Hello one and all to a new chapter of Pokemon SVTA and today, we originally, we were going to do an emotional filler episode revolving around Rellor and its revival methods, but I got burned out writing it which is why this chapter took a while. Filler isn't easy to write. So, I decided to wait on that chapter until a bit later. So, for today, the gang will officially head to Cascaraffa where different events occur from Penny finding the titular lonely Greavard to Nemona and Arven helping out a chef and the city's Gym Leader with his restaurant.
Overall, this episode will mainly focus on Penny but has a B-Filler side as well revolving around Arven and Nemona along with them appeasing to a Gordon Ramsey parody and an unamused Applin who takes an intrest in Arven's cooking.
Also, here are the updated move lists for both Nemona's Fuecoco and Pawmo:
Fuecoco: Snarl, Incinerate, Thunder Fang, Bite
Pawmo: Arm Thrust, Discharge, Bite, Dig
Also, some quick announcements:
*With college starting back up in September, chapter updates maybe infrequent but I'll try to get them out as soon as possible.
*As of writing this, the newest DLC trailers just came out containing new info and new Pokemon so I just want to cover some things really quick for future chapters.
-When the DLC comes out, I'll be taking a break from writing so I can play them and gather story material in the future, but these Story arcs won't happen until a bit later on with the first DLC's story arc taking place around after Nemona's 3rd Gym/Penny's 3rd Team Star base/etc while the 2nd won't be until late into the series (if I continue or reach that point that is) but I'll hint at some future storylines from the DLC as I have a plan to include the chracter Lacey sometime later in a filler episode.
-We got to see Paradox Raikou and Cobalion briefly in the trailer and I do want to note that I do have plans for them in the story as a story arc with the Crown Tundra Cover Stories hinting towards Iron Leaves and Walking Wake will be part of a future Cover Story revolving around Goh and both will hint towards a future arc. The Paradox Swords of Justice will have an important role in the Area Zero arc which won't be for a long while the Paradox Beasts will have their own arc later into the series.
-Next, we got a glimpse of new characters introduced including what the personalities of Kieran and Carmine are with Kieran being shy but also seemingly jealous of you hanging out with his sister while Carmine is a bit of a trickster and doesn't allow outsiders possibly due to wanting some aspects of Kitakami a secret rather than outright being racist, but we don't actually know for sure yet. Now this story already introduced the two earlier with established characteristics and while I am keeping their story within this fic the same, I do want to at least include aspects of their in-game characteristics as well when it comes to it.
-Also, Briar and Perrin are pretty cute.
Without further ado, let's begin.
Cover Story 26: Trip's trip around the region trip 3: The city that combines nature and technology.
Last time, Trip battled the energetic Rosa who's interested in battling with Alder but happened across Trip instead and both battled. Rosa was able to keep up with Trip in terms of battling prowess but ultimately lost but was so interested in Trip's adventure that she decided to come with despite Trip's reluctance.
The two trainers traveled through Castelia City through the desert, Nimbasa and then eventually making it to a unique civilization or should I say, civilizations as the cities were split half and half between the industrial and modern Black City and the classic and nature based White Forest. The trainers see two groups of protesters arguing amongst themselves and Trip asks what the issue is, a passerby explains that the groups are arguing which civilization should be torn down the Black City to allow nature to thrive once more or White Forest so that civilians can be provided with homes and entertainment.
Trip initially suggests that they should duke it out with one another, but the groups mention they already did that and they're resting for next round. Rosa says that he shouldn't act with violence with her reminding him of his goal of redemption and Trip tells her that he knows that before catching something in his eye being a large building surrounded by tree roots.
Trip asks to what the location is, and the same passerby mentions that it's the Treehollow Tower, a tower overtaken by nature in recent years but was made into a battle facility by a boy named Benga. Trip recalls hearing that name from Alder and that he's Alder grandson. With that info in mind, he goes to the battle tower with the promise of resolving the issue with peace.
The trainer's both arrive to the tower, and both are paired together to reach the 20th floor and that both trainers will have to pick 3 Pokemon each. Though Rosa was only there for the adventure, she agrees to team up with Trip despite his reluctance to but agrees with an attendee holding on to the egg for him and Trip picks out Serperior, Chandelure and Vanniluxe while Rosa picks out her Snivy, Stoutland and Zweilious. With their Pokemon in tow, they prepare to climb the floors of the Trehollow Tower.
END
Cover Story 27: A Connosseur's worldwide cooking blog 3: An exquisite Kalos taste 3 (kind of a long one).
Upon Cilan's arrival to the city of Coumarine in the Kalos region to start his cooking blog, he encounters a group of children at an orphanage with no caretaker in sight, Cilan decides to help the children out by making their food and such and documenting his adventures in addition to his food reviews. This catches the attention of the city's Gym Leader Ramos and Elite Four member Siebold, the owner of the restaurant Grande Etoile and for his good efforts, Siebold invites an excited Cilan to his restaurant where he'll cover for him and the children.
Siebold and Cilan get a chance to converse up on the highest floor of Siebold's restaurant and Cilan mentions him being a fan of his Connosseur lifestyle saying he's never met an S ranked Connosseur before nor as he met one outside Unova that has much class and recognition of cooking as an art form. This causes Siebold flattered as Cilan's the first person he meets that has called cooking art, Siebold decides to ask what Cilan's goal is for the region and Cilan mentions that he's going around the world writing a worldwide cooking blog and chose Kalos because of Siebold's restaurant.
Intrigued, Siebold asks Cilan for a request that bein battle and that if Cilan wins, he gets the highest quality 3 course meal to document on his blog, if he loses, he only gets one course which intrigues Cilan, and he agrees to that offering. Siebold sets up the battle stage full of water-based decorations and a pool of water from all sides. Siebold mentions that he won't go easy as an Elite Four member and Cilan agrees saying that he won't hold back as a Gym Leader.
Cilan sends out his Pansage while Siebold sends out his Clawitzer, Cilan thinks of a plan and tells his Pansage to use Seed Bomb having learned some techniques following Ash's departure a couple years back. Pansage launches large seeds towards Clawitzer as Siebold smirks and tells his Clawitzer to use Ice Beam which hits through the Ice Beam and narrowly hitting Pansage who dodges with quick grace as Siebold tells Cilan that he's prepared to deal with both Electric types and Grass types, so he'll have to try his best to counteract that.
Pansage tries to use Knock Off at a close range and swiftly as possible but as Pansage was about to attack, Siebold sees an opportunity and uses Mud Shot to blind Pansage before launching Ice Beam. Despite being hit by a super effective move, Pansage gets up determined not to back down which inspires Cilan to not give up either. Cilan remembers while during a fishing tournament that someone was teaching Pledge moves and Cilan decides to try it out by using Grass Pledge from a far which surrounds the Clawitzer who can't escape before deciding to charge up to use Focus Punch and rushes towards Clawitzer who in a last-ditch effort, uses Ice Beam right when Pansage collides with Clawitzer knocking both Pokemon out.
Siebold is impressed with Cilan's skills to which he mentions that despite being caretaker for Ash, he's also learned something from him as well. This peaks Siebold's interest as his family has been creating champion worthy dishes for them for generations and having served Cynthia, Diantha, Leon and Geeta himself, he now seeks to create a Champion worthy dish for the World Champion that he can be proud of. Cilan thinks to himself how Ash has inspired people from all over and continues the battle.
Siebold sends out Gyarados who's in the water and decides to send out his White Stripe Basculin which gets Siebold's interest as it's a rare form of a Bassculin found in Hisui or what is now modern-day Sinnoh so Cilan got rather lucky, but he still has one more hurdle. This is Cilan's first time battling with Basculin and his first time battling in the water so he's a bit nervous of how it will go but Basculin appears to have some sort of confidence and so Cilan calls out Wave Crash which resembled a whirlpool surrounding the Pokemon before rushing at Gyarados who also uses Wave Crash.
Both take damage from the attacks but also the recoil involved with the attacks, Gyarados launches Thunderbolt which Basculin attempted to dodge but was hit by the Thunderbolt but didn't want to give up as Cilan notices a move that caught his eye being Last Respects and uses it and Basculin launches what appeared to be a Shadow Ball of sorts but resembled that of souls screaming and attacks the Gyarados with it stunning it allowing Basculin to use Double Edge. Eventually, a blue light surrounds the Basculin and evolves into a larger red striped fish Pokemon named Basculegion which had a scowl on his face.
Siebold's surprised and decides to end the battle as Cilan has shown his worth allowing him and his Pokemon to have 3 course meal and he'll cover the meals for the children as well. Siebold also explains that Basculegion is quite an interesting Pokemon as it was a Pokemon of the Hisui region said to have been made up of various souls of Basuclin before one Basculin took enough damage to evolve into two variations of Basculin one male with red stripes (the one Cilan has) and a blue striped which was female. He also mentions a recent phenomenon in Paldea where these forms have been returning one way or another.
Cilan enjoys a hardy dinner and afterwards, he writes about his adventures and the food involved within his first couple of days in Kalos mentioning how Kalos food is based around the nature and how it mixes with the fine herbs, spices and cheese of the region along with the deserts being magnifique and giving Siebold's restaurant a 5 out 5. Cilan also mentions his adventures within Coumarine
The next day, Cilan meets with Ramos and Siebold and Ramos reveals that he'll be acquiring the orphanage so that the children can have a home they can thrive in with new parents and not have to be alone all the time. This makes the children upset but Cilan says that he'll always remember them and wants them to live peacefully, and he'll see them again and even allows them to be at his restaurant. Siebold is interested and remembers that he went there one time at Cilan's restaurant noticing a 3rd brother missing and assumes it's Cilan which Cilan points out is correct.
Ramos asks what's next for Cilan who mentions that while he's interested in exploring the rest of the Region to see how other parts of the region handle their food and give it style, he mentions that he's heard rumors of an Oranguru having a bar-like location in Alola he's interested in due to a Pokemon not only owning it but also giving valuable advice. In addition, he's also interested in the Poni radishes on Poni Island, the malasadas and the popular Akamai restaurant (Mallow's last name in this fic which can mean 'clever' or 'intelligent') over in Alola and with that, they all bid farewell and Cilan heads to Melemele island for part 2 of his cooking blog.
END
It was another beautiful day in Paldea as the Starly's were chirping, the Pyroar's were roaring and oh my, the gang appears to be doing their morning routine as Ash was mentoring Penny and Nemona who were having a double battle with Penny's Leafeon and Sprigatito against Nemona's Pawmo and Fuecoco while Arven was cooking.
"Thank you for training with me Nemona, Sprigatito wanted to battle and develop her style some more." Penny says as Nemona nods, "Not a problem, I've been meaning to do some training."
Ash looks to the spunky trainer, "Now remember Nemona, don't get too confident now, it's only training." Ash says to the spunky trainer who nods but doesn't break her confident appearance.
"Yeah, yeah I know." Nemona says confidently worrying Ash.
I know Nemona's trying to improve herself after the last battle with Carmine, but I don't want that loss to get over her head, like in Sinnoh. Ash thought to himself worryingly as the battle begins.
"Alright Sprigatito, I'm having big sis Leafeon guide you through your battle. Just stay calm and I know you can do your best right Sprigatito?" Penny says encouragingly to the young Pokemon, "Sprig!" Sprigatito says excitedly as Penny nods.
"Alright Nemona go ahead and call your shots." Penny says as Nemona nods, "Alright Pawmo use Arm Thrust on Leafeon and Fuecoco prepare a Snarl on Sprigatito!" Nemona yelled out as Pawmo rushed towards Leafeon and Fuecoco prepared to launch a Snarl on Sprigatito.
Penny stayed calm and yelled her moves, "Alright Leafeon use Double Kick against Pawmo and Sprigatito use Sucker Punch on Fuecoco!"
Leafeon nodded and rushed towards Pawmo to use her two back legs to kick against Pawmo's Arm Thrust while Sprigatito's back fur turned black and rushed at Fuecoco to strike him before he could launch Snarl, but Nemona smirked.
"Gotcha, Thunder Fang!" Nemona says catching both Penny and Sprigatito off guard as Fuecoco bit onto Sprigatito's paw as she began to feel the effects and Ash and Arven look on pained.
I'm guessing that's what happens when you have Protean and use a non-Grass move, you lose your Electrical resistance but still ouch. Arven thought to himself as Sprigatito hopped back in pain.
"Spri! Sprig!" Sprigatito says in pain as Penny looks on worryingly and Leafeon goes to her comrade, "Sprigatito! Are you ok!?" Penny says worryingly as Sprigatito nods and Fuecoco looks on feeling ashamed of what he's done but Sprigatito gives him a look of forgiveness.
Ash looks to Nemona worryingly who seems to be distracted, "Nemona, you have to be careful! This isn't an actual battle." Ash says worryingly aas Nemona breaks out of the trance and shakes her head before looking to Penny apologetically.
"Penny I'm so, so sorry for tha-" Nemona didn't finish as Sprigatito was back to normal prepared to fight again.
"I guess Sprigatito wants to continue, I forgive you but be careful." Penny says as Nemona nods and tries to get back into the groove of things. "Right, alright Pawmo, use Discharge and Fuecoco use Incinerate!" Nemona says confidently but Ash's eyes widen in realization of Nemona's mistake.
"Wait a minute Nemona, Discharge is a-" Ash didn't have time to yell out as Fuecoco was struck by Discharge accidently as Nemona realized that too late and Discharge spreads onward to Leafeon and Sprigatito as Penny panicked.
"Leafeon, Sprigatito dodge it!" Penny yelled out as Leafeon jumped out of the way, but Sprigatito shivered until she felt the sudden urge to quickly hop at top speed to her right before jumping onto Penny's head shivering.
"Sprigatito learned Quick Attack from fear?" Arven says as Penny looks to him, "I hear it happens in most battles." Penny says as she got Sprigatito down to calm her down. Ash looked to an embarrassed Nemona who covered her face with her hands out of embarrassment as Ash looked to her worryingly.
"Alright I'm calling off this battle, is everything ok?" Ash asked as Nemona ultimately sighs and shakes her head, "I don't know what got over me, I'm so sorry." Nemona says as Fuecoco glared at her.
"And I'm sorry to you to Fuecoco, I promise to make it up to you." Nemona says softly smiling as Pawmo comforts Fuecoco before Nemona looks back to Ash, "You want to talk about it?" Ash asks the concerned girl who nods.
"I think that would be best."
We see the gang discussing to each other finishing up breakfast as Ash's Pokemon are fully healed up and ready to go.
"Once again Penny, I am so sorry for my actions during that battle I sometimes feel a bit competitive than I usually do." Nemona says nervously as Penny caught on to her nervousness.
"It's about that battle from yesterday, isn't it?" Penny says calmly as Nemona was left awestruck but nods, "It's not just that, it's the fact that I'm going to encounter Giacomo again and I don't want to lose myself with my emotions when I encounter him again, so it's got me a bit worked up, trying to improve on myself when it comes to future battles so I don't lose to Carmine and so I can save Giacomo from himself." Nemona says worryingly.
Ash softly smiles and looks to her, "Try not to worry about Carmine right now, there's always room for improvement in the near future. As for Giacomo, you're not alone in this battle as we'll reach out to him even if it takes 5 pages worth of convincing." Ash says encouragingly as Nemona softly smiles but still feels unsure of herself.
"Thank you, Ash, but I still feel conflicted." Nemona says as everyone gets back to eating breakfast.
The gang officially hit the road as head down the trail with a city in sight and some ways to go. Ash and Pikachu were riding on Koraidon while the gang follow behind.
"Say Koraidon?" Ash asked Koraidon who looked at him with a side glance.
"Don?"
"Have you adapted to the modern-day lifestyle yet?" Ash asks as Koraidon shrugs and Ash softly smiles, "We'll get there eventually at some point, just hang in there." Ash says patting Koraidon as they hum peacefully.
Nemona looks over past Koraidon and sees a civilization in the distance and gets intrigued, "Say, I think I see Cascaraffa in the distance!" Nemona says excitedly as Arven gets out his binoculars and looks through there.
"Oh yeah, I see it now. Cascaraffa shouldn't be too far now." Arven says as Ash got curious.
"What's Cascaraffa like?" Ash asks as Penny walks next to him, "Cascaraffa is what you call 'the city of differing heights' due to the city having two elevated sections with one section leading to old town and the Asado Desert and the other is the more modern areas. This city actually used to be a lot bland looking until the city's Gym Leader painted it blue to attract visitors and it seems to have worked." Penny says as Ash and Pikachu get intrigued.
"The city's Gym Leader painted the city?" Ash says as Arven nods and his eyes seemingly sparkles.
"Yes. He's Kofu, a Water type Gym Leader who is known for his restaurant Ondas which boasts some high-quality dishes. Oh, how much I want to work with him one day and figure out his secrets to a great meal." Arven says with glee as Nemona suddenly remembers something.
"Oh yeah, I know Ondas, my family owns a 5% stake in that restaurant and the food there was absolutely delicious so maybe if I introduce myself as the daughter of Rolo, I can get myself a free Gym Battle." Nemona says with an evil grin alongside Pawmo as Ash and Pikachu sigh.
"Now, now Nemona, what did we talk about?" Ash says as Nemona sighs, "Never cheat in battles and outside of battles too unless necessary." Nemona says disappointed as Ash nods.
"Good."
Penny suddenly stops the group all of a sudden.
"Penny, what's up?" Nemona asks as Penny ushers the group to hide, and she points to the flag above them which was black with white outline of a star.
"This is Team Star: Segin base." Penny says which catches the group's attention, "So this is where Giacomo's at?" Ash asks as Penny nods which causes Nemona to appear nervous.
"Sh-sh-should we rush in?" Nemona asks nervously as Ash notices Nemona's nervousness due to the context of Nemona's past as Penny shakes her head, "Not yet, although I was able to get the locations down, I was unable to have my Rotom cam fly in due to grunts noticing it. I need the cam in there so I can gather until of their army and where their leader is at, but it will require a day of me getting in-" Penny was interrupted when Clav- err Clive walks in prepared to say something.
"Well, I can-" Clive doesn't finish as the gang pull Clive in upon hearing some noises nearby, the noises were revealed to be two Team Star grunts walking by discussing with each other.
"You want to grab some snacks for movie night, Rebecca?" a grunt asks as the other nods and walks off to Cascaraffa and the gang waited there a couple of minutes before continuing as Ash and Penny remember this fellow, but Nemona and Arven seems weirded out.
"Clive, what're you doing here?" Ash says as Clive laughs, "Excellent point my chap, I was sent here by Naranja's headmaster Clavell to investigate these so-called Team Star bases due to his duties keeping him busy." Clive says confidently before turning to Nemona and Arven.
"And I don't believe we've met my cool Glameow's, my name is Clive and I'm a master of 80's pop culture. Pleasure to meet you." Clive says positively and happily as Arven and Nemona were weirded out but tilted their heads a bit to see Clive's Inteleon holding up a sign to say; 'Go along with it, it's for an operation.' as the two are unsure of what to make of it.
"Umm-" Nemona didn't finish as Penny intervened.
"And so, what are you doing here in particular?" Penny asks as Clive nods.
"As I was going to say, I can help survey the area for the things you're looking for and report back to you with the details." Clive says which gets Penny suspicious and Ash curious.
"But why would you go to help us in particular?" Ash asks as Clive gets a bit serious, "It's so that these students don't throw away their lives for who they are." Clive says a bit more seriously as Penny is somewhat intrigued before she sighs and nods.
"Alright, welcome to the 'Starbusters!" Penny says right on the spot as Nemona smirks, "You made it up on the spot, didn't you?" Nemona says as Penny nervously smiles and looks away.
"That's not important." Penny said quickly before she grabbed her cam out of her bag and gives it to Clive, "Alright, if you're going to join then you need to use my cam here to gather information about the base and send that information to me but do not engage them, we don't want to head in recklessly. When you get the information, come to Cascaraffa and we'll strike the next day. Don't disappoint me." Penny says surprising everyone by her tone.
"Yes madam!" Clive says as Penny nods, "Now get out there and be careful." Penny says as Clive goes off and looks back at the group appearing happy like nothing has happened.
"Ready to go guys." Penny says happily as everyone nervously sweats including Sprigatito.
"Yep." Ash says casually as they head off.
We see Clive thinking to himself nearby sweating nervously.
Remind me never to get on her bad side. Now, time to find my way up there. Clive thought to himself as he sent out Braviary and flew up to the sides of the cliffs and turned on the Rotom cam.
"I mean, who chooses a bottom of a cliff as there base? What if it rains or snows? No matter, I just hope the gang can reach Giacomo and his emotions." Clive said to himself as he continued surveying the area remembering something from earlier.
The day prior
We see Clavell and Herschel talking to each other at a nearby cafe while their Pokemon relax and eat.
"So, the incident involved Uva students harassing Naranja students causing Team Star to intervene to save them?" Herschel asks as Clavell nods, "That's what the students said but other than that, that's all I have to go on. So, I hope by tracking down their leaders, I can find out more about this scenario." Clavell says as Herschel sighs.
"You do know that digging down more into this Raboot hole will only get you dead." Herschel says bluntly as Clavell remained unflinched, "And that's what I'll take to ensure my students happiness." Clavell says with confidence as Herschel relents and nods.
"Alright, I guess if you're going in this Raboot hole, I'll go down too." Ribes says as Clavell softly smiles.
"Thanks Honcho-bro."
"Do people still call me that?" Ribes says surprised as Clavell nods.
"So, what's your plan Clarence?" Ribes asks as he brings up a photo of Giacomo and brings out a picture of a police officer with a bald head and a dark goatee.
"My priority is reaching out to Giacomo Martinez, former Student Council president." Clavell says as Ribe's picks up the picture and nods.
"Ah yes, Giacomo is a pretty talented kid, he placed first in Naranja's spelling bee and is a huge fan of electronic music. From what I heard; he was pretty devastated following the death of Grace. I wish I wasn't such a coward that day." Ribes says sadly.
"Don't blame yourself, no one could've expected those events to occur. I don't blame him for his sadness but if he keeps wallowing to himself, he'll lose himself in his emotions, so I need to reach him with the help of Ash and Penny." Clavell says catching Ribes's attention.
"Ash, you say."
"Yes, he's helping Miss Penny out with her Treasure Hunt by taking down Team Star." Clavell says to the curious man.
"And what do you want me to do for you?" Ribes's words caught Clavell like a fishing hook before he nods.
"And here I thought you were in charge." Clavell says snark like as Ribes chuckles, "Heh, ironic."
"Right, I want to ask you to find Tiroso, he supposedly 'retired' after failing to stop 'Team Star' but I decided to look over those reports once more and I find them to contain false names and information including not mentioning Uva being involved, just Naranja." Clavell says surprising Ribes.
"So, you're saying it's possible this evidence has been tampered with?" Ribes says now getting a vein on his head over the information.
"That's my guess to say the least." Clavell says as Ribes then nods and stands up placing his cash on the table.
"Very well, Arcanine, let's get going." Ribes says as his Arcanine gets up and shakes herself. "You stay out of trouble and death, and I'll let you know if anything comes up." Ribes says as he heads off and Clavell gets himself together.
"Right, let's get to work."
We see the gang walk towards the city of Cascaraffa which was thriving with beautiful blue architecture, differently heighted levels containing variety of buildings from the newer modern architecture of the higher levels to the older but still stable old town on the lower levels, and the water that flows throughout the city. The gang marvel in awe over the architecture.
"This city's gorgeous!" "Pika/Don!" Ash, Pikachu and Koraidon say in awe as they walk around, and Ash turns to see a wide desert which also impresses Ash.
"What is that?" Ash asks in awe as Arven walks over to Ash, "That my little buddy is Asado Desert, the short oasis." Arven says getting Ash's attention.
"Short oasis?"
"They call it that due to the desert trail to the city of Porto Marinada being only a 30-minute drive or a 3 hour and 20-minute walk, but they say it can feel like an oasis due to the ocean being visible and those that go off the path on a sandy day hallucinating their fake oasis." Arven says as they continue walking along the path as they head towards the Gym.
Nemona seems visibly excited but still nervous about the events from earlier, "Oh man, I can't wait to battle Kofu and show him what I'm made of!" Nemona says excitedly as Ash sighs.
"But don't forget, you shouldn't get too excited." Ash tells her as she scoffs.
"I know, I know." Nemona says as the gang walk to the Gym and Nemona bumps into the door which didn't open automatically. Nemona recovers from that bump and looks to the door which had a note on it.
"Dear Challengers, I unfortunately can't challenge anyone today due to my time at the restaurant but I'm open to challengers tomorrow but until then, Vaultin Veluza! From Kofu." Nemona reads out now sounding disappointed towards that news as she groans.
"It's alright Nemona, it should provide enough time for a strategy against Kofu. Well since it is going to be a while, how about you Arven? Is your Titan around here?" Ash asks the cook as he nods.
"Yes, there's a Bombirdier around here who holds the Bitter Herba Mystica, but it likes to fly away from their nest for a while from what I've heard, and I haven't seen it flying around there so I presume it's gone for a while." Arven says as they all look disappointed and bored.
"So, what now?" Penny says as Ash's stomach growls in hunger as the others sigh.
"Lunch it is!" Arven says as Penny looks on her phone to search for restaurants, "Well since we were just talking about him just now, why not go to Ondas?" Ash suggests as the others agree and head off towards the restaurant.
As they were walking, Penny walks by a dog Pokemon who's eyes were covered with bangs and a candle on his head who was seemingly hopping stuck to a pole looking dirty yet was seemingly happy. Penny leans down to interact with the Pokemon as Ash goes next to her.
"Aww, this poor Greavard is alone and stuck." Penny says as her Sprigatito hops off her shoulders to play with the Greavard.
"Greavard?" Ash asks pulling out his Dex.
Greavard, the Ghost Dog Pokemon, a Ghost type. Greavard is a friendly Pokemon that doesn't like being alone and will follow those who play with Greavard.
"And he's such a cutie. Here let me help you out with that." Penny says as she helps Greavard from being stuck from that pole that Greavard was tied to.
"Here we are, you want a treat?" Penny asks as Greavard gets excited and hops happily.
"Vard!"
"Here you are, some Pokebiscuits." Penny says giving Grevard some biscuits which Greavard munches on happily and wags his tail, Penny scratches him happily as Sprigatito gets a bit jealous and wants to be scratched as well, Penny laughs and obliges scratching both of them.
"You two are cute." Penny says, "Guys, are you coming!?" Nemona yells out catching both trainers attentions.
"Coming!" Ash yells out as Penny prepares to leave with Sprigatito, "You take care now Greavard." Penny says giving one last scratch to Greavard. Greavard then looks to the rope and collar that held Greavard and proceeded to put it back on and lie down.
The gang walk through the busy streets full of vendors, restaurants, bakeries and so much more as the gang marvel in awe and try not to let et their mouths water of all the delicious food there.
"Look at all these food stuff, they're just so delicious! Is Cascaraffa known for this sort of thing?" Ash asks as Arven nods, "Yep, it's what you call the food capital of the world thanks to its variety of foods and restaurants around here." Arven responds. As they were walking, Arven hears grunting noises nearby and goes to investigate alongside Morada finding an old man who seemingly has trouble making something involving berries and groans. The 'old man' appears to be wearing casual clothing and a white beard but there was a black outline around the man's mouth.
"Damn it! I can't get this berry stew going." the old man says as Arven looks in there.
"What your missing is some Shuca, Roseli and Lum Berries alongside some Herba Mystica in order to complete the recipe for a perfect berry stew." Arven says which catches the attention of the old man who seems intrigued.
"My, are you familiar with the old recipe of Berry Stew?" the old man asks as Arven nods, "Yep, my late Great Grandpa taught me this recipe and used to make it a lot with his mother back then so I have a lot of familiarity on the intricacies of this recipe and what unique things you can add on to it." Arven says as the old man seems intrigued and nods and steps aside.
"You're the master, show me what you can do?" the old man says as Arven nods and sets up a table placing the aforementioned ingredients on the table as Morada steps onto a stool that Arven placed down and grabs a knife. Arven passes over a couple of berries to Morada who's all prepared.
"Alright, just like we practiced, use Metal Claw quickly and put it into the cauldron." Arven says enthusiastically, "Sneasel." Morada says in agreement as they cut up the berries quickly which impresses the gang and nearby passersby.
He maybe our winning chance here. The old man thought to himself as Arven and Morada place the all the berries into the cauldron and now need to heat it up, "Say Nemona, Penny could you have your Fuecoco and Flareon use their Fire moves on the cauldron? We need double the heat for this recipe." Arven says as Penny and Nemona nod and sent out their Pokemon.
"Alright Fuecoco, use Incinerate beneath that cauldron." Nemona says as Fuecoco lights up the cauldron, "Flareon, use Flamethrower." Penny says as Flareon launches Flamethrower from his mouth to double the heat of the cauldron which starts bubbling the liquids inside by a lot.
"And that should be enough, time for the next step. Fuecoco, we need your Incinerate on the berries once more but this time, on top." Arven says causing the group to be surprised.
"I understand heating a cauldron but heating the berries!?" "Pika!?" both Ash and Pikachu said in shock as their mouths watered.
Nemona grabs Fuecoco and lifts him in the air, "Alright, Fuecoco, use Incinerate on top of the berries."
Fuecoco proceeded to heat up the berries which were roasted to perfection as everyone looked on in awe. "Now time for the next step, some Herba Mystica and I just have enough left for this one." Arven says as he grabs his saltshaker containing some of the herbs and put it into the cauldron and proceeded to stir it all together which looked interesting as the food puffs with smoke and sparkles as everyone was interested.
"And here we are, the Berry Mélangé. A popular Navy recipe from my great gramps." Arven says as the old man grabs a bowl and pours some in and tries it, upon swallowing it, the old man's eyes sparkles with delight.
"I'm in heaven." the old man says as he faints causing the group to go to him worried.
"Is he dead!?" Nemona asks worryingly as the old man rises up after his 'death' with a bright smile on his face.
"Your food is simply wonderful and must be shared amongst the world, starting now!" the old man says as he drags Arven away from the group causing them to give chase.
"Arven!" Ash yells out as they follow the two.
We enter a restaurant where it looks like a disaster happening as there's a significant lack of staff as they go around trying to finish recipes all while an old man with a... strange looking beard, a blue apron and a calm yet frustrate demeanor sits on a chair stressed. There was no one in the restaurant at the moment having to close for a little bit leaving a mess going on in the kitchen.
"What am I going to do?" the old man says as the door opens to reveal the old man and a bewildered Arven head into the restaurant as the blue aproned man walks over to them. The gang follow suit and walk in confused while also holding bowls containing the berry Melange.
"Boss Kofu, I believe we have someone who can help us get this place going!" the old man says as Kofu sighs, "Spic, how many times do I have to tell you not to drag random people in here for our jobs and lose the beard. I'm so sorry for my assistant's behavior, I hope you can forgive me for his actions young man." Kofu says genuinely to Arven as his sparkles.
"Wait, Kofu, the Kofu?" Arven says in disbelief.
Spic takes off the beard and wig to reveal a clean shaved face and dark chestnut spiky hair "But I'm serious this time, this kid helped me with my cauldron and made a delicious berry dish called a Berry Lasagna."
"Melange." Arven corrected.
"Melange." Spic clarified as Kofu looked on suspiciously and sighed once more.
"You also dragged him away from his friends but if you say his food is that good, I'm willing to negotiate." Kofu says as Penny hands Arven a bowl of Melange and gives it to Kofu who has a bite with his spoon and his eyes start to sparkle once more as he seems to be in awe.
"I haven't even written my will yet." Kofu says as he faints causing everyone to go to Kofu.
"Not again, Arven, you need to stop killing people." Nemona says as Kofu rises up after his 'death' and appears to be happy, "Kid you have talent." Kofu says excitedly as Arven's eyes sparkle.
"I've been waiting to hear those words for a long time. Just what seems to be the issue here at Ondas?" Arven asks as Kofu sighs.
"Well, you see, half of my employees are sick, on vacation or just faking it and thus I have no one here to work including our head cook, waiter and our mascots." Kofu says a bit stressed as Arven figures out what Kofu wants quickly.
"And that's where I come in, you need a cook right?" Arven says as Kofu nods, "Then I'll do it!" Arven says with determination surprising Kofu as he looks unsure.
"Are- are you sure, my assistant did drag you here and I don't want to force you into anything you don't want to do?" Kofu asks as Arven shakes his head, "I've been waiting 16 years for this moment to work alongside the famous sea-baring chef since I was in my diapers, so I Arven Regalo want to show you what I'm made out of." Arven says with confidence and yet, with hidden nervousness. Kofu seems surprised and relented.
"I'm impressed, you're in on one condition. If you make your Berry Melange as a dessert and they like it, we'll add it on our menu permanently."
"I mean anyone can make it but sure." Arven says in agreement.
"Now we need another waiter as we only have 2." Kofu says as Nemona evilly smirks as Ash notices, "Nemona, what are you planning?" Ash asks as Nemona turned back to normal and goes to Kofu.
"I'll be your waiter but on one condition-"
"You want to have a Gym Battle." Kofu finished surprising Nemona who looks on with her mouth agape.
"How!?" Nemona says as Kofu laughs, "Kid, I've been on this earth for 70 years and I noticed countless trainers who have that same exact plan of theirs and it always works. What's your name kiddo?" Kofu asks as Nemona nods.
"The name's Nemona Helena-Banderas, sir." Nemona says surprising Kofu as he panics, and his staff immediately bows to Nemona including Kofu which confuses Nemona.
"I'm so sorry for my ignorance Miss Banderas, I didn't know a member of the Banderas family was arriving." Kofu says apologetically as Nemona puts her hands up, "Now, now, no need for that, I have no interest in the business side of things, I just want to help out." Nemona says as the staff gets back up and Kofu clears his throat.
"Very well, considering your age though, you'll be accompanied by my other waiter to give you experience and I'm wondering if you could promote some items including the Berry Melange." Kofu asks as Nemona nods.
"Consider it done!" Nemona says as Kofu moves on to the last thing, "And now for our mascots, our mascots are an Octillery and a Barraskewda but they're sick today, so we need a substitute." Kofu says as an idea is struck.
"Young Nemona, could I have Pawmo help out in the mascot department and do you have backup dancers for our mascots." before Kofu could say another word, Quaxwell and Hawlucha came out and nodded surprising Kofu.
"You want to participate Quaxwell, Hawlucha?" Ash asks as the two Pokemon nod and display their dancing skills with Quaxwell having an elegant ballerina like style mixing in with his dance battle style he learned from Ash while Hawlucha uses the dance training he used in Kalos but in a more fun fashion as Kofu nods.
"Brilliant, I'll give your Pokemon back by the end of the day and will be paid with quick succession. Let's get to work." Kofu says as the gang prepare to do their own thing, but Penny stops Ash.
"Actually Ash, could I talk to you about something on a walk?" Penny asks as Ash was taken aback but nods, "Sure, one sec. Remember Nemona, try not to get in over your head." Ash says as Nemona nods.
"I know." Nemona says as the two trainers walk out leaving the others to do their thing as Kofu remembers something.
"Now I felt quite rude, I didn't get the names of the trainers who just left." Kofu says as Nemona faces him, "Oh them, those were Penny and Ash respectively." Nemona says as Kofu's eyes widen.
"Wait, the Ash!?" Kofu says as he immediately face palms, "How could I be foolish enough not to recognize our World Champion and not give him a warm welcome and him promoting the restaurant." Kofu says sadly.
"Cheapstake." everyone says as Kofu puts his head down comedically sad.
We see Penny and Ash walk down the street with Ash's Pikachu and Tinkatink with Penny's Sprigatito admiring the delicious food there as they walked around. Penny seems to be a bit nervous about something and so does Ash despite his calm composure.
"Alright Ash, I know something's wrong with ya, do you want to talk about it?" Penny asks as Ash initially tries to brush it off before eventually sighing, "Yeah, a lot of things I'm worried about." Ash says which gets Penny curious.
"Did you put your shirt on backwards?" Penny asks as Ash looks in his shirt to see it's normal.
"No, no, not that. It's just, ever since her lost against Carmine yesterday, she's trying to act all confident and rush through things thinking it will help improve on herself in battle but it's only causing her to lose her way and her path forward. I want her to succeed but I don't want her to push herself because of what happened but instead try to improve and learn from her losses instead." Ash says a bit worried as Penny looks on sympathetically.
"Were you like that at one point?" Penny asks as Ash was taken aback but nods.
"Pretty much. Back in Hoenn, I was more focused on attacking rather than strategy that when I lost against Brawly, I- I lost my way and got frustrated at my companions before I realized that I exhausted my Treecko to his breaking point. I- I was a very stubborn trainer and still am at times and while I made up with my friends and Pokemon including Treecko, I worried that I might've emotionally hurt my Treecko despite him rubbing it off. I still kind of acted like that in Hoenn until Elite Four's Drake helped me in the right path." Ash says a bit nervously.
"Ash." Penny says sadly as Ash continues, "It was there where I started to get more serious about battling and instead of trying to win battles constantly, I try to train and use strategy and made myself a promise never to get so snobbish towards everyone and even then, I broke it in Kalos. To this day, I can never forgive myself for that incident even after all the amends. It's why I don't want Nemona to end up like me back then and that's what I'm worrying about right now. I know I sound like a broken record, but I don't want her to take her losses personally." Ash says as Penny nods in agreement.
"Yeah, I agree, it's why I asked you out here. With Nemona's attitude change and the fact Giacomo is here, I don't want her losing herself because of what happened in her past with Giacomo. I'm wondering if you can be by her side no matter what, so she doesn't lose her way." Penny says sadly as Ash nods.
"I promise." Ash says as Penny smiles and blushes, "And to think I started off not caring about Nemona and Arven aside from you til now." Penny says casually as Ash smiles.
"I guess that's what happens with the power of friendship." Ash says as Penny playfully cringes, "That's generic." Penny says lightly chucking as they kept walking, but Ash was rather curious about something.
"Say Penny?"
"Yes Ash?"
"What was Giacomo like before the Starry Skies incident?" Ash asks the bespectacled girl as she tries to remember.
"Well, he was always a stickler for the rules and sometimes went a bit too overboard such as the time he banned Flying types at the school because they caused too much gust everywhere. But that's where Grace came in and helped Giacomo get his bearings with the rules and to calm down, but he does care and does like to have fun at times but just wants everyone to be safe. He often bickered friendly with Nemona and overall, Grace, Nemona and Giacomo helped keep things in order at the school but as you know, the Starry Skies incident came around." Penny says as Ash remembered something.
"And Grace-"
"Yeah, after that, he and another boss Mela left for being 'abandoned' by the school and from what I see on my cam, he wants everyone to be safe but still holds tremendous guilt over the incident." Nemona says as Ash looks on sympathetically.
"Do you worry that he might lose himself too because of Nemona?" Ash asks as Penny nods, "Yes, I know I shouldn't care about 5 random Team Star bosses but they're just throwing their lives away because of their guilt or personal vendettas just taking them over and I don't want that for them to lose sight of what's important for them. Ash looks on surprised over how much Penny cares about them.
"How were they never expelled?" Ash says as Penny looks to him, "No one had the heart to do so after the incident, they just list them as suspended until they get the students back and this goes for all the schools in the region that have the bosses." Penny says as they decide to walk in silence before Ash spoke up.
"Then let's reach out to him together!" Ash says with determination as Penny looks on surprise.
"What now?" Penny says.
"The bosses all went through something before leaving their schools, right? Well, what if we fight through to break open their shells so we can reach out to them." Ash says as Penny tries piecing what Ash said together until she realizes what he meant by those words.
"So, you want to reach them out on an emotional level, sounds generic but it could work. Just be prepared to fight them because I know they'll put up a fight until the bitter end." Penny says as she secretly smiles and continues on with their walk.
They end up walking some more until they find the Greavard from before tied back up again still happy from earlier as Penny and Ash go to the Pokemon confused about Greavard's situation.
"Oh no, Greavard. Someone tied you up again, here let me help you again." Penny says as she releases Greavard from his leash seemingly free again, "There we are, all free again. Let me grab you some treats and give you a wash." Penny says as she turns around to look in her bag but Ash points something out.
"Um Penny?" Ash says as Penny looks up before looking to Greavard who has his collar back on surprising Penny.
"What!? Greavard don't you want to be free?" Penny asks as Greavard tilts their head and licks Penny happily as Penny looked on with a deadpan expression.
"Don't bother, Greavard is waiting for someone who will never come." a passerby says as Ash and Penny turn around to see an older man wearing casual clothing confusing the two trainers over Greavard's decision.
"Waiting?" both Ash and Penny say as the man nods, "Yeah, you see Greavard is the talk of the town being the adorable Pokemon stuck in a leash but in reality, that poor boy has been waiting two weeks for his trainer to come home real soon." the man says surprising the two trainers.
"But why would they leave Greavard outside instead of their house?" Ash says as the man shrugs, "Not even I know but from what I've heard, that trainer told Greavard to stay there while he went on a 'business trip' two weeks ago." the man said. The last part caused Ash and Penny's eyes to widen in terror and Ash shakes his fists in anger.
"Well, it's clear that trainer is nothing more than a jerk." Ash says as the man nods, "I agree with that, the man is known for his trouble making antiques around here, but Greavard remains positive that he'll see his trainer again despite all that." the man says as Penny looks to the happy dog Pokemon who wagged his tail happily and Penny looked on sympathetically before turning to the man.
"You know if the man is back?" Penny says with determination as the man nods, "Yes or that's at least from what I've heard, I hear he's in Old Town but I'm not too sure on that fact." the man says but before anyone could respond, a stomach was heard growling as Penny looks to Ash suspiciously.
"Ash, I know you're hungry, but could you keep it down?" Penny asks as Ash shook his head.
"That wasn't me." Ash says as he looks to Pikachu and Tinkatink who also shook their heads until they realized it was Greavard who was waggling his tail, "Oh, it's Greavard, he must be pretty hungry." Ash says as Penny nods and gets up.
"I think there's a food place nearby that might appeal to Greavard with succulent berries. Want to go Greavard?" Penny asks as Greavard curls up determined to stay in his spot as Penny softly smiles and sighs.
"I figured; we'll be back." Penny says as Penny and Ash head off to that nearby berry place as Greavard waited happily. Nearby, we see TR enjoying a meal at a nearby cafe discussing some stuff.
"Have you heard that Jeramiah is getting a promotion as Elite Four's captain of the janitors department? I trained him well." Meowth says as Jessie and Wobbuffet nod in agreement, "I agree, your leaderships are top notch, but you still want to be ahead of him, so he doesn't take our leader positions so easily." "Wobbuffet!" Jessie and Wobbuffet say in unison.
Jessie then looks to her Lechonk who was enjoying a macaron and got crumbs on her face which Jessie adored and picked her up, "Aww, you're so cute when you have crumbs on your face, let me clean that up for you sweetie." Jessie says positively as she wipes the crumbs off with a napkin before looking to James who looks at the Greavard in concern as his Grafaiai and Klawf munch on some Malasadas which causes Jessie and Meowth to be concerned.
"Say James, is something wrong? Did you forget your bottle caps again?" Jessie asks as James shook his head, "No, not that, it's just that Pokemon over there's been left there for two weeks waiting for his scummy trainer." James says surprising Jessie and Meowth.
"I didn't expect you to care about a random Pokemon." Meowth says as James nods, "I don't know why, but I feel like I'm reminded of my Growlie who's still waiting for me. I know he's waiting for me and that Greavard's waiting for his trainer, but I have a feeling this trainer is suspicious even more than me." James says as he grabs a Sitrus Berry and gets up with Meowth, Grafaiai following along as Klawf returns to his Pokeball leaving Jessie and Lechonk there.
"Well, I guess they're gone. Want to find clothing for you?" Jessie says happily to her Lechonk and Wobbuffet who say their names happily as Jessie leaves the money on the table and heads off.
We see Ash and Penny walking holding bags of berries with Penny looking kind of nervous, Ash takes notice of this and asks her something.
"Say Penny, are you ok?" Penny snaps back to reality and nods.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about Greavard and how lonely it must've been for him waiting for his trainer." Penny says as Ash smiles, "You really care about Greavard don't you?" Ash says kindly as Penny blushes.
"It's just- to be honest, I'm not sure myself. I think it's just that Greavard has that happiness within him even if his trainer is a jerk and I'd rather not see him alone like this." Penny says genuinely as they continue walking until they see James feeding Greavard which gets both Ash and Penny into fighting mode.
"Team Rocket! Hands off Greavard you felons!" Ash yelled out as James puts his hands up in defense, "How dare you, twerp! I was just helping Greavard out by giving him some food, you accusers!" James says as they look on suspiciously.
"Uh huh, and I'm a-" Penny didn't finish as she sees Greavard enjoying some food pellets James gave him causing the two to stop as Meowth comes in between them, "We're telling the truth, we overheard you talking with a passerby over Greavard's situation and want to help Greavard find his trainer and see who he really is." Meowth says as the two look on suspiciously as James nods.
"Yeah, let's call a truce for today and search for Greavard's trainer, we've done some good in the past haven't we?" James says as Ash ushers Pikachu to grab a notebook from his bag and looks through the pages shocking both Meowth and James.
"You keep a book on us!?" James and Meowth says as Ash nods but doesn't look up from his notebook before closing it, "It's still 5% of being good." Ash says as both Meowth and James nod.
"Then we'll take that 5%, now let's find that trainer." James says as the two looked at TR suspiciously and sighed.
"Alright, but we have our Pokemon on 'blast off TR' mode if you try anything funny." Ash says as James and Meowth gulped and nodded, "Ok, off we go." Ash says as he goes forward ahead with Meowth letting Greavard go and follows the group, but Penny stops James.
"Say mushroom head?" Penny says as James gets a vein on his head.
"It's James."
"Why did you specifically want to help Greavard? I thought you would be interested in taking him for yourselves for world-ending purposes?" Penny asks which takes James aback but sighs and gives a soft frown.
"Because he reminds me a lot of my Growlie." James says now with a soft smile as he brings up a picture of a Growlithe as Penny awes upon it, "That Growlithe is so cute." Penny says as James slightly chuckles.
"Thanks. My Growlie is a very happy fellow, always wanting to play with me, go on adventures and we're the best of friends, but my home life was not so happy. Being treated like I'm some tool by my parents and almost forced into a marriage so I had to leave there but I didn't want to make Growlie starve or feel cold waiting for shelter so I made a promise to him that I would find a new home for the both of us by earning enough money for our own home and where no family can get us. But as you can tell, I'm still far away from that goal and ended up on the opposite side of the law." James says sadly as Penny looked conflicted.
"Wow, that's-"
"I know, it's why I want to see who this trainer truly is and if they truly care about their partner to not leave them behind." James says as Penny looked on surprised as Ash called out to the two of them and they caught up.
Back at the restaurant, things were going surprisingly well with orders being served left to right, Hawlucha, Pawmo and Quaxwell's dancing helped attract more customers, Nemona's bubbly attitude when getting orders and Arven's amazing cooking were drawing in all sorts of customers.
Nemona heads over to the counter and gives orders to the chef, "Another round of Berry Melange and an order of Pisto Bocadillo!" Nemona yells out as the chef grabs the order ticket and nods.
"Berry Melange and a Pisto Bocadillo!" the chef yells out as Arven's Sneasel cuts up some Zucc Berries (Zuccini) and Arven handles the Melange with perfection and grace as Kofu looks on with positivity.
"Arven my boy, you have truly done it, you have attracted a crowd with your amazing cooking, and you coordinate with your uniquely distinct Sneasel well." Kofu says as Arven and Sneasel nervously smiles and nods.
"Thank you, sir, I've been teaching Sneasel a lot about cooking and even tried out some cooking combinations together some days and we had ups and downs but we're getting there." Arven says nervously as Kofu nods.
"I hear you're on an annual school Treasure Hunt, is cooking your overall treasure at the moment?" Kofu asks as Arven goes silent as his Sneasel looks to him in concern, Arven wasn't sure what to make of this, but he sighed.
"To be honest, I'm not sure myself. My goal for the Treasure Hunt is to help a family member most important to me and they're my personal treasure, but my overall treasure is left up the air at the moment." Arven says with uncertainty.
"I'm sure you'll find that goal soon enough, it took me a long time to find that treasure when I was younger but, in the end, what means most to me is to create enjoyable foods for everyone in Paldea and if I accomplished that, you can as well." Kofu says humbly as Arven cracks a smile, "Thanks Kofu." Arven says as we switch to the dining area where people and Pokemon talked and eat amongst themselves while Nemona was behind the counter helping someone.
All seemed peaceful until the doors opened, and everyone looked to the door and everyone experienced fear. Every human besides Nemona and the kitchen staff hid behind the tables in fear except the Pokemon who were confused as a man walked in with two bodyguards and Nemona turned around gracefully to face the man.
"Welcome to the Ondas where your mouths will water on the oceans floor, how may I-" Nemona stops upon seeing the man, he looked stern with dirty silver brown hair, cold eyes and a serious demeanor as Nemona looks on with fear. "-help you?" Nemona says exasperated as the man looks around and sighs.
"It seems like I have the Intimidate Ability, figures. I would like a table for 4 including our friend here." the man said with a thick Galarian accent as a larger than normal Applin hops into the restaurant with a similarly stern expression as Quaxwell, Hawlucha and Pawmo his inn the restaurant behind Nemona in fear as the other Pokemon did as well similar to their trainers.
"Right this way gentleman." Nemona says in fear as she led the 4 to their empty table and grabbed a notepad, "What would you like to order?" Nemona says trying to say it casually as possible as the man nods.
"We would like to order the veggie Albonagas for me and my guards but, I would request Kofu to make them." "Appl." both the man and Applin say with a stern, coldness to their voice as Nemona nervously gulps and nods.
"Would you also like to try our Melange as well?" Nemona asks.
"Thanks, but we will reserve that for dessert."
"Right away sir." Nemona says as she walks slowly to the kitchen before, they look away allowing Nemona, Quaxwell, Hawlucha and Pawmo to rush in nervously to a confused crowd.
"We have an emergency." Nemona says as she points out in the dining area and the gang look on with shock.
"No way, is that Bourbon Mareepsly and fellow celebrity Appy the Applin." a random chef says getting Kofu's attention as Spic got curious, "Who in the world is this Bourbon and Appy?" Spic says as Arven steps forward.
"Bourbon is one of the most famous Galarian chefs in the world. Born in the cold world of the Crown Tundra, he made a name for himself for his harsh yet meaningful criticism and owns several restaurants in the world, has served the Galarian royal family, has cooked for 6 regional champions and has trained several chefs including Kalo's Elite Four member Siebold. He once even stared down a Gyarados and the insane part, he caught it without flinching at Gyarados at all." Arven says surprising the group.
"And what about grumpy the Applin?" Spic says.
"Appy's famous online for being critical of Pokemon food to the point he won't look anyone in the eyes until they serve him the most 'delightful' of food and so he travels with Bourbon who's cooking he likes searching for those with similar food qualities." Arven continued as the gang gets worried and Kofu sighs.
"Alright, I'll handle this, he's been at my restaurant several times in the past and always liked my veggie Albonagas with certain flair so I'll handle-" before Kofu could finish, he slips onto the floor causing the others to go to him.
"Sensei!" Spic yells out as Kofu gets up, "Ahh, vaultin Veluza, I'm fine but I think I twisted me ankle there." Kofu says as the kitchen starts to worry especially Arven but Kofu ushers Arven to him.
"Arven my boy, I think I need you to handle this dish." Kofu says as Arven gasps.
"Me!? But I don't have your style in tow." Arven says worryingly as Kofu chuckles, "That's not true my boy, I know you got the spirit to replicate my recipe perfectly but add a little flair to it to make it your own." Kofu says as he lies back down as Arven has a tear drop down his eye.
"I'll never forget you sir." Arven says as Kofu immediately gets his head up.
"I'm not dead!" Kofu says comedically as Arven breathes a sigh of relief, "Oh, alright then." Arven says as he gets up.
"Wait! One more thing." Kofu says as Arven looks to him, "Yeah."
"You'll need my recipe book which is on the counter, and I don't have shocking Beru Berries (Bell Pepper) for this dish so you may have to use something even more shocking, you are in charge for now." Kofu says as Arven nods and his face changes from nervous to a determined expression before looking to the group.
"Alright, listen up, we're going to give Bourbon and Appy a great meal one that may not be accurate to Kofu's but one that's still just as good as his, let's get cooking and Nemona, try to keep him occupied." Arven says with determination as everyone nodded and got to work before Arven looked to Pawmo.
"Pawmo, I may need you for one other thing and it involved a bit of Dischrge mixed with some Terastalization." Arven says as Pawmo gulped and looked confused and nodded.
We get back to Ash, Penny and James as they were walking down a busy street full of those stands from before as their Pokemon played and Meowth analyzed the Greavard's behavior, Greavard played with the gang's Pokemon with Greavard trying to follow along to Grafaiai's colorful fingers in a trance like motion.
"Say Greavard, what's your trainer like anyway?" Meowth asks as Greavard barks happily, "Vard Vard!" Greavard says happily as Meowth nods, and the others got curious.
"What did he say Meowth?" James asks as Meowth looks to him, "Well, it seems that Greavard is very happy with his trainer, they go around to play, fetch and play pranks on people but Greavard seems rather happy and loyal to his trainer." Meowth says as Penny looks on suspiciously.
"But it still doesn't make any sense to leave Greavard there all alone for two weeks with no caretaker, food, water, it all doesn't make sense in the slightest." Penny says as the others nod in agreement. The gang continue to walk until they reach a platform with no way to the lower levels.
"How do we get down there, there are no stairs-" Ash didn't finish as the platform began to move surprising Ash, Pikachu, Meowth and James as the platform moved downwards as the 4 began shaking except for Penny who stood still, and the platform eventually reached its destination as Penny and the Pokemon walked off of it except for the aforementioned 4.
"Like it? They took inspirations from Motostoke's elevator like platforms in Galar." Penny says casually as the 4 looked on with confusion before eventually getting up.
The gang continue walking through the crowded intersection as Greavard tried sniffing around to see where his trainer was but to no avail.
"You know, I just realized we should've probably grabbed something that meant something to Greavard so we could've tracked that trainer down." James says as the others glared at him.
"Nice thinking genius." Meowth says as Greavard suddenly stops catching everyone's attention, "What is it boy, you found something?" Penny asks the puppy Pokemon who nods and proceeds to run ahead of the group catching their attention and followed the Pokemon.
They get through the tons of people and eventually reach Greavard who was barking happily towards a man with kempt brown hair and alongside him was a Houndoom as the gang's eyes widen to the realization but dared not to say anything as the man turned around and looked surprised towards Greavard.
Don't tell me. Penny thought to herself as the man with a fake smile leaned down to Greavard's level, "Hey, it's you. It's been a long while hasn't it boy." the man says with fake enthusiasm as Penny casted a glare on her glasses but kept her cool and walked towards the man.
"I assume this is your Greavard?" Penny said emotionlessly as the man looked up with fake emotions and nodded, "Yeah, you helped take care of Greavard right? I thank you for your patronage, but we must be going now, I'm going to get him a treat." the man said as he walked with Greavard towards the side of the buildings and the man leaned down once more which shocked the gang, but Penny looked on with quiet anger.
"Now listen Greavard, I'm going to get your treat really quick, just wait here a bit." the man said as he walked away but Greavard looked confused towards this scenario as the gang look on with anger and sadness.
"Awful." Ash says as Penny walked towards the man again, "Really, just leaving Greavard again despite us helping him look for you in particular you troublemaker." Penny says now getting irritated as the man scoffed.
"What do you know, many of these shops don't allow for Pokemon including Varieties." the man said with arrogance in his voice as Penny looked to the Houndoom.
"Then how do you explain the Houndoom and the shops around you allowing Pokemon in including Varieties." Penny says as the man gets irritated and Greavard out of curiosity walked towards the group slowly.
"Don't you know about Greavard? They'll only drain you of your energy until your left a husk of your former self. I knew I needed to live long and so I gave Greavard that empty promise just so he'll starve alone and finally be out of my life." the man says as the gang and others gasp. A whine was heard as Penny looked to her left with shock as Greavard heard every bit of what his trainer said and ran off leaving the gang worried as the man scoffed.
"Well, that's one less burden off my shoul-" the man didn't finish as Penny socked him in the face surprising the group as Houndoom glared but Penny gave a cold glare causing Houndoom to run off whimpering as the man held his bloody nose.
"What did you do that for you-"
"You son of a- how could you say that to your own Pokemon!?" Penny yelled out angerily as the man smirked.
"He'll take away your life if you hang out with him."
"And so, what if that's the case, it's still some Dex entry that describes an aspect of a Pokemon but doesn't mean all Pokemon follow this role. For every Salamence that goes around angrily, there's one who's an absolute sweetie pie, for every lonely Cubone, there will be someone to pick them up whenever they feel down and for every Greavard that supposedly steals your energy, there will be those who stick by their side until the very end. Even if some Greavard supposedly did steal energy and are alone, then I'll take those chances to make one Greavard happy, something you can't even do for your partner. I would rather give him the happiest environment out there then leaving him there on some false promise." Penny says with confidence as Greavard in the distance overhears this and looked sad but had some sort of renewed hope.
Penny immediately leaves to go find Greavard as Sprigatito, Ash and Pikachu go to catch up with Penny, James looks on with surprise and nods as James goes to the man and Meowth and Grafaiai look confused.
"Don't tell me you're going to-" Meowth didn't finish as he saw James crossing his finger behind his back as Meowth nods and James 'lends' a hand, "Need help there?" James asks as the man looks up and grabs onto James's hand and gets up.
"Thanks, can you believe that girl, thinking I would bond with-" the man didn't finish as James sumo flipped him onto the ground and James looks on with a very stern expression.
"I don't help those who consider a partner worthless, there are bonds that are involved with a partnership of a Pokemon form understanding each other to learning with each other and eventually having those Pokemon be your best friend for life and if you can't understand that about your Greavard, then you don't deserve to be a Pokemon trainer. Surprising isn't it, I never thought I would be on the good side." James says as he walks away and the crowd claps as Meowth and Grafaiai follow James as the man groans.
We see Greavard curled up in a corner with tears dropping down his face as he howled sadly, Penny and Sprigatito were nearby looking on sadly as she walked slowly towards Greavard.
"Greavard?" Penny says with concern in her voice as Greavard looked up from his paws but curled back up, Penny proceeded to pet Greavard slowly as Penny looked on sadly but had a soft smile on her face. Ash, Tinkatink and Pikachu were watching from the distance.
"I know, it's not easy, I've dealt with similar revelations in the past and they didn't help. But it was through some healing thanks to some new friends that I was able to slightly move on." Penny says as she pats Sprigatito's head softly who purrs happily. Greavard on the other hand was still nod moving causing Penny to come up with a new idea in mind and grabbed some Oran Berries.
"Say Greavard? You want to see a trick? I learned this from my mom's Meowscarada a while back." Penny says as she drops 3 berries and quickly catch all 3 in quick succession, but they didn't show up in Penny's hands getting Greavard curious but still didn't move from his position. Penny places her hands behind her back and before placing them in front again this time with the berries.
Greavard seems interested as Sprigatito then stood on her hind legs and balanced a berry on her nose as she tried to keep still but ultimately fails and falls on her back. Penny then tried to juggle the berries until one fell on her face causing goop to drip down her face.
"To be fair, I'm not surprised, I suck as juggling." Penny said as Sprigatito licked some goop off her face, but it seems to catch the attention of Greavard as he waggled his tail happily once more and ran to Penny licking her face causing Penny to laugh.
"Ha ha ha, stop Greavard, I'm glad you're happy." Penny says as Greavard gets off of her and waggled his tail, Penny gets up and walks out of the alleyway with Ash and a newly happy Greavard when all of a sudden, the man from before comes by and looks to Greavard. Greavard went behind Penny with fear and Ash and Penny weren't amused, Meowth and James looked on in the distance.
"What do you want? Haven't you caused enough trouble for one day?" Penny says as the man leans down ignoring Penny, "Listen bud, we got off on the track earlier and I- I- I meant to apologize to you for keeping false promises. How about when I get back from a business trip, we can go on a walk in 3 weeks?" the man says but no one was being phased by his tricks, but Greavard does walk towards him causing Penny to look on with curiosity.
"Greavard?" Penny asks as Greavard looked up to his trainer and launched a brown mud like attack called Mud Shot onto the man's face as the man holds his face in disgust, "You, you mangy mutt, you'll regret this-" the man didn't finish as Greavard launched a Shadow Ball sending the man blasting off similarly to Team Rocket. Greavard then turns to Penny and jumps up happily to her.
"Greavard, do you want to-" Penny didn't finish as Greavard barked happily and ran around in circles happily as Penny's eyes sparkled. Penny with Sprigatito encouraging her and Ash and James looking to her in approval nodded and grabbed a Friend Ball.
"Welcome to the family." Penny says as Greavard hopped happily and touched the Friend Ball as he dissipated into red energy into the ball as it shakes and sparkles.
"I- I- I caught a Greavard!" Penny says happily.
"Tito!" Sprigatito yelled out happily as well as James looks on happily in the distance while Meowth looks on with concern.
"Say James, are you sure you don't want to capture that Greavard?" Meowth asks as James shook his head, "Nah, Greavard looked happy when he was around Penny, and I think Greavard should feel happy for who he's with rather than feel trapped with goons like us. Besides, I already have a Pokemon like that waiting for me." James says as he walks away and smiles to himself.
Growlie, wait for me bud. James thinks to himself.
Meanwhile, back at the restaurant. We see Bourbon and Appy waiting patiently for this dish as the door opens to reveal Arven and Nemona carrying the dish to the patinent cold chef as the chef looks on in intrigue.
"Here you are sir, Kofu style veggie Albodigas, drenched with savory, creamy Tamato Berry sauce, a fresh helping of parmesan, a flick of herba mystica and a shocking helping of electrical mix." Arven says as we see a Terastalized Pawmo look on with confusion along with a confused staff.
"Well, that's certainly different compared to Kofu's normal dishes but I'll be the judge of that." "Appl." Bourbon and Appy say as all 4 try out the meatballs and their eyes start to sparkle with a sense of wonder and flavor as all 4 are immediately knocked out causing everyone to go to them in worry.
"Arven, I think we need to keep a death counter." Nemona says as they immediately get back up and finish their meal before they wipe their mouth, "Kofu is amazing with his cooking but this is on a whole other level!" "Applin!" Bourbon and Appy say happily Arven blushes but breathes in.
"Actually sir, I made these." Arven says as the 4 look in shock, "Wait, Kofu didn't make this?" Bourbon asked with suspicion as Arven nods.
"Yes sir, Kofu twisted his leg in the kitchen, so I had to step up for him and apply my own twist to it to match Kofu's but also make sure it was still unique." Arven says nervously as Bourbon grabbed a notepad and wrote down some things causing everyone to be nervous. Bourbon then looked to Arven.
"We would like to try the Berry Melange now, please." Bourbon says as Arven nodded and Nemona took the dishes and walked off, Arven came back with 4 bowls of Berry Melange and everyone looked on suspiciously.
"Please enjoy." Arven said with nervousness as he watched the 4 try the Berry Melange and to his surprise once again, their eyes start to sparkle once again, and they fainted once more. Nemona glared to Arven comedically once again.
"Again, you need to stop killing people, this is overkill at this point." Nemona says as the 4 individuals rise up again and finishes up their Berry Melange happily before Bourbon writes in his notepad and stands up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, following my furrow examination of this young man's cooking, I can say that his cooking is top notch to the point of Kofu's and as a gift, I will cover everyone's tabs here and now." Bourbon says as everyone roared in cheers and asking for Berry Melange which causes Arven to be happy. Appy looked to Arven with interest in his eyes and ushered Bourbon as Bourbon read his movements and nodded.
Kofu with the help of his two assistants walk out of the kitchen and go to Arven, "You did it my boy, you impressed one of the hardest chefs to impress and impressed an internet famous Pokemon." Kofu says as Arven looks on towards everyone happily.
"Is this real or is this a dream, someone pinch me." Arven says as both Nemona and Sneasel pinch him causing him to yelp in pain, Kofu laughs and looks to him.
"Say, I have an open spot in my kitchen if you want to stay on this ship?" Kofu asks as Arven looks on with delight but ultimately smiles and shakes his head.
"I would love to work by your side as a cook but, I have a promise to keep to my family and want to repay Ash for his kindness for helping me before I do anything else." Arven says as Kofu nods.
"Well, that's a shame but I can understand, my kitchen will always be open to you if you ever decide to work here." Kofu says genuinely.
Everyone was celebrating as the doors opened to reveal Ash, Penny (who's Sprigatito was on her shoulder and Penny was carrying Greavard) and a disguised James and Meowth walking into the restaurant and Borubon turned to him and looked on with shock as he and his two guards bowed to him.
"Umm, today isn't my birthday." Ash says as Bourbon shakes his head, "Sorry about that, I presume you must be Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and the Alola/World Champion I presume." Bourbon asks in a change of tone compared to before as Ash nods.
"Yes."
"Then on the behave of me and the royal house of Galar, I present you a certificate of the royal house of Galar and card to my restaurant 'Entourage', this card gives you life access to the Champion's room where you and your guests can enjoy me and my staff's high-quality dining as long as you're currently Champion or former Champion.
"Ok." Ash simply says as everyone laughs in good fun, and everyone enjoys a high-quality dinner made by Arven.
A little while later with the restaurant cleared out and Ash saying the food at Ondas is good, the gang talk with Nemona facing Kofu.
"Well, Nemona, I say you did a mighty fine job serving the food here at my fine establishment, so I'll grant your request of a gym battle tomorrow." Kofu says as Nemona looks on happily and fist bumps the air, but Ash looks more concerned for Nemona's attitude.
"Alright, thank you so muc-" Nemona didn't finish as Kofu continued.
"However, are you sure you want to face me right now with one badge. I can wait until you get two other badges?" Kofu asks as Nemona scoffs energetically, "Nah, I'll be fine, I'm determined to make this through." Nemona says as Ash looks on worried and even Kofu can tell but Kofu kept up his jolly attitude.
I can tell from Ash that Nemona might be getting over head a bit, but I must abide. Kofu thought as he nodded, "Alright, but I won't go easy, so I want you to do your best." Kofu says as we switch to Arven who was packing up his things until Bourbon and Appy walked to him.
"Arven, you surprised me today and that's why I'm granting you access to some of my recipes for the journey, I imagine it would be a long one." Bourbon says as he hands Arven a book of recipes to him as Arven looks on surprised.
"Wow, err- I mean, thank you." Arven says as Bourbon nods before Appy jumped onto Bourbon's hand.
"Oh right, I was wondering if you could do one other request, if you would like to catch Appy?" Bourbon asks which surprised Arven, "You want me to catch Appy!?" Arven says as Bourbon nods.
"Appy has been searching for someone a long time that matches his food etiquette, and he seems interested in traveling with you to discover more of your cooking. I won't force you, but I'll leave that up to you." Bourbon says as Arven faces the Applin and is surprised.
"Are you sure you want to come with me?" Arven asks as Appy jumps happily and Morada encourages Arven as he nods, "Alright then, welcome aboard Appy." Arven says as he grabs a Pokeball and Applin hops onto the Pokeball to dissipate into red energy into the ball as it sparkles.
"Alright, I caught an Applin!"
"Snea, Sneasel!" Morada said happily as Penny glares at him comedically, "Hey Arven, this is supposed to be my episode here!" Penny says as Arven glares to her.
"It's my episode too."
"Only for a short side story."
"Hey!"
Meowth and James comes in worringly, "Hey stop with the 4th wall breaks, we're on a budget here!" Meowth says as the gang laugh it off and the journey continues... after we look at our budget of 4th wall breaks.
END
Sorry it took a while to get a chapter out, I was dealing with burnout and writing the plot hence the insanity of the 2nd half of the chapter but thankfully, the next chapter is straight forward enough. With 1 Gym badge in tow, Nemona challenges Kofu's gym but will her confidence get the better of her or will she pull through?
I was also busy writing out the outlines of the next couple of episodes as well as writing down the number of episodes for the fic if I were to continue for a long time. After the next chapter, I'm actually going on another break as I'm preparing for a new college semester and I'm writing a one shot based around (a very late) Father's Day with some hurt/comfort revolving around Ash and best dad-figure Kukui so be on the lookout for that one shot as I do want to make that into a seperate series revolving around one shots.
For now, nothing else to say other than see you in the next one.
New Pokemon.
Penny:
*Greavard (Male, Ability: Pickup):
Moves:
-Shadow Ball, Mud Shot, Bite, Heatbutt
Sprigatito has also learned Quick Attack making her moves:
Scratch, Leafage, Sucker Punch, Quick Attack
Arven:
*Appy the Applin (Male, Ability: Ripen):
Moves:
-Withdraw, Astonish, Pounce, Tera Blast