Pokemon: A New Path

Chapter 167: Big and Small



Soon, the pineapple sticky rice was ready.

Naoki took it out of the rice cooker and inspected it, finding that its effects were the same as the sweet and sour pork with pineapple.

[Pineapple Sticky Rice (B+): Made with freshly picked pineapple and glutinous rice.

Cooking Effect: Flash. After feeding it to a Pokémon, the Pokémon has a chance to learn the move Flash, and its entire body will glow for 30 minutes.

Evaluation: The pineapple's fragrance is perfectly infused into the glutinous rice, resulting in a dish that's sweet, soft, and full of tropical flavor.]

"Not bad," Naoki said with a satisfied nod. He planned to distribute the dish to several of his Pokémon later.

With that done, it was time to focus on the pumpkin.

Making pumpkin pie was much simpler than preparing sweet and sour pork. While recalling the recipe, Naoki peeled and seeded the pumpkin, cleaning and slicing it before steaming it in a pot.

As he waited for the pumpkin to steam, Naoki gathered the seeds separately, planning to roast them later for some fried pumpkin seeds-waste not, want not.

Once the pumpkin was steamed, Naoki fetched a dough bowl, poured the soft slices into it, and mashed them into a smooth pumpkin puree with a rolling pin.

Next, he added the right amount of glutinous rice flour and sugar, kneading the mixture into dough. When everything was well-blended, it was time to move on to the next step.

He took portions of the pumpkin dough, rolled them into balls, and then flattened them into small disks. In total, the pumpkin yielded 32 pumpkin pies.

Finally, Naoki fried the pies in a pan until they turned golden brown, then removed them and placed them on a plate to cool.

As he looked at the golden, crispy pumpkin pies resting on the white porcelain plate, information about the dessert flashed in his mind:

[Pumpkin Pie (A): A dessert made from fresh pumpkin, glutinous rice flour, and sugar.

Cooking Effect: Size as you wish. After eating, the consumer can change the size of their body as desired, but the transformations are limited to three uses. After each use, the body returns to its original size.

Evaluation: Golden and crispy on the outside, tender and soft on the inside, with a rich pumpkin fragrance. A delightful and chewy treat.]

"Hmm? Any size you want?" Naoki mused, eyes widening slightly.

He couldn't help but chuckle as he imagined his Pokémon-Koraidon, Cyclizar, and Gogoat- turning into towering giants, their size ballooning to monstrous proportions after eating the pumpkin pies.

The next second, Naoki's eyes widened in disbelief.

'Wait, does this mean...?!'

This meant he could now, theoretically, 'create Gigantamax Pokémon!'

'What was even more mind-blowing was that the description of the pumpkin pie didn't specify it was only effective for Pokémon. Did this mean humans could use it, too?'

Naoki's heart raced.

Driven by curiosity, he picked up a still-warm piece of pumpkin pie, blew on it a few times to cool it down, and then ate it in a few quick bites.

"Get bigger," Naoki whispered, almost as if testing the waters.

Suddenly, his body began to grow, his limbs elongating as he shot up toward the ceiling. Just as he was about to hit the roof, Naoki panicked and quickly muttered, "Stop!"

Awkwardly, he glanced down at himself, estimating that he now stood at about two and a half meters tall. 'Two meters and five!' It was both exhilarating and a little ridiculous.

'Thankfully, the room was empty.' If any of his Pokémon had been here, they might've been terrified seeing him suddenly balloon in size!

"It's not just my height," Naoki murmured as he examined his oversized body. "Everything else has increased in proportion too."

While processing this surreal experience, Naoki's face flushed. He looked down at himself, feeling somewhat embarrassed by his new size, and quickly whispered, "Become smaller." Within moments, his body shrank back down to normal. Relieved, Naoki stretched and exhaled deeply. "What a crazy effect!" he thought with a mix of awe and amusement.

'But'.

Naoki's thoughts drifted to the enormous Dragonite beneath Dragonite Island. A sudden idea struck him. 'If I feed it pumpkin pie, will it shrink down to the size of a normal Dragonite?'

A mischievous grin spread across his face. "I'll go test it out this afternoon," he decided. For now, though, it was time for lunch.

Naoki stepped outside and called to his Pokémon. As they gathered, he brought out the sweet and sour pork with pineapple, the pineapple sticky rice, and the pumpkin pies. He even made a few sandwiches to round out the meal.

When lunch was served, Koraidon and the other Pokémon immediately began to feast with enthusiasm.

However, as soon as they took the first bite of the sweet and sour pork, a bright white light enveloped them all.

"Buyi?!"

Glaceon gasped in shock.

Cyclizar looked confused, Dragonite was visibly surprised, and Alcremie remained calm.

Seeing their reactions, Naoki chuckled and explained, "After eating the pineapple and meat, your bodies will glow for about half an hour."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Dragonite blinked in astonishment. "Awoo?"

Naoki nodded, smiling. "Yes, that's because of the glowing pineapple I used to make the dish."

"Awoo?" Dragonite remembered the pumpkin Naoki had prepared earlier. Its eyes wandered over to the row of golden, crispy pumpkin pies resting on the white porcelain plate.

'What about these? What magical effect could they have?'

"Uh..." Naoki hesitated, recalling the wild growth spurt he experienced earlier. "I'll tell you after you finish eating."

He certainly didn't want any Pokémon accidentally growing too large and wrecking the house

during lunch!

Hearing this, the Pokémon, led by an eager Dragonite, sped up their eating.

Once the meal was over, Naoki gathered the group and led them to a spacious meadow on the

ranch.

Standing before the Pokémon, who now waited in excited anticipation, Naoki cleared his throat and instructed, "Alright, now think in your minds, 'I want to grow bigger!"" Dragonite looked a bit puzzled at first, but within moments, its body began to expand! Its face showed pure astonishment as it continued to grow.

Naoki quickly called out, "You can control it! Just think about stopping, and the growth will

stop automatically!"

As expected, Dragonite's transformation halted, its final height settling at around six meters -nearly the size of a two-story building.

Inspired by Dragonite, Alcremie followed suit, watching in awe as her tiny frame grew larger. Cyclizar and Butterfree were quick to try as well, while Glaceon, still a bit hesitant, observed

from the sidelines.

The biggest surprise, however, came from Koraidon. Without any special instruction, it grew to the same size as a Pikachu! Naoki couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in amusement. Koraidon seemed absolutely thrilled. "Raao?" it chirped happily, running up to Naoki with

gleaming eyes.

Naoki glanced down. "What do you want to do?"

Koraidon stretched out its little arms, clearly asking for a hug.

Naoki hesitated, then gave in with a fond smile, lifting the miniaturized Koraidon and letting

it perch on his shoulder like Pikachu.

With Koraidon now riding happily on his shoulder, Naoki turned to the rest of the Pokémon, who had all grown larger, and reminded them, "Be careful not to grow too big and destroy the ranch! You have three chances to transform-whether it's to grow or shrink. After the third use, you'll return to your normal size."

The Pokémon nodded in understanding, with Dragonite and the others looking excited about their new ability.