"We'd better look for another one," Rachel Blake said, slowly shaking her head. She apparently didn't have much hope for this defective Shellder either.
Hearing her suggestion, Ethan Black remained silent for a moment.
From the previous battles, it was already clear that this Shellder, besides controlling the Barrier move, also mastered the moves: Water Gun and Aqua Ring.
Among those moves, the Aqua Ring move made Ethan Black's heart skip a beat.
In the video games, the Aqua Ring move forms a water curtain around the user's body, restoring HP every turn.
It is a very useful healing move, and in the case of Shellder, it can only be obtained through egg moves, making it very rare to find in these Pokémon.
Moreover, this Shellder also possessed the ability to quickly create and manipulate protective barriers using the Barrier move.
Ethan Black had an inkling of the reason behind this special ability.
Clearly, by losing the natural protection of its solid shell, Shellder had invested all of its energy into strengthening its ability with the Barrier move in order to survive.
Once again, survival is difficult, but it also forges special abilities.
Furthermore, this Shellder possessed the hidden ability Overcoat, and had already developed that trait quite well. It was almost perfect!
However, the problem still remained that its cracked birth shell significantly reduced its defensive capacity. Its shell could no longer withstand strong physical hits as it should.
Although Shellder's shell was still hard, the crack allowed damage to penetrate, and even the slightest residual impact from a battle could cause severe injury to the fragile body beneath the shell. Just as happened when Sandslash wounded it with a single swipe.
Having lost its natural physical defense, and with little resistance both physically and specially, this Shellder was doomed to be a fragile character in battle, with little hope of becoming a defensive core.
"Isn't there any way to repair that defect?" Ethan Black asked, frustrated. If he could avoid it, he really didn't want to give up on this Shellder.
"Maybe yes, maybe no... No one can be sure," Rachel Blake replied after a moment of silence.
Ethan Black sighed. In his current situation, raising three Pokémon was already quite complicated. He really wasn't in a position to take risks.
After all, if he caught it, he would have to take responsibility. And honestly, he didn't have enough confidence to turn a defective Shellder into a strong Pokémon.
That's why it was better to look for another one. It was the best option for both Shellder and himself.
Besides, there were many more Shellder along the coast. Finding one with the Overcoat ability and the Barrier move was still possible.
But while the two were talking...
Suddenly, the Shellder, which had seemed unconscious, opened its eyes sharply. It then gave a wary look to Sandslash and quickly created a barrier that lifted it into the air.
Boom!
However, at that very moment, the Azumarill that had been guarding the area reacted quickly. It fired a Water Gun, which immediately destroyed the barrier, causing Shellder to fall heavily to the ground.
"Huh...?"
"Hadn't that Shellder already lost the ability to fight?"
Both Ethan Black and Rachel Blake were surprised to see Shellder crash to the ground.
"Was it pretending to be dead?"
Ethan Black shared his hypothesis.
"I don't think so. I checked its condition earlier. This Shellder really had lost the ability to fight," Rachel Blake responded, frowning.
"Had it really lost it...?"
Ethan Black fell into his thoughts, mentally reviewing all the recovery moves.
At the same time, Shellder used the Barrier move again, creating four barriers floating around it, glowing under the sunset with an unusual shine.
"It looks like it's fully recovered..."
"Wait, this rapid recovery... Could it be that it used the Rest move?"
Ethan Black's eyes suddenly shone at that possibility.
In the video games, the Rest move allows a Pokémon to sleep for two turns, restoring all HP and curing any status condition.
The sudden change in Shellder, from looking half-dead to being fully active, was likely due to the Rest move.
"If it really has the Rest move, this Shellder is no ordinary one!" Ethan Black exclaimed, his eyes lit with excitement.
Although in the games nearly every Pokémon can learn the Rest move, in this real world, that wasn't so easy.
Unlike in the games, there were no TMs, so the only way for a Pokémon to learn a move was through instinct or training.
And to train a move, the most important thing was understanding the principle and the learning method.
Why were weather-related moves so rare?
Because humans still hadn't fully understood how these moves worked, and they certainly couldn't create effective training methods.
The same applied to the Rest move.
Although the concept of the Rest move seemed simple, the actual effect of restoring all HP and curing any status condition was not so literal.
It involved the deep use of psychic energy and phenomena that science still couldn't explain.
That's why the Rest move had not been studied yet, and there wasn't even any information about it on the network.
"Maybe the cracked shell can be repaired over time, but a Shellder that can use the Rest move... if I let it go now, I won't find another like it!"
Ethan Black's eyes hardened. He looked at Shellder with determination.
"It can still stand, so let's continue! Sandslash, use Rapid Spin!"
Before Rachel Blake could react, Ethan Black gave the order first.
Sandslash quickly charged forward, spinning rapidly and heading toward Shellder.
Shellder, upon seeing this, suddenly contracted its pupils under its shell. In response, it made the four barriers around it overlap in front of it, attempting to block Sandslash's fast attack.
(End of chapter)