Looking at the Sharp-toothed Fish on the sand, Yu Hai excitedly smiled at Poliwag. "Poliwag, this Sharp-toothed Fish weighs forty jin. After removing the bones and guts, there'll still be thirty jin of meat—enough for us to eat for several days. Whatever we can't finish can be made into jerky and stored."
"Yoyo? (^o^) Yoyo." Although Poliwag did not understand why Yu Hai, this human, had been frowning just moments ago but was now so happy—
Seeing Yu Hai happy somehow made it happy too, and it cheerfully bounced up and down.
This Sharp-toothed Fish did not look very big, only about half a meter long. It clearly had not reached the officially recorded 0.8 meters and was still in its juvenile stage, so it probably did not weigh forty jin either.
Still, after removing the guts and bones, there should be ten to twenty jin of meat left.
Sharp-toothed Fish were classified as Fierce Pokémon. Their backs were blue, their bellies red, and aside from their tail fins, their fins were mostly yellow. Like barbs, they stood around their bodies, and there was a star-shaped pattern on their bellies.
These carnivorous fish Pokémon were extremely fierce. With powerful lower jaws and sharp teeth, they could even Crunch through the bottoms of boats.
They could smell even the faintest trace of blood and attacked prey in schools. Many boats had sunk after being attacked by Sharp-toothed Fish.
Next, while the vicious Sharp-toothed Fish was still unconscious, Yu Hai began cleaning it. He buried the guts and other scraps in the sand, planning to dig them up tomorrow to use as bait.
This time, no matter what, he would not let that group of Kingler freeload on the fish guts. This concerned their future food supply.
Although fishing with a lure had proven feasible, it was far too unpredictable. Whether anything bit depended entirely on luck.
He had seen through luck. He no longer wanted to rely on that damned thing for food. Anglers needed to catch fish—he refused to come up empty.
After cleaning the Sharp-toothed Fish, he split it in half and put both halves over the fire to roast.
Over the past few days, he had been starving badly and could not accurately judge his own appetite. He only wanted to eat his fill.
And then there was Poliwag. As a Pokémon, this little glutton should be able to eat even more.
However, Yu Hai, who had watched Pokémon anime before, remembered that Poliwag seemed to eat grass—some sort of aquatic plant that had appeared in the show.
But there was grass everywhere here. He did not know which kind of aquatic plant Poliwag ate, or whether it ate all of them.
Besides, could this Poliwag have some kind of anorexia or other illness? Otherwise, it would not have starved itself into that state.
Or perhaps Poliwag did not dare enter the sea, afraid of being eaten by even fiercer Pokémon in the ocean. That was possible too.
There were too many questions, and he had no answers. Nor did he have the energy to investigate. He could only wait until things were more stable.
For now, the most urgent task was roasting the Sharp-toothed Fish so that one human and one tadpole could have a hearty meal.
Only when the Sharp-toothed Fish was charred on the outside and tender within did Yu Hai take it off the grill. He could not help sniffing, breathing in the aroma of the roasted fish.
It was not actually all that delicious, merely barely edible.
The only reason he found it sweet and tasty was because hunger made it seem so. When someone was starving, any food tasted delicious. Yet after only two meals of roasted fish, it had already given him heatiness.
In his severely dehydrated state, eating roasted food greatly increased his need for freshwater.
Tomorrow, he had to find freshwater. The morning dew was no longer enough for him; he needed a stable source of freshwater.
Before roasting the fish, he had split it in half. His half was done, so Poliwag's half should be cooked as well.
After taking it off the grill, he placed the other half of the fish in front of Poliwag, with a huge leaf beneath it.
Faced with the fragrant roasted fish, Poliwag had no hands and could only lie on the leaf, tearing at the fish with its mouth.
Seeing Poliwag start eating, Yu Hai also began on the fish in his hands. Both human and tadpole had gone hungry all day. He was so hungry he was seeing stars, and immediately took huge bites, grease smearing all over his mouth.
One human and one tadpole sat beside the fire, both devouring roasted fish. Yu Hai had eaten only half of his portion when he started to burp.
That burp indicated he was nearly full, but half the fish remained. He planned to leave it by the fire to dry out and save it for breakfast tomorrow.
But when he glanced at Poliwag's leaf, there was nothing left. Poliwag was even licking the fish scraps off the leaf.
At that sight, he no longer dried his fish or saved it for breakfast. Instead, he placed it on Poliwag's leaf.
"Yoyo? Yoyo?" Poliwag blinked its round black eyes. It had clearly finished its fish, so why had another piece of roasted fish suddenly appeared before it?
Only when Poliwag saw the hand that had set down the fish—clearly a human hand—did it realize that it did not understand what this human meant.
"I'm full. This is for you. Eat up," Yu Hai said. He did not know whether Poliwag could understand him. After explaining, he added more firewood to the flames, then leaned back against a huge rock with both hands behind his head.
Tonight, he no longer needed to use the sky as his blanket, nor would he be able to see the starry sky above him, because he had built himself a roof—the torn piece of cloth he had repaired at noon.
"Yo? Yo..." Poliwag tilted its head. It still did not understand what Yu Hai, this human, was saying, but it understood one thing: this human had given it the most delicious food.
But it had already eaten half a roasted fish and was about half full. This piece of fish...
Poliwag stared at the roasted fish on the leaf, drool spilling from the corner of its mouth. Yet it sucked the drool back, shook its head desperately, and forced the roasted fish out of its mind to escape its temptation.
Then it bit the wooden skewer holding the fish and walked toward Yu Hai. Although Poliwag had grown feet, it was still unused to walking on land. Compared with land, Poliwag preferred staying in the water.
Even so, Poliwag walked up to Yu Hai, stuck the roasted fish into the sand before him, and cried out at him as if saying, "I won't eat it. You eat."
"Hehe." Yu Hai lowered his head and glanced at the roasted fish. The wooden skewer was covered in the little glutton's drool, and he smiled helplessly.
He could tell that Poliwag really wanted to eat the roasted fish, but it had restrained itself well.
That reminded him of a saying people often used in Pokémon back in his previous life.
There were no useless Pokémon, only useless Trainers.
Although his start was not bad and he had not ended up with something like a Caterpie, this Poliwag's Potential was not high.
He knew exactly what the thirty-one percent Potential indicated by the Proficiency Panel meant: trash, trash, and still trash.
Without a Trainer investing vast resources into it, this Poliwag could only be described as ordinary. No Trainer would choose such an ordinary, low-Potential Pokémon.
On top of that, it was malnourished and underdeveloped. Its mediocrity was obvious at a glance. No Trainer would ever choose this kind of Pokémon as their starter.
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