Kingler, the Beach Bully

Bang—

The Poké Ball opened, and a flash of white light released the Poliwag inside. It pounced onto Yu Hai and kept chirping, "Yoyo, yoyo..."

"Poliwag, we're going back to fish now." Yu Hai held Poliwag in his arms. Poliwag seemed much more enthusiastic than before.

It was also much easier to communicate with and had become friendlier. Yu Hai even dared to reach out and stroke Poliwag's round little head.

"Yoyo, yoyo." The moment Poliwag heard about grilled fish, drool ran from the corners of its mouth. It even held a piece of broken wooden board in its mouth and helped Yu Hai gather the scattered things from the ground.

Once everything had been packed up, Poliwag followed behind Yu Hai, hopping along as it urged him, "Yoyo, yoyo..."

"Alright, alright, we're going fishing now." Yu Hai smiled helplessly. Ever since this little foodie had eaten grilled fish yesterday, it seemed to like it even more.

There was nothing special about his grilling skills. He had simply cooked raw fish over a fire. This little guy was probably like him—someone who had suffered through hunger and therefore treasured hard-won food more easily.

They returned to yesterday's fishing spot. Yu Hai had not found any earthworms, and the fish guts from last night had also been eaten by the Kingler on the beach.

That left him with no choice but to tie some grass onto the fishhook as bait. He swore that he would have grilled crab one day, or he would never get over this grudge.

Those damned Kingler were the tyrants of this beach, like a gang of loafers. No Pokémon dared to provoke them.

Among them was a Kingler leader, even bigger than the rest, guarding a berry tree.

According to the official data, Kingler stood 1.3 meters tall, weighed 60 kilograms, and its largest claw possessed the strength of ten thousand horsepower.

That description was somewhat exaggerated, but it would have no trouble snapping all three of his legs.

He had even sized up that leader Kingler from a distance. It was probably taller and sturdier still.

It was definitely more than 1.3 meters tall, and he stood no chance against it.

Without meat bait, he could only fish with plant-based bait. Whether he caught anything now depended on whether heaven chose to feed him. He had no idea if the fish in the sea even liked vegetarian food.

After casting the bait, all that remained was a long wait. Poliwag obediently crouched by his feet without running around. It was probably too weak to run around anyway. Both man and tadpole were hungry, and neither was suited for strenuous activity.

As for training Poliwag, he could forget about that. Filling their stomachs was the priority. Without food, they would not have the strength to train at all.

Before solving the food problem, he had no plans to build a shelter. They were practically starving to death already, so what was the point of building a shelter? In the face of starvation, it meant nothing.

Although he had gathered materials for a shelter, they were only a few scraps of cloth. He could make himself a lean-to for shade, but rain and wind protection were out of the question. A few scraps of cloth could not keep out the rain.

Yet after watching the float all morning, even as the sun grew fiercer and fiercer, he still caught no fish.

By noon, he could no longer endure the direct sunlight. If he kept being exposed like this, he would sweat heavily, lose too much water, dehydrate faster, and might even suffer heatstroke.

He had to guard against the blazing sun. He could only temporarily give up fishing and leave the Fishing Rod by the shore as a trap. When he reeled it in later, perhaps there would be a surprise.

After setting down the Fishing Rod, Yu Hai called Poliwag over to rest in the shade. Neither of them was in good condition right now, especially Poliwag, which barely had the strength to walk.

He had no choice but to pick Poliwag up and carry it into the shade. "The sun is too harsh right now. We'll go out again later..."

He did not know whether Poliwag understood him. He set it down in the shade and left it alone. He himself was already unbearably hot.

"Yoyo!" Poliwag was listless. It had long since wilted under the scorching sun, partly from losing moisture. After Yu Hai carried it away, it weakly called out to him twice.

Yu Hai could not understand Poliwag's cries, so he simply let it be.

But he still could not rest. Sitting in the shade, he picked up the scraps of cloth he had collected, along with some rope and a nail, and began stitching the pieces together.

First, he used the nail to punch rows of small holes along the edges of two small scraps of cloth that needed joining. Then he threaded the rope through both pieces, giving himself one larger piece of cloth.

Next, he needed to repeat the process until the cloth was large enough.

This patched-up cloth would work well enough for shade, but rain and wind protection were impossible.

Still, it counted as a roof of sorts. He could set up the shelter first, then add waterproof plastic to the roof later. That would basically keep out the rain.

This was the limit of what he could do. Everything was junk he had scavenged, and conditions were limited, so he would just have to make do.

As the sun sank westward and its rays gradually lost their intensity, he had patched together a large piece of cloth. He put it down, got up, and went to the shore to check the Fishing Rod he had set out.

When he pulled up the Fishing Rod, it gave him no surprise whatsoever. Catching nothing perfectly described his current situation, but the grass tied to the fishhook had vanished without a trace. That was really damn irritating.

He had no idea whether the bundle of grass had been swept away by the current or eaten by some Pokémon. He tied another handful of grass onto the fishhook and cast the line again.

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

Sometimes, he considered letting Poliwag hunt for food, but after thinking it over, he decided against it.

If this little tadpole could catch food on its own, it would not have been starving so badly yesterday.

Once it entered the sea, there was no telling whether Poliwag would be the hunter or the hunted.

"Yoyo?" Seeing Yu Hai cast the fishhook again, Poliwag seemed to be asking whether he had caught anything.

Yu Hai helplessly shook his head, indicating that he had not. The expression on his face made it obvious enough—he had come up empty again.

However, Poliwag's condition was much better now. It was not as weak as yesterday, likely because it had eaten something.

It still looked thin and malnourished. Poliwag's frail body was not suited for intense activity and needed time to recover.

But none of that was important. What mattered was that they would be going hungry again today.

This could not continue. Forget becoming a Trainer—they might both starve to death on this Deserted Island.

He had to think of a way to actively lure fish into biting. Fishing like this, waiting for prey to come to him, would only lead to death.

Among anglers, there was a type of bait called a lure. It resembled a small fish, and when it was cast out and reeled back in, it looked like a little fish swimming. It was specifically used to fool carnivorous fish into biting.

The key problem now was that he had no lure. His lures were still in the Fishing Tackle Bag and had not come with him through the transmigration.

The only things that had come with him were a Fishing Rod, the lump of bait he had been holding, a lighter, a pack of Huazi, the clothes on his back, the keys on his keychain, and a Proficiency Panel.

The keys were useless. The only thing of any use was the Folding Knife hanging from the keychain.

At the time, he had been putting bait on the fishhook, with his phone resting on his thigh. After he cast the line again and looked down for his phone, he suddenly realized that he had fucking transmigrated.

It had happened so abruptly that he had not had even a moment to prepare. While night fishing, he had somehow ended up transmigrating in a daze.

And the location was an uninhabited Deserted Island in the Pokémon World, a place where neither heaven nor earth would answer his cries.

A word about Pokémon diets.

Most Pokémon were omnivores, aside from a few particular types—such as Grass-type, Ghost-type... Ground, Rock, and Steel-type Pokémon that ate rocks.

Poliwag was an omnivore. Not even counting Pokémon, real-world tadpoles ate meat too, feeding on mosquito larvae.

For example, real bears looked like they ate fish, but they also ate grass. It was simply that getting protein from fish was more efficient.

Some Pokémon in the Pokémon World had rather vague diets. Bug-type Pokémon, for instance, included ones that ate grass and ones that ate meat. But if meat was available, they would prioritize it, since protein was stored more efficiently than from eating grass.