"Move aside, move aside, let me do it." Yu Hai squeezed past the Poliwag digging in the sand and started digging himself.
Before long, he unearthed a Poké Ball buried deep in the sand, with only its top exposed.
"Hahaha, a Poké Ball. No wonder I hadn't noticed it before—it was buried in the sand." Yu Hai gazed at the red-and-white Poké Ball in his hand, unable to put it down.
Other than fishing, he rarely visited this stretch of beach outside his home.
There was nothing edible on this beach, so he seldom came here. Farther ahead lay the rocky shallows where people foraged along the shore. That was where the food was, and it was also a scavenger's beach.
After obtaining the Poké Ball, Yu Hai immediately opened it to check whether it was still usable.
The Poké Ball opened with a pop. Judging by the sound, there was nothing wrong with it, and its shell had no obvious damage. There were only a few scratches that marred its appearance.
To test it further, he could catch a Caterpie. "Poliwag, let's catch lunch."
"Yo." The moment Poliwag heard the word "lunch," its eyes narrowed. It had already been starving.
"Let's go, let's go." Yu Hai called for Poliwag to follow. He was also eager to test the Poké Ball.
They searched for Caterpie along the edge of the jungle and quickly found one this time. Before Yu Hai could give an order, Poliwag charged forward and used Water Gun, Chain Slap, and Double Hit, taking down the Caterpie in one go.
Yu Hai had noticed that Poliwag was particularly fond of Chain Slap. It probably preferred straightforward fights—charging headfirst and landing blows that hit flesh on flesh.
Without his command, Poliwag did not like using Hypnosis. Every time it did, the Caterpie ended up reeking all over.
Ah, this was frustrating.
There was nothing he could do. He simply threw the ball, caught the Caterpie, released it, then caught it again.
After confirming that the Poké Ball worked, he called Poliwag and left the jungle's foul-smelling edge.
"We're heading back, Poliwag..."
"Yo, yo! Yo, yo!" Poliwag ran so fast that its feet left afterimages. All the running training it had done these past few days was being put to use fleeing the stench.
On the way back to the temporary shelter, Yu Hai picked up some kelp and shells. He also glanced at Caterpie's proficiency, which was as mediocre as ever.
Its Potential was only 34%, and it only knew Body Slam and String Shot. Nothing special.
Afterward, he washed the pot, boiled water, and removed the head and tail.
He was still making stew this time, except he used the stove he had modified that morning.
The stove concentrated the flames from the firewood, making it much hotter than a campfire. The Caterpie meat cooked quickly.
After dividing the food and boiling another pot of shellfish and kelp soup, he released the Caterpie that knew Confusion.
"Caterpie, do you want to have lunch with us?"
That sounded rather horrifying, especially to a Caterpie.
When Xiao Lv came out and saw the fragrant protein in front of Yu Hai and Poliwag, it swallowed unconsciously.
But when Xiao Lv saw the Caterpie head Yu Hai had not yet thrown away, with its eyes still wide open in death, it froze in terror.
It finally understood what kind of meat had been giving off that rich aroma.
The scene was straight out of a Caterpie horror movie, like Sadako crawling out of your television. The horror was overwhelming.
Just thinking about it sent a chill straight to the crown of one's head, especially for a Caterpie as expressive as Xiao Lv.
The Caterpie head nearly scared Xiao Lv unconscious. Its legs went limp, leaving it unable to move as it stared at Yu Hai and Poliwag in terror. What kind of devils were these two?
It was only the food chain; it had nothing to do with devils. If Arceus made every living being vegetarian, then the flowers, grass, trees, and Grass-type Pokémon would probably complain. After all, they could feel pain too.
"Caterpie, do you want to have lunch with us?" Seeing sweat constantly bead on Caterpie's head without any response, Yu Hai curiously reached out and gave it a nudge.
Caterpie toppled over stiffly, its entire body rigid. Xiao Lv was terrified.
But Yu Hai did not know that Xiao Lv was afraid. He started panicking, thinking Caterpie had starved itself weak. Don't tell me it's starving itself sick. I finally caught a high-Potential Caterpie—don't go and die on me.
He immediately held the rigid Caterpie in his arms and fed it some shellfish soup. Only after seeing Caterpie smack its lips and react did he let out a sigh of relief.
"Did you starve yourself?" Yu Hai set Caterpie down and gave it some shellfish meat and soup.
After recovering from its rigid state, Xiao Lv continued smacking its lips. It found the shellfish soup rather tasty, much better than bitter leaves.
"No, no." Xiao Lv kept shaking its head. Its distant relative had died with its eyes open—how could it possibly eat shellfish meat?
But the meat smelled so good. It was about to lose control. Someone save it—it could not hold out much longer.
Yu Hai could see Xiao Lv's struggle and fear. That head had been left there specifically to scare Xiao Lv.
But he also knew one thing: Caterpie were not born liking leaves. They simply had no choice but to eat them.
As Pokémon at the bottom of the food chain, they had nothing to eat besides leaves.
They could not compete with other Pokémon for Berries, and trying to hunt was like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth—a meat bun tossed to a dog, never to return.
So their only choice was to eat leaves.
"Waaah, Xiao Lv has fallen o(╥﹏╥)o." Xiao Lv ate the shellfish meat through tears, constantly whimpering as it chewed. "Waaah, but it's really delicious..."
This was meat, after all. How could it not be delicious? For a Caterpie, this stuff was a tremendous tonic.
As long as it accepted eating meat, it was just a pile of protein when all was said and done. Anyone playing survival was ruthless—what had they not eaten?
Human ancestors had survived this way too. It was only after civilization emerged that people became bound by morality, values, and bottom lines.
If order ever collapsed, the shackles of morality were removed, and bottom lines ceased to be bottom lines, that would be the true human hell.
He had watched many apocalypse movies in his previous life. All he could say was that day had better never come, because kind people had a hard time surviving in an apocalypse.
He was not a good person, but he had principles. If this Caterpie did not want to stay, if it wanted to leave, he would not stop it.
After lunch, Yu Hai recalled Caterpie with the Poké Ball. He was still unfamiliar with it and needed to observe it for a while to see whether they could get along.
He took a short nap while holding Poliwag. After waking, his task was to store firewood and prepare for the next storm.
Time passed quickly as they gathered firewood. With the little tadpole's help, the Treehouse was soon piled full of wood, and night fell.
For dinner, they had shellfish and kelp soup, something they had not eaten in a long time, reminiscing about their earlier difficult days of survival. Then the man and tadpole returned to the Treehouse.
Lying in the windless Treehouse with Poliwag beside him, Yu Hai opened Poliwag's Proficiency Panel to see how much the little tadpole had improved lately.
[Poliwag] [Attribute: Water] [Gender: Male] [Potential: 31.01%] [Level: 8.99%] [Ability: Damp/0.53%][Hidden Ability: Swift Swim/1.53%] [Mastered Moves: (Mind Reader/0.21%)(Ice Ball/0.31%)(Soothing Mist/0.81%)(Bubble/1.31%)(Hypnosis/0.72%)(Chain Slap/4.12%)(Pound/0.91%)(Water Gun/6.01%)(Play Nice/1.61%)]
This chapter had been revised a little. Some readers said it was toxic, so it was changed...
Actually, this chapter was a Caterpie horror movie, just like watching a horror film... the protagonist was the Sadako inside the television.
Before you continue