Rayquaza

"Poliwag, where are you?" Yu Hai shouted as he walked, using Poliwag's voice to pinpoint its direction.

"Yoyo, yoyo," Poliwag, sensing Yu Hai getting closer, couldn't help but increase its volume, as if saying, "Here, here, I'm here..."

When Yu Hai pushed aside the leaves and branches blocking his view, he finally saw Poliwag's blue figure, and Rayquaza?

"No, that's wrong, it's Caterpie," Yu Hai almost fell for the Caterpie's trick, finding it both helpless and amusing. How could Rayquaza be so weak, knocked out by a little tadpole?

Caterpie is a caterpillar-like Pokémon. Its back is green, and its belly is pale yellow. Caterpie has a Y-shaped red antenna on its head, and when attacked by Flying-type Pokémon, it releases a foul odor from its head antennae to drive away enemies.

If you touch the red antennae on its head, it will also secrete an unpleasant smell to protect itself.

Caterpie has two pairs of prolegs on its front half, with suction cups. There are yellow ring-shaped markings on its sides, and its tail is a yellow spindle shape.

Caterpie is easy to catch and grows quickly, making it very suitable for new Trainers to capture and use to get through the early game when they have no other Pokémon. This is a common early-game Pokémon.

It's just so smelly here, the smell is indescribable, like a latrine on a thirty-degree hot day. Yu Hai, not wanting to stay long, took out a shrunken Poké Ball from his pocket and captured the already unconscious Caterpie.

"Let's go, Poliwag, it's too smelly here," Yu Hai called to Poliwag after capturing Caterpie. The stench emanating from Caterpie was truly unbearable; he was afraid he'd pass out if he inhaled any more.

The stench in the air was likely Caterpie's self-defense mechanism.

"Yoyo, yoyo," Poliwag also found it very unpleasant. If it weren't for waiting for Yu Hai to capture Caterpie, it would have already slipped away.

Returning to the temporary camp, Yu Hai found a comfortable spot under the shade of a tree and then took out Caterpie's Poké Ball to check its proficiency panel.

[Caterpie]

[Type: Bug]

[Gender: Female]

[Potential: 23%]

[Level: 3.14%]

[Ability: Shield Dust/1.31%][Hidden Ability: Run Away/2.53%]

[Learned Moves: (Body Slam/0.51%)(String Shot/1.25%)]

As expected, mediocrity is the norm for Pokémon. High-potential Pokémon, like the Starters, are likely bred.

He hadn't seen the proficiency panel of the Starters, but he could guess that their potential was at least fifty percent.

Each Starter has three stages of evolution, evolving without any evolution items, as long as their level is sufficient. Some Starters can even Mega Evolve, especially the original Starters.

He could only envy them. If the potential of the Starters was not less than fifty percent, then after three evolutions, each Starter could break through the potential of an Elite Four member, that was a certainty.

Unless the Trainer doesn't know how to raise them, the physical changes brought about by evolution and the increase in base stats would definitely raise the Pokémon's potential.

As for this Caterpie, its low potential meant it was useless and not worth nurturing.

If he had encountered Caterpie first, he might have treated it the same way he treated Poliwag.

Even if this Caterpie had low potential, after nurturing it and evolving it into a Butterfree, he would release it once he had other Pokémon companions, as it had helped him.

It was a pity they were destined to be apart. To survive on this deserted island, he could only treat it as food.

He wasn't that noble, nor was he an ungrateful person. He was just an ordinary person who couldn't perform saintly deeds, starving himself to save other Pokémon.

Releasing Caterpie was impossible. Little Poliwag had finally caught Caterpie, and it should be praised.

This was the food chain. Even if Yu Hai didn't eat it, Caterpie would be eaten by Flying-type Pokémon, such as Pidgey, Spearow, Pidgeotto, or even Fearow.

To process Caterpie, he returned to the sand pit he had dug earlier, took out the folding knife from the pit, and returned to the temporary camp to release Caterpie.

Bang--

When he opened the Poké Ball and released Caterpie, it was still in a dazed state. Yu Hai didn't hesitate and directly cut off Caterpie's head.

Caterpie's red antennae could release a foul odor, and its head likely contained a scent gland used to store the foul secretions produced from digesting leaves.

This defensive organ was present in many insects and animals in his past life, used as a means to drive away enemies.

It wasn't surprising that a weak Caterpie could evolve such an organ, but its head couldn't be eaten.

In fact, he had eaten insects in his past life; protein was several times that of beef.

So their diet should have targeted Caterpie long ago.

But he couldn't defeat Caterpie. Not only could Caterpie use moves, but he couldn't even withstand the foul smell Caterpie sprayed at him.

However, with Poliwag, it was different. He could let Poliwag take the lead, and he would only be responsible for throwing Poké Balls.

After pinching off Caterpie's head, he pulled out Caterpie's intestines. There was nothing else to process.

After the head and tail were removed, Caterpie was truly clean, so clean that only protein remained. No wonder Flying-type Pokémon liked to eat Caterpie.

The cooking method for Caterpie was also simple: rinse the inside of Caterpie's body with slightly salty freshwater, let the protein absorb the saltiness, and then throw it into the fire to grill.

Caterpie's exoskeleton was very hard, but the joints of the exoskeleton were very fragile, and the soft tissue beneath the exoskeleton, which was protein, was almost visible.

Even if the exoskeleton was grilled, the protein inside wouldn't be burnt.

Crack, crack--

As the fire roasted it, Caterpie's exoskeleton couldn't withstand it and cracked open.

But the protein inside the exoskeleton should be cooked by now.

Yu Hai used a branch to pull the Caterpie out of the campfire. He could already smell the faint scent of cooked meat beneath its shell.

Once it had cooled down a bit, he took out his folding knife again and cut the Caterpie in half. After removing the head and tail, four segments remained.

He gave the front, meatier half to Poliwag.

"This is yours, Poliwag. You caught the Caterpie, so you eat first," Yu Hai said, keeping the tail section for himself.

"Yo yo," Poliwag looked at the charred thing in front of him, unsure how to eat it.

Yu Hai once again used his folding knife, cracking open the Caterpie's shell to reveal the white, tender meat inside, which smelled delicious. Just looking at it made Poliwag drool.

He also cracked open his own portion. Holding the soft, melt-in-your-mouth protein, he thought about how, in his past life, thumb-sized bugs would burst with juice when bitten.

Gazing at the fragrant protein in his hand, he immediately had a bold idea.

Caterpies are voracious eaters, consuming a hundred leaves a day, making them pests. To prevent the trees from becoming bald, he would become a little pest-control expert.

Therefore, it's decided, Caterpie, it's you!

Wow, I woke up this morning to find a big shot gifted me a thousand book coins. Thank you, thank you. Thanks to Fallen Half-Immortal for the thousand coins, thanks to ZUROSHE for the three hundred coins, and thanks to everyone for the many monthly passes and recommendation tickets. Thank you, thank you... Regarding extra updates, I asked the editor yesterday, and they said a normal update of four thousand characters is fine. But I can't let everyone down, can I? How about this: extra updates will be placed after the book goes on sale. Three hundred monthly passes will earn one extra update, and one 'Helmsman' will earn one extra update. I'll owe them for now and make them up after the book goes on sale. This way, I'll have motivation for extra updates. One extra update is two thousand characters. 'Helmsman' rewards can accumulate; accumulating ten thousand becomes a 'Helmsman' and also earns an extra update... If the monthly passes are only ten or so short, I can also add an update. Sigh, this makes me afraid to ask for votes now. Please don't hit me with your votes; I'm afraid I can't afford to pay you back... So, I'm truly begging for follow-up reads.