Sandygast, with its 'limited intelligence', would desperate at not knowing how to handle the situation. It was also a bit worrying, depending so much on an object to keep my mind healthy, but I guess this experience taught me that I needed to be a little more careful with my shovel, and it was better to take note of this in a safe environment than to find out the hard way in an uncertain future.
With the lesson learned, I moved on with my life and modified my schedule. My goal was to thoroughly explore that island before I left, but I still needed some way to do that last bit, so the 'explore the island' part temporarily became 'gather resources'.
At midnight, just after waking up, I began to wander around the forest surrounding the beach in my bipedal form, looking for wood with the idea of making a raft. I was not a carpenter, of course, but I could learn as I went along and, with the help of Mr. Krabs, his brothers and Cap, I saw myself capable of making it without too many problems.
Nothing like a sharp spade and 500 claws releasing high-pressure water to cut logs, after all, although precision was another matter…
Changing the subject, whenever I went inside the forest, it gave me an empty feeling. It was strange to describe, but it was as if I didn't quite belong there, and as if my mere presence wasn't really there, with the rest of the forest's inhabitants. Maybe it was because I only went there at midnight, or maybe because I didn't go very far, but I didn't see or notice anything very interesting other than that either.
I came across a couple of Hoothoot guarding some berry trees, as well as some Bug-type Pokemon like Caterpie, Wrumple, Dustox, and Nincada, but they were minding their own business and wouldn't even speak to me unless I got too close to 'their territories', moment when they overreacted as if I'd jumpscare them, radiating fear and anger in equal par—… Nah, they were really radiating mainly fear.
Overall, it was a bit of a monotonous experience after the second day. 4/10. I kept doing it out of obligation, and that delicious fear could be worse, I guess, but it's not what I expected from a forest on an island inhabited only by Pokemon. Maybe they were friendlier during the day.
In the morning, just as the sun was rising, I gave some advice to The Red Tide and trained the use of my moves, especially the Ghost-type ones. I had barely touched my 'main type' until my fight with Cap, and that Shadow Ball nearly exploding in my face was a good wake-up call to start training it. Meanwhile, in the afternoon I took a break, training The 24 Claws and building my raft, helped by the Mr. Krabs' skillful 'hands'.
From time to time, I also had friendly fights with Cap, which I always lost.
The Wingull wasn't even joking when he said he hadn't used a quarter of his power in our first battle. The old sailor was a true master of hand-to-wing combat, far more so than one would expect from a member of his kind, and he wasn't afraid to dive down from the clouds to chase me once I figured out how to deal with the rain, remaining undefeated until now.
I suspect that was also one of the reasons he didn't want to evolve, since doing so would mean losing a lot of that grace and fluidity in exchange for a power that, honestly, he neither needed nor suited his fighting style. The increase in size would not benefit him at all either, making him a bigger and heavier target, greatly hindering those precise dodges he likes to boast about.
Overall, it seemed like he just wasn't born to be a Pelipper, though that didn't stop him from being stupidly dangerous. His Liquidation was fearsome, nearly untouchable as he closed in with a combination of Acrobatics and Aerial Ace to deliver a powerful, super-effective blow, further empowered by his absurd Agility-enhanced speed.
The first time he did that, he shocked me so much that I was unable to even defend myself, hitting me squarely and breaking a couple of my ribs, which was a thing. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed (even though he was laughing his head off inside), and it helped me to learn an aspect of my Ground-type that I had overlooked until then, but that's a story for another time.
By the way, what I came up with to deal with his Rain Dance was, actually, stupidly complicated to find even without the stress of being in combat. After study my ability in depth, I discovered that it works by absorbing part of the Water-type aura from incoming attacks, infusing that energy into the sand hit (turning it into that 'special sand') and increasing the density of my protective layer of aura in that specific area.
That meant that, both the rain and most Water-type attacks, not having been created entirely by aura, part of it filtered through my Defense, and it turns out that my 'skin' made of that special sand must have been the most permeable thing in the damn universe, since normal water passed through it like if it was nothing and turned the rest of my body into mud.
That's when I asked myself, "Can I influence the properties of the sand that my ability creates in some way?" The short answer was yes; the long answer was that I needed a master's degree in chemistry or have enough willpower to turn that special sand into something similar to clay.
Since I didn't have the former, I used a mix of the latter with my usual trial and error method to achieve the same result, managing to become, in theory, completely invulnerable to mundane water even if I lost consciousness. The downside was that I had to keep my 'skin' hydrated so it wouldn't get stiff and limit my mobility, but it was a small price to pay in exchange for honing my ability, now being able to get the Defense bonus without hardly taking any damage when eating a Water-type attack.
Curiously, my normal sand body was rich in oxygen and my bones didn't weigh much, being hollow apparently, so I was able to float in water. Swimming wasn't in my plans, and I only discovered this when I wanted to test how waterproof I was in practice, but it was nice to know that I can enter a pool without instantly becoming into nightmare fuel for other swimmers.
Even so, I would stick with my original plan of building a raft. Although I couldn't physically get tired and I could have just tried to swim to an inhabited beach, it didn't seem like the best idea. Not to mention that my attempts at swimming until then had been limited to thrashing around uncontrollably as the waves carried me back to the land.
It was better if I could hold on to something on the long journey ahead.
Anyway, in a nutshell, this is how I spent the whole week. On the evening of that day, seven days after my first battle against Cap, Mr. Krabs finally managed to perfect his use of Razor Shell, and a white glow enveloped him. I don't know if it was a resonance effect or something, but instantly, Pincitas was also enveloped in that pale energy, even though he hadn't yet become as strong as his older brother.
The phenomenon itself was very interesting. That energy was still aura, but it was completely different from anything I'd seen before. It didn't seem to have any type; it didn't seem to come from nature as such. It was aura in its purest state, full of life, full of potential, bordering on what could only be interpreted as Divine.
Nonetheless, I think it would be wrong to attribute it entirely to Arceus. That energy emerged from within, enveloping the Pokemon and granting it a form more suitable to its wishes, an evolved form from the previous one. It was strange, since that energy had no will of its own, but seemed to assimilate the one of its bearer, and something more…
Perhaps the will of the world itself?
As I said, very interesting. I wasn't surprised that Professor Rowan had dedicated his entire life to researching a phenomenon like that; I was tempted to do so myself. It seemed like the next logical step after investigating the aura a little, and since Sinnoh is the place of origin of Lucario, a kind of Pokemon especially sensitive to this energy, it was not unreasonable to think that the professor had found something extraordinary.
Something 'primary', related with the origin of everything, just like the Legends of that place…
With that thought crossing my mind, I became curious. While the Corphish were finishing their evolution, I tried to take a deeper look, but just thinking about doing so made my head hurt. Unfortunately, it seemed like I wasn't ready to dive into that yet, no matter how much I wanted to.
Shaking my head, I put aside my delusions and approached my two friends, wanting to congratulate them wholeheartedly for having achieved it. I knew that both Mr. Krabs and Pincitas had been working hard to evolve, almost as hard as I had. Their desire to protect their family drove them every day in training, pushing their limits every afternoon, so they deserved a big celebration.
Unfortunately, any thoughts of having a mythical beach party were cut short when one of the fastest little Corphish, completely exhausted, washed up on the beach shouting, "Big Brother, Sandy, Cap! It's horrible! All our food, our supplies... They're gone!"