Chapter 97: Glowing Cuisine

As the chef clattered and clanged stir-frying on the stone stove, dish after dish of glowing mosaic-pixel cuisine came fresh out of the wok.

In the river channel.

A Psyduck, swimming back and forth on its back, crawled ashore, stuck its butt up and shook it wildly, flinging the remaining water droplets off to the side, then trotted over to the chef with a waddling swagger, bouncing back and forth.

Quack~

The chef quickly portioned out Psyduck's share, and the two—one person, one Pokémon—sat at the dining table and dug in heartily, twitching with every bite as if drugged.

Looks just like some red-haired drug king.

Meanwhile, Baimu noticed the bushes symbolizing the jungle at the bottom of the screen suddenly start to shake.

【You and Psyduck begin to devour the food. The intense aroma has attracted wild Pokémon. You haven't noticed.】

This narration…

Feels like something bad is about to happen.

His heart skipped a beat, and then he saw a Pokémon made of three yellow iron hexagons, like a tiny honeycomb, poke out of the bushes.

Combee?

This kind of Pokémon would actually be interested in stir-fry? Shouldn't its diet be pollen, nectar, that sort of thing…

Fair enough.

Most Pokémon are omnivores, capable of eating strange dry kibble pellet by pellet, so being drawn in by the aroma of stir-frying isn't surprising.

Baimu breathed a sigh of relief. Combee, unlike Beedrill, doesn't have such a volatile temper, nor such strong aggression, so presumably it wouldn't attack the chef and Psyduck.

Sure enough, Combee fluttered around to the front of the dining table and pressed itself against a glass of fresh-squeezed juice on its right side.

It had absolutely no intention of attacking the chef and Psyduck.

【You notice Combee has snatched your juice. You aren't angry, and voluntarily share a bowl of Pokémon food with it.】

The chef stood up and placed a bowl of Pokémon food in front of Combee.

After finishing the fresh-squeezed juice, Combee couldn't resist the temptation of the food and pounced on it directly, proving through its physical reaction just how outrageous the dosage was.

【You see Combee eating happily, and have come to understand the meaning of a chef's existence that Saimi spoke of.】

Meal over.

The chef packed up his things, stuffed Psyduck into his backpack, and prepared to leave—only to find Combee following behind him, refusing to go away.

Clearly that one meal had utterly conquered Combee's taste buds, and it couldn't help chasing after the "Drug King."

The chef wasn't the type to be coy about it; he turned around and caught Combee on the spot.

【You have caught Combee. Usable ingredients… A traveling companion has joined you.】

What the heck is this narration.

Baimu twitched the corner of his mouth, understanding that it referred to the 【Honey】 collected by Combee—this stuff is one of the top-tier ingredients in the Pokémon world.

On the screen.

The chef set out for Bai Tan City. Although he ate and slept in the wind, thanks to his glowing-cooking culinary skills, the journey wasn't all that grueling. Besides, there were plenty of Pokémon Centers along the way.

Finally.

An ancient, elegant town was right before his eyes.

【You have arrived at Bai Tan City. Out of curiosity about the local specialty food, you head for a restaurant.】

A chef really is different—those previous simulation subjects, upon reaching a new city, would head straight for the Gym. This guy dives into restaurants. Very distinctive style.

And his Psyduck, aside from being a dimwit, only has one remaining function now: a cooking machine.

Baimu was rather looking forward to its performance in the Bai Tan Gym battle.

However.

After the chef enjoyed a fine meal at the restaurant, he still showed no intention of heading to the Gym. Instead, he charged into the back kitchen, demanding a cooking showdown with the restaurant's head chef—

The ending was naturally being thrown out.

The Pokémon world doesn't have Food Wars; those people are busy making money and have no time to wait around while you make glowing cuisine.

【You were kicked out of the restaurant, unable to have a showdown with the head chef there. You feel very regretful, and decide to challenge the Gym.】

Challenging the Gym really does come after cooking…

Baimu got up and poured himself a glass of water, then glanced out the window at Boldor and the others playing happily. By the time his attention returned to the screen, the chef's Pokémon battle had already begun.

To be honest.

A Psyduck and a Combee, in his view, would most likely have a hard time defeating the Bai Tan Gym, which had even given Ash a rough first fight.

But the actual battle left Baimu utterly shocked.

【You begin your challenge of the Bai Tan Gym. The Gym Leader sends out her first Pokémon.】

On the screen.

Gym Leader Violet sent out her standard opening—Swinub.

This Pokémon, just like in the anime, adopted the tactic of freezing the ground to boost mobility, and laid down Sticky Web as a trap.

And the chef's Psyduck had only one move.

Quack~

【Psychic】.

It directly used psychic power to forcibly control the wildly darting Swinub, and hurled it—along with the Sticky Web connected to the skylight—straight out!

"Holy crap!"

The sheer brutality of the display shocked not only Baimu, but even Gym Leader Violet herself.

How did it do that? It actually pulled it off?

The referee who had run outside the Gym to confirm returned and delivered the verdict that Swinub was unable to battle—clearly one-shot by Psyduck's Psychic.