CH77 (691), Capture Spree (1)

"Alright folks," I said as I clapped to gain everyone's attention. "Here's what we are going to do," I began once I was sure everyone was listening. "Since the number of Tentacool is quite a bit higher than I expected, we're going to need help with boxing them in, so I've decided to add the Gyarados Squad's underlings to our little party," I said while nodding towards Stan/Gyarados and co.

"They are going to be setting up a perimeter around the coral field to ensure that as few Tentacool as possible escape our little operation," I shared with them the decision I had made. "{I'm sure they'll be happy that they can help}," Stan said sounding pleased with the arrangement. "{They better do a good job, or else}," Aby/Gyarados (Dark) said, purposefully using an ominous time for the last bit, though I could feel the amusement she felt while she said that.

"{They'll do fine}," Ryujin/Gyarados (Dragon) responded to her words. "{We've drilled them enough to ensure they do}," he added confidently. "{They better do, or I'll triple their training}," Ignis/Gyarados (Fire) added jokingly, though I could feel that he was serious, at least to a certain degree. "{I'm sure they'll do a good job}," Jade/Gyarados (Grass) spoke up in her usual serene manner, which had the others nod in agreement. "{Besides}," she began while looking at me. "{I don't think they need to do a perfect job. I'm sure that a few Tentacool slipping through won't be a problem, right?}" Jade threw the ball in my court with her inquiry.

"No," I shook my head, "a few Tentacool slipping through won't be a problem," I confirmed her assumption before shifting the focus back to the plan. "Alright, as I said the Gyarados will form a perimeter, while we move in on the coral field and take down all Tentacruel and Tentacool. Stan will take care of the Tentacruel boss," I said with a nod to Stan, who gave me a happy nod in return. "Ignis and Abyss will take on the golden Tentacruel," I continued which got me a pleased nod from Ignis, and a "{Leave it to us}," from Aby. 

"Medusa will handle the rest of the Tentacruel," I finished assigning the Tentacruel part, and Medusa gave me a nod, though she grumbled about having to face just a few weaklings. "I'm sorry about that," I responded with a chuckle. "You can join Ignis and Aby if you finish quick enough," I added which earned me an earnest nod from Medusa, who was feeling much happier with her orders. 

"Meanwhile, Ryujin and Jade along with Kun, Abzu, and Tiamat will handle the Tentacool," I shared and I saw nods all around showing that everyone was on the same page. "{Are we going to take in all Tentacool and Tentacruel once we've beaten them?}" Manami/Lapras asked and I could feel her feeling troubled by the thought. I had a good idea what she was worried about, so I directly said the words I knew would placate her worries.

"No, I don't plan to take them all away," I began with an assuring nod. "We won't touch any of the Tentacruel for one, and I only plan to take around a third of the Tentacool," I continued before finishing with, "Additionally, I'll aim for the iron stage ones first if possible." Those words earned me a grateful look from Manami, who was assured that we were not going to upset the entire system of the (immediate) area by suddenly taking away all Tentacool and Tentacruel.

She was a bit more sensitive toward things like that due to her experience with her pod. I definitely did not mind her question, doubly so since I knew that I could easily address what was troubling her. Besides, it was actually easier to use the non-evolved species for my Pinkan project since they would be more receptive to anything I gave them compared to their fully evolved counterparts. 

Similarly, it was easier to use weaker members compared to stronger ones if more participants were available. Things were different if the number was limited, which was not the case here. Likewise, I did not want any Stageless Tentacool since their "weakness" would result in a higher chance of complications and need for attention which I did not want to bother with in high numbers. Honestly, as far as I was concerned, Iron Stage Tentacool were just right for my plans, and luckily their loss on the scale I was planning to take away happened to affect their shoal the least.

There was simply no need for me to take more Tentacool from this group since I still had a few more marked areas on my map that supposedly belonged to Tentacool, so I could get a few more of them from those places. As long as I managed to reach a minimum of 350 Tentacool I was fine, so there was no need to take away all Tentacool from one place. On one hand, I really did not want to destroy the ecology of the place, and on the other, I had consented to the ranger's request to not capture more than a third of any given population in the marked areas while creating the map. That was a promise I was definitely planning to keep.

Anyway, I ended up digressing again, so I focused back on the actual matter at hand. "Any other questions?" I asked and everyone shook their heads. "Great, then let's get this show on the road," I said before bringing out 80 Gyarados from Utopia, which was around three-quarters of the Gyarados Squad's underlings. The Gyarados swiftly but orderly moved behind Stan and the others making me feel rather satisfied with their reaction/performance.

I had Stan and the others explain to them what we were about to do, and once the Gyarados were aware of their role, we began to move/dive toward the coral field. It was naturally pretty much impossible to hide the approach of nearly 90 Pokemon, especially when 86 of those were large Pokemon like Gyarados, so it was no surprise that the Tentacool noticed us as we closed in. 

A few Tentacool swam in the opposite direction when they saw us, successfully fleeing. However, the majority of them did not react as fast as those few Tentacool did, and neither did they make the same, in my opinion correct, decision. Nonetheless, faulty reaction or not, we were fast enough that we made it to the coral field before most could have escaped anyway, and as soon as we arrived, the Gyarados spread out, encircling the coral field as comprehensively as possible. 

Meanwhile, our group sprang into action as well. Stan, Ignis, Aby, and Medusa swam towards the Tentacruel, while Ryujin, Jade, Kun, Tiamat, and Abzu spread out as well, each one covering a certain area, roughly splitting the field into six pieces, with one piece being left to us. Well, mainly to Manami, but Squirtle and I were beside her, so us.

What followed was a nearly clear-cut operation that went just like I wanted it to, well for the most part. There were a few Tentacool that slipped through the net, but since those were silver and a few bronze ones, I did not care about them. The Tentacruel stood no chance against Group 1, and the Tentacool fell on mass to Group 2, especially to Ryujin's Alpha Predator, Tiamat's Universal Attract, as well as Jade's Grass Whistle and Leech Seed combo. Abzu and Kun only had to act as support mostly once the trio took action. Manami did not even have to act, so we simply kept observing/overseeing the whole thing.

The end result was that all Tentacruel and Tentacool were either immobilized, asleep, and/or knocked out. I had made sure to keep an eye on the Tentacool that had been releasing iron stage undulations during their struggle, so I had a rough idea of which Tentacool to capture and which to ignore. I naturally still made sure to check them before balling them to ensure I was capturing the right Tentacool, but since I did not have to worry about anything I simply used my psychic powers for the contact part, so I lost virtually no time in the process despite the little extra step.

I stopped after capturing exactly 200 Tentacool, and interestingly enough, there were much fewer Tentacool with reddish potential than I expected. I had not bothered excluding those with bad potential since I wanted to have the full potential range of Tentacool available for the Pinkan project, and yet, only roughly 60 of the Tentacool had reddish potential. In fact, more than half of those were definitely going to have their potential raised to light orange or maybe even orange by Utopia, with a few more having a chance at light orange potential. Only about 20, likely less, would probably remain at the reddish potential range with deep red potential.

While I was capturing the Tentacool, the Tentacruel boss and some of his golden deputies regained consciousness, but they did not dare to act against me/us while under the watch of Stan and the others. I felt their frustration as they watched me capture their Tentacool. Their frustration turned to worry when I kept capturing more and more Tentacool, which ultimately gave way to relief when I finally stopped capturing any further Tentacool. 

'Alright, we are done here,' I said through public telepathy after putting away the 200th Pokeball. 'Let's go,' I declared before motioning everyone over to my side. I saw the Tentacruel along with some of the Tentacool watch all of us like hawks, and I felt their stares follow us even as we, Gyarados underlings included, swam away from the coral field for some time before resurfacing. I only asked for a stop once we were roughly 10 km away, and since I had made sure to purposefully steer Manami in the direction of the next marked area on my map, we were only another 15 km away from the next area of interest. 

I was naturally planning to use the same strategy in the next place as well, starting with Kun scouting out the place, but since I wanted to avoid any accidents until Kun was done with his job, I informed everyone that I would be moving them to Utopia until we were ready for the next step, leaving only Kun, Manami, Squirtle, and me outside. Following that, we covered another 13 km before I asked for a halt so that we (Manami, Squirtle, and I) could wait at a good distance for Kun to return with the information we wanted. Our target this time around was a group of Corphish and Crawdaunt, though just like before my target were only the Corphish.

It took Kun nearly 30 minutes to return after he left, and if not for the fact that I could feel no life-threatening problems from our bond, I would have gone to look for him. Still, even if it took longer than expected, Kun eventually came back, and this time around he was dragging along a provisional seaweed rope tied to two knocked-out Pokemon. I offhandedly captured the Corphish before asking Kun to wait a moment so that I could let out the others so that they could listen in on the next part. After bringing out the whole group, excluding the Gyarados underlings, I asked Kun how the scouting went. 

Kun shared that the terrain was a bit tricky with many tears in the ground that were used as dwellings of the Corphish and Crawdaunt in addition to a seaweed field that grew around the tears, indirectly acting as a cover for them. Still, through his own observation and the interrogation of the two Corphish, he got a somewhat accurate number of Corphish and Crawdaunt living there, though he added that he was not entirely sure if those were correct since he had to heavily rely on the information from the two beaten Corphish due to his inability to scout the tears undetected.

According to Kun, there were supposedly around 300 Corphish and 11 Crawdaunt living in that area, with half of those Crawdaunt being at the gold stage while the other half were at the silver stage. The boss Crawdaunt along with his mate were both at the (high) gold stage, though they were the only ones at that (sub)stage.

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