"Ah! You're finally back. Took you long enough." Ace calls out to your group as you reenter the kitchen.

Trey smiles as you guys set the bags on the counter, having cleaned up the bag on the way back and gotten a new egg carton. No one- outside of you, Deuce, Grim, Moonstone, and Poni- needs to know what went down.

Trey finishes mixing up the chestnut paste as you and Ace make the dough and roll it out. Deuce sits at the counter, going through a mid-life crisis about the eggs.

You and Ace finally place the dough into the tins, and Trey pours the chestnut paste in. He sets the now-filled tins in the oven and sets timer for how long the goods need to bake.

Casual banter fills the kitchen as you wait for the tarts to bake.

"Heh, this reminds me of the time Ms. Katy taught me how to bake." You say with a smile.

"Oh, who's that?" Trey asks, looking curious.

"She's a Gym Leader back home. She runs the Bug-Type gym in Cortondo. She's a baker, too." You explain. "She taught me how to bake when she learned I didn't know how, heh."

"Oh, interesting." Trey says with a smile.

The group keeps chatting absent-mindedly, and even Chile comes out of his Pokéball to hang out with you. Eventually, the timer goes off and causes Grim to jump into your arms in a panic.

You, Trey, Chile, and Ace giggle at Grim being startled by the timer. You all- outside of Deuce- eagerly watch Trey pull the tarts out of the oven and set it on the kitchen island, next to the bag of powdered sugar Trey pulled out when the tarts were baking.

"Now, we just sprinkle on a little powdered sugar and..." Trey sprinkles a good amount of powdered sugar onto the tarts.

"Finished!" Grim and Ace chipperly call out, and you and Chile grin.

"Fin...ished..." Deuce mumbles, sitting next to you as he stares blankly ahead at nothing.

You gently pat him on the head to comfort him as Ace gives you two a confused look. "Did something happen when you were shopping."

"Deuce has a right to tell you himself when he feels better." You calmly respond as Deuce buries his head in his arms.

"For sixteen years, I was so sure." Deuce grumbles into his arms, relaxing slightly as you pat him.

"Yeah, whatever..." Ace rolls his eyes without seeming to care too much. "I'm pretty beat. Making tarts sure takes it outta you."

"Hey fam!" A familar and upbeat voice gets everyone's attention.

"Oh, hey Cater." You say with a smile at the new boy walking in.

"Heya!" Cater says with a grin at you, before making a small snicker at your guy's disheveled appearance. "You looked wrecked. Are the tarts done? Ooh! Those look soooo cute! Lemme snap a quick pic for Magicam!"

You idly watch Cater snap pictures of the tarts, keeping a close eye to make sure he doesn't try to take any pictures of you. Ace watches, unamused, with crossed arms. "What? Now you decide to show up?"

"I just came to see how hard my little newbs are working..." Cater shrugs, and you give him a strained and slightly annoyed smile at that comment.

He doesn't know- or need to know- how fucking brutal you are. And you're good at video games. You have the power many wish they had...

"It's tough work if your not used to it." Trey comments as he slices into one of the tarts. "But there's no better cure for the ails of fatigue than something sweet from the oven! Help yourself to some of this tart."

You and the others cheer, and even Deuce weakly cheers at the idea. Ace then gives Cater a suspicious glare. "Pretty funny how you managed to show up right when it was ready to eat, Cater..."

Cater merely shrugs. "Someone's gotta be the offical taste-tester."

You put on a giant smile and gesture with both hands at Chile and Poni standing there with innocent and cute expressions. "These two, have literally been here the entire time. We already had official taste-testers." You're still bitter at him calling you a 'newb'.

"Well, now you have three!" Cater says with a bright smile at you.

"Mmm... that smells so good..." Grim practically drools out, staring with dilated pupils at the slice of tart that's been passed to him by Trey (everyone got one, including your Pokémon). "Glossy chestnuts on top... fluffy cream below... I can't wait another second! I'm going in!"

Grim chows down on the slice, and you shake your head at his manners with a slight amused smile. You take a bite along with the others, and immediately a burst of flavor fills coats your tastebuds.

"Pon!" Poni excitedly calls out. "Ponyo! Pon pon poni!" She obviously likes the tart, even doing a little happy dance as Chile makes a pleased snort.

"Oh dang..." Ace breathes out at the tart's taste.

"Yuuum! Liked and subscriiibed!" Cater gives Trey a thumbs up, but you note something about Cater. Slightly faster chewing and swallowing than everyone, like he's trying to get the tart out of his mouth as quickly as possible... hm...

Deuce stares at the tart in awe, having been broken out of his trance about eggs. Odd, how you literally read a few pages about chickens and learned they don't live in eggs before he did... "This is like something from a fancy bakery..."

Grim closes his eyes and savors the flavor, which you take as rare considering you see how the cat-monster's scarfed down food. "Rich in flavor, yet not too sweet. It's like chestnuts are dancing across my tongue!"

Trey gives Grim a confused smile. "Is that a good thing?"

"Well, you got Ogerpon to do her happy dance so... I'm going to say yes, yes it is a good thing." You comment with a smile.

Cater's eyes light up. "Oh, Trey! You gotta do the thing."

"The thing?" Trey looks confused for a moment, before he realizes what Cater means. "Oh... that!"

Ace quirks an eyebrow, pausing before taking a second bite. "Uh... Wanna fill me in here?"

"What's everyone's food?" Trey asks, ignoring Ace's question.

Ace is startled for a moment at the random question. "Me? Probably cherry pie. Or hamburgers."

"Tuna's at the top of my list. Then probably cheese omelets, roast meat, puddin'..." Everyone ignores Grim as he keeps talking about food.

Deuce thinks for a moment. "If I had to pick, I guess I'd say... omelet rice?"

"I'd like a nice lamb chop with diabolo sauce." Cater says with a smile. To be honest, you did not expect that answer from him.

You calmly say your favorite food before hesitating. "I- uh- don't think you have those here though, so... I'm gonna say chocolate donuts I guess. I don't know, I'm not really picky as long as it's vegetarian. Moonstone likes strawberry crepes, Chile likes hashbrowns, and Poni really likes candy apples."

Trey nods and pulls his pen-wand out of his pocket. "All right, you got it. Let's Paint the Roses!"

And with that, he waves the pen over the slices of tart you each hold. However, nothing seems to change much about it. At least physically.

Poni tilts her head in confusion as Deuce frog-blinks. "Huh? What does that mean?"

Trey only smiles at your guy's confusion. "Take another bite of your tart and see."

You and Moonstone share a confused look. You two each shrug and take a bite of your tart- and you're immediately blown away by how it tastes exactly like a chocolate donut. You give it a quizzical look as Moonstone looks just as startled as you.

Ace gives his tart an amazed look. "Huh? How- now it tastes like cherry pie!"

"It's just like canned tuna!" Grim cheerfully calls out as he takes bite after bite. "Now it tastes like cheese omelets! And grilled meat! And puddin'!"

"Neat trick, eh? That's gotta be a hit when Trey's having tea with the ladies." Cater winks at you with a sly grin, and you raise an eyebrow.

"How did you know I like tea?" You ask Cater, before Cater pauses.

"...you don't know what I mea- uh- nevermind..." He grins sheepishly, and you blink innocently. You genuinely don't understand whatever he's implying.

The irony of you being terrible at sensing when people are flirting with you yet being so damn good at reading others...

"It's very impressive." Deuce comments with a nod at Trey. "Is changing flavors your signature spell, Trey?"

"Technically, it's overwriting characteristics." Trey explains. "I can change taste, color, smell, whatever. But it only lasts for a little while. But it is kinda like covering up the real thing, hence painting."

Grim grins, obviously thinking of every single possibility. "If I had magic like that, I could be eatin' canned tuna every meal of every day! That's way better than Riddle's stupid collar magic!"

You give Grim a look of 'repeat that and I'll chuck you out a window'. People shouldn't be jerks to people who are jerks to them. That just makes the people just as bad as the original jerks.

You, of course, aren't perfect. You can have a short temper. But you usually try to be polite to everyone.

Trey smiles and shakes his head at Grim, who's nervously sweating at your expression. "Oh, that's on a whole other league. His signature spell is a weapon. Mine's just childish prestidigitation. Speaking of Riddle..."

He glances at the time on the oven, and you look over as well. Wow, it's already six in the afternoon... "Let's call it a day and do it tomorrow. Don't forget tomorrow's the Unbirthday party. You don't want to be late."

You raise an eyebrow. "Isn't tomorrow Friday though? What time is the party."

Trey thinks for a moment. "Hm... should be around five in the afternoon."

"Oh, okay!" You say with a smile, and pick up Poni when she pulls on your sleeve for uppies.

Ace groans and shakes his head at the idea he can't go back to his dorm today. "Y/N, can I crash with you again? It doesn't sound like I'll be allowed back in my own dorm tonight."

Cater tilts his head. ""Again"? Seriously?"

Deuce crosses his arms. "It isn't right to keep mooching off Y/N, Ace."

Grim huffs as he clambers onto your shoulder. "Yeah, it ain't! If you wanna stay tonight, you gotta pay for the privilege! Ten cans of tuna!"

"What?" Ace slumps his shoulders. "Guess I'm sleeping outside then..."

"Grim, no." You scold before looking at Ace. "Ace, I'm fine with you staying in the dorm again. What do you three think?"

Each of your Pokémon who are currently out nod in agreement, and you smile. "Okay, it's a yes from us, Ace."

Trey thinks as you chat with Ace a bit and looks at Deuce. "Why don't you go stay at Y/N's dorm too, Deuce, so you can keep an eye on him? As vice housewarden, I can issue you a sleepover pass."

"I'm fine with that too." You comment with a smile.

"That's our Trey, always spoiling the newbs." Cater says with an amused smile. "What fun for you. Ooh, maybe I'll come too! What do you say, Y/N?"

You manage to nod slightly and open your mouth to speak, but Trey calmly cuts you off, stepping up to stand next to you and look at Cater. "No pass for you."

"Aw. Sad trumpet." Cater sighs dramatically and mocks playing a trumpet. "Womp womp wooooomp..."

You giggle at Cater being dramatic like this, and Trey turns to you with a slight smile. "Sorry to dump them all on you, Y/N. At least it's just for tonight."

You wave a hand. "Eh, I'm totally fine with it. As long as my Pokémon are also fine, I'm satisfied."

Ace sighs and mumbles to himself. "Tomorrow's the Unbirthday party. Finally, I'm gonna get rid of this stupid collar! Just you wait, Riddle!"

--------

After saying goodbye to you, Ace, Deuce, Grim, and your Pokémon (with Cater trying- and failing- to snap another picture of you on Koraidon's back), Trey and Cater go back to their own dorm, Heartslabyul.

Walking into the dorm foyer, a student anxiously runs up to the two. "Trey! Cater! You're finally back! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"What happened?" Trey asks, an expression of worry crossing his face.

"Ten dorm members were caught violating rule 256: No drinking honey sweetened lemonade after 8 pm. Housewarden Riddle collared them all!" The student balls up his hair in his hands, looking absolutely panicked.

Trey and Cater share a concerned look with eachother before looking back at the student as he starts talking again. "I can't take it anymore! I can't live like this! Everything we do violates some insane rule! I want to transfer to another dorm! There's that girl on campus in the old building, right? Do you think she'll let me in?"

Trey places a hand on the anxious student's shoulder. "It'll be okay, calm down. We'll go talk to the Housewarden. You go back to your room."

The student frantically thanks them and darts off to his room, mumbling about how he probably could buy you something to bribe his way into your dorm and get out of this 'hellhole'.

Cater sighs at the student's retreating form. "Well, Y/N's managing to make a name of herself despite never really talking to anyone... Guess I'd better go make tea or something, as a show of deference to the queen."

"Thanks Cater." Trey says with a smile. "But make sure it's herbal tea, not black. You know what rule 153 says about drinking tea at night."

Cater scratches the back of his head. "...Yeeeeaah, sure. Of course."