Author's note:

This is a bonus chapter.

So go back and read chapter 192 if you accidentally skipped ahead.

***

“Don’t run off too far now, Lynxie!” Kerry called after the Shinx who was chasing after the duo of Paras that were guiding their way. 

Nina chuckled and told Espy to keep an eye on the little ones as she gently caressed the Popplio in her embrace. 

The two girls, along with the sprightly Mr Pokemon were out in the forest trying to forage for bamboo shoots. According to the old man, the season of melting snow was when the delicacy was at its sweetest.

“A shame there’re no mushrooms around in this season.” Nina remarked with a tinge of remorse.

Mr Pokemon chuckled. “There are actually, if we’re lucky enough to find them. Some mushrooms are available all year round, but they’ll start to proliferate more as the weather starts to warm. Most of them would still be buried beneath snow at the moment or simply too young to bother.” In particular, enoki mushrooms and wood ear were possible. Maybe some lion’s mane left over from winter if they were uber lucky.

“Lynxie, no!” As Nina and Mr Pokemon were chatting, they heard a distressed cry from Kerry up ahead.

“What’s wrong, Kerr?” Nina asked as she rushed up to her friend.

Kerry groaned and continued to admonish her naughty Shinx. “Lynxie, I told you. Don’t just put everything you find in your mouth! We don’t know if the mushrooms are poisonous or not.”

“Shinx…” cried the dejected lion cub, a little drool still visible on his mouth.

Nina chuckled and bent down to caress the Shinx and divert Kerry’s wrath. “Silly Lynxie, you’re going to get a tummy ache if you don’t listen to Kerry…” She then turned towards the two Paras who were gathered around the base of a tree. “Did you guys find something?” She asked while rewarding the two mushroom Pokemon for their effort with Berries.

“Pass…” One of the Paras hissed in affirmation and pointed towards the trunk of the tree where some brownish orange spots could be seen.

“Great work.” Nina smiled and gently caressed the pair of Pokemon on their brows as she got up to take a closer look. The mushrooms that were identified seemed to Nina like wild enoki, looking distinctly different from the white elongated ones that she was familiar with from the domestic variants.

“Pretty sure there’s another type of poisonous mushroom that looks pretty similar to wild enoki… Galerina, I think it’s called?” Nina did not fully trust the textbook knowledge she gained from school. So to make doubly sure, she took out her Pokedex and scanned the fungus for further identification.

[Flammulina filiformis, commonly called enoki mushroom, is a species of edible agaric in the family Physalacriaceae. The name enoki mushroom is derived from the enoki tree. This is because it is often found growing at the tree’s base.]

Yes, the Pokedex could be used to identify plant matter and minerals as well to a certain extent. But it only used image recognition due to the lack of any advanced sensors that could analyze the composition of the subject in more depth.

“Make sure to feed one of the mushrooms to Paras before harvesting. They’ll tell us if it’s poisonous or not.” Mr Pokemon chimed, eliciting a nod from Nina. She hadn’t known that the Pokemon could be used that way.

“Fascinating… I guess that’s one way of doing things.” The girl wondered if other Grass Types could serve a similar function as well.

In the end, the mushrooms were confirmed to just be regular wild enoki, so they harvested some of the larger ones and placed them in the basket strapped to Nina’s back and moved on.

“Seems like the Paras finally found us some bamboo shoots.”

At some point during their leisurely trek, the Paras stopped and began digging at the unthawed ground, seeming to struggle a little despite their sharp claws. So Nina released Sir Clodington to help soften the ground a little.

The girl watched as the three Pokemon worked together, gradually uncovering the pointed tip of the sprout, eventually getting at the faintly layered, bulbous form of the young bamboo shoot colored in a rich layer of dirt.

“Oh my, it seems like we found a good one. When it comes to bamboo shoots, the younger the better.” Mr Pokemon said as he knelt on the ground and brushed off some of the dirt to get a better look. “Paras, be a dear and harvest it for us, will you?” He asked, prompting one of the Paras to further loosen the surrounding dirt, before cutting the bamboo shoot free with one clean slice of its claw.

“Some people will pry the entire bamboo shoot from the ground, but I prefer to leave the base in hopes that it might grow back in the future.” The old man explained as he placed their loot into Nina’s basket. 

By the end of the morning, the motley crew of foragers managed to completely fill Nina’s basket with an abundant harvest of bamboo shoots and a myriad assortment of mushrooms. They even managed to find some newly grown parsley and wild celery on warmer patches of ground, as well as some wild garlic and wasabi on the bank of a nearby spring.

It was more than what the three humans could reasonably consume. But Nina and Kerry wanted to make sure that their Pokemon could get a taste of the local delicacies as well.

“So how are we going to cook all this, sir?” Nina asked, on their way back to the village.

Mr Pokemon chuckled. “I reckon we can just throw ‘em all in a hotpot. Wadya say? I still have some of the excellent tofu that Oak sent me, and one of the ladies in the village make some delightful pickles. I’ll go and ask if she still has any to spare. Maybe even grab some miso as well.”

The girls nodded in anticipation of dinner that night.

***

The fragrant smell of sugar, alcohol and soy sauce permeated the air, emanating from a little cast iron pot suspended above crackling coals and smoldering ash, surrounded by skewered river fish roasting away with a satisfying pop. Their thin translucent skin, generously coated in salt, blistered with a satisfying pop as fat and juices drip down the bamboo skewers onto the sunken hearth of sand and ash below.

The fish was courtesy of the fidgety Nitey, whose belly Nina was now comfortably sat against. The Dragonite was trying his best not to make any sudden movement for fear of breaking the fragile wooden interior of Mr Pokemon’s home.

Nina breathed in the irresistible scent of the spread before her with a ravenous gulp as she leaned forwards to flip the fish around to cook the other side.

“Patience, girl…” Mr Pokemon laughed. “If you keep flipping them like that then the skin will never get crispy. How about you go get the rice and the other pot from the kitchen? They should be ready by now.”

Since the little nabe pot they were using couldn’t cook enough food for all their Pokemon, Nina had broken out her larger industrial size stainless steel pot to cook the same dish they were having separately in the kitchen instead.

Nina nodded in embarrassment and got up to do as she was told with Espy in tow. And true to Mr Pokemon’s words, when Nina got back from the kitchen, the hotpot was just about ready.

With the protection of some kitchen cloth and a reserved gesture, the old man reached over and gently removed the lid from the pot, revealing neat segments of bamboo shoot, mushrooms, tofu and fish cakes simmering away in a translucent brown broth. 

A stock made from dried mushrooms, medicinal herbs, soy sauce and mirin. That was what formed the base of the hotpot they were having that night.

Kerry offered to help distribute the first portion of hotpot for the humans while Nina went to work divvying up the share for their Pokemon, leaving about half of the concoction in the pot which she directly passed over to the big-eating Nitey with the ladle as a spoon.

“Thanks for the food!” Nina and Kerry clapped their hands together in prayer, followed by the eager cries of the Pokemon surrounding them.

The girls gingerly lifted their clay bowls and cautiously blew into its searing content before daintily sipping at the savoury sweet broth steeped in all the earthy goodness of the local bounty.

“Haaa…” Nina let out a misty sigh, feeling content at the satisfying flow of heat passing through her gullet, instantly warming up her frosty body.

Next, she picked up a sliver of bamboo shoot with her chopsticks and bit down on it, revelling at the crunchy snap of the vegetable’s texture and savouring the bursts of sweetness that followed every single bite.

The girl swooned. “So sweeeet! Fresh bamboo shoots are absolutely divine!” Nina remembered mostly eating the jarred and preserved ones back in her past life, so eating it fresh like this was a novel experience for her.

Mr Pokemon laughed. “Haha. Bamboo shoots around this time are the best. All those months spent dormant in snow meant the flavors had plenty of time to concentrate and are at their absolute peak in terms of sweetness. Autumn ones on the other hand, have an earthier, more savoury taste that I love as well. Though those tend to be a little harder to chew through for my geriatric teeth.”

Nina nodded while thanking the old man for sharing his wisdom with them. “It would be nice to come back here during autumn…” The girl mused as they continued to bask in the fiery glow of the hearth and gratefully savor the hearty meal at the end of a long day.

***

Author's Note:

SILKSOOOONG!!!!

Also, obligatory Patreon plug of the month.

/zebraunicorn