The next day marked the fourth day of being stranded on the deserted island.
Reiji was woken up by a bird's squawking.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that the grilled fish they had stuck into the sand had been half-eaten by a damned seabird.
Fury blazed in his eyes—he instantly sprang to his feet and lunged at the Wingull.
But it was a wasted effort.
The Wingull had already noticed the two-legged creature waking up and flapped its wings, easily dodging his pounce.
"Wooooh! Wooooh!"
The seabird even laughed mockingly, as if ridiculing Reiji for daring to try catching it without wings.
After chasing the Wingull away, Reiji hurried to protect the remaining grilled fish.
The racket also woke up the drooling Poliwag from its sleep.
When Poliwag saw that half the fish was missing and that annoying Wingull flapping overhead laughing, it was instantly furious.
"Yoo-yoo! Yoo-yoo!"
Poliwag opened its little pink mouth and launched a Bubble attack toward the sky.
But the bubbles it spat out never reached the airborne Wingull—they popped and vanished in mid-air.
This only made the Wingull laugh louder as it flapped harder in amusement.
"Wooooh! Wooooh!"
Poliwag grew even more frustrated and tried using a different long-range move—Ice Ball.
But the tiny marble of ice, just the size of a pinky finger, melted before it could even launch.
Once again, the Wingull let out mocking cries.
"Wooooh! Wooooh!"
Poliwag was helpless. It simply couldn't reach the Wingull.
All it could do was sit there and take the ridicule, tears welling up in its big, black eyes.
It turned to Reiji with a pitiful look, eyes glistening with unshed tears, and cried out:
"Yoo-yoo… Yoo-yoo…"
Poliwag was complaining, begging Reiji to avenge it.
But Reiji could only sigh helplessly.
He couldn't fly either.
No matter how much he hated that Wingull, he had no way to teach it a lesson.
Only when Poliwag evolved might they stand a chance.
"Poliwag, I can't fly either," Reiji said, squatting beside it and gently patting its round head to comfort the teary-eyed Pokémon.
"Don't lose heart. We can't reach it now, but once you evolve, you'll be able to fight back."
"Yoo-yoo?" Poliwag didn't quite understand, but this human was so kind and gentle that it stopped being angry and decided to listen more.
"Well, just eat your grilled fish first," Reiji smiled and handed over the food.
As for explaining evolution to a Pokémon?
He wasn't sure how to do that, so he simply drew a picture of Poliwhirl in the sand.
While watching Reiji draw, Poliwag vented its frustration through its appetite—taking a huge bite of grilled fish and puffing up its cheeks.
Then it proudly looked skyward, flaunting its food to the Wingull above.
That seemed to shut the Wingull up.
It gave up on mocking them and flew away.
Seeing the annoying bird driven off, Poliwag felt proud and victorious.
It looked down at the sketch in the sand with curiosity.
The drawing showed a round-bodied Pokémon with legs and bulging eyes.
Was that what it would become?
"Poliwag, that's what you'll look like after evolving," Reiji explained as he set down the stick.
It wasn't the best drawing, but the general shape of Poliwhirl was there.
"Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo!"
Poliwag stepped forward and stomped on the sketch, then called out to Reiji excitedly.
"You're saying you want to become this?" Reiji guessed.
"Yoo-yoo!" Poliwag nodded eagerly.
It was the smoothest communication they'd had yet, and Reiji couldn't help but wonder if they were actually talking about two completely different things.
But that didn't matter.
They had a shared goal now, and that was good enough.
As for evolving, Poliwag still had a long way to go.
It would need to reach Level 25.
After defeating Wishiwashi and Carvanha, its experience only rose by 0.5.
Getting enough experience to evolve was going to be a long grind.
But now both trainer and Pokémon had a mutual goal.
Just then, that infuriating cawing returned again.
And this time, the Wingull didn't just mock them from the sky—it pooped on Reiji's Poliwhirl drawing.
"Yoo-yoo! Yoo-yoo!!"
Poliwag saw the splatter of poop on the sand and lost it again.
It launched another stream of bubbles upward and started shouting furiously at the Wingull.
"Wooooh! Wooooh!"
"Yoo-yoo! Yoo-yoo!"
Watching the two bicker, Reiji couldn't help but laugh.
He didn't plan to get involved in their squabble.
He had more urgent things to do—like collecting fresh water using the plastic bottles he found yesterday.
He hadn't had a single drop of fresh water since yesterday morning.
His lips were cracked, his throat felt like it was on fire.
Having grilled fish was great, but without water, it was torture.
His throat was so dry, he could barely feel it anymore.
If he could find fresh water today, maybe he could even make fish soup—but that was probably wishful thinking.
He knew there had to be fresh water somewhere on the island.
But he didn't dare venture into the jungle—it was too risky.
He just wanted water, not a death wish.
There had to be water—Pokémon lived on this island.
And where there's life, there's water.
He didn't know much about wilderness survival.
But he knew water.
So he circled the edge of the island, searching for damp soil or crevices between rocks.
It had been blazing hot for days, so if there were still moist areas, there had to be water nearby.
Maybe it was underground seepage.
Or water trickling from the island's center.
Now that he had a goal, the search became easier.
He just needed to look for lush patches of grass.
Only places with constantly moist soil would still have vibrant greenery after days of heat.
And where there was healthy grass, there had to be water.
Sure enough, less than 100 meters from their shelter, he found a patch of grass growing more vigorously than the rest.
He had never noticed it before.
Now that he focused, he realized it was the perfect place.
Next step—start digging.
(End of Chapter)
[+50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]