After some chatting, Ash learned that most trainers usually cooked their meals in the wild, not just on special days, and they didn't survive by eating only tree fruits like he did.
Maybe trainers like him, who only ate berries, were rare oddities in the world.
Unbelievable.
Ash ate three bowls of rice in one breath, barely able to suppress his surprise.
With Serena around, Ash and the Pokémon's food standards had jumped up several levels.
But Ash felt a little guilty about Serena always doing the cooking. So one day at noon, he volunteered to make a hearty lunch for everyone. He gathered all the fruits he could find, sliced what could be sliced, and made soup from whatever could be souped.
In the end, he somehow managed to add paralysis, confusion, poisoning, burning… and other status effects to everyone.
Well, he also improved their resistance to abnormal conditions, so maybe it wasn't all bad.
Perhaps.
Ahem.
Needless to say, everyone banned Ash from touching the kitchen utensils after that. But they still let him pick some fruit from the trees to "help" with cooking…
After all, tree fruits are common condiments, and many places grind them into powder for spices. Logically, Ash's dishes made with these fruits would at worst taste a little off, not poisonous. But who knows how he managed to turn "cure status effects" fruits into food that causes status effects?
It was outrageous.
To some extent, though, Ash's cooking talent might actually be quite high?
Um…
Of course, cooking was just a small episode. Their trip was quite enjoyable overall. They witnessed many wonders—Magikarp swimming upstream and evolving into Gyarados, a Sandshrew accidentally drilling into an Onix causing it to go berserk, the rare Pokémon Abra... and more.
For Serena, it was the first time she realized how magical the wild really was. That explained why some people stayed out in the wild all year just to be close to Pokémon. Pokémon truly lived up to their reputation—magical and mysterious.
For Ash, though, he was less surprised. He'd known the magic of Pokémon since childhood, so his focus during the journey was on special training.
After a battle with Red, Ash finally understood what strength really meant. That benchmark drove him to train almost nonstop.
Even so, his rapid progress was unusual. But considering Ash trained alongside his Pokémon—his training was even more intense—it wasn't unimaginable.
There's a saying: "Lead by example." If the trainer works hard, how could the Pokémon slack off?
Though this method probably didn't apply to most trainers.
After all, not everyone has a body like Ash's—half Pokémon himself.
But weird or not, as long as it worked, it was a good method.
During the journey, Ash's Weedle evolved into a Kakuna after gaining enough experience.
Bug-type Pokémon evolve quickly, and Ash's beetle had plenty of training, so it made sense.
However, that left Ash with only two battle-ready Pokémon for the time being. Kakuna only had Harden, which wasn't much help in serious battles.
Though now a Kakuna, it was still afraid of being killed by the team and wanted special training.
But how could a handless, mouthless pupa train?
Ash racked his brains and came up with an idea: have Froakie and Kakuna practice against each other. Froakie used his sword to chop at Kakuna like a whetstone, while the pupa hardened to defend.
Honestly, it was dangerous training. Froakie's swordsmanship was well-known. Fortunately, Froakie controlled his strength well, so the pupa survived.
Even when Kakuna would finally evolve into Beedrill, it would still be fragile. Ash wasn't sure if this training even increased Kakuna's defense. But if not, at least it was fun and helped the pupa vent energy.
But Kakuna wasn't just playing—it seriously planned that once it could fully withstand the big frog's sword, it would evolve, burst out of its shell, and knock the frog down in one strike!
"Quack."
The Froakie heard the pupa's ambitions and scoffed. A mere bug trying to make a fuss? Fool, really.
Still, the frog gradually increased the strength of its sword swings during training.
Not because it feared being surpassed, but hey, free sharpening material—why not?
"Let me see how strong you are, little bug!"
...
One day, thick fog suddenly rolled in, making it difficult for Ash and Serena to move forward.
"Isn't this fog too thick?"
Serena looked worried.
"It's dangerous to keep going—it's easy to get lost."
"Let's camp here until it clears."
"Okay."
They waited, but after half an hour the fog didn't lift. If anything, it got thicker.
"We can't go on like this."
Because of the fog, Serena moved closer to Ash.
"It's getting late. Why don't we camp here tonight?"
"That's the only option."
"I'll start preparing dinner."
"I'll find berries and firewood."
"Wait, Ash, the fog is really thick. You shouldn't go."
"It'd be bad to get lost."
"Don't worry," Ash waved her off, pointing to his nose. "My nose is very sensitive. I'll find my way back."
"...Are you a human or a Houndoom?"
Serena was speechless.
Ash dashed off into the fog without waiting for her reply.
"I'll be back soon!"
"Hey, Ash!"
Watching him disappear, Serena sighed and looked at the frog beside her.
"Froakie, why do you think Ash's body is so strong?"
"Quack."
The frog gave a deep look back.
I'm wondering that too.
Serena sighed again and called Mimikyu and Delphox for help.
"Mimi!" "Tsk!"
Meanwhile, Ash, despite Serena's worries, was as strong as she complained.
In a few minutes, he returned with a large bundle of wood and berries almost covering his head.
"That should do it."
Just as he turned to go back, his nose twitched at a fresh scent.
"What's that smell?"
He hadn't smelled anything like it before. The closest description that came to mind was… the smell of the north wind.
Why the north wind? Ash didn't know. It just felt right.
Following the scent, he spotted a blue, four-legged creature in the fog.
"What's that?"
He stepped closer.
The creature noticed Ash and ran gracefully through the forest, as if gliding. In a flash, it disappeared.
"Wait!"
Dropping his firewood, Ash ran after it.
His sensitive nose and strong muscles let him dash through the jungle like a wolf. Though the creature was fast, Ash was closing the distance.
Suicune was shocked.
Is this guy really human? How can he run so fast?
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
If caught, Suicune's carefully crafted mysterious lair would collapse instantly.
He looked around and spotted a huge courtyard nearby.
Without hesitation, Suicune turned and sprinted toward it.
Ash followed, seeing Suicune leap high.
BANG!
Ash slammed into the iron gate at full speed, leaving a shallow human-shaped dent.
Suicune's eyes narrowed. He dashed away immediately.
I really saw a ghost today. Gotta get out!
"It hurts…"
Ash rubbed his sore nose.
Before he could recover, he heard hurried footsteps and a worried girl's voice.
"Where's that crazy humanoid Pokémon?"
"Oh, that one? Looks like a Machop."
"But it knocked down an iron door! That Machop's strong!"
"Great, we're going to the Indigo Conference!"
"Go, Poké Ball!"
Whoosh!
The spinning Poké Ball flew at Ash's face.
Boom!
"It hurts!"
"Hmm? Machop can speak?"
"You're the Machop!"
Ash's forehead was covered in red crosses.
He shouted inside the gate, "Are you blind? I'm a human, you know!"
"Huh? You're a human?"
The girl's voice sounded again.
Now close, Ash could see her: a cute brown-haired girl.
"You broke through the iron door? Are you descended from a gorilla?"
Ash immediately thought, She's not cute at all.
He snapped back, "You're the gorilla!"
The boys with her glared angrily.
"How dare you call Miss Giselle a gorilla!"
"What? You wanna fight?"
Ash crashed against the wall; his fist got stuck halfway in the stone.
"I'm always ready for you!"
...
The clamoring boys instantly quieted down.
Giselle, the girl, was stunned.
"Oh my god, where did this primitive man come from…"
"What did you say?"
"Fighting is barbaric. Only primitive people do that."
Giselle pulled out a fan, covering half her face.
"If you want to settle things, use Pokémon."
"Want to battle?"
Ash reached for Mimikyu's Poké Ball.
"Alright! Let's fight. It's decided—it's you, Mimikyu…"
Then he remembered: Mimikyu was helping Serena cook.
Pokémon's cooking skills are better than mine… cough.
"Uh…"
Sweating, Ash realized Froakie and Mimikyu weren't around.
His only Pokémon left was…
"What? You don't have a single Pokémon?"
"Of course I do!"
He clenched his teeth and threw out a Poké Ball.
"It's decided. Go, Kakuna!"
Whoosh~