The whole affair began with Cyclizar.
Early in the morning, the morning dew dripped down the petals onto the grass.
After finishing breakfast, Naoki went out to milk the Gogoat.
Koraidon, as usual, took Dragonite and Cyclizar to the grass to play with a ball that Naoki had bought for them at the toy store yesterday afternoon.
The three Pokemon stood in a triangle, tossing the ball to each other in turn.
When it was Cyclizar's turn, it didn't control its strength well, causing the ball to fly into the pineapple field.
It let out a "Gao" sound, and then quickly chased after the ball into the pineapple field, finally finding the ball beside a pineapple.
Cyclizar stepped forward to pick it up. Just as it was about to turn away, it was suddenly attracted by something glowing not far away.
Cyclizar focused its gaze and saw an incredible sight.
The glowing thing was actually a matured pineapple!
Cyclizar had never seen such a crop before, and in its confusion, it quickly reported the news to Naoki.
Upon receiving the news, Naoki hurried over and immediately saw the glowing pineapple.
At that moment, an exciting thought popped into Naoki's mind:
"Gogoat's Grassy Terrain has once again spawned a mutant crop!"
He quickly went up to inspect, and the information about this strange pineapple immediately surfaced in his mind.
[Glowing Pineapple: A type of special crop, born under the influence of Gogoat's Grass Energy. When used to cook dishes, it can grant them a "flash" effect.]
Flash? Could it be the Flash Move he was familiar with?
After a Pokemon uses it, their body emits a glow that can dispel darkness and illuminate the surrounding area, proving to be very useful in cave adventures and pitch-black environments.
Naoki couldn't wait to try it out.
Just then, he suddenly thought, could there be other mutant crops in the other fields as well?
With that thought, Naoki quickly suppressed his impulse and patiently wandered in the field, starting to inspect each plant.
As his gaze swept over them, a stream of information appeared.
[Normal Corn], [Normal Corn]… [Normal Wheat], [Normal Wheat]… [Normal Hops]… [Normal Pumpkin]…
"Nothing?"
Naoki couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed, but looking at the pineapple in his hand, he began to comfort himself internally: "Having one is already great, one shouldn't be too greedy."
He planned to take this pineapple back to his room and make it into a dish to see the effect.
However, just as he was about to leave the farmland, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a bizarre sight.
Amid a pile of shiny yellow, golden pumpkins in the pumpkin field, there was an especially peculiar pumpkin.
Under Naoki's gaze, that pumpkin began to change at a visible pace!
It first slowly shrank to the size of an Oran Berry, then started to expand, ultimately growing as large as a tire.
Naoki widened his eyes, watching this scene in considerable amazement.
The next second, the information about that magical pumpkin appeared in his mind.
[Size-Shifting Pumpkin: A type of special crop, born under the influence of Gogoat's Grass Energy. When used to cook dishes, it can grant them a "size-shifting" effect.]
"Size-shifting?"
What kind of bizarre effect is this?
Holding a feeling of wonder, Naoki handed the glowing pineapple to Cyclizar beside him, then stepped forward to pick the pumpkin.
Once detached from the vine, the strange pumpkin still didn't stop its size changes.
Even more interestingly, its weight also altered, becoming lighter and heavier with each fluctuation.
Holding it in his arms, Naoki felt the unique sensation more strongly.
He took the pineapple and pumpkin with Cyclizar to the kitchen. Naoki watched the pumpkin lying on the chopping board, continually changing size.
Once it reached its largest form, Naoki picked up a knife, and with a muffled "thud," he plunged half the knife into the pumpkin.
Only then did this special pumpkin finally stop changing, though its size didn't remain at its largest, instead returning to a normal appearance.
"What a pity, I thought I could make several more dishes," Naoki regretted mildly for a moment.
Next, it was time to try and make dishes with these two vegetables and fruits!
According to the descriptions, it seems that no matter what dishes he made with these two ingredients, the effects would always be fixed as flash and size-shifting.
Therefore, he first needed to consider how to make the most out of them, to create the most dishes with the least ingredients, without wasting a single bit.
"The pineapple can be used to make sweet and sour pineapple pork, pineapple sticky rice, it can also be made into pineapple cake, or juiced…"
But pineapple cake seems a bit wasteful. After a brief moment of contemplation, Naoki made a decision in his mind.
—Cut the pineapple in half, use most of the flesh to make sweet and sour pineapple pork and juice, and use the remaining pineapple shells to make pineapple sticky rice.
As for the pumpkin…
Various pumpkin dishes flashed through Naoki's mind, finally settling on pumpkin pancakes.
This was the dish he could think of that would make the largest quantity.
Once decided, Naoki immediately got busy.
He first cut the pineapple in half, then used a spoon and a fruit knife to scoop out all the flesh, and finally put the soaked sticky rice and diced fruit into the two halves of the pineapple, setting them in the rice cooker to steam.
While steaming the sticky rice, Naoki took out tenderloin, eggs, and other ingredients from the refrigerator.
He cut the tenderloin into cubes, stirred them evenly in egg liquid, then coated them with starch, and fried them in oil until golden brown.
Next, Naoki made a sauce using tomato juice, sugar, vinegar, and other seasonings.
In the final step, he tossed green pepper, red pepper, pineapple chunks, and the fried tenderloin into the pan for a stir-fry.
Seeing it was about done, Naoki turned off the heat and poured the colorful, fragrant, and tasty sweet and sour pineapple pork onto a plate.
As he looked down, the information about this dish surfaced.
[Sweet and Sour Pineapple Pork (B+): A dish made with freshly picked pineapple and pork tenderloin. Sweet and sour, nutritious and delicious.
Cooking Effect: Flash. After being fed to a Pokemon, the Pokemon has a chance to learn the Flash Move, while its entire body shines with light, lasting for 30 minutes.
Appraisal: A very good dish, a favorite of those who love sweet and sour flavor.]
Looking at the description, Naoki couldn't help but say: "Just as I thought."
Flash…
It's quite a nice Move, capable of playing a remarkable role when exploring pitch-black caves.