Bringing Poliwag to Tide Pools

If only it would rain again and cool down this damn sunny weather, that would be perfect.

But Yu Hai looked up. The sky was an endless blue, not a single white cloud in sight. There was no way it was going to rain.

He raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Yu Hai poured out the dregs at the bottom of his cup, refilled it with water, and set it on the fire to boil. He'd drink it later.

It wasn't like the water was particularly delicious, but the fact that it was drinkable was the most important thing.

Next, Yu Hai rested his head on his hands, lying back on a large rock. He gazed at the unchanging seascape, waiting for the tide to recede.

He couldn't catch any fish, but when the tide went out, he could go foraging. He'd pick up some shells, conch, and seaweed to make a seafood feast, and maybe even have some seaweed and clam soup.

Just thinking about the seafood soup after the tide went out made his mouth water. If it weren't for the scorching sun right now, he would have gone foraging already.

He couldn't help it; he was starving. He hadn't even eaten breakfast or lunch. This was his only meal of the day.

He wasn't a professional survival expert who could go three days without eating nine meals. That would kill him. Luckily, he had this one meal, otherwise, he really would starve to death.

From the constant abundance of food in modern society, a life of moderate prosperity, to this current life of sleeping under the stars with no guarantee of the next meal, it was something any normal person would struggle to get used to.

What's more, he had almost starved to death and died of thirst. This deserted island could truly claim his life.

However, the thought of the delicious seafood dinner tonight made Yu Hai unconsciously drift off to sleep, until he was woken by a long, pink tongue licking him.

"Yoyo, yoyo," Poliwag had tried everything to wake Yu Hai, and finally resorted to licking his cheek. It thought Yu Hai was sick.

"Don't eat me, don't eat me, don't don't," Yu Hai's eyes snapped open to see a long, pink tongue. He thought he'd been caught by a Pokémon and was about to be eaten, startling him greatly.

He quickly pushed himself up from the sand with his hands, his legs flailing as he scrambled backward several steps. He was genuinely terrified, thinking he was about to be eaten.

Only when he clearly saw it was Poliwag messing around did he heave a sigh of relief. He stood up from the sand and looked at the sunset in the sky. The sun was about to set.

This damn sunny weather made him sleepy, and it was just so boring all day. It wouldn't even let him sleep properly, giving him nightmares. He'd even dreamt he was swallowed whole by Kyogre.

And the sound of the waves on the shore. He hadn't noticed it when he was exhausted, but now that his food and fresh water had improved, the sound of waves crashing against the rocks was really annoying.

As someone from inland who couldn't swim, he really couldn't get used to the crashing sound. It seriously affected his sleep quality.

Besides, he didn't dare sleep too deeply. This was an uninhabited island, after all. If he slept too soundly and got carried away by a Ursaring, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.

After he had sobered up a bit, he heard his stomach growl. "Grumble, grumble..."

"Grumble, grumble..."

It wasn't just his stomach; Poliwag's stomach growled too. Hearing the two stomach growls, he and Poliwag exchanged a look, then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, Poliwag, are you starving too? Let's go foraging, we'll eat our fill tonight," Yu Hai said, walking ahead and gesturing for Poliwag to follow.

The tide was just going out, a perfect time for foraging. Many rocks were exposed, turning into shallow tidal pools, teeming with conch, shells...

These little things were just ordinary animals, not Pokémon. To collect them, he brought a plastic bucket, planning to gather as much as he could, especially seaweed. He wanted to eat his fill tonight.

"Yoyo? Yoyo," Poliwag tilted its head, not quite understanding why Yu Hai was so happy at first, but still followed his footsteps.

When Poliwag saw Yu Hai picking shells off the rocks with his bare hands, it finally understood.

It just didn't know what Yu Hai wanted these things for. They were hard and couldn't be eaten.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so hungry before, and then followed the scent of bait to find Yu Hai begging for food.

Clearly, Poliwag's small brain couldn't figure this out.

Deciding not to think about it, Poliwag didn't stand idly by. Since it knew Yu Hai wanted these things, it turned and scanned its surroundings. Seeing shells attached to a rock, it prepared to help Yu Hai pick them.

But as soon as it opened its pink mouth and bit onto a shell, Yu Hai scooped it up.

"Stop, these rocks and shells are very sharp. You could get cut if you're not careful. I'll pick the shells, you pick the seaweed," Yu Hai said, picking up Poliwag and explaining.

He put Poliwag down and took the shell from its mouth. He then picked up a piece of seaweed on the beach and placed it by Poliwag's mouth, explaining, "This is seaweed, you pick this..."

He then put the seaweed into the plastic bucket. After a few repetitions, he felt that this little tadpole, constantly blinking its bright black eyes, should understand, right?

He wasn't entirely sure if the little guy actually understood.

"Do you understand? I'll pick shells, you pick seaweed," Yu Hai asked Poliwag again after demonstrating.

"Yoyo, yoyo," Poliwag nodded, indicating it understood.

But Yu Hai was still a bit unsure. Whether this little tadpole had truly understood was a mystery.

Under his gaze, the little tadpole bent down, bit onto a piece of seaweed with its small mouth, and put it into the plastic bucket.

After performing the action of picking seaweed once, Poliwag raised its bright black eyes to look at Yu Hai. Seeing that Yu Hai said nothing, it knew it had done the right thing.

Seeing that Poliwag had truly understood, Yu Hai stopped paying attention to it and focused on picking the meaty shells.

However, what he didn't notice was that as Poliwag dropped the second piece of seaweed, it smacked its pink lips a few times. Poliwag felt like it could eat this stuff.

Immediately, Poliwag bit onto another piece of seaweed with its mouth and began to chew it carefully, finding that seaweed was quite delicious.

How had it never realized before that seaweed was edible?

At this moment, Poliwag felt like it had discovered a new world. So much food was right in front of it. The shallow tidal pools exposed by the receding tide were covered in lush green seaweed, more than it could ever eat.

Thinking of this, Poliwag couldn't help but recall its near-starvation experience. It tilted its head, looking at the abundant seaweed with confused eyes. Why had it been so hungry before? It was a true mystery.

"Yoyo, yoyo," Poliwag shook its head, too lazy to think about it. It just wanted to eat now, to make up for all the food it had missed.

After that, Poliwag forgot Yu Hai's instructions and ate wherever it went, a piece of seaweed constantly in its mouth, its cheeks bulging as it chewed.

Yu Hai, who happened to witness this, couldn't help but smile wryly. He finally understood why this little tadpole had been so hungry.

It was likely that shortly after hatching, before it had learned how to distinguish food, Poliwag had left its group.

Without parental guidance, the simplest way to identify food would be to bite everything it saw, spit out what wasn't good, and swallow what was.

Clearly, on its journey to this point, before being attracted by the bait, this little tadpole hadn't encountered any tasty food, otherwise, it wouldn't have been so hungry.