Poliwag's mood soured the moment it saw that annoying pest again—the one it couldn't hit and couldn't get rid of.
Still, it didn't glare at Wingull this time. After all, that flying nuisance had helped save Caterpie earlier. So instead of getting riled up, Poliwag just turned its back.
If it couldn't see it, it couldn't be provoked. No provocation, no anger. Problem solved.
"Guoh, guoh," Wingull squawked a few more times, but when it realized Poliwag wasn't taking the bait, it gave up.
This time it hadn't come to stir trouble—it just wanted to mooch some food.
It hadn't been able to forget the taste of that grilled fish and steamed shellfish it'd tried before.
Cooked food. Wingull had never eaten anything cooked before. That first bite had blown its mind.
And besides, it hadn't seen this weird human-and-Pokémon duo in a while. Curiosity and cravings brought it back.
It wasn't planning to step into the beach fight earlier, but when it saw how worried the human was about Caterpie, it instinctively fired a Water Gun and knocked the bug free from that crab's claw.
Now it let out a few farewell cries, then grabbed a big red claw in its talons and flapped off.
Reiji watched it disappear, then shifted his gaze back to Poliwag. He opened its proficiency panel.
Ability: Damp – 0.83%
Hidden Ability: Swift Swim – 1.53%
Moves Known: Refresh – 1.31% / Double Slap – 5.12% / Water Gun – 7.41%
Double Slap had finally broken 5%.
Water Gun was climbing steadily, up another 0.3%.
Even Refresh had crept higher.
Reiji's eyes dropped to Poliwag's tail. Covered in little welts and bruises—probably from whacking that Krabby too hard earlier and getting some recoil from its shell.
But Refresh was doing its job. The injuries were healing up well.
His attention shifted back to the level bar.
Still stuck at 9.99%.
Not a single tick higher.
Did battling not give EXP in this world?
Then how had Ash's Krabby evolved?
Or maybe level 10 had some kind of weird bottleneck?
"Poliwag, you feeling okay?" Reiji closed the panel and looked at the little guy.
Poliwag froze, a crab leg still dangling from its mouth. It blinked its big black eyes at Reiji, completely confused. What was that about?
It felt great. No aches, no pains. Full of energy. Eating well. Life was good.
"Your body's fine?" Reiji rubbed his chin. "Then what's with this level nonsense…"
That's when his gaze landed on the pot—bubbling crab soup, with a Rawst Berry floating inside.
He'd tossed it in earlier when it started rotting. Might as well make use of it.
Rawst Berries healed burns—had a cooling effect, like a Pokémon-world herbal remedy. Probably helped detox too. He figured it wouldn't hurt to let Poliwag and Caterpie have some.
Frankly, he needed the detox. The weather after the rain had been unbearably humid. His lips were already breaking out in cold sores.
Maybe the Rawst Berry would do the trick.
He fished it out and held it up to Poliwag. "Here. Eat this."
Poliwag stared at the berry. Then up at Reiji's very serious face. It nervously swallowed the crab meat in its mouth.
It had seen Caterpie eat one before. That berry had been nasty. Bitter enough to make the bug cry.
Poliwag had zero interest in reliving that experience.
"Yo…" It shook its head. It felt fine. Why suffer for no reason?
"I know you're not sick," Reiji said. "But who says you need to be?"
Poliwag froze again. What kind of twisted logic was that?
This was bullying. Pure bullying of a law-abiding tadpole.
Reiji smirked and nudged the berry closer.
Yup. Total bullying. But it was also a test—to see if the so-called level cap could be broken by eating something .
"Come on, be good. Eat up." Reiji brought the berry to its mouth.
Poliwag looked like it'd just been betrayed by its own trainer, but it still opened its mouth reluctantly.
Reiji shoved the berry in, then clamped his hand over its mouth so it couldn't spit it out.
Once he was sure it'd swallowed, he opened the panel again.
So much for that theory. Either the Rawst Berry didn't help, or this wasn't the kind of bottleneck an item could fix.
"Whatever, I'll figure it out later."
Reiji took a sip of the soup, then picked up a crab leg to chew on.
Fishy, salty—but honestly not bad. Soft meat, juicy, way better than that rubbery Spearow meat.
The leftover crab yolk that Caterpie hadn't finished went to Poliwag. He even got two legs this time.
Wingull had flown off with a claw. Reiji had a claw and a leg himself.
The last leg went to Magikarp. That guy hadn't done a damn thing all day, but hey—he was still part of the crew.
And just like that, the whole crab was gone.
Though Poliwag wasn't in the mood to eat anymore. It had already waddled over to the water bucket to rinse its mouth out.
That Rawst Berry had wrecked its taste buds.
Full bellies, ocean breeze, soft grass—Reiji and Poliwag lay on their backs, hands on their round stomachs, enjoying a rare peaceful moment.
The biggest headache in their lives was finally gone.
Time to reward himself.
Reiji pulled out his secret stash—his last few cigarettes. The only real smokes in the entire Pokémon world.
He pulled out his lighter, still damp from being dunked in seawater. After a few shakes, the flame caught.
The first drag made his whole body relax. He hadn't smoked in half a month. He'd almost forgotten how it felt.
God… if he'd known he was gonna get isekai'd, he would've filled his jacket with packs of these.
He glanced at the box-four left-His lifeline.
He savored every puff, smoked the whole thing down, then carefully wrapped the rest in waterproof plastic.
Once they got back to the treehouse, he'd hide them again.
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my to read 20+ chapters ahead]
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