Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Day 31 of survival on the deserted island. Clear weather.

The morning sets the tone for the day—it was another day for honey gathering.

As usual, Krabby and Wingull were left to guard the treehouse. Reiji brought Poliwag and Butterfree along for the honey raid. At this point, they were seasoned veterans.

When they reached the edge of the Beedrill territory, there was no buzzing or roaring—Beedrill were all at home. That made things easier.

Butterfree cleared the way up front, and once it had paralyzed and put the swarm to sleep, Reiji brought Poliwag in to snatch the honey.

Same method, same taste. Poliwag climbed the tree to cut the honeycombs, Butterfree carried them down. Their teamwork had become second nature.

After the job was done and they returned to the treehouse, they even took the time to wake the Beedrill again.

These bugs were really hopeless. They fell for it every time. At this rate, they'd completely let their guard down—one day they might end up getting wiped.

As the saying goes: if you keep walking by the river, you're bound to get your feet wet…

"Come on, everyone, time for honey," Reiji said once back at the treehouse. He released the Magikarp and Spinarak, then started handing out honey.

Honey had become so easy to get that everyone got a share. Every single Pokémon had a taste.

Among them, the happiest were clearly Magikarp, Spinarak, and Wishiwashi. Poliwag had it often, so it wasn't as big of a deal—it was basically their breakfast.

After dividing the honey among the seven Pokémon, Reiji made himself a cup of honey water. Then he stashed the bucket of honey back in the treehouse. There was enough left for one more dessert serving.

Sipping honey water, he listened to the stream trickling near the pond. Ever since they'd discovered it, fresh water had stopped being a concern. They could even afford real showers now.

Even though the stream wasn't huge, his reservoir—four meters wide and two meters deep—stored enough for daily use.

The weather had been scorching for several days. When water was scarce, he only wiped himself down. But now, showers were back on the table.

After breakfast, morning training began.

Poliwag ran laps around the treehouse.

Butterfree went back to its Confusion practice.

Wingull resumed Water Gun training.

Krabby gave up on Agility and returned to claw-lifting workouts. It could now hold its claws up for half an hour.

If it could reach an hour, they'd start phase two: running around the treehouse while holding its claws up—just like Poliwag.

That routine, though, was much tougher than Poliwag's. That's why Reiji had Krabby focus on claw-lifting first.

Meanwhile, Magikarp blew bubbles in the bucket, and Spinarak lazed on a tree branch, watching the surroundings. It had no formal training plan yet, but it helped monitor the area for the four Pokémon in training.

It especially kept an eye on the beach. If a crab wandered over for honey, Spinarak would ambush it, tie it up, and string it in the air.

After breakfast, Reiji also took out the bottle of honey meant to lure in crabs. It was a small plastic bottle he would cover with a larger one at night.

He let Spinarak do its thing—however many crabs it could catch was up to it. Then he started his own morning jog.

Running was a full-body aerobic workout. No need for anything fancy—if he wanted to build muscle, then yeah, he'd lift weights. But this was just for fitness.

After two hours of training, Reiji went to shower downstream and began prepping lunch for the team.

The ingredients were crabs Spinarak had caught—six in total, all boiled. He added some fish meat too.

Lunch was ready quickly, and the Pokémon gathered to eat.

As they ate, Reiji pulled up Wingull's proficiency panel. It had been three days since he last checked it.

[Wingull]

Type: Water / Flying

Gender: Female

Potential: 57%

Level: 20.37%

Ability: Hydration / 6.39%

Known Moves:(Gust / 7.59%)(Roost / 8.01%)(Aqua Ring / 5.23%)

(Water Gun / 13.49%)(Quick Attack / 9.29%)(Wing Attack / 4.58%)

(Water Pulse / 0.87%)(Agility / 1.37%)

Wingull had reached level 20—just five levels away from evolution.

Once it evolved into Pelipper, they'd finally be able to leave this island. Four or five more days, tops.

But for some reason, the thought didn't excite him. Instead, a quiet dread settled in.

He knew what this was: social anxiety.

Well, not quite. More like exhaustion from maintaining human relationships. It was easier to fish, to live alone.

And now he had to return to human society. Just thinking about the effort of socializing again gave him a headache.

But he had no choice. As rich in natural resources as this island was, it lacked the essentials.

Like medicine. If he'd had a healing spray, his injured foot wouldn't have taken more than ten days to heal. A simple first aid kit could've handled it in a week.

So no matter how much he disliked it, Reiji had to go back. Even if it wasn't for him, it was for his Pokémon—to help them grow.

He still remembered the basics, anyway.

Back to the panel: no change in ability. Hydration just healed status conditions. After evolution, it'd become Drizzle—no training needed.

As for moves, Water Gun had gone up 2%, Quick Attack up 1%.

Last move added: Agility.

Wingull learned Agility surprisingly fast,it was maybe thanks to Quick Attack.

Quick Attack gives a boost at the start. That foundational speed made Agility easy to pick up.

Reiji's "pep talk" to Krabby wasn't just fluff—it actually came with drumsticks.

Wingull's strengths were where Krabby was weakest. No point comparing them.

After checking Wingull's panel, Reiji pulled up Butterfree's. It'd been three days too—he needed to make sure it wasn't slacking.

[Butterfree]

Type: Bug / Flying

Gender: Female

Potential: 69.96%

Level: 20.96%

Ability: Compound Eyes / 8.21%

Hidden Ability: Tinted Lens / 0.21%

Known Moves:(Confusion / 12.14%)(String Shot / 8.15%)(Gust / 5.13%)

(Bug Bite / 1.29%)(Supersonic / 2.11%)(Poison Powder / 5.13%)(Stun Spore / 10.52%)

(Sleep Powder / 10.35%)(Psybeam / 2.11%)(Electroweb / 3.34%)

Butterfree had also reached level 20—not bad.

Compound Eyes proficiency increased by 3%—she was using it more often.

Confusion went up 2%—still improving.

String Shot rose 2%—likely from combined use with Electroweb.

Sleep Powder and Stun Spore both passed 10%. They'd definitely been using them on Beedrill—Butterfree was key to stealing that honey.

Electroweb had 3%—and it hadn't come easy.

She got zapped a dozen times yesterday just to learn it—her mouth even went numb.

But now she could combine it with String Shot—sticky and durable webs that also slowed the opponent and had a paralyzing electric shock.

Perfect for fishing. If they ever got the chance, they'd try it.

Web and electricity in one—shock the fish and stop its struggles. Genius.

Satisfied, Reiji closed Butterfree's panel. The Pokémon had finished lunch. Time for a nap.

This time, he took out his long-hoarded cigarette. Last one he smoked was two weeks ago.

Now, under the shade after lunch, he lit one up again. Only three left in the box.

Nothing special happened today, but he still lit one—it was time to leave the island. He wanted a taste of his past life.

After all, once he returned to human society, there'd be cigarettes everywhere.

But in the past month, survival took all his attention. He was close to quitting by accident. Cigarettes were no longer essential.

After smoking, he napped a bit, then grabbed his trusty fishing rod. No way he was going to blank again today.

Afternoon training resumed as usual. The team had built strong training habits—no need for his supervision anymore. Even Butterfree knew to add water to her bowl to increase her Confusion training difficulty.

Poliwag, Krabby, and Wingull all trained Water Gun at the beach.

Poliwag was still working with four floating targets—perfecting Moisture Sense.

Krabby and Wingull were both maintaining three-target practice. Wingull was experimenting with four.

Magikarp? Ugh, not worth mentioning. The most useless ones in the group. Even the newly recruited Spinarak was more helpful.

When it came to hunting, Spinarak was the MVP. Reiji left dinner prep entirely to it.

The honey bait stayed under the tree, surrounded by traps. Crabs who couldn't resist temptation were easy prey.

Just like those too-good-to-be-true job offers in his previous life—if you couldn't make money in the world's second-largest economy, why would a smaller country pay better?

He'd rather lie flat and fish. Reality had proven those "opportunities" were traps, and most who took them didn't make it back.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was—he blanked again.

No fish. Some bait even vanished without a tug. Just a bare hook left behind.

Weird. Were the fish on this beach getting smarter?

If fish had been this clever in his last life, he wouldn't have believed it.

But this was the Pokémon world. Anything could happen. Fish here might recite multiplication tables.

Resigned, Reiji packed up and went to cook dinner.

Spinarak had caught five crabs in the afternoon. He covered the honey trap and collected them—most were caught earlier, as later crabs got wise.

Dinner didn't take long. He called the beachside trainees back. "Poliwag, Wingull, Krabby—dinner time!"

Once the Pokémon started eating, Reiji did the same, opening Poliwag's proficiency panel to check in while munching.

[Poliwag]

Type: Water

Gender: Male

Potential: 34.31%

Level: 23.94%

Ability: Damp / 7.13%

Hidden Ability: Swift Swim / 3.13%

Known Moves:

(Mind Reader / 6.21%)

(Ice Ball / 0.31%)

(Refresh / 5.11%)

(Hypnosis / 0.82%)

(Double Slap / 10.12%)

(Water Gun / 17.14%)

(Water Sport / 9.21%)

(Bubble Beam / 1.21%)

It'd been two days since he last checked. Poliwag's potential rose by 0.1%. Slow as a turtle, but progress.

But that level… good grief. Almost 24%. He was shocked.

If nothing went wrong, Poliwag would evolve tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?!" Reiji immediately thought of the Water Gem. He'd have to prepare it—along with plenty of honey.

He needed more honey tomorrow, to help Poliwag evolve. And if the Water Stone could boost potential, they'd soon find out.

He couldn't avoid evolution out of fear. He had to prepare for failure and accept it. He'd been there before.

The more you hope, the more disappointed you'll be. Adults are supposed to let go—screw that!

He used to have zero expectations. Just a fishing bum who gave up on life.

But now Poliwag's evolution had reignited that fire. He couldn't wait another second.

If only the panel had "Add Points" buttons—he'd mash that level-up key.

Too bad. All he could do was shower and sleep early. Sleep made time go faster, after all.

Back to the panel:

Damp +2%

Mind Reader +2%

Water Sport +2%

Refresh +1%

Double Slap +1%

Water Gun +1%

All these were trained together during Moisture Sense Training.

Refresh was for healing tail and mouth injuries.

Double Slap increased from crab fights—that's also how he got hurt.

After dinner, Reiji brought out the honey bucket, gave everyone their dessert, then washed it clean.

Once everyone finished their honey, he recalled Magikarp and Spinarak into their Poké Balls and went to bed.

Early to bed, early to rise. Tomorrow's goal: more honey, and Poliwag's evolution.

(End of Chapter)

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