While the pirates were having their "grand feast," Xia Hu Nao and Mu Zhi Shui were still striving for their evolution grand plan. Although Xia Hu Nao "instigated" the Ming Long Kingdom to mess with those pirates, he didn't bother after arranging it, adopting a rather "after I'm gone, let the storm rage" attitude.
Of course, let's split the tale. We'll first talk about Mu Zhi Shui. After escaping the unlucky pirates, Mu Zhi Shui and her "maid-chan" continued to drift at sea. The yacht, set on autopilot, bobbed on the ocean surface, while Mu Zhi Shui and her maid sat on the deck, basking in the sun.
Even after several days of sailing, Mu Zhi Shui's yacht had yet to leave the tropical zone, and the temperature remained in an uncomfortable range.
As the sun in the sky began to descend, Mu Zhi Shui clapped her hands and summoned her Rockruff. After patting Rockruff on the head twice, Mu Zhi Shui pointed at the sun and urged Rockruff, "Rockruff, we missed it yesterday afternoon. We can't miss it again this time."
Rockruff tilted its head, unsure of what it had missed yesterday, but seeing its trainer pointing at the sun, it turned its head to follow her gaze.
Mu Zhi Shui nodded, "Hmm, just keep watching. It's already afternoon, and it shouldn't be long before the green flash appears."
As Mu Zhi Shui spoke, she accompanied Rockruff in watching the sun. However, not long after, the yacht suddenly lurched, nearly throwing the three people on deck into the sea. Mu Zhi Shui and the maid sat up and looked over the side of the boat. The sea remained calm, and there were no shadows beneath the surface.
"Chacha, what's going on?"
Mu Zhi Shui only knew how to be on a boat; she didn't understand what was wrong with it, so she could only ask Chacha, who was always in charge of the ship.
Maid Chacha was not one to hesitate. She knew the ship had only recently been repaired and hadn't had any problems lately, so it must be something unusual in the sea. She then took off her maid outfit, put on a blue swimsuit, and jumped into the sea. Watching the splash of water, Mu Zhi Shui smiled and shook her head, "Why the rush? Couldn't you just send a Pokémon?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Chacha emerge from the sea, waving her hand and reporting, "No, there's nothing under the boat."
Mu Zhi Shui called out to her, "Then hurry up and come back! You can't just soak in the sea, you'll catch a cold."
Just as Chacha agreed, Mu Zhi Shui saw Chacha suddenly tremble, and then sink a little. Mu Zhi Shui's heart sank. Had Chacha suddenly cramped up due to not warming up properly?
Mu Zhi Shui was about to turn to get a lifebuoy when she saw Chacha thrashing in the water, shouting, "Young lady, something's got me!"
Chacha's words made Mu Zhi Shui even more worried. Normally, there weren't many Pokémon in the water that would actively grab people, and they were in the middle of the ocean, several to over a dozen nautical miles from the nearest shore. What had Chacha encountered?
But no matter what, Chacha still needed to be rescued. Mu Zhi Shui quickly turned to get the swimming ring. When she returned with it, Chacha was already being hoisted up, her hands bound by a strange object, but still floating in the water. Chacha struggled for a moment but couldn't break free, remaining bound.
Mu Zhi Shui hesitated. Should she still throw the swimming ring? If she did, Chacha couldn't get to it. But if she didn't, how could she save Chacha?
The strange object binding Chacha's wrists began to shake violently, then extended upwards, lifting Chacha completely out of the water. Chacha was tightly bound. It was then that Mu Zhi Shui finally recognized the true form of this strange object.
It was long and red, with suction cups, looking very much like an octopus's tentacle. Among sea Pokémon, the only one that could be related to an octopus would be Octillery. But according to the Pokédex, Octillery was less than a meter tall, so how could it bind Chacha?
Mu Zhi Shui glanced at Rockruff, who was still staring at the sun, and said, "Rockruff, stop looking. Use Rock Throw on him!"
Rockruff rolled over and ran over. It unleashed a Rock Throw at the Octillery that had emerged from the sea. The rock hit the Octillery's tentacles accurately but caused no damage, let alone freeing Chacha.
However, after being hit twice by Rockruff, the Octillery became angry and unleashed an Octo-Streak from beneath the sea, hitting Rockruff. Rockruff stumbled backward a considerable distance, crashing into the yacht's railing. Then, the Octillery that had shaken the yacht emerged from beneath the sea.
No wonder a theoretically small Octillery could bind Chacha, who wasn't exactly petite. This Octillery was at least three meters tall, and it had a normal-sized Octillery on its head.
The normal Octillery looked to be in a good mood, intermittently spraying water onto the sea surface. In rhythm with this normal Octillery, the Octillery swayed its tentacles, carrying the securely bound Chacha.
Mu Zhi Shui took out all the Poké Balls from her waist, and then Gardevoir and Magearna appeared on deck. Although Chacha's discarded maid outfit was still on the deck, and there were Poké Balls hanging from its belt, the three Poké Balls hanging from Chacha's waist already confirmed that one was the defense-oriented Wobbuffet. The remaining two, although capable of attacking, were, as Mu Zhi Shui knew, a Indeedee-female and a Indeedee-male.
While the two electric-type Pokémon could handle an Octillery, it was clear they would also be effective against Chacha, who was being held by the Octillery. To put it bluntly, Mu Zhi Shui was hesitant to act for fear of harming Chacha.
The Octillery swayed its tentacles again, and seeing that it was about to drag Chacha down to become its "nesting wife," Mu Zhi Shui couldn't hold back any longer. "Magearna, Flash Cannon. Gardevoir, Dazzling Gleam."
Upon receiving the orders, Magearna and Gardevoir immediately launched their attacks. The Octillery directly swung Chacha to intercept the two skills. Although the tentacles blocked the skills and Chacha was not hit, Mu Zhi Shui was still terrified. If one of the attacks had gone awry and hit Chacha's head, it would have been disastrous.
Since ranged attacks were not working, she had to resort to close combat. With this thought, Mu Zhi Shui turned to look at Rockruff. Rockruff had been quite battered by the Octillery's Octo-Streak earlier. It finally managed to get up and stumbled over.
Rockruff shook the water off its body, bared its teeth, and glared at the Octillery. Mu Zhi Shui waved her hand, "Rockruff, use Bite!"
Rockruff took a running start on the deck and leaped out. The half-meter-tall Rockruff appeared tiny compared to the three-meter-tall Octillery. Rockruff bit down, and its powerful jaws directly caused the Octillery to yelp in pain and release its tentacles, allowing Chacha to escape from its grasp.
Rockruff dodged the Octillery's counterattack, ran a couple of steps on the Octillery's head, and then jumped back onto Mu Zhi Shui's yacht. Chacha swam for a while in the sea and then climbed back onto the yacht. The two girls simultaneously attacked the Octillery. Under this barrage of attacks, the Octillery finally retreated into the sea.
Mu Zhi Shui was so excited that she wanted to hug Chacha, but Chacha took two steps back and said to Mu Zhi Shui, "Young lady, please wait a moment. I need to clean myself up. The Octillery's slime has made me sticky."
With that, Chacha went into the cabin to shower. Mu Zhi Shui encouraged her Pokémon and began to ponder how this giant creature had come to be and why it had targeted her yacht.
After thinking for a while, Mu Zhi Shui decided to ask Xia Hu Nao about it. But the moment she thought of Xia Hu Nao, she couldn't help but imagine how the battle would have unfolded if Xia Hu Nao had been on the boat.
If it had been our boss, Xia Hu Nao, his first reaction would have been to look at his Rockruff and determine the Octillery's ability. After all, Octillery has three abilities: Suction Cups, Sniper, and Moody.
But in reality, regardless of its ability, Xia Hu Nao's strategy wouldn't change much. He'd immediately use Skill Swap to switch himself with his Gardevoir, then use Teleport. If that didn't work, he could always recall it with a Poké Ball.
As long as Chacha was rescued, Xia Hu Nao could go all out and run. He'd boost the yacht's speed to thirty-five knots. How could an Octillery in the water possibly keep up with his fully powered yacht? Although there was no longer the concern of "hesitating to act for fear of harming Chacha," Xia Hu Nao hated trouble. He'd consider that a giant Octillery carrying a normal Octillery was likely an Octillery father, so might there be an Octillery grandfather?
With a three-meter-tall Octillery already present, it wouldn't be impossible for one that was five, six, or even eight meters tall to appear. If such a large Octillery appeared, he might not even be able to outrun it, as acceleration also requires a certain distance.
...
"Achoo!"
Just as Mu Zhi Shui was thinking about how Xia Hu Nao would handle this situation, Xia Hu Nao let out a sneeze. He looked around, then wrapped his down jacket tighter, and wondered, "Hmm? That's odd. My down jacket is quite warm, and the temperature in Fen Xue has risen today. I've been taking precautions against the cold, so there's no reason for me to catch a cold. Which means, someone's been talking about me?"
Xia Hu Nao rubbed his nose. "Troublesome. Since someone's thinking of me, I shouldn't linger on the street. I'll head back and spend some time increasing my bond with Rockruff."