Chapter 13

A working day is over for Ash and Alice as they close D&W. Ash says, "Well, all of that working makes me hungry. I think I will like to have something good to eat..."

"Me too. I think there is a restaurant nearby called Helen's Kitchen." Alice says, "It serves a lot of food and there is even a child cook that is the greatest attention to all in the restaurant a few years ago. Even though she is currently the same age as us right now, her food is still good."

"Really, then we should go see if we can see the famous child chef." Ash says. "And I think it is time for us to go for another disguise, don't you think?"

"Original? I'm fine with it." Alice says, and they are now wearing a disguise with red hair and a fiery style.

"So this is our Fire-type disguises, I assume?" Alice asks. "It sure looks fiery."

"Well, what are we going to call ourselves?" Ash asks his girlfriend, who thinks for a second and says, "How about Morris and Paula?"

"You really do have some great naming ideas." Ash smiles.

Ash and Alice finally arrive at Helen's Kitchen, but they stop as they notice the shutter doors and a sign saying "Closed". Alice checks her phone and says, "Oh man...I thought we could have eaten at the famous restaurant."

She shows the website to Ash, who is surprised to learn that the store is out of business. Ash says, "When did this happen? I mean...this is so sudden..."

"Looks like we should eat somewhere else instead..." Alice sighs.

They notice a girl with honey blonde hair on the bench just across the street staring at the two, and she is the same age as both Ash and Alice. They notice the tears on her face and Ash asks, "Excuse me, is there something wrong?"

The girl says, "It's about Helen's Kitchen...I heard your conversation, you just knew that the restaurant was out of business, right?"

"Yeah...are you sad because you won't be able to eat at this restaurant anymore?" Alice assumes, and the girl shakes her head, "No, that's not it..."

"What do you mean that's not it?" Ash asks in confusion.

The girl sighs and she says, "I should introduce myself, I am Helen Gravy. You probably heard of me as the main chef of this store."

"Wait, you were the famous child chef of the world?" Alice asks in surprise. "But why were you crying here and what really happened to the restaurant?"

"Ever since I won the cooking competition to become the famous child chef, my father gave me this restaurant as a birthday present. Since then, our restaurant has had a lot of customers all around the world just wanting to try my cooking. My father was not a chef, instead, he is a food supplier. And he got himself killed in an accident a few days ago while trying to supply the ingredients for our restaurant." Helen frowns. "After that day, things are getting downhill, inflation of ingredients, other chefs leaving, and the pay rent is due..."

Ash and Alice look at each other, they can't help but feel sad for the girl. Helen continues, "I don't have money to start another business, and there are more aspiring child chefs around the world. I am not a child and I couldn't get back to being one, it's just like I am some sort of expired product..."

Ash says, "Well, you don't need to worry about that. We can help you get back to the restaurant if you want to."

"Huh?" Helen is surprised. "But I am just a stranger to you, why do you want to help me?"

"We can't see someone that suffers." Alice says. "I don't think we have introduced ourselves. You can call us Morris and Paula.

Ash says, "We like to make food, but we didn't have cooking licenses..."

Helen looks at them and she asks, "So you two like cooking, is that true?"

Ash and Alice nod and Helen sighs, "Having a cooking license is not that hard, if you have cooked for years, that is. The main problem is how you're going to get my restaurant back?"

Ash contacts the landlord and asks for the payment of the restaurant, and much to Helen's surprise, Ash and Alice have enough money to let Helen get back to the restaurant.

After some progress, Alice asks, "So now that we get your kitchen back, is it possible to have something to eat? I mean, we are really hungry right now."

Helen says, "Of course, it is thanks to you that I manage to get my restaurant back. I'll make some recipes for you two."

Ash and Alice see how Helen uses the remaining ingredients to make 4 dishes, Kabayaki Eelektross, Alolan Pizza, Barraskewda and Chips, and the dessert Tiramisu. Ash and Alice try out the food and they are amazed by the taste.

Ash says, "I really enjoy the food that you made for us, Helen. Each dish shows a unique taste from different regions."

"Why thank you...I have traveled a lot and learned all kinds of cooking techniques. My restaurant is a fusion of all kinds of dishes." Helen says. "I would want to make my specialty: Roasted Farfetch'd, but I don't have any Farfetch'd meat with me..."

"It's fine." Ash says, "I think I might be able to contact some food suppliers to bring some of the best Farfetch'd meat for you."

"Not to mention we are going to help you out, we can also cook after all." Alice says.

Helen nods and she says, "You guys said that you can cook, then is it possible to have you cook something for me? I want to know what kind of level you guys are before I consider hiring you guys as the chef of Helen's Kitchen."

"But first, we need to buy ingredients, you just said that you used up the final ingredients." Ash says.

"Fortunately for us, there is a supermarket just around the corner." Alice says. "We can buy some of them there."

"I'll come with you guys." Helen says, "After all, I want to make sure of the quality of your ingredients."

The three of them walk to the supermarket and purchase some ingredients, Helen also purchases the Farfetch'd meat so that she can try to make her specialty. Because of the money Ash earned as World Champion and D&W, they manage to buy a lot of ingredients to the extent of having their Gogoat, Charizard, and Meganium helping them out.

Once they put the ingredients in the storage, Ash and Alice start to make some dishes. Watching them from the sidelines, Helen notices a lot of unfamiliar cooking tactics both Ash and Alice are showing.

After the food is ready, she can see some dishes on the table. The Hungarian Tauros Goulash, the Crawdaunt Salad, and the Coconut Milkshake with Slurpuff cream are the ones that catch Helen's eyes.

"I have never seen those dishes before...But as a judge, I have to give a fair opinion." As she tries out the dishes, she can feel all kinds of flavors bursting inside her mouth. She starts to wonder if Ash and Alice really don't have any cooking licenses, because what they made might exceed her level of cooking. She says, "This taste is really outstanding. And from what I have seen when you were cooking...I can tell that I have so much to learn."

Ash says, "You are flattered, Helen. We also have a lot to learn from you as well."

"If that's the case, since you manage to satisfy my mouth, I'll make my own specialty, the Roasted Farfetch'd." Helen smiles as she takes the frozen meat to the counter. "By the way, can you two help me out with this dish? I want to see our cooperation. This is also one of the basic needs when managing the restaurant."

"Sure." Ash and Alice nod as they help Helen out.

While working on the specialty, Ash and Alice notice how skillful Helen is while doing the dish, and they can tell why she is the world-famous child chef a few years ago. Once they finish, Helen says, "I can't believe it...when making this dish, I would always ask my fellow chefs to keep up the pace with me. However, none of them manage to get my expectations. You two, on the other hand, did and exceeded it!"

"Really?" Alice asks while they taste the dish, and they are impressed by the food they are eating and they also complement her, causing her to blush.

"It seems like we can learn all those dishes together." Helen says. "Morris, Paula, can you help me with the restaurant? With the three of us working together, we can make our restaurant boom."

Ash and Alice look at each other and they use their aura to communicate, and after they nod at each other, Alice says, "Well, sure. But before that, can you promise to keep a secret?"

"A secret? What kind of secret? If it is a good secret, then you can trust me to keep it." Helen says.

Seeing how Helen is being honest, Ash says, "You see, Morris and Paula aren't our real names. In fact, we are having disguises."

"What do you mean by that?" Helen is a little confused. Alice says, "Well, my real name is Alice Urup, and Morris' real name is Ash Ketchum."

The girl widens her eyes and says, "Ash Ketchum? The World Champion who is also the hero of Kalos? The one who has a special Greninja and stops Team Flare from attacking the region? That was you the whole time?"

Ash shows his true form and Helen is surprised to see the real deal. Then she asks, "But Ash, what happened to you? The news was saying that we badmouthed you and even assaulted you. What is going on back then?"

Ash frowns and Alice decides to answer for him, "All of the news is true, but that is because you were all under the control of another evil group known as Team Rocket. Right now the control is gone and everyone learned their mistakes, Ash's heart is still broken and he didn't want to show himself. Which is why we have our disguises on when we first meet each other."

"Wow..." Helen says. "I can't believe that I may be able to work with the famous Ash Ketchum..."

"Right now my secret is exposed, now I am not sure that I can work with you yet..." Ash says, causing the girl to frown.

"But why?" Helen asks. "What is stopping you from doing so?"

"I still have a hard time trusting people, ever since that thing happened to me..." Helen frowns as she knows that it might be hard to recover. "But, you can still work with Morris and Paula." This causes her to look at him in shock. "And I will help you as well."

"Thank you. It means a lot to me." Helen says with a smile. "But first, we should have you two get licenses. To get licenses, we will need to find an S Class Connosieur to be the examiner."

Hearing that word causes Ash to feel uneasy, but he shakes his head as he knows that Cilan is still an A-Class, so he won't be able to ask him even if he wants to.


I'll end the chapter here, and we have our next person into the story: Helen Gravy, a Fire-type specialist who is also a famous child chef. I hope you like this chapter.