Poliwag's Progress

The morning sun wasn't too strong, which was why he chose to watch Poliwag train, considering it a way to accompany the little Poliwag.

"Yo-yo, yo-yo," Poliwag saw Yu Hai standing on the shore as soon as it entered the sea. It wanted to come ashore but was driven back by Yu Hai.

Yu Hai leaned on a branch and shouted to Poliwag in the sea, "Don't mind me, just focus on your training. I want to sit on the reef for a while and sunbathe..."

"Yo," Poliwag nodded, presumably indicating it understood.

"Cough, cough, cough," Yu Hai chuckled helplessly, covering his mouth to cough, and stopped talking.

He noticed that Poliwag's nodding motion was becoming more proficient, all learned from him. He just didn't know if Poliwag truly understood or just nodded along.

Puff, puff, puff--

Afterward, Poliwag began to shoot Water Gun in the shallow water.

Yu Hai also kept a close eye on Poliwag's proficiency panel. Initially, Poliwag's proficiency would increase by 0.1 after shooting one Water Gun.

But as the proficiency rose to three percent, Poliwag needed to shoot two or three Water Guns to gain 0.1 proficiency.

In other words, as Water Gun's proficiency continued to increase, more Water Guns needed to be shot for its proficiency to change.

Actually, this aligned with the principle of practice makes perfect.

To master a skill, there was no other way than thousands or tens of thousands of repetitions; there were no shortcuts.

This suited him well, as fishermen who couldn't stand loneliness wouldn't become true anglers. Anglers were truly capable of waiting, sometimes waiting for several consecutive days was standard practice, a common occurrence.

Plop--

Seeing Poliwag having so much fun in the sea, Yu Hai decided to increase the training difficulty. A pebble landed in the water, attracting Poliwag's attention, before he explained, "Poliwag, attack the pebble with Water Gun."

Plop, plop--

"Do you understand? Attack the pebbles I throw..."

While explaining to Poliwag, Yu Hai threw more pebbles at it. While helping Poliwag practice the accuracy of Water Gun, he considered it rehabilitation training.

He could also improve his throwing proficiency. This was probably killing three birds with one stone.

The first bird was training Poliwag's Water Gun accuracy, the second bird was Yu Hai's rehabilitation training, and the third bird was improving his throwing proficiency.

"Yo-yo, yo-yo," Poliwag nodded in the water, indicating understanding.

Poliwag no longer shot Water Gun randomly but focused intently on Yu Hai's palm, which held a pebble.

Plop--

As the pebble landed in the water, Poliwag's Water Gun missed.

"It's okay, we'll take our time," Yu Hai comforted the little Poliwag before raising his hand again to throw a pebble.

Plop, plop...

Pebble after pebble was thrown, all landing in the water. Out of ten pebbles, Poliwag only hit one.

"Very good, you hit one, keep it up," Yu Hai encouraged Poliwag, who had hit a pebble.

"Yo," praised by Yu Hai, Poliwag's fighting spirit intensified, eager to hit Yu Hai's thrown pebbles with Water Gun.

Plop, plop, plop--

Yu Hai threw another ten pebbles. This time, Poliwag hit two.

"Progress! You can hit two now, keep it up," Yu Hai, seeing Poliwag's effort, naturally didn't hold back his praise, but he also made sure Poliwag wouldn't get too proud.

As the training deepened, Poliwag's Water Gun accuracy improved to hitting five pebbles, six, seven, eight...

The morning training session thus concluded.

"Alright, Poliwag, come back, you can rest now," Yu Hai beckoned to the little Poliwag. The sun was nearing noon, and the temperature was rising. It wasn't the time for training anymore; it was time to go back and rest.

"Yo-hoo, yo-hoo," Poliwag panted, swimming back to the beach from the sea and following Yu Hai back to the temporary camp under the shade of the trees.

"Poliwag, you must be tired. There's still some kelp in the pot; you can recover first," Yu Hai placed the few leftover kelp strips from breakfast into Poliwag's leaf bowl, letting it replenish its energy.

"Yo-yo," but when Poliwag saw that Yu Hai had nothing in front of him, it couldn't help but pick up a strip of kelp with its mouth and give it to Yu Hai.

Yu Hai did not refuse. The little Poliwag had a simple heart, and refusing it might discourage it.

However, there would be no training in the afternoon. Without sufficient food replenishment, training could be detrimental to its health, and worse, it could even lower its potential, making it not worth the effort.

After a morning of targeted training, Poliwag's Water Gun proficiency had reached four percent.

[Poliwag]
[Attribute: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 31%]
[Level: 7.11%]
[Ability: Damp/0.53%] [Hidden Ability: Swift Swim/1.53%]
[Learned Moves: (Mind Reader/0.21%) (Ice Ball/0.31%) (Soothing Mist/0.51%) (Water Gun/1.31%) (Hypnosis/0.52%) (Chain Slap/2.64%) (Tackle/0.51%) (Water Gun/4.12%)]

Not only had its proficiency increased, but its accuracy had also improved significantly. It was no longer just grazing shots; with continued special training, one hundred percent accuracy was not a dream.

After closing Poliwag's status panel, Yu Hai looked out at the scorching midday sun.

After finishing lunch, he drank some hot water and prepared to take a nap.

But Poliwag wasn't full yet and had gone out to find food on its own.

Near the shallow reefs by the sea, there weren't many Pokémon that visited besides Kingler. As long as Poliwag didn't run into a Kingler, it would be safe.

For attacks from the sky, Poliwag could dive into the sea.

For attacks from the sea, Poliwag could come ashore. This was the advantage of an amphibious Pokémon.

It could go anywhere, underwater or on land...

He wasn't sure how long he slept, but in his groggy state, Yu Hai heard Poliwag's cries, as well as the sound of it using Chain Slap.

Slap, slap, slap, slap--

"What? Did little Poliwag get into a fight with another Pokémon again?"

Confused, Yu Hai opened his eyes but didn't see little Poliwag. He struggled to get up from the grass and followed the sounds to find it.

"Poliwag?" Yu Hai called out cautiously, asking the fallen giant tree branch, as the slapping sounds were coming from inside it.

"Yoyo, yoyo..."

Inside the branch, Poliwag heard Yu Hai's call and immediately perked up. Its responding cries grew louder, all to let Yu Hai know it was inside the branch.

Confirming Poliwag was inside the branch, Yu Hai reached out and pulled aside the branches, following Poliwag's cries as he walked into the interior.

He guessed that the Pokémon Poliwag had encountered wasn't too difficult to deal with. Otherwise, Poliwag would have run away long ago and wouldn't have been locked in a stalemate for so long. At most, this particular opponent was a bit tough to crack.

As he went deeper into the branch, he wanted to see what Poliwag had discovered.