Leaving the nursery behind, Gary Oak continued to traverse the mountains on his Arcanine.
There was no choice; the Fuchsia Gym was not located in Fuchsia City! It was quietly hidden among these vast mountains…
"Good thing I can read maps~" he mused as he walked along the mountain path.
"Woo~" Arcanine suddenly stopped and howled.
"What's wrong?" Gary looked ahead and saw a dense thicket blocking their way.
"Did we take a wrong turn?" Gary scratched his head in disbelief.
That shouldn't be the case; he had never gotten lost before!
After looking around and checking the map again, Gary felt stuck.
There were no landmarks to reference, leaving the map quite helpless…
As the sky began to darken, Gary sighed. "Forget it; let's have dinner first."
During such dull moments, it would be nice if a wild Pokémon trainer suddenly appeared for a battle!
Setting up his tent first, Gary took out his camping cookware to start preparing dinner.
Having done nothing but climb mountains today, he didn't want anything too extravagant, so he simply took out some ham and dried scallops to make a broth for ramen.
He sautéed scallions and garlic in olive oil, added water, mushrooms, dried scallops, and old ham.
Since the ham already had saltiness, he only needed to sprinkle a bit of salt and sugar for seasoning.
Then he added the prepared char siu meat into the pot. Soon, a fragrant milky broth wafted through the air!
The Pokémon lined up by size, all raising their noses to sniff at the delicious aroma in the air.
"Ha~say…" Scizor stretched its neck long. Gary was genuinely worried this guy might dive headfirst into the pot; if it did, it would probably taste amazing…
Thanks to Electabuzz joining him, Gary finally achieved electrical freedom and didn't have to worry about running out of batteries anymore.
Electabuzz held an electrode on its head as currents flowed through its two horns. The lantern hanging at the tent entrance flickered a few times before lighting up.
As the sun gradually set, with a campfire, tent, and warm light illuminating a small area, the atmosphere felt peaceful and beautiful~
While waiting for dinner to finish cooking, Golduck held Gary's laptop while watching training tips for Ice-type Pokémon with Sneasel.
Hmm~ Sneasel was mainly focused on training methods while Golduck was more interested in pretty girls…
Sneasel exclaimed as it learned how to use Ice Beam!
Golduck nodded appreciatively. "This girl is really hot!"
After waiting a while for the broth to become slightly richer, Gary started boiling water again. He took out the prepared ramen dough, placed it in a strainer, and set it over the pot to cook.
"Scizor, stop drooling and do something." He tossed some fish cakes and chopped scallions into the air as ingredients.
"Ha-say!" With one swift motion! Scizor leaped up and instantly slashed through the ingredients with several flashes of its blades before elegantly turning around.
Smack! The ingredients were cut into perfect sizes mid-air as Gary caught them skillfully with a tray.
Educational and entertaining~ This was a new method that Gary discovered; whenever it came to cutting vegetables, this guy always performed exceptionally well!
"Ha-say~" With its claws pressed together at its chest, Scizor silently offered respect to all the ingredients…
Soon enough, the ramen became slightly translucent. He lifted the strainer and tossed it back with a flick of his right hand.
Smack! The classic part of making Japanese ramen is controlling the water!
He placed the noodles into his bowl before finally distributing food to his Pokémon.
The special Pokémon food was topped with soul broth before Gary's Pokémon soup rice was ready.
Next, he poured broth over his ramen, added slices of char siu, fish cakes, greens, sealed it with nori, and finally topped it off with soul scallions~
"Ding ding ding~" Satisfied with his work, he clapped his hands. This little flavor was simply unbeatable!
Though it didn't glow like some dishes might suggest otherwise; this bowl of noodles was definitely worth waiting for!
Looking at his eagerly awaiting Pokémon, Gary nodded. "Let's eat~"
Without further ado, Scizor dove straight into its food bucket…
Watching this boisterous eating style made Electabuzz grin widely. Wow! Does no one care about manners in this team? What about a warrior's dignity?
Scizor shook its claws proudly saying: "These are my claws—not knives!"
While other Pokémon didn't eat quite as dramatically, they were not far behind in speed either.
Gary found it amusing watching his own food bucket while also hearing Electabuzz's secretive comments.
With Viridian powers activated recently, he often found himself unintentionally hearing these mental dialogues—like being in a sitcom; it was particularly entertaining.
Just like earlier today when passing by a tree where he overheard a Caterpie complaining about its partner: why their son wasn't green but had horns on its head instead…
Satisfiedly sitting down, Gary picked up his chopsticks and ceremoniously said: "I'm going to dig in now…"
Gurgle gurgle gurgle~ A loud rumble from his stomach interrupted him. Looking up revealed an adorable ninja girl sneaking from across a branch of a tree enviously staring at his ramen.
"Janine? Didn't you leave?" Gary, amused yet exasperated, set down his chopsticks.
Janine jumped down from her branch looking pitiful while rubbing her belly. "I just wanted to cheer you on! I couldn't complete my mission… So I'm out of money… I even worried you might get lost in these mountains but you're enjoying such delicious food… Wuwu╥﹏╥."
Seeing this adorable ninja girl made Gary chuckle as he shook his head. "How about this? If you promise me one thing, I'll treat you to dinner. How does that sound?"
Janine warily stepped back crossing her arms over her chest. "No way…"
Gurgle… Her stomach protested loudly causing her face to flush red. "Well… not really impossible… just…"
"What are you thinking?" Gary asked incredulously.
"Wuwu! Don't trick me! My dad used to watch those hot movies from Kanto secretly!" she cried tearfully. "You'll feed me first then ask me to do something embarrassing!"
Covering his head in disbelief at her words—"Mr. Koga… what on earth were you thinking? How could you let your daughter find out about your movie habits?"
Rubbing her belly still conflicted inside—if she thought about how handsome Gary was… maybe for food it wouldn't be so bad… "Um… can I eat first?"
With an exasperated sigh, Gary replied: "Actually…I just wanted you to take me to the Fuchsia Gym."
"Ah? No problem!" Hearing this made Janine's eyes light up as she bounced over excitedly sitting directly across from him. She snatched up Gary's bowl and began eating right away.
Slurping down noodles happily while squinting her eyes in delight she exclaimed: "So good~ If you weren't a Pokémon trainer you could totally travel around selling ramen!"
Raising his hand slightly: "That chopstick is mine… Forget it; never mind."
Watching this adorably silly ninja slurp her noodles made him too lazy to remind her about etiquette anymore.
Taking out another portion of ramen dough again—he started boiling water once more while repeating the process of controlling water and sprinkling soul scallions.
Watching how expertly he curved his right hand letting fresh scallions fall into the bowl made Janine carefully sip some broth. "Um… really don't need me… just one more bowl wouldn't hurt…"
Rolling his eyes dramatically: "Another bowl? Sure! But please don't mention any Kanto hot movie topics again. Thanks…"
"Alright~" Janine pouted slightly feeling unappreciated despite being so cute herself…
After working hard all evening long—finally having dinner,
Taking a sip of broth made him sigh contentedly: "So delicious~"
Who would've thought that such a slender girl could eat five big bowls of ramen!!
Feeling full and satisfied after eating—he replenished firewood for their campfire before tiredly crawling into their tent.
Seeing Janine following closely behind him made him feel slightly anxious. "What else do you want…"
Scratching her head sheepishly: "Well… I rushed out without bringing my sleeping bag…"
Glancing at the warm bedding inside—he covered his forehead saying: "I'll give you one blanket; I'll sleep on the left side while you take right side; Arcanine sleeps in between!"
Janine nodded quickly. "Mmhm!"
Returning all Pokémon back into their Poké Balls for sleep—he hugged Eevee tightly before diving into his sleeping bag.
Outside their tent stood Arcanine, looking at its narrow entrance sadly while trying to back away leaving just its head stuck outside in disarray…