"Cook Free or Die" is the tattoo that Elias got to celebrate opening his restaurant, which had been his lifelong dream for as long as he remembered. He put his blood, sweat, and tears into everything about it: picking the lot, renovating the old building, and building a reputation for the best food in his little corner of Sinnoh. He loved that restaurant more than he loved himself and took pride in the excitement when people came in and the satisfied smiles they wore as they finished a meal.

He owned and operated it for five years before a flu-like virus took his sense of taste and smell, leaving everything tasting bland and singed, a bit like burned tofu. Elias could go through the motions of cooking, but without being able to test what he was working on, it was impossible to cook at the same caliber. And, without taste and smell, food no longer held the same appeal that it used to. Everything about his life seemed to have lost its sparkle.

Managing the restaurant that he used to cook in left him with enough money to live on but without anything to do with himself. He was considering uprooting the garden where he'd grown his own herbs and berries when his sister brought an undersized chikorita who was almost totally white. It was rare, but occasionally plant-like pokemon were hatched with a form of albinism* that left them unable to photosynthesize.

Several trainers had adopted the pokemon as a novelty, but upon realizing the care that it took to provide proper nutrition and his almost total inability to battle due to his fragile health, they would bring him back to the pokemon center for someone else to "give him the care that he deserves". Elias had always been too focused on his career to do much with pokemon, but he was willing enough to let the poor little thing Grow Roots and tap into the nutrients of some of the healthy berry trees in his garden.

When that wasn't enough to get the chikorita - now named Snowberry - back on his feet, Elias broke out a few of his old recipes to make some nutritious salads and berry smoothies to give him some energy. Snowberry was the first one in a long time to whole-heartedly enjoy whatever came out of the kitchen, and Elias postponed pulling up the garden; it started off as "just until he feels better", then "when there's time", until he completely forgot about it. Recipes that had graced the best tables in the region were adapted to pokemon with specific dietary needs and he needed those plants again.

Besides giving him back a passion, Snowberry also helped a lot with picking out food that had gone bad, smoke in the distance, or other things that Elias found difficult. Together, they thrived.

* something that happens to plants, too!

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Elias isn't a trainer; so, he didn't get a card. But! I did want to do another person/pokemon pairing for two that really needed each other. Also, I got to use chikorita, who I think is probably the cutest starter. TwT I hate to betray charmander like this, but I do love them.