Ambrosia
By tremor3258
"Are you even planning to use Slakoth on your team?" Arven asked, looking at his best buddy Juliana across the picnic table. They were in the rocky scrubland between Mesagoza and Artazon, and his friend looked determined.
His other best buddy, Mabostiff, was keeping an eye on the perimeter. Miraidon, Juliana's near constant companion, was sleeping on the other side, the Paradox Pokemon's sheer presence helping to keep wild Pokemon away even while snoozing. Arven knew from experience that glutton would be here in seconds if food was prepped, however sleepy he looked.
Arven looked around and spotted another problem. "Also, aren't Slakoth usually hanging in trees? I don't even see any around here tall enough," Arven said.
"I don't get it either," Juliana admitted, "Jacq said there was going to be an outbreak here, and he hasn't been wrong yet. It's a chance to fill some extra marks in the Pokedex. I appreciate your help."
"You never ask me for help, bud," Arven said warmly, "I'm glad to get the chance to give back a bit, especially with you being busy at Blueberry lately." He surveyed the table and his smile fell. "This though… this will be a challenge."
"I know I'm not great at asking for help, but Saguaro insists eating these will somehow get us in tune for the Slakoth to come to us," Juliana said. Juliana had prepped a medley of ingredients. Among others that stood out were horseradish and whipped cream, both to go on the same sandwich. Tofu and chorizos were another interesting taste combination.
"If we have to actually eat the sandwiches," Juliana said, turning a little green, "I think you're the only person in Paldea who can get this to work." Arven nodded in agreement and Mabostiff barked encouragingly. His buddy, however, wasn't in a rush to approach the table.
"What's in the container?" Arven asked, "A living will?" There was a sealed rubber container with a plastic lid off to the side. To answer his own question, Arven popped it open. The smell that came out was strong, sweet, and instantly recognizable.
"Herba Mystica?" Arven identified. Juliana looked down at the ground, embarrassed.
"Whatever makes it grow, it turns out it really grows in Tera Dens. Like, a lot. Much more than we found in the Titans. Or maybe the Pokemon there don't need it like the Titans do and didn't eat as much," Juliana said, still looking down.
"Well, Tera Dens were too dangerous for me to go in too," Arven said, "And going all over Paldea to fight the Titans got rid of some dangerous Pokemon." He looked in the container. "I mean, it's more than we found, but still, it's a few sprigs. I'm the one that should feel embarrassed for tracking them down for my benefit if we could hit enough Tera Dens. And it looks like you only found sweet ones, too. How many Dens do you raid, anyway? I mean sheer numbers of Dens, the percentage can't be that high."
Juliana mumbled something. Miraidon looked up, possibly concerned that sandwich construction hadn't started.
"I missed that," Arven said.
"That's just the sweet I found this morning," Juliana admitted, "I mean, the Den was right under where I was flying, and Iron Hands could use a workout, so, um, I did."
Arven stared in the distance for a while before he spoke. "I'm not mad at you," he said eventually.
"I know," Juliana said, still miserable. Arven had spent months gathering the clues to have some hope of restoring his beloved partner and only childhood companion. That Herba Mystica grew outside Area Zero at all had been knowledge he had won at great effort. And Uva Academy students did (or tried to, in a lot of cases) Dens all the time during the Hunt.
It certainly wasn't Juliana's fault. She wasn't even in Paldea when Arven had thrown himself into the effort.
"That's a question for the teachers later," Arven said, and then forced himself to smile, "But anyway, Herba Mystica can help paper over the gaps. Let my illustrious camp cooking technique work its magic, all right?" Juliana nodded.
After careful consideration and a lot of very careful condiment spreading, Arven set the bread down on the finished sandwiches with finality. There were enough for both trainers and all their Pokemon to partake, and they popped out of their balls with relish.
Arven had enough experience with Juliana that her team of ultra rare, thought to be imaginary, and considered impossible to train Pokemon (or all three) that her team didn't even rate comment. She had rotated again of course. The Iron Valiant wasn't one he usually saw, but from the confident way it detached its blades to spin them, he supposed it was one of Juliana's capture specialists.
As they crowded the table, what did incite comment was Miraidon sniffing at the sandwich for several seconds and then chewing thoughtfully instead of bolting it down. "Is Miraidon okay?" he asked anxiously after his first bite. Tasted fine. Quite good in fact.
"I didn't think anything could dent his appetite." Arven took another bite of his own creation and couldn't find any fault. He was impressed with himself for making it all work together, especially with the careful condiment application not knocking ingredients all over the table.
Juliana looked at her partner critically. "If he has a system diagnostic screen, he's never shown it to me," the Champion noted. She patted the flank of the powerful dragon. "You okay?" Miradion nodded. "But you're not hungry?" Juliana continued, confused. In answer, the big dragon nosed a side pocket on Juliana's bag and padded the ground with a foot.
"Ohmigosh, you snuck them?" Juliana asked, outraged. Miraidon happily nodded, beyond shame.
"That black hole managed to spoil his appetite?" Arven asked.
Juliana blushed and started fingering her braid. "Well, so remember I was at Blueberry Academy?" she started.
"Who could forget?" Arven asked with a snort. At Juliana's puzzled look he explained, "You missed the Great Geeta Panic Attack when she heard you were at a battle-focused school. She thought she lost you to Unova." The two rolled their eyes.
"My friends are here," Juliana said, "Or Kitakami, technically. And I'm only my own to lose." Arven nodded. "But to continue, so there was a nice old guy who called himself Snacksworth, of all things, at the Academy. He handed out baked goods as extra encouragement if you did a lot in the Terrarium, since it wasn't a lot of the school currency for doing them."
"Blueberry seems kind of grim the more you talk about it," Arven commented.
"I really don't know why Geeta works herself up most of the time," Juliana said, "But the treats were usually themed after legends and myths. He claims to have seen a bunch in Paldea when he was younger. But the treats were good. He had claimed to see Zekrom when he was young south of here. I went to check before I popped up to meet you, and I had the theme treats out for it, just, you know, in case."
"I've heard of that one, I think," Arven said, "But it wasn't some old legend."
"It was a couple years ago, so you were busy," Juliana said tactfully, "Unova's Zekrom, the legendary Pokemon of Ideals. It was sealed until the Team Plasma crisis and is being monitored by one of their top trainers. Silly, right?" Juliana said, and Arven could have sworn she was nervous still, "But I was here, and I had a case of treats to set out. I didn't even see him eat most of them." Miraidon continued to look unashamed.
"You said most of them again," Arven noted. Juliana looked away, suddenly very interested in a nearby bush.
"I guess I did," Juliana allowed.
"I mean, you didn't see Zekrom, did you? Like an extra one or something? It wouldn't shock me if Dad had somehow let one through with his time machine," Arven said, jokingly.
Juliana was really interested in that bush. "Oh," Arven said, and sat down by the table. Even by his friend's standards, this was a lot.
Sometimes in moments of deep shock, the most trivial things can be of concern. "You would rather have this guy's treats for a legend than my sandwiches, is it?" Arven asked Miraidon. Miraidon cocked his head in a question, then looked back and forth between Juliana's bag and the table. Hopeful for both, he stuck his tongue out and wagged his tail.
Mabostiff gave a disproving bark. The Paradox Pokemon called that begging? Total amateur.
"It was the fourth of Snackworth's legendaries I saw too," Juliana admitted, but Arven barely heard, as he got to his feet. This was a clean shot across his bows from his best friend's partner. Juliana had somehow met a better cook, and he would not let this stand.
"You want legends, I can get you legends! I accept this challenge, you electronic glutton! I'll find you a sandwich that will make the heavens themselves pay attention!" Arven said. Before Juliana could talk him down, the Slakoth appeared, drawn in by Arven's culinary magnificence, and they were too busy for the next few hours. Afterwards thinking on it, Juliana hoped her friend had forgotten but got distracted by finding Ho-oh to follow up.
It wasn't a stormy night, but that was Mesagoza's mild climate winning out over narrative convenience. The lights still burned in the test kitchens of Uva Academy, the demands of the culinarian profession gave no heed to diurnal activity cycles.
Arven, wild-eyed, was one of them tonight. He had his whole team out for this final speech.
"At last!" he said and cackled a little. He was, perhaps, a bit short on sleep from the last few weeks of finding the greatest, freshest, and tastiest ingredients from all of Paldea. He had promised favors to Penny for help finding the more honest online reviews. Battled Nemona for hours to get her services as a bodyguard so he could devote himself entirely to finding the finest flora without fear of interruption.
He had even battled Larry at full power, something unthinkable a few months ago, to ensure that this, this, his finest creation, would run the gauntlet of Paldea's harshest food critic before he presented it to Juliana and Miraidon.
"It's thanks to all your help, that we have pushed ourselves beyond the boundaries we had thought possible!" Arven told his partners, who gave growls and yips of tired victory. In support of their trainer, they had been working hard too.
"Now, this dream of paradise, this sandwich of perfection without equal, lies almost within my grasp! There is nothing that can stop us!" Arven stopped and paused. Huh, apparently it did run in the family. He shook his head and continued.
"With but a moderate application of spatulas, we now assemble this sandwich that all can live in harmony!" Arven said and quickly wielded such as his team looked on.
Given all the effort to find the ingredients, it was depressingly quick to put the sandwich together. But as he lay the top piece of bread on, he realized there was something missing.
"The flag, of course, a symbol of paradise for this creation!" Arven said, laughing wildly again.
"With this, a taste even the heavens will envy is complete!" he proclaimed as he stuck the flag into the sandwich. There was a great golden light as his hand moved away, and Arven threw up his hands to shield himself before not seeing any more.
"Wake up!" an unfamiliar voice cried when Arven started remembering again. There had been something. He shifted, uncomfortable to be awoken. This was the best sleep he had in weeks.
"Ohhh… do wake up, won't you? Are you alive, my boy?" came the voice shouting, and Arven reluctantly opened his eyes. There were three Pokemon staring back. He had seen one, a small scalchop-wielding water type when he had briefly visited Blueberry. More importantly behind the small Pokemon were a set of human legs.
Arven stood, reluctantly, and looked around. It was a beach, but not one he recognized. "Am I at the Terrarium?" he wondered aloud. The man before him sighed in relief. The lab coat said 'researcher' but the pants and vest seemed old fashioned. Arven had never seen a hat like that either.
"You gave me quite the shock!" the man continued, "Falling out of the sky like that. This is Prelude Beach, of course. Did you hurt our head? Those clothes are quite strange." Arven continued looking around, and spotted a tall mountain the distance, spikier than the Great Crater.
The odd, ominous rift shooting out energy over the landscape was a new one too.
"Oh, let me get my ID," Arven said, and pulled his phone out and stopped when he saw it. This wasn't the Rotom phone he'd had before, and the memories from the missing time fell into place as he saw the white design with the gold ring.
He sat down and began laughing. He'd done it, created cuisine so tasty even the gods had noticed. He'd done it all right. Professor Laventon looked on in concern.
Eventually, when the whole Great Sinnoh business was handled and the flow of time was secure, Juliana had come riding in on Dialga to pick him up. She hadn't answered the questions where she had gotten the help of Time.
All of them agreed, though, that Arven's sandwich was better.
Arceus has weird requirements for his chosen saviors of time sometimes. Just a silly one-off idea.
Ambrosia was the Greek food of the gods. He's really good at sandwiches.
It's worse in the anime, in Horizons you can just buy Herba Mystica in stories.