[Bonus Chapter]

"Yoyo."

Poliwag still had no idea what a Spinarak was, and quickly looked to Butterfree.

"Mii yii yii. It's the one that ambushed Krabby—don't be polite to it."

Butterfree caught Poliwag's glance and offered a short explanation.

"Wuuoh..."

Wingull also understood. That surprise attack must've happened while they were diverting the stream.

"Krakk..."

Krabby stared at the tiny Spinarak sitting on the table. So it was this little thing that zapped me? The fact that it hadn't even seen it coming... unacceptable. Clearly, it was still too weak.

Krabby had fainted from the shock because Electric-types hit it for double damage, and the attack had come so suddenly there'd been no time to react.

"Eeeee!"

Just released, Spinarak instinctively tried to attack Reiji—only to be instantly surrounded by all four of his Pokémon.

Seeing their aggressive stance, Spinarak's threatening posture instantly deflated. It dropped flat to the ground and surrendered, desperately trying to say, Don't eat me! I'll do anything!

"Spinarak, you have two options: either become boiled Meat, or sit at the table and eat boiled Meat."

Reiji wasn't sure if Spinarak understood, so he pointed and mimed, explaining what those options meant.

"Eee?"

Spinarak looked around at the others in confusion. Could someone translate what this human was saying?

"Yoyo—he's saying you either get eaten or you join us," Poliwag explained, helpfully translating Reiji's offer.

"Eeee! Join! I want to join!"

Spinarak nodded frantically. Please don't eat me—I'll join!

"Yoyo."

Poliwag turned back to Reiji and gave a nod and chirp. Deal done.

"Not bad. All right, time for lunch."

Reiji nodded silently. From Poliwag's body language, he could tell Spinarak had submitted—no effort needed.

He had Spinarak sit at the edge of the table and placed a crab leg in front of her.

"This is your lunch."

"Eee?"

Spinarak looked to Poliwag again, clearly needing help.

"Yoyo—that's your food," Poliwag translated again.

"Eee... really?"

Spinarak was stunned. Just like that, she had joined the group—and even got food? It all felt like a dream.

From nearly becoming lunch to actually eating lunch... the shift was too fast for her brain to keep up.

"Yoyo! If you don't want it, I'll eat it," Poliwag snapped. This spider talks too much. Just eat already. I was the same when I joined.

Reiji just quietly watched the exchange. As long as Spinarak didn't poison the food, he didn't mind her. Feeding her was just a goodwill tactic—nothing more.

The real goal was simple: get Spinarak to teach his team Electroweb and Agility. Once they learned the moves, he'd let her go. After all, they owed her that much—no sense repaying kindness with betrayal.

Reiji wasn't a saint, but he wasn't some ungrateful villain either. His heart wasn't rotten.

He was just a guy on a deserted island trying to survive with his Pokémon, nothing more.

Even if the future held regrets, he wouldn't gamble with his team's lives. If a fight could be avoided, he'd avoid it. If not, then they'd fight to the end.

And if he ever got stomped into the ground by a Rhydon? Well... so be it. That's fate. No point whining—just accept it.

With Spinarak joining, they now had a fifth at the lunch table. She didn't eat much, though—maybe still not used to the environment, or just nervous. Either way, she didn't dare eat freely.

After lunch, during their break, Reiji reviewed his Pokémon's move compatibility.

Only Butterfree could learn Electroweb.

Only Wingull and Krabby could learn Agility.

Poliwag—nothing. Not a single learnable move.

The rest of Spinarak's moves were either species-exclusive or useless to him.

Poison Sting was unique to Spinarak.

String Shot Butterfree already knew.

Absorb was Grass-type—he didn't have a Grass-type to learn it.

Constrict and Infestation were only useful paired with String Shot.

Scary Face relied on the creepy human-like face on Spinarak's back—purely her thing.

That said, visually, Spinarak was pretty cute. If she weren't poisonous, she'd be even cuter.

Her head and abdomen were pale green, with a white horn on her head, red fangs, and white pupils.

She had three pairs of legs with yellow and dark green stripes, plus two dark green spots and a crescent-shaped marking on her abdomen.

Spinarak was known for her patience. She'd weave strong, thin webs and wait silently for prey—sometimes staying in the same pose for days without moving.

Even if her prey got stuck in the web, she wouldn't act immediately—she'd wait until it was exhausted. Her favorite meal? Cutiefly.

Cutiefly was a tiny, yellow, bee-like Pokémon with a base stat total of over 300 and even had an evolved form. Compared to that, Wishiwashi was just pathetic.

Once Reiji locked down who could learn what, he nudged Spinarak with a stick and called up to her, "Spinarak, use the move you used to zap Krabby—Electroweb."

"Eee?"

Spinarak didn't recognize the term "Electroweb" and looked to the others for translation.

"This," Reiji clarified, pointing to the scorched mark on Krabby's shell. Then he repeated the human word for Electroweb and synced it with the Pokémon pronunciation.

"Eee, eee..."

Spinarak finally understood. Oh, THAT move!

She immediately spat out a white net, arcs of yellow electricity crackling through it. The net expanded, threads buzzing, and she hurled it down toward the grass below.

This time she avoided targeting Krabby—she wasn't stupid. Now that she knew better, she had no intention of shocking him again.

"Yoyo..."

Poliwag watched the attack and imagined it hitting him. I'd be toast. Crispy on the outside, stunned stiff inside.

"Mii yii!"

Butterfree chirped in admiration. She could spin silk too—but not like that.

Reiji turned to Butterfree.

"Did you get a good look at that Electroweb?"

"Mii yii?"

Butterfree blinked blankly. Wait—why me? Isn't Spinarak the one showing off?

"You can learn Electroweb, Butterfree. You'll be learning it from Spinarak."

That, after all, was the whole reason Reiji kept Spinarak around—to serve as a move tutor.

To avoid any escape attempts, Reiji brought out some honey and called over the whole team for dessert.

"Everyone, come eat some honey."

He served each Pokémon half a cup—even Spinarak, Magikarp, and Wishiwashi. No favoritism. They'd seen the honey; it wouldn't feel right to leave them out.

After everyone had enjoyed the sweet treat, Reiji asked Spinarak to show Agility.

"Spinarak, use Agility—the move you used when you were leaping through the trees."

"Eee... eee... Honey is so good..."

Spinarak was still lost in the bliss of honey. She hadn't heard a single word.

"Krakk."

Krabby, seeing no reaction, gave her a nudge with its claw.

"Eee?"

Spinarak snapped out of her sugar trance and realized everyone was watching. She blushed hard, embarrassed to look like such a country bumpkin. The others were so composed—she wanted to bury herself in a hole.

"All right, Spinarak. Use Agility," Reiji said, putting the honey bucket away. He felt reassured—if she loved honey that much, she wouldn't risk running off.

And even if she did, it was just Electroweb. Rare, sure, but not irreplaceable once they left the island.

"Eee eee."

Spinarak looked longingly at the honey being stashed away and gave up on any thoughts of escape.

Food, shelter, and dessert? You'd have to be a fool to leave.

Earlier, she'd considered running only because she feared being eaten. Now that she was safe—and still useful to the human—why not stick around and enjoy more free meals?

"Eee! Agility!"

With help from Butterfree's translation, Spinarak understood that Reiji wanted her tree-leaping speed technique. She started dashing around the grass in a blur.

Seeing this, Reiji quickly called out,

"Wingull, Krabby—watch carefully! This is the move you'll be learning next: Agility!"

"Krakk?"

Krabby hadn't expected to be learning a new move, but after Reiji's reminder, it stared seriously at Spinarak's movement.

"Wuuoh."

Wingull had already learned Water Pulse and had some experience with new moves. It didn't know why Agility mattered—but if Reiji said to learn it, it would.

Once the demonstration ended, Reiji told Spinarak to stop and turned to his team.

"Okay, Butterfree—pause your Confusion training. Start learning Electroweb."

"Wingull, it's up to you—train Water Gun or work on Agility."

"Krabby, you're learning Agility and finishing the pool."

"Poliwag, keep working on Mind Reader and Moisture Sense. Get familiar with the feeling."

That was their full afternoon training plan.

While the Pokémon trained, Reiji grabbed his trusty rod and went fishing.

He sat by the float for hours. Not even a nibble. Eventually, he packed up in disappointment—another empty-handed day.

But no true angler accepts defeat. Reiji called over Poliwag, who was training Moisture Sense, and together they caught seven crabs for dinner.

He checked their potential—same old mediocrity. Krabby was still a statistical miracle.

Every high-potential Pokémon he'd found so far had been pure luck.

Back at the treehouse, he used fresh stream water to boil the crabs. The pool now held a huge volume of freshwater, meaning Krabby had finished digging it. Krabby was now over by Spinarak, learning Agility.

"Krabby, come here," Reiji called, walking to the pool.

Water was starting to overflow. If left unchecked, it could flood the treehouse.

Time to dig a drainage channel.

"Krabby, dig a trench from here to the sea."

Reiji stepped on the grass facing the ocean and pointed the way.

Once the pool overflowed, the excess would drain to the sea—no flooding.

"Krakk."

Krabby started digging. As the trench deepened, water slowly trickled out toward the ocean.

"When you're done, come eat dinner," Reiji called back, then returned to the fire. The crabs were almost done, and he still needed to prepare fish soup for Krabby.

When Krabby returned, dinner was ready. Spinarak was at the table too.

After a full afternoon together, Spinarak had grown used to the others: Butterfree, Krabby, Wingull, and Poliwag.

She found them friendly and easy to get along with. Dinner went smoothly too.

Seeing the five getting along so well, Reiji felt relieved. No conflicts—good sign. He checked Poliwag's proficiency panel.

[Poliwag]

Type: Water

Gender: Male

Potential: 34.21%

Level: 21.87%

Ability: Damp (5.13%) / Hidden Ability: Swift Swim (3.13%)

Moves:

Mind Reader (4.21%)

Ice Ball (0.31%)

Refresh (4.11%)

Hypnosis (0.82%)

Double Slap (9.12%)

Water Gun (16.14%)

Water Sport (7.21%)

Bubble Beam (1.21%)

He hadn't checked Poliwag's panel in two days.

Level 21. Only three levels away from evolving into Poliwhirl.

The closer it got, the more nervous Reiji felt. He didn't know why—just that he was nervous.

Would evolution go smoothly? Could Poliwag break through its potential ceiling?

So many questions. So much uncertainty. He was afraid Poliwag might not be able to reach the peak with him.

"Ah... what's meant to come will come."

Reiji sighed. He was chill about most things.

But not about Poliwag.

Even with Moisture Sense developed and some advantage at the same level, it couldn't punch above its weight class. Not yet. Other trainers weren't dumb.

Back to the panel:

Damp was at 5%

Mind Reader at 4%

Water Sport at 7%

Water Gun up 2% (used during Moisture Sense training)

Everything was progressing.

Poliwag could now enter Moisture Sense without prompting. The next step was refining it—lowering the humidity needed, and reacting instantly to threats.

The rest of the team's panels showed no new moves.

While they finished dinner, Reiji brought out the honey bucket again and handed out dessert to all seven Pokémon: Poliwag, Butterfree, Krabby, Wingull, Spinarak, Magikarp, and Wishiwashi.

After cleaning the bucket, he returned Spinarak and Wishiwashi to their Poké Balls and had the others head inside for the night.

Early to bed, early to rise.

Tomorrow, they'd go rob the Beedrill again.

[End of Chapter]

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

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