Chapter 6: Soma's Ratatouille
After Ash won his latest battle, he, Erina and Hisako began to return to the convention. The notice of seeing the two with Pikachu on Ash's shoulder brought gossip among the crowd. "That trainer with the director?" one young man spoke,
"I never thought Nakiri would fancy herself someone younger than her," a young woman awed.
"He did advance to the third round of the Tournament," another young man pointed out. "Maybe it's a reward." The trio arrived back at the convention where they saw Delia and Max with Megumi holding different berry-like fruits like a yellowish pear, a peach that looked like a heart upside-down, a spiky tomato and blue berry.
"These Berries don't look too different from the fruits back at campus," Megumi thought. "Perhaps, I can extract the seeds to plant them back home."
"But you don't necessarily need to do that," Delia briefed. "Berries like what we have grow, even when you bury the whole Berry." Megumi heard Delia's advice, wondering how it could work.
"Are you a gardener?" asked Max.
"I am, but I grow vegetables," Megumi replied to Max. "I'm now wondering what dried Berries would be like." Delia blinked to Megumi's curiosity.
"Dried… Berries?" she repeated.
"I dry vegetables to preserve them for later use," Megumi informed. Delia and Max awed her method.
"That's actually pretty cool," Max admired. Soma seemed to be preparing a dish with some of the Berries that were with Megumi, Delia and Max. However, he noticed additional items like herbs and wheat germ.
"I don't remember having these on the docket," he believed. He picked up the herb and scented as Ash, Erina, Hisako and Pikachu approached.
"Something wrong, Soma?" questioned Erina. Soma turned to the four at his booth.
"Erina…" he addressed. "I'm just stumped in trying to understand why I have extra ingredients with me." Erina scoffed to Soma's confusion while Ash and Pikachu tried to study the situation.
"You've never had a problem with overabundance," she dismissed when a bottle of Moomoo Milk was pushed to Soma's other ingredients. Catching everyone by surprise, they became puzzled.
"Soma might be right about this," Hisako believed. Peering around a bottle was a small purple mouse with a pair of cream-colored whiskers to its muzzle. Everyone seemed surprised to the sight, but none more than Erina and Hisako who shrieked.
"A Rattata?" gasped Ash.
"A what now?" wondered Soma. Ash had his hand-held device ready.
"RATTATA, THE MOUSE POKÉMON," it registered. "RATTATA'S FANGS CONSTANTLY GROW TO WHICH THEY MUST GNAW TO KEEP THEM STRAIGHT." The information helped understand Rattata as Alice, Brock, Megumi, Delia, May and Max arrived st the booth.
"This is weird," Erina muttered.
"Oh... yeah," May agreed. "A Rattata wanting to help Soma?" Humored, Soma believed a Pokémon chose him. He came to meet the Rattata.
"Are you helping me with cooking?" he asked. Rattata squeaked to Soma, anxious to help.
"This could be another case of a Pokémon choosing their partner," Megumi pondered. "Like Ikumi with Tiger." Soma seemed surprised with the assessment.
"So, you want to be my partner?" he asked. Rattata squeaked prominently to which Ash offered a red/white ball.
"This is empty so go ahead and claim Rattata." he offered. Remembering Ikumi and Tiger, Soma took the ball and faced Rattata.
"Let's do this together!" he declared. Rattata squeaked and pawed the button to the ball which opened and Rattata became a red light before going into the ball that closed. The ball pulsed for a second before it calmed down. Soma smiled at having Rattata.
"Congrats on getting your first Pokémon, Soma," Ash praised.
"Thanks!" replied Soma. "I got a feeling Rattata and I can be great partners." Thanks when Brock had some advice.
"You know, Soma," he voiced. "Once you catch a Pokémon, you have the option of nicknaming it." Soma shot a look to Brock with a bit of awe.
"Really?" he pondered. "So, I really can give Rattata a name? Like how Mi-Meat did with Tiger?"
"Yeah, but that's only if you want to," Brock added.
"Brock's right," Ash agreed. "Neither of us gave nicknames to any of our Pokémon. There's nothing wrong if you don't wanna give Rattata a name… though, a good friend of ours, Ritchie, usually nicknames all of his Pokémon. He's even got a Pikachu he named Sparky."
"Oh, is that so?" wondered Soma as he studied the situation. Then, an idea. "Actually, I think I will give my Rattata a nickname."
"You will?" snapped Brock. Everyone became interested.
"What are you gonna call him?" asked Ash.
"Easy… His name is Remy," Soma answered. The boys became bewildered.
"Remy?" repeated Ash and Brock.
"Yeah, like the main character from my favorite childhood movie, Ratatouille," Soma briefed. Megumi became gleeful to the movie's title.
"Oh, I love that movie, Soma!" she cheered. "I used to watch it many times with my mom when I was a little girl!"
"Me too, with my dad and even my late mom," Soma shared. Delia became surprised to learn of Soma losing his mother. "We used to watch it so much and had a lot of laughs." The trainers were now curious to the film.
"What's it about?" wondered Ash. Megumi volunteered to answer Ash.
"It's about a rat named Remy who dreams of becoming the best chef in France," she informed. "It's a country back in our world." Brock giggled to the thought.
"Sounds like a really fun film," he believed.
"It is, dear!" agreed Alice. "Erina never wanted to watch it since she wasn't a big fan of the company that made it." Erina scoffed to the information.
"Trust me," Soma smiled. "You have no idea how fun and hilarious that old flick is." Ash wasn't going to argue Soma's case as Soma released his new Rattata.
"In any case, Soma," Ash spoke up. "If you wanna go ahead and name your Rattata as Remy, go for it." Rattata awed the idea in which Soma saw agreement.
"So, whaddya say, little guy?" he reasoned. "You like the name?" Rattata squeaked happily at being named Remy. Everyone but Erina and Hisako smiled to Soma naming his new Pokémon Remy… including two adults watching from afar wearing summer clothes with pastel colors: one was a crimson-haired woman and the other was an ice-violet-haired man.
"It seems the twerps and the cooking rookies are having a Pokéfest over there," the crimson-haired determined.
"Yes, and knowing that the twerps are into the food," the ice-violet-haired mentioned. "They'll eat themselves helpless for us to take Pikachu." Out of nowhere…
"Man, dat hit da spot!" a white cat mewed as he came to the pair. He had a curled tail and a gold oval coin wedged in his head. "Dose older chefs know how to treat a Pokémon." The pair glanced to the cat with long whiskers and patches of brown fur at tips of its tail and feet.
"Meowth, you're going to blow our cover!" the crimson-haired warned.
"Ah, nothin' ta worry about, Jessie," Meowth dismissed. "Dat one woman in da platform sandals gave me sometin' ta eat while I acted the part." He pointed to Hinako.
"Oh, so she was the one to feed you?" the ice-violet-haired pointed out.
"She is, James," Meowth pointed out. Just as the three seemed to relax, a Nurse Joy came in with two tiny yellow mice, shorter than Pikachu. They had diamond-shaped ears with one having a tuff of fur while the other was flat.
"Oh good!" awed Joy. "It's all going on!" Seeing Pikachu, the tiny yellow mice rushed at the Mouse Pokémon in glee.
("Big Brother!") they cheered as they tackled Pikachu who was also happy to see them.
("Pichu Brothers!") he cheered. Other creatures rushed the three: a light brown teddy bear with a crescent moon on its face, a red human-like creature with a flame marking on the abdomen, a pink human-like creature with blond hair, a round and tall blue rabbit with a white torso and bouncy ball attached as a tail, a small armless blue mouse with a similar tail and a trio of light blue armless amphibians. Seeing Pikachu, they swarmed him who seemed excited to see these Pokémon.
"Pichu," Misty recognized as she saw others like the blue mouse and rabbit. "Azurill, Azumarill…" Then, the amphibians. "Wooper…" Next was the Pokémon with the flame decal. "Magby…" Last was the Pokémon with blond hair. "Smoochum…" The chefs awed the little Pokémon visiting.
"They're so cute!" cried Yuuki.
"It makes me wanna have one of these two!" awed Rindo as she picked the Pichu brothers up. Brock noticed Joy from a place before.
"You're the Nurse Joy from Goldenrod City!" he pointed out. Joy nodded as she approached him and Alice.
"And are these your Pokémon?" asked Alice.
"They're not," Joy denied. "They're wild." Misty enjoyed petting Azumarill, Azurill and the Wooper group. Ash knelt to his Pokémon.
"This makes me wonder what else you were doing away from me, Pikachu," he pondered. Realizing the discovery, Pikachu gawked and turned to a curious Ash. Chefs and trainers awed the Pokémon present. Delia picked up Smoochum as Ikumi tried to pet Magby. However, she shrieked in pain as she quickly removed her hand from Magby. Her hand burned and the Azumarill sprayed water from its mouth onto Ikumi's injury.
"Yeah, Magby's head can be as hot as a few hundred degrees," Max mulled.
"Now, someone tells me!" whined Ikumi. Delia helped Ikumi up and examined her hand.
"I have some special ointment that can heal your hand," she offered. "You'll be able to cook in a day from now." Mimey presented a bottle of ointment to which Delia applied, rubbing it on the burned palm of Ikumi who winced at the pain of her blisters.
"Mi-Meat's tough," Soma reminded. "I've seen her cook while having a mangled left hand." Delia became a little worried.
"Oh, what happened?" she wondered.
"Ping Pong frustration," Ikumi answered. "I lost to Satoshi and smashed my left hand on the table's corner without looking. I thought I broke my hand and hours later, I was challenged to a Food War." Magby and the Pichu brothers awed Ikumi's toughness.
"Sounds like the time I sprained my ankle after doing something dangerous," Delia related. "Cliff jumping into a lake around Celadon University. Of course, I know where Ash got his recklessness." Ash groaned and dipped his head.
"Mom…" he mulled. Delia wrapped gauze around Ikumi's hand as Takumi came to Misty.
"Recalling the movie, I can make some Ratatouille to try," he offered. Misty and May blinked before turning to Takumi.
"Are you saying that Ratatouille is some sort of dish?" she guessed.
"It is," Takumi confirmed. "It's like a stew with chopped vegetables like squash, eggplant and zucchini, and cooked in a rich sauce of garlic, onion and bell peppers." The girls became highly interested.
"Okay, you peaked my interests!" declared May.
"Mine too!" added Misty. Megumi giggled to the declaration.
"I should have the vegetables for the Ratatouille by my station," she voiced.
"Great, I was just about to ask you!" laughed Takumi. "Any chance you have sliced tomatoes?" Megumi nodded as she retreated to her booth with a Pichu following.
"If this Ratatouille is like Brock's vegetable stew," Ash assumed.
"Oh, I still need to treat you," Erina remembered. "Come…" Ash followed with Pikachu behind. Just then, the coral-haired man approached Delia.
"Pardon me," he voiced. Delia turned to the pink-haired young man wearing glasses and wearing the white chef outfit with a red necktie.
"Yes?" replied Delia.
"You seem to have an exceptional taste with culinary studies, and perhaps something astute to Totsuki's methods," he spoke with coy. Delia became puzzled to the coral-haired's words. Yuuki stood back, nearly bumping into Joichiro.
"Former 1st seat, Kojiro Shinomiya…" she hissed.
"Oh, he decides to appear and to Delia?" wondered Joichiro.
"Even if you're right about me," Delia studied. "What are you skilled at?"
"Oh, I'm glad you asked, and I just happened to catch the kids talking about an animated movie about French cuisines," Kojiro brought up. "Besides, it's best that we have discussions over some wine. Wouldn't you say?" Delia grew uncomfortable to Kojiro's advances.
"Is Shinomiya trying to adapt 'Love at First Sight' on her?" muttered Ikumi.
"He might," Ryoko believed.
"I can whip up a Terrine that you can enjoy," Kojiro wished. Each step Delia took backwards, Kojiro advanced. However, Joichiro gripped Kojiro by the back of the collar and pulled him back.
"Now, is that any way to treat a lady, Shinomiya?" he mulled. Delia scooted out of there and sided with Satoshi, Max and May. Kojiro spun around and faced Joichiro.
"Number Two of the 69th Generation," Kojiro seethed. Joichiro noted the figure of the coral-haired chef.
"I believe you were ostracized from France because you're Japanese, according to the stories since I do keep tabs about Totsuki since my graduation," he recalled.
"And your point is? A young woman such as her is someone in need of cherishing!"
"And confronting someone like her calls for 'Love at first sight' gigs?" The mentioning made Alice and Brock look to each other.
"Keep in mind, I keep my promises and hopefully," Brock started. "I can help fulfill them with you." Alice nodded. Kojiro sensed that he had taken Delia before he arrived.
"I see now…" he started. "You've been looking for a new love since your old flame died. That's why she turned her head to you!" Joichiro seemed a bit puzzled.
"Are you saying that she wants to be my wife after Tamako?" he grumbled. "Son, you are living a dream that only you want to be in."
"Really?" scoffed Kojiro. "Maybe it's time to see how you were only second fiddle to the Elite Ten… as I challenge you to a Food War!" Everyone gasped to the declaration Kojiro aimed at Joichiro.
"We're going to see a Food War?" gawked Max. "And between these two!?" As if the Pokémon Tournament didn't bring on enough excitement, a Food War was announced between two former Elite Ten members.
"No wonder the atmosphere became tense," Erina realized as she, Ash and Hisako leaned out to hear of the argument.
"And who did Joichiro mention?" questioned Ash. "Tamako?" How can the Food War help settle matters?
TO BE CONTINUED...