Reiji wasn't naïve enough to place his life in the hands of some random wild Pokémon's kindness. He wasn't that optimistic, nor that innocent.
He treated this world as another version of reality—one where he would always assume the worst of everything and everyone around him.
To put it bluntly, aside from his own Pokémon partner, he didn't trust anything—not other humans, not other Pokémon.
This deep-rooted distrust came from a profound lack of security. Maybe he'd change once he got stronger, but not now.
The only thing that could bring Reiji a sense of safety was seeing Poliwag evolve into Poliwhirl. That evolution would mean strength, and strength was the foundation of safety. Otherwise, why would he go out of his way to avoid those thug-like Kingler?
When he pulled up Poliwag's proficiency panel again, he noticed some subtle changes:
[Poliwag]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 31%]
[Level: 6.02%]
[Ability: Damp / 0.53%] [Hidden Ability: Swift Swim / 1.23%]
[Moves Mastered: (Mind Reader / 0.11%), (Ice Ball / 0.31%), (Refresh / 0.21%), (Bubble / 1.31%), (Hypnosis / 0.52%), (Double Slap / 2.09%), (Pound / 0.11%)]
"Level six? Poliwag actually made it to level six?" Reiji thought back—since the battle with Carvanha, Poliwag hadn't really done much. Just two fights in total.
Those two battles only gave him a 0.5% boost in experience.
"No, wait…" Reiji suddenly realized Poliwag had also eaten two full meals recently.
Which meant: eating food also gave experience. It must be the passive growth experience.
As long as it was well-fed, it would passively grow stronger.
Thinking it through, Reiji realized it wasn't that strange after all. Pokémon naturally grow up over time—this system just displayed that growth numerically.
That's probably how wild Pokémon evolved—growing, fighting, then evolving.
However, the "Potential" column clearly capped that growth. Evolution might allow it to break past that limit a little. But without rare items or a mythical blessing, most Pokémon would spend their entire lives like this—mating, reproducing, and fading into mediocrity.
As for the abilities—no change there. But some moves had increased in proficiency: Ice Ball, Bubble, and Double Slap.
The first two probably improved thanks to that annoying Wingull, and Double Slap likely gained a lot from pummeling Carvanha.
The new move was Pound, a Normal-type with 40 base power—nothing amazing, but something.
Pound and Double Slap were basically the same type of move. One was a single strike, the other a multi-hit combo.
Now, Poliwag had solid melee with Double Slap, ranged options with Bubble and Ice Ball, status healing with Refresh, and even crowd control with Hypnosis.
Looking at the moves list, Reiji thought of two idioms that summed it up: a scholar in peace, a warrior in war; balanced offense and defense.
It could go on the offensive, fall back on defense, heal itself, and disable opponents. Once the move proficiencies were leveled up, Poliwag would have some real combat capability.
"Wait… where's Water Gun? Why don't you have Water Gun?" Reiji scanned the panel several more times—no sign of the move. That was odd. Water-type Pokémon were supposed to come with it by default.
"Poliwag, where's your Water Gun?" Reiji looked down at the little tadpole nestled against his leg.
"Yo~yo?" Poliwag tilted its head, blinking cutely in confusion.
With a sigh, Reiji dipped a cup into the water bucket, took a sip, and then spat it out. "Water Gun. It's like this."
He took another big gulp and spat again.
"Yoyo, yoyo." Understanding dawned on Poliwag's face, and it excitedly hopped toward the bucket.
Before it could reach it, Reiji grabbed and held it back—he couldn't risk Poliwag drinking up all his clean water.
Instead, he pointed to the ocean. "Go there. Drink all you want."
"Yo~yo." Poliwag nodded with a slightly disappointed look—it realized that was Reiji's water, and if it drank it, Reiji wouldn't have any.
Under his direction, Poliwag trotted over to the shore, gulped in some seawater, and gleefully spat it back out like a fountain.
"Okay, come back, Poliwag." Reiji waved it back quickly. It was night, and the sea wasn't safe.
A hyperactive little Poliwag like this might easily attract attention from predators lurking underwater.
"Yoyo, yoyo." Poliwag obediently bounced back and shook the seawater off its body before curling up at Reiji's side again.
When Reiji checked the proficiency panel once more, sure enough, a new move had appeared:
[Moves Mastered: (Mind Reader / 0.11%), (Ice Ball / 0.31%), (Refresh / 0.21%), (Bubble / 1.31%), (Hypnosis / 0.52%), (Double Slap / 2.09%), (Pound / 0.11%), (Water Gun / 0.51%)]
So it had been there, just inaccessible due to dehydration. Poliwag probably didn't even realize it had the move.
Water Gun also had a base power of 40.
Now Reiji had a thought—if Water-types could shoot water, could he have used one to stay hydrated when he was dying of thirst?
"No… probably not." He shook his head, dismissing the idea.
He'd seen it clearly: Poliwag had spat up seawater.
Unless they were in a freshwater river, the Water Gun would still be undrinkable saltwater.
Even if it was freshwater, he had zero interest in drinking water that came out of a Pokémon's mouth. Just… no thanks.
With the addition of two new moves, it was time to lay out a training plan.
Water Gun would be the priority. It was easy to practice—just fire into the ocean, no energy loss.
Mind Reader was still mysterious. He had no clue what it actually did and needed further testing.
Ice Ball wasn't STAB. Not ideal for now.
Refresh required stamina—not suited for constant training.
Bubble was redundant now that they had Water Gun, unless Poliwag eventually learned Bubble Beam.
Hypnosis and Double Slap would be secondary priorities, after Water Gun was polished.
Pound was redundant—Double Slap already filled that niche.
So the final training plan was: level Water Gun first; Hypnosis and Double Slap second; Refresh and Ice Ball last.
As Reiji finalized the plan, he realized Poliwag had fallen asleep on his leg, snoring softly.
He chuckled helplessly, then grabbed some leftover cloth scraps from his tarp repair work and gently laid them over Poliwag like a blanket.
Then, he too drifted off into sleep.
(End of Chapter)
[+50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]