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In the midst of a howling snowstorm, Ash and Pikachu were stranded in a forest that was patrolled by territorial Abomasnow.
“Pika! Pika!” Pikachu cried out for Ash as he struggled to keep up, sinking into the snow. Ash held his arm against his forehead, blocking the onslaught of snow and wind as he trudged through the deep fluffy snow.
“Look over there!” Ash yelled out to Pikachu, “there’s a cabin up ahead!” the duo picked up the pace, stumbling over to the cabin door.
“Hello? Is anyone home?” Ash banged loudly against the old wooden door
“Pikaaaaa!” Pikachu jumped over to the window to peer inside
“Is no one inside Pikachu?” Ash glanced over at Pikachu who nodded back firmly. Ash tried the rusty doorknob, twisting it a couple times but it broke off in his hand. Pikachu leaped over and Ash stepped aside
“Pikachu! Use quick attack!” Pikachu struck the door open in a flash and the two hurried inside before slamming the door shut
“Phew… At least we won’t get hammered down by an Abomasnow.” Ash brushed off the snow on his coat jacket with his gloved hands while Pikachu shook off the snow on his fur with a “Brrr” sound.
Ash took a step inside the cabin and investigated its contents. It was sparsely furnished, with an old dusty sofa, a stained wooden coffee table and a rusty metal bedframe with a patched mattress sitting on top. On the contrary, there was almost every appliance you could imagine: an oven, a toaster, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a vacuum, a grass mower, a telephone, and so forth.
“Huh, strange… The furniture look as if they haven’t been sat on in ages, but the appliances look brand new, right Pikachu?” Pikachu glanced around curiously and nodded.
All of a sudden, a pantry door flung open and a bag of sugar fell out of the shelf, an old piece of paper following.
“Woah, what was that?!” Ash exclaimed and took a step backward tentatively. Pikachu cautiously prodded toward the fallen bag of sugar and gave it a quick nudge with its cheek. Ash kneeled down beside Pikachu and picked up the handwritten note.
“This is… a recipe? For… baking cookies?” Ash flipped the piece of paper back and forth, verifying that this was indeed a cookie recipe. Pikachu’s ears perked up as he began to hear a vibration coming from the oven.
“What’s wrong Pikachu? Is there something here?” Ash stood up and spun towards the direction that had Pikachu fixated. The oven lights flickered and the vibrations had progressed into violent shakes
“Pikaaaaa…!” Pikachu arched into a defensive position with electricity built up in his cheeks. Just as Pikachu was about to strike the oven with a thunderbolt attack, the oven door bursted open and a Pokémon zoomed out.
“Aack! Pikachu be careful!” Ash instinctively ducked and shut his eyes as the unidentified Pokémon zoomed around, bouncing off the cabin walls. Pikachu flattened his ears with worry as he lowered himself as close to ground as possible, trying not to get struck by the flying ball of energy.
Once the Pokémon had calmed down, Ash opened his eyes slowly and was met with a small orange Pokémon charged with electricity, floating in front of his face with a gleeful smile.
Ash’s face was lit with surprise and he reached into his pocket to pull out his Pokedex. He pointed it at the unknown Pokémon and the Pokédex began scanning
“Rotom, the plasma Pokemon, Rotom plays practical jokes which it carries out by embedding its plasma body in electronic devices.”
“So that’s why these appliances look so new! It’s because you have been playing around with them haven’t you?” Ash scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and relaxed himself alongside Pikachu, who let out a tiny content sigh, glad that he didn’t need to thunderbolt the entire cabin down.
The Rotom drifted over to the pantry and glanced down at the fallen bag of sugar
“Ro-tom!” the Rotom spun around in a circle energetically
“You want us to bake cookies don’t you?” Ash held out the cookie recipe to the Rotom with a kind smile.
“Rotom! Roooooo-tom!” the Rotom nodded enthusiastically and used its ghost powers to manipulate the fallen bag of sugar and the rest of the cookie ingredients from the pantry and fridge onto a counter beside the oven
“Well Pikachu, the snow isn’t going away anytime soon, and I would hate to be frozen into an ice cube by an Abomasnow, how about we help make some cookies for our new friend?” Ash squatted down and extended a hand out to Pikachu
“Pika!” Pikachu high fived Ash and leapt onto the counter. Pikachu grabbed a giant spoon that was laid on the counter and began banging the handle against the counter happily
“Pika, pika, pikaaa!” Pikachu giggled as he watched Rotom bust some funny dance moves on top of the mixing bowl.
“Let’s see here…” Ash strode over to the counter while reading the list of ingredients. “We’ll need two cups of sugar…” Pikachu opened the bag of sugar with his tiny hands and tried to scoop out the sugar, but the weight of the spoon made him stumble backward
“Ro-tom!” Rotom noticed that Pikachu was about to fall and quickly manipulated the spoon out of Pikachu’s hands and began to scoop out the sugar for Pikachu. Pikachu fell on his back and laid there dumfounded
“Pikaaaa… Pikaaa…” Ash couldn’t help but chuckle at Pikachu’s defeated look
“Cmon Pikachu, you gotta be more careful next time! That spoon is too big for you!” Pikachu got back up and gave himself a quick shake before he crawled over to the eggs. Pikachu nudged one of the eggs with his nose, inspecting it closely. He carefully wrapped his paws around it and lifted it up, only for it to wobble dangerously
“Wait, easy there Pikachu-” Ash started, but it was too late. The egg slipped out of Pikachu’s slippery grip and it fell onto the wooden floor with a wet “splat”
“Pika…” Pikachu froze with his ears drooped, staring at the mess he made
“It’s okay Pikachu, don’t feel bad, recipes can be really messy sometimes” Ash gave Pikachu’s head a gentle but reassuring pat
“Ro-tooom!” Rotom zipped over, amused, and possessed the refrigerator with a flash of blue electricity. The fridge door swung open on its own and another carton of eggs floated out, gently setting itself on the counter. Rotom popped back out, striking a proud pose
“Alright, alright,” Ash said with a grin, “Looks like we’ve got a helpful chef on our hands.”
With Rotom floating the mixing bowl and Pikachu carefully cracking eggs under Ash’s guidance, the cookie dough slowly came together as the rest of the ingredients were added. Pikachu stirred with intense concentration, tongue sticking out slightly, while Rotom occasionally sparked with excitement and spun the bowl a little too fast, flinging the cookie dough onto Pikachu and Ash’s face. Ash chuckled as he wiped the cookie dough with his sleeve whilst Pikachu licked a splatter of cookie dough and let out a cry of satisfaction.
Once the dough was finally ready, Ash took off his coat jacket. “Okay, time to bake. Rotom, think you can handle the oven without… you know… exploding out of it again?”
Rotom tilted its head, then gave a confident nod. It slipped into the oven smoothly this time. Ash and Pikachu took the cookie dough and rolled them into balls, placing them on a tray. Once all the cookie dough had been used up. Ash took the tray of unbaked cookies and the oven door had opened by itself
“Alright Rotom, bake em’ until they’re golden!” Ash slotted the tray onto a rack inside the open and took a couple steps backward. The oven door closed shut and a warm orange glow began to fill the cabin.
Pikachu let out a happy sigh and curled up near the oven. “Pikaaa…”
For the first time since the storm began, the cabin felt cozy. Outside, the wind still howled, and the distant roar of Abomasnow echoed through the forest, but inside there was only warmth, laughter, and the sweet smell of baking cookies.
After around 10 minutes, the oven door popped open with a “ding!” and the tantalizing smell of freshly baked cookies took over the atmosphere. A tray of perfectly golden cookies floated out and was set on the old coffee table in front of the sofa.
“Rotom!” Rotom bounced out from the oven and zapped over to the coffee table
Ash’s eyes lit up. “You did it!”
Pikachu hopped to his feet and clapped excitedly. “Pika! Pika!”
Ash and Pikachu settled down together on the sofa whilst Rotom hovered above the coffee table.
Ash broke one cookie in half and offered a piece to Pikachu, then another to Rotom.
“Thanks for letting us stay here Rotom, guess getting lost wasn’t so bad after all.” Ash smiled as he took a cookie for himself. He took a bite of the cookie, chewing it deep in thought. Rotom and Pikachu waited for Ash’s approval
“This tastes… Amazing!” Ash exclaimed and began to eat the rest of the delicious cookie
“Pika! Pikaaa!” Pikachu cheered and bit into his half of the cookie while Rotom made a celebratory dance before shoving the cookie into his plasma mouth
“You can have the rest Rotom” Ash gestured to the tray of cookies and Pikachu nodded with him. Rotom tilted himself almost as if to ask “Really?” before levitating the tray of cookies and pouring the rest of the cookies into its mouth in one go
“Wow, someone sure loves cookies!” Ash laughed in amusement as he stood up to glance outside the window
“Look Pikachu! The storm has died down! We can safely make it out of the forest now!” Ash pointed towards the diminishing snowfall.
Ash put on his coat and made his way to the front door, Pikachu following. The duo turned back one last time but the Rotom was gone.
“Huh, seem’s like Rotom’s gone already-” before the two could react, the toaster dinged and two slices of bread came flying straight into the baffled faces of Ash and Pikachu.