-December, Earlier that year..-
It was the night the Holiday Fest was set to take place throughout the entire week, hosted by the local fairgrounds every single being all went to like the County Fair. Banners dancing from the cold breeze, little snowflake began to fall from the sky, and the once-dark night sky was soon covered up by a darker-grey sea of clouds above.
Some come for the crafts made by artistic people, some for a nice cup of hot cocoa, the others for holiday treats, while the rest for the lights. Speaking of treats, a once-met duo was supposed to make cookies for festival-goers, however everything else goes awry.
"You're supposed to put sugar into those cookies, NOT SALT!" Arrowhead yelled as he pointed a finger towards the robotic figure in front of him, before eyeing the cookies on the tray. It appears the cookies looked flat compared to the test treats the other had made a while ago. "We're gonna have to start all over again because of you!"
"Now now, let'th not go too seriouth over it." Carl retorted as he poured the cookies into the bag. "Besideth, they taste a little better with salt."
"Listen, Carl. TWO teapoons of SUGAR next time, not SALT." Arrowhead growled as he grabbed another bag of flour out of the pantry. "And this time, DON'T MESS THIS UP."
"Sheesh, alright then, Gordon Ramthey.." Carl chuckled as he grabbed a bag of cane sugar out of the pantry, staring at the Chiefs Rusher as he glared at him from the insult, before going back to the counter where he set the ingredients on.
Arrowhead first poured a couple tablespoons of flour and brown sugar into a bowl before Carl was next, pouring 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, cornstarch, and vanilla extract into the mix.
Next was the melted butter, but Carl couldn't figure out if he could use a tablespoon or just a teaspoon, but Arrowhead thought he was just having none of it, so he decided to just make the rest of the mix himself. He did the last remaining ingredients into the bowl; one egg yolk, two teaspoons of melted butter, a tablespoon of salt, and a tablespoon of crushed peppermint.
"This is why I couldn't trust you as my baking partner.." Arrowhead sighed in frustration as he mixed the remaining ingredients together, forming into a perfectly-made, sticky dough to put into the tray moments later.
The rusher started at the mixed dough for a few seconds before his smile began to grow on his face. "Huh, did not expect that to work out so well. Maybe you aren't such a waste after all!"
"Do you make sure you have the right ingredient'th?" Carl asked before Arrowhead's smile drooped in frustration.
"I did, and if I didn't, we wouldn't have started this idea in the first place." The Chiefs rusher growled as he poured a handful of flour onto the wooden platter, "Doing this so the dough won't be this sticky."
Carl opened his mouth to talk, but after hearing what Arrowhead had explained to him, he paused and shrugged it off like it was no big deal.
As soon as the rusher finished rolling flour-covered dough pieces into spheres, he then placed them into a tray in an aligned order.
"We want them to be baked for around 15 to 20 minutes, or else it'll burn." Arrowhead started as he opened the oven door, "So make sure you have a timer. Going to be your fault if you haven't."
"I'll watch the cookieth!" Carl yelped in glee as he was about to sit down, only for Arrowhead to grab him by the shirt collar, stopping him from doing so.
"How about you set up the timer and take a rest until they're finished?" Arrowhead snapped back, "Can't have you sit around in the kitchen while they bake."
The robotic figure then nodded before Arrowhead could finish talking. Getting up from his seat, Carl grabbed a nearby timer before setting it to 15 minutes. As soon the rusher placed the cookies into the oven, the robot starts the timer and finally, both beings left the kitchen, leaving the cookies in the oven and the timer on the counter, ticking as time passed by.
At the Holiday Fest, Pam is at her stand, with a few of her crafts standing on the counter. It has been a few hours ever since she started her stand at the fair, and yet more people started buying her creations. A few of them appeared to be handmade ornaments made completely out of paper, while the rest is made out of scrap metal. So far she made less than 62 gems.
Zephyr; the current champion of both Galar and Paldea, is at his stand, with a few people appearing to buy his crafts completely made of clay. With his Boltund companion around, she also has a task to cheer people up whenever things are either out of stock or just closed completely.
Alongside Pam, Blowtorch is currently at his stand, doing the same as her, selling his crafts that were made just out of some of the excess scrap metal the junker family gave away. Instead of ornaments, his crafts appeared to be miniature statues that resemble animals like reindeer, wolves, etc.
Claude, currently at his stand selling homemade muffins from scratch; chocolate, blueberry, poppy seed, etc. While the crow was selling his homemade muffins, a couple of his friends appear to be walking around the fair, stopping by as his stand to either buy one of his muffins, or talk how well his stand is going. So far, Claude "Curls" has made less than a hundred dollars.
The Heeler family; Bandit, Bluey, Bingo, and Chilli can be all seen at Blitz's stand, buying his cookies that appeared to be..Seahawks-themed. And all of the sudden, they love it!
However there could be only one stand that remains missing; Arrowhead's Cookie Crew. Originally it would just have Arrowhead with either Steed or Pillage, but this time he's going to have to work with Carl, but he worries he's going to go back to working on his business with the rest of his rusher friends of the AFC West if the robotic figure messes up tonight.
While the cookies are still baking, Carl can be seen at the living room, channel surfing while Arrowhead is outside, shoveling snow out the front yard where the HOK currently resides. While they don't have a certain room at the lobby, they appear to have one at the Rusher Quarterz.
As soon as the timer started beeping, Carl jolted out of the couch before running back to the kitchen to check on the cookies. At first glance they appeared to be ready, ready to be sold by the customer at the Holiday Fest. But as soon as he opened the oven door, the cookies looked fine at the top, but at the bottom, they appear to be..a little burnt.
Arrowhead prefers the bottom of the cookies to be a golden-brown, but Carl starts to worry he'll get mad if he sees the cookies like this. Placing the cookie tray onto a safe platter, the robot knew what he had to do. Scraping the burnt-stuff trick. He grabbed a knife by the cultery drawer before he proceeded to scrape off the burnt parts.
It took him a while before all of the cookies appeared to look good as new again as Carl ran by the sink to wash the knife off, only for him to hear the door swing open. Panicking, Carl throws the knife back into the dryer before setting the cookies into place, watching Arrowhead arrive at the kitchen with snow all over his legs.
The rusher opened his mouth to talk only for him to notice the smell of burning dust filled the room. Before Carl could speak, the rusher was about to grab him by the shirt collar, only for him to notice that not one, but all of the cookies appear to have all of the burnt bottoms scraped off.
"Well, I really appreciate you scraping all that burnt stuff off, but," Arrowhead turned back to glare at the robotic figure who chuckled nervously, "You really messed up this time!"
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! I JUST SCRAPED OFF THE BURNT STUFF! I ALREADY DID WHAT I WATH TOLD!" Carl shouted as Arrowhead grabbed him by his shirt collar, "YOU DON'T UNDERTHTAND!"
"You had ONE job, and you blew it all up!" Arrowhead snapped back, but as he opened his mouth to finish talking, he turned his head back to where the cookies were placed, before turning back at the distressed robot. "You know what, just for saving the cookies, I'm gonna give you one more chance.."
Carl nodded his head at breakneck speed before he could finish threatening him. "But if these taste awful like last time, then I'm sticking with Steed instead of you.."
Carl being the gem miner and rock enthusiast he is, he's never good at cooking, nor cooking with a one-time partner. During the holidays, he spends his free time collecting rocks before gifting them to other people, while some of them appreciate their gifts, others do not.
As the rusher walks by the front door with bags in his hands, he stops and turns back to Carl, still standing in the kitchen, trembling with fear. "I'll be back once this fair is over for the night. Oh, and clean up the mess."
As soon as the rusher slammed the door shut, all that was left behind was the robotic figure himself, Carl, in the kitchen. Boy, even though he did save the treats out of the oven, he worries he might be screwed.
Back at the Holiday Fest, all that remains at the stand is Arrowhead, all by himself with a tray of cookies on the counter, still waiting for the customers to buy one of his treats. While others are at other stands buying food or crafts, Arrowhead felt like he went a little too hard on Carl earlier.
He felt like he shouldn't have gone so hard on him, and he felt so bad for it. While watching the festival-goers walk around as they felt a glimpse of awe from the lights around the fairgrounds, his eyes focus on what appeared to be the same robot from earlier, Carl, the rock enthusiast himself!
Arrowhead tried to wave a hand or open his mouth to grab the robot's attention, but as Carl as that rusher, he panicked and soon ran off.
"I knew I shouldn't have gone so hard on him.." The rusher sighed as he pushed the tray off before sitting down, hearing a feminine voice in front of him. Before he could take his eyes off the ground, he noticed Belle, the Goldenarm Sniper herself, standing in front of the stand with eyes focusing on his.
"Still sad about that 'bot you've gone so hard on him earlier?" Belle asked as Arrowhead took his eyes off her.
"Listen, it's not like Carl has cooked before, but I get a little too strict especially when making something important for the fair.." Arrowhead let out a sad sigh, "I've done this a few times when the fair was taking place, and I already knew I was doing something wrong."
Belle paused to take a moment before she opened her mouth to finish talking, "Listen, bud. It's best you'd apologize after what happened with Carl so far. Even though going hard on something after doing something by accident is the wrong thing to do, apologies are basically the right thing to fix right after."
Before Arrowhead could reply back, his eyes focus on Carl's, as the robot slowly walked over the stand he was at, only to walk past it and head over to Isabelle's stand.
"Wait, Carl." Belle informed as he grabbed the robot's attention, and so he did, turning over to Belle in front of Arrowhead's stand, "Arrowhead has something to say to you."
The rock collector slowly approached Arrowhead before letting out a, "What do you want?"
"Listen, Carl. I know I've been pretty rough on you earlier, and I just wanted to say," Arrowhead paused before he could continue, "I just wanted to apologize."
"While I may be pretty strict with something important, I knew what was wrong so we want you here so I can..apologize about what happened."
It took the robot a few moments before nodding his head in approval, finally accepting Arrowhead's apology. "And I'm th'orry if I wasn't doing something right. I wasn't a good enough cook myself anyway.."
Belle's smile began to grow as the two both apologized, before giving themselves a handshake afterwards.
"So, a cookie just to make you feel better?" Arrowhead asked before Carl could let out a murmur, "Don't worry, I'm offering you one for free as a token for my apology."
Carl soon nodded his head before taking one of the cookies off the tray, and as soon as he took a bite, the combination of sweet, minty, and salty immediately hit his tastebuds.
"I wathn't wrong at all! These ARE good!"
"I was going to try one but that would be against the rules as an owner myself." Arrowhead let out a chuckle before gazing his eyes upon another creature that resembled a blocky-like figure, with a teal shirt and blue pants around him.
His name was "Steve", and he knew those cookies looked interesting. As he grabbed one and took a bite out of it, the man's eyes widened and soon slammed a diamond onto the counter.
"Well, I'm not too sure if diamonds count as currency, but hey, does that still count as treasure?" Arrowhead chuckled before murmuring to himself, "I'm joking, Steve. I'm joking!"
The rusher could hear a, "Wackadoo!" just a few meters away, watching what resembled cattle heeler dogs, walking towards the counter with a few dollar bills in their hands. "Say, Bluey, maybe we could grab a few!"
Arrowhead knew the cookies him and Carl made would grab that much attention compared to the other stands nearby. First the Heeler family bought a few of them, then goes both Bernie and Syd, next was Apollo; the Eagle he'd seen before, then Grizzly, next was Rushstar, then Fang, and lastly a few more figures that resemble a few pokemon, a Sneasel, a Gengar, and last but not least, a Miraidon.
Those cookies were the center of attention compared to everybody else's stands. As time passed, only a few cookies were left on the tray, and Arrowhead was on the brink of closing his stand knowing his treats were about to go out of stock. He never expected his cookies were already on the brink of going out of stock so quickly, and it's all thanks to himself and Carl- well, mostly their help is all.
"Carl, I just like to thank you for helping me out earlier." Arrowhead started as Carl stood next to him. "Even though you don't know how to cook in the first place, you do make the best cookies around the fairgrounds!"
"Heheheh! Last time you've done thith, it didn't go tho well at all! Mainly because people were already interested in Lou's thnowcone thtand the last time you showed up." Carl let out a chuckle before turning his head back from the rusher, thinking Arrowhead would just give him a glare, but instead he just stood there, with a smile still remaining on his face.
"That's absolutely true, Carl." Arrowhead let out a hearty laugh, "It's been a few years since I've tried to sell my stuff here yet people would never seem to notice my stand now that Lou showed up selling snowcones even in cold-degree, weather."
"Could've been more theason-appropriate if Lou thold his stuff in the thummertime.." Carl sighed as he noticed Zephyr closing his stand now that the customer bought the last ever item remaining on the shelf, "But on the other hand, yours did so well!"
"It did so today." Arrowhead turned around to notice Zephyr shoving a dollar bill onto the counter, before grabbing one of the cookies and giving him a thumbs-up in response. "And it's nice to see people who once sold something in stands actually buy something from others in exchange."
Carl nodded in response before focusing his gaze upon the last cookie onto the tray. "Don't try to fight over it. Let the last person buy the last cookie remaining."
Before Arrowhead could respond back, Oakley came back to place a diamond before taking the last cookie remaining on the tray. Arrowhead shook before standing up, glaring at the Boltund as he attempted to chase after her, only for Carl to stop him from doing so.
"Like I thaid, let the last person buy the last remaining thing. Don't fight over it.."
-The End-