Chapter Text
“Ugh… I’m exhausted…” Julia grunted as she trudged into her room with a tired expression on her face.
“You sure look exhausted,” Kitty nodded. She glanced warily at her friend. “What happened? Did class not go well?”
Julia sighed and rubbed her temples. “That would be putting it mildly,” she grumbled, shaking her head. “f*cking Valerie Chiester…”
Kitty winced. That was exactly what she’d been afraid of. “Julia… did something bad happen?”
“We had a pokemon battle,” Julia replied. “I used Roden against her Incineroar. Oh, you’d have just loved that one, Kitty, it’s a big cat that’s dressed like a professional wrestler. Like if you took a Luxray’s head and put it on a Machoke’s body.”
“Um… okay…” Kitty wasn’t quite sure what the relevance of that statement was. She stared blankly at Julia, waiting for her to go into more detail.
She’d be waiting for quite a while.
Julia just sighed and shook her head. “It’s a huge mess.”
“Did you lose?” Kitty asked.
“Hmm? Hey! Come on, give me some credit!” Julia protested. “Even I can win a pokemon battle against someone like that, you know! …Thanks to the power of Terastallization on my side, anyway,” she added with a grumble.
Kitty winced. “That-that wasn’t what I meant,” she mumbled, looking down. “I just meant, well… you know… you seemed so down, so I just figured…”
“No, it’s fine,” Julia said gently, realizing that she was putting her friend on edge. “I didn’t mean to be snooty to you, I’m sorry. It’s just… really stressful day, you know? And it’s not even dinner yet! I’ve got another class to get to in the afternoon, and I’m already completely exhausted. Plus, I had to take Roden to Nurse Miriam because he wore himself out taking down that Incineroar, and Terastallizing. Talk about a mess.”
Kitty nodded. “I understand completely,” she agreed, even though her day hadn’t been nearly as taxing. At least, not physically. She’d still had to deal with the stress that came from thinking about Olivia’s offer to be a model.
That wasn’t exactly something she was looking forward to with burgeoning excitement, to put it mildly.
Kitty sighed and hung her head. “It’s always one thing or another, isn’t it?” She mumbled, shaking her head in frustration. “Still… I’m glad that you managed to win, at least, Julia.”
Julia blinked, then she grinned. “Well… yeah! You know me, Kitty, I’m a great pokemon trainer! And wow, it was a really tough battle, too! Both Roden and her Incineroar had Dark Tera Types, which meant they could use their Fire type moves to maximum effectiveness. But it was really our Dark type moves that gave me the edge!”
Kitty was surprised to hear that. “Really?”
“Yup,” Julia nodded. “She hit Roden with a flare blitz that did some serious damage, but he managed to turn it around with comeuppance! You know that move, right?”
Kitty gasped. “Oh! I think I remember that one! Arven used it against Kate in their battle, didn’t he? Yah, I remember! It’s like counter!”
“Exactly,” Julia nodded. “When I saw that move in action… oh, man! I thought ‘this has gotta be the perfect thing for Roden!’ …cuz you know how he can get. He’s always in the mood to strike back at whatever angers him, right?”
Kitty winced, and nodded, trying to smile. She certainly believed that about Julia’s Houndoom, alright. The only problem was that unlike Julia, she didn’t think that was a good thing.
Julia ignored that, though. “So anyway, after we wore her down with that, we hit her HARD, with a reversal! Aww, you shoulda been there, Kitty!” She laughed.
Kitty’s smile brightened. She was glad to see that Julia was really enjoying herself. She’d looked completely dejected and burnt out when she came into the room just minutes ago, but now her face was glowing and her voice was singing with glee.
It was obvious that Julia really did care a lot about these pokemon battles, that was for sure. Just talking about them brought up her mood.
She really is suited for something in the pokemon battling field, Kitty thought. She wondered if it would be okay to broach the topic from before.
“Hey, Julia, can I ask you something?”
“Hmm?” Julia looked up from the stuff she was unpacking as she prepared for her next class in about half an hour. “Sure, I guess. But I gotta get ready for class soon.”
“It’s okay, this won’t take long,” Kitty assured her, trying to smile. And it would go even shorter if Julia kept her temper under control and didn’t get upset at her for bringing it up again. “I was just wondering, have you put anymore thought into what you want to be in the future? I was actually thinking, instead of a gym leader or a pokemon master, maybe you could be a teacher?”
Julia stared blankly at Kitty for a second, and didn’t say anything. A tense silence hung over the room, and Kitty began to sweat. Had she messed up!? Had she suggested something that Julia would absolutely snap over, and get upset!?
Just the opposite, actually.
Julia burst out laughing.
“A teacher?! Oh, man, Kitty, that’s a good one!” She cackled, nearly falling over. She had to lean against the kitchen counter to keep herself upright. “Come on! Can you really see that? I mean, really? ME! As a teacher?!”
Kitty’s face flushed with shame. Julia wasn’t upset with her, but the fact that she was laughing so severely at her suggestion still stung.
“I-I just thought it was a good idea,” she mumbled, looking down. “I mean, after all, it’s clear that you really like pokemon battles… and this would be a way to share your love of pokemon battles with other people… you seemed so happy when you were telling me about it, so I just… no, please, it’s fine, you don’t have to say anything!”
She quickly shook her head. “Just forget I even brought it up!”
But Julia wasn’t going to forget, not after she saw the shift in Kitty’s attitude. She sobered up quickly and turned serious.
“Kitty, it’s fine. What you said… I really appreciated it. It meant a lot to me, okay?”
Kitty’s eyes widened in surprise. “It… it did?”
“Of course it did,” Julia said, grinning. “It shows me just how highly you think of me, that you’d tell me something nice like that.”
She walked over and gave her friend a hug. “And you’re not wrong. I really did pick myself up from my slump by telling you about how I kicked that bitch’s ass. So maybe you’re right! Something like this is perfect for me!”
“Um… great…” Kitty smiled, but Julia’s wording was a little… Julia.
“Anyway, want to play some video games before we gotta get to class?” Julia suggested. “Unless you’re still recovering from your exhaustion yesterday…”
“No, I’m good!” Kitty shook her head. “I was in a bit of a slump yesterday and didn’t eat much, but don’t worry! I had plenty to eat for lunch!”
Julia glanced down at the big pile of cup noodle containers littering the ground at Kitty’s feet. Then she tried to look Kitty in the eye, but the shorter girl diligently looked the other direction.
With an amused smile, Julia shook her head.
“You ate my ramen, didn’t you?”
“I-I was hungry! And the cafeteria was such a long walk away…”
“You didn’t want to run into Olivia.”
Oof. Right in the Tauros’s eye. Kitty sighed.
“…Maybe…”
Even though she was embarrassed, Kitty was still relieved. Julia’s laughter at the situation definitely had a way of improving her mood, that was for sure.
“Come on,” Kate grumbled, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe she was actually going through with this. “Why do I have to do another cooking class? I hate these!”
Arven was having none of it. “Because the food you make could rightfully be classified as a toxic waste dump,” he responded. “After what happened last time, you should be grateful that Professor Saguaro was even willing to accept you back into his kitchen in the first place!”
The last lesson Kate had attended had been when they were preparing for the picnics, in the schoolyard. That had not gone well. This time, the cooking lesson would be in the kitchen, where they would have access to all the necessary tools. And Kate was paired up with Arven, so she would be supervised the whole time, and not allowed near any food on her own.
“Ah, come now, Arven, Professor Saguaro is so formal!” The muscular chef declared, slapping his chest with pride. “Mr. Saguaro is perfectly fine!”
“Yes, sir,” Arven nodded.
Kate just groaned and rolled her eyes.
Mr. Saguaro turned to her, and looked sharply at her. “And you… Kate Nomia, yes?”
She nodded.
“I remember you…” He stroked his mustache thoughtfully. “Come back, have you? And it seems you and Arven are getting along much better.”
“More or less,” Arven muttered with a nod. He rolled his eyes, mimicking Kate quite well.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Kate said, cringing a little. “You’re going to curdle the milk. And I’m pretty sure we’re going to need that… right?”
Arven groaned, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Kate… why would you ever think that you would need milk to make a sandwich?”
Kate shrugged. “I dunno. Because?”
Yep. That was a nice glimpse into how Kate’s mind worked, as far as food was concerned. Just hearing her talk made him want to throw up.
“Mr. Saguaro, I am here as well!” Im said, raising her hand. “Ho-la!”
“Ah, yes, ho-la, Im,” Mr. Saguaro said, mimicking her odd greeting with a shaky smile. “You’re here too… this should be quite a great day!”
It was clear he was trying to keep the attitude in the kitchen up, even though he looked a little wary of what could happen.
At least the food Im made hadn’t caused any casualties yet, which was more than her roommate could boast, anyway.
“Look!” Kate pointed at a recipe in the book. “Right there, see? A sandwich recipe that involves yogurt! And that’s basically milk, so what’s the big deal?”
“I can’t do this,” Arven said, already regretting his choice. He’d wanted Kate to learn how to cook so he could reduce some of his burden preparing her meals (it would go a long way if she could at least make SOMETHING that was edible, for when he couldn’t be there) but obviously…
That wasn’t in the cards.
By the time he could get her to make something fit for human consumption, they would probably already be graduating.
He sighed and shook his head. What a mess.
Kate scowled and puffed up her cheeks.
“I’m trying the best I can, you know!” She grumbled. “It’s not like cooking comes easily for me you know!”
“You can memorize the Book of Scarlet and Violet well enough to identify a relic from a mere sketch, but you can’t wrap your brain around making a couple sandwiches?” Arven rubbed his temples in frustration. “Please, Kate, make it make sense.”
Kate responded by shrugging. “Some things are more important than others, that’s all there is to it,” she replied haughtily.
Mr. Saguaro winced. This wasn’t good. He remembered these lines of discussion. They were exactly what had led to the conflict between those two in the first place, and from what he’d heard from Dendra, those sparks had led to an all-out pokemon battle earlier in the month!
“Um, listen you two, I don’t think-”
“Like, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like cooking is as worthless as I thought it was,” Kate said, interrupting the cook. “It’s just not something that holds my interest. I’m not really good at it, you know? So I’m not that focused on it. Maybe that’s why it can’t seem to work for me.”
Mr. Saguaro blinked, surprised to hear that from Kate of all people. She’d been so hostile towards cooking before that he hadn’t believed Arven when the boy came to him and said she’d had a change of heart. His kitchen was open to all students so he’d begrudgingly accepted her presence, but he hadn’t thought she’d actually change this much this fast.
It was definitely a good sign, and it brought a smile to his face.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” he nodded. “I think that-”
“Nope, that’s not why,” Arven cut the teacher off. “You’re just a hazard to the people around you. It has nothing to do with your interest.”
Kate made a face at him, and he responded by making a face back.
“I am very excited to be making of the food!” Im said, punching the air. “I will make sure to handle all of the chopping and the fire!”
She turned the nozzle on the stove, and a massive pillar of fire erupted from the burner, nearly touching the ceiling.
Mr. Saguaro sighed, and forced himself to be okay with this as the students fumbled around to get everything under control.
This wasn’t going to go well. He could already tell that this wasn’t going to go well at all.
Deciding that there was no point in remaining here any longer, he stepped aside and let them get started. He had a class to lead, after all; Kate and Im were Arven’s responsibility now, he could handle them.
And hopefully, he would do so without burning down the entire kitchen.
That definitely wouldn’t be a good time.
“Look, I’m just saying, if they didn’t want you to put it on a sandwich, then why would they make it capable of being spread on so easily, huh!?” Kate demanded.
Arven’s eye twitched. “Kate, there’s nobody who says you can’t do it. The problem is that you’re not following the recipe!”
“Following the recipe is stupid,” Kate stubbornly responded. “If it tastes good, it tastes good, recipes aren’t necessary.”
“How can you be aware of the fact that you’re a bad cook, and STILL decide to toss the recipe out the window and do whatever you want?!” Arven exclaimed. “There’s irresponsible, and then there’s irresponsible! And there’s nothing more irresponsible than combining berry jam and mayonnaise with noodles!”
“Says you. Maybe I’m making a brilliant combination here!” Kate fired back. “I like the texture of noodles, and I like the taste of jam, and really, that’s what’s important here.”
“No, what’s important is making something that can be consumed by humans!” Arven responded. “We’re not even talking pokemon here, not even people can handle this!”
Kate shrugged.
That set Arven off even more.
“Okay, fine, well, if you like it so badly, then YOU eat it!” He plopped the rank, soggy sandwich on the table in front of Kate. The noodles had completely soaked through the bread, and the jam and mayo had mixed together into an unholy combination that was an off-pink, which seemed to ooze like blood from an open wound.
Everybody was giving their section of the room a wide berth, that was for sure. The cloying sweet smell was nauseating.
“It’ll be fine, stop being such a baby,” Kate grunted, rolling her eyes. “Just add some Herba Mystica to the thing and it’s all good, right?”
Arven’s eye twitched. “You can’t solve every cooking problem with Herba Mystica you know! Don’t think you can conceal your crimes against the food industry just by preparing enough spices to drown out the mess you’ve made!”
“Powerful people drown their crimes all the time!” Kate protested. “Why are you saying I’m not allowed to do it?! That’s bias plain and simple!”
“What!? What?!” Arven wasn’t even sure what she was saying at this point, he just shook his head in disbelief.
“…Anyway, point being, I’m not eating this sandwich,” Kate said, pushing the plate away. She hadn’t even gotten the proportions right, the noodles were hanging lopsidedly off of one end, instead of being spread evenly across the thing.
“Oh? And why’s that?” Arven stared her down.
“Because it looks like it tastes awful.”
“OF COURSE IT’S GOING TO TASTE AWFUL! THAT’S MY WHOLE f*ckING POINT!” Arven exclaimed, pulling at his hair in frustration. The fact that Kate could be so infuriating made him want to claw his eyes out. “Why are we even debating this then?!”
Kate crossed her arms over her chest and grunted. “Because you insulted my cooking, that’s why,” she replied simply.
Mr. Saguaro sighed and rubbed his temples in resignation. Even when he was trying to ignore the situation, those two seemed to suck up all the energy in the room with their fighting.
“Of course I insulted it! YOU just insulted it!”
“But it’s MY cooking, I can say whatever I want about it. That doesn’t give you the right to be insulting, you know. Be better, Arven. Not all of us can be a master-class chef.”
“You don’t need to be a master-class chef to know that noodles will NOT go well with jam in this arrangement. You didn’t even distribute it properly!”
“I ran out of noodles.”
“How many did you need?! You covered half the sandwich in a big pile of it!”
“…Enough for the other half.”
“Rrraagh!”
Arven wanted to punt the Poison type trainer out of a window.
Im watched the two with a smile on her face as she made the perfect sandwich. “Tah and dah!” She declared, holding up her creation. “I call it the bread sandwich! I take one slice of bread, and put it between two more slices of bread! It is a very clever design!”
Arven’s forehead throbbed, like he was about to burst a blood vessel.
Mr. Saguaro just wept.
