" Hey, Ash?"

" Yeah?"

" Uh...... How are we supposed to bake a cake?"

Ash shrugged as he took the dishes out. " Dunno. You're the girl."

Misty stared at Ash. " I don't know how to make a cake."

Ash froze mid step and turned.

" You're serious?"

Misty didn't do anything.

" None of us know how to bake a cake."

Misty, with her hand on her mouth, looked up and shook her head slightly.

Ash's eyes widened. " Uh it's fine we'll figure something out."



" WE'RE SO DEAD!" Ash yelled.

" HOW CAN WE MAKE A CAKE??" Misty hollered.

" SIRI YOU HAD ONE JOB!"

" Reminder - never bake a cake."

" Uh, uh uh..... How about we.... Uh... Say we ran out of ingredients?" Misty suggested.

" MOM ALREADY BOUGHT THE STUUUUFF!" Ash moped as he lay on the couch.

" And how does that make you feel?" Gary wearing glasses asked.

Misty snapped her fingers. " Let's ask Pikachu and Togepi!"

" To do what bake a cake?!" Ash sobbed.

" What even is that?!" Misty cried.

Delia came in holding the phone.." I just wanted to-"

She looked up and saw her son and daughter in law a mess.

Misty laughed. " We got you, mom! We'll come up with a cake in no time!"

When Delia left, Ash turned to Misty. How about we hire a chef!"

" What about the money??" Misty exclaimed.

" Uh,uh, uh... How about.... We buy a cake... And take all the credit?"

Misty gave him a look. " No. We can go see cakes but we are making it ourselves."

Ash shot up from the couch, his face determined. "Fine, we’ll walk to the shop. We need inspiration, right? Let’s look at some cakes and figure this out."

Misty groaned but stood up. “You realize the bakery is across town, right? By the time we get there and back, we’ll have, like, no time to actually bake anything!”

Ash grinned confidently. “We’re trainers, Misty! We’ve hiked through forests, climbed mountains—this is nothing.”

Misty crossed her arms, glaring. “You fell into most of those forests, Ash.”

“Semantics.” He grabbed his cap and turned it backward. “Let’s go.”

The two burst through the front door of Cerulean’s small bakery half an hour later, gasping for air. Ash bent over, clutching his knees. “See? No problem.”

Misty rolled her eyes. “I think we died on the way here.”

Inside, the shop was bustling with customers, and the smell of fresh pastries wafted through the air. The cake display sparkled like treasure behind the glass counter. There were cakes of all sizes—chocolate towers, delicate fruit tarts, and massive, icing-covered masterpieces that looked like something out of a fairy tale.

Misty’s eyes lit up as she stared. “Look at these! Ash, this is what we need.”

“Yeah,” Ash said with a gulp, his enthusiasm fading. “But how are we supposed to make that?”

“We’ll keep it simple!” Misty declared. “We’ll start small—like that one!” She pointed at a modest, two-layer cake with frosting that actually looked doable.

Ash frowned. “Are you sure? I mean, that looks like it still requires, y’know, skill.”

Misty waved him off. “We can do this! We’ll just… buy the ingredients and follow a recipe. How hard can it be?”

Ash blinked at her. “You literally just said you didn’t know how to bake.”

Misty hesitated. “...Details.”

Before Ash could argue, a voice called out. “Hey, kids! You look lost. Need some help?”

They turned to see the bakery’s owner, a kind-looking woman wiping flour off her hands. “Thinking of baking a cake yourselves, huh?”

“Uh, yeah…” Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “We’ve never done it before.”

The woman chuckled. “Well, don’t worry. I’ve got a basic cake recipe that anyone can follow. Just grab what you need from the store, take it step by step, and you’ll be fine.”

She handed them a small, handwritten recipe card. Misty’s face lit up as she held it like a sacred artifact. “Thank you so much!”

Ash looked less convinced. “This seems dangerous…”

“It’s just flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. You’ll be fine!” the woman reassured them.

“Famous last words,” Ash muttered.

Back outside, Misty pulled Ash along toward the grocery store. “Come on, we’ve got this!”

Ash groaned. “This is gonna be a disaster…”

“Positive vibes, Ash!” Misty shouted.

And so, with their recipe card in hand, the two began the frantic journey to gather ingredients and, somehow, create a cake worthy of Delia’s approval.

Flour coated the counters, sugar was sprinkled on the floor, and eggshells were strewn everywhere. Ash stared into the mixing bowl, his face pale.

“Misty,” he said slowly, “this doesn’t look like cake batter.”

Misty peered into the bowl. It was a gloopy, lumpy mess, looking nothing like the fluffy batter from the recipe card. “We… may have added too much of everything.”

“I told you ‘a pinch’ of salt wasn’t the same as a fistful,” Ash grumbled.

“Well, you were the one who dumped in half a bag of sugar!” Misty shot back.

Ash flung his hands in the air. “I was fixing it! I thought more sugar would balance it out!”

Misty grabbed a spoon and prodded the mixture. It made an unsettling plop. “Okay, okay. We can’t panic. We just need to… cover up the taste!”

Ash blinked. “How do we do that?”

Misty spun around, throwing open cabinets and drawers. “With flavor!” She grabbed the first thing she saw: a jar of chili powder. “Spicy cake is a thing, right?”

“I… think so?” Ash said, scratching his head. “I mean, I’ve heard of cinnamon.”

Misty dumped in a generous amount of chili powder, followed by paprika for good measure. Ash, feeling inspired, rummaged through the fridge and pulled out a bottle of mustard. “This adds flavor to everything, so why not cake?”

“Sure!” Misty said, increasingly frantic.

Before long, the bowl had become a horrifying chemistry experiment. Wasabi, mustard, chili powder, black pepper, hot sauce, and even ketchup had somehow ended up in the mix. The kitchen reeked of chaos.

Ash stirred the bowl carefully, his face scrunched in horror. “I think… I think it’s alive.”

Misty wiped sweat off her brow. “It’s fine. We’ll bake it, and it’ll taste better once it’s cooked.”

“...You promise?”

“Not even a little bit.”

An hour later, the oven timer dinged. Ash and Misty stood side by side, staring nervously at the oven door.

“Do you smell that?” Ash whispered.

“It smells like… feet,” Misty muttered.

Ash swallowed hard. “Well, here goes nothing.”

They opened the oven. Inside sat a cake—if it could even be called that. It was lumpy, slightly greenish, and oozing at the edges. Ash grabbed a spatula and carefully pried it out, setting it on the counter.

Misty stared. “It looks like a volcano.”

“Correction,” Ash said, grimacing. “It looks like a crime.”

“What do we do now?” Misty groaned.

Ash thought for a moment. “We cover it with frosting. Lots and lots of frosting.”

Misty brightened. “Right! Frosting hides everything!”

They dumped an entire tub of frosting on the cake—then another. By the time they were done, the lumpy monstrosity was coated in a thick, white blanket. Misty even added a few sprinkles for flair.

“It looks… edible,” Ash said uncertainly.

“Yeah! And we’ll just, uh, avoid eating it ourselves,” Misty added.

Just then, Delia’s voice called out from the other room. “Ash? Misty? Is the cake ready?”

Ash and Misty froze, exchanging panicked looks.

“We’re so dead,” Ash whispered.

Misty grabbed the cake platter and shoved it into his hands. “We’ve come this far. Now sell it.”

Taking a deep breath, Ash marched into the living room with Misty close behind. “Here it is, Mom! One homemade cake, just for you!”

Delia beamed. “Oh, how wonderful! It looks perfect!”

Ash and Misty laughed nervously as Delia grabbed a knife. They watched in horror as she sliced a piece and took a bite.

There was a pause.

Delia’s smile froze, her eye twitching ever so slightly. “...It’s certainly unique. What flavor did you say this was?”

Ash stammered. “Uh… a fusion cake! Very modern!”

Misty nodded rapidly. “Yeah, it’s, uh, spicy-sweet! A new trend!”

Delia stared at them, her polite smile still in place. “...Well, thank you for the effort. It’s the thought that counts.”

As Delia set the cake aside and reached for a glass of water, Ash leaned over to Misty and whispered, “We’re never baking again.”

“Agreed,” Misty said, shuddering.