Chapter 0710: Hell’s Head Chef(Two-in-One)

September 8th, Wednesday.

Indeedee, Meowstic, and Alcremie officially began their jobs at the café and settled in.

Since Natsume’s house was very large, it provided room and board in theory.

However, as everyone was still getting to know each other, the three new employees usually went back to the Pokémon Center to stay for now.

In the morning, the Mirror Coat of Prism Tower shone brightly.

Indeedee stood behind the bar, menu on the wall behind her, hands folded with a serious look.

“Gengar~” Gengar stuck out his tongue and made a silly face, levitating past.

Indeedee snuck a glance at the boss and, seeing he hadn’t noticed, covered her mouth and giggled quietly, “Indeedee~”

Natsume sat at a table, with his mobile phone’s screen to the side.

On the screen, a golden-haired beauty folded her arms, chin resting on one hand, and asked in surprise:

“There are new Pokémon at your café?”

“Yes, now we have a butler, an attendant, a delivery guy, a pastry chef…” Natsume paused, “And a bodyguard.”

Darkrai in the shadows wanted to protest, but his mouth was stuffed with Pokéblocks and he gave up.

“Pastry chef?” Cynthia caught the important point.

“Wait, I’m evaluating Alcremie’s pastry skills. She’ll be out from the kitchen soon.”

As he spoke, Natsume turned the phone’s camera to face a plate of strawberry cream Poké Puff on the table and took a small bite.

The sweet, rich aroma spread out. The Poké Puff was topped with delicious fresh cream, arranged in a white porcelain dish.

From the appearance, this dessert was flawless!

“Alcremie~” The “little chef” Alcremie looked up shyly at Natsume.

Natsume gazed carefully, examining the Poké Puff, then cut off a piece with a knife and fork to taste.

“Alcremie?” Alcremie asked nervously.

Natsume set down his knife and fork and said calmly, “To be honest, I have a big complaint…”

Alcremie froze.

“You should have made this for me much sooner.”

Alcremie let out a sigh of relief.

“That way I’d have known—this isn’t a dessert at all.”

Alcremie started trembling—gif.

Natsume smiled, “This is a work of art!”

After riding those highs and lows, Alcremie looked at the head chef again, saw he wouldn’t reverse himself again, and was so moved she teared up.

“Alcremie~(ó﹏o?)”

On the other end of the video call, Cynthia’s smile grew gentler, but an almost freezing killing intent started to leak through the screen.

Natsume hurried to comfort her: “I’m just kidding, Alcremie, don’t take it seriously!”

Alcremie blinked.

So, am I supposed to be happy, or sad right now?

“As compensation, I’ll demonstrate a dessert for you.”

Natsume stood up. “Your desserts are already quite good, but you could still aim a little more for my level.”

Alcremie tilted her head, strawberry candies quivering a bit.

The desserts he makes—could they really taste even better than mine?

Natsume made a dessert called “Eevee pancakes,” a pretty basic form of cooking.

The pancakes were soft, crisp, and stacked in layers, topped by an Eevee-shaped cake. The cream was fluffy and soft, like Eevee’s fur, with clear honey drizzled on top.

“Alcremie, this is the basic cooking you need to learn.”

Natsume placed the dish on the table with a smile. “Give it a try.”

Alcremie sat in a chair; the cream under her control didn’t spill over, and she looked like a little strawberry-flavored jelly.

She picked up knife and fork, cut off a bite of pancake, and put it in her mouth. Her ruby-like eyes went wide.

Delicious! So delicious!

“Alcremie!” Alcremie looked up at the manager.

Boss, I want to learn this!

Delibird’s wish was to deliver packages to every corner of the world.

Alcremie’s wish was to make the world’s best cake.

Sirfetch’d’s wish was not to be eaten… (crossed out)

Not every Pokémon is made for battle; some have their own dreams too.

Natsume leaned an arm on the table, smiling, “I can teach you. How much you learn is up to you.”

Alcremie nodded forcefully, then blushed and laughed shyly.

On the video call, Cynthia lowered her lashes as her golden hair fell softly beside black hair ornaments.

Thought bubbles seemed to emerge and twist, turning into a “triple-cream ice cream cone.”

The ice cream Alcremie made apparently had sixty-three different flavors…

Cynthia’s fingers brushed her chin, her gaze flickering.

Next break, she’d go to Lumiose City, find Natsume, and try all those flavors of Alcremie’s ice cream…

Wait a second.

There are sixty-three flavors!?

Cynthia’s brows furrowed in deep thought; she pressed her lips in silence.

Natsume was startled by this cute but intense seriousness, nervous:

“Is time and space in Sinnoh acting up again?”

“It’s a crisis on that level.”

“What? I can leave for Sinnoh this afternoon!” Natsume said seriously.

“Which one should I try first, out of Alcremie’s sixty-three flavors of cream ice cream?” Cynthia replied earnestly.

“…That truly is a major crisis.”

“See?” Cynthia narrowed her eyes, smiling with joy.

According to time of evolution, location, and rotation time, Alcremie has sixty-three forms.

That was the big research conference finding of the last half-year; a notable scholar had managed to evolve a full sixty-three types, earning the title “Professor Alcremie.”

On asking, Natsume learned Cynthia would be on her day off tomorrow, with Lucian returning from vacation to cover her work.

Natsume’s eyes glistened with emotion.

Because, in the Sinnoh League, there are people he is most grateful to…

The café would officially open tomorrow.

Besides the noble Sinnoh Champion,

Natsume had invited office-bound Lance and Steven, who was mining in the Kalos region.

He even sent an invitation to Leon…

But with directionally-challenged Leon, the maze-like streets of Lumiose City could trap him for days and nights.

A navigation-impaired case—even if riding Charizard, he’d never find the place—the “super directionally-challenged” Leon.

That’s about on par with Natsume-sensei’s “fear of heights” talent.

Taking this opportunity, Natsume also planned to ask Steven about the whereabouts of the Pixie Plate.

On Assistant Oleana’s suggestion, invitations also went to Kalos’s Elite Four and Gym Leaders.

“Battle cafés” are a beloved tradition in Lumiose City; at the opening ceremony, a high-standard battle would really boost the café’s reputation.

“You could turn your Pokémon café into Kalos’s second battle facility after the Battle Castle,” Oleana suggested.

“Have mercy…” Natsume sighed.

One grand opening is enough—I really don’t want the renovators trekking through my house all the time!

“By the way, I heard Valerie has a fashion show in Lumiose City—she may not be able to make it?”

“She’s at Lumiose City fashion week, so Leader Valerie probably can’t attend the ribbon-cutting. Also, Leader Clemont is currently away.”

“That’s fine, then.”

Natsume nodded in satisfaction.

Afternoon.

Considering he might have to travel soon, Natsume brought the little ones to Prism Tower.

Because Natsume often used the training grounds, Clemont wisely reinforced the facilities.

Today, Clemont and Bonnie weren’t at Prism Tower.

To greet Natsume-sensei was the robot and acting Gym Leader Clembot, built by Clemont.

“Welcome, welcome!” Clembot crackled with stiff electronic speech.

“Just borrowing your grounds for a quick team assessment.”

Natsume smiled. “Don’t worry; it’ll be over in a flash!”

……

Boom!!

“Sylveon! (〝▼皿▼)”

Sylveon dashed forward on lithe white legs, swirling with fierce white light. She whipped her ribbons, launching Double-Edge at Sirfetch’d!

“Sirfetch’d… (′︿‵)” Sirfetch’d stood frozen, tears streaming down his face.

Why am I the first up!?

Shield raised, Sirfetch’d used “Detect” to guard against Sylveon’s assault and was shoved back several meters.

Then, Sirfetch’d’s lance glowed with intense golden light—a Meteor Assault, threw like a golden javelin toward victory!

The Meteor Assault streaked through the arena.

“Sylveon!!”

Sylveon sang out with a high-pitched voice, forming shock waves; the “certain-hit” javelin skewed off course!

Natsume’s eyelid twitched.

That luck, to actually dodge the all-or-nothing spear!

The lance struck the wall behind Sylveon, its golden glow bursting forth into a shockwave, like the move-effect for “Max Wyrmwind”!

Boom!

The shockwave thundered, but the reinforced grounds held; the cracks weren’t too severe.

Clembot’s program froze.

Neither of these Pokémon… are exactly regulation!

Dodging Sirfetch’d’s javelin, Sylveon charged in, while Sirfetch’d wore a look of willing sacrifice.

Losing to Sylveon-sister—it was worth it!

At the very last moment,

Sylveon stopped, suavely twirled her ribbons, pranced off, and turned away. “Sylveon~”

Sirfetch’d blinked, then his eyes welled with tears.

“Sirfetch’d! (′︿‵)”

Thank you, Sylveon, for sparing me!

“All right, take a break, next round!” Natsume called from off the field.

Sirfetch’d & Clembot: ???

There’s a next round!?

……

After an afternoon of small tests at Prism Tower, Natsume got a rough sense of his team’s ranking.

Currently, the first tier is Gengar and Blastoise—both, after Mega Evolution, have Champion-level peak strength.

Looking at their performance, beating second-tier legendaries is no problem.

Up against something like Primal Kyogre, Mega Blastoise could hold his own in a move-exchange.

Second tier is Arcanine and Sylveon, at Champion and near-Champion strength; Arcanine, who’s mastered “Intertwining Force,” is slightly ahead.

Sylveon, after gaining “Lunar Dance” at the Sinnoh League, has barely improved compared to other team members.

It’s precisely for this reason that Natsume-sensei wants to seek out the Pixie Plate, in hopes of making up for it.

Third tier—Sirfetch’d clearly threw the match to lose to Togepi, so Natsume didn’t count him.

Then again, maybe he’s innocent, and Sirfetch’d really can’t beat Togepi…

As evening drew on,

Clembot, who’d watched all afternoon, short-circuited and stared blankly.

Natsume waved a hand in front of the robot and looked at the slow progress bar on the screen, muttering,

“Maybe it’ll be fine when it reboots…”

“Is anybody here?”

Suddenly, Prism Tower’s radio picked up a new challenger’s voice.

“I’m here to challenge the fourth gym—to win the Electric-type Badge!”

Natsume blinked, then glanced at the crashed Clembot.

He paused for around three seconds.

Natsume replied into the microphone:

“Coming! Today Prism Tower is under the protection of the substitute Leader—I’ll be right there!”

……

Lumiose City, fashion salon.

“You want to withdraw from this year’s fashion week?”

The coordinator looked in disbelief at the black-haired woman in feathery accessories. “Miss Valerie, are you sure? This is an important opportunity for you and your team!”

Valerie said softly, “I understand…but something even more important awaits me tomorrow.”

More important than Lumiose Fashion Week?

Among professionals, this is the top-tier fashion show!

The coordinator, annoyed, pressed her: “Only if all Eight Masters gathered in Lumiose City would that count!”

Valerie blinked her striking black-and-white eyes, surprised: “Oh, did you get an invitation too?”

“What invitation?” The coordinator looked bewildered.

“Tomorrow, for the World Tournament, the top four of the Eight Masters will arrive in Lumiose City.”

Valerie’s eyes flickered. “To attend Natsume-sensei’s café’s ribbon-cutting ceremony!”

Coordinator: ???