Chapter 381:
*Lumiose City...*
Wasn't that the first city Ash arrived in when he traveled to the Kalos region?
Hayashi Kaede immediately recalled the place.
Speaking of the Kalos region, Hayashi Kaede found it quite interesting.
It was the first region to introduce a new transformation for Pokémon after their final evolution: Mega Evolution.
Of course, the bond evolution of Greninja was also incredibly impressive.
It's just that the final outcome was somewhat disappointing.
Should he go to Lumiose City to look for a Metagross?
Hayashi Kaede felt a bit hesitant.
It was just so far away. Although he could travel via the Reverse World now, making a special trip just to find one Metagross seemed a bit difficult.
If possible, he'd prefer to adopt a little Beldum himself.
The messages on his phone had stopped.
The last one remaining was:
[Tsukino: I'm quite interested in your Gardevoir, though. Would you like to have a spar sometime?]
Hayashi Kaede replied, "Sure."
He didn't take it too seriously, as everyone knew the Psychic-type Elite Four member rarely battled.
"If only a Pokémon that could help me would just fall from the sky..." Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but sigh.
He found himself thinking again that it would be nice if Mewtwo were still around. He wondered where it had ended up.
"Rotom..."
This comment made the Rotom floating nearby quietly drift a bit farther away.
Rotom, like the Indeedee siblings, was well aware of the current staffing situation at home.
They were short-handed.
The big brother Indeedee often had to help in the kitchen now.
As he was lost in thought, a clear, crisp voice sounded.
"Indeedee, Indeedee~"
Hayashi Kaede looked over.
He froze for a moment.
It wasn't just the little sister Indeedee who had arrived; Gardevoir was with her.
That wasn't the key point, though. The key point was that a red-haired girl was following beside Gardevoir.
Hayashi Kaede blurted out without thinking, "Bianca?"
But he quickly realized the person in front of him definitely wasn't Bianca; it was the Latias from Altomare.
"Gardevoir..." (She said she was looking for you. Said you have delicious food.)
Seeing the curious-looking "Bianca," Gardevoir explained.
But it was still a bit puzzled.
In its memory, it had joined the plantation relatively early. The person in front of it, although she looked human, actually contained psychic energy within her body – something its Aura couldn't be deceived about.
Furthermore, ever since she entered the town, Gardevoir had sensed the fluctuations of something flying at high speed.
In other words, like Mewtwo, this was also a Pokémon capable of transforming into a human.
But...
How come it didn't know that Hayashi Kaede knew such a Pokémon from somewhere else?
"Yes, yes," Hayashi Kaede first replied to Gardevoir, then looked at the "Bianca" that Latias had transformed into.
"Heh, I thought you'd wait until the weather was a bit warmer before coming."
Speaking of which, when Latias's brother said he'd let Latias come in the spring, it turns out it wasn't just an excuse.
"Woo?"
Latias looked at him but didn't speak.
"Is Mew still with you?" Seeing it didn't speak, Hayashi Kaede had to ask again.
This time, an expression appeared on Latias's face.
That little cat that could transform into various forms – although it was really annoying at first, later it would bring delicious food every so often to share with it.
And with its brother too.
But this time, before that little cat left, it was as if it had received some kind of summons. It just said goodbye directly.
After that, its food supply was cut off.
However, before leaving, Mew told it the location of this place, which is why it came here.
And this time, its brother didn't stop it.
"Woo.. Woo..."
'Still can't speak?'
Hearing the sounds Latias made, Hayashi Kaede understood.
Even though it could transform into a human, Latias still couldn't speak yet.
And from Latias's sounds, he roughly understood what it meant.
"You mean Mew is gone?" Hayashi Kaede was surprised.
"Woo..." Latias nodded.
Hayashi Kaede asked, "It didn't say where it was going?"
He was familiar with Mew's nature. It was quite an achievement that it managed to stay in one place for so long.
But since it left without saying a word to him, it probably meant something had happened, or it had found something fun to do.
Hayashi Kaede wasn't too worried.
Based on the timeline, the Tree of Beginning shouldn't be in any trouble now; after all, the events of the Altomare movie hadn't even happened yet.
Latias shook its head.
It didn't know.
Hayashi Kaede nodded. "Alright then. Come on, what would you like to eat? I'll make it for you."
He then added, "Come along. What would you like to eat?"
He walked ahead, with Gardevoir and the little sister Indeedee following beside him. Upon hearing his words, Latias's expression immediately became cheerful, and it couldn't help but lick its lips.
Sure enough, what that little cat said was true.
If it came, there would be delicious food.
What a nice person!
It bounced along, following Hayashi Kaede, looking now at the vegetables in the plantation, now at the berry trees.
The sheer quantity of berries astonished it.
"What do you like to eat?" Hayashi Kaede asked as he walked.
The food Mew took over was a bit of a jumble.
Apart from the Grepa Berry Wine and Catnip Balls, Hayashi Kaede would pack a bit of every other type of Energy Cube because Mew wasn't picky.
"Woo?" Latias tilted its head.
But this appearance made Hayashi Kaede feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Never mind, never mind. Could you change back to your original form?"
"Umm..." Although curious why, Latias still transformed back into its true form, floating in the air.
"Mmm, this looks much more comfortable," Hayashi Kaede nodded in satisfaction.
A little red aircraft should look like a little red aircraft. Transforming into a human but not speaking, just staring at him, felt too strange.
"I'll make you some warm Grepa Berry Wine. You should like this; the four big guys all love it."
"Umm~" Latias, floating in the air, nodded.
It had tasted that wine from the little cat before; it was indeed very tasty.
"Then I'll make some other things too. We'll see what you like."
Although it wasn't mealtime, Latias was, after all, a "guest" who had come from afar, so he still needed to prepare something.
"Umm..." Latias floated behind him, nodding repeatedly, its mind already imagining what delicious food it would get to eat later...
....
"Since it's spring, and I'm making Grepa Berry Wine, I might as well make some carrot dumplings too. Actually, wouldn't berry wine go better with grilled meat?"
While in the kitchen, Hayashi Kaede pondered what else to make while the wine was heating.
Actually, for most Pokémon, as long as they weren't herbivores, they basically liked to eat meat.
"Then grilled meat it is. What I usually send with Mew is mostly Energy Cubes. It definitely hasn't tried grilled food before."
Hayashi Kaede was full of confidence.
Besides grilled meat steaks, he also planned to prepare some dried fruits or small dishes to have with the wine.
He also prepared a pot of soup.
Now that he had psychic abilities, he could use them to handle tasks his two hands couldn't manage simultaneously.
The moment Hayashi Kaede started working, the entire kitchen sprang to life.
Knives, spatulas, kitchenware, salt, vinegar, spices – all sorts of things began moving on their own.
He took the meat steaks from the cold storage capsules, and the knives automatically began chopping. The steamer pot was filled with chopped radishes.
Into the large iron pot in front of him, Hayashi Kaede poured the Grepa Berry wine, then added various berries and fruit pulps.
Dumplings were arranged in the steamer.
In an instant, the rich aroma soon filled the entire kitchen.
The fragrant scent swirled and soon... attracted several spectators to the kitchen.
Blaziken stood guard at the door. Although it didn't know why Hayashi Kaede was cooking outside of mealtime, that didn't stop it from guarding the "spawn point" of the food.
There were also the shrunken Dragonite, Salamence, and Goodra.
After being shrunken, they became miniature versions, so entering the kitchen wasn't crowded at all.
This was Hayashi Kaede's idea.
As long as they weren't battling or going out, keeping them small was also quite cute.
Especially Salamence.
Right now, it wasn't even as tall as Steenee...
But the expression on its face still looked quite fierce, giving off a tiny but fierce vibe.
They had probably been attracted by the aroma of the mulled wine.
"Alright, alright, wait. Go wait in the living room! You're not allowed in the kitchen!"
Naturally, Hayashi Kaede noticed the commotion immediately.
He couldn't help but shoo them away to prevent these guys from causing chaos in the kitchen.
At his words, the Pokémon scattered like birds, though their steps were noticeably livelier as they left.
Hayashi Kaede breathed a sigh of relief.
He was just about to continue cooking when, not long after, another figure appeared at the door.
It was Latias, whom Hayashi Kaede had originally settled in the living room to watch TV.
But now, Latias had transformed back into Bianca's appearance.
"Umm?" Latias curiously peeked inside; the rich, mellow aroma was definitely coming from here.
When it got a look inside, its eyes instantly lit up.
The simmering Grepa Berry red wine in the pot captivated it at first glance, and it couldn't resist moving closer.
"Still need a few more minutes. Don't be impatient," Hayashi Kaede reassured it.
As the red wine simmered, the alcohol would evaporate. The length of cooking time would determine the final alcohol content.
Generally, Hayashi Kaede would manage these mulled fruit wines by timing them carefully.
The ones taken out earlier were for the Pokémon with better alcohol tolerance, and the ones taken out later were for those who couldn't handle alcohol as well.
Simmering it to this stage resulted in this:
[A+ Grade Dish — Grepa Berry Wine: A dish made by adding various berries to Grepa Berry Wine and bringing it to a boil. Due to the prolonged simmering, most of the alcohol has evaporated, but the refreshing berry fragrance and the mellow thickness of the Grepa wine are preserved.
Dish Effect 1: Refreshing...
Dish Effect 2: Sobriety: Regular consumption increases the consumer's ability to resist sleep-inducing status moves and similar buffs.]
It had a 'Sobriety' effect.
In the long run, whether facing moves like Hypnosis or Dark Void, it would enhance the Pokémon's resistance.
Moreover, after drinking, they wouldn't get drunk.
Hayashi Kaede felt this effect suited Serperior quite well.
If it drank more, it wouldn't be knocked out so easily in the future.
A few more minutes passed. Hayashi Kaede portioned out the wine for the various Pokémon in batches, then placed the stewed soup, steamed dumplings, and grilled meat steaks onto their respective plates. He turned to Latias, who had been watching nearby. "Alright, let's go~"
"Woo Woo Woo~" (≧∀≦)ゞ "Woo Woo Woo..."
The wait of these few minutes had made Latias extremely anxious. It had stayed by the side, practically fidgeting, wanting to turn left and right.
This was also why Hayashi Kaede didn't want the other Pokémon in the kitchen.
But since it was Latias's first visit, Hayashi Kaede felt he couldn't scold it, so he let it follow him in.
"Woo, Woo..." (So fragrant, so much...)
Walking along the short path to the living room, Hayashi Kaede felt that if it hadn't taken on Bianca's form, Latias's tail would definitely be wagging excitedly.
Because all along the way, it was making happy sounds.
Arriving in the living room, several other Pokémon were also waiting.
For example, Blaziken. Just now, in order to eat a bit more later, it had been doing push-ups on the spot. As for why it didn't go out for a run? It was afraid that if it left, the food on the table might be gone by the time it returned.
Looking at the Pokémon gathered around the dining table, Hayashi Kaede's mouth twitched.
"You all just ate not long ago..."
The Pokémon remained unmoved.
Hayashi Kaede had no choice. He could only lay out the prepared food one by one. Then, he brought the final batch of the mulled Grepa Berry Wine to the minimized Serperior, who was resting on the sofa. "Here, this is for you."
"Serperior..." Serperior lifted its serpentine eyes, glanced at Hayashi Kaede, raised itself up, and slithered over to the wine glass.
Hayashi Kaede didn't linger here too long. After distributing everything, he came to Latias. "Try it. See what you like."
He said this because he noticed that the food placed in front of Latias seemed untouched. It looked a bit hesitant.
Sure enough, as soon as he said this, Latias began to eat.
"Umm~" It picked up the poured berry wine and immediately poured it into its mouth.
Then came the dumplings and the meat steak. Perhaps not very skilled with chopsticks, it looked at them, then put them down, simply picking the food up with its hands.
Watching this, Hayashi Kaede felt a black line sweat forming on his forehead.
It felt like watching a two or three-year-old child who doesn't know how to use utensils, getting food all over its hands and mouth.
But the thing was, what appeared before Hayashi Kaede was a teenage girl.
So, it looked a bit... unrefined.
To be honest, if it were in its Pokémon form, Hayashi Kaede would probably find it more acceptable.
After all, some of his Pokémon ate like that.
Hayashi Kaede didn't try to correct it. But as he watched Latias, a sudden idea flashed in his mind.