Most elite trainers (at least, those from outside Alola) first encounter Crabrawler on the grassy paths near the Battle Tree, while picking berries to replace those consumed by their pokemon in battle. The Crabrawler, undeterred by their reputation, challenge them to a match – a challenge which, given their small size and harmless apperance, puzzles most trainers as much as it amuses them. However, the Crabrawler will not be deterred; some have been known to chase trainers back to the Battle Tree or Pokemon Center in their eagerness for a battle.

A few trainers, noting their opponents' small size and unremarkable reputation, try to go easy on the Crabrawler; those who do so learn that their foes, although far from the world's strongest pokemon, remain more than capable of holding their own. Only those willing to take their challenge seriously, and battle using all of their elite pokemon's skill, can hope to defeat them – yet when they do, they find it was a remarkably easy match. Crabrawler, after all, are not some hidden masters of Alola, but a pokemon like any other – one yet to even complete its evolution, and which, even once evolved, is lucky to ever enter the Battle Tree under its own merits.

It is strange, considering the marvelous beasts they send into battle, that the world's top trainers would have adopted the Crabrawler as mascots. But they have embraced the Crabrawler all the same, for they see in them their younger and more inexperienced selves. One does not become a pokemon master by flinching at the thought of challenges, after all, but by confronting them head-on!