However, the oblivious Blastoise was still wallowing in its melancholy mood.
Sharpedo, whose teeth were capable of crunching through steel, crept silently up to Blastoise's side.
At that precise moment, Blastoise remembered the earlier embarrassing incident and angrily twisted its rear end in frustration.
This unintentional movement happened to help it dodge Sharpedo, who had been charging straight toward it.
Sharpedo hadn't expected such a coincidence to occur.
Sharpedo: ?
And that was the source of the strange chill Blastoise had felt earlier.
As the saying goes, fortune favors fools.
Sharpedo quickly understood that its sneak attack had failed and that it might have alerted the enemy, potentially making Blastoise more vigilant now.
From beneath the ocean surface, Sharpedo watched Blastoise looking around and snorted disdainfully.
Idiot.
Then, before Blastoise's head could fully submerge beneath the water, Sharpedo quickly darted behind a massive coral formation nearby, concealing itself completely.
The Finneon family that had been feeding peacefully behind the coral was startled by Sharpedo's sudden intrusion.
Finneon: ?
Sharpedo also hadn't expected to find an entire family hiding back there and was momentarily surprised.
Without hesitation, it opened its jaws wide and swallowed the whole family in one gulp.
Mmm, tasty.
Blastoise failed to notice a pair of red, bead-like eyes behind the giant coral formation in the distance, staring intently at it.
Clueless Blastoise scratching its head
Watching Blastoise continue to drift forward slowly with its back turned, Sharpedo felt nothing but utter contempt for this outsider.
Heh, today I'm having turtle soup for dinner!
Sharpedo flexed its tail fin as air bubbles escaped from its breathing gills. It opened its mouth wide, revealing rows of thick, menacing teeth.
The giant coral was torn apart by Sharpedo's powerful body. Before Blastoise could react properly, Sharpedo had already swum swiftly behind it.
Those fearsome teeth gleamed coldly as they rapidly closed in on the unsuspecting Blastoise.
Dark-type move——Crunch.
Tapu Fini, who had been resting on the ocean floor with closed eyes in meditation, suddenly opened them.
"B..."
Sharpedo's movements...
However, for Tapu Fini, Sharpedo also lived within the boundaries of its jurisdiction and protection.
Although Sharpedo's temperament was brutal and it acted as an apex predator in the ocean, up until now, Sharpedo's actions had remained within the natural order of the food chain.
Tapu Fini only paid slightly more attention but didn't intervene excessively.
After all, this wasn't some playground where everyone played nicely together.
Natural selection, survival of the fittest—the conclusions that humans had drawn long ago applied even more strongly to Pokémon life.
Tapu Fini stopped paying attention to Sharpedo, released a heavy breath that created bubbles rising toward the sea surface, and then the bubbles disappeared.
In a split second, Blastoise's originally relaxed body quickly tensed and stretched. The Hydro Pump cannons on both sides of its shell shot out large bubbles the moment it pushed away from its resting position.
——Bubble
Sharpedo's teeth bit down on nothing but seawater, and the sound of teeth grinding together rang out unpleasantly.
This guy...
Seeing that a safe distance had opened between itself and Sharpedo, Blastoise patted its chest shell in relief.
That was close.
The moment it had sensed that cold, sinister aura, Blastoise had instantly recognized it as the unique presence belonging to Dark-type Pokémon.
Among the Pokémon it had encountered, only Mimikyu, who was a Ghost-type, had a similar feeling to this aura.
So Blastoise had judged that it was probably being targeted by a hostile Pokémon.
But the clever turtle had been smart enough not to flee in panic. Since it didn't know where the enemy was positioned, it had temporarily decided not to act rashly.
Blastoise's cautious behavior had naturally and gradually dispelled Sharpedo's vigilance, successfully luring the predator out into the open.
Seeing Sharpedo's vicious red eyes, Blastoise showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, it wiggled its rear end playfully.
Hey there, blockhead~
Sharpedo was already aggressive by nature, and having missed its attack had made it furious. The fact that Blastoise was now intentionally taunting it only made things worse.
Sharpedo ground its teeth menacingly, and in the next second, while Blastoise was still wiggling mockingly, it launched a second lightning-fast attack.
Sharpedo's speed was already quite impressive, and being enraged only made it faster.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Sharpedo was right in front of Blastoise, opening its massive jaws to use Bite once more.
Unfortunately, this Bite attack also failed to connect.
The Bubble attack Blastoise had used earlier had successfully reduced Sharpedo's speed, buying Blastoise precious time to maneuver.
Additionally, Blastoise had already begun using Water Pulse the instant Sharpedo had started moving.
In the ocean, Water Pulse's power was many times greater than it would be on land.
And because of the water's natural movement, the attack also hindered Sharpedo's approach to a significant extent.
Sharpedo was caught completely off guard by the sudden vibrating water ripples, having been totally unaware of when the small creature in front of it had started preparing the move.
It watched as Blastoise, who had already escaped to a considerable distance, continued fleeing while it momentarily stood dazed.
Sharpedo snapped out of its confusion and sped up to chase down Blastoise.
Blastoise had been feeling quite pleased with its own cleverness when it suddenly sensed Sharpedo's threatening aura behind it once again.
Crap, how does this thing swim so fast?!
Blastoise immediately began swimming frantically back toward Poni Wilds.
When I get back, I'm calling my teammates to gang up on you!
Sharpedo didn't care about any of that and had no idea what was going through Blastoise's mind.
Right now, Sharpedo simply wanted to devour this annoying pest as quickly as possible.
In that moment, these two Pokémon—both considered high-speed swimmers among Water-types—were displaying their maximum velocity across the ocean, one chasing and one fleeing.
Blastoise hadn't been gone for very long, so when it spotted the massive dark clouds in the sky from a distance, it was genuinely startled.
What happened while I was away to make things turn out like this?
The turtle was shocked.
However, by this time, the sparring match between Salamence and Electivire was already coming to its conclusion.
By the time Blastoise frantically scrambled back onto the shore, the dark clouds in the sky had completely dispersed.
Roy was quite happy to see Blastoise return, as he had just been wondering about it moments ago.
"You're back?"
"Where did you wander off to?"
Before Roy could finish asking his questions, Blastoise urgently dragged him over and began chattering about everything that had happened.
Finally, Blastoise pointed toward the ocean, and Roy looked over to see Sharpedo lurking in the water.
Roy recognized Sharpedo immediately. It wasn't difficult—Sharpedo's image as a villainous-looking Pokémon was far too distinctive and eye-catching.
Especially that enormous dorsal fin on its back, which constantly advertised its identity to everyone around.
And there was that impossible-to-ignore yellow scar marking its forehead.
All of these features clearly indicated Sharpedo's identity and species.