Chapter 30: Shellder

  The water in the underground lake remained as icy as when we arrived, but Vera didn’t seem to be in any hurry as Sage, her Abra, telekinetically “lifted” one of the calmer Shellder from the group. I watched, intrigued, as the Bivalve Pokémon floated gently, tilting its shell as if trying to defend itself from an invisible current. Even so, Sage was careful, moving it without abruptness, and seemed to be holding some kind of silent conversation with it.

  “Can you hear anything they’re saying?” I asked in a low voice.

  Vera closed her eyes, connecting with her Abra’s mind and receiving impressions from the “chat” with the Shellder. Her expression turned focused, and after a few seconds, she looked at me with a slight nod.

  “The Shellder in this area know of two ‘special’ individuals who usually train away from the group,” she explained. “They’re in a deeper part of the lake, accessible through an underground current.”

  “Awesome!” Kara exclaimed, approaching after overhearing as she passed by. “Let’s go. A good dive to wake up? Sounds perfect.”

  I watched her return Karate, her Machop, to his Poké Ball before diving into the water without hesitation, splashing around with a loud splash that echoed through the icy cavern. The mere thought of swimming there made me shudder—the cold was far worse than any normal beach.

  “No… no way,” I muttered, shaking my head. “This is suicide.”

  I returned Dozy to his Poké Ball just in case, ready to look for some alternative path on solid ground. However, I stopped when I saw Vera calmly positioning herself at the edge of the rock, prepared to step into the water. I noticed that the moment she submerged a foot, the liquid didn’t touch her—a pink psychic field instantly surrounded her, keeping the water away from her body.

  “Are you crazy?” I murmured, surprised. “Are you seriously going to follow Kara by swimming like that?”

  “I won’t get wet if I don’t want to,” she replied, raising her hand in a subtle gesture. An invisible force pulled me up until I was floating beside her. “Sage and I can create a psychic bubble for both of us. Would you rather stay behind and look for a more dangerous path?”

  I was about to argue, but then I found myself floating above the surface. The psychic dome adjusted around me, and I felt a strange warmth, like walking through a foggy but cozy space. Beneath our feet, I could see the icy water, so clear that schools of Goldeen and Seel could be seen gliding slowly. Kara’s figure, a few meters ahead, was clearly visible as she swam with powerful strokes, as if she didn’t feel the slightest fatigue.

  “This… is weird, but better than freezing,” I admitted, trying to keep my balance within the small space Vera controlled.

  We moved steadily—or rather, floated—as the bubble carried us toward the submerged corridor. Within this zone, the water temperature dropped even further. If not for the psychic field, I probably would have panicked from the cold. Fortunately, no wild Pokémon attempted to attack us—perhaps Vera’s energy or the speed at which we moved served as a warning not to mess with us.

  “Hey…” I asked, trying to break the silence. “Tell me more about those two special Shellder.”

  “One is an expert in defense. It practices Barrier, Iron Defense, and other similar moves. That’s the one I want,” she said softly. “The other, however, focuses on offense. It’s… rare because most Shellder prefer defensive tactics.”

  “Why ‘rare’?” I insisted.

  Vera gave me a calm look.

  “Everyone in the colony considers it out of place. However, they’ve formed a strong bond. Thanks to that connection, the defensive Shellder has become stronger. The other one, the offensive one, specializes in sharpening its shell and using it as a weapon… In fact, it would be a good candidate for a future Galarian Slowbro.”

  The mere mention of the region caught my attention. Galar sounded incredibly far away to me, an exotic place I barely knew rumors about.

  “Galar?” I blinked. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know much.”

  “Didn’t you read my books when you… ‘borrowed’ them?” she replied with a hint of sarcasm.

  I felt my ears burn, remembering how I had taken a few volumes from her collection to research something related to poison.

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  “Well, I was busy, I didn’t have time…”

  Vera narrowed her eyes, unimpressed.

  “If you had read even a little, you’d know there’s a variant of Slowbro in Galar: one that’s Psychic and Poison type.”

  That information ignited my imagination; the idea of having something different from the usual Water/Psychic combination was fascinating.

  “That… sounds perfect for me,” I murmured excitedly, unable to stop myself from smiling. “Thank you so much, Vera!”

  “With this, I consider the debt of the poisoned crystal weapons Kara and I ‘borrowed’ to be settled,” she added coolly.

  “Yeah, yeah… fine,” I admitted, not wanting to argue.

  The underwater current led us to a wider section inside the cave. The mass of water opened into a sort of inner cavern, and I could see that Kara was already there, standing on an emerged rock. The psychic dome around us faded, allowing me to step onto solid ground. In the distance, I recognized the silhouettes of two Shellder seemingly testing their strength against the Fighting-type trainer.

  One of them quickly deployed Barrier and Iron Defense, its shell shining with a metallic sheen as it spun using Rapid Spin. The second Shellder jumped on top, and from its shell emerged a sharp point of compressed water energy that extended like an improvised sword. It was an attack I didn’t recognize, but together, they seemed to form a lethal spinning top.

  “They don’t look too different from the others, but their moves…!” I exclaimed, watching their combined technique.

  Kara, instead of stepping back, tensed the muscles in her arms, and a neon blue aura surrounded her hands. She caught the water blade between her palms as if truly stopping the edge of a sword, while simultaneously absorbing the impact of the spinning Shellder against her stomach. The scene left me speechless—a dull thud echoed, but Kara didn’t even flinch; she wasn’t bleeding, she didn’t double over in pain. With a roar of strength, she held both Shellder until they stopped, one in each hand.

  “Well, almost got me,” she teased with a huge grin. “Which one do you want, Vera?”

  Vera approached calmly, not even bothering to dry her dark dress, which, thanks to her power, had barely gotten damp. She pointed to the Shellder that had used Iron Defense.

  “That one, obviously.” She pulled out Duque’s Poké Ball, her Slowpoke, and summoned him in front of the two bivalves. “Come, help me with this.”

  The slow pink Pokémon blinked a few times, utterly indifferent to where we were. Vera knelt beside him and, using telepathy, convinced the defensive Shellder to bite onto her Slowpoke’s tail. I always found this evolution process somewhat grotesque yet fascinating.

  The other Shellder, the offensive one, moved back slightly, almost as if it felt left out. Its shell still displayed a blade of energy, and I got the impression it was sad that no one had chosen it. I hesitated for a moment—I knew my poison affinity could be a problem, and that capturing it meant I’d have to pass the test to rank up to Guardian, but then I remembered Galarian Slowbro, which mixed Poison and Psychic types. Maybe if I found the right Slowpoke one day, I could make it happen.

  “Well… why not?” I said quietly, tossing a Poké Ball decisively. “Shellder, come with me!”

  The capture happened without much drama—the Shellder entered the sphere, and after a couple of shakes, the red light confirmed it was mine. I felt nervous, hoping my “poison energy” wouldn’t harm it, but excited by the idea of having something beyond pure Poison types.

  Just then, a glow caught my attention. Duque, Vera’s Slowpoke, began to shine intensely, and his shape elongated. The Shellder clung to his tail like an anchor of power, and the evolution completed in seconds—before us stood a much larger, more robust Slowbro, with the same sleepy expression as before but a more imposing presence.

  “Congratulations!” I exclaimed enthusiastically.

  “He still needs a King’s Rock,” Vera murmured, slightly dissatisfied. “But at least we made some progress.”

  “Are we done here?” I asked, feeling a rush of excitement over everything we had accomplished.

  “Not quite.” Her eyes darkened. “There’s something else I have to do, but… I have to go alone.”

  Before I could insist on asking, a metallic sound echoed through the cavern—Kara’s Pokédex was ringing. She took it out and put it on speaker.

  Immediately, Ethan’s distressed voice crackled through:

  “Kara! Aspen! Vera! Can you hear me? I need help, please! Come to my location now!”

  Vera immediately checked Ethan’s location on her Pokédex and, without wasting any time, teleported us. Upon arrival, we found complete chaos: a Squirtle perched atop the shell of a massive Lapras, firing powerful Ice Beams at everything in sight. Ethan, alongside a Munchlax that looked completely exhausted, was struggling to keep control of the situation. Around him, Antonio commanded a Scyther, slashing at the air with quick Fury Cutter attacks; Tadeo ordered his Onix to lunge toward the water, though it wasn’t having much luck; and Cira barked orders at her Pidgeotto, which circled above. Neva, Rayna, and Faviola were battling with three Eevee, who looked frightened but stood their ground, howling whenever the Lapras shuddered from the attacks.

  —“Less talking, more action!”—Ethan shouted, barely giving us a second to breathe.—“Help me take down that damn Lapras!”

  Without a second thought, Kara sent out Machop and Mankey. Both Pokémon launched themselves into combat, using the surrounding rocks to leap around and dodge the icy blasts that Squirtle was launching from above. Vera, with Sage floating beside her, erected Protect barriers to shield everyone in the rear. As for me, I hesitated—Dozy had never swum before, and I wasn’t sure he could. I also wasn’t ready to reveal Creepy yet, so I decided to send out Noisy instead.

  —“Noisy, use Agility and go after Lapras!”—I commanded, ducking as a frozen projectile shot past my head by mere inches.

  The Zubat shot forward with increasing speed, weaving between the attacks of the others who had joined the battle. The Lapras roared, the cavern trembled under the intensity of the combat, and as the blows kept landing, a massive surge of energy exploded across the battlefield, engulfing everything in a brilliant light.