Here's chapter 7!

Sorry for the delay, everyone! Had a lot of things to do!

Enjoy!


Trollatouille

Chapter 7: Training to be a Chef


The chefs continued working until the door slammed open, revealing a serious looking Gristle at the doorway. The chefs stared at him as he chuckled nervously.

"Uh, hi." Gristle then began to walk, but he started to twitch, stumbling a little as he walked. It looked like he couldn't properly. He groaned and sighed until he finally reached the counter where a chef's hat stood. He sighed in relief and once he placed the hat on his head, he gasped as he noticed Chef with her arms crossed.

With a smirk, Chef spoke, "Welcome to hell! Now, recreate the soup." She turned away to her job. "Take as much time as you need. Heck, all week if you must."

Gristle began looked a little concerned. "Yeah...the soup."

A bit later, Gristle was preparing the soup. He placed a few ingredients into it and sighed. "Okay, this is stressful." Just then, Poppy and Branch poked from the chef jacket as they looked. "Let's see here..."

Poppy then noticed Gristle going over for the wrong ingredient. She went to the sleeve, making Gristle chuckle. "Ha-ha-ha!" Then, Poppy came out of the sleeve, shaking her head. "What? It's just a spice I'm getting." Poppy suddenly then bit Gristle's hand.

"Ow!" He then frowned and was about to slap Poppy, but she went inside the sleeve. Branch, mad about that action, bit Gristle in the chest for trying to hurt Poppy. "Ow!" He chuckled, due to the tickling while the trolls were climbing and running around inside his jacket. He then noticed and felt one of the trolls going to the opposite shoulder and tried to hit the troll, but that only resulted a bite from the other troll again. "Ow!"

Each time Gristle kept slapping himself, mainly to try hitting either Branch or Poppy, the trolls continued biting him. The other chefs, meanwhile, glanced at Gristle being tickled and bitten constantly, making awkwardly, weird noises. The sight was slightly creepy and disturbing for the other chefs. They wondered if he was crazy or possibly taking this as a joke.

Finally, though, Gristle panted, groaning while everyone glanced at the boy. He looked at Hugo before slapping his chest, resulting in Branch inside biting him again.

"Ow! That hurts!" He muttered.

He then went to the storage area, with everyone else staring curiously yet concerned about the new recruit. Gristle chuckled nervously to the other chefs. "I'll be in here for a bit."

He then opened the storage room. "That's it. Both of you, out." Once inside, Gristle finally took Branch and Poppy out of his shirt with a frown. The poor trolls were busy trying to get the taste out of their mouth.

"Great! Now my mouth taste like your body smell. Yech!" Branch groaned in disgust and spat out the taste.

Gristle grunted as he opened his jacket and looked inside his own shirt. His chest was all full of small bite marks, shocking him. "GAAHHH! GAAAAA-AAAHHHH! GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The sight caused him to scream like a maniac.

"This is not gonna work, guys! I'm gonna lose it if we do this anymore!" Gristle complained.

"I'm starting to regret this idea," Branch said.

"Look, I'm sorry that I tried to hit you, but we gotta...we gotta figure out something else," Gristle said.

"Like what?" Poppy asked.

"Maybe something that doesn't involve any biting or nipping or running up and down my body with both your little troll feet. Biting, no!" He scolded Branch before scolding Poppy. "Scampering, no! No scampering or stuff like that. Understand, guys?"

"Fine. We understand, right Branch?" Poppy turned to Branch, but he was, however, looking at all the food hungrily. "Branch?" A growling noise was heard from Branch's stomach and Branch held gently his belly. Gristle and Poppy then looked at the food and back to Branch.

"Oh, you're hungry, aren't you?" Gristle gently realized.

Branch nodded. "You didn't even let me eat as we were running late."

"Oh, I'm sorry, little guy." Gristle apologized, feeling pity for the little troll. He then took a strawberry from a crate and then gave it to Branch, who was eating it like mad.

"Maybe next time, I should have woken you guys up earlier," Poppy said.

"Yeah, maybe," Gristle said thoughtfully. "So let's think this out. You guys know how to cook and I know how to appear...well, Bergen. We just need to work out a system so that I do what you want in a way that it doesn't look like I'm being controlled by tiny troll chefs..." He then groaned as he rubbed his head. "Oh, will you listen to me!? I'm insane! I'm insane! I'm insane! I'm in a refrigerator talking to a couple of trolls!"

"You were insane enough to form a partnership with us in the first place," Branch said with his mouth full.

"Branch!" Poppy shouted.

"What?"

Just then, Chef was walking by until she heard a voice from inside the refrigerator. She looked confused as she listened to Gristle's ranting. "Junior?"

"We gotta communicate better, all right? I can't be constantly checking for a yes or no headshake from a tro-"

Suddenly, the door was swung opened as Chef appeared inside with widened eyes of shock. Quickly thinking fast, Gristle turned the light off. "What the-" Chef managed to turn the light on just as Gristle stared strangely at Chef. The trolls somehow disappeared as if they were ghosts.

"The trolls!" She pointed to the shelf. "I saw them!" She looked around as Gristle spoke.

"The trolls, ma'am?"

"Yes, yes! Two trolls. One pink and one blue right next to you!" Chef then frowned as he glared at young man. "What are you doing in here!?"

"I'm just, uh, familiarizing myself...you know, with the vegetables, and such." He explained through his lie.

"Get out and get back to work!" Chef angrily ordered.

"Will do!" Gristle said and left the storage. Chef glanced at the Bergen as he left. "One can't get too familiar with vegetables, you know!"

Back in the kitchen, Gristle sighed in relief for the close call. "Man, that was close. Too close." Good thing that Gristle thought of putting the trolls inside his hat for safe keeping. "You guys okay up there?"

"We're good for now. I gotta say this is better than being in your shirt," Poppy admitted.

Branch nodded, but then yelped as he, looking through Gristle's hat, noticed the dishes before yanking Gristle's hair. "Look out!"

Just then, Gristle, somehow, ducked and dodged Woodrow holding the tray of empty dishes. Gristle then stood up and chuckled nervously to the surprised waiter.

"Ha-ha-ha...uh, excuse me."

He then left to the door until he was inside a bathroom. He panted and then sighed. He then removed his hat, then looked concerned at the trolls. "How did you do that?"

"Well, I don't know actually. All I did was pull on your hair like this and..." Branch pulled the hair, making Gristle look like he was shrugging.

"Huh?" Branch wondered. He placed the hair down, making the shoulders go down too.

"Let me try something," Poppy said, grabbing the hair. She then pulled Gristle's hair very high, making his arms go upward before placing them down. Poppy then grinned and made Gristle's arm raised up with a body twist.

"That's strangely involuntary-" He yelped as Gristle was constantly being pulled before he landed on the on the toilet. The trolls then grinned.

"One look and I knew, we all had the same crazy idea."


Later that night, Gristle and the trolls were back in their small apartment with a huge plan in mind. "Are you ready for this?" Branch asked to Poppy and Gristle.

"Oh yeah!" Poppy agreed.

"I'm not sure about this, but I'm ready when you are." Gristle admitted.

Branch nodded. "Good. Let's get to work. Gristle, we're gonna need all your food. Go get them."

Gristle did just that and placed them all on the kitchen counter. He then looked at the trolls, then noticed Branch holding a blindfold. "You're gonna need this."

"Huh?" Gristle wondered.

A bit later, Gristle was blindfolded with Branch and Poppy on top of his head. He was about to lift the blindfold until Branch slapped it with his hair. "Ow!"

"No peeking!" Branch spoke. "Alright...let's get to work. Poppy?"

"Yes?" Poppy responded.

"You're in control," Branch declared.

"What? I can't do that."

"Yes you can. And you will, with a little practice and a good teacher," Branch said. "You want to be a chef? Then you got to learn the basic movements and methods. I'll be watching and giving you points. I know you can do it."

"Okay. I trust you, Branch." She said, grabbing the hair. She then pulled on his hair.

"Whoa!" Gristle moved around and started walking backwards. "Okay, where are you taking me? Wait."

Branch turned back and noticed that they were heading towards a potted cactus. "Reverse! Reverse!" Branch and Poppy quickly pulled the hairs which made Gristle fall. "Whoa!"

They fell to the ground, knocking down some junk. Gristle got back up and tried feeling around the area. "Easy, Poppy."

"This isn't easy, Branch. There's no manual for this!" Poppy argued.

"Just take it one step at a time," Branch advised.

Unfortunately, with the trolls being new to this, they had a bit of difficulty getting the hang of it. It wasn't easy controlling the movements of a young Bergen, especially a clumsy one.

"Balance, Poppy! Balance!" Branch yelled as he held on to prevent himself from falling off.

Poppy pulled Branch up and struggled to get Gristle to move towards the fridge. It wasn't long until Gristle felt the fridge door. "Okay." He then opened the fridge as the group tried feeling inside. As Gristle bent down into the fridge, he unknowingly bumped the trolls to the top of the fridge and off of him.

"This is gonna be a long night for us..." Branch groaned.

A bit later, the group was in the kitchen, with Poppy trying to let Gristle grab something, though it spilled an empty glass. She then tried to position the hand over some tomatoes. Once it was on top of one, Poppy made Gristle pick a tomato up and let Branch smell it.

"Ugh. Not the one," Branch shook his head.

Gristle then placed it down and picked the other one up, letting Branch smell the other. "Perfect! This one's good." He said, giving a thumbs up to Poppy.

"Yeah!" Poppy cheered. Unfortunately, she squeezed the hair too hard, causing Gristle to squeeze the tomato, splattering its contents on himself and onto the trolls.

"Oops," Poppy said. "Sorry."

Branch wiped the food off his eyes and sighed. "Let's try again. Next time, not too hard please."

Later on, Gristle was making a pancake or at least tried to flip it with Poppy's help. "Okay, you're doing good. Gently." Branch instructed. Poppy started gently as she softly kept pulling the hair. "Good. Good. Now, let it fly!"

CRASH!

Unfortunately, the last pull she did made the dish itself with the pancake head out the window. Branch and Poppy look out the window and cringed at the sound of a car crashing due to their stunt. Gristle heard the noises and was about to remove his blindfold.

"What was that?"

"You don't want to know," Branch said, placing the blindfold down gently.

Next, Gristle was mixing some eggs in a bowl with a whisk, thanks to Branch. Suddenly, he was forced to mix it faster and faster. "Whoa!"

"See? It's all in the wrist. A focused eye and good hand coordination is also useful," Branch explained it to Poppy. "Now, you try."

She took over and she resumed the mixing. "How's that, Branch?"

"Not bad at all," He smiled.

After a while, Gristle was forced by Poppy to lift up the spaghetti box. "Now, remember: you got to measure his strength and fast movements. Start slow," Branch advised.

She then pulled his hair once to make Gristle shake it off. She then tried again, but it just made the rest of the spaghetti fall to the ground. Poppy sighed in frustration, but then pulled again and this time, managed to land one spaghetti strand in the boiling pot.

"Well...you're improving," Branch admitted. "We learn a lot from our mistakes. And you are becoming a better chef with each and every step."

Poppy smiled, earning a smile from Branch as well.

Now, Poppy was trying to make Gristle pour some grape juice into the glass bottle. "Whoa!" Eventually, Gristle poured most of what was left inside into the glass after making a splash around the area.

"Nothing like some grape juice to sweeten things up. Yum." Gristle drank some of it, then lifted the glass toward where the trolls were. Poppy started drinking it and then Branch, but ended up being doused over with juice when the glass tilted.

Branch was surprised by this as Gristle and Poppy laughed at the scene. Branch chuckled as he tasted the juice.

"Now for the hard part," Branch said. A bit later, Gristle picked up the knife. Poppy gulped nervously but Branch placed a comforting hand over hers. "We'll do this together." Poppy was grateful for his cooperation and together, they each helped Gristle cut an onion carefully.

Later, Gristle placed the eggs carefully into the pan after cracking them, though some shells were inside the pan as well.

"This is fun," Poppy said.

"Yeah," Branch agreed, staring at Poppy with caring eyes.

It's been a while since they were living in the tree where they had to sneak out every often to even eat good food. Now, they're practically with a Bergen and helping him to cook, as well as learning themselves to cook. Such impossibilities that had happened to these two lucky trolls. Branch knew that the more time they spent learning and helping, the closer he was to Poppy. If only he had the guts to tell her how he felt. But now's not the time.

As evening continued onward, the three of them were cutting and preparing the food as Branch smiled. In just one night, they just became quite the experts.

"You ready for the ultimate test?" Branch asked Poppy.

"You bet we are!" Poppy declared, earning an approval nod to her, especially when she said 'we'.


The next day came quickly and, hidden inside the chef's hat, Branch and Poppy helped Gristle cook and place the right ingredients inside the pot as they created the same soup from before. Watching the whole progress with pride, Ghost Gristle grinned to the trolls.

"That should do it."

"Right." Branch agreed.


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