On the beach, the sea goes out and back. Out and back. But in a rock pool, something was going round and round. It was a tiny wave. "My name is Olita," she said. "The sea left without me."
"Easy!" said Squirtle. He took a big breath and shot his strongest jet of water. The rock pool filled right up to the brim. Olita kept going round and round, just as before.
Pikachu scooped her up in a big shell to carry her down at a run. But in the shell Olita went flat. "Like this I'm not a wave," she said. "I'm only water." They put her back in the rock pool.
So Pikachu dug a little channel in the sand, fast as lightning, all the way from the rock pool to the sea. The water began to run. And it stopped. Someone had put three stones in the middle.
Behind the stones stood Krabby, with his pincers held high. "If she goes, my pool stays still," said Krabby. "With her, my pool dances."
Squirtle took a big breath, and Pikachu put a paw over his mouth. Then Pikachu sat down beside Krabby and showed him a dark line on the rock, with seaweed and tiny shells. "The sea comes up to here every day," he said. "Out and back."
Krabby looked at the line for a long time. He touched the wet seaweed. Then he took away the three stones all by himself, one by one, with his big pincer.
The sea came up the sand. A long wave ran in along the channel, and Olita jumped on top. "Out!" shouted Squirtle. And Olita went, farther and farther, until she was the whole sea.
The rock pool went still. Krabby sat down on the edge. Pikachu and Squirtle sat with him, one on each side, and said nothing. The sun went down. The sea came up to the line.
"Back!" said Krabby. Olita came into the rock pool with a hundred more little waves, and the pool danced. It was time to go. Krabby caught hold of Pikachu's tail with his pincer. "Out and back," said Pikachu. And Krabby let go.
