[Bonus Chapter]
Day 14 of Survival on the Deserted Island – Overcast
A new day begins with morning training.
"Poliwag, get up—it's time for a run."
Ever since Little Green left, Reiji and Poliwag had returned to their routine of training, foraging, lunch break, then more training.
Magikarp stayed in its bucket, lazily blowing bubbles in the water as it watched Reiji and Poliwag jog along the shoreline.
After finishing their two-hour morning run, Reiji took a short rest before calling Poliwag over to help him swap out the water collection buckets.
Overnight, the buckets had filled to the brim. This time, instead of transferring half a bucket at a time, he carried full buckets back to the shelter and stored them beside the treehouse.
Three full barrels of fresh water were now stored near the treehouse, while the remaining buckets—more than twenty in total—were buried in the sand around the temporary shelter, waiting for the next rainfall.
On the way back from swapping buckets, they ran into a Caterpie and casually caught it.
Its potential was the same as always—just 27%, and no inherited moves.
Back at the shelter, Reiji didn't start cooking immediately. It was still early; one look at the sun occasionally peeking through the clouds confirmed it wasn't quite noon.
"Poliwag, come here."
Reiji sat down under the shade of a tree and called over Poliwag, who was just about to head back to its bucket and play with Magikarp.
[Poliwag]
Type: Water
Gender: Male
Potential: 31.01%
Level: 9.71%
Ability: Damp / 0.83%
Hidden Ability: Swift Swim / 1.53%
Moves: Mind Reader 0.21% / Ice Ball 0.31% / Refresh 1.01% /Bubble 1.31% Hypnosis 0.82% / Double Slap 4.72% / Pound 0.91% / Water Gun 6.61% / Water Sport 2.51%
Over the past few days, Poliwag had defeated a Spearow, three Caterpie, and even Little Green.
Though those Pokémon were all lower level, Poliwag's experience still rose by 0.7%. Its level was nearly 10—one step closer to evolving into a Poliwhirl.
No major changes in abilities since Reiji hadn't started any specialized training yet. That would come later, when conditions allowed.
Damp had increased a bit—just a decimal or two. Probably from all the time Poliwag had spent soaking in its bucket. Even Water Sport had passively improved from that alone.
The effect of Water Sport was similar to Damp—it increased moisture in the environment, reducing the power of Fire-type moves and nullifying explosive moves like Self-Destruct.
The move's improvement might've fed back into the Damp ability itself.
Double Slap and Water Gun had both improved by over 0.5%, with Double Slap gaining a bit more. These were Poliwag's most frequently used attacks.
Hypnosis had only been used during its battle with Little Green, so it barely budged.
Refresh passed 1%—probably from burning its tongue on hot food again.
As for Reiji's training priorities:
Level and Water Gun were top priority.
Hypnosis and Double Slap came next.
Refresh and Ice Ball were lower priority.
Level and Water Gun were both steadily improving.
Poliwag didn't enjoy using Hypnosis, so that would take time.
Double Slap, however, was frequently used and easy to train.
As for Refresh and Ice Ball—the former only activated when Poliwag was hurt, and the latter wasn't STAB (Same-Type Attack Bonus), so it was still a bit early for that.
Given Poliwag's dislike for Hypnosis, Reiji decided to put that on hold for now.
If they could focus on leveling up and polishing Water Gun and Double Slap, Poliwag would evolve faster. Refresh could stay in the mix too.
As for training Water Gun, they'd need access to plenty of water. Poliwag needed a wet environment to perform at full capacity and maximize efficiency.
And for Double Slap…
"I got it!" Reiji had a sudden idea for training Double Slap.
He told Poliwag to wait, then went out scavenging for materials.
He brought back some sticks, several foam balls, and some rope.
He stuck the foam balls onto the ends of the sticks, then planted them upright in the ground. Voila—makeshift punching bags! Poliwag could practice slapping the foam balls with its tail, working on combo attacks.
Double Slap could hit 2 to 5 times. Poliwag just needed to practice consistent slapping patterns—aiming for five hits or more.
With enough repetition, both speed and power would improve naturally.
Next, Reiji pulled out some beach floats. There were tons lying around the shoreline. He hadn't seen a use for them before—until now.
He tied a few floats to the branches of a fallen tree using ropes. Then, he gave them a push.
As the floats swung back and forth, Poliwag had to strike them mid-swing using Water Gun.
They started with one target. Once Poliwag got the hang of it, they could move up to two, three, or even four at once.
Gradually increasing the number of targets would not only train Poliwag's aim and speed but also its reaction time and stamina.
If Poliwag was too slow, it would miss.
If its aim was off, it wouldn't hit.
If the power was inconsistent, it'd mess up the rhythm.
If it always used max power, it would exhaust itself too fast.
In short, Reiji wanted Poliwag to learn how to controlWater Gun.
In battle, energy conservation was key. There was no point using a full-powered blast for a feint or a light probe.
Precision control over the move's output meant better strategy, more endurance, and fewer mistakes.
Eventually, when floats began to collide randomly with one another, it would create a chaotic training environment—perfect for testing reflexes and adaptability.
Ideally, Poliwag would reach a point where reacting became instinctive. If it saw a moving object, knew the speed and direction, and had the range—it could hit it. Point and shoot.
And when it had mastered rhythm, it could scale its power precisely. No more waste, no more overkill.
But if the rhythm fell apart—accuracy, power, and timing would all suffer. In high-level matches, even a tiny misstep could snowball into total collapse.
One mistake. One misfire.
That's all it took for a well-paced battle to spiral out of control.
And that's what Reiji wanted to prevent.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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