Team Shadow (SuMo Fanfic)

Chapter Update:

Chapter 11 will be released soon!​

 

CHAPTER 11 - Pâtisserie Karamellin
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After the festival had ended, Astrid and I quickly retreated back to the Pokémon Center. It was pretty late when we returned as we still tried out some sweets after the competition that I still entered. And oh boy, I got an internship ticket from that to Pâtisserie Karamellin. The only problem is, Astrid should've been the one there, not me.

I quickly found myself back in my room, lying down in my bed. Tired and exhausted, you name it. As much as I wanted to sleep, the sugar rush I had from so many sweets that I ate from the festival was preventing me from doing so. Then I decided to get up from my bed and opened the door to the hallway afterwards. The lights were out, the moon shining from the window was the only light that was guiding me.

"It's pretty." I thought, staring at the moon while still holding the doorknob of the door to my room.

Then suddenly, I had this urge to explore the Pokémon Center, just because I haven't explored it yet. Beignet Town's Center was pretty huge compared to the others, so it was worth checking out. I snooped around the Center, locating places of interest. As I was looking around the Center, I just happened to open the door to a giant library. Fire was still flickering in the fireplace, books scattered around the floor.

"Who read all of these books without returning them?" I asked, shocked to see all of the books lying on the floor. "And who left this fireplace open?" I said as I ran towards the fireplace, calling out Brionne from her Poké Ball.

"Water Gun!" As I told Brionne to use the move, Brionne began to release a spiral of water towards the fire, exhausting it. "Good job, Brionne!" I said as I asked her to come back to her Poké Ball. However, she was quite stubborn and began to hold my feet, begging me to not put her back in the Poké Ball until much later.

"Alright, come with me."

Brionne and I left the room to the sound of somebody mixing something. It was coming from the public kitchens, which were just a few meters away from the library. "Let's check it out." I said as Brionne yapped a few times before following me towards the kitchens. Brionne and I hid beside some of the kitchen counters, before seeing a familiar person mixing stuff.

I gasped in surprise. "Astrid?"

She was standing beside the kitchen counters, mixing what seemed to be eggs and flour. On the other counters, there were a few cake tins that had sponge cakes that didn't rise. "What is she making?" I asked myself, wondering what she could be possibly wanting to do with the sponge cakes.

Astrid's frustration quickly grew. "Alright, this time, YOU'LL rise up. I'll make sure of it!" She began mixing once more with a few drops spilling every five seconds. "She's really into it, huh?" I thought.

Moments later, it seemed that Nurse Joy heard the noise as well. "Oh my, are you making cakes for this girl?" Nurse Joy calmly asked Astrid, pointing her hand towards me, causing my current position to be revealed.

"Girl?" Astrid decided to check where Nurse Joy was pointing. "Wha-? Star? What are you doing here?"

Shamefully, I stood up, scratching the back of my head. "Haha... well, I heard the noise coming from the kitchen so I checked it..."

Astrid's face began to turn red. "You weren't supposed to see that!" She stuttered a few times. Nurse Joy couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm assuming you're trying to make a sponge cake, yes?"

Astrid turned to the direction of Nurse Joy, before silently nodding. "I am, but they aren't rising." Graceful as always, Nurse Joy went to the counter with the bowl that contained the ingredients that Astrid was mixing. She lifted up the whisk, the mixture leaving a small trail.

"I think I see the problem here." Nurse Joy said as she put the whisk back down, walking back to where Astrid and I was. "You're over mixing the eggs and the flour. The flour you used also had a problem, so that's why it wouldn't rise."

Astrid looked confused. "Okay, I get the over mixing, but what was wrong with the flour?" Nurse Joy began to chuckle once more. "Did you use all purpose flour on this one?" Astrid nodded. "I thought so." Nurse Joy added.

"You see, we don't use all purpose flour for cakes." She said as she took another bag of flour, and cornstarch. "We use cake flour for cakes." She began to set aside the mixture that Astrid had, took another bowl and a cup, and began measuring the flour. "6 cups of all purpose flour, check." Astrid and I watched in awe as we watched intently.

She began to put cornstarch at the bowl, before putting the mixture in a strainer, lightly tapping it every time. "Um, Nurse Joy, how do you know so much stuff about baking?"

She began to answer. "Well, I also majored in baking and pastry. That's why I know a lot about baking." She tapped the strainer once more, until all the flour went back down to the bowl. "Gotta do this again for five more times to make it better."

Astrid and I watched Nurse Joy's every single move, her palm lightly tapping the strainer, the flour slowly being transferred from the strainer into the bowl, and the flour becoming more fine every time it was being sifted. "There, it's done. It's cake flour."

Astrid smiled gleefully. "Thanks Nurse Joy! It's interesting to know that you majored in baking as well." Nurse Joy blushed. "Well, every Nurse Joy had to study other aspects too. I decided to learn how to bake cause it was a hobby that I liked doing when I was a kid."

I suddenly had an idea. "That's it! Astrid, you can ask Nurse Joy to teach you how to bake!"

Her head went the opposite direction afterwards. "I'd love to learn from Nurse Joy, but I really wanna get an internship at..." I instantly knew where this was going.

"Pâtisserie Karamellin?" I said, cutting her off. Nurse Joy's face went up in surprise. "Pâtisserie Karamellin? You could've just told me that, Astrid!"

Astrid looked confused once more. "Um, told you what?"

"Before I passed the Nurse Joy exam we have before we become official Nurse Joys, I actually got an internship there before." She said, smiling. "I'm still in contact with the owner, and I'm sure he'll love it if a new face was added there. I learned almost everything I know about baking from him!"

I felt so happy at that moment, but Astrid was even happier. Her eyes were turning into stars due to excitement. "Can you really help me get there, Nurse Joy?" Astrid's childish side took over once more. Nurse Joy smiled once more. "I'll try my best, but no promises, alright?"

"It's alright! At least it's one step closer to Pâtisserie Karamellin!" She began jumping in joy. "You didn't tell me you were jelly about me going to Pâtisserie Karamellin, Astrid." I tauntingly said. "No I wasn't!" Her defensive voice proved it even further.

"Ah, you got so defensive there though." Nurse Joy said, joining the fun. Astrid blushed, looking down at the ground. "Argh, you guys!" Her groan was followed by laughter coming from me and Nurse Joy. It was very satisfying to tease her, no doubt.

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The next day, Nurse Joy had already called the owner of Pâtisserie Karamellin, telling him that there's someone who wanted to get an internship there as well. Apparently, the owner immediately agreed, happy that there are more kids who were interested in baking. After hearing the news, Astrid became ecstatic, happy to hear that she's coming with me to Pâtisserie Karamellin. Of course, we had to try and learn what we could for now, so we asked Nurse Joy to teach us how to bake sweets. Astrid and I were asked to come to Pâtisserie Karamellin after three days, which was plenty of time to help us practice how to bake.

For the past three days, Astrid and I learned how to bake a shortcake, make pudding and learned how to properly make mille crêpe. We also learned how to design sweets that we've made so that they turn out to be more appealing. Nurse Joy's help was greatly appreciated and we assured her that we won't let all the things we learned go to waste.

It was already nighttime, and we had to leave for Pâtisserie Karamellin tomorrow. I still couldn't sleep even though I was already tired. Since walking around seemed to have helped me last time, I decided to go outside the Center for a walk.

Beignet Town was near a large sea, so I decided to go to its shorelines. The waves were rumbling and the tranquil skies made me feel very relaxed. As I decided to feel the wind by going in a cross position, I heard a voice pop up from behind. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" As I turned around, I saw Astrid, standing.

"Uh, yeah. I couldn't." She walked, stopping and sitting down near the water. I joined her afterwards. "What's on your mind?" I asked, waiting for an answer.

She looked down at the water. "It's just, we haven't seen Altair at all, even though we've began to explore Alola."

"Well, he might have already moved on to Akala. Remember, Melemele isn't the entire Alola region."

She sighed, disappointingly. "But still, did he even get permission from Hau? And did he even get the Z-Crystal from Hele back at the Verdant Cavern Gym?" Her questions were all quickly said.

"That's something I can't answer." I said, causing Astrid to sigh once more. "Look, I know we haven't seen him yet, but I'm sure we'll see him one day."

Astrid began to look straight at the sea once more. "I guess. I really wish we'll meet him at Akala."

Astrid's question a few seconds ago reminded me of something. "OH WAIT!" I stood up, panicking. "Were you able to get a hang of Hau yesterday?" Astrid's eyes grew once more. "I... I didn't! We'll have to ask him tomorrow before we leave!"

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The computer has been ringing for a few minutes already. Astrid and I were losing hope of ever getting a hang of Hau. We contacted the address belonging to someone named "Lillie", but we were thinking that they might be away from the house right now.

However, by a stroke of luck, we managed to get through to them. "Hello! This is Lillie from the Pokémon Research Center. How may I help you?"

Astrid and I gasped. "Um, hi, Miss Lillie. We were wondering if we could talk to Kahuna Hau for a second."

Lillie's eyes grew, before calling over Hau. "Hau, there are two kids that want to see yo-" A Growlithe began to jump towards her, causing the two of them to crash on the floor. "Ah!" Astrid and I looked closer into the computer, worried about Lillie. "Lillie, are you okay?" A voice, no, Hau began to walk towards Lillie.

"Growlithe! You shouldn't have jumped like that!" Lillie said as she stood back up. Growlithe began to lick her face, which was adorable. "Oh, Hau, there they are."

Hau turned to the computer, gasping in surprise. He smiled, before speaking. "Star! Astrid! Alola! Good to see you two again." Astrid and I smiled, looking at each other. "Good to see you again too, Kahuna!"

Hau looked at us with confusion. "Huh, where's Altair?" Astrid's cheerful face was immediately flushed down. "Oh, he went on his own, we haven't seen him yet." I said, disappointed.

"That's too bad, I could've seen the three of you again! But let's not dwell on the sadness. I heard from Professor Kukui that you've been trying to contact me a few times already." Hau cheerfully said. Astrid and I nodded. "What is it that you wanted to ask me?"

I recoiled in fear, yet I succeeded in calming myself down. "Um, well, you see, Astrid and I got the chance to become interns at Pâtisserie Karamellin, which is at Akala, so we've been wanting to ask permission from you if we could leave Melemele to go to Akala."

Hau stared at us intently. "Did any of you get the Z-Crystal from Hele?" He asked. I quickly pulled out my Normalium Z. "I have the Z-Crystal here!"

"Yup, that's the Normalium Z! I'm pretty sure that you two are experienced enough to leave Melemele, so I'm giving you direct permission to leave Melemele." He said, making Astrid and I jump for joy. "Thanks so much Hau!"

Lillie smiled. "Ah, I remember the day when Sun got his first Z-Crystal. Memories." Hau turned to her. "Aww, feeling nostalgic, huh?" He looked back to us. "Alright, you two, give me your Trainer Passports for a while so that I can stamp them with this." Astrid and I placed our passports at the transporter, giving off a bright light before disappearing.

Moments later, we see Hau stamping our passports, sending our passports back. "Alright, you two. Go explore Akala and make sure to have fun and learn lots of new things!" Astrid and I nodded, before replying. "Of course! Thank you so much!"

As we were waving our hands, Lillie began to speak once more. "Make sure to treasure every moment you get!"

"Of course, we'll have lots of fun at Akala!" Astrid cheerfully said. "Bye!"

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We said our goodbyes to Nurse Joy before leaving the Pokémon Center. With our packed bags, we began to walk towards the port of Beignet Town. We boarded the ship that was en route to Fraisier City. It's where Pâtisserie Karamellin stands. Our sea trip to Fraisier City was quite uneventful, although as they say, no news is good news.

Hours later, we arrived at Fraisier City's port. The city was inspired by Lumiose City's design, yet it wasn't nearly as large as Lumiose City. The buildings were huge, the paths were made of cobblestone, and everybody was walking around. We had to make our way through the city, until we finally hit our stop.

Astrid quickly took her shades off. "This is it!"

I took off my shades as well. "We're here!" I said excitedly.

"Pâtisserie Karamellin!"

 

CHAPTER 12 WILL BE OUT SOON!

It'll be focusing more on baking and how Star and Astrid will be trying to adjust to the new island they just arrived in, which is Akala.​