Chapter 49: Motostoke and Dragon Tail
Chapter 49: Motostoke and Dragon Tail
"Gao!"
The Motostoke Lizard showed a pleased expression, indicating that it would eat anything as long as Naoki made it.
Although he couldn't understand the words, Naoki could roughly guess what the Motostoke Lizard was trying to say based on its expressions and gestures.
He asked deliberately, "How about hot soup noodles, then?"
The Motostoke Lizard immediately drooped its head dejectedly, "Gao..."
"Alright, alright, I'm just teasing you!" Naoki reached out and patted the lizard's head, then began to ponder seriously about the type of dish he should make.
Fried pork cutlet, sandwiches, steamed sea bass, glutinous rice balls, steamed eggs, cream of mushroom soup... he had already made all of these dishes before.
Moreover, the ingredients at home were limited, so Naoki could only create new dishes by changing the combinations of ingredients.
With that in mind, Naoki began to experiment with new ingredients.
He randomly selected a few ingredients from the cutting board: fresh tender pork loin, eggs, and rock salt produced by the Salt Rock Treasure.
For instance, he could batter the pork loin with egg and fry it in oil, use the Frost Cream Fairy's cream and the Salt Rock Treasure's rock salt as fillings for the glutinous rice balls, or make a sea bass sandwich with the prepared sea bass meat.
However, after all his efforts, none of these dishes seemed to be what it would take to make the Dragonite stronger.
[Fried Tenderloin (C)
: Restores stamina.]
[Snow Charm (B)
: Moderately increases favorability from Pokemon that like sweets; highly attractive to Frost Cream Fairies.]
[Sea Bass Sandwich (C+)
: Carrying this may attract Water-type Pokemon.]
Naoki: "..."
He sighed and turned to feed the fried tenderloin to the Motostoke Lizard beside him.
The lizard happily gobbled it up.
Naoki fell into deep thought, "This is tricky!"
His gaze swept across the various ingredients on the table, and when he spotted the Tree Fruits in the basket, he suddenly remembered a dish he had made before.
Tree Fruit Platter!
That's right, the Tree Fruit Platter! It was a special dish that could randomly change a Pokemon's moves, and if he used that...
With that in mind, Naoki immediately took out the Tree Fruits, cut them into pieces with a fruit knife, and arranged them on a white ceramic plate.
Soon, a fruit platter was ready.
Naoki looked down, and the information about this dish also appeared in his mind.
[Tree Fruit Platter (C-)
: A delicacy made from various Tree Fruits, blending the flavors of different fruits. Quite popular among some Pokemon.
Dish Effect: Skill Refinement. After consumption, one of the Pokemon's moves will randomly change.
Evaluation: A basic dish that is easy to make and a great choice for home or travel.]
If he were to feed this to the Dragonite...
Naoki imagined the Dragonite suddenly understanding a bunch of moves, its face lighting up with happiness, and it excitedly cuddling up to him.
But then, another image flashed in his mind: the Dragonite forgetting all four of its moves and running away from home, heartbroken.
It was a gamble...
Naoki hesitated. Additionally, he was all too familiar with the probabilities and mechanics of these kinds of "trash games," and he was reluctant to take the risk.
The worst-case scenario after feeding it to the Dragonite was that it would forget all four of its moves. In that case, feeding it the dish again would definitely result in the acquisition of a new move.
If he got extremely lucky, it might even learn powerful moves like Cliff Sword, Origin Pulse, Roar of Time, or Air Slash.
However, if it ended up learning something like Tackle, it might not be worth the trade-off.
For him, it might just be a sunk cost, but the Dragonite wouldn't understand that.
If it was unlucky, it could even forget all four of the moves it had worked so hard to learn.
And then, it might lose trust in him, feel heartbroken, and run away.
"No, I shouldn't feed it to Dragonite yet," Naoki decided.
After much contemplation, Naoki decided to wait and see if Dragonite could learn Dragon Tail on its own. He wanted to establish trust with it first and then use the Tree Fruit Platter depending on the situation.
Only after they had finished eating did Naoki collect the empty plates and return to the wooden cabin.
As he entered the kitchen area and put away the dishes, Naoki suddenly noticed that the Tree Fruit Platter he had left there was empty.
"Hmm?"
He turned to the Motostoke Lizard, who was not far behind him, and asked, "Did you eat the Tree Fruits here?"
"Gao..."
The Motostoke Lizard nodded its head. Seeing Naoki's expression, it couldn't help but worry if it had done something wrong.
"No, I'm not blaming you," Naoki said helplessly. "I'm just asking."
Then he asked again, "Do you feel any different from before? For example, have you learned a new move, or forgotten one that you used to know?"
"Gao?" The Motostoke Lizard was initially puzzled by the question, but soon its eyes lit up, and it stood up from the ground to demonstrate a move it had just learned.
Purple dragon-type energy was gathering on its tail, and when the energy reached a certain intensity, the Motostoke Lizard moved.
It lashed its tail, and a "whoosh" sound cut through the air. Although it didn't hit anything, the move seemed to be quite powerful based on the lizard's actions.
"Dragon Tail?" Naoki raised an eyebrow. "Is this the move you just learned?"
"Gao!" The Motostoke Lizard nodded.
"You didn't forget any other moves?" Naoki asked further.
The Motostoke Lizard nodded again.
Looks like the Motostoke Lizard got quite lucky! Naoki thought to himself as he nodded, "I see."
---
In the spring of 198 AL, towards the end of January, the temperature in the Padia region began to warm up gradually.
Today marked the fifth day since the completion of the Salt House, and after a five-day interval, the care and feeding of the Salt Rock Treasures and their little sheep mounts had finally settled into a routine.
On this morning, after feeding the chickens, Naoki made his way to the Salt House.
After five days of continuous movement by the Salt Rock Treasures, a fine layer of rock salt had accumulated on the storage membrane of the Salt House.
Naoki's face lit up with the joy of a bountiful harvest as he beheld this sight.
Gouleton stood by, holding five Salt Rock Treasures in his arms. The treasures were piled on top of each other, snuggling comfortably in Gouleton's embrace.
Naoki and the Motostoke Lizard worked together to lift the storage membrane, collecting the rock salt and storing it in sealed cloth bags.
The Salt Rock Treasures watched curiously from Gouleton's arms.
"Salt... salt..."
They suddenly realized that Naoki seemed to really like the salt on their bodies!
This made the Salt Rock Treasures incredibly happy. In their eyes, not only had Naoki rescued them from the dangers of the wild, but he had also built them a safe new home and brought them delicious food every day.
Here, they had made many new friends, like the Frost Cream Fairy, who was like an older sister to them, and the gentle and quiet Minify.
The Salt Rock Treasures were filled with gratitude and warmth.
Seeing this scene, one of the Salt Rock Treasures happily jumped down from Gouleton's arms, and the other four quickly followed suit.
They scampered over to Naoki, chirping "Salt! Salt!" while rubbing their bodies against him. In an instant, more rock salt fell from their bodies, creating a snowy scene with salt flakes covering the ground.
(End of Chapter)
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