Chapter | 5 | Just Like Mom

"Ahh… Good morning, everyone!" Timothy stretched for a bit, then sat up. "How was your night?"

Kyle was putting his clothes back on, while Emmett was pondering what to have for breakfast.

Peanut got up onto her paws, then began to stretch for a bit. "Pretty good~" She hummed, "Though, I am a little hungry…"

Somehow, Peanut's words made everyone's stomach grumble in unison.

"Me too…" Timothy dug into the team's bag, bringing out any ingredients they needed to make a full meal. "Okay, so along with some ingredients, we also got some berries. A Figy Berry, some Pechas, a Bluk Berry there… Ooh, Cherri Berries!"

Emmett smirked. "Hey, Kyle… Could you make breakfast for today, instead of Peanut?"

Kyle looked surprised; Was Emmett really that impressed by his cooking? He's always thought of himself as being subpar at best, yet here he was, suggesting that he should make them food?

"B-Breakfast!? Doesn't Peanut cook fur th' gang? Ye should be askin' her!"

"Doesn't mean she can't take a day off or two, y'know~!"

Peanut smiled, "Aw. Kyle, you should definitely make breakfast for today! Besides, I've been doing it for some time now…"

"Yeah, your soup tastes pretty good, Kyle." Timothy pulled out some mushrooms and a Pungant Root from the bag, "Alright, I think I got everything! There's even this cauldron that my mom gave me, along with some wooden plates. It was a farewell gift she got for me in case we got hungry and needed to cook something."

Kyle looked mildly annoyed, but tried to contain as much of it as possible. "Ugh, fine! But don't complain if it comes oot tastin' awful."

Irked from being forced to cook for the team, he snagged up the ingredients; A Pungant Root, some dry and spicy berries, some salt, a glass bottle with some water in it, the bundle of mushrooms that Timothy was holding onto - pretty much everything that Kyle needed.

After chopping up the berries and root into small chunks, He dumped everything - one by one - into the cauldron, which was placed well-above the fire, heating it up gradually as he stirred.

Once it began to bubble up, a pleasant aroma began to fill up the area.

"Wow…" Peanut's eyes sparkled, "It smells amazing here!"

Emmett nodded in agreement, "I know… Sheesh, now this has reminded me of how much I've missed Kyle's cooking."

Timothy grabbed some wooden bowls, placing them on leaves big enough to hold them.

He handed the bowls to Kyle, who began pouring the contents into them.

"Soup's done," Kyle sighed, "Not th' best, but ah tried."

"You kidding me? I bet it tastes great!"

Emmett excitedly dug in, finishing the meal fairly quickly as he slurped up every single drop of it. He even got some extras from how much he liked it. Surprisingly, for a Machamp, he is quite the hefty eater, which is a trait he probably got from his dad.

Peanut took some time with it, but she absolutely loved it.

Kyle noticed that Timothy was eating it slowly, a stark contrast to the others. Curiously, he sat beside Timothy.

"Don't lik' it? That's okay, ah git it. Mah cooking ain't th' best."

"N-no, no! It's not that, I was just thinking of something... The taste reminded me of the soup that my mother used to make. My dad had a little garden in the front of our house, and we'd grow our own berries."

"So, mah cooking reminds ye o` yer maw's? Interesting…" He looked down at the bowl of soup.

"Yep! She was the best."

"Ah didn't have a maw growin' up. Only an adoptive da. Don't ferr mind th' aw the info as ah wis a wee bairn back when we were taken in, but mah older brother, Derek, told me they went missing."

"Yep. You told me about him, didn't you? I wonder what even happened to your parents…"

He shrugged. "Dunno. They could be dead fur a' ah know."

"... Oh." Timothy's tail swayed side to side a bit. "That sucks. I wonder why they abandoned you like that..."

"At least helpless wee me didn't starve to death in a bush," He sighed, "'N' even if mah real Da was still alive, he likelie abandoned me for a reason…"

"T-True…" He looked down at his bowl of soup, somewhat lost in thought.

"...Hey, yer going to finish that?"

"... Oh! S-Sorry, I'll finish that up." He got back to finishing up his meal, while the others were busy thinking up plans for the day. Kyle got up to go check on Emmett and Peanut.

"Hey, Kyle! That was absolutely AMAZING!" Emmett held up all four of his hands, all showing a thumbs up in approval. "I'd ask for more, but I ate it all."

"O' coorse ye ate it all, Emmett. You'd sloch an entire restaurant if ye had th' chance."

Emmett gave a hearty chuckle, "Bahaha! I would if they made food as good as yours." He grabbed onto a list of missions, which he got from the mission board back in Cider Point. "Well, I did manage to snag some missions that we could do for the day. We were going to do them yesterday, but we got sidetracked. You ready?"

"A'm all up for em'. Let's give it our all."

"Awesome! Well, let's head out then!" Holding onto the boulder, Emmett used his strength to move it out of the way, rolling it to the side of the cave entrance. Once they got all their stuff packed and ready to go, they went back into the road once more.

"So, we need to head on over here for these three, He pointed to a spot on the map, "The reward is pretty good, dungeon's a bit hard, but we'll manage."

Peanut beamed. "Nothing wrong with a little challenge. Together, we can do anything!"