"Hehehe~"
Near a stream, Dawn crouched down, paying close attention to the large lobster-like Pokémon, Corphish. Its upper body was mostly orange, and its abdomen and the lower half of its tail were white.
"What a lively little guy!" Dawn looked at Corphish waving its large pincers, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of delight. She pulled out her Pokédex to identify this energetic fellow.
"Corphish, the Rogue Pokémon. It can live in any river, no matter how dirty. It uses its sharp pincers to grab prey and will not let go, no matter what."
"Huh? A Rogue Pokémon!"
Dawn involuntarily looked back at Ash and asked with slight hesitation, "This little guy looks so lively and cute, why does the Pokédex call it a Rogue?"
"Hehehe~"
Corphish, meanwhile, seemed completely unaffected, still looking cheerful and acting like a total optimist.
"I'll tell you, when I first met Corphish, it wasn't as well-behaved as it is now!" Corphish was classified as a Rogue Pokémon for a reason; at the very least, its personality wasn't easily defined as gentle. Ash had to put in a lot of effort to catch this one.
However, its strength was undeniable. It defeated many opponents using its Crabhammer attack, which was largely thanks to its ability.
Pokémon: Corphish
Type: Water
Ability: Adaptability
Individual Values: HP (25), Attack (31), Special Attack (31), Defense (28), Special Defense (29), Speed (30)
Moves: ...Water Gun, Bubble Beam, Crabhammer (Forgot specific moves)
Held Item: None
Strength: Elite (99.99...9%)
As a main fighter in Hoenn, Corphish contributed significantly, defeating countless opponents with Crabhammer. The Adaptability ability perfectly explained why Corphish's Crabhammer was so powerful. Adaptability boosts the power of STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves even further. Considering Crabhammer has a base power of 100, combined with Adaptability, its power was immense—it could one-shot opponents easily. Although it only had max IVs, the crucial Attack stat was maximized, and the other five stats were quite high too.
"I see!"
Dawn looked at the docile and lively Corphish but still seemed unconvinced. Her attention was quickly drawn to another crab-like Pokémon with a massive pincer.
Faced with an unfamiliar Pokémon, Dawn routinely took out her pink Pokédex to scan it.
"Kingler, the Pincer Pokémon. It is the evolved form of Krabby. Its hard pincer contains super strength equivalent to 10,000 horsepower, but because the pincer is so large, it moves slowly."
Dawn looked at Kingler, whose head and pincer were red, while the rest of its body was white, and opened her mouth with an exaggerated expression: "Wow, 10,000 horsepower? Is that pincer really that powerful?"
Under the gaze of Ash and Kingler, Dawn gently tapped the hard pincer. Finding that Kingler didn't react, she grew bolder and started stroking it.
"Besides being hard, it doesn't feel much different!" Compared to the cheerful Corphish next to it, the two didn't seem visibly different to her. Driven by curiosity, and with Corphish's consent, Dawn pulled it next to Kingler, positioning them side-by-side. Dawn looked left and right, comparing the two, even fetching some hard rocks to compare.
Pikachu, watching nearby, got equally excited. It joined Dawn in placing the rocks in the pincers of both Pokémon to see whose pincer was sharper.
Ash watched the busy girl and Pokémon, then quietly opened Kingler's status panel.
Pokémon: Kingler
Type: Water
Ability: Sheer Force
Individual Values: HP (26), Attack (31), Special Attack (25), Defense (31), Special Defense (29), Speed (30)
Moves: ...Mud Shot, Bubble Beam, Stomp, Crabhammer, Guillotine, Hyper Beam...
Held Item: None
Strength: Gym Leader (5%)
Like Corphish, Kingler was also an extremely specialized fighter with maximized Attack. Its base Attack stat was a formidable , making it a powerful physical attacker. Combined with its Sheer Force ability, it had achieved a -to- sweep in the Indigo League Conference. Among Ash's Pokémon, Kingler was the first to achieve this feat.
Therefore, Corphish and Kingler—the Crab and Lobster duo—had become Ash's latest swap targets for his current team.
The Pokémon swapped out were the honest Grotle and the newly evolved Ambipom. Grotle needed to undergo training to withstand heavy hits, and there was no better place for it than Professor Oak's backyard. With the main team members there, Grotle would have plenty of companions to help with endurance training. It could also learn from Bulbasaur how to manage the backyard, potentially freeing up Bulbasaur for Ash's future journeys.
As for Ambipom, after evolving, she was finally less resistant to returning to the backyard. This greatly pleased Ash, who felt the girl had finally matured.
Ash had released the Crab and Lobster duo during their lunch break today to spend time together. He hadn't expected Dawn's curiosity to be so strong, spending most of her time observing them. Now, she was conducting a "hardness contest" to determine whose pincer was stronger. Unfortunately, the rocks nearby weren't hard enough, snapping easily under the power of both Pokémon's pincers.
"Oh no~"
Dawn sat on the ground in frustration, looking glumly at Corphish and Kingler, bothered that she couldn't declare a winner.
Pikachu, unable to find any harder objects, finally turned its attention to its own tail. After a moment of thought, its jagged tail began to glow white. To the surprise of Dawn and Ash, Pikachu actively performed Iron Tail in front of the Crab and Lobster duo. A look of eagerness was written on its face, as if it wanted to know which of the two would be hurt more by the attack.
"Hey, hey! Who taught you to use Iron Tail like that?" Ash's mouth twitched, and he let out a loud shout, trying to interrupt Pikachu's attack.