The smell of fresh cookies perplexed Alexa as she stepped inside her sister's home in Santalune City.
"Um... Viola?" she called out, taking her bag - which contained her camera headset and everything else she needed for her job in it - off and sitting it on the sofa.
"Oh Alexa," Viola herself called back, realising her sister was in the house. The sound of footsteps turned Alexa's attention to the back of the living room where the door to the kitchen stood, and she found her self staring at her younger sister, now covered in blotches of flour and with noticeable egg stain on her left thigh.
"I wasn't expecting you this early," the woman chuckled, grabbing a cloth from the counter and using it to clean her hands before holding out an arm to give her sister a one armed hug. Alexa laughed herself, "Well, my flight back from Hoenn came in early. Now what's going on?"
"We're making cookies!" The women turned back to the kitchen door; Bonnie smiled back, holding a small tub filled with the small biscuits. She was in a similar, floury state as Viola.
"Well hey you," Alexa chuckled, walking over and ruffling the young girl's hair, making her giggle, "Where's your brother? Is the tower needing work again?" Viola answered for Bonnie, "Actually, he's helping as well; just stepped out to the store to get more ingredients. We've been baking all morning."
"Fair enough. Now why exactly are you making cookies?" Viola motioned for Bonnie to go back into the kitchen and said to her sister, "We're going to sell them. The trainer school here needs fixing up and since its the only trainer school in the Kalos region, some of the people of the city wanted to help raise funds to get it fixed. Cause if it doesn't, the League says they're gonna sell it off to some guy that'll convert it into a hotel." Alexa frowned.
"Can they do that?" she asked, sounding worried. Her sister sighed, nodding.
"Unfortunately. We've got today and tomorrow to make 500,000 Pokédollars to pay for the repairs and any touch ups, or it's gone." The elder blonde sighed herself, shaking her head.
"That sounds awful. I'd offer to do a piece on it, get it some recognition, but like you said, you only have today and tomorrow to raise the money and I'm backed up on projects as it is. Plus I don't think I could get the permission from my editor to do the piece as well as put some of my other articles on hold in enough time." Viola shrugged, giving Alexa a smile.
"It's the thought that counts, sis. Thanks." The two made their way into the kitchen, where Bonnie was standing, staring into the oven at the latest batch the two had made. The small egg timer sitting on the counter went off, prompting the girl to step back as Viola grabbed her oven gloves and opened the door, pulling out the cookies. Alexa, realising something, then asked, "Actually, you said Clemont was helping out as well. Why?"
"Ah, that's right. He attended the school when he was younger. I told him about what was going on yesterday when he was bringing Bonnie here to her first set of classes yesterday," Viola said, with Bonnie pitching in, "We wanted to help out. Plus Korrina's helping as well!"
"Korrina attended the school too?" Alexa said, surprised. Her sister nodded, saying as she began cleaning their equipment for the next batch, "Yeah, she did. She comes round every hour or so to pick up each batch and take them around the region to sell them. She's pretty quick about it thanks to her skates, plus she's also gotten some of her gym trainers to help out too." Alexa couldn't help but smile at all the effort they'd went to, chuckling, "You've got quite a system going on here. So, how much have you raised so far?" Viola shrugged.
"I'm afraid I'm not sure; Korrina keeps the money on her. I'll ask her when she comes to pick up the next batch." At that moment, the front door opened again, and Clemont called out, "I'm back!" Bonnie ran out of the kitchen to greet her brother while Viola called back, "Great. Just in time." The boy made his appearance being dragged by his sister.
"Oh, hey Alexa," he said, noticing the woman. The blonde chuckled as she saw that his jumpsuit was also covered in the tell-tale signs of having been in a war of the kitchen.
"Hey Clemont," she responded. Viola turned to her sister and asked, "Don't you need to get back to your work?" Alexa rolled her eyes as she asked, a hint of amusement in her voice, "Why? Trying to get rid of me? What if I want to help?" Viola's eyebrow twitched up in disbelief as she said, still smiling, "No offence sis, but I'd rather not. Cause if I remember correctly, last time you tried to cook something, your curtains went up in flames." Alexa's face turned red as she remembered the incident Viola had mentioned, making Bonnie giggle. Her brother coughed as he emptied the contents of the bag he'd brought with him, though his facial expression betrayed the fact that he was also quite amused by this new information.
"So is that a no to my help?" Alexa said, to which Viola shrugged. The blonde laughed, "If you want to help then fine, but if any of these come out bad, you're taking them to your offices and selling them off to your workmates." This garnered the sarcastic response of, "Oh but if my cooking's as bad as you say it is, then they might get food poisoning, and I sort of need them y'know. My editor does too." Viola simply snickered herself as Alexa grabbed a spare apron that was hanging near the door, muttering, "Since none of you seem willing to wear one."
"Well, you do suit it better," Viola muttered back, taking in the bright pink sheet of plastic, especially admiring the white daisies dotted on it.
"Didn't mom get you this apron?" Alexa asked, grabbing the spare bowl sitting off the side and adding the ingredients as Viola handed them to her. Her sister grimaced, chuckling nervously, "Yeah. But its a little bit..." She trailed off, then said, "Don't tell her I don't use it. Please." Alexa smiled and winked at her sister, tapping her nose and ultimately getting flour on it, which made the younger woman burst out laughing, followed swiftly by the Lumiose siblings, who were working with their own mixture. Alexa, initially confused, picked up a small metal spoon sitting on the counter and, seeing her reflection, chuckled dryly, "Okay, I get it."
"Whoa, did I miss something?" The four blonds turned to the kitchen door; Korrina stood there, looking confused.
"Ah, we didn't hear you come in," Viola giggled, picking up the tub of cookies and handing it to the skater. Taking the tub she already had off her, the gym leader then filled it up with the still warm cookies sitting on the cooling rack, giving it back to Korrina, who asked, "So, you working hard?"
"Yep, and we've got Alexa involved, at the risk of possibly having a few bad ones in the next batch." Alexa proceeded to point her wooden spoon, mixture dripping off of it, at her sister and say with a slightly annoyed expression, "One more jab at my cooking skills and I might just ruin them on purpose." As Viola motioned for Alexa to get back to work, Korrina turned away and into the living room as her Holo Caster went off.
"Bonnie, be careful, that's a bit much," Clemont warned as Bonnie, sitting on the counter now, poured flour into the bowl. Alexa chuckled, "Yep, neither of you really need anymore flour on yourselves." This made the boy sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, muttering, "We're gonna have some fun times tonight when we try and wash this stuff off." Korrina re-entered the kitchen, beaming.
"That was Rolanda, one of the gym trainers I got helping out. She's just finished selling off the cookies I gave her in Dendemille Town, taking our total sold up to 20,000 Pokédollars!" Viola blinked, shocked.
"Eh? We've made that much in a few hours?" She exclaimed. Bonnie cheered with excitement, kicking her feet against the cupboard underneath her while her brother adjusted his glasses, muttering, "Incredible." Alexa smiled.
"That's pretty impressive," she said. Then, seeing her fellow bakers were still in shock, she clapped her hands and said, "In that case, we should get back to work to build on that amount. You told me yourself Viola that you only have today and tomorrow, and we've still got a lot of money to raise."
"R-right! Korrina, you better get going too," Viola said, getting back into action. Korrina saluted the woman with the tubs of cookies under her arm before she skated on out of the house. The woman then hurried to Alexa's side, helping her to put the mixture onto the tray before also helping the younger siblings.
That day alone, they raised nearly 290,000 Pokédollars. A bit pricey for a couple of cookies, but the kindness of strangers was an interesting thing. Though what they would do the next day had to be just as interesting; people would be a bit sick of cookies by that point.
New drabble~! Here you go, the free cookies I promised!
First off, yes, the scientist from last drabble was Aliana. Working undercover and shiz.
Second, I know that ending ain't much, but I didn't want to go on a ramble rampage. So I called it there.
However, I'm also aware that an ending like that could easily call for a part 2, saying what they did the next day to raise money. Alternatively tho, I could skip the next day, with them earning the money they need and do instead a continuation, showing the repairs in progress, or the re-opening of the school with the repairs done. But I don't know what to do.
I will admit, if I don't do the part 2 route, I could easily hold off the continuation for a few drabbles, then write and post it. Especially since I've still got a request in progress for RosaMeiWhite2, which will most likely be coming soon.
Speaking of which, I would like to thank Tipsy Trickster, Floracat, RosaMeiWhite2 and SD Productions for reviewing, it honestly does mean a lot.
With all the rambling out the way, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please do review, fave and follow, and suggestions for any gym leaders you'd like to see would be fabulous, as well as any situations for drabbles.
Thank you once more!
Angel-chan x