"Poliwag, do you know how dangerous that was just now?" Yu Hai asked as he placed food in front of Poliwag.
"Yoi, yoi." Poliwag nodded. It knew it had been dangerous; it was also the first time it had felt the threat of death.
"Now that you know, don't go off alone next time. You're still too weak. If you want to fear no enemy, you need to become stronger," Yu Hai said. He did not know whether Poliwag could understand, but he said it anyway.
"Yoi yoi, yoi yoi." Hearing this, Poliwag's tiny eyes grew even more solemn. It knew just how dangerous its earlier actions had been.
If Yu Hai had not thrown a Poké Ball to distract the Pidgey, it might never have returned.
Being snatched away and eaten by the Pidgey would have been its final fate.
It seemed as though flames burned in Poliwag's eyes. For the first time, it felt its own weakness. For the first time, it longed so desperately to become stronger—to be strong enough to fear no enemy and protect the Trainer who cared about it most, Yu Hai.
Getting stronger was the most unwavering thought in Poliwag's mind right then. It turned its grief and indignation into appetite, sweeping through the food Yu Hai had cooked, then wanted to head to the shore to train.
But Poliwag had only just stood up, and its legs were still weak when Yu Hai raised a hand and pressed it back down.
"Where are you going?" Yu Hai did not know what Poliwag was thinking, but he knew it could not go anywhere right now. Eating, then resting—those were Poliwag's only tasks at the moment.
"Yoi yoi, yoi yoi." Having recovered a little strength, Poliwag turned to look at the shore and fired off a Water Gun, telling Yu Hai that it wanted to train.
Yu Hai smiled helplessly. It seemed he had encouraged it a little too much. Having drive was a good thing, but this was not the time to use it.
"Get some proper rest. No training today." Yu Hai firmly held Poliwag's head down to keep it from rushing off in a burst of enthusiasm, then shook his head at it in refusal.
Seeing Yu Hai shake his head, Poliwag deflated like a punctured balloon and drooped again.
But when Poliwag saw the food placed before it, its fighting spirit rekindled. It raised its head to look at Yu Hai, who had brought it over.
"These are the leftover fish bones from last night. I warmed them up for you in the frying pan. Right now, all you need to do is eat and rest properly. Training can wait until you've recovered..."
"Yoi yoi." Poliwag looked at the food in the pan and pushed the frying pan toward Yu Hai.
Yu Hai accepted Poliwag's kindness, but fish bones were hard for him to digest, so he refused.
"You eat first. There's more here." After refusing, Yu Hai picked up the Magikarp he had just scaled. He placed half over the fire to roast and put the other half into the stew pot to boil.
Although Magikarp was mostly bones, some skin and flesh still clung to them, and those parts were edible.
They probably would not taste very good, though. They would likely be chewy and difficult to digest.
He did not have a pressure cooker, either. Otherwise, stewing them in one would probably have made them taste better.
Since he did not have a pressure cooker, he could only stew them longer. That meant the half of the fish bones over the fire would be ready sooner than the half boiling in the pot.
Yu Hai took the dried Magikarp ribs off the fire, crushed the fish bones again, and used the frying pan as Poliwag's bowl before handing the bones to it.
"Yoi yoi, yoi yoi." Seeing a panful of fish bones, Poliwag swallowed and pushed the frying pan toward Yu Hai again.
But Yu Hai pushed the frying pan right back. "I have some here..."
As he spoke, Yu Hai pointed in front of himself, where there was a small bowl of fish bones. Compared to the bones in Poliwag's frying pan, though, there were far fewer.
He could eat this stuff too, but it was hard to digest and got stuck in his teeth. The freshly dried fish bones were fairly crisp, with a texture much like potato chips.
As for the taste, it was hard to put into words.
Only after seeing fish bones in front of Yu Hai as well did Poliwag stop refusing. It happily accepted the frying pan and began eating with great gusto.
Though the fish bones in the stew pot were not done yet, the fish soup could be tasted first—the pure, unadulterated fish soup.
Yu Hai first filled an iron cup with fish soup for himself, then used a bowl made from a plastic bottle to serve Poliwag a bowl as well.
After setting down Poliwag's fish soup, he finally tasted his own. It seemed to have nothing more than a fishy smell and a hint of seafood fragrance, and that was it.
If only he could add some kelp and shellfish, then the soup would truly be delicious. At the very least, it would not smell so fishy.
Unfortunately, the tide had not gone out yet, so it was not a good time to forage along the shore.
Sigh. It was already good enough to have something to drink. Being so picky was not right.
With a helpless sigh, Yu Hai poked at the fish bones with his chopsticks. Finding that the skin and flesh attached to the bones had softened somewhat, he picked out a piece to try.
The result was that it was still as tough as leather and impossible to chew. He was about to put it back into the stew pot to boil some more when Poliwag called out to him.
"Yoi yoi, yoi yoi..."
Poliwag now had the strength to stand. Its cries carried a little more energy too, and its complexion was much better than before.
"You want to eat it?" Yu Hai tentatively picked up the fish skin and placed it in the frying pan before Poliwag.
Poliwag did not reply. It lowered its head, bit into the fish skin, swallowed it, and began chewing.
Yu Hai did not stop it. Instead, he fished some remaining fish innards from the pot and treated them as breakfast.
As the fish skin gradually cooked through, he picked all of it out and placed it in Poliwag's frying pan.
He would let this little foodie battle wits with the chewy fish meat. He was staying out of it.
He merely filled an iron cup with fish soup, poured out the soup in the stew pot to cool, refilled the pot with water, and placed it over the fire to boil. Then he left it alone.
Instead, he took his old companion, his fishing rod, and went to the rocky fishing spot from before. After baiting the hook with snail meat, he cast his line.
Actually, fish was no longer his main source of food, but he still fished in hopes of finding a Water-type Pokémon with decent Potential. He was not limiting himself to Magikarp, either.
Of course, he did not want Kingler. He would not take one even if it were given to him, unless...
Forget it. That bunch of hooligans would only ruin his mood. Better not think about them.
After putting those hooligans out of his mind, Yu Hai focused intently on the float, taking small sips of fish soup from his iron cup as though it were freshwater.
Fishing was actually an incredibly dull pastime. Anyone who was not genuinely interested in it could not endure the loneliness of waiting for a fish to bite.
A true fisherman was a fisherman precisely because he could endure solitude. Waiting day after day, year after year, for ten years without change was simply routine for a fisherman.
Still, the wait for a fish to bite this morning felt especially long...
The bookmarks broke three hundred today. It wasn't easy! Thank you all for the monthly votes and recommendation votes. Seven or eight readers voted, so I won't list everyone one by one. I'll thank you all together here instead. Thank you x3
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