The room was eerily quiet as Nautilus stood his ground against Marco, both refusing to give in to the other's pressure. Tetsu and Mudkip stood at the other end of the room, nervously waiting for either one to move.
"They're not gonna fight it out, are they?" Mudkip asked nervously. She had just joined the team and there were already problems.
"Well, you've seen us spar," Tetsu hummed out. Mudkip involuntarily gulped at that. She had indeed seen them spar. The fact that a human could stand against two evolved Pokémon was unbelievable. Remembering that, Mudkip wanted to leave and hide somewhere safe.
"Don't worry, they've done this plenty of times. They'll be fine," Tetsu comforted her.
'How can it be fine if they wreck the room?!' Mudkip thought to herself. Little did she know that Nautilus and Marco, for as much as the ground each other's Klink, would never hurt each other.
"You like sweet stuff, right?" Tetsu asked her new family member. It was something they had all noticed about Mudkip.
"Yeah, why?" she asked.
"Well, whenever they have something to settle, they settle it with some sort of competition. Not an actual fight," Tetsu explained. "And today, it will be..."
"A COOK-OFF!" Tetsu shouted, garnering the attention of the two competitors.
"What did she say?" asked Marco. "All I heard was 'Te, Tets.'"
'She wants us to do a cook-off. What's in that big head of yours, air and Garbador crap?' Nautilus antagonized him.
"Listen here, you little squid. Keep talking shit and I'll serve you as ika nigiri."
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'I don't even know what that means, you Drifloon-for-brains.'
"Both of you stop!" Tetsu intervened. Nautilus stopped translating for Marco, forcing him to guess at what was being said.
"You'll be making rice pudding for both Mudkip and myself. Now," Tetsu hummed, "get started!"
Nautilus immediately went to the kitchen, grabbing the bag of rice and the rice cooker. He smirked at Marco, laughing internally at the little advantage he gave himself. Nautilus poured water and rice in the rice cooker, along with salt and some of the spices he pulled, namely cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another pot, Nautilus poured some milk and all the spices he had pulled out. He turned the stove on and brought the milk to a boil while waiting for the rice to finish cooking. Marco watched the entire time, confused by what he was supposed to make. After a few moments of thought, Marco had a realization.
"Oh, rice pudding!" Marco exclaimed, which was confirmed by Mudkip's enthusiastic nodding. Nautilus scowled, hoping Marco would fail because he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to make. But it didn't matter, Nautilus told himself, since he had the rice cooker.
Marco measured out a cup of rice and poured it into a pot, along with three cups of milk. He turned on a burner on the gas stove, turning it to high to bring everything to a boil. As it boiled, Marco added salt, a few cinnamon sticks, two pieces of clove, a smashed true cardamom seed, and a roughly smashed nutmeg seed.
As the pot came to a boil, he crushed another seed of true cardamom and added it in after reducing the heat to a simmer. Marco added half a cup of milk and a few small slices of freshly cut ginger. After stirring the new ingredients in, he put the lid on and left it to simmer.
Everyone was watching Marco intensely. Nautilus, in particular, was seething as he watched how Marco methodically sliced, crushed, and added the ingredients. After a while, a sweet, pleasant aroma filled the room. Marco periodically checked his pot and occasionally added more milk.
After the rice cooker alarm went off, Nautilus opened it up to fluff the rice before bringing it over to the boiling milk. He added sugar after tasting it and left it to boil for a few minutes. Marco, on the other hand, turned down the heat just a bit and added sweetened condensed milk, a few shakes of chili powder, vanilla extract, and more milk.
Nautilus' rice pudding was finished first, and Marco's declared his done ten minutes after. Nautilus served his in heaping servings. Tetsu and Mudkip each began eating the rice pudding, praising Nautilus for the sweetness of the dish. Marco ate some as well, complimenting Nautilus as the rice pudding was sweet and the spices were faint, but present, in the dish.
Marco served all four of them, topping his rice pudding with cinnamon powder and chopped almonds. As each one enjoyed the first bite, the difference in flavor was overwhelmingly in favor of Marco. The fresh spices used added complexity to the dish, neither one overpowering the other. The condensed milk made the rice pudding more of an actual pudding as it cooled, while the chopped nuts provided a texture difference that paired well with the soft, sweet rice.
'You bastard. You just had to one-up me, didn't you?' Nautilus grumbled between mouthfuls of the dessert. Marco grinned widely, not even attempting to hide the pleasure he felt in winning today's competition.
"Well, I had to put you in your place. And this competition showed which one of us was right. My rice pudding is more delicious than yours, pizza is toast, and a hot dog is a taco."
Nautilus cringed at the words that came from Marco. While he could accept defeat, he could not accept the culinary atrocities at were being committed. This was the third time today they had this argument and it seems as if, for now, the debate was settled once again.