DISCLAIMER:
The author is by no means a professional baker or anything remotely close to it, just a humble appreciator of the art. Therefore any content related to it in this fic should be taken with a grain of salt.


"... and now you leave it in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes at 425 degrees. No more, no less."

Monty gently placed the now-ready dough of bread into the huge oven of the bakery kitchen with me and Chansey watching every step of the way.

"Once that's done you'll want to reduce the temperature to 375 degrees for about 40 to 45 minutes," he said as he closed the oven's door.

"So the temperature must be switched after a while? Got it," I replied while writing the instructions in an old empty notebook I was lucky to find not long ago.

"Yes, but that's an aspect that could change depending on the style or type of bread. In this case, we're using a straightforward method, following the basic recipe. It serves as a good introduction point."

As I noted the last pointers into the notebook, I could spot Chansey from the corner of my eye, ducking and staring at the bread in the oven. Still sharing the same healthy curiosity she had during the entire process, from the gathering of ingredients on the table to the kneading all the way to the oven.

Monty had been teaching us how to make white bread in the most simple way possible, according to him. We spent the entire afternoon on it, he taught us every step of the process with a slow pace for us to get it correctly and understand. All in all, it wasn't particularly hard, but it was time-consuming, especially the proofing process.

We had to wait for the dough to rise two times, forty-five minutes each. That was almost two hours I had done nothing but wait, which Monty kindly used to show me around the kitchen and explain, in an understandable way, what the instrument did and how to use it. Granted, I won't be using any of these any time soon, but it is better to get familiar with them now; that's what he said.

I have to admit I already forgot most of what he told me, but I'll worry about it later. I'm more concerned about keeping the details in check from the recipe we just used.

Both Monty and I were leaning on a table close to the oven while waiting for the bread to be ready. I could sense his eyes were lost in the darkened window glass of the oven with an almost emotionless expression.

Memories perhaps?

"Monty," I called him out, "you mentioned there are other methods when preparing white bread. What are those exactly?" I asked to break the uncomfortable silence building up on my side, and out of concern. I don't want the old man to drown in painful memories.

He shook his head slightly, "I wouldn't say 'methods' is the right word." His eyes remained in the oven, "It's more like a preparation style of sorts. The one we just did was as basic as it can get. For more experienced bakers, there are a variety of elements you can add to the process to make it more," his lips closed making an 'o' shape, and began moving his hand slightly up and down. "'Personal', yes. That's the word. Adding ingredients, increasing or decreasing baking, and proofing times are the most common examples that come to mind without going into details," he said, finally turning to look at me.

"Wait, so you're telling me what we're baking right now is not something I'll be selling here?" I asked, not hiding my surprise.

"I doubt it, most likely not at all," he replied with all the calm in the world.

"Then why are we preparing this?"

"Practice," he said, widening his eyes. "You'll need it, lots of it. I'm only here to teach you the basics, the rest you'll have to discover yourself."

I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion, and lean on a nearby table.

'What, what does he mean by practice?'

We had a good amount of hours preparing bread today, and it's not even what I'll be selling. And to top it off, I have to 'discover it myself.'

I couldn't help but feel irritated at his response.

"Do you expect me to run this place without any professional practice at all? I'm sorry Monty but you must be delusional. The management and logistics I can probably work my way around but the preparations of bread are far beyond my capabilities. You say that today, I had to take notes of all the things you were telling me and it was only the 'basics' according to you. If I have to be honest, I don't see myself making much progress on my own." I half-ranted as calmly as I possibly could.

I'm grateful for all of the help he provided me so far but this is a bit too much perhaps. It's like me to squander opportunities but this is not realistic at all.

Monty laughed. "Not with that attitude you certainly won't."

I blinked twice.

"Seriously, this is something you have to, mostly, figure out as you go," he said.

I blinked one more time.

"Okay, let me explain," he said, raising both hands to chest level, moving them as he spoke. "When I first started this business I knew nothing of it myself but learned along the way. Of course, my Lea was there, every step of the way to help me. But-"

"You had someone helping you!" I unintentionally interrupted.

"BUT that wasn't enough to become an expert right away. It is a learning process. It took a while and yes, there were a couple of bumps along the way, but we came on top eventually."

I sighed, this time keeping my response in check. "So how long is this learning process going to take exactly? I'm happy to have a job and a roof over my head but I doubt I'll be able to produce results any time soon."

Monty didn't answer right away, taking one hand to his chin as he pondered.

"Chaaan?"

Chansey began to pay attention to the conversation at some point, standing next to me as she usually does.

"I was thinking around a month before officially opening the bakery, of course, it is subject to change but I believe the timeframe is achievable."

Involuntary, I brought one of my hands to my temple, massaging it with my head slightly craned. The given time frame had me confused more than anything else.

'Is one month enough to learn what I need? Should I complain further or not?'

I frown, incapable of coming up with to answer I feel comfortable with.

'No, no. I need to be understanding of my position and Monty's. Better stick to his plan the best I can.'

"Okay, one month, right," I said mostly to myself.

"It can be stretched if needed but I believe it's enough to master the basics and get some paperwork out of the way," he affirmed.

I widened my eyes. "What? What paperwork are you talking about?"

However, the realization came to me before Monty had the chance to answer.

I'm a stranger in this world, I have no ID, no bank account, no degree, no family or friends (barely an acquaintance), no nothing. It wouldn't be too far from the truth to say that I barely exist in this world. A person without a place to call home and no way back to my own. Insane.

"First and foremost, we'll need to get you an ID. Under the current circumstances that would be hard to do without drawing attention to ourselves but I believe I know a way to do it in some secrecy," Monty said calmly.

"How?"

"I know someone who can help us."

I'm unsure if I'm completely satisfied with that answer but at the very least it's something. Without an ID I'll be halted from doing pretty much everything in the long term.

After taking a deep breath, I tried to return to the previous topic. "So regarding the bakery, you want me to learn the ropes by myself?"

"Chansey?"

Chansey backing me up as always, how reliable.

"I'll visit you now and then to see how things are working out for you and give you a tip or two, but yes, you'll be on your own most of the time." He made a small pause and gave a quick look to the pokemon to my side. "Ah no, you and Chansey will be on your own." He smiled.

"Me and Chansey, huh?"

"Chansey!" she beamed.

"Yeah, we got this," I said with some hesitation.

This hesitation didn't escape Monty thought, cocking an eyebrow and my response.

"You know if you feel shorthanded we can always get some help."

"Some help? Yeah, that wouldn't be so bad since I'm a newbie and all. Considering hiring someone else would be a good plan to keep in mind."

He let out a brief laugh. "That's not what I meant. I was going to suggest getting another pokemon to help around the bakery. I've to admit that most of the time having a pokemon partner helping you around ends up as a better solution than counting on humans. You probably don't know this, but the bond between trainers and their pokemon can get you far in tasks as simple as making bread."

"I don't know about that Monty," I looked at Chansey, who had brought a hand to her chin, or at least where her chin should be, "I don't think I'm ready for that. I mean, I've been here less than a week."

Monty nodded, "You're right, you're right; maybe we should consider it as an option later down the road. I suppose you and Chansey should be good for now."

"Yes, we will be good." This time I said it with confidence.


Day 17

I hum a nameless tune as I make my way into the kitchen with Chansey closely following behind, aiming for the booklet I left on one of the tables the day before and begin preparing for the day ahead. Tools need to be taken out, ingredients need to be selected, the machines need to be double-checked, alongside some basic cleaning before we can properly start our not-so-new routine.

Not long after Monty set us up on baking by ourselves,, I tried to come up with a daily schedule that can organize the next steps while helping me keep my sanity in check. It's been working…with mixed results.

The first days of imposed training began as one would normally expect for a newbie.

Pretty close to a catastrophe.

First I thought we could try to recreate the bread we made the day before with Monty. Everything was actually going well until the actual baking step. Popping it out, one could mistake us for trying to make charcoal with the smell. Which fucking baffles me when I followed the instructions to the letter. Did I forget something?

The same type of outcome followed different experiments and variations. It ranged from burned to incredibly soft, and that's to take into consideration the shape or flavor of it. Dry, moisty, deflated. We got them all.

We got something akin to charcoal once. That time we were trying to work around the timers in the oven to see if we could increase the rate of baking by changing the temperature. Didn't turn out so well. Poor Chansey felt horrible after that one.

We finally got a better grasp out of it after the first week when we finally managed to bake a completely simple, and rather tasty, loaf of bread. From there it only got better, even if slow.

One could summarize the whole thing as a slow arduous process, even unnecessary at times, but it still felt enlightening; in a way at least. Of course, we are still going at it but now at least safely say we know what we're doing.

To a degree.

"Chansey, could you get the ingredients for today's schedule? You remember those, right?"

"Chan?" She gave me a questioning look.

"Ah. Do you remember that bag I placed by the bridge? Grab that one and the dough we placed in the fridge yesterday before leaving."

"Chansey chan!" he responded before heading towards the storage room.

It took me some time to finally be secured when responding to Chansey, although even now I'm not 100% sure I get what she is trying to say. It's always a mix of context, expressions and… and something else.

It's hard to explain but whenever she talks to me, I'm naturally lost like anyone hearing a new language would but at the same time I find myself unnaturally understanding a part of what she is trying to say. Never fully, but always fairly close.

Could this be the effect of the so-called bond between humans and Pokemon? I've asked that question to myself many times already.

However, I rarely experienced it with other pokemon, and if I did it was always to a lesser degree. I can still say for sure if this is some paranormal bonding with the creatures on this world, my situation as an outsider in a realm beyond mine, the slow but gradual loss of my sanity, or all of them together.

The end conclusion I came up with was not to dwell on it much. Answers will show up by themselves.

It didn't take long before Chansey arrived with the materials I had asked for, carefully dropping them on the work table.

"Excellent, now we're ready to begin the day," I announced as my hand went for the bowl containing the dough. It had been left to rise in the fridge for a little more than 10 hours. I read that it was the perfect time for it, especially for beginners.

I moved the rest of the ingredients to the side. I had separated those yesterday to try to make some Ciabatta today. It sounds intimidating but I believe I can handle it.

"Okay Chansey I'll work on the dough, can you start with the-" my words were interrupted by something pulling my sleeve. "What is it?" I asked Chansey after turning to her.

She pointed to the storage room, with a worrisome expression.

My eyes followed the direction of her arm, eyeing back and forth a couple of times.

Seconds passed and nothing happened. Was something supposed to happen? Chansey didn't seem stressed so it can't be anything bad.

"What's wrong, did something happen Chansey?"

At first, she didn't respond, only going in the direction she was aiming at, the storage area.

"Chansey chansey chan," she said, pointing now closer at where she wanted my focus on.

Like I had already noticed, it was the storage room but there was nothing out of the norm about it. The place was clean, we went over it yesterday night so it couldn't be that. And of course, there was no one else around so it was not an intruder by any means. The almost empty storage room had no reason to be the fo-

Ah, now I see.

"So, it seems we're running low on, well, everything," I said, finally understanding what Chansey meant.

She gave me an energetic nod.

We are almost out of both bread and wheat flour, and the same could be said for almost everything else. Except for the yeast, somehow we still have plenty of that. 'Was I supposed to use more of it, or maybe I overdid it with everything else?' Monty never mentioned anything regarding the purchase of more ingredients, maybe I was supposed to let him know. 'Perhaps he did and I simply forgot, wouldn't be the first time I forgot important details.'

Not much I can't do about it, I'll try to work with what I have for now and send Monty a message to see how I should go on about this.

"Better get that out of the way now."

Pulling out my phone, I browsed through my contacts and clicked on Monty. Which was fairly easy to do given the fact that aside from emergency numbers, that he kindly provided in case the kitchen caught fire, Monty is the only contact I have for now.

It's depressing to think about but given my situation, I suppose I can overlook it.

Evan: Sir, I forgot to mention but we are already running low on supplies here.

I was about to put my phone away, not expecting an instant reply but that is exactly what I got.

Mister. M: What did I tell you about calling me 'sir'?

Mister. M: And don't worry about it, I already ordered more. In fact, they should be arriving later today through the front door. Keep an eye open for it, will you?

Evan: Excellent, thanks. I won't forget to let you know next time.

Mister. M: It's okay, you're new in this after all. What are you preparing today? Was it brioche or white bread again?

Evan: I wanted to try Focaccia, I left the dough ready yesterday and also Ciabatta. I don't know if I'll have enough for anything else though.

Mister. M: A good starting point, you'll do fine. If you don't have enough for anything else just take the day off till the delivery arrives.

Evan: I'll consider it.

Monty ended the short conversation with the thumbs-up emoji, which he has a bad habit of doing every single time; and even when I tried to focus on the matter at hand.

I don't know if I'll have enough time to follow through with the schedule, so the best course of action is to focus on what I currently have and figure out what to do later. I'm not saying this is the best way out of it but that's how I usually roll with things whenever I'm in this type of dilemma.

"Let's return Chansey. Monty said we'll have the ingredients delivered later so there is nothing else we can do about it," I suggested to Chansey, who was patiently waiting on what to do next.

She replied with a firm 'Chansey', stretching her back before returning to work, and that applied to me as well.

On the work table lay the Focaccia dough that I had prepared yesterday. It had taken a clean oval-like form, the result of my careful handling of it in the way the Youtube guide showed me, leaving it in a bowl sprayed with extra virgin olive oil, which I totally not overdid. And yes, Youtube is a thing here too.

"Alright Chansey, I think you can handle the dough-making process this time."

"Chansey?" she asked with fully opened eyes.

"Yeah, you're more than ready to make and knead the dough. We should be fine if we stick to the recipe, right? No biggie." I told her. Honestly, even if she doesn't nail it, it doesn't matter. We have had our share of screws up in the past few days, but this time I want her to do it herself.

"You remember the recipe, right? We went over it yesterday."

She gave me a determined look. "Chan."

"Then off you go."

She grabbed the bread flour and wheat flour, measuring them before mixing both into a big bowl she had already prepared. According to the recipe, the amount of wheat flour should be minimal when compared to the bread flour; which is exactly what she did. Okay, so far so good.

Then she adds the salt, okay; then the yeast, perhaps a bit on the low side but it's okay I think, and finally the water.

Wait, where is the water?

It seems Chansey got to the same conclusion because her thought process and concentration were broken. Looking at me and then at the mix of ingredients she had been mixing.

"Cha!" Her voice cracked slightly.

She ran to the other side of the kitchen to get warm water for the mix, not before throwing everything into the mixer, albeit with some carelessness, to save time.

Honestly, that wasn't so bad.

Now in my case… Well, there isn't much left to do. According to the recipe I was following yesterday, this Focaccia dough requires a second rise. So all I need to do is prepare it and wait. Nothing new when it comes to bread.

Although if I could pick a faster and simpler dough-preparing process then I'll gladly try it. But for the time being, I'll follow this recipe.

Experimenting is part of the training process after all.

Pulling the bowl closer to me, I uncovered it from the plastic I left on top the day before. As expected from the dough, it had increased in size a few inches overnight, the size was now over two times what it was before.

With one of my fingers, I gently poked the dough, checking if it was good to go. It was my first time trying this type of bread so there wasn't a way to know for sure if the standards were met, but one has to start at some point.

My finger sank with some resistance. "Seems strong; the dough resists the pokes. I suppose this is good," I say to myself before moving on to the next step.

I grab a nearby baking pan, placing it next to my bowl with the Focaccia dough. Like most bread-making processes, there is the preparation of the pan. Given how I'm baking Focaccia this time, I chose a baking pan over the usual loaf pan, shape and form are part of what makes a type of bread unique, and it lets you play around with it as well.

Normally you 'butter up' the pan, but in this case, olive oil is recommended over butter.

Works for me, spreading butter is messy, at least the oil is easier to expand to every inch and corner of the pan; and easier to wash afterward too.

Once the pan was oiled up, I scraped the dough from the bowl (it tends to get tacky) and carefully placed it in the middle of the pan. Then I had to manually press and expand it, making the dough reach every corner of the pan. The dough can be stubborn so I had to be careful not to force it. The trick is not to fight it but to work with it; stretch the dough as much as possible within the pan then wait between 5 to 10 minutes, to continue stretching it. Wetting the tip of your fingers also works.

Once all was said and done, I covered the pan in a plastic film (a wet towel also works) and put it away in a close rack. The room temperature is ideal for the second rise, and it shall last no longer than 2 hours.

The second rise gives the yeast another chance to produce more gas and also allows the gluten to stretch more, trapping those gasses and keeping the dough from collapsing as it rises.

This goes for most bread out there, although there are always exceptions. I think.

With the dough finally ready, I returned to Chansey who for some reason seemed to be covered in flour, more than usual.

"You done as well?"

"Chaaan," she replied, energetic as ever.

"Did you put it away for the first rise, where is it?"

Chansey pointed out to one corner of the kitchen, therein was the covered bowl which she was working on a few minutes ago. I considered picking it up and placing it next to mine, but why bother.

"Good, good. I'm sure it'll turn out fine." I smiled at her, trying to provide some confidence to her. Although it seems she needed none, she smiled back almost instantly.

One of the things I'd never like to see is to see Chansey sad or frustrated over her task at the bakery. I'm more than familiar with disappointment and I don't want her to experience that, not even over trivial matters like baking. However, she handles herself fine for the most part.

I rarely see her mood being anything other than joyous, unless curiosity counts as a mood, she has a lot of it.

"Now…" I pondered, dragging my mind towards our next step. We were low on ingredients, and the supplies will be arriving at some point during the day so there is little we can do.

"We can try preparing white bread dough, with a few variations to make it interesting while we wait for more ingredients. It was in this week's plans need to experiment more with the same type of bread. What do you say, Chansey?"

And as expected, Chansey agreed with a strong nod, overflowing in confidence.

"Great, let's get to it then."


It had been a couple of hours since the beginning of our 'working day' in the bakery, and right now we were in the middle of an involuntary break. It happens now and then.

Whenever we get all of the doughs prepared, and the ones ready in the oven then it becomes a waiting game. Either we wait for the bread to rise or for the oven to bake it and since we bake many at once then there is a gap of time when we've nothing to do. That's what's happening right now.

By this point, Chansey and I have already come up with ways to kill the time. For me it's rather easy, just browsing stuff on my phone which also helps me research the world I am in, which is sorely needed since I still tend to mess up Pokemon names. For Chansey, it's either a nap or sudoku. Yeah, she found a sudoku book not too long ago, I wouldn't say she is the best at it but I can see she is having fun.

Right now Chansey is napping in one of the chairs in the kitchen, next to the oven.

As for me…

'I don't know any of these places!'

I think to myself as I look up the world map, so many places I had never heard of in my life, and the resemblance of the world map looks nothing like Earth. I expected at least some resemblance.

Granted, I can recognize some regions of the dozens appearing on the map, I can't be expected to memorize this, let alone the thousands of pokemon.

'I doubt the pokemon franchise made it this far, some of these are either original or yet to be shown in the games. I'm sure of it.'

For now, I'll focus on nearby regions and the local pokemon. Everything else will come later. It's not easy to catch up on years of history and geography of a fictitious (not anymore) land. It isn't much of a priority but like I have stated many times before, one of the last things I want is to draw unnecessary attention and a lack of common knowledge is a perfect way to do so.

'Shit, but there is also the government system and the Pokemon League that everyone and their mother knows. I need to keep up on that too.'

The best analogy for pokemon battles I can find on Earth is probably football or soccer for the rest of the world, and even those might be an understatement. The thing is so damn popular that you can see it everywhere, from amateurs to pros, from unofficial to system-supervised matches, it's everywhere. And the most important part of all? It moves millions of dollars every year.

Pokemon battles are considered a sport in the most legitimate way possible, but this makes me wonder how much validity or importance other classic sports have. I'll look into that later.

It may sound simple enough to solve with a Google search but each time I go into a new topic I end up falling into a new rabbit hole in which I spend hours upon hours investigating a variety of things and eventually branching out from the main research topic.

"I guess that's how it is when one needs to adapt to life in another world," I said to myself before letting out a long sigh.

Placing my cell phone down on a nearby table, I stared at the many decorative small holes in the ceiling, thinking about all that I'd done so far and what is to come.

I couldn't help but frown and narrow my eyes, alongside a deep hum.

Everything has been happening so fast.

I've been here for less than a month and I'm preparing myself to work in a job I never expected myself to do. Why, why did I go with it so easily? Because there was no other option, right?

In a way, it feels like I didn't give myself some time, time to think, time to grieve. Grieve for my old world and, even if little, the connections I had back then. Family and friends alike, to them I'm gone, an accident on the highway is what I became to them and will be the last thing they'll hear of me.

It would give me peace of mind if I could tell them that I'm fine, that there is a world here full of creatures we thought unreal and how welcoming the world feels.

In a way that hurts, the fact that they don't know. Feels wrong, but maybe at the same time, this is how it's meant to be. The dead can't communicate with the living, their world just separates after death. That is how it's meant to work, right?

I try to shake those thoughts away, there isn't a point in diving in the memory lane of a past I can't reach anymore. I'll move forward, that's the best and only option. Who knows may-

Knock knock

My self-imposed positive reinforcement got interrupted by a knock on the front door. The delivery!

I quickly stood up from my chair, almost jumping, put my phone in my pocket, and walked towards the door. On the way there I glanced at Chansey, the knock on the door didn't seem to have woken her up.

My eyes focused on the closed front door as soon as I exited the kitchen. Outside was a girl of a small frame and tanned skin that I could spot through the glass. She sported a simple outfit of a shirt and tracksuit pants; however next to her were two pokemon, a big one that was easy to recognize and a much smaller one that I think I'm pretty sure I've seen somewhere before.

As soon as the girl saw me through the glass panels she waved at me, with a noticeable grin on her face.

I approached the door and opened it in one go, "Hi, can I help you?"

'I almost knew what she was here for but I had to ask just to be safe.'

"Good afternoon! We're from the Floette and Cleffa Grocery Shop four blocks down the road. We had a delivery for…" Her words slowly came to a halt and her lips pursed. She brought one clipboard she was holding, on one hand, closer to her face, and read its contents. "Small Heaven, right? This is Small Heaven?" She asked with uncertainty.

"Yeah, this is the place."

"Ohhh nice, sorry I took so long, I couldn't find the place," she said with a small giggle at the end, "We got your stuff in the back of the truck, do you want us to leave it outside or inside."

"Inside would be better, yeah." Especially since I don't know how much Monty ordered and I don't feel like carrying it myself.

"Gotcha."

She turned around towards a white truck that was parked a few meters to the left, opening the back of it soon after.

"Guys, whatcha waiting for, an invitation? Come help me out already!" She commanded, with her back still turned.

The two pokemon who had been standing idly moved as ordered towards the girl.

As stated, one of them was easy to recognize. A bipedal pokemon with gray skin, a face that looked vaguely reptilian, and the lower part of his body had something similar to briefs and a belt. It wasn't all that tall but the muscles it had were no joke. Machoke, that's the name if memory serves me right.

As for the smaller ones, I believe that one wasn't on the games I played but it was far smaller than the Machoke, almost two times smaller. He was also bipedal and had a faint resemblance to a panda bear.

Without a delay, both pokemon grabbed boxes that the girl pointed out to them, and headed to the door. The girl led the way while carrying one box on her head, using one of her hands to balance it out.

Seeing as they were approaching, I opened the door for them. The girl smiled at me as she entered the room and oddly enough so did the other two.

I followed them inside right after they got in to make sure they didn't break anything.

I'm not used to big pokemon in the bakery, or any other pokemon aside from Chansey for that matter.

"Ehh, so that's how it looks from the inside, looks neat," the girl exclaimed as she stopped and gave a quick look around.

"Thanks, I had to clean it not too long ago. Wasn't an easy job."

"Makes sense, this place had been abandoned for a while. I never thought I'd open again."

I couldn't help but mentally raise a brow at that, to think it'll never open again is quite the assumption. Maybe she knows something I don't about the time it closed.

Although intriguing, I'll shelf that query for another time.

"Yeah well, I guess it didn't happen that way. Heh."

"Unexpected turns in life, huh? I've had a couple of those myself," she said, slightly raising her chin.

'If only you knew…'

"Do you want us to drop it here, is it cool?"

"Ah no, if you could droop those by the kitchen I'd appreciate it."

The girl nodded, "You got it, boss," she turned to her pokemon and signal them with her neck to move towards the kitchen, "let's go boys,"

"Cham," said the small one who was carrying a box half the size of his body.

Before the group could get into the kitchen I swiftly made my way in front of them, getting in first and keeping the door open.

While there I scanned the kitchen and spotted Chansey who had already woken up and was staring through the oven's window. Although it didn't take long for her to notice me.

"Chansey, we've got some guests, could you move the equipment in the middle, we need to make some room."

Although confused, Chansey did as she was told, moving a mixer and a couple of wire racks to the side. The mixer wasn't particularly heavy (I think?) and the racks were empty so it was a quick job.

In the middle of it, the group carrying the boxes made its way inside. The pokemon didn't seem to care much about the interior nor its contents, the girls, however, seem to have picked up interest in the kitchen, if the looks in her eyes and slow walking were anything to go by.

Taking notice of the space Chansey had made in the middle, the Machoke and panda-looking pokemon drop the boxes there, followed by the girl whose name I've yet to ask.

"Chansey!"

"Oh, hey there," the girl said, waving a hand after dropping the box on the ground, then she looked at me, "She is yours? How cute." She said as she began patting Chansey on the head.

Although surprised at first, she eventually relaxed and even began letting out something close to a purr as she was being patted.

'Didn't know she liked that.'

Without removing her hand from Chansey's head, the girl looked around the kitchen one more time, giving the equipment and all the utensils around her a quick look, with a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes. While an innocent act, it made me a bit nervous the way she was eyeing things.

"I kinda expected this place to be a restaurant of sorts, based on the things we were bringing. What's your specialty, seafood?" She asked, probably a shot in the dark.

"No no, this is huh, well this was a bakery in the past and now we're trying to reopen it."

"Ohhh right right! I remember hearing something about it, an old bakery that was going to open again after so long. I don't do gossip so I barely paid attention but now it all makes sense. To think this was the place, I guess I got lucky to get an early sneak peek," she chirped with a grin on her face, and one of her hands scratching her nape.

"That so? I haven't heard any but given how many came to ask about it a few days ago… I suppose it makes sense." I admitted, reminiscing about the people that came asking questions back when I was cleaning the place. "Hopefully it isn't anything bad."

The girl brought a hand to her chin, making a slightly exaggerated thinking pose, closing her eyes, and letting out a hum. "No, I don't think so. If anything, folks should be curious. Think about it, a bakery that had been closed for more than a decade suddenly opens up? That's gotta get the attention of the entire commercial district, the old generation especially, they know about this stuff more than anyone else."

"I expected something like that, yeah."

"Yeah, new businesses opening around here aren't common so of course, the gossip is going to circulate, like it or not."

"I don't mind, plus all marketing is good marketing."

"Nice attitude, you're gonna need it for opening day," she said with a grin on her face as she gave me a friendly slap on my shoulder.

"Chansey!" bubbled the oval pokemon as she jumped in excitement.

"See, she seems to agree as well? Aren't you the cutest little thing?" She said looking at Chansey who, by the looks of it, loved compliments.

"Mach-"

"Yes, I know I know, we'll get to it." She interrupted the Machoke before he could even finish. "We still have an hour to spare anyway, so chill out, would you?"

The Machoke didn't reply but crossed his arms in a clear sign of disapproval all while the small bear pokemon stared at him, mildly confused.

"Oh yeah, here," she extended a small piece of paper to me, "Almost forgot to hand out the receipt? We don't get many asking for paper receipts these days."

"Oh, ah. Thanks. That was probably Monty's idea not mine, he was the one that placed the order."

"Monty?"

"Yeah, the guy in charge of the place. He gave me the job and all, so he is kind of in charge of everything."

The girl squinted her eyes. "Huh, so you were just hired, right? I thought you owned the place for a moment."

I couldn't help but hold back my initial words before replying. While it's true you could say I'm working for Monty, I didn't think of myself as a simple hired hand but something more.

"It's a bit more complicated than that… I like to think it's a business partner type of relationship."

"If you say so," she said, without changing her carefree expression, "say, I didn't get your name. But ah, I suppose you didn't get mine either. I'm Kelly and I work at my family's store, nice to meet ya." She extended her hand to me.

"Evan, and I, well, I'm a baker in training you could say," I replied as I reached for her extended hand and shook it lightly.

"Ehhh, so you're not fully fleshed out baker, and you're managing this place alone? Props to you. Speaking of which. I've been meaning to ask but what is that smell? It's reaaaally good." She said as she raised and turned her head, her nostrils broadening slightly and she sniffed the air.

"Cham cham!" Sputtered the small panda-looking pokemon.

"You guys smell it too, right?" Kelly asked her two partners.

Took me a second to click, since I had gotten used to the ambiance after all this time, but she was probably talking about the smell of bread from the oven.

"That would be the smell of freshly baked bread coming from the oven, smells good, doesn't it? I think the Focaccia should be ready by now."

"You were preparing bread, but the shop hasn't opened yet, why is that?"

I couldn't help but smile at her naivety, "Practice, remember I said I was a baker in training? Chansey and I are both in the same process. We've been going at it for more than two weeks and there is still much to learn."

I took a look at the oven and Chansey, who had rushed to it as soon as the topic popped up, knows it's important not to keep the bread more than the needed time. It's a no-brainer really, but one we were not aware of when we started and charred a good share of bread because of it.

'I see Chansey check the clock and then open the oven, then slowly remove the tray with the bread on it.

'Seems like she doesn't need my help for this one.'

Looking back at Kelly and her two pokemon, a thought came to me.

"Would you guys like to try some?"

Her curious eyes looked straight into mine, and her face lighted up, almost magically.

"Can we?!" She asked with no intention to hide her excitement.

"Sure, it would be nice to have someone try our bread for a change. It's always Chansey and me, and I was afraid we might grow numb to it and have a hard time telling how to improve. So yeah, more opinions always help."

Chansey approached the prep table and carefully dropped the tray with the Focaccia on it. Grabbing a nearby fan she began airing the bread with it. It was silly and a somewhat funny scene to look at.

In my case, I grabbed a wooden spoon from the same table and poked the bread. We always made sure to test the consistency before anything else. Both after and before the oven.

Satisfied with the texture, I took a knife and cut it into even pieces. While some were accurate, half of them were either slightly bigger or smaller than the rest, but that's far from a concern for the time being.

I didn't have plates around and handing them by hand didn't seem all that appropriate so I offered our 'guests' to approach and take any piece that they desired.

"Here," I pointed at the Focaccia with the back of my hand, "feel free to try, although be careful as it might still be hot." Chansey had already put the fan down by then but remained steamy if one were to look closely at it.

"Don't mind if I do, hehe."

Without hesitation, Kelly grabbed one of the bigger cuts of bread and didn't seem to be bothered by the temperature of it. Her pokemon were a bit more considerate and waited for their trainer to grab a bite first.

Then, with a look of almost pure bliss on her face, she brought the bread to her mouth, biting a third of it in one go.

I couldn't help but look at her, she was the first person trying our bread (Monty doesn't count) and of course, my expectations were at stake because of it. Either they remain strong or end in shambles. We'll see.

Her face made quite a few shifts, turns, and twists while chewing the bread. At first, I thought she was enjoying it but after a second I wasn't so sure anymore. Is this how she normally eats or am I just paranoid?

Eventually, the chewing stopped, and with an audible 'gulp', she swallowed it.

Both Chansey and I were staring and we didn't even care to hide it. We wanted to hear her thoughts about it but none of us were brave enough to ask.

However, we didn't need to.

"Now that, that was very satisfying," she said with her free hand rubbing her cheek. "The flavor wasn't anything from another world and it felt slightly dry but there was something else, something special. I can't tell why. But man, was that delicious." She said, still with delight on her face.

"So, you liked it?"

"Hell yeah I liked it. Can I have another?"

I didn't process that last question very well after hearing the first part…

Chansey's jumps of joy after hearing our first ever review and me being blinded by a sense of pride I didn't know I had. A mix of feelings and sensations took over me for a good amount of seconds.

It felt weird, out of place even. That foreign feeling washed over me completely.

But most of all, I felt happy.

All this time I had been working with uncertainty in my mind regarding my present and future but this feeling took some of that weight off my shoulders.

I looked at her with a smile, "Sure, there is plenty for everyone. Please eat as much as you like."


Day 23

An oddly cold spring breeze welcomed Chansey and me as we approached a well-known building in the highly transited area of the city.

Today we're taking a break from the bakery and instead decided to do some much-needed sightseeing instead. Because aside from learning some basic knowledge about the world as a whole, I also needed to know the city I was living in. For obvious reasons.

That and I just needed a change of pace.

Monty recommended some key locations for us to visit, such as the Boulevard, a famous shopping mall, an old but historic lighthouse in the old side of town, and the Hulbury Stadium.

Needless to say, I also had the chance to spot both wild and tamed pokemon along the way, mentally testing myself if I remembered the name of each one of them. I failed around 30% of them which is not that bad for an 'outworlder' like myself so I can pat myself on the back for it.

An interesting thing I managed to notice was the leisurely attitude of the wild pokemon. Maybe it's because they're used to humans but in my eyes, they looked so relaxed that at times I thought every single pokemon in the city had a trainer. Maybe it's because I keep thinking of animals back on Earth and how this behavior is never seen.

Getting used to a new world isn't easy.

The tour of the recommended hotspots was relatively short since most of them were more or less close to each other and we were able to go over them in a couple of hours, leaving room for a small task towards the end.

A visit to the Pokemon Center.

It was a mix between an obligation and a mere curiosity. I've been wanting to enter one of these for a while now since I've seen a couple in town (like one or two) but I didn't have a motive to enter. But now I do.

A few days ago Monty dropped by the bakery without warning (like usual) and gave me an item he had promised to obtain at some point.

An ID.

Ever since I arrived I had been nonexistent in the eyes of any ruling government or system since I literally teleported into existence here and that problem had no easy fix. However, he told me he 'knew a guy' that could help us with it and so I trusted him.

Using the photo from my student ID, he managed to somehow obtain me a proper ID for this world. However…

'Galar resident, huh? I suppose, in a way, I must keep going with lies for a while longer.'

He told me to take it easy and feel free to make up a backstory for myself whenever I had the time but I don't think it's that easy. I sometimes wish I could've his carefree attitude.

However, that wasn't the only thing we talked about…

"With this out of the way we can now get some of the more bureaucratic parts of the business moving."

"Do you mean legal and health permits?"

"Precisely, those are an annoyance but a necessity in this type of business. Registration, business license renovation, health and safety procedures, might be necessary but nobody likes doing them so the faster it gets done the better. But don't worry, I'll be you every step of the way."

"Well, I can't say I didn't see this coming. I'm mentally prepared for it, at the very least."

"Oh yeah, there is also one thing you should also do as soon as you get the chance."

"Bakery related?"

"No, none of that. You need to register that Chansey is under your care. If anything were to happen to her, this sort of thing needs to be in order."

And that's why I'm here.

I hadn't thought much about pokemon ownership and the like but this makes sense. This is very much a world ruled by humans (I think) so tamed pokemon being registered under someone's name make a lot of sense, even if they're sentient creatures.

Hence the main reason why I'm right now standing in front of a Pokemon Center.

The place itself is pretty iconic, that poke ball symbol on top of it is all I need to tell what kind of place this is.

Although I'm a bit surprised that I need to do the registration process here, I thought I'd need to visit a government-supervised establishment or something alike but according to Monty, you can get all of that done and more in the Pokemon Center.

'I suppose the place was always multipurpose, to begin with, so no surprise there.'

I climbed the stairs leading to the entrance, carefully avoiding the people coming in and out, alongside their pokemon.

Upon crossing the automatic sliding doors I was greeted with a wide hall, and a huge carpet in the middle of it leading to the main desk at the other side of the room where two ladies formally dressed in a nurse uniform were occupying, while talking to a group of kids in front.

On both sides, there were also receptionists, although none of them wore the nurse outfit so it's safe to presume they provide other types of services.

Screens also decorated some of the walls in the Pokemon Center, especially the right side, displaying prices and discounts for many items and objects a trainer could find useful, albeit those were not limited to only trainers but it was mostly aimed at them.

While the whole place looked almost entirely different from the Pokemon Center in the games I grew up playing, there was something that was still a constant, the music.

For some reason I won't even begin to question, the mild and barely hearable background music was the same as the in games, with maybe some small variations but the core of the tune was unmistakable, and with it came a wave of nostalgia I didn't even think I had left on me.

Chansey, who was by my side, was also admiring the interior, with the usual smile on her face and humming along with the background music.

"Cool place, don't you think?"

"Chaan," she replied with one hand up, as if to highlight her energetic enthusiasm.

"Always nice to see you in a good mood Chansey," I smiled at her. Keeping her by my side was reassuring, even if I didn't know why. "Now, let's get this registration done. There are still other places I want to check out and I also promised you ice cream, didn't I?"

"Chan Chan!" She nodded furiously.

I wasn't sure which desk I should approach but seeing as how the one in the middle had just emptied, I decided to go for that one.

So in a calm and totally not anxious manner, I walked to the desk with Chansey to my side.

"Hello," I greeted nervously, "Is here where I can register a pokemon to my name?"

The nurse looked puzzled for a second before replying, "The registering process, yes, you can do it here. Do you want to begin with it, is your pokemon with you?"

"Yeah, she is here with me," I waved towards Chansey to approach, "Come say hello Chansey."

"Chansey!"

"A Chansey, huh, that's unusual," the nurse remarked in a much more casual tone now. "They're not common pokemon outside Pokemon Centers and clinics, how did you two meet?" She asked with a slightly tilted head.

'Oh shit is this part of the registration process, I didn't plan for this.'

"She was inherited to me by a relative," My voice cracked a bit. 'Are pokemon even inherited? What the hell am I saying?' "And we kinda got along ever since, haha." And an insecure laugh, in the end, to top it off.

The nurse stayed quiet for a minute, switching looks between me and Chansey, head still tilted.

Finally, her curious gaze broke and returned to a more relaxed one.

"So she was given to you? I bet there's an interesting story behind that, you seem to get along after all. That's not always the case with inherited pokemon, sadly."

I swallow saliva. "Yeah, there's quite the story behind our meeting you could say, heh."

Turning her head towards the screen in front of her, the nurse spent a minute or two, clicking and typing before she directed her attention back to us, both her hands remained on the keyboard.

"Okay, I'll ask you some questions first, nothing too complicated, it should be quick. Normally I go over this process quickly but seeing as this is your first time doing this, I'll take it slow."

"Was it that obvious?"

"Your uncomfortable and quivering look gave you away," she laughed, "But don't worry, this is not as unusual as you might think. A lot of people don't do this registration process for a variety of reasons, many think it's not a necessity but it helps the system if they do."

"I can picture that, yeah," I responded by bringing a hand to my chin, even if it wasn't completely true.

From then on, the nurse began asking a series of questions that ranged from the most basic stuff to things I had no idea of.

Granted I tried to answer as much as I could but there were some that I simply couldn't because of a lack of knowledge, so I admitted I didn't know. The nurse didn't seem to care much and told me it was okay if I didn't know, it happens to almost everyone.

After a couple of minutes, the questions ceased.

"That should be all, now we'll need Chansey in her poke ball, for a minute, to finish the registration."

"Ah, what do you plan on doing?" I asked as my hand went to my belt.

"We'll need to get a sample, imagine a DNA test, something like that."

"Ah really, that sounds interesting." I reached for the poke ball and pointed it towards Chansey, "Sorry Chansey, it seems you need to be in the ball for this one." She didn't get to reply before the red light encapsulated her but the smile on her face told me she didn't mind.

I carefully placed the ball on top of the counter which the nurse grabbed soon after.

"Don't worry this will only take a moment." She said as she positioned the poke ball in a machine behind her.

The machine let out something similar to a microwave hum and its lights turned a dim purple, all the while the nurse paid close attention to her computer. However, it didn't last for long, after a minute the hum came to a stop and the lights turned green.

"Okay, that's it." The nurse said as she handed me back Chansey's ball.

"That's all?"

"Yes, it is a simple process. If only more people were to do it…" she sighed.

'I didn't expect it to be that fast, I might as well take advantage of this.'

"Excuse me, could I also get a check-up on Chansey, since I'm already here I think it would be a good idea."

"A routine check-up, great idea," she said taking Chansey's ball again, "This might take a bit longer, but it still won't be much."

"Not a problem."

"Please wait to the side, I will let you know when your pokemon is ready," she said with a classic customer service type of smile as she saw I was still standing in front of the desk.

As I moved away from the desk, a couple came and asked for their pokemon to be checked-up as well. I guess that's the usual service they run here. It's a Pokemon Center, after all, healing pokemon is their thing.

I approached one of the desks set on the right side of the hall, the one that sold items and the like.

While the items being sold were mostly aimed at trainers there was also regular food, snacks, and treats for pokemon. It was convenient since I made a promise to a certain pink fur ball after all.

'I wonder if they sell ice cream.'


Day 28

"Chansey," I called her from the other side of the kitchen, "Remember to separate the sourdough and rye dough from each other, and place them on the back right side of the fridge." I indicated as I moved empty wire racks to one of the corners of the kitchen.

"Chan?" She replied with a doubtful tone.

I could only take a guess at what she meant, but at this point, I had become better at guessing her words.

"If it's about the dough, the rye one is the one with a darkish color and the sourdough should be next to it. The rest are white bread dough that should remain outside for a room temperature test, remember?"

No reply.

'Okay, bad guess.'

"If it's about the trash, leave it close to the prep table. I know it's my turn. And please be sure to tie it up tight this time, you don't want to screw it up like I did last time."

"Chan Chan!"

'Good guess.'

Closing hours were rarely hectic for us since it's just the two of us baking for practice and no one else then there is little pressure for the things we had to do, or when to do them. We've got the freedom to go home a bit earlier or later if we feel like we achieved enough through the day.

Overall, our schedule is pretty inconsistent.

Normally closing hours tend to be at 5 pm for us, but as I said, there is no schedule for us to tightly follow, there is no need yet.

Cleaning is the only tedious thing we've to take care of since we have a particular proclivity to make a mess in the kitchen.

Flour is hard to handle at times.

But all in all, it's an easy process, hardly time-consuming. It takes no longer than 20 minutes to do a proper cleaning and put everything in place and since there are two of us we can divide the tasks and finish faster.

However, there is something I dislike about closing for the day, and that is the food we throw away.

We make so much bread for practice reasons only, and while parts of it turn out to be in an inedible state, most of them end up just fine. The issue is that we simply can't eat it all, no matter how hungry we are, there is no room in our stomachs to eat the entire amount of bread we bake daily.

Sure, we can take some of it home and share it with Monty, sometimes with his neighbors as well, but still, that isn't enough to get rid of all of the bread. Which leaves throwing it away as the only option.

It's something we have been doing for some time now, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth to throw perfectly edible food into the garbage. I looked into donating food but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

Leaves a bad taste in my mouth but what the hell, nothing I can do about it for now.

"Could you give one more swipe to the prep table Chansey, I'll throw the trash away in the meantime," I told her before leaving the kitchen.

There is a backdoor that leads to an alley behind the bakery, that's where most businesses in the same block leave their trash to be picked up later at night.

I expected it to be pigsty but it was surprisingly clean for an alley people use to get rid of their trash.

'The pokemon world is some sort of Utopia, isn't it?'

I reached the alley through the backdoor, with three bags of trash in my hands. Two of them were going to the recycle bins near the edge and middle of the alley and the other one contained the edibles we were throwing away.

It was already night, and there was little light in the alley. I guided my steps with a few bits of artificial light from nearby buildings or lampposts, careful not to step or trip on anything, God knows what will fall into.

It didn't help that, like any other alley you walk in late at night, there was an uncomfortable eerie sense in it. Something about empty close spaces makes my skin crawl.

'The quicker I can make this, the better.'

It didn't help that pokemon also avoided this alley for some strange reason. I've seen them in almost every place of the city but when it comes to this specific alley, they avoid it like the plague.

Yeah, that doesn't ease my thoughts.

I got rid of the bag containing the edibles first and then went for the recycle bins. Since those were close to the edge of the alley, there was more light and sound next to them which gave me a temporary peace of mind.

However, these weren't present.

I clicked my tongue.

Not the only option were the ones in the middle of the alley.

Turning around I went to the middle of the alley, trying not to think about how unnerving the place felt. With all but black bags laying around, it was far from comforting.

Once I reached the bins, I dropped each bag in my hands in the respective bin. One in plastics and the other in paper. We also had other types of trash worth recycling but waited for it to accumulate before dropping it here.

I turned around, ready to return to the bakery but it wasn't after I took a few steps that I heard the loud sound of a heavy object hitting the ground, behind my back.

I instantly froze.

There was no other sound after it, the alley remained silent and I didn't dare make a move.

'What the fuck was that?'

Seeing as nothing had killed me yet, I slowly craned my head to the origin of the sound.

My eyesight was stuck on the ground and slowly worked its way up.

I could see one of the bins had fallen but nothing else seemed out of place.

'Perhaps I pushed it accidentally while placing the bags inside?' That would explain the sudden event and sound.

I took a deep breath and relaxed my muscles, maybe that was it-

No, there was something else, someone else.

A figure was standing behind the bin, standing completely still and looking at me with deep blue eyes.

By then I had half-turned my body to its direction, and almost complete visibility on it.

It was a quadruped beast, although not much taller than your regular dog, its presence felt heavier than anything I had seen so far in this world.

But that wasn't all, aside from its intimidating gaze, I could also spot what looked like tentacles coming from its back, 3 of them. Two of them raised high in the air and the third one close to the ground, waving slightly as if they were flags with little wind.

As for the color or any other particular feature worth pointing out, I couldn't tell. The dark alley and the hour of the day wouldn't let me see in detail.

For now, it looked like a beast made of shadows had just appeared and was about to cut down my wi-fi's connection to life.

'Not if I can avoid it first.'

And so I sprinted towards the bakery, without looking back at all.

I didn't want to know if he was chasing me, and I certainly didn't want to see it about to tear me apart so I figured running without looking back was the choice.

After running for my life and nearly tripping over a dozen times with trash bags, I reached the door.

I had never opened a door so fast or aggressively in my life.

I got in, closed the door, and placed a nearby chair next to it, praying that it would stop whatever was chasing me from trying to open it.

The door remained closed and unaltered with me watching over it in a fight or flight 'pose' for over a minute. The distressing sound of my heart was the only company I had in that small time frame.

"Chansey?"

A worried Chansey had shown up from the room next door.

I managed to relax my breathing a little after seeing her, and try to organize my thoughts.

"Chansey," I began, swallowing saliva in the process, "No more throwing trash at the end of the day, we'll do it in the morning only from now on."


Hey guys, long time no see.
Truth be told, I had some struggles with this chapter. I didn't know what direction to take. To be more focused on bread or the world, I more or less split it in half this time. While the bakery is a primary focus of the fic, this is still a pokemon fic, so anything related to the pokemon world will be getting more focus. Always with the reminder that this is a slice of life fic.

That aside, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and if you have any feedback please don't hesitate to drop it in the comments it really helps, especially in the early stages of the story.

Anyway, if you desire to talk further about anything else, here is the discord link to a server I hang out in a lot /9XG3U7a feel free to join.

That should be all from me for now, until next time.

Chifle out.