The Glowing Cuisine skill worked on instinct. Ash didn't carry a mental library of recipes. The knowledge activated the moment he touched ingredients: thousands of possible combinations generated in real time based on what was in front of him, each one optimised for flavour, effect, or both.
The spicy sky onion pancakes hadn't existed as a concept before his hands found the Berries and spices on Nana's kitchen counter.
The distinction between cooking and PokéBlock crafting mattered. Cooking prioritised taste. PokéBlocks and training supplements prioritised function.
Ash's Glowing Cuisine could achieve both, but specialised supplement makers like Orchard Ash still held the edge in pure training effectiveness.
The Snorlax meal had been tailored to its species biology. Taste and fullness came first, but layered underneath was a secondary effect: enhanced growth during sleep.
Snorlax was one of the few Pokémon that grew stronger through sleeping and digesting rather than through conventional training. Eat, sleep, grow.
A biological cycle that every other species envied and none could replicate, with the possible exception of Slaking. Training sessions for Snorlax were short by necessity. Push too hard without replenishing energy, and it would regress instead of improve.
Ash had built the meal around that reality. The pancakes would fuel Snorlax's growth while it dreamed.
Three pancakes. A stomach that had devoured an entire hillside and stayed hungry was now full. Snorlax let out a burp that echoed across the clearing, rolled onto its back, and was asleep in five seconds.
A Snorlax couldn't sleep on an empty stomach. This one hadn't slept in a long time, driven from island to island by hunger it couldn't satisfy.
Now, with food that was designed for it, cooked by someone who understood it, the exhaustion of days without rest caught up in an instant.
Snorlax snored. The sound was like a small engine.
Ash patted its belly and smiled. "Sleep well, buddy."
"Everyone else, dinner's ready!"
The team descended on the table. For a while, the clearing was nothing but laughter, clinking dishes, and the sounds of Pokémon and humans eating together under an open sky.
They stayed two more days. On the morning of the third, bags were packed and goodbyes were said. Nana pushed for a longer stay. Ash declined with gratitude. The rest was over. The mission waited.
The trio boarded Lapras and set out across the sea.
During the Fruit Seven Islands stay, Ash hadn't been idle in the background. Using a blend of Aura Power and Mewtwo's psychic abilities as substitutes for specialised equipment, he'd processed the Berries he'd purchased into PokéBlocks following Orchard Ash's exclusive formulas.
Ten Berries of each stat-boosting type. Each Berry, combined with supplementary materials, yielded roughly a hundred PokéBlocks. Five types meant five thousand total.
Each PokéBlock provided approximately three and a half days of enhanced training effectiveness for a single stat.
The theoretical maximum was four days. Ash's first-time execution using improvised tools instead of proper PokéBlock presses had cost him half a day of duration per batch.
According to Orchard Ash, achieving three-day effectiveness without equipment was impressive. Three and a half was bordering on remarkable.
The five types couldn't be stacked. Using all five simultaneously for comprehensive training was a fantasy under normal conditions. The different Berry energies conflicted rather than combined.
There was a way around that limitation. Orchard Ash had mentioned a recipe requiring a legendary Berry as a neutralising agent. Combined with all five stat-boosting Berry types, it could produce a PokéBlock that enhanced every stat simultaneously without conflict.
The Berry was called the Starf Berry. The legendary dream fruit.
Ash had asked about it on the Fruit Seven Islands. Nobody had heard the name. No records, no sightings, no rumours. If the information hadn't come from a parallel-world specialist who'd devoted his life to Berry science, Ash would have questioned whether it existed at all.
But the Starf Berry's properties were extraordinary. It could synthesise the energies of every other Berry, allowing each to express its full potential while boosting the collective effect to a tier beyond what any individual Berry could achieve. Even used alone, without any other Berry present, its effects were said to be miraculous.
It sounded like a fairy tale. A Berry that could synthesise every other Berry's power? That bordered on divine.
But Orchard Ash wasn't the type to fabricate. He'd found the Starf Berry once in his life, at the summit of Mt. Coronet, the mountain where Arceus was said to reside. Two Berries. Just two. He'd used both and planted the seeds.
After a full year of expert cultivation, the seedlings were still tiny. At their current growth rate, a decade to full maturity was the optimistic estimate. Orchard Ash had set out to find Xerneas, hoping that a touch of the Life God's power could accelerate the growth a thousandfold.
Ash filed the information away. Mt. Coronet. The Starf Berry. The trials that might or might not appear depending on conditions nobody could identify.
Other parallel-world Ashes had climbed the same mountain and found nothing. Whatever triggered the Berry's appearance was hidden behind requirements that not even a multiverse of experience had decoded.
A problem for the future. Right now, the God of the Sea came first.
A week passed on the open ocean.
The trio island-hopped at a pace dictated by biology more than urgency. The girls needed shore breaks. Meals required preparation.
And staring at nothing but water from sunrise to sunset could wear down even the most sea-loving temperament. Rest stops were frequent, sometimes two or three islands in a day.
The monotony broke when they encountered ocean Pokémon. Lapras drew curious visitors: Tentacool drifting in loose schools, Horsea poking their heads above the surface, once a pod of Dewgong that paced them for half an hour before diving and vanishing.
Seven days after leaving the Fruit Seven Islands, Pummelo Island appeared on the horizon.
From the water, the island looked normal. The moment they stepped ashore, the atmosphere hit them like a wall.
Every visible person was either battling or walking to a battle.
The streets, the parks, the open plazas, all of it had been converted into informal arenas. Trainers shouted commands. Pokémon clashed. The energy was aggressive and electric, the entire island operating at a fever pitch that made Ash, a self-admitted battle maniac, pause and take stock.
He'd reviewed Pummelo Island's data before coming. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was a travel hub, not a combat zone. What had changed?
"Probably this." Misty picked up a flyer from the ground. She scanned it and held it up.
Ice-Type Elite Four Lorelei visits Pummelo Island. Exhibition match at the island stadium. Trainers battling on the island will have a chance to receive random guidance from Elite Four Lorelei.
"Lorelei is here." Ash read the flyer over Misty's shoulder, leaning close enough that his cheek nearly touched hers. Misty's face warmed, but she didn't pull away. Couple privileges.
"That explains the chaos. Everyone's battling because they want her to notice them."
"Who's she fighting in the exhibition?" Ash squinted at the flyer.
"Doesn't say. Probably a local official. Since it's an exhibition, she won't use full power. This island doesn't have Elite-level protective barriers. A real fight at her tier would endanger the spectators."
The Indigo Plateau Conference had proven that point. Mega Gardevoir's Psystrike had nearly overwhelmed the arena's shielding, and that venue had been purpose-built for high-level combat.
"You're exactly right." A voice came from behind them, warm and precise. "My opponent is a Pummelo Island official. The Pokémon used will be High Level. Strong enough to make the match interesting, not so strong that the audience needs medical insurance."
Misty was mid-nod when the voice registered. Her head whipped around.
Lorelei stood behind them in a professional suit, posture perfect, a smile on her face.
"Long time no see, Ash. Misty." She raised a hand in greeting. "Actually, it's barely been a month. Feels longer, doesn't it?"
Serena stared. Her mind processed three things in rapid succession. First: this was the Ice-Type Elite Four, one of the most powerful trainers in Kanto. Second: Lorelei was stunning. The kind of beauty that made you forget what you'd been doing. Third: she and Ash were on first-name terms.