Taking Poliwag Tidepooling

If only another rainstorm would come and cool down this damned Sunny Day, it would be perfect.

But when Yu Hai looked up, the boundless blue sky held not a single white cloud. Rain was out of the question.

He raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, poured out the sediment at the bottom of his cup, filled it with fresh water again, and set it over the fire to boil for later.

It was not as though the water tasted particularly good. What mattered was that it was drinkable. That was the most important thing.

Next, Yu Hai lay back on the boulder with his hands behind his head, staring at the unchanging seascape as he waited for the tide to recede.

Since he could not catch any fish, he could go tidepooling after low tide and gather food like shellfish, sea snails, and kelp. He could make himself a seafood feast and even have a mouthful of kelp and shellfish soup.

Just thinking about the seafood soup after low tide made him drool. If the sun were not blazing so fiercely, he would have already gone tidepooling.

He had no choice. Missing even one meal left him unbearably hungry, not to mention that he had skipped both breakfast and lunch. He only ate once a day.

He was not some professional Desert Island Survival expert. He could not go three days while skipping nine meals. That would kill a person. Luckily, he still had one meal to eat, or he really would starve to death.

He had gone from a well-fed, comfortably modern life to this Desert Island Survival existence of sleeping rough and never knowing where his next meal would come from. No normal person could get used to that.

Besides, he had nearly starved and died of thirst. This deserted island really could take his life.

Still, as soon as he thought of the delicious seafood feast that night, Yu Hai gradually fell into a deep sleep, only to be awakened by a long little pink tongue licking him.

"Yo yo, yo yo." Poliwag had called and called but could not wake Yu Hai, so it had stuck out its tongue to lick his cheek. It thought Yu Hai was sick.

"Don't eat me! Don't eat me! Don't—" The moment Yu Hai opened his eyes and saw that long pink tongue, he thought a Pokémon had caught him and was about to eat him. He was scared out of his wits.

He hurriedly braced both hands on the ground and sat up from the sand, kicking his legs wildly as he quickly scrambled back several steps. He had truly been frightened, thinking he was about to be eaten.

Only after seeing clearly that Poliwag was messing around did he let out a huge sigh of relief. He stood up from the sand and looked toward the sunset on the horizon. The sun was about to set.

This damned Sunny Day not only made him drowsy, but also left him feeling stuffy all day. It would not even let him get a decent sleep, and it had given him a nightmare where Kyogre swallowed him whole.

There was also the sound of the waves by the shore. He had been too exhausted to notice before, but after his food and freshwater situation improved over the past two days, the rushing sound of waves crashing against the rocks had become incredibly irritating.

As an inland landlubber, he really could not get used to that rushing noise. It affected his sleep quality too much.

And he did not dare sleep too deeply. This was an uninhabited deserted island. If a Teddiursa carried him off while he was dead asleep, he would not even have anywhere to cry.

Once he had become a little more alert, he heard his stomach growl. "Grrr, grrr..."

"Grrr, grrr..."

It was not just his stomach growling—Poliwag's stomach was growling too. After hearing the two rumbling stomachs, he and Poliwag looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, Poliwag, you must be starving, huh? Let's go tidepooling. We'll eat our fill tonight." Yu Hai walked ahead and beckoned for Poliwag to follow.

The tide was receding at just the right time, making it perfect for tidepooling. Many reefs had been exposed, turning into shallow flats covered with sea snails, shellfish...

These little things were merely ordinary animals, not Pokémon. To collect them, he brought along a plastic bucket. He would gather as much as he could, especially kelp. Tonight, he was going to eat his fill.

"Yo yo? Yo yo." Seeing Yu Hai so happy, Poliwag tilted its head at first, looking as though it did not quite understand, but it still followed Yu Hai.

When Poliwag saw Yu Hai picking shellfish attached to the reefs with his bare hands, it understood.

It just did not know what Yu Hai wanted these things for. They were hard and could not be eaten.

Otherwise, it would not have starved so badly before that it had followed the scent of bait to Yu Hai and begged him for food.

Clearly, Poliwag's tiny brain could not figure out such a complicated matter.

Unable to figure it out, Poliwag simply stopped thinking about it. Since Yu Hai wanted these things, it did not stay idle. It turned and looked around, spotted shellfish clinging to a reef, and prepared to help Yu Hai pick them off.

But just as it opened its little pink mouth and Bit down on a shellfish, Yu Hai picked it up.

"Stop. These reefs and shellfish are both very sharp. You could get cut if you're not careful. I'll collect the shellfish, and you collect the kelp." Yu Hai held Poliwag and explained it to it.

After putting Poliwag down, he removed the shellfish from its mouth, picked up a strand of kelp from the beach, and held it by Poliwag's mouth as he explained, "This is kelp. You collect this..."

Then he placed the kelp into the plastic bucket. After repeating the process several times, he felt that this little tadpole, which kept blinking its large, bright black eyes, should understand... right?

He was not entirely sure whether it actually understood.

"Do you understand? I'll collect shellfish, and you collect kelp." After demonstrating it for Poliwag, Yu Hai asked again.

"Yo yo, yo yo." Poliwag nodded, indicating that it understood.

Yet Yu Hai was still somewhat uncertain. Whether this little tadpole had truly understood remained a mystery.

Under his watchful gaze, the little tadpole bent down, caught a strand of kelp with its little mouth, and placed it into the plastic bucket.

After completing the kelp-collecting motion once, Poliwag lifted its bright black eyes to Yu Hai. Seeing that Yu Hai said nothing, it took that as proof that it had done the right thing.

Seeing that Poliwag had really understood, Yu Hai stopped paying attention to it and instead gathered shellfish that had meat inside.

What he did not notice was that when Poliwag put down its second strand of kelp, it smacked its little pink lips a few times. It felt like this stuff might be edible.

Then Poliwag caught another strand of kelp in its mouth and chewed it carefully, discovering that kelp was actually quite delicious.

How had it never realized before that kelp could be eaten?

At that moment, Poliwag seemed to have discovered a new continent. Food was everywhere before its eyes. The shallow reef flats exposed by the low tide were covered in lush green kelp, far more than it could ever finish.

Thinking of this, Poliwag could not help recalling how it had nearly starved to death before. It tilted its head and stared at the kelp all over the ground with confusion in its eyes. How had it starved so badly before? It truly was an unsolved mystery.

"Yo yo, yo yo." Poliwag shook its head, too lazy to think about so much. Right now, it only wanted to eat and make up for all the food it had missed before.

After that, Poliwag forgot Yu Hai's instructions. It ate wherever it went, always holding a strand of kelp in its mouth, its cheeks puffed out as it continuously chewed.

When Yu Hai happened to see this, he could not help smiling helplessly. He finally understood why this little tadpole had starved so badly.

Poliwag must have left its group shortly after hatching, before it had learned how to distinguish food.

Without parents to teach it, the simplest way to identify food was to bite everything it saw. If it did not taste good, spit it out; if it did, swallow it.

Clearly, before being drawn here by the bait, this little tadpole had not encountered anything tasty along the way. Otherwise, it would not have starved so badly.