Street Rat Kingler

Bang—

The Poké Ball opened, a flash of white light appeared, releasing the Poliwag inside, which pounced on Yu Hai and kept calling out, "Yoyo, yoyo..."

"Poliwag, let's head back and fish," Yu Hai said, holding the Poliwag. It seemed much more enthusiastic now.

It was also easier to communicate with than before, and had become friendlier. He even dared to reach out and stroke its round little head.

"Yoyo, yoyo," the Poliwag drooled at the mention of grilled fish, a broken wooden board still in its mouth as it helped Yu Hai gather the scattered items on the ground.

Once everything was packed up, the Poliwag hopped along behind Yu Hai, urging him, "Yoyo, yoyo..."

"Alright, alright, we'll go fish now," Yu Hai said with a helpless smile. This little foodie seemed to love grilled fish even more since eating it yesterday.

His grilling technique wasn't anything special—he just cooked the raw fish through. This little guy was probably like him, someone who had been tormented by hunger and thus treasured hard-won food more.

Back at the same fishing spot as yesterday, Yu Hai couldn't find any earthworms. The fish innards from last night had also been eaten by the Kingler by the shore.

That left him no choice but to tie some grass onto the hook as bait. He swore he'd have a meal of grilled crab one day, or he'd never let go of this grudge.

That damn Kingler was the bully of this beach, like a street thug. No Pokémon dared to mess with these crabs.

Among them was a Kingler leader, even larger, guarding a fruit tree.

According to official data, a Kingler stood one point three meters tall, weighed sixty kilograms, and its biggest claw had a crushing force of ten thousand horsepower.

That stat might be a bit exaggerated, but it could still snap his three legs without issue.

He'd taken a distant look at that leader Kingler—it was probably taller and stronger.

Definitely more than one point three meters. He couldn't beat it.

Without meat bait, he had to use plant bait. Whether he caught anything was up to the heavens again. Who knew if the fish in the sea liked greens?

After casting the bait, all that was left was a long wait. The Poliwag obediently crouched by his feet, not running off—probably too weak to. Both of them were hungry and unfit for heavy physical activity.

As for training the Poliwag, forget it. Filling their stomachs was the top priority. Without food, there was no strength to train.

Before solving the food problem, he wasn't planning to build a shelter. Why bother when they were starving to death? It was meaningless in the face of hunger.

Though he had gathered materials for a shelter—just a few rags to make a sunshade. Forget about keeping out rain or wind; those rags wouldn't block water.

But he watched the float all morning until the sun grew fiercer, and still, he caught nothing.

At noon, he couldn't take the direct sunlight anymore. If he kept being exposed like this, he'd sweat heavily, lose too much water, speed up dehydration, and even get heatstroke.

He had to guard against the scorching sun. Reluctantly, he gave up fishing for now, left the rod by the shore as a trap, and planned to check it later. Maybe there'd be a surprise.

After setting the rod down, Yu Hai called the Poliwag over to cool off in the shade. Neither of them was in good shape, especially the Poliwag, which could barely walk.

He had to pick it up and carry it to the shade, telling it, "The sun's too harsh now. We'll go out later..."

He didn't know if the Poliwag understood. He just set it down in the shade and left it alone—he was too hot himself.

"Yoyo!" The Poliwag was listless, wilted by the brutal sun and dehydration. It looked droopy, and after being carried over, it weakly called out to Yu Hai twice.

Yu Hai couldn't understand its cries, so he let it be.

But he couldn't rest yet. Sitting in the shade, he picked up the rags he'd found, along with some string and a nail, and started patching them together.

First, he used the nail to poke rows of small holes along the edges of two small rags that needed joining. Then he threaded the string through both pieces, and he had one big rag.

Next, he repeated the process, sewing the rag until it was large enough.

This patched-up rag was fine for shade, but forget about rain or wind protection.

Still, it counted as a roof of sorts. He could set up a shelter first and later add some waterproof plastic on top to keep out the rain.

That was the best he could do. Everything was junk he'd scavenged, with limited resources. He'd make do.

As the sun set and its intensity waned, he finished sewing a large rag. He put it down, got up, and went to the shore to check the rod he'd left.

When he pulled it up, there was no surprise—skunked was the perfect word for his situation. But the little grass tied to the hook was gone, which was infuriating.

He didn't know if the grass had been washed away by the current or eaten by some Pokémon. He tied another bunch of grass to the hook and cast again.

Whether he caught fish this afternoon would determine if they went hungry until tomorrow morning.

Sometimes he thought about letting the Poliwag hunt, but in the end, he decided against it.

If this little tadpole could catch food, it wouldn't have been starving like that yesterday.

Once it entered the sea, whether it was predator or prey was anyone's guess.

"Yoyo?" The Poliwag saw Yu Hai cast the hook again, as if asking if he'd caught anything.

Yu Hai shook his head helplessly, signaling no. His expression said it all—he'd been skunked again.

Still, the Poliwag's spirits were better now, not as weak as yesterday. Probably thanks to the food it had gotten.

It still looked thin and malnourished. Its frail body wasn't fit for intense exercise and needed some time to recover.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that they'd go hungry again today.

This couldn't go on. Forget becoming a Trainer—they might both starve to death on this deserted island.

He had to find a way to actively lure the fish to bite. Waiting around like this was a dead end.

Among fishermen, there was a type of bait called a lure. It looked like a small fish, and when retrieved, it mimicked a swimming fish, specifically tricking carnivorous fish into biting.

The key problem now was that he had no lures—they were still in the fishing tackle bag, which hadn't crossed over with him.

What had crossed over was just a fishing rod, a lump of bait he'd been holding in his hand, a lighter, a pack of Huazi, the clothes on his back, the keys on his keychain, and a Proficiency Panel.

The keys were useless, except for the folding knife hanging on the keychain—that had some use.

Back then, he'd been hooking bait onto the fishhook, his phone resting on his thigh. When he recast the line and looked down for his phone, he realized he'd freaking transmigrated.

It was that sudden, with zero time to prepare. There he was, night fishing, and he'd ended up here without a clue.

The place was a deserted island in the Pokémon World—a godforsaken, isolated wasteland where no one would hear him shout.

Let's talk about Pokémon dietary habits.

Actually, most Pokémon are omnivorous, except for a few specific types, like Grass-type, Ghost-type... Ground, Rock, and Steel-type—those that eat stones.

Poliwag is omnivorous. Forget Pokémon—real-world tadpoles eat meat, like mosquito larvae.

Take real bears, for example. They seem like fish-eaters, but they also eat grass—it's just that protein acquisition isn't as efficient as eating fish.

In the Pokémon World, some Pokémon have blurry diets. For Bug-types, some eat grass, some eat meat. But if meat's available, they'll prioritize it—protein storage efficiency is higher than eating grass.