My Pokémon Story of Seasons

Chapter 162 Tong Hua vs. Tong Hua

Spring of the 112th year of the Alliance Calendar, May 25th.

On the second day back to normal, Fairy Tale Ranch and Happiness Dessert Shop finally reopened.

Early in the morning, two new members of the ranch began helping Tong Hua manage the dessert shop.

"Ooh."

Riolu and Lucario kept carrying out desserts and placing them on the shelves one by one.

"Mmm—"

As Lucario carried the food, he secretly took one out of each plate and tasted it.

This wasn't taught to me by some little squirrel; I genuinely couldn't resist eating it myself.

Tong Hua's cooking seems to have a certain magic; anyone who has tasted it will become fascinated and addicted to his dishes!

"Ooh—"

This even made Lucario, who had originally planned to leave to explore the world, waver a little.

The desire to explore the world and the appetite to savor delicious food are locked in a fierce battle within the body.

Riolu, sensing Lucario's feelings, couldn't help but look over.

Why is his cooking so delicious?

"I can cook too!"

The competitive Riolu got into a fight with himself.

Since transmigrating to this world, he discovered his own version of himself. Seeing how close his original companions were to him, even though he arrived first—whether it was the food, the companionship, or even the power of aura—

Why does it seem like I can always beat myself in this world?

A subtle sense of envy and resentment, which even Riolu himself was unaware of, began to spread in his heart.

He watched Tong Hua's busy figure in the kitchen, then looked at the exquisite, tempting, and fragrant desserts on the shelf, and suddenly made up his mind.

"Ooh!"

"I challenge you to a cooking duel!"

He suddenly shouted at Tong Hua in the kitchen, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.

Tong Hua was piping cream onto a batch of cream puffs when she heard this and turned around in surprise: "Si? Riolu, you can make desserts too?"

"Of course! And I'll definitely do better than you!" Riolu clenched his little fist, full of confidence.

"Trembling?" "Chirp chirp?" "Pop yo yo?"

The Pokémon helping out in the kitchen all looked at Riolu with great interest. They all knew that Riolu was Tong Hua from another world, and they were also very interested in the cooking showdown between the two Tong Huas.

"Great!" Tong Hua was inspired by Riolu's fighting spirit and put down the piping bag in her hand with a smile.

Since the preparations for opening the shop are almost complete, let's treat it as a pastime and play with Riolu.

Half an hour later, everyone at Fairy Tale Ranch gathered around the open-air restaurant, ready to judge Tong Hua and Leo. "Mew?"

Is Tong Huajun jealous?

This is the first time I've seen him cook so seriously, even though he usually seems so relaxed and carefree, clearly enjoying himself."

"La-hua—"

Ampharos and Pink Celebi whispered to each other outside the window, watching Riolu in the kitchen with an unusually focused, even slightly fierce, expression.

"Ming-oh—"

Riolu focused intently on processing the berries with practiced ease, each cut precise and demonstrating exceptional skill in controlling the heat.

Even when cooking with this Riolu body, he's already become very skilled!

From his posture, it was clear that he was a very experienced chef.

Meanwhile, Tong Hua, on the other side, still had a smile on her face.

"Perfect timing, my cooking profession is already at level 30, so I'll have you help me practice my new skills." Tong Hua looked at the profession panel, which displayed the cooking profession information.

[Cook: Level 31]

[Status: Luck increased, cold resistance increased, fishing ability increased.]

Experience points: 5200/74000

[Professional Skills: Manufacturing, Intermediate Processing, High-Speed ​​Manufacturing, Striding, Creative Manufacturing]

The Creative Cooking skill, unlocked at level 30, is a bit like opening a blind box. If you cook while this skill is active, you might create a dish that isn't recorded in the [Recipe Encyclopedia].

In other words, it's worth a shot: developing your own menu. While the potential is high, the minimum, which is essentially the average quality of the ingredients, won't be too low.

Feeling the intense challenge from her other self, Tong Hua couldn't help but devote 100% of her energy. She then decided to use everything she had learned to create an original dish that wasn't in the [Recipe Guide].

"Those two—they're serious." Foam Squirrel cupped his face, watching the fluid movements on both sides, both Tong Hua's eyes filled with a desire for victory.

Meow~

"Interesting." The pickpocket cat elegantly licked its paws, looking like it was enjoying the show.

In addition, there are Sweet Wuni and Little Fairy Milk, Salt Stone Treasure and the Bee Queen family, who provided ingredients for the two Tong Huas and are also judges for this competition.

"Oh my!" Sweetie conjured up a pair of flower balls from somewhere and cheered for Tong Hua and Riolu with great energy.

"Miru!" "Game!"

Before they knew it, everyone had gathered around the window. The aroma from the kitchen wafted out through the chimney, and even the construction crew in the distance could smell it.

"It's done."

With the help of the two skills, "Quick Preparation" and "Stride," Tong Hua was able to finish cooking before Riolu could.

Please enjoy.

Tong Hua smiled as she placed the dishes on the table, where several uniquely shaped desserts were laid out.

The outer layer is a perfectly baked flaky pastry with an enticing golden-yellow color. A small opening is cleverly left at the top, through which you can vaguely see the warm aroma and richer mixed fragrance slowly rising, as if some surprise is hidden inside.

The inspiration for this dish came from a dish called Seafood Chota Bread Soup that Tong Hua once ate. It was also served in a usable container and contained a rich, warm, and fluid filling.

【Bursting Surprise Pastry Box: Quality B, with a golden and crispy outer shell encasing warm mixed fruit puree and silky cream sauce. When cut open, the filling gushes out like lava, with a rich and layered aroma, giving people a double surprise of sight and taste.

Changing the filling might alter the added effects.

[Effect: Shell Smash (Medium), permanently increases Speed ​​upon use (only applies to one Pokémon).]

[Review: Breaking Through the Shell (Breaking through the outer shell to explore the surprises inside).]

Recommended processing method (alchemy).

Although it was only a B-grade dish, as a first attempt at creative cuisine, the result was enough to satisfy Tong Hua.

"However, I feel that this effect is influenced by the sand scaly fruit I added, right?"

Changing the filling might produce different results.

Meow!

"It smells so good!" The pickpocket cat couldn't resist and carefully licked the filling inside with her little tongue. The warm taste made her eyes light up.

"It's so hot—" For a cat's tongue, this scalding hot delicacy was still a bit too much to handle—

"Trembling!" The foam squirrel was even more direct, picking up a portion and gently pressing the top of the pastry box with its little paws.

With a crisp "crack," the warm filling, a blend of sweet and sour fruit and rich milky aroma, instantly gushed out, like tiny lava!

"Wow! It's flowing out!" He quickly brought his little face close and licked it, not caring at all about getting his cheeks dirty. An expression of immense happiness immediately appeared on his face, and his tail wagged excitedly at high speed.

The other Pokémon also joined in, carefully breaking open the flaky crust to savor the surprise inside.

For a moment, the dining table was filled with the crunching sound of flaky pastry and the satisfied exclamations of the Pokémon.

"Hoo~ hoo~" Sweet Wu Ni carefully scooped up a spoonful of filling soaked in flaky pastry, slowly blew on it to cool it down, and then held it to Mini Fu's mouth.

"Fufu~"

At the same time, the messenger bird helped the three little fairy milkwomen cool their portions, and the little fairy milkwomen happily ate them in small bites, their bodies emitting a sweet fragrance.

The Pokémon were all happily eating, which made Tong Hua determined to add this dessert to the limited-time menu in the future.

"Ugh!" After eating, Lucario's already wavering heart became even more hesitant.

"Perhaps I should stay here a little longer?"

Anyway, the world is there, and you can go explore it anytime you want.

Just then, Riolu finished his creation. He served up a plate of exquisitely crafted berry tarts.

The tart crust is baked to a perfect light brown color, thin and crisp, and topped with various carefully cut, uniformly shaped slices of fresh tree fruit.

There's the orange-yellow of oranges, the pink of peaches, the azure of berries, and the purple of berries—each leaf shimmers with an alluring luster, like a gemstone set within.

A thin, translucent layer of berry jelly is drizzled on top of the tart crust, making the whole creation look like a flawless work of art, almost too beautiful to eat.

However, its appearance after Tong Hua's bursting surprise pastry box made it seem rather ordinary.

However, everyone was very kind enough to try it. Even Tong Hua came over, picked up a piece of tree fruit tart, and tasted it very carefully, savoring each layer of flavor.

"The tart crust was baked to perfection, without any burnt bits, and was evenly thin, with a light and crispy texture, reaching the pinnacle of quality."

Tong Hua gave an extremely professional and sincere evaluation: "Leo, you are very strong."

How about we call this a draw?

"Huh?" Riolu was stunned for a moment, then looked at his plate of berry tarts that hadn't received much attention, and then at Tong Hua's sincere eyes. The resentment and competitiveness in his heart gradually subsided.

"Ooh." Riolu nodded, just like everyone else, and was completely integrated into the fairytale ranch.

This unexpected culinary duel ended in a peaceful draw. The Pokémon watching, though somewhat bewildered, sensed the mutual respect between the two and cheered happily.

"Alright, alright, the duel is over!" Tong Hua patted the table. "Everyone, pack up, the dessert shop needs to get ready to open for business."

No sooner had Tong Hua finished speaking than a shout came from outside the door.

Is anyone home?

"Here it comes!"

The voice sounded very familiar, so Tong Hua quickly went out of the room to take a look.

The people who arrived were surprisingly a handsome man and Maggie.