Shortie's Reminiscence

Shortie's thoughts were not on what tomorrow's date was, unlike the rest of the world. He'd gotten an important cooking assignment from the King, so at this point, he couldn't care less that Genesis Day was tomorrow. The current date was Twelfthmonth 31, 1506, and as Shortie climbed into his bed, his thoughts as he drifted off to sleep were of how it all came to this. He didn't dwell too much on these thoughts by the time he fell completely asleep.

The date was now Firstmonth 1st, 1507, which was a Monday. As the world knew, Genesis Day occurred whenever New Year's Day landed on a Monday. Everyone's mind was set on what the usual thought process was; visit their relatives who had passed on to the afterlife and also to celebrate by any means that come to mind. It could be by way of ceremonies, meditation, or even festivals. The town of Promised Land decided to do the latter option this year. Though it was a small and sheltered town, they were pulling out all the stops, going so far as to even invite King Kangaskhan II himself. To everyone's surprise, he had accepted. And to make things even better, Captain Keldeo would be accompanying him. As usual, Twarkleton would be left in charge while the King was gone. It was a usual part of the Persian grand vizier's job, though even then it happened quite often. Fortunately, this didn't leave him out of Genesis Day's celebrations. Shortie, on the other hand…

All of his closest family members were all still alive, so he basically had no reason to take advantage of that aspect of Genesis Day. Being a shy, introverted Grovyle meant that the festival was definitely out of the question. The King understood this, so he decided not to ask if he wanted to accompany him and Keldeo to the Promised Land festival. But he did have one request for his cook.

"Rattatatouille, please, to go."

Shortie was afraid of that. However, he couldn't disobey his King.

"Yes, sire. It will be ready by the next hour."

Shortie headed directly to the kitchen to prepare the meal for his King.

Rattatatouille.

To Shortie, this was quite a nostalgic dish. The memories were coming back to him as he was preparing the ingredients. After all, this was the dish that got him fascinated with the culinary arts. Of course, it also led to the loss of his tail the first time he tried making this dish himself. One careless lean to pick up a dropped dicing knife had put his tail within reach of the fire that was heating the olive oil. Back then, he had only been a Grovyle for a month, and he hadn't yet realized that his tail leaves weren't prehensile nor were they even movable, unlike the tail he had as a Treecko or would have as a Sceptile. That one careless move had burned his tail completely off of his body, leaving a black burn scar permanently affixed to his posterior end. And as his tail was burned all the way down to the root, there was no chance of it ever growing back. That day, his tail went away forever. But that was not the reason he dreaded making this dish, as that incident did not traumatize him away from cooking.

It was important for any cook to keep anything loose tied back, to keep them out of the food and out of reach of flames. A Grovyle's head leaf normally is long enough to reach the heels of their feet. Shortie's head leaf was shorter than a normal Grovyle's (though he'd had the name Shortie since his birth because of his parents thinking it sounded cute, the shortness of his head leaf as a Grovyle vindicated that choice), being only long enough to reach the middle of his back. Even still, he always elected to tie his head leaf down. To add to that, he also would slip on rubber sleeves to tie down his arm leaves. Besides, he always preferred to utilize kitchen tools to slice and dice ingredients. He had gotten done mincing the garlic with the mincing knife, considering it a cheat to have used his Leaf Blades to get that job done. Plus—and this was the most compelling reason of all—the knife's blade was shorter and more convenient as opposed to a Leaf Blade's obnoxious length that would mess up everything.

For these ingredients, he could go in any order he wanted for the preparation. There were two ingredients in particular that he was deliberately saving for last, so he got to work dicing the yellow squash. He remembered only getting this far by the time his goose-cooking accident happened. The second time he had made this meal (which would be his first successful attempt) had given him a sense of accomplishment when he had gotten past this part and moved on to the Tamato Berries that were to be peeled, seeded, and chopped. That was also a day he wouldn't soon forget, considering that he didn't even originally apply to be the castle's cook. No, Shortie's true passion was music. He'd always dreamed of being the oboist in the Twilight Kingdom Royal Symphony Orchestra. He decided to take his love of music straight there, having heard of how accepting King Kangaskhan II was of Shiny Pokémon like him. That day was three years ago today, a time where the Twilight Kingdom was slowly starting to accept that rights had to be given to Shinies. Unfortunately, Shortie had the misfortune of being in many places unwelcoming of Shinies. The Twilight Castle was just about the first place that didn't turn him away just for being a Shiny. However, the position he had applied for had already been filled. Shortie's hopes were crushed once he had heard that there was already an oboist in the orchestra. But on his way out, Twarkleton had mentioned that the castle was in need of a cook. As it happened, the oboist had left his former job of being the cook to pursue a music career himself. So, with the empty spot, Shortie went into the kitchen to see what he could do. And though one mistake was made, King Kangaskhan II enjoyed the meal, citing it as being the most successful attempt thus far by any royal cook to make that dish.

And now came the moment Shortie was dreading, the area where he had made that mistake. The final two ingredients were a diced red bell pepper and a diced green bell pepper. How cruel fate was that the recipe called for bell peppers that were of the two colors Shortie couldn't see correctly. Both appeared to be shades of brown to him. But this time, he felt ready, for he had just now noticed something he hadn't before. One of the bell peppers that was brown to his perspective was very slightly lighter brown than the other bell pepper. It was enough of a difference for him to notice. Now, he had nothing to worry about. So, he got to work dicing the two, confident and hopeful that he'd made the right choice. With all preparations complete, it was time to cook the Rattatatouille.

After fifty minutes had passed, the meal was ready for the King, who had been waiting for it.

"Here you are, sire," Shortie said, offering the food to the King on a wrapped platter.

"Thank you very much," King Kangaskhan II responded. "Now, while I'm out, feel free to celebrate the day however you see fit. After all, it is Genesis Day."

With that, he and Captain Keldeo left for their limousine that would take them to Promised Land for the festival.