HM14 – Pokémon Black and White
Chapter 3: The Macaron Disaster!
"So… what did you have in mind, Cilan? I mean, what kind of food are you going to cook?"
The human trio and their Pokémon, along with the Legendary Dragons, were walking through the studio on their way to the on-site kitchen. Zekrom had just asked Cilan what kind of food he had in mind to cook.
"I'll have to see what kind of ingredients this kitchen has first. I've got a couple of recipes planned, but we'll see what I'll be able to do."
"So… I wonder… how do you think this movie's all going to turn out?" Iris posed the question to no one in particular.
"Hopefully, it'll turn out really great." Ash said. "And even if it doesn't, at least we had fun!"
Iris rolled her eyes. "I just hope we don't get pushed off to the sidelines like your other friends usually do."
"As if that's going to happen again." said Ash, proving that he was not good at predicting the future.
After a few minutes, they all reached the kitchen doors which seemed to be worn down; both doors were in bad shape, with part of the entrance handle being snapped off. Some of the wood was missing on the door, and some of it was frozen.
"Wow." muttered Cilan. "You'd think they'd keep better care of a DOOR."
"That's odd." Reshiram noted. "This was in perfect condition yesterday. Why is it…"
"Ohhhhhhh…"
The humans and their Pokémon jumped back a few feet, startled by the sudden sound.
"Ohhhhhhhh…"
"W-What's happening in there?" wondered Ash.
"It sounds like someone's DYING." Iris hypothesized.
"Wait…" mumbled Zekrom. "Frozen door, hacked off wood, and thumping… Oh Arceus, PLEASE don't tell me that's my brother." Groaning, Zekrom walked inside.
"KYUREM!" came his loud shout from the other side. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SNEAKING ONTO THE STUDIO?"
"DUDE! I NEED MY FIX!"
Reshiram groaned, also walking inside to take care of Kyurem, along the humans. Inside was the studio's kitchen, completely demolished. Pots and pans were scattered everywhere, spices and dishwashing liquid drenched the floor, and now the splashboard was stained blue instead of white.
"Aw…" groaned Cilan, who was looking forward to cooking food.
In front of Reshiram and to the side of Zekrom was another dragon, but one much uglier than the other two. His wings were frozen, and his head appeared to be surrounded by ice. His body was gray and hunched over, looking weak. The icy dragon stood in a corner, trapped by Reshiram's and Zekrom's bodies.
Iris looked on nervously. For her, this was an extremely awkward situation. Why? Iris has always had a phobia of Ice types for as long as she could remember. Didn't matter how cute or powerful they were, all Ice types applied. But she loved Dragon type Pokémon. She loved training with Dragon types and wants to become a Dragon Master. Having a Pokémon who was both Iris' feared and favorite types make her feel… conflicted, to say the least.
"Kyurem…" Reshiram sighed. "What did say about your fixes?"
"BUT I NEED MY POT! PLEASE! Show a guy some mercy!"
Ash noted a kitchen pot on the floor and picked it up. He walked over to Kyurem and presented it to him.
"Well, here's a pot."
Cilan chuckled nervously. "Not that kind of pot, Ash…"
Zekrom sighed. "Forget it, Ash. And Kyurem, we'll talk later about… the many issues that you have. For now, just… PLEASE leave us alone."
Kyurem looked up to Zekrom with an incredibly stupid-looking smile on his face. "Well, why didn't you say so, DUDE?" The Ice-Dragon type peered behind the other Legendaries, wondering who else was there.
"Whoa dude! Who are the humans? And what's UP with that dudette's hair? Seriously… it's wack."
Iris looked up to Cilan, confused beyond all reason. "Cilan… did he really just say…?"
"I don't know, Iris; let's just go with it." Cilan urged her.
"Uh, hi… Mr. Kyurem. I'm Cilan and I'm a Pokémon Connoisseur." he said, bowing politely.
Kyurem eyed over Cilan, leaving the green-haired man feeling uncomfortable.
"So… does that mean you eat Pokémon?"
Cilan stared at Kyurem with an open jaw as no words would come from his mouth. Cilan just could not find the words to differ with that claim.
"Because… that would be TOTALLY AWESOME!"
"…" Everyone stared at Kyurem as if he was absolutely insane.
"…What? Is there something stuck in my teeth again?"
"You'll have to forgive Kyurem." Reshiram confronted the trio as Kyurem went off to douse his body in ketchup. Pikachu and Axew both joined him in his antics. "He can be a little…"
"Out there?" Iris finished.
"…That's putting it mildly."
"Still, I didn't know the Legendary Reshiram and Zekrom another counterpart. Back at the Dragon Village where I was raised, we talked a lot about you two. There were many legends and all sorts of tales about you guys. Kyurem, on the other hand, he wasn't even mentioned."
"Doesn't surprise me." Zekrom told her. "Kyurem never really DID get a lot of attention. He's… the odd card out, really. But he's a great guy, even WITH his craziness and drug tendencies."
"Drugs?" said a startled Ash. "I thought we were talking about pots…"
"Still, it's really weird for me." Iris muttered. "I mean, I LOVE Dragon-types, but I'm scared to death of Ice-types. I've never met a Pokémon who's BOTH types. Makes me wonder what I should do."
"Well, Kyurem's a good guy." Zekrom assured her. "Maybe you should get to know him; it could really make you see Ice-types differently."
"I suppose… It's just… Dragon-types are really weak to Ice-types and… boy, this probably sounds really stupid… but I'm just scared of the cold."
"Why?"
"…That's… something I'd rather not go into discussion about."
"I understand. We all have things that we prefer not to share. Still, just give the guy a chance."
"All right. It wouldn't really be fair to not give Kyurem a chance, so I will! Right after Pikachu and Axew are done… licking ketchup off of him?"
Ash, Iris, Cilan, Zekrom, and Reshiram all stared at the weird sight that lay before them. Kyurem was doused and drenched with a completely full bottle of ketchup, which now lay empty on the floor next to him. Pikachu, being the little ketchup fanatic that he is, eagerly licked the ketchup off of the Ice-Dragon. Axew, also deciding that it was fun, joined in with Pikachu.
"I… I have no words." Cilan stared in awe.
"This is Kyurem on a NORMAL day." Reshiram told them.
"If this is Kyurem on a normal day, I'd hate to see him on a BAD day." Ash said. Ash walked over to Kyurem and picked up his Pikachu, who was ticked off at him for interrupting his fun.
"Pika…" he protested. "Pikapi!"
"Come on, Pikachu; you've had enough fun. Boy, you and your little ketchup fetishes."
Iris, though somewhat hesitantly, walked over to Kyurem (still rolling himself in the ketchup that remained) and picked up her little dragon Axew. Unlike Pikachu, Axew didn't protest and seemed to be happy to be back in her arms.
"Axew! Axew!" he cheered pleasantly.
Finally, Kyurem stood up, still having a lot of ketchup left on his body, and confronted the gang.
"So, what are you dudes and dudettes doing next?"
"Well…" muttered Cilan. "I WAS planning to cook lunch… but then… yeah."
Kyurem got that same stupid-looking smile and suddenly got a bright idea.
"Grass Dude! I can TOTALLY help you cook!"
Cilan grinned, bowing politely (as per his custom) in front of Kyurem.
"Well then, Mr. Kyurem, I'd greatly appreciate it!"
Reshiram and Zekrom got nervous glances in their eyes. They both remembered the last time Kyurem tried to cook dinner. Let's just say it ended with the fire department, plus nearly every Water-type in Unova having to come over.
"If you say so…" Zekrom sighed, inaudible by Cilan setting up his utensils.
"So, what are you making anyway Cilan?" Iris asked.
"I'm making some of my best macarons. You DO have the ingredients in that fridge, right guys?"
"The studio fridge is loaded, along with the kitchen cabinets." Zekrom told him. "You should be able to find what you need in there."
Cilan opened the two large refrigerator doors and scoured for the ingredients. "Egg whites and a bunch of berries for different flavors are in here." He took out the ingredients and placed them on the counter. From the cabinets, he took icing sugar, granulated sugar, ground almond, and some food colorings.
"OK, I think that's everything I need…"
"So Grass Dude, what do you want me to do?"
"Hmm. Well, I need to get a mixing bowl out to… well… mix the ingredients. Why don't you go ahead and preheat the oven to 325°F while I get started?"
Zekrom, standing up, whispered into Reshiram's ear: "Well, I'm not sticking around for when the kitchen blows up."He walked out of the door.
Cilan reached into a cabinet and pulled out an egg beater and a mixing bowl. "All right, just let me…" He cut himself short; something seemed amiss.
He turned around. "Hey, where'd Zekrom go?"
It wasn't until that moment when Ash and Iris also realized that Zekrom was absent.
"Yeah, where DID he go?" Ash muttered.
"Trust me, considering what's probably going to happen next, I don't blame him."
"What do you mean?" Cilan wondered.
At the same time, Kyurem was looking at the oven and its' heat settings. A knob was on the oven, with various temperatures set on it. They started at 100 and increased gradually. 100 to 125, then 150, 175, etc. These options continued until it reached the last one, notably marked 'Fires of Hell'.
"Ooh, that one sounds like fun!" he shouted happily. Before anybody could stop him, he turned the knob all the way to that last setting. He opened the oven door just to see how hot it could be.
Thanks to Kyurem, the entire kitchen CAUGHT ON FIRE.
"Oh my goodness!" Iris shouted.
"What'd Kyurem do?" yelled a shaken Ash.
"I called it." Reshiram said. Thinking quickly, she ushered Ash and Cilan out (with Ash protesting that Oshawott the Attention Whore could help), but Iris resisted. Managing her way to the back of the kitchen, she smashed the glass case holding the fire extinguisher and took it out.
"What are you DOING?"
"Is me breaking out the fire extinguisher during a fire with my bare fists not obvious enough?" she snapped back at the dragoness.
Pulling the pin, the girl with the physics-defying hair aimed the nozzle at the source of the fire, the oven and Kyurem, and after a few grueling hot minutes was able to put it out.
Kyurem, who was covered in the extinguisher's foam, stared at the two women as they approached him.
"Well, Kyurem?" Reshiram told him. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"…"
"Kyurem?" Reshiram asked again menacingly.
"…That. Was. UNDENIABLY UNQUESTIONABLY AWESOME!"
"…"
"Reshiram?" Iris wondered.
"Get a gun." she ordered. "And shoot me with it. MULTIPLE TIMES!"
Outside the studios, Cilan had already whipped out his cell phone and called the fire department, but they refused to come when they found out who set the fire… again.
"You're the FIRE DEPARTMENT!" Cilan shouted in the phone, becoming borderline psycho. "You're supposed to…"
"The number you reached has been disconnected. Please hang up and try again."
Cilan silently muttered words under his breath that are not appropriate for a younger audience. Sighing, he slipped the phone back into his pocket. "So much for my food…"
"Wait a second…" Ash muttered. "Where's Iris? She should've… oh boy."
"Iris!" Cilan shouted. Realizing the gravity of the situation, tried to rush back in but Ash prevented him from it.
"Ash! Let me…!"
"It's not going to do you any good if both you AND her are stuck in that fire! Reshiram can handle it!"
Cilan figured Ash was probably right and admitted defeat.
At that moment, Iris and Reshiram walked out of the studio perfectly fine… barring a Kyurem held tightly by the neck.
"Wow." Cilan muttered "Right as I admit defeat, Iris pops up in perfect condition… that's really convenient! Iris!"
Catching her attention, Iris focused her gaze on Cilan. "Oh Cilan! Don't worry, I'm alright!"
Iris ran up to the trio and embraced Cilan. Letting go of him, she backed up slightly to face both of them.
"So, what did you do in there?" Ash asked.
Iris gleamed proudly. "Oh, I just busted out the fire extinguisher and took care of it. It was easy!"
"You're stronger than I give you credit for, Iris." Cilan complimented.
"What just occurred here?"
Ash, Iris, and Cilan turned around, unfamiliar with the voice. It belonged to a man, one of good build and youth. However, his hair was… somehow both black and white.
"Who are you?" Cilan questioned.
"Oh, pleasure to meet you. I'm Damon," he introduced himself. "And I'm one of the actors for this movie. Again, may I ask, what occurred here?"
Reshiram walked up to Damon and began to explain. "It involves a brain-dead parallel of mine having a little too much fun with the oven settings. Iris took care of the fire that resulted, though."
"Hmm. That explains it."
"It's a good thing she put it out, too." Cilan said. "The fire department wouldn't come."
"But why wouldn't they come?" Ash wondered.
"When I explained what transpired, they said they didn't want anything to do with 'that crazy dragon'."
"But that was in Unova." Reshiram told them. "How would the Tokyo police know about something like that?"
"Word travels fast, I guess." Damon said. "Anyway, since your lunch didn't go so well, how about I take you guys to my trailer? I've got a lot of foods already stuffed in the fridge."
"Better than nothing." Ash sighed. "Now I'm so hungry, I could eat a Rapidash!"
"A what?" Iris looked at Ash in confusion.
"Never mind." he dismissed her. "Let's just get to the food!"
Ash, Iris, Cilan, Damon, and Reshiram (Reshiram already took Kyurem back to her trailer) had all arrived at Damon's trailer, where Zekrom was already waiting for them.
"You certainly took your sweet time, didn't you Reshiram?" the black dragon taunted.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Blame the women for having the guts to put out the fire while you men flee like cowards."
"I would've HELPED!" Ash protested.
"So there WAS a fire." Zekrom smirked. "Figures Kyurem would do that again. But anyway, glad you're here. Let's just get inside."
"I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a disaster this time." Cilan laughed.
Unfortunately, unlike Ash, Cilan was pretty good at predicting the future.
Inside…
"Oh, it's YOU guys again!"
Victini was laying in a chair, munching on the macarons that the producer had given him earlier. The green macarons, however, were tossed onto the floor next to him, all sticky and gooey. The rest of the trailer was a complete mess. Damon's clothes and various items of his were scattered all over the floor, along with some sticky foods and liquids.
"It wasn't like this when I walked outside." Zekrom noted.
"VICTINI!" Damon shouted.
Victini looked over at Damon, with a bored expression on his face.
"Is it important? Because if it isn't, then just move along."
Damon groaned. "Victini, just… why? Why did you do this to my trailer? What did I ever do to you?"
"A'ight. I'll tell you. Numero uno, I was looking around the trailer for the safe you keep your money in. I needed it."
"For what?"
"I needed a PS3 to go with my 360."
"You have to be kidding me." Damon said, facepalming.
"Sadly, no." Reshiram grumbled.
"And second of all…" the Fiery Brat continued. "I hate your guts."
"But why?"
"Because I hate your stupid hair. Seriously, it's wack."
Kyurem spoke up. "Wack isn't the right word here. It's more like… mondo-weirdo."
Victini grinned. "See, he agrees with me. Thank you, Kyurem."
"IT'S DYED!" Damon insisted.
"Whatever." Victini griped. "I'm leaving for my trailer. And someone should totally clean up this mess. It REEKS!"
When Victini slammed the door behind him, the guy with the black and white hair sighed. "I guess it's cleaning time. I'll take care of…"
"Don't worry so much, Mr. Damon." Ash told him. "We'll help you clean up!"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Iris. "It's no problem at all!"
"And cleaning is my specialty!" Cilan informed him.
Iris turned to Cilan, curious. "I thought your specialty was cooking."
Cilan shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that too. And battling. And fishing. And acting. And…"
He looked over to Ash and Iris, who were giving him menacing glares.
"OK, I'm done now." he quickly finished.
"Well, let's get going!" Iris stated.
"Yeah!" agreed Ash. "And the sooner we finish, the sooner we can finally eat!"
Ash, Iris, Cilan, Reshiram, Zekrom, Damon, and even Pikachu and Axew contributed to cleaning the trailer. The four humans were cleaning the floors since they were smaller and had better room for movement. Pikachu and Axew worked together to pick up all the items Victini scattered on the floor. The two Pokémon handed the items off to the Legendary Dragons, who put the items back into their proper place. When they were done, the entire trailer became cleaner than ever, even before Victini dirtied it up.
"I think that's everything." Cilan said. The humans stood up and looked at their hard work. All of them were glad that was over.
Ash spoke up on Victini's actions loudly when they were done. "You know the next chance I get, Victini's really gonna get it from me!"
"Pika - Pika!" his Pikachu shouted angrily, concurring with him.
"Yeah, I'd like to give that Victini a piece of my mind, too!" she agreed with Ash, cupping her fist. Her Axew shared the exact same sentiments.
"Whoa, hold on there, guys." Cilan tried to calm them. "Don't you think you're being a little bit violent?"
"This is Pokémon." Iris told him. "Violence is the whole point!"
"Axew!" the little dragon nodded.
Unfortunately for Cilan, he really couldn't find a flaw with Iris' logic. It was Pokémon, after all.
"I give." he sighed, forfeiting. "Can we at least have lunch before you go and beat Victini to a pulp?"
Ash grinned. "That, I CAN agree with."
After Cilan was able to find some necessary ingredients, he finally made the macarons he was trying to cook from the start. With macarons of blueberry, pear, orange, cherry, and chocolate, he set the dish with them on the table.
"Wow Cilan." Ash said, staring at the macarons. "These look delicious!"
"Before we start, you guys all washed your hands, right?"
"Totally." said Iris.
"Yep." Reshiram said.
"I did." Zekrom told him.
Ash looked at Cilan nervously. "Umm… well…"
"Ash, you know it's proper etiquette to wash your hands before you eat. Didn't you learn that in elementary?"
"What are you Cilan? My mother? This is JUST like with Dawn and Brock on the set of the Giratina movie…"
Ash sighed, getting up from the table. "I'll be right back."
Ash left for the washroom and turned on the sink. Leaving the water on for a grand total of about 5 seconds, he quickly doused his hands and dried them. He quickly rushed back to the table, eager for the macarons.
"Did you really wash your hands, Ash?" Cilan asked him.
"Yes." he lied. "Can we please just eat?"
"All right, all right. I'm done. Dig in, everyone." At that moment, every quickly snagged a macaron and stuffed their faces. Cilan grimaced at the sound of all of the smacking.
"With etiquette, preferably…"
In just a few minutes, all of the macarons were gone. Cilan had eaten the least, with only two; Ash and Zekrom, both big eaters, tied with seven macarons consumed.
"So uh, I'm guessing you enjoyed it."
"Oh yeah." Ash grinned, patting his belly. "As much as I don't want to admit it, you're an even better cook than Brock!"
"I have to agree." Zekrom said. "This rivals even the gourmet meals I usually get."
"You're too kind, really. But if you're a Legendary Pokémon, who would cook you gourmet meals without trying to catch you?"
"…Fangirls…" Zekrom admitted.
"And don't even get me started on them." Reshiram grumbled.
"I'll… leave it at that, then."
Iris looked the window. "It's already dark out. Guess that fire incident and all that cleaning took away the time."
Ash and Cilan also looked out the window, with the moon set in the sky.
"Wow. It is. It looks like we should probably conk out for the night." Cilan told them.
"Point taken." Iris said. "But where do we sleep?"
"Oh that's easy. There's always three trailers reserved for me and my friends. Iris, you can get the girls' old one and Cilan, you can get Brock's."
"That… works, I guess." Iris shrugged. "But we didn't even pack clothes. What will we change into?"
"Umm… you guys know when I asked for your measurements a few days ago?"
"Yeah." Cilan said. "I'm still wondering why you…" Suddenly, it came faster to him than a rotten Victini throwing his green macarons. "You had clothes made for us?"
"That's… kind of creepy." Iris said.
"Yeah, I do that with ALL of my friends! Let me tell you something, when it came to Dawn, she…"
Five minutes later…
"That is NOT RIGHT." Iris told him. "Don't EVER do that to a woman again."
"But it didn't seem that bad." Ash said innocently. "After all, Brock said it was OK!"
Iris groaned while Cilan seemed pretty shocked how someone could do something like that and NOT think it was OK.
"Never mind." the green bishie sighed. "Just… let's go and crash for the night."
Ash, Iris, and Cilan walked through the studio's lot towards their trailers; Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem had already retired for the night. After a short walk, the trio had reached three trailers, one of them significantly larger than the others.
"So, which one is whose?" Cilan asked Ash.
"Iris' is the one next to mine, and Cilan, yours is the one next to hers."
Iris looked at Ash's trailer. "Why is yours bigger than ours?"
"Because I'm the main star!"
Iris and Cilan rolled their eyes and walked into their respective cabins. Ash looked on, confused.
"Was it something I said?"
Iris stepped into her trailer, and noticed that it was clean. Creepily clean. Shrugging it off, she made her way to the wardrobe and found a note explaining that her fitted clothes and pajamas were inside. She opened the door and looked at the clothes. Looking at the provocative nature of the clothes, she was disappointed that they didn't match her much more conservative style of dress. Pulling out a pair of pajamas, she was at least happy to see that they weren't as revealing.
Swiftly changing into them, she made her way over to the bed, tripping over one of the few things that were left on the floor. Grumbling, she picked it up.
"Hmm. What is this?"
Flipping through a book left on the floor, she realized it was a scrapbook. It had pictures of Ash and an orange-haired girl with a yellow shirt, red suspenders and blue shorts in it. She flipped further through the book, finding more pictures of Ash and this girl in a region with new Pokémon she had never seen before. The last picture was of her, Ash, another young girl with red clothes, an even younger boy with glasses, and a brown-skinned guy with spiky hair. They were all standing in front of a laboratory, smiling, with Ash and the orange-haired girl hugging.
There were no more pictures after that.
Iris closed the book, curious as to that orange-haired girl was. Tomorrow, she had to ask Ash what that was all about. Putting the book away in the nightstand drawer, she lay down in bed and went to sleep.
Cilan looked around his trailer, the one that was previously Brock's. He was a little bit nerve-rattled at the objects scattered all around. Multiple diaries belonging to different women, a soccer ball with lipstick on it, a couple of Dawn's dresses wrinkled on the floor… perhaps the creepiest thing was the many, MANY posters of Nurse Joy hanging on the walls, with red hearts drawn all around the head.
"…I've never met the guy, but I think Brock needs help."
Making a note to himself to tidy up the place later, he navigated his way to the wardrobe. There was a note on the wardrobe similar to Iris', saying that clothes and pajamas were outfitted for him and hanging inside.
"If they were in here, you'd think they'd clean up all of this stuff…" he muttered.
Disregarding the question, Cilan quickly yanked out a pair of silk green pajamas and slipped them on. He made his way back to the bed and slithered in, thinking about what could happen tomorrow…
Pokémon © Nintendo / Game Freak
Wow, long chapter by my standards. Anyway, a lot of interesting stuff has happened today, and the filming begins tomorrow. What disasters could await them? As always, Read and Review!