Rainy Day

"Yo, yo..."

Yu Hai had just stepped into the curtain of rain when he heard a familiar cry. Poliwag had returned, splashing through the rainwater.

"Poliwag? Cough, cough." Yu Hai raised a hand over his mouth and looked toward where the cries came from through the rain.

Before long, Poliwag came into view with a cut plastic bottle clamped in its mouth. It was the bottle Yu Hai had previously used to hold seafood. He hadn't expected Poliwag to find it.

"Yo, yo." Poliwag looked like a king returning in triumph. Upon seeing Yu Hai, its steps became noticeably lighter. This time, it had gone out alone to search for food, so the meaning was naturally very different.

Once he confirmed that it really was Poliwag, Yu Hai retreated beneath the tree at the right moment. It would keep some of the rain off him, and he did not want to get soaked either.

"What food did you find, Poliwag?" Yu Hai curiously examined the plastic bottle Poliwag had brought back. The most obvious thing inside was bright green kelp.

"Yo, yo." Poliwag set down the plastic bottle, sucked out a strip of kelp with its mouth, and held it out to Yu Hai, calling, "Yo, yo..."

Yu Hai understood. Poliwag wanted him to eat the kelp.

He did not mind that Poliwag had bitten it and simply put it into his mouth.

The kelp was salty and a little fishy, with a crisp texture. It was edible enough. More importantly, it was the only thing he had to eat, so he had no choice. He slowly chewed it to pieces and swallowed it.

But after taking a bite of kelp, he did not see Poliwag eating anything. He looked at it in confusion and asked, "Poliwag, aren't you eating?"

As Yu Hai spoke, he waved the bright green kelp in his hand.

"Yo, yo." Poliwag lowered its gaze to its belly and showed it to Yu Hai.

Yu Hai also looked at Poliwag's belly. The green kelp reflected there made it obvious that the little foodie had taken so long because it had filled itself up in the shallows before returning.

Still, he could not be the only one eating. There was plenty of kelp in the plastic bottle, along with some shellfish. He could not finish that much by himself.

While chewing kelp, he poured out the kelp from the plastic bottle, picked up a strip, and offered it to Poliwag. At the same time, he raised the kelp in his own hand, signaling to it. "Let's eat together, Poliwag..."

"Yo." Poliwag did not refuse. Its eyes curved into slits with happiness as it took the kelp Yu Hai offered with its mouth.

Heavy rain fell outside the tree, while light rain dripped beneath it. One man and one tadpole ate their simple dinner, and Yu Hai occasionally shelled the clams for Poliwag.

Since the little foodie had no hands, he was the only one who could do that sort of work.

Once the man and tadpole had eaten and drunk their fill, they had also finished all the food the little foodie had brought back. Next, it was time to rest.

The heavy rain was still falling, and their room to move was limited. They could not go anywhere, and he had no idea when the rain would stop.

He swore to the heavens...

Rumble—

"Forget it. I'm not swearing anymore." Yu Hai was utterly speechless. Did it have to be so punctual?

He would absolutely stop talking big in the future. Even if he did, he would wait until he had a sturdy shelter first.

After the thunder, the rain gradually grew heavier. The wind that had stopped earlier also showed signs of intensifying.

In response, he took out the Poké Ball again and asked the little tadpole, "Poliwag, do you want to go inside?"

"Yo, yo." Poliwag had wanted to shake its head, but it was afraid Yu Hai would get angry. In the end, it could neither shake its head nor nod.

Still, it did not want to go inside. Even if it had to, it wanted to sit with Yu Hai a little longer.

Poliwag immediately hopped up, stomped on the tree root beneath its feet, then leaned against the trunk and blew bubbles from its nostrils. Only then did it point its tail at the Poké Ball in Yu Hai's hand.

Seeing this, Yu Hai understood again. Poliwag was saying that it wanted to sit a little longer and wait until bedtime before returning to the Poké Ball to sleep.

Yu Hai did not refuse Poliwag's wish to stay. He put the Poké Ball away again, though what he did not see was Poliwag letting out a long sigh of relief when it saw him put it away.

Poliwag merely wanted to stay outside a little longer and keep Yu Hai company. It had thought Yu Hai would refuse, but Yu Hai agreed today. Its heart leaped with joy as it quietly edged closer to him.

Leaning against Yu Hai, it felt safe and felt his warmth. If time could stop, it only wanted to keep leaning against Yu Hai like this, leaning against Yu... Hai...

Yu Hai did not notice Poliwag's little movements. Even if he had, he would not have cared. If the little tadpole liked leaning on him, then it could lean on him.

All his attention had shifted to Poliwag's Proficiency Panel.

[Poliwag]

[Type: Water]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 31%]

[Level: 7.01%]

[Ability: Damp/0.53%][Hidden Ability: Swift Swim/1.53%]

[Mastered Moves: (Mind Reader/0.21%)(Ice Ball/0.31%)(Soothing Mist/0.51%)(Bubble/1.31%)(Hypnosis/0.52%)(Chain Slap/2.64%)(Pound/0.51%)(Water Gun/2.52%)]

Poliwag's level had finally broken through level seven. What a cause for celebration—Poliwag was one step closer to evolving into Whirlpool Warrior.

Once the torrential rain stopped, he needed to hurry and find Poliwag some sparring partners, raise its level as quickly as possible, and let it evolve sooner. That would improve their lives as well.

Its move proficiency could not fall behind either. Its moves were practically unchanged from before the storm.

However, Poliwag's Hidden Ability, Swift Swim, had actually increased in proficiency. It had gained 0.3 proficiency.

So this Ability's proficiency had to be trained in rainy weather. Then he needed to catch a Pokémon that knew Rain Dance or had the Drizzle Ability.

There were many Pokémon that could learn Rain Dance, and Poliwag itself could learn it too.

But there were only three Pokémon with the Drizzle Ability, the kind that brought rainy weather the moment they appeared: Politoed, Pelipper, and Kyogre.

Kyogre was out of the question, and Politoed was not very likely either. That evolution branch was far more difficult than Poliwrath.

Even a Water Stone was hard to obtain, much less a King's Rock.

Back when he had browsed forums in his previous life, he had seen speculation about King's Rocks.

The theory was that only a King's Rock passed down through generations, one that had belonged to a king because an ancestor had once been one, could trigger evolution.

If that was true, then it was first an antique and only secondly an evolution item.

Once something was labeled an antique, its price was easy to imagine.

And once Poliwag evolved into Politoed, it would lose the Swift Swim Ability.

So he did not really have a choice. He had to catch a seabird with the Drizzle Ability—the evolved form of Long-winged Gull, Pelipper.

There were plenty of those Pokémon. He had seen more Long-winged Gulls alone than Spearows and Pidgeys combined.

It was not impossible to train up a high-Potential Long-winged Gull with Hydration. After evolving, it would naturally have the Drizzle Ability.

"Cough, cough, cough." The thought of another possible path stirred Yu Hai's emotions, making him cough again. This had already happened several times today.

As he covered his mouth to muffle the coughing, he lowered his head to look at Poliwag. Only after confirming that he had not woken the little tadpole, which was sleeping soundly, did he relax.

Then, he took out the Poké Ball and recalled the sleeping little tadpole. This time, he did not lock the Poké Ball again. He found a slightly drier section of trunk, leaned against it, and fell into a deep sleep.

With the sound of rain to lull him, he should be able to sleep well tonight...

Thank you all for the many votes, thank you x3. Please keep reading! The little tadpole wants recommendations. The little tadpole is crying, sob sob...