Chapter 9: Bitter Aftertaste
Chili grumbled to himself as he strode through the hallway, hands stuffed in his pockets. Cress was currently in a heated battle against a trainer in the gym, and Cilan was refereeing for him. The trainer had started out with a Tepig, and at first she seemed to have had a good plan to negate her type disadvantage—a good dose of Smog to mess with Panpour's sight and Odor Sleuth to keep up Tepig's own accuracy. But Cress found a way around the challenger's strategy soon enough, and had started to gain the upper hand when Chili left the battlefield.
Chili grimaced. Cress was going to win. Cress always won his battles. And after his own bitter defeat against that other challenger's Foongus just a few days ago, Chili had decided he would rather not see Cress win this time.
It had a double weakness against Pansear! he thought, gritting his teeth as he walked upstairs. Smoked out by a stupid mushroom. How pathetic could he get? And it'd been in front of Celeste too, which only made things more embarrassing—especially after he'd so brashly promised her a win, hoping to impress her. Great impression I made, he scoffed, shoving his bedroom door open. At this rate, Cress would win her over too. Heck, even Cilan had a better chance at her than he did, and he wasn't even trying.
He let out a groan and slumped onto his bed, burying his face in the sheets. Cress had probably won by now, he thought. If the trainer didn't choose to give up and go home, she'd go train some more and either come back for a rematch against Cress or try battling against him or Cilan instead. She'd probably pick the latter option, he reasoned bitterly. Then she'd win for sure.
He heard footsteps outside and quickly sat up; his brothers were running up the stairs, probably to spread the news of Cress' success. Wahoo, he thought wryly.
"Oh Chili! There you are!" Cilan beamed as he came through the doorway. "Cress won."
"Congrats," Chili said simply as Cress came up behind Cilan. "Is that trainer coming back for a rematch?"
"Possibly," Cress said. "What are you doing?"
"Sitting."
"Ah, of course," Cress nodded in understanding, deciding not to push it. "Celeste should be here in twenty minutes." Chili raised an eyebrow. "I invited her over this morning," Cress told him, "when I saw her at the market after you two refused to come along." Cilan chuckled sheepishly at this.
"C-come on, don't be that way. You know we were tired," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yes, from staying up playing video games all night." Cress shook his head. "You should've stopped when I did."
"H-hey, we didn't sleep that late…"
"Not everyone goes to bed as early as you, Cress," Chili added, a smirk growing on his face. "Except little kids, that is." Glad to see he had managed to peeve Cress a little, he moved on to ask, "So what did you invite Celeste over to do anyway?"
"Good morning, Celeste!" Jenny greeted as Celeste entered the building. "Here for your cooking lessons? Cress told me you were coming." Celeste nodded as she walked over to the counter, and Jenny reached out to rub Eevee on the head.
"Isn't the restaurant closed?" Celeste asked, puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
Jenny raised an eyebrow as she scratched Eevee behind the ears. "You've never been here on a Sunday, have you? You'd think you would've, seeing as it's the brothers' day off." Celeste chuckled nervously; she didn't have an explanation for that. "I'm the receptionist, right?" Jenny continued. "The restaurant may be closed, but the gym is still open. I welcome the trainers. And…" She reached under the desk and took out a water bottle, displaying it in her hands ceremoniously. "I give out water!" Seeing Celeste's doubtful expression, she continued, "It's gym policy. All gyms must offer fresh water. Do you want one?" She laughed at the surprise on Celeste's face. "You don't have to take it, you know," she said, returning the bottle to its place underneath the desk.
"Anyway the brothers are waiting back in the kitchen, so you can head over," Jenny said. "But you!" Jenny poked Eevee's nose. "You have to stay out here with the Pans. Cress thought Eevee might get in the way," she said, directing this to Celeste. Eevee pouted and Celeste patted her on the head knowingly; Eevee didn't like being thought of as an inconvenience. That reminded Celeste of a question she had.
"What happens if a trainer comes in?" she asked. Jenny frowned in thought for a moment.
"You mean with the brothers? Well there are three of them, right? Trainers come to battle one, and another referees. So even if a trainer comes by, you'll still have one left with you. No problem, alright?" Celeste nodded, grateful for the assurance that she wouldn't be an inconvenience herself.
"I'll be going then." She petted Eevee on the head. "Have fun ok?"
Celeste entered the kitchen and took a quick look around; though she'd seen been inside before, she never got to inspect it on her own. It was remarkably shiny—from the sinks to the countertops to the copper pots and pans hanging in the back, where she spotted the triplets.
"There you are Celeste!" Cilan beamed as she walked over.
"I'm pleased you could make it," Cress said.
"Hi, Cilan. Hi, Cress," Celeste said. "Hi…Chili." Chili was leaning against one of the counters, his arms crossed, and for a split second Celeste thought she could see a sullen expression on his downturned face, but when he looked up he sported his usual grin and gave Celeste a quick wink.
"Hey, Celeste," he said. "Boy are you in for a treat! You get to learn from the best of the best."
"Uh, well maybe not the best of the best," Cilan said. "But we are pretty good."
"When even Cilan admits to it like that you know it must be true," Cress chuckled.
Cilan held a hand to the back of his head and strained a smile. "Er, so, Eevee must be waiting outside right?" he asked Celeste, eager to move the subject away from him. "Pansage?" Pansage peered around from behind the counter. "Oh you're right there," Cilan blinked. "Well Eevee's outside waiting now, so thanks for the help."
"Ooee," Pansage beamed. "Paaansage!" At Pansage's call his blue and red counterparts appeared before the group. "Sage." Panpour and Pansear nodded in recognition, looking up at Celeste smilingly before turning to their own trainers for confirmation.
"Yes, go ahead," Cress said. Panpour gave a nod and began to head out of the kitchen with Pansage. Pansear, however, stood eyeing his trainer doubtfully.
"Well go on," Chili said, a hint of irritation in his voice. Pansear rolled his eyes, but he too left for the dining room. Chili frowned to himself, but otherwise the exchange between trainer and Pokémon went largely unnoticed, except by Celeste.
"There are so many things we could teach you," Cilan said. "The possibilities are endless!"
"Well then where do we start?" asked Celeste curiously. She allowed her eyes to wander around the room as she asked this, and when her gaze landed on Chili, she paused to take in the image before quickly looking away again. What she saw all but confirmed her suspicions; Chili wasn't acting much different than usual—he was back to his characteristic grin—but his eyes didn't have the same fire they usually did.
"Something wrong, Celeste?" Cress asked her.
"I was thinking it would be nice to cook dinner for my parents," she said, reviving her wilted smile. "Something more than just ramen…"
"Oh you'll be a master chef when we're through with you!" Chili grabbed a ladle and brandished it in the air. "We're going to help you make a full-course meal!"
"That's a great idea!" Cilan agreed.
"Well of course it is," Cress smirked. "It was my idea in the first place. Chili simply stole it from me." Chili stuck his tongue out at his brother.
"Borrowed," he corrected him playfully. Celeste let out a small sigh of relief. She hoped whatever was bothering Chili would go away soon.
"We'll start out with a three-course meal today," Cress said, retrieving a small box from one of the drawers. "Any larger would be very much overdoing it at this stage."
Chili scoffed. "Only three? What about a fourteen-course meal? It's not that much harder."
"Fourteen?" Celeste voiced timidly, her eyes wide.
"Or more, if you want." Chili laughed. "Really you can do whatever you want. It's your lesson."
As if to refute his point, Cress said, "I believe we'll start off with soup for the appetizer. I was thinking zucchini garlic." Chili grunted bitterly, and Cress raised an eyebrow at him. "Would you prefer we went with tarragon?"
"Can't we just let Celeste choose?" Chili griped. Can't we let somebody other than you choose?
Cress blinked. "If she has something in mind, then by all means," he replied. "I was simply trying to expand her palate, but if you insist." Cress turned to Celeste with an apologetic smile. "Was there anything you had in mind, Celeste? You could sift through these recipes, if you'd like." He handed her the small box. She peered at the cards inside and started going through them when she came upon a recipe that caught her interest, picking up the card and showing it to the brothers.
"Split pea soup?" Cress asked, eyeing the card uncertainly. "Are you quite certain you want to make this?" It's rather simplistic…
Celeste nodded. "My mom used to make it a lot," she said.
"So you'll make it for your mom instead?" Cilan inferred. "That's nice of you." Cress did his best not to frown; yes it was nice, but if her mother used to make it surely she could teach Celeste.
She did speak in past tense, he noted. Perhaps her mom was busier nowadays. I suppose it's alright, he mused. This is Celeste, after all. "What about the main dish?" he asked, trying to move things along.
"Oh, um." Celeste raked through the recipe cards once more, choosing one that looked familiar to her.
"Pasta salad…?" Cress frowned—his disappointment had won over his chivalry, and he didn't feel inclined to dispute it. Celeste certainly wasn't taking any risks.
Unlike Cress, Cilan approved of Celeste's choice entirely. "It's always useful to know how to prepare a good pasta salad," he stated. "What about dessert?"
Celeste considered this for a moment, looking down hesitantly into the recipe box, before shyly asking, "Could we make crepes?"
Chili raised an eyebrow. "French cuisine." He nudged Cress in the arm. "Bet you love that, huh?"
"Oh yes, it's a brilliant suggestion," Cress remarked, wholeheartedly thrilled to be making something slightly more complex; he had begun to worry Celeste wouldn't be taking full advantage of their tutelage.
The simplicity of the base dishes mattered little, however, as soon grew apparent by the vast array of ingredients Cilan set out on the counter—and that was only the first of several trips he'd be making to the fridge. While Celeste recognized some of the items, there were a few she'd never seen before, but she'd soon get acquainted with each; the first thing the triplets wanted to teach her was fixing the fixings. Mainly the produce, which meant a lot of knife work. Having only ever used butter knives before, Celeste warily edged away from the sharp blade Cress set out.
"It's not too different," Cilan said.
"Yeah," insisted Chili. "If you've used one knife, you've used them all." To emphasize his point, he held up a tomato. "Tomato, Tamato, right?"
"Dear Arceus, no!" Cress snatched the tomato from Chili, a horrified look on his face. "Tamato Berries are nothing like tomatoes!" Whoever came up with that phrase anyway?
Despite her early hesitance, it didn't take long for Celeste to get a handle on slicing and dicing. Fortunately, that ended up being the largest speed bump; cooking the pasta and prepping the soup proved fairly easy tasks that could be done simultaneously. But it wasn't until Celeste had to whisk up the crepe batter that she really started enjoying herself. The motion of the batter turning over on itself in waves, the light scraping sound of the whisk against the bowl, the weight in her arms fluctuating around as she stirred—she found it all oddly comforting.
"Celeste?"
Celeste looked up from the bowl in her arm and over at Cilan, who had his head tilted to the side and was watching her curiously. "Oh there you are," he said. "You need to add the sugar now." Celeste blushed, embarrassed to have spaced out. She set the bowl down onto the counter and poured in the sugar, avoiding eye contact with Cilan as best she could.
"The butter too, right?" she asked quietly, her hair falling over her line of vision.
"That's right, but you have to whisk in the sugar first. Just don't you get whisked away too." Celeste peered over at him; he had his hands behind his back and was beaming at her gently. A sigh of relief escaped her, and she pushed her hair out of her face and returned the bowl to its position in the crook of her arm as she started whisking again.
"I'll do my best."
"Ah, Celeste." Cress' voice broke through the calm as he came towards them. "When you're done whisking up a storm, there are some split peas awaiting your presence at the soup station—"
"That will have to wait until after you've met with the pasta first," Chili interrupted, grinning jovially at Cress.
"The split peas' appointment is earlier than the pasta's," Cress reminded Celeste cordially. "It's only fair to see them first." He sneaked a competitive smirk in Chili's direction, who gawped at his brother's insolence.
"I can't argue with that logic," Celeste smiled. "Is this good, Cilan?" She handed him the bowl and watched expectantly as he checked the consistency.
"Perfect," Cilan said. "Now I'll just set this in the fridge for an hour. When you're free again we'll make the custard sauce. That's whisking too," he added. Celeste rubbed her neck bashfully.
"I look forward to it."
Eevee hopped up onto the balcony railing and peered down at the battlefield below. Large, rectangular, and laden with rocks, its plain presence was in stark contrast to the lavish dining room just outside the double doors. Eevee would've thought the brothers would do something to spruce it up a little. Unless… Are all gyms like this? she wondered. Maybe it was just the first gyms that had to be this basic.
"Do you like the view?" Panpour asked from down behind her, bringing Eevee back to the present.
"Yup!" she replied. "It's even better than I thought it would be." She gazed up at the glass-paned ceiling; despite her newfound height the shiny glass windows were still largely out of reach. She briefly entertained the idea of jumping up to touch them, but decided it was best not to.
Pansage climbed onto the railing and sat down beside her. "You're thinking of jumping up there aren't you?" he asked.
"Well I was!" Eevee laughed. "You almost had me."
"I guess my timing was off," Pansage said.
"Like trainer, like Poké," Pansear joked.
Pansage shook his head, the bush on top rustling as he did so. "I thought that saying died out years ago. Besides I was only making a guess. Psychic-type I'm not. You could be though," he told Eevee. "You know, one day." Eevee nodded thoughtfully at this, but not wanting to continue the subject, leapt down onto the balcony next to Panpour and Pansear.
"Could we check in at the kitchen for a bit?" she asked.
Panpour put a hand on his chin in contemplation. "I guess so. They should be done by now."
"Alright then," Pansage agreed.
"Couldn't we slide down the banister one last time first?" Pansear suggested. Eevee's ears perked up.
"Yeah, let's do that!"
The scent of split peas and toast filled the air, and Celeste took a deep breath of it, sighing contentedly as she finished rolling up the crepes. She drizzled a few tablespoons of custard sauce on each plate like Cilan had demonstrated before sprinkling on some confectioners' sugar. Cilan nodded approvingly.
"Now all that's left is the soup and croutons," he said.
"Hey, hold on," Chili protested from behind him. "My croutons are done. Take a look for yourself." He showed them over to the tray he'd just taken out of the oven, covered with croutons sitting in tidy little rows like tiny toy soldiers. Each crouton was actually made up of two pieces of bread, sandwiched together with cheese in between—Chili's idea.
"They look really cute," Celeste remarked. "Like mini grilled cheese sandwiches."
Chili winked. "That was the plan."
"A wonderful plan," Celeste giggled, much to Chili's delight, before going over to Cress to check on the soup. The stove was already off when she got there, and she cast Cress a questioning gaze. He nodded; the soup was ready.
"Oh good," Celeste sighed, picking up a bowl to ladle the soup into. "I was getting hungry."
Cress chuckled. "As was I. Would you like a taste first?" He held out a spoon to Celeste, and she accepted it hesitantly, dipping it into the soup and taking a sip. She froze, the spoon lingering in the air in front of her lips.
"How does it taste?" Cress asked her. "…Celeste?" He saw Celeste's hand start to tremble. "Celeste?" he repeated. "What's wrong?" He suddenly remembered that she was also holding a bowl, and his eyes darted over to it just in time to see it slip out of her grasp.
