"Poli, poli!" Poliwag responded energetically to the call. Just thinking about evolving soon, getting hands, and being able to help Reiji—it could hardly wait.
Reiji had a lot on his plate today. After putting the water bucket down, he planned to go scavenging for trash.
These past few days, while swapping water buckets, he had spotted quite a few useful things scattered along the rocky beach.
He hadn't gone scavenging for several days now, and the itch was real. He wondered if he might even find another Poké Ball. Those things were like natural refrigerators—perfect for storing food.
Otherwise, he'd have no choice but to eat all his catches the same day. What if he couldn't finish it all? Total waste.
Ahem, he hadn't even caught any fish yet today. He was getting ahead of himself thinking about food storage. He really had guts, huh?
The stretch of rocky shore by the water collection site didn't have any particularly dangerous Pokémon. Just some Caterpie, Spearow, Pidgey, and Weedle.
The most dangerous among them would be Beedrill—the classic aggressive, swarm-based Bug-type Pokémon.
But as long as you didn't wander into a Beedrill colony, they wouldn't attack unprovoked. Beedrill were highly territorial.
That territorial instinct actually made Beedrill easier to deal with than the Kingler living on the other side of his shelter.
His shelter was sandwiched right between these two swarms of nightmare fuel Pokémon.
He chose to scavenge on Beedrill's side because the beach wasn't part of their territory—only the forest was.
On the other side, however, Kingler claimed both the forest and the beach. No wonder he kept calling those Kingler gangsters. He hated those punks.
Then there were the Spearow and Pidgey. Dangerous, yes, but humans weren't on their menu, so he didn't panic.
Actually, the scavenging area wasn't far at all—right outside their shelter. He'd just been too lazy to pick through it until now.
"Poliwag, let's go scavenging," Reiji called. The boy and his tadpole headed out to the beach to scavenge.
What greeted them first were endless bits of white trash—styrofoam everywhere. Not very useful, though some foam boxes could hold water.
Then came plastic bottles and buckets. He didn't need more bottles, but buckets? Those were always welcome. Perfect for water storage.
Clang, clang, clang—
"Oho! Jackpot," Reiji said as he found a metal pot. He tapped it and found no rust—must be stainless steel. Great for boiling stuff.
No more trying to boil water with that tiny iron mug that barely held one mouthful. This pot would finally let him drink his fill of boiled water.
It was about the size of a home rice cooker pot. Decent depth too. Should be able to boil five or six bottles' worth at once. Nice find. Keeping it.
"A lifebuoy?" He spotted an orange flotation ring. Not bad, he'd take it. Not that he was planning on swimming, but it'd make a nice decoration.
"A tiny wooden table, and a plastic basin." More goodies. He grabbed those too.
"A fishing net?" Reiji picked up a net, but it was too torn up, all tangled beyond repair. Pass.
"Rope? That's useful." He tugged on a rope and found it hadn't rotted from the seawater. It was just stuck under a rock. He cut off the loose end with his folding knife and pocketed it.
After several laps around the rocky beach near the water source, he still hadn't found the Poké Ball he'd been hoping for.
Well—not exactly nothing. He did find half of one. A busted Poké Ball, completely useless.
Running out of stuff to pick up, Reiji also grabbed some waterproof plastic and a few pieces of torn cloth to reinforce the shelter later.
Wood wasn't a problem. There was plenty of it around the shelter. More than enough to keep the fire going for a long time.
Scavenging life—simple, honest, and unimpressive.
Just as he was about to carry his haul back, Reiji noticed something: Poliwag, who had been following behind him, was now missing.
Where had the little foodie run off to? He set down the items he'd collected and scanned the beach. No sign of the tadpole.
But then he spotted something else. A net made from rope, tangled with a foam float, was being pushed ashore by the waves.
Nice! He dropped everything and dashed over to the shoreline to retrieve the net.
The net was still sturdy. He untangled it from the float and instantly thought of one use.
A hammock.
Yep, he couldn't help it. That was the first thing that came to mind.
The rope was thick, the holes were wide—it'd make a terrible fishing net, but a great hammock.
Smack, smack, smack, smack—
Just as he was stacking the hammock net with the rest of the items, he heard a familiar slapping sound. No doubt it was Poliwag using Double Slap.
"Poliwag?" Reiji turned toward the sound. That part of the beach curved at a right angle, so he couldn't see it—only hear the action.
Realizing it might be his partner, he dropped everything and sprinted to the edge of the beach. As he rounded the corner, he saw Poliwag smacking a dumb fish with its tail.
"Huh? Magikarp? It's this dumb thing again?" Reiji exhaled in relief. As long as it wasn't something dangerous.
His biggest worry was that Poliwag had picked a fight it couldn't win and ended up in trouble.
Just because people didn't die in the anime didn't mean they couldn't die here. This was the real world. You die, you die—main character or not.
Seeing it was just a Magikarp, he relaxed. Even if there wasn't much meat on it, meat was still meat. He'd take it.
He moved to throw a Poké Ball to stop the Magikarp's flopping. This one seemed slightly stronger than the last.
It had taken multiple Double Slaps and was still kicking. No wonder it was known for its tenacity. Tough little guy.
But it had already been smacked onto the sand. It wasn't going anywhere. Fish on the cutting board—ready for the knife.
He did wonder where Poliwag had found it. Luck was really on that little foodie's side.
"Poli! Poli!" Poliwag, hearing his footsteps, turned around joyfully, hopping in excitement and calling out to him proudly, eager to show off its prize and earn some praise.
This Magikarp—it had caught it all by itself.
(End of Chapter)
[+50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]