Chapter Twelve: Welcome to Paris
"Hey that world looks interesting" Jason said as they approached a new world.
"Sure!" Max said as they flew and were engulfed in a bright light again.
When Jason blink he saw they were in a sewer as the smell hit his nose.
"Ack! Ugh! That stinks!" Jason said covering his nose as he realized his gloved hands looked funny then looked down at himself to see he was now a dark brown fur rat with a red X across his chest and still wearing both his keyblade armor on his arms.
"Were rats!" Max said looking like a strange dog-rat but he was black fur.
"Another world were we need to be turned into something?! Why rats?!" Jason said as they headed down the sewer to see a rat turning the pages to a cook book drying it off.
The rat than flips a crinkled page, to an appetizing photo of pastry as his stomach growls as he looks away, turning to a drawing of Gusteau on the opposite page the illustration comes to life and looks up to the rat.
"If you are hungry, go up and look around, Remy. Why do you wait and mope?"
"Am I crazy or did that picture just talk?" Jason asked.
"No I heard it too" Max said.
"I've just lost my family, all my friends, probably forever." Remy said
"How do you know?"
"Well, I-you... are an illustration. Why am I talking to you?" Remy said as Gusteau shrugs.
"You just lost your family, all your friends, you are lonely."
"Yeah, well, you're dead."
"Ah... but that is no match for wishful thinking. If you focus on what you've left behind you will never be able to see what lies ahead. Now go up and look around." Remy then looks up, considering the streets above then looks back to the illustration and see Gusteau has resumed his frozen pose.
"Uh hi?" Jason said as he and Max approached.
"Others! On thank goodness! Where is the rest of the clan?" Remy asked.
"Sorry were not with your uh...clan we saw you here by yourself and we figured we give you company" Jason said.
"Why are you walking on two feet?" Remy asked.
"I am not touch this ground with my hands!" Jason said as Remy smiled.
"Hi I'm Remy."
"Jason and this is Max."
"What's up?" Max said.
"Listen I'm about to head up, care to join me?" Remy asked.
"Sure, anywhere better than this disgusting place" Jason said.
The three rats than scurries up into a building, between walls, through pipes, under floors, allowing glimpses into the human world around them.
Remy, Jason and Max than moves through a crack, emerges into an apartment kitchen and sees in the next room a party is in progress.
Remy spies a loaf of bread and points to it as Max and Jason stomachs growled. Famished, they each grab small pieces and prepares to take a bite when a sprit in the form of Gusteau appears, smaller than Remy, glowing and semi-transparent.
"What are you doing?!"
"GAH!" the three rats yelp.
"I'm hungry! I don't know where I am and I don't know when I'll find food again!" Remy said.
"Remy, you are better than that, you are a cook! Cooks make, thieves take, you are not a thief."
"But I am hungry..." Remy said.
"Were starving!" Jason said.
"Food will come, Remy, food always comes to those who love to cook" the Gusteau sprit said as he vanished.
They then put the bread down, denying their growing hunger, and moves on between the wall.
"So you're a cook?" Jason asked as they climbed.
"Yeah I guess" Remy said.
"That is so cool!" Max said.
"You think it's cool?" Remy asked.
"A rat that can cook, yeah that is the coolest thing I've heard" Max said as they move, following Remy exceptional nose as they passed holed where they get glimpses of many French lives.
A painter carefully paints a nude model they could not see-a dog barks aggressively, warning them away from his flat, then a lovers quarrel where the watch from above, through a crack in the ceiling as the woman waves a pistol.
"You think I am playing, Francois? You think I am PLAYING?!"
"You don't have the guts!"
Losing interest, Remy and the others moves on as a bullet splinters the flooring in front of them as they rushs back to the crack and sees the couple struggling with the smoking gun as the man wrenches it free, it clatters to the floor.
They glare at each other, blood in their eyes and then kiss.
"Oh brother" Jason said as Remy rolls his eyes and they move on, through dark, tight spaces... into a pipe and emerges onto the outside of the building rooftops as they scampers along railings and ledges, past windows, up vines, booing up as the rooftop falls away to reveal a stunning panorama Paris at night.
"Paris? All this time I've been underneath PARIS?" Remy said.
"Wow!" Max said as they took in the sight.
It's a beautiful sight and Remy, Jason and Max takes in the sea of shimmering lights then sees a huge sign atop a building several blocks away.
It's Gusteau holding a frying pan in each hand and the sign marvels at the panorama.
"Your restaurant? You've led us to your restaurant!" Remy said.
"It seems as though I have. Yes. There it is! I have led you to it!" Gusteau said.
"I gotta see this"Remy said as he heads off toward the restaurant.
"Remy wait up!" Jason said as he and Max chased after him.
Soon Remy, Jason and Max were all looking down from a window into a kitchen at work with cooks and chefs all doing their jobs.
"Wow!" Jason said.
"I can't believe it! A real gourmet kitchen and I get to watch" Remy said.
"Wow! I would kill to be a able to cook like that" Jason said.
"You've read my book let us see how much you know, which is the Chef?" Gusteau asked as they looked down to the short man barking orders as Remy points at him.
"That guy" Remy said.
"Very good, who is next in command?" Gusteau asked.
"The Sous Chef...there" Remy said pointing to the blonde haired man Horst, "the Sous is responsible for the kitchen when the Chef's not there."
"What do they do?" Max asked as Remy began pointing out all the workers of the kitchen.
"Saucier; in charge of sauces, very important. Chef de Partie, Demi-Cehf de Partie both important...Commins, Commis, Commis...they're cooks, very important."
"You are a clever rat, now who is that?" Gusteau asked pointing at the new Garbage Boy Linguini, who clumsily steering a mop and bucket through the kitchen.
"Oh...him? He's nobody" Remy said.
"Not nobody, he is part of the kitchen" Gusteau said.
"He's a Plongeur or something, washes dishes or takes out the garbage, he doesn't cook" Remy said.
"But he could" Gusteau said as down below Linguini accidentally knocks over a pot of soup spilling it as Remy gives Guesteau a look.
"No" Remy said as desperate that no one saw his mistake, Linguini quickly replaces the pot on the stove and mops up the floor.
"How do you? What do I always say? 'Anyone can cook'."
"Well, yeah anyone can that doesn't mean that anyone should" Remy said.
"Well that is no stopping him, see?" Guesteau said as Remy, Jason and Max watches as Linguini quickly chums some water from another pot into the soup to refill it to its former level, haphazardly throws in a few spices and vegetables.
"No! This is terrible! He's ruining the soup! And nobody's noticing?!It's your restaurant! Do something!" Remy yelled.
"What can I do? I am a figment of your imagination" Guesteau said.
"But HE'S RUINING THE SOUP! We've got to tell someone that he's R-" Remy said as the skylight suddenly gives way, and Remy, Jason and Max plunges down below.
"WHOA!" Jason and Max yelled.
With a splash Remy, Jason and Max lands in a sink filled with soapy dishwater. They then quickly paddle to the surface, climbs onto the counter and tumbles over the edge, hitting the floor with a hard.
"Ugh!" Jason grunted upon impact.
"Ah!" Max grunted as they quickly hide under the counter.
Giant feet belonging to busy cooks boomed by on either side. Surrounded by the enemies of rat kind, Remy is petrified as he runs out from under the counter.
"Remy wait!" Jason said as he and Max followed.
The door to the walk-in then opens, knocking Remy, Jason and Max across the floor and under the stove.
"Ow" Jason said looking above them seeing the rows of burners ignite coming at them as they races across a walkway, under another counter and out the other side, nearly getting run over by a dining cart as they dive underneath it, using it to cross the kitchen camouflaged.
Sticking his head out, Remy spots an open window on the far wall.
"A way out!" Max said as they ran for it, climbing up a dish rack to the counter.
They are nearly to the open window as they scrambled up onto a copper pot toward it, but the lid slips and they fall inside.
They look up out from under the pot lid seeing the window is moving away.
"Rats!" Jason said.
The pot is being carried away by one of the cooks as the chef sets the pot down near a stove and walks away as Remy and the others heads back toward the window, as a wonderful scent hits their noses as they sniff following it to a pan filled with vegetables.
Enticed, Remy and the others crawls inside, and it is only then that he notices the large turkey- moments before a cook picks up the pan and slides it into the oven.
"AAAHHH!" they yelled as they barely escapes before the oven door closes, springing from the oven to another passing trolley, which bursts into the dining room.
Remy, Jason and Max were wheeled into the plush hush of the restaurant, and pulls up to a table of well-dressed diners.
A waiters hand reaches down for a peppermill and grabs Remy instead-which startles both of them as the hand instantly releases Remy, who quickly leaps on to another passing trolley with Jason and Max.
The one heading back to the kitchen Remy, Jason and Max jumps off the trolley and hides under the counter then looks up at the window and see it has been closed.
Linguini crosses into their view and tastes the soup as they saw Linguini eyes widen as he runs to the window, opens it, spits the soup out into the alley and walks away groaning.
They see their opening and run for it, climbing a broom handle to a shelf above the stove that leads to the open window.
Dodging jars of spices they runs through the steam from the soup bubbling directly below as the three stopped and almost threw up.
"Oh god!" Jason gagged.
It's so disgusting that-without thinking, Remy grabs a spice from the counter, throws a dash in.
He starts for the window with Jason and Max- thinks better of it goes back and adds some leeks, adds some pepper, starts back to the window-and stops. His gaze returns to the boiling pot.
"So are we leaving or not?" Max asked.
"Hold on" Jason said.
Remy looks back at the kitchen: the cooks haven't noticed him. He looks at the window: it is still open, and the path to it is clear.
"Remy! What are you waiting for?!" Gusteau yelled startling Jason, Remy and Max.
"Is this going to become a regular thing with you?!" Remy yelled.
"You know how to fix it. This is your chance" Gusteau said as Remy begin to considers this.
"We'll help Chef! Just tell us what we can do!" Nathan said.
Then, filled with purpose, Remy jumps to the stove top, turns the burner down, hops up to the spigot to wash his hands as Jason and Max follow.
Quickly losing himself, Remy proceeds to remake the soup, alternately smelling, tasting and adding ingredients to it. He grabs a pawful of spices to toss in with Jason and Max help adding and remaking the soup as Remy climbed up with a spice and spoon as he stirred the soup and tasted it then suddenly they see Linguini as their eyes widen like his.
Wide-eyed and brandishing a ladle, they stare at each other for a long moment, deer caught in each other's headlights as Remy drops the spices into the soup.
"Oh crap" Jason said.
"THE SOUP! WHERE IS THE SOUP?" Skinner yelled
The four jump as Remy, Jason and Max tried to run for the window but Linguini slams a colander over thrm, both hiding and trapping them.
"Out of my way, Garbage boy!" Skinner yelled as he spots the ladle in Linguini's hand as he seizes Linguini by his collar, "You are COOKING? How dare you cooking my kitchen!"
Remy, Jason and Max starts to push the colander toward the open window.
"Where do you get the gall to even attempt something so monumentally idiotic? I should have you drawn and quartered! I'll do it! I think the law is on my side! LaRousse! Draw and quarter this man! After you put his head in the duck press to squeeze the fat out!" As Skinner berates Linguini, Lalo ladles the soup into a tureen, which he takes to the pass.
Linguini watches helplessly as the waiter Mustafa carries his soup out to the dining room.
"Oh, no... no no, ohhhh nooo!" Linguini said.
"What are you blathering about?!" Skinner yelled as Linguini points the dumbstruck.
"But don't let- th- sou...soup-!"
"Soup...?" Skinner said looking at the soup as his eyes widen suddenly understanding, "STOP THAT SOUP! Noooo!" he yelled.
But Mustafa is gone and it is too late and Skinner anxiously looks through the door windows into the dining room as the soup is served to a woman diner. She tastes it, reacts visibly, and motions for the , Skinner turns his building rage toward Linguini.
"Linguini! You're FIRED! F-I-R-E-D!FIRED!"
Mustafa, the waiter, sticks his head through the double-doors, speaking low to Skinner."She wants to speak to the Chef."
Color drains from Skinner's face as he sighs, heads out into the dining room to take his medicine.
Linguini creeps toward the exit, but is collared by the Sous Chef Horst.
On the counter, Remy Jason and Max inches the colander towards the window.
Colette sticks a spoon into the soup and taste and it's good.
Mustafa and Skinner re-enter from the dining room, Skinner's face a riot of bewilderment.
"What did the customer say?" Colette asked.
"It wasn't a customer. It was a critic" Mustafa said.
"Ego?" Colette asked fearfully.
"Solene LeClaire" Skinner said dazed.
"LeClaire? What did she say?" Colette asked.
"She liked the soup!" Mustafa said.
The Guesteau Spirit then appears to stop the three rats.
"Wait" Guesteau said.
"What do mean 'wait'? You're the reason we're in this mess!" Remy said.
"Someone is asking about your soup!" he said as the three looked and listened.
The bustle of the kitchen has stopped dead as Skinner tastes the soup, his eyes betray a truth; the soup is delicious and he hates that as he turns to Linguini, his face dark.
"What are you playing at?" he growled.
"I, uhm, didn't- am I still fired?" Linguini asked.
"You can't fire him" Colette said as Skinner turns on her.
"What!?"
"LeClaire likes it, she made a point of telling you so, if she writes a review to that effect, and finds out you fired the cook responsible" Colette said.
"He's a garbage boy" Skinner said.
"Who made something she liked, how can we claim to represent the name of Gusteau if we don't uphold his most cherished belief?" Colette said.
"What belief is that, Madamoiselle Tatou?"
"Anyone can cook."
The Gusteau then nudges Remy as Jason and Max patted his back.
The other COOKS murmur their assent as the turn of the tide isn't lost on Skinner as his face softens into an icy smile.
"Perhaps I've been a bit harsh on our new garbage boy, he has taken a bold risk, and we should reward that, as Chef Gusteau would have, if he wishes to swim in dangerous waters who are we to deny him?"
Remy's totally absorbed in this conflict fails to notice Jason and Max as a cough causes Remy to looks up as Guesteau gestures at the window.
"You were escaping..?"
"Oh, yeah" Remy said.
"Come on!" Jason said as they resumes pushing toward the window.
Skinner turns to Colette, gives her a withering smile "since you have expressed such an interest in his cooking career, you should be responsible for it." Skinner said pushing Linguini over to Colette as he turns to the other cooks "anyone else? Then back to work!"
The cooks resume their work as Skinner wheels on Linguini. "You are either very lucky or very unlucky, you will make the soup again, and this time I'll be paying attention, very close attention."
Off to the side, Remy and the others haves almost made it to the window.
"They think you might be a cook, but you know what I think, Linguini? I think you're a sneaky, over reaching little" Skinner said as he spots Jason, Remy and Max trying to escape through the window "RAAAATSS!"
"Run!" Jason yelled as they began to run as the other cooks come after them as Skinner swings a mop at them, breaking dishes and blocking their escape.
"Linguini! Get a something to trap them in!" Skinner yelled as Linguini claps a jar over Remy Jason and Max and seals it.
"What should I do now?" Linguini asked.
"Kill them!" Skinner yelled.
"NO! Don't kill the rats!" Max yelled only coming out as squeaks.
"Now?" Linguini said.
"No! Not in the kitchen, are you mad? Do you know what would happen to us if anyone knew we had a rat in our kitchen? They'd close us down! Our reputation is hanging by a thread as it is. Take them away from here, far away. Kill them, dispose of them. Go!"
Linguini nods and quickly exits the kitchen's back door.
A.N. Please Review.