9The way to concluding this arc was a bit troublesome to me, and it only hit me yesterday. I apologize to everyone who was looking forward to this story, I really have no excuse. Hell, I had the entire summer, winter break, and so forth to do this, but what had I been doing? Nothing.
So, after this, I'm going to get to main story elements. Cheers guys.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. And I mean ANYTHING, I shouldn't be writing this because I'm such a ripoff artist.
All food facts have not been appropriately researched.
All scientific gadgets have also not been appropriately researched.
Bold: Emphasis/Me
Italics: Different Narrator/Flashback/Telepathy/Thoughts
Chapter 9: Cooking Conclusions
"M-may I take your order?" The Wonder Chef, dressed in waiter attire, nervously stated to a couple in the Altamira Hotel cafeteria.
"Uh…" the man started, glancing at the menu, before Genis rushed in, tackled the Wonder Chef down, and dragged him off to the kitchen.
"Noooooo! Leave me alone! I want to serve my customers!" The Wonder Chef cried as the silver-haired half-elf sighed commenting,
"You're in great danger if someone recognizes you in public. Just stay in the kitchen, Mr. Wonder Chef, and everything will be just fine." The magician winked at the last statement, bolstering some of the top gourmet's confidence.
"R-really?" The Wonder Chef cried, eyes tearing up.
"Yup! You have my word!" the mana master replied, grinning cheerfully.
"Rolling in 5… 4… 3… 2…" the director announced, holding up a finger to start the show. Cue the audience cheering as the Wonder Chef walks onstage.
"Welcome to 'Cooking with the Wonder Chef!' I'm, as always, your host, the mysterious gourmet, the Wonder Chef!" the Wonder chef announced, holding up his pitchfork in determination while the audience applauded.
"For today's show we'll have the guest star, Ms. Sheena Fujibayashi all the way from Mizuho! Say hello, Sheena!" the chef introduced, while Sheena dropped down from roof clothed in her Successor outfit with a brown facemask. She stood up straight, one hand behind her back and the other in front making a ninja seal.
"I am very happy to be here, nin," Sheena greeted, now with a throaty voice and bowing, all part of an act as the audience laughed.
"Now Sheena you are… a ninja, correct?" the Wonder Chef inquired, flipping through a fake script while raising an eyebrow comically.
"That is correct, nin," Sheena grunted, nodding quickly in the same, throaty voice.
"Well isn't that something? Alright everyone, on today's menu is…" the Wonder Chef started as a drumroll began in the background and Sheena threw a smoke bomb.
"Curry! Nin!" Both hosts announced unanimously while standing back as if holding something while the video-editing department made a flashy banner with "Curry" displayed in the middle appear the space between Sheena and the Wonder Chef.
"As one of my original 24 recipes, curry is a well known dish! Today, however, we will be doing a variation from the village of Mizuho! Take it away Sheena!" The Wonder Chef announced, transforming his pitchfork to a microphone and gesturing to our favorite voluptuous ninja.
"Thank you very much, nin!" Sheena bowed before saluting.
Backstage, Lloyd and Colette were laughing as quietly as they could while the event continued.
"Sheena's really into it, huh?" Colette commented, giggling more as Sheena exaggerated a robotic march to get ingredients.
"I guess ninjas have to pass acting class before they can go on missions," Lloyd said, grinning. "Anyway it's going well, and the Dark Chefs should be showing up…" the brunette started, checking his watch, "…any minute now."
Onstage, the Wonder Chef was really nervous inside. What if the plan didn't work? What if the secrets to his genius were captured in the hands of evil? But no… he couldn't think that way. He had to put faith in the Teen Chosens who had given it their all to put a stop to the Dark Chefs' antics.
"Well pineapple, eh? What a wonderful ingredient to add in near the end, Sheena! Now the curry can bring out a flavor full of depth!" the Wonder Chef complimented, cueing audience applause as Sheena bowed.
"It is a traditional secret passed down from my clan, nin! But I guess it's not a secret anymore, nin!" Sheena joked, causing some to chuckle. "Now we wait for it to boil, nin!"
"But before that, I will take the stock first!" a menacing voice cackled maniacally.
"They're here, huh?" Lloyd stated, grinning as he got ready to draw his swords. Colette pulled out her chakrams as well.
An explosion rocked the area while the side wall burst open, the audience ran screaming for the exit while ten Dark Chefs charged and surrounded the kitchen stage. One grinned confidently as he picked up the curry pot with his fork.
"Now one of the 24 sacred recipes is ours! But we're not satisfied with this! Seize him!" one Dark chef yelled, the other replying with a short "Oh!" while trapping the Wonder Chef with their big forks.
"Now we've…" one Dark Chef started.
"…finally…" Lloyd continued, beginning to rush over.
"…gotcha," came Sheena's voice from the 'captured' Wonder Chef.
Nets explosively rained down from the ceiling, capturing the Dark Chefs one by one. Struggling proved to be fruitless as the nets became tighter.
"What!?" the commanding Dark Chef roared in rage and confusion as he struggled with the net. Sheena ripped off her mask, revealing to have switched with the Wonder Chef, who was running back into the tech control room. With a simple Force Seal, she managed to blow the pitchforks back.
"This is a high-grade shape-memory polyfiber net. It will simply restrict your movements and there is no escape," Presea stated as she dropped down from the rafters above the ceiling.
"Crafting is Presea's specialty, so give it up!" Genis yelled, using the speaker system from the tech control room.
"Grr… I won't be defeated…" one Dark Chef growled, struggling before infusing some mysterious energy into his giant fork attached to the curry. "…like this!"
The mana charge exploded, and what came out of the smoke was truly monstrous. Somehow, the Dark Chef had mutated the curry into a curry monster! Basically it was a 10 foot tall blob of curry with various other ingredients swirling around its gooey body. Letting out an inhuman wail, the monster formed a giant fist and pounded on the audience stands. Luckily most of the audience had escaped anyway.
"This is getting ridiculous," Zelos commented, appearing from a side door and twirling his short sword. "A dance with a beast like this isn't exciting at all."
"In fact, it's really stupid," Sheena growled, drawing the katana she had on hand, causing Lloyd to stop in shock.
"Wait, you know how to use that?" the twin swordsman exclaimed, clearly not knowing much about ninjas.
"I-idiot! I just use seals because I'm more familiar with them! I can use any weapon whenever I want!" Sheena blabbered, flabbergasted at Lloyd's assumption that people could only master one weapon in their lifetime.
"Then… use this," Presea suggested, holding out quite the hefty battleaxe in front of Sheena.
"I'm fine, thanks," the ninja replied, sweatdropping as Presea returned it back to another dimension while summoning her Axe Devil Arm.
"I guess I, shouldn't take things too seriously," Presea giggled, smiling.
"Yeah, but let's focus on taking this thing down," Lloyd suggested, grinning while Genis and Collette moved all the Dark Chefs to the side.
Taking a deep breath, the Tactical Leader called out his catchphrase, "Chosens Go!" and so they did.
Lloyd, Sheena, Zelos, and Presea rushed at the Curry Monster from all sides, but each time they tried to get close, the volatile construction would force them back. It didn't really seem to end.
"Grr… how about this!" Lloyd growled, rolling into the air like a bladed yo-yo at the Curry Monster before slamming into it with unbelievable force. It seems like the attack worked. "Genis now!"
"Receive the merciless of the silver snow. Absolute!" the half-elf magician cried, freezing the Curry Monster in place.
"Here's the finishing blow! Grave Blade!" Zelos yelled, slamming down his sword with the might of the earth, shattering the ice encased curry monster. Dark mist flowed out from the ice cubes, marking the end of the activity.
"Mission accomplished! Great job guys!" Lloyd cheered as everyone ran to hug or hi-five each other. The authorities arrived and proceeded to escort the Dark Chefs to prison. The commander passed by the Wonder Chef and glared, cursing.
"How did our plans get foiled so easily? The power of darkness is what's needed in cooking!" the Dark Chef growled as the Wonder Chef shook his head.
"You're wrong, what's needed in cooking is a love and consideration for the people eating your food. If you don't understand that, you don't deserve to be a chef," the mysterious gourmet scolded, glaring back.
"Keh, what foolishness. I'll be back, and teach you the true meaning of cooking," the commander snarled as he was pushed into a hover vehicle and flown off.
"Now…" The Wonder Chef mused, scratching his chin as he examined the frozen curry. "I wonder if I can make something with this?"
Anyway, thanks for reading. I'll do plot stuff soon! Going from Point A to B takes a while. ^^;
-RevivedSin