A Chowder fanfic! Originally, this story was going to be one big document, but it was too tough to keep track of it so I divided it into chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters, settings, ect. of Chowder!
Enjoy!
Chapter One
A New Customer
It was another boring and harsh-weathered day in Marzipan City, for the citizens were too dead tired and hot to leave the protection of the shades the intricate buildings gave them against the shimmering rays of the sun. The King of the Sky was in a terrible mood lately and his fiery rage changed the usual weather of the city, making it almost too hot to venture out. The public pools of the area were all filled with swimmers, and even the beaches looked crowded. The thrice cream vendor was sold out of thrice cream, his cart was cleaned out of every drop of the cold dessert, much to the great disappointment of his most frequent customer, Chowder.
Things weren't too different for the Mung Daal Catering Company as well. Already it was afternoon, the time when the sun was completely above the city, and they haven't had one customer to take an order from. It became quite a big bummer that they soon lost interest in any cooking business today, leaving or giving no attention to their posts as they began to slack off or fool around the place. Truffles stayed in the front office, reading the daily newspaper that just came in while Mung and Shnitzel had occupied themselves by playing checkers against one another. The rock monster had defeated his boss fifteen times in a row already and smirked with each victory, making the head chef furious enough to strangle him for "cheating". Chowder, on the otherhand, was lying on his belly on the floor with papers, crayons and his pet stink cloud, Kimchi, floating beside him. Chowder was drawing pictures of his favorite food, weird creatures from his dreams, and even one of Shnitzel just recently being attacked by Mung. He hummed happily as he drew his next picture with a brownish-green crayon, trying his best to interpret the image of his best friend onto the sheet of paper. Though he was comfortable with what he was doing, he felt discourged about the fact that he and others won't be cooking today...
But from what seemed like out of nowhere, a bell jingled its cheerful sound from at the enterance of Mung Daal's Catering. Chowder looked up from his drawings, quickly getting to his feet as he rushed over to peek into the enterance room, followed by Kimchi. A shadow, casted from the light outside, walked in before its owner. The visitor appeared quite short in height, perhaps an inch shorter than Mung himself. A khaki broad-brimmed, high-crowned hat rested over the vistor's head with wavy, copperish and wild hair flowing underneath and tied into a long, braid that curved upward a bit at the end. The guest was wearing a dark cotton-made jacket, quite unusual to be wearing in hot weather, with a white, loose-fitting T-Shirt with a bright green palm tree on it. Following downward were simple, dark green cargo shorts that leveled a couple inches or more below the knees and a pair of worn-out, white sport shoes that have seen better days. Two small wings of copper-colored feathers rested behind the vistor's back, along with a lion-like tail that was held a few inches above the tiled floors with a curve. Also, a face with human/lion traits to it and two small, droppy ears were peeking from underneath the shade of the hat.
The visitor casually walked up to counter where Truffles was reading with the newspaper up to her face. "Excuse me," said the visitor, who's voice Chowder found to be...somewhat feminine than what he thought. And apparently, the vistor was, in fact, a female.
"What?" said Truffles as she put down the newspaper before looking at the new costumer, who's face was shrouded by the brim of the hat, "Ahh! Yes! Hello, dear, what do you need?"
"Here to commission a dish, please! I need a Ginormous Sizzle-Fried Elephant Fowl made by seven thirty p.m. tonight," the customer replied as she looked up, revealing a calm but cheery expression.
"Ah! Alright, dear. I'll call in my husband," Truffles said before calling out at the top of her lungs to Mung. "Honey!!! We have an order!" But Mung was still trying to strangle Shnitzel by his rocky neck with his hands when Truffles called out loud to him. She yelled out again, "HONEY!!! WE HAVE AN ORDER!!!"
Mung jolted, catching his wife's shrilly message in his ears and looked at his fellow chef. "Shnitzel, we finally have a costumer today!" he cheered as he jumped off the rock monster and dashed into the main room with Shnitzel close behind. He skidded to a stop next to the counter with the rock monster bumping into him a bit a second afterward. "Yes, honey?" the head chef said calmly, dusting his white shirt with his hands.
"This young lady has made an order: a Ginormous Sizzle-Fried Elephant Fowl," Truffles repeated the order.
"A Ginormous Sizzle-Fried Elephant Fowl?!" Mung exclaimed."My! I haven't made a dish that large since...well...forever! We better get started, Shnitzel!"
"Need it done by seven thirty p.m. tonight, sir...uh..." Shira mumbled a bit, unsure of the chef's name before her.
"Mung Daal to you, dear!" the head chef corrected her with pride, grabbing her right hand into his own to give her a vigorous handshake, "And nots to worry! Shnitzel and I will get to work on this dish right away!
Eager to meet the customer himself, Chowder walked up to the visitor, "Hi! My name is Chowder!" he greeted before turning to his stink cloud, "And this is Kimchi!" Kimchi blew a raspberry in a hello.
"Hello Chowder and Kimchi!" the visitor replied with a calm but cheery tone, "I'm Shira Pitaya! But call me Shira."
"You're not going to stare at me or kiss me or hold hands with like how other icky girls do, are you?" Chowder asked as he grimaced. He tried his best to stay from younger girls, like Panini.
"Why would I do that?" she replied with a smile and a confused look. Apparently, she was thinking that this Chowder was another of those little boys who believe in girl cooties or something. And it amused her as well.
"Chowder, why don't you keep our guest, Shira, occupied while Shnitzel and I make the dish?" Mung suggested, hoping Chowder wouldn't mind sitting out during this large of an order.
"Radda radda radda?" Shnitzel whispered Mung, wondering why he wouldn't want his apprentice helping out with their first order of the day. He could rely on the fact that Chowder would do anything to lend a helping hand around the kitchen, even if he would only play a very small role.
"With Chowder busy with our new customer, there will be no accidents while we, you and I, make this dish!" Mung explained optimistically to the rock monster. "I'm not trying to push Chowder out of the picture, but there is so little time to make such a big recipe to afford any mishaps! And you know how often accidents happen around the kitchen when Chowder tries to do the difficult steps by himself..."
"Ah, radda!" Shnitzel agreed. Without Chowder around, the dish would get done a good amount of time without the child's antics and bottomless pit of a mouth to eat their hard work.
"Okay!" Chowder agreed to his mentor's suggestion without question. "Come on in! Feel free to do some lookin'! Stay while 'cause something's always cookin'! Yeah!" he sang cheerily as he jumped into the air, grabbing his new friend by the hand and pulling her around to give her a tour around the building.
