A few minutes later, the leader Krabby was beaten until it was flipped over, half of its body buried in the dirt, while the Krabby in front of Ash looked at its claws with disbelief.
Even though it defeated the leader Krabby, it still felt somewhat unreal.
It just followed the orders of the human behind it, and then struck at the leader Krabby's weak points with every move.
And that person seemed to have clairvoyant abilities; no matter how the opponent attacked, the person could predict their attack route and give precise commands, allowing for a strong counterattack.
This monster-level command ability was the key to winning with the weak against the strong.
"Krabby Krabby..." It took the leader Krabby quite a while to recover and flip over onto its back from the beach, looking at the smaller Krabby with a complex expression while speaking.
Now it no longer had that initial irritable demeanor, and its way of speaking seemed a bit more peaceful.
It was clear that it had already been impressed by the strength of the smaller Krabby, although the trainer behind it deserved most of the credit, the smaller Krabby's trust in the trainer's command and its own not insignificant power were crucial as well.
Therefore, the leader Krabby acknowledged the smaller Krabby as part of their Krabby clan.
Originally, this should have been a happy occasion, and Ash squatted down happily and said to the smaller Krabby: "Great, your companions have acknowledged you, go back to your group."
The smaller Krabby looked at the group opposite, then at Ash, finally turning its entire body towards Ash and extending its big claw: "Krabby Krabby!"
"You say you want to stay by my side? Ah... but..." Ash showed a somewhat troubled expression in response to Krabby's sudden request.
Actually, he already had many Pokemon, and even with frequent rotations, it was hard to keep up with their training.
After all, he needed to retain a certain number of main Pokemon to train, and the rest could only be trained as a second team, which meant shorter training time. If he kept capturing them, there would be a third team.
He actually planned to train his Pokemon to Gym Level, then let them train on their own, while focusing on the second team.
So Ash had hardly captured any Pokemon lately, and now Krabby expressed a desire to follow him, putting Ash in a dilemma.
In fairness, he quite liked this Krabby, mainly because of their high compatibility.
Being able to listen to his commands without being captured showed their level of rapport, as well as Krabby's closeness to him.
But capturing it and not being able to train it would undoubtedly be irresponsible to Krabby!
"Don't make that face, I'm not unwilling to capture you. It's just that if I capture you, it might be a long time before I can swap you out for specialized training. In the meantime, you'll have to stay at Oak's Research Institute and join everyone for daily training."
Seeing the sad expression on Krabby's face, Ash realized his actions had caused a misunderstanding, so he quickly explained.
Upon hearing this, Krabby's expression was shaken, and it started waving its big claws excitedly.
No problem — this was what Krabby wanted to convey.
Ash thought about it for a moment and finally placed a Pokeball in front of Krabby: "Since you insist, how could I refuse? Welcome to become my partner. Don't worry; although you might feel neglected at first, I'll definitely train you to become the strongest Krabby and maybe even a Kingler!"
"Krabby Krabby!" Krabby hammered its claw on Ash's Pokeball, and its body turned into a beam of light entering the Pokeball. After the Pokeball shook three times and clicked, it signified Ash's successful capture of Krabby.
"I captured Krabby!"
"Pipikachu!!" Pikachu, who had watched the whole process, was already striking a pose.
Heads may fall, blood may flow, but poses cannot be abandoned!
"Krabby..." The leader Krabby's face showed a hint of melancholy upon seeing the small Krabby captured by a human. If possible, it also wanted to become that human's Pokemon.
Not only because the human had a comforting aura, but also due to the human's high-level skills in commanding Pokemon!
Under that human's lead, it could definitely become a supreme force within the Krabby clan!
However, the opportunity was snatched away by that little one... Sigh.
Not long after capturing Krabby, the Pokeball was sent back to Oak's Research Institute, and Ash then turned his gaze to the Krabby clan, which left sideways the moment Ash looked over.
It was not until then that Misty and Brock approached, with the former asking worriedly, "Ash, the Krabby you captured looks malnourished. Do you think it might really have some physical defects?"
Just from the appearance, that Krabby was indeed much smaller than normal ones. Though it defeated the leader Krabby with Ash's help, a Pokemon with a trainer's guidance and one without are in completely different leagues.
Especially considering it was Ash. When facing wild Pokemon, as long as the level difference wasn't huge, Ash's command skills could generally make up for it—restricted to below Professional Level.