The Tadpole That Wants Hands

The sixth day of surviving on the deserted island. It was a clear, cloudless day with no rain, just like the others.

Yu Hai had long grown accustomed to such sunny days. His sleep quality the previous night had been good; he slept until it was bright daylight. He had to thank that silly thing for it, but he hoped it wouldn't happen again next time, as he was afraid of being carried off by a Ursaring.

After waking up, he didn't disturb the Poliwag, which was still sound asleep. Instead, he stretched and moved his body.

After a few warm-up exercises, he went alone to the water collection spot to replace the plastic bucket that had been collecting fresh water for a day and a night.

The plastic bucket was already full of fresh water. He hadn't actually replaced the plastic bucket yesterday.

He had been exhausted by that silly thing all day, so he had no energy to replace the plastic bucket in the evening.

Even after resting all night, he still felt a bit sore this morning. This was perhaps the price of catching a big fish, he mused.

When he arrived at the water collection spot, he saw a large bucket of fresh water. He couldn't carry it all at once, so he had to transport it in two trips, pouring half a bucket into his own water container first.

Carrying half a bucket of water back to the shelter, he now had one and a half buckets of fresh water.

He had already had one and a half buckets of fresh water before. He had consumed half a bucket last night, leaving him with one bucket. Now, with another bucket added, he had two buckets of fresh water.

This amount was enough for drinking and cooking. For showering, he would need to collect more.

As he carried the half-bucket of water back to the shelter, the Poliwag had also woken up, but wasn't fully awake yet. Its big, dark eyes were still blurry, and its pink, plump lips were smacking.

But upon seeing Yu Hai, the Poliwag was completely awake and ran out of the shelter to welcome him.

"Yo-yo, yo-yo..."

"Stop it, can't you see I'm busy?" Yu Hai waved his hand, interrupting the Poliwag that was about to pounce. He was still carrying a bucket, and it wouldn't be good if the Poliwag knocked it over.

"Yo-yo, yo-yo," the Poliwag was very obedient. Seeing that Yu Hai was holding something, it stopped in time and moved to the side.

Watching Yu Hai carry the bucket into the shelter and put it down, and then seeing Yu Hai prepare to go out with another bucket, the Poliwag looked down at its round body. It seemed it didn't have hands. Even if it wanted to help Yu Hai carry the bucket, it couldn't.

Staring blankly at Yu Hai's hands holding the bucket, it wished it had hands too. This made the Poliwag think of its evolved form, which seemed to have hands as well.

It wondered when it would evolve, when it would have its own hands, and when it could truly help Yu Hai.

Lost in thought, the Poliwag followed Yu Hai's footsteps and came with him to the water collection spot.

However, the Poliwag, lost in thought and not paying attention to where it was going, accidentally bumped into Yu Hai, who had just finished changing the bucket and was preparing to return to the shelter.

"Yo-yo, yo-yo," the Poliwag was a little annoyed after bumping into him, but its anger subsided when it realized it had bumped into Yu Hai. It would never get angry at Yu Hai.

"What's wrong? Poliwag, you seem to have something on your mind," Yu Hai put down the bucket, squatted in front of the Poliwag, and reached out to stroke its head.

From the shelter, he had noticed the little tadpole spacing out, looking absent-minded. What could a simple little tadpole be thinking about? He didn't quite understand.

After all, he had only caught this little tadpole for three days at most. If he could understand the little tadpole's thoughts every moment, he wouldn't be himself, but someone with superpowers.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any. He was just an ordinary person.

At most, he was a high-dimensional human who had been dropped into the Pokémon World and then demoted to an ordinary person.

The only special thing was that he had a proficiency panel, which made him only slightly stronger than an ordinary person.

"Yo-yo, yo-yo," the Poliwag didn't know how to express itself. Instead, it opened its mouth and bit Yu Hai's finger, then drew a simple sketch of a Whirlpool Warrior in the sand.

After the Poliwag finished drawing, Yu Hai recognized it immediately. Wasn't this the Whirlpool Warrior he had drawn for the Poliwag that day!

But the Poliwag's drawing skills were much worse; it could only vaguely make out the outline of the Whirlpool Warrior.

The Poliwag first drew a circle by directly pressing its belly onto the soft sand. Then, it stepped on the edge of the circle with its four feet, leaving footprints in the soft sand that resembled the Whirlpool Warrior's limbs. Finally, the Poliwag stepped on the head of the circle with its two feet, using half of its foot, which represented the Whirlpool Warrior's protruding eyes.

Thus, the simple sketch of the Whirlpool Warrior was completed.

Afterward, the Poliwag walked around the sketch of the Whirlpool Warrior, went to where the Whirlpool Warrior's hands would be, stepped on them with its blue feet, and called out to Yu Hai, "Yo-yo, yo-yo..."

Then, the Poliwag went back to Yu Hai, bit his finger again, and pointed at the water bucket Yu Hai had placed aside.

Seeing so much body language, Yu Hai understood what the Poliwag wanted to express.

It probably meant it wanted to evolve, and the water bucket?

"Could it be to help me carry water?" Yu Hai thought.

"Right, and hands," Yu Hai realized after the Poliwag bit his finger twice and considering the connection between hands and the water bucket. He finally figured everything out and understood what the Poliwag's body language was trying to convey.

"Poliwag probably wants to say that it wants hands to help me carry water..."

"Heh heh," Yu Hai chuckled helplessly. The little tadpole was truly thoughtful.

But evolution wasn't that simple. Poliwag needed to reach level twenty-five to evolve. It was still nineteen levels away, a long way to go.

However, he was already content with the little tadpole's intention. It showed that Poliwag was growing up, understanding how to help him with chores, and was no longer just a silly, cute little tadpole. It had finally become a little tadpole that helped him with chores.

This was great, a good start, but he couldn't dampen the little guy's enthusiasm.

"So that's what it is. Don't worry, you'll have hands," Yu Hai reached out to comfort the little tadpole again. Then, changing his tone, he said seriously, "Having your own hands will be very hard. Can you persevere, Poliwag...?"

"Yo-yo, yo-yo," the Poliwag stopped spacing out and looking dejected. Its previously confused little eyes became more determined, and it nodded seriously at Yu Hai.

The Poliwag was probably expressing that it could definitely persevere and that they shouldn't underestimate it. It was just a little tadpole.

Just a little tadpole that had almost starved to death and didn't even know that water weeds were edible.

Yu Hai smiled without saying anything. He just hoped it wouldn't be a three-minute passion and that the little tadpole would remember its current resolve.

"Let's go back, Poliwag. There's a lot to do today, and you still have training tasks..."

After comforting the little tadpole again, Yu Hai withdrew his hand, beckoned the Poliwag to follow, picked up the water bucket, and the two of them returned to the shelter.

Thanks to yfrty.only Liu. Gui You Bai for the moon tickets, and thanks to everyone for your votes.