As they got closer to the bottom, the trees became thicker, and the smell of the sea was overpowering.

Walking along the beach for some time, Madrik returns to the place that he and Red met previously.

After some preparation, Madrik casts his long fishing line out, while he enjoys the cool ocean breeze.

With his elbow on his knee, and his arm propping up his head, Red breaks the tranquility, "The view of the sea here is quite good, I can see why you chose this spot."

Madrik nods happily, "Nothing quite like the sea, nothing quite like the sea!"

With a splash, Quag dives into the cool water, while Bulbasaur watches him sink deeper and deeper until Quag is out of sight.

Feeling bored after a while, Red begins to look around, and then he finds a familiar spearow digging into a staryu carcass, but it keeps a vigilant eye on the three.

Locking eyes with the spearow, it crows loudly, as if in warning.

Red scratches his head, and mutters, "Same bugger from before huh? A flying pokemon would be nice..."

Inspecting the creatures potential again he finds it's aura is still naut but a poor grey, "but it's a pity, your potential is too low."

The spearow's eyes narrow in displeasure, as if he understood the words.

"Well, there's plenty of fish in the sea," Grinning, Red hops off the boulder.

Approaching the large tidepool, the spearow holds its ground for a moment with a few aggressive caws.

Seeing the undaunted human, and a Bulbasaur continue their approach, it grabs a piece of its victim and flies off indignantly.

Standing before the small corpse, Red asks, "Gruesome isn't it, Or... does that staryu look appetizing to you, Bulbasaur?"

Seeing Bulbasaur's disgusted reaction, Red chuckles dryly, "Yeah, I didn't think so."

Inspecting the tidepool's interior, Red ponders, (I remember this tidepool from the other day, how come it's so empty? I know there were a few hundred staryus here, but now there is not more than fifty, and now there are hardly any smaller ones left... I doubt the spearow was responsible for all of this.)

"Well, I guess I should take a look now, just in case they are all gone tomorrow," Crouching to get a better look, he mutters the word "potential," and the staryu's begin to light up,

"Grey"

"Grey"

"Grey..."

"All grey or bronze huh..."

Having finished looking through each staryu, red stands up, and begins to walk towards the next largest tidepool further up the beach, while leaving some parting words, and a wave, "Hey Madrik, mind holding my bag for me? It's heavy, and I'm just gonna look through the tidepools for a bit. "

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Madrik grunts in reply while keeping his eyes focused on the ocean, seemingly thinking about something.

Remembering something, Madrik turns around to speak, but Red is already too far gone, "Bah, I'm sure they'll be fine"

.

Time passes, and red is now far enough away that Madrik is out of sight on the other side of the small island.

Red then comes upon the largest tidepool yet.

To call it a tidepool would be a stretch since it was larger than a football field.

Holding onto some coral for support, Red peers into the clear water, and then he feels his chest get blasted by a jet of water, knocking him a meter back. Painful

From the water leaps out three fully grown staryu's!

Red had blacked out for a moment when he hit his head, but a wave of "Hyah" sounds shakes him awake before long, and now he finds Bulbasaur engaged in heated combat, but the threatening sounds the staryus continue to release give him a foreboding feeling.

Seeing the three staryus increase to five, then seven, Red reacts quickly, and struggles to get to his feet, "Bulbasaur, There's Too Many, RUN!"

Still dizzy, he stumbles, and then he finds his right ankle swollen, "SHIT!"

Blasts of waterguns fire from all directions, while Bulbasaur does his best to dodge and counterattack.

Lashing one of the Staryus with a super effective vine whip, Bulbasaur manages to defeat one, but the remaining staryu's only become enraged, and begin madly attacking.

He loses his footing when he fails to completely evade a water gun, and now without being able to evade, he gets knocked down painfully.

With more than ten staryu's the water guns come like rain, Bulbasaur is pushed around without a way to attack despite his best efforts and no small amount of fury.

With a burst of adrenaline, and fighting through the pain and groggyness, Red gets to his feet and begins limping away, he then turns back to shout, "Bulbasaur, I'm Fine, Get Out Of There NOW!"

Luckily, Bulbasaur heeds Red's call and moves towards the sound of his trainer's voice.

Some blasts of water make him stumble, but the type advantage helps him hold steady enough to escape.

The staryu's pursue the green four-legged intruder, but their movements on land left much to be desired. Even a limping red could outrun them with Bulbasaurs support.

Seeing the pokemon give up after only a minute's chase, Red heaves a sigh of relief, then tries to sit down without exacerbating his injury.

Swallowing some blood, he lets a hiss of pain escape his lips.

He then rubs his ankle, which had since grown more swollen, "Damnit, what was that about!"

Red clicks his tongue with anger when he notices Bulbasaur's bloodied state, "They really did a number on you huh?"

When the ineffective water guns pushed Bulbasaur around, the coral and rocks did the rest during a few bad falls.

Struggling to his feet, he discovers that without the adrenaline from earlier, he was finding it almost impossible to move. He didn't notice it then, but his left foot was also beginning to swell, so he once again curses his luck.

Turning his eyes to the distance, Red speaks, "Bulbasaur, head back and call Madrik, I can't get back alone on this leg."

With a stoic grunt, Bulbasaur gestures overhead.

Looking up, Red finds the spearow from earlier circling them from above, while using Its wings to ride the currents.

When the spearow discovers he was noticed, he begins to release some heckling caws.

Red ponders his situation with frustration, (That damned bird is just waiting for us to separate, but what can I do? I left my bag thinking I was just going to look through a few tidepools and head back... how did things go so wrong so fast? If only I at least had the presence of mind to bring a potion, then Bulbasaur could carry me back with his vine whips, but he's barely holding up... What can I do...)

.

After shooting down a few ideas, Red comes to a decision, "Bulbasaur, I'm going to return you to your ball for now, and I'll wait here for Madrik.

Bulbasaur's eyes widen, "Bulbar busar sa blbar!"

Red shakes his head, "I know, but you are really hurt, you'll only get worse over time, and the pokeball can prevent that.

"Bsar bulbb-sarr bul"

Smiling, Red gives a dry laugh, "I'll release you if I'm in trouble, just trust me, there's no way I'm going to die here."

Unhooking the pokeball from his belt, Bulbasaur is returned to his ball in a flash of red light.

The spearow soon notices and lands on a large rock a few meters away, and quietly stares at Red gloatingly.

Red leans against a rock to keep himself upright, then, while holding a piece of driftwood like a club in front of himself, he threatens, "So, Spearow, you think I'm now weak enough for the likes of you to take on? Why don't you come try it?! Come see that I'm not one to be messed with!"