Paradise Pokeball System

PP SYS Ch 38: What A Treasure Really Is

"Oh, sorry! I didn't see you there," I said as she smiled.

"It's all right! I was just wondering when you were going to be back, but I thought you might have one more class," Tallia said as she looked me up and down. " What happened to you?"

"Stone carving in Art, so I came back to clean up real quick," I said, thinking about how she was just going to stand and wait here for another hour if I hadn't returned.

"Oh! Well, I am sorry for coming by like this!" Tallia said as she started to blush, but I shook my head as I pulled my card out and opened my door.

"Come in, and I will just get washed up quickly and change my clothes," I said as I went over to my dresser and grabbed new clothes. I would just skip the shower, I guess, and clean up.

"Thank you, I was feeling a bit awkward out there, but I didn't want to miss you," Tallia called from my bed as I went into the bathroom to wash up.

"Well, you can wait here if you want. I think that Nemona is going to be coming by later, so you can wait with her if you want," I called back.

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"Actually, she told me that she is going to be staying late. They are having some problems with something at her work," Tallia called back as I turned the taps off and changed. I wondered what she was even doing down there.

"Is it something bad?" I asked as I rinsed my face off and then dried it once more before coming back out to where Tallia was sitting.

"I don't think so; they are just having trouble figuring something out. I am not really allowed to talk about what goes on down in Area Zero unless you get clearance. There is important research going on down there, but the problem is that all the Pokémon are strange and much different than you have ever seen. Not only that, but they are also very strong, so you have to be strong to even go down there," Tallia explained, and I nodded.

"Okay. Since you used to go to this school, I don't think we will cause too much trouble if you come to Mr. Saguaro's Home Ec class, right?" I asked, and Tallia nodded with a smile as she got off the bed.

"Yes, I think that would be fine. It might be a little awkward at first with me being here, but it should go away after a while," she said as we left the dorm and started walking down the path to Saguaro's class.

The walk was filled with talk of my day so far, but Tallia didn't really say much about hers. I wasn't sure why she didn't want to talk about it, but I decided to leave it alone. When we got to Saguaro's class, Tallia sat with me in the back as he taught us how to cook pasta.

At first, I was a little awkward because she was there, but then it just got worse.

"Landon! I see you have brought the lovely Tallia with you! Why not come up, and show the class your skills?!" Saguaro pretty much demanded, and everyone looked at me.

My first reaction was to panic, but then I remembered when I was in Art class. I wasn't normal, and I had the assistance of an AI, so I just had to be confident, and do my very best.

"Are you okay with this, Landon? Tallia asked, and I stood up.

"I will figure something out," I said with a wink, and then headed up to the front.

[Very good. While you have the knowledge of a master chef and most of the skills, from what I have scanned, you lack many major ingredients for something complicated. This seems to be part of the test in itself. I have to respect your teacher for putting you to the test, but I already have uploaded the recipe of what would work best with the food you have.]

"I look forward to seeing what you create, Landon. I wish I could have seen what Hassel described to me, but I wish to see what you can do in the kitchen!" Saguaro declared, and I nodded with a sigh as I got to work.

The first thing that I did was grab a large pot and put it on the stove with water and a dash of salt. There was some small tubed pasta with angle-cut ends called penne that I would be cooking, but the water had to get up to boil first.

I was making homemade Alfredo sauce from scratch, which was surprisingly easy! To start, I had to collect a few simple ingredients such as butter, heavy cream, garlic cloves, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. I started by melting the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.

The water came to a boil, so I turned it down, tossed in the penne pasta, and then looked up the class briefly. They were all staring with rapt attention, but I had to get back to what I was doing.

Once it melted, I added the minced garlic and sautéd it for about a minute. Next, pour in the heavy cream and stir until it starts to thicken. Once it thickened, the last part was to add in the grated Parmesan cheese. I continued stirring until all of the cheese had melted into the sauce and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. Finally, I removed from the heat as Saguaro came over to the pot to taste, but I slapped his hand back.

"Let it rest first; I will drain it and then you can try it together," I said, not even really sure why I did, and even less why I smacked my teacher's hand, but he stepped back.

"The smell is romantic! If you say that I should wait, I will listen! Students! Can you smell that aroma?! This is close to what a treasure really is to me!" Saguaro declared with his hands in the air, and I laughed as I walked over and drained the pasta and then plated it on a large oversized serving platter.