The Cooking Contest
RNRPG: The Contest
Started By: Moria Saotome
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
All over Nerima posters were being put up on telephone poles, bulletin
boards, houses, fences, and anywhere else that had bare space.
Anyone who stopped to read them read the notice that posted:
Come one, come all!
To the First Annual
Anything Goes Men's Cooking Contest!
All Men with cooking skills
Can come and try their luck.
Come to the Furinkan High Gym to sign up
~Furinkan High~
In the gymnasium, things were being set up in the gym for the cooking
contest as she and the other girls got ready for whoever showed up to sign.
Getting the keys to the bleachers from the custodian, Moria turned on the
machine that would automatically pull the bleachers out into rows across the
floor, before turning it back off when it's done and walking away.
"So who do you think may show up for this contest?" Moria asked as she
walked back towards where the others were."
"Shampoo, my love!" Mousse yelled lovingly as he hugged his beloved. Odd,
she seemed a bit... woody.
Putting on his glasses, he studied his love closely.
"A telephone pole? When did this happen?" he said out loud. Then a small
piece of paper caught his eyes.
"Cooking contest?" the myopic Chinese boy mumbled. Then his face lit up.
"Maybe if Shampoo see me win this contest, she'll fall in love with me!"
With the bliss only the truly ignorant could feel he set course for the
local schools gym.
"Well," Ukyou answered Moria's question, "I guess we have to wait and see.
Half of Nerima could show up."
She leaned against the wall, dressed in her school uniform, crossing her
arms in front of her. "What was the prize again? Half a kilo of apples?"
"Heaven knows, this could be very interesting." Fue entered, toweling dry
her long lilac hair. She was in her P.E attire, of a T-shirt translucent by
the dampness in it and really short shorts.
"Uhh, you might wanna change clothes before anyone finds their way here,"
Ukyou said, "or they might be too... distracted. We want them to cook, not
nosebleed to death."
Fue looked down at herself. "Huh? I don't see..." but Ukyou was already
shoving her back to the locker rooms.
The doors to the gym slammed open and in the now-open doorway stood a
Chinese boy in a white robe.
"Saotome! Unhand the fair Shampoo at once!"
Ukyou stopped shoving Fue to stare at Mousse. "Uhh, Mousse? She's not... oh
never mind."
Now, keeping in mind the similarities between Fue and Shampoo to a
half-blind boy, the mistake was natural. "Hello, Mousse..." Fue greeted
automatically.
Mousse took a sharp intake of breath. Shampoo had actually said hello to
HIM? Rapture! Before anyone could react, Mousse was next to his love and
sweeping her up in a big hug.
"Shampoo!" he cried joyfully, "My love!"
Fue blinked, but made none of Shampoo's usual struggle. After all, she was
used to being mistaken for the Chinese boy's dream-lover. "Good to see you
too, Mousse." She chuckled.
Mousse was about to make a long speech about his undying love when his
brain kicked in. Shampoo sounded a bit different today... His mind filling
with the worst of fears, he donned his glasses for the second time today.
The first person he saw was a girl dressed as a boy with a spatula on her
back.
"Oh. Hello Kuonji." He looked down at the still form of Shampoo. Who wasn't
Shampoo. "When did- Hello Fue."
He un-glomped the fake-Shampoo and sat down on the floor and pulled out a
yo-yo out of his left sleeve and began to untangle it's rope, whilst sulking
slightly.
Suddenly Konatsu appeared behind Moria, holding a small piece of paper in
his left hand.
"Good day, Ukyou-Sama!" he beamed at the chef, batting his curled eyelashes
at the okonomiyaki chef. "Hello everybody."
He held up the paper in his hand.
"Is this the place for the contest?"
Keisuke set down his backpack and wiped the sweat off of his brow. "So this
is Nerima." he thought to himself. He looked around at the unfamiliar
setting around him. "Strange," he muttered. "How something so familiar on a
map can be so alien in it's actual locality." He picked up his backpack once
again and continued to walk along the chain link fence that seemed to
stretch across the entire town. He held the his sheathed sword out so that
the end of the scabbard made an amusing clinking sound that went in rhythm
with his footsteps. He then began to hum a little tune along with the sounds
of the fence and the sounds of his shoes on the sidewalk. All in all, it was
a pleasant little tune that any bystander would find delightful as they
watched Keisuke perform. His oratorio came to a halt as he saw what appeared
to be an ad for a contest of some sort taped to a telephone pole.
Come one, come all!
To the First Annual
Anything Goes Men's Cooking Contest!
All Men with cooking skills
Can come and try their luck.
Come to the Furinkan High Gym to sign up
~Furikan High~
Keisuke's eyes lit up. The first thing that came to his mind as he read the
word 'contest' was a PRIZE. And that thought stayed with him as he sprinted
in the direction of Furinkan High School.
Silk was just getting to the gates of Furinkan when she saw an unfamiliar
young man sprinting like a madman towards the place. She could see was
carrying a short sword and moved well. ~Great, another martial artist in
town. I hope this one is sane, at least.~ She had agreed to help judge a
cooking contest Moria was running, and had just retrieved a small bottle of
cure-all, the ultimate poison antidote, from her shop... just in case. She
watched the young man for another moment. He was older then the others, she
quickly realized. about 20 or so she'd have guessed. To old to be a new
transfer student to the high school. "Hello!" she called, "Are you looking
for someone in particular?"
"No the half kilo of apples would be second prize." Moria said distractedly
as she shook her head at what Mousse had done. "Mousse-San, you should
really get a new pair of glasses." she chided.
At the sound of Konatsu's voice coming from behind her, Moria turned around
to face Konatsu with a pen and clipboard in her hands as she smiled
towards. "Yes this is the place." Moria said as she held out the clipboard
and pen to Konatsu. "If your here to compete just sign the clipboard."
Keisuke slowed down into a jog as he neared the stranger standing in front
of the gym. It was a girl wearing a green gi top. She was tall, almost six
feet, from what he could see. She had a plain face, not ugly, but not one
that would win her any prizes either. "Hello." he replied. "I was just
looking to enter in the cooking contest." Keisuke smiled at the girl. "Do
you think you can help me out?"
Happi was hanging upside down in the railing of the gym. "A cooking
contest?" He thought evilly to himself. "Men only? that means the prize would
have to be something female. heh heh heh."
He dropped from his perch, double glomped Moria and signed his name to the
board before she could react. He then jumped out of her kicking range. "This
is gonna be fun!"
Silk smiled, which seemed to light up her face into something more
noticeable, "No problem, I'm one of the judges, Follow me." she led him into
the gym to the table with the clipboard, "Sign here to enter." she smiled
again, then looked at Moria. "How it going so far?"
Alex was walking down the street, from of his frequent encounters with the
unusual (this time it was a talking cat blabbing something about the moon),
he saw one of the posters. "Hmm, sounds interesting. Maybe I should go."
With that, Alex took off for the high school. As soon as he arrived, he saw
Silk, Moira, and the others there. He grabbed the list and signed it.
"What's up, ladies?"
Akane briskly swept the school halls as she mumbled to herself. "Stupid
boys! Always wanting to fight before school. They only end up making me
late." Thus was the reason why she was serving a detention this sunny
afternoon. "You think they would've stopped by now."
After moping up the last classroom floor, she wiped her forehead and leaned
against the wall. "Finished," she sighed from exhaustion. As she stood up
to place the mop back in the closet, a flyer caught her eye.
"Cooking contest for men...sounds interesting. I have nothing else better
to do. Might as well watch them make fools of themselves." With that thought
in mind, Akane headed towards the gym.
"Hello, Konatsu, Alex." Fue blinked. Since Ukyou had her attentions
>elsewhere, the girl was let off having to 'change to something
more
presentable'. So instead, she went to Happosai before Moria gathered herself
up to kill the little lecher.
"Ne, Happosai-sensei, when are you going to review my new moves? You're
always so busy being chased by everyone." Lecher he may be, but he's also
undeniably a powerful and experienced little guy. Strangely, of all the
females in Nerima, the Aoba Ryu Sword-dance student was the only one who
harbored no hard feelings whatsoever against him.
"Hiya Alex," Ukyou said, leaning back against the wall again. "Oh, same
old, same old, just a cooking contest with a uninterrupted date with the gal
of your choice as prize. Interested? Mousse, Konatsu and... Happosai already
signed up."
Mousse peered at Alex through his glasses. Deciding that it wasn't Saotome,
he returned to untangling his yo-yo.
***
"Well," Ryuu Kumon thought to himself as he walked down the sidewalk, "I'm
finally back in Nerima."
He glanced at his surroundings and noticed a flyer on a fence.
Come one, come all!
To the First Annual
Anything Goes Men's Cooking Contest!
All Men with cooking skills
Can come and try their luck.
Come to the Furinkan High Gym to sign up
~Furinkan High~
"Saotome can wait for a little longer," he decided after reading the
notice. After a few weeks of walking, a contest would be a welcome change of
pace. Ryuu shifted his pack to a more comfortable position and walked toward
Furinkan High, trusting his memory of when he was last here.
Alex blinked at the mention of Happosai. --With my luck, if he wins, ALL
the guys are in trouble.-- "Yeah, Ukyou, I'm going to compete. So, do we
make whatever we like, or is there a certain dish we all have to make?"
After signing up, Keisuke decided to take a stroll around the gym,
assessing the different contestants who had entered. Keisuke had left the
entry table after one of the contestants walked up bringing with him a
demeanor of conviction that was almost intimidating. He had heard a couple
of the girls say his name was Alex. Keisuke was never much for the whole
idea of worthy opponents and all that martial-arts crap that seemed to run
this town but even he could tell that this guy was not one to mess with.
"Damn," he muttered to himself as he watched Alex talking smoothly with all
the girls that crowded around him. "I wish my luck with girls was as good as
his." He let out a long sigh, turned around, and continued walking.
Mousse had by now made his yo-yo untangled and rose to eye the opposition,
hoping to see Saotome somewhere so that he could defeat him and win
Shampoo's love. "Saotome?" he asked, staring intently at a potted plant that
could be mistaken for Ranma if you were half-blind.
As Akane stepped through the gym doors, the large room abruptly went
silent. "What?" She questioned. Suddenly, the reason for everyone's fear and
worried expressions became apparent. "No I'm not here to enter the contest!
I just came to watch...Besides, it's for quys, right?"
Many sighs of relief could be heard as the commotion about the competition
started up again.
Silk was inspecting the various kitchenettes they'd set up, checking for
any sabotage attempts. She been in Nerima for too long to not look for
little irregularities at these sort of contests. After several clean sets she
found a note from Kodachi with a smiley face and rose perfume in one of the
refrigerator coils and started laughing.
Happosai seemed to just appear next to Alex. "Of course I'm competing
Alex.. If I win I'm choosing a date with Silk-Chan!" he grinned at Alex
knowing that he was making the match personal.
Alex merely raised an eyebrow. "I think not, Happi." --No way I'm letting
that go down.--, he mentally added to himself.
"Is that Jealousy I hear, Alex?" Happosai joked.
***
Ryuu opened the doors to the Furinkan High School gym and entered. "Hello?"
He announced "Is this the place where I can register for the cooking
contest?" Look quickly gave the place the once over and raised his eyebrows
at the sight of Akane. "Well, well Akane." He said, "Long time no see..."
"Hiya Alex." Moria greeted, giving him her warmest smile "All competitors
are expected to make the same disk," Moria said as she walked over to Ukyou
and Alex as she glared daggers at Happosai,. "What you guys will be expected
to cook is, Sukiyaki."
"One contestant, will serve one bowl each, of Sukiyaki to each judge, and
the judge will taste what was prepared. Then the next contestant will come
up with their bowl does same thing the contestant before him did."
There was a loud thud sound followed by a yelp of pain... then the doors
opened and Ryouga walked in holding an injured nose.
"Oooow..." he looked around. "Huh?" he grabbed the nearest person.
"This is where I sign up for the cooking contest right!?" He paused.
"Uh... I'm not late am I? It hasn't started yet has it?"
Akane raised her head when she heard the loud noises coming from the door.
"Ah Ryouga... he finally found his way over here." She chuckled to herself
for a moment until her vision was obstructed by a large figure in front of
her. "Hello Ryuu," she said unenthusiastically.
Ukyou raised one of her eyebrows as she heard the conversation from Alex
and Happosai. Alex and Happosai dueling over Silk? Alex she could
understand, but Happosai? Turning her head to the newer newcomers, she gave
them a little wave. "Hiya Ryouga. Ryuu," she greeted the two bandannaed
boys. "And no, you're not late. You're just in time, if you want in."
"Let me go, Saotome!" Mousse yelled as he broke free of Ryouga's grip. "Now
give up your claim on... oh, hello Hibiki."
Brush was out, just enjoying a day out. Then she saw a poster on a wall.
"Men's Cooking Contest? This should be interesting to see. And maybe I'll
get to judge!" With that though, she raced off towards the school and into
the gym, running past Mousse and up to Silk. "Is it too late to be a judge?"
Silk looked up at Brush from where she was checking the wiring of one of
the stove tops. Low was still wired to low, and high to high. "I'm not the
one running this contest, Brush." she said, pointing at the table where
Ukyou, Alex, Happosai and Moria were still standing. "Go ask Moria." Then
the Healer turned electrician raised her voice above the crowd, "Wasn't it
going to be a blind taste test, Moria? So the judges can't show favoritism?"
"A Blind taste test?" A new voice inquired from behind Silk. "But we don't
have any blind judges!"
The Pink haired amazon, Perfume stepped into the room from the shadows. Her
luxurious hair blowing about in the breeze, but the right side of her face
mysteriously covered by it. "I would love to help judge."
"Good, dear sweet kind wonderful Perfume, the most beautiful of Amazons
will be judging my dish!" Happosai practically shined with happiness. A
little gratuitous flattery never hurt either.
Fue sighed disappointedly and hopped onto the indoor bleachers. Looks like
she wasn't getting any attention from Happosai today, either. Nerima was
just so busy! At this rate, she may never finish her target 20 styles by her
birthday.
Oh well. A multitude of would-be chefs. An elite group of judges. A much
coveted prize. This was getting interesting. That could wait.
It never hurt to get too close to the action, either. She hopped down and
spoke to Moria, albeit almost scaring the poor girl to death, about helping
to facilitate a "blind judging".
"Enough of the false flattery Old man!" Perfume bopped Happi on the head
for emphasis. "I don't even know if I'm judging or not!"
She glanced at Fue out of the corner of her eye. She didn't know the girl
but Perfume knew that she had to be a fighter. 'I wonder who she is?' She
thought pleasantly.
"Sure you and Brush can be judges, Perfume." Moria said as she looked over
at her. "We needed two more people anyway."
"And it's not that type of 'blind taste test.' In order for the judges
not to play favorites when making their decision on the food they
try," Moria said, directing her words mainly at Happosai. "We need to find a
way so that that won't happen."
While the rule discussions had started, Konatsu had turned his attention to
the newcomers, Ryouga and some boy with a bandanna. Hopefully the unknown
boy was after Akane-San and not Ukyou-Sama.
Not that he stood a chance against Konatsu's cooking, but just in case...
Akane's stomach grumbled loudly. After being in detention all day, she
realized that she hadn't had anything to eat yet. Listening in on Moria's
and Perfume's conversation, she decided to offer a little "help."
"I'll be a judge!" Akane yelled while pushing Ryuu out of the way. The
dazed boy held his head as he tried to stand up once again. "Sorry 'bout
that," she apologized.
"Why not serve the taste-judgers separately?" Fuu-chan quipped. "Number the
entry dishes so they don't know who made what." She was hanging off one of
the nearby gym bars now.
"Sukiyaki?" Ryuu thought in confusion, "What is that?" He hoped it was some
kind of meat dish as that was the only kind he knew how to make. Ignoring
the petty argument Ryuu removed his backpack and sat down next to it,
waiting...
Ukyou decided to help Ryuu out a bit. "Sukiyaki is basically meat, tofu and
vegetables cooked in broth in a shallow iron pan. Not that hard, is it
sugar?"
Perfume wasn't really sure what she had gotten herself into. Free food was
free food, and it couldn't be as bad as her cooking.
Happosai grinned evilly to himself. Sukiyaki was a specialty of his. In
fact it was the basis to the Founding School of anything Goes Combat
cooking. The match was his for sure.
Ryouga was also grinning, Sukiyaki was one of the few things he could
easily cook on his travels. As such he was _good_ at cooking it. This
contest would be a walkover.
Mousse jumped up onto his feet, striking a dramatic pose. Well, it would
have been dramatic if he hadn't been turned towards the wall.
"Have no fear, Shampoo! I shall surely win this contest and rescue you from
the vile Saotome! I can slice, I can dice! I can even make French fries!"
Keisuke was a little worried. "Sukiyaki?" he unconsciously blurted aloud.
Keisuke had made sukiyaki before, twice it had been incredibly good,
probably the best sukiyaki anyone in Japan or anywhere else in the world had
ever tasted. It was just the other 9 million times, in which he could've
given Akane a run for her money, that he was thinking about. He sighed and
went to his kitchen station.
"Good idea, Fue" Moria said as she looked upwards towards. "It would be a
lot easier doing just that." she said as she took back the clipboard from
the latest person who signed up, and turned to face the guys.
"I guess it's time to for the sign ups to stop, and the cooking to begin.
Everything that you need to prepare the Sukiyaki is already at your
stations. So just choose a cooking station and start. All of you have 45
minutes to finish."
Silk had finished with the wiring and was setting up the table where the
judges would sit. She then gave a pile of numbers to Amiko to distribute,
since as one of the judges, she couldn't hand out the contestant numbers
herself.
Ryuu gulped as he got up and went to his station. On the outside he was a
picture of peace and harmony, but on the inside he was slightly nervous.
"Okay Ryuu," he muttered aloud "Its Sukiyaki...Like that girl with the
spatula said, Meat, noodles, and veg
etables...Nothing to it."
He grinned as he realized something. All he has to do is "glance" over at
someone else's place and copy what they do... It would be a cinch.
Keisuke hurried to work. "Okay," he thought to himself, trying to recall
the recipe for Sukiyaki. It had been a while. If his calculations were
correct, then this should be a good one for him, then again, it could turn
out to be toxic stew...again. Okay, there was the steak, last time it was
good he used filet mignon, he recalled. There were bamboo shoots, onions,
leeks, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, spinach, tofu, and shirataki noodles.
"Alright, let's do this." he said as he went to work.
Fue hanged around, quite literally, never quite staying in one place. Oh
yes, this was going to be soooo interesting!
"Hey, Fuu-chan, aren't you going to give me a hand?" Moria called.
Opps. Fue dropped to her feet. "Gomen ne!" And ran to help set up the
judge's room and prize-giving area.
***
"Forty-five minutes!" Akane exclaimed while her stomach grumbled louder by
the moment. "Does sukiyaki take that long to make?" The short haired girl
sat back down again, agonizing with hunger pains as each second seemed like
an eternity. Her brown eyes lingered upon the contents of each contestant's
pot as they sliced up vegetables and poured assorted sauces on the meats. "I
wonder whose I'll try first," the youngest Tendou contemplated while licking
her lips.
"Keisuke!" she called out to the boy closest to her. "I'll try yours first.
Your vegetables look fresher!"
Keisuke didn't seem to hear the voice. He was still trying to figure out
why his sukiyaki looked so damn dry! He lifted a bamboo shoot and bit it.
"Ugh!" he sputtered as he spit it out. "Why??" he screamed as he looked to
the sky and yelled at the culinary powers that be. He hung his head in
frustration and looked to see how his opponents were doing. All their dishes
were simmering in the....BROTH! The broth! That's why his dish was so
dry. Quickly, Keisuke grabbed a measuring cup and dumped in some soy sauce
and some sugar water. He quickly stirred and dumped it into the pan and put
the lid on, letting it simmer. "Keisuke!" he now heard Akane call out to
him. "Oh, me? Oh go ahead, I think it's almost done..."
Hearing Akane's outburst, Moria exits the judges room she had entered with
Fue, and comes back into the room and grabs Akane's arm to pull her towards
the judges room. "Sorry, Keisuke. But she can't do that." she called over
her shoulder.
"Akane, nobody eats until all the contestants are finished
cooking." Moria said once they were in the judges room, with the door
closed. "And when they are finished, it's whoever gets the first number that
gets their food tasted, when it's brought in here."
"Awwwwwwwww!" Akane said in disappointment. "I can't even get a little
taste?" Moria looked at her disapprovingly. "Ashikarazu (I'm sorry)
Moria-Chan. I'll wait."
Ryuu looked at his station and at the ingredients given to him. He shrugged
and decided to go with his master plan...The one that would get him the
prize...Whatever it was.
He "slyly" looked to the right and grinned...so THAT was how you cooked
sukiyaki...but that girl said it had broth...That guy forgot the broth!
Ryuu grimaced at what that meant...he couldn't count on what the guy was
doing, and since the next guy was to far away it looked like he was stuck.
He quickly gathered the ingredients and tossed them in the pot. "Broth..."
he muttered under his breathe as he concentrated on the task before him.
"Broth...check. Meat...check," he muttered as he tossed in two handful of
beef.
"Vegetables...check...but only a teaspoon...and Tada! It should be done."
There. He was done. And what a fine beef stew it was! The smell set Ryuu's
mouth to watering as he gazed on his creation with joy. Wait a min...Wasn't
the dish sukiyaki? "Doh!" he shouted in annoyance as he realized his
mistake. Grimacing he waited for the dish to finish as he realized that
there wasn't anything else to do but continue as if nothing wrong had
happened.
Ryouga smirked as he continued to work, all his ingredients had been pulled
out of his backpack. he knew they were fresh because he had gotten them
himself.
Mousse looked down at his ingredients. It all looked like a big blur. Not
one to be dissuaded, he started cooking with great fervor, not noticing that
he was cooking a tablecloth and some pieces of wood.
Ukyou walked from guy to guy, looking how far they had come. Beef stew? She
shook her head slightly as she pitied the bandannaed boy. Not much of a
chance, unless everyone else failed miserably.
After having checked all the chef-wannabes, she returned to leaning against
the wall again, looking at Mousse trying to cook a part of a potted plant.
What an odd way to cook sukiyaki.
Happosai had all of his ingredients chopped and cooking nicely. Sukiyaki
was one of his favorites. Everything was perfect and as it should be.
Brush sat back as she heard Moira's announcement to Akane, and frowned.
--I'm hungry too!-- "How much longer do they have? I'm ready to eat!"
Akane nodded her head, agreeing with Brush completely. She eyed the door,
waiting for the moment when someone would bring in the delicious dishes that
could alleviate her hunger pains. But in her haste to judge the contest, she
forgot to ask what the first prize would be. What was it that these
contestants so diligently slaved over pots and pans for? "What do they win?
I didn't see it on any of the flyers." she asked the person sitting beside
her. Brush calmly pulled out a crumpled piece of paper that had obviously
been "modified." Her brown eyes enlarged in shock as she read it aloud. "A
date with anyone they choose!" She gave the flyer back to brush and sighed.
If all things went well, maybe the winner wouldn't choose her. But then
again...
"If your hungry now, I think I might have something back here to stave off
your hunger for awhile until everything's ready, and not completely fill you
up." Moria said as she started rummaging through cupboards in the back of
the room, before coming up with a small box. "Aha!"
"Here. Eat these." As she put the box on a nearby table, she lifted the
lid, showing 6 fresh shiny green and red apples, before heading towards the
door after checking her watch.
"I'm going back out to see how their doing. The time should almost be up."
Just at that moment a well dressed Kodachi Kunou stepped through the door.
"Hohohohoho, Oh Akane Tendou what are you doing here? Your not cooking are
you dearie? Hohohohohohohohoho!!"
She had just remembered volunteering to judge this contest, and came in
'Fashionably late'.
Outside, Alex was cooking up a storm. "let's see, I braised the beef, made
the broth..." He was going down a mental checklist of things he needed to
do. Most of his opponents were looking at his area oddly. Not because of
anything bad he was doing, but because they had been seeing, and still saw,
most of his ingredients and other items preparing themselves in mid-air,
Fantasia-style.
Happosai, meanwhile decided to put his 'anything goes combat cooking
techniques' to the test. Casually and using little bits of ninja knowledge.
Happosai slipped an amount of VERY hot peppers into Alex's dish.
While Happi was away from his station, (after using a quick scan of his
work area to be certain) Alex dumped some vinegar into his dish, and some
lemon juice as well. --No way is Happi winning this thing, if I can help
it.-- Alex thought to himself.
****
(Judges room)
"Hello Kodachi," Akane said coldly while taking a bite out of her apple.
"No, I'm not cooking. The contest is for guys!" Turning her head away from
the intruding woman, she tossed the red fruit up in the air before catching
it again. "That means that I can't be in the contest AND YOU can't tamper
with the food!" Akane took another bite and locked eyes with Kodachi. "Try
to remember that before you pull any stunts around here."
Ryuu grinned at the sight before him. Some little mummy man was tossing in
peppers a contestant's dish while the contestant was tossing in an
assortment of misc. ingredients to the old man's. They were basically GIVING
him the prize.
Ryuu smiled in self satisfaction and looked around. Some bandana kid was
smiling openly. Like he knew what he was doing, not to mention that his dish
actually looked like what he thought it was supposed to look like.
"Can't have that..." he thought to himself.
Making sure that his stew was okay, he shouted in fear "OH MY GAWD LOOK AT
THAT!" as he pointed to an open window. When everyone was distracted, he
tossed in a bunch of ingredients in Ryoga's stew. (Peppers, apples, tomatoes,
2 tickets to a concert, and termite eggs...etc...) --
As Ryuu was distracted, Happosai switched his dish with Ryuu's. he was
pretty sure that would nullify Alex's tampering. Now the only person left
was duck boy.
But he was doing a pretty good job of messing up on his own.
Keisuke watched in disbelief as all the contestants ran around practically
turning all of each others dishes into crap. Keisuke watched his sukiyaki
simmer. He garnished it and put in on a serving platter, covered it up, drew
his sword, and guarded his sukiyaki with his life...and then some.
Moria came back into the cooking room in time to see Happosai, and Ryuu
tamper with some of the other contestants cooking, including see Happosai
switch his pot with Ryuu's. And decides to end this before there isn't a
decent pot of Sukiyaki left, if any. She gets onto the stage and steps
behind the microphone.
"It seems that most of the contestants are now finished preparing the
Sukiyaki, so the judging may begin soon" she announced through a microphone,
while keeping an eye out on the reactions of all who had been tampering with
their competitors food.
"But I do hope that the contestants have had the foresight to taste a sample
of their own food before planning to serve it. Because we wouldn't want the
judges to get sick, now would we?" she said innocently, not giving anything
away, as she let her words sink in. Taking in the nervous looks and glances
some of the boys had on their faces, as she walked away from the microphone
to walk in between the contestants peering in the cooked food.
Akimo walked by carrying a tray holding 5 empty bowls, with spoons and
forks next to the bowls, and a ladle to help scoop the sukiyaki, of whoever
has the first number, into the bowls.
Back in the judges room, Silk pulled out a bottle of Cure-all; general
poison antidote and set it on the table where the food would be put. "I
really hope this isn't necessary, but this is Nerima, homeland of the
Freeform Sabotage Martial arts everything."
Perfume sweatdropped, she had forgotten that Japanese martial artists had a
bad habit of tricks like that. She glanced warily at the bottle and then
back up at Silk.
"Good Idea, Silk-Chan. Judging this contest could be scarier than I
thought."
Alex took a quick taste of his own dish, to make sure it came out right.
His mouth suddenly got very hot and his eyes began to water. 'Cannyenne
peppers?!?!? I've been sabotaged!!!' He quickly plucked the peppers out of
his dish, and added some extra noodles and spices, to help neutralize the
effects of the peppers, only partially succeeding in his efforts before his
food was taken up and set on the table. "Great. Well, it looks like I've
been eliminated." He then looked over at Happosai's spot, and saw that the
judge was taking a dish of...beef stew from him? 'Ok, he's out of the
running too, then. That works for me.'
Keisuke looked around cautiously in case any of the other guys were trying
to ruin his sukiyaki. "Damn, I wonder why they all decided to ignore me?
This contest is as good as won for me." he said with a smile of satisfaction
as he watched all the other martial artists dish out their food with facial
expressions of mild consternation. After confirming that the everything was
clear, he sheathed his sword and took a forkful of his sukiyaki into his
mouth. "Oh...my...God." he said with a rapidly widening grin appearing on
his face.
"IT'S PERFECT!!" he yelled so loud all of Nerima must've heard. He realized
he should've kept his mouth shut when every single contestant in the gym
gave him a look that said "You're dead." Keisuke gulped, and
carefully dished out his sukiyaki to the bowl in front of him.
Ryuu glared around as he noticed that his bowl was...not the same thing.
Taking a taste he shuddered...He was about to try to fix it up when he
noticed a girl in front of him giving him a bowl.
"Err..." he grumbled to himself. "Damn!" he thought to himself as he
spooned in a bunch of the "sukiyaki"
After spooning in enough for a good taste he started to clean up his area.
Needless to say, Happosai was completely irritated. Not only had his
cheating failed, but he changed dishes with the only moron who made Beef
Stew instead of Sukiyaki.
"This just hasn't been my day!"
In the Judges booth, Kodachi sweatdropped when she saw the poison elixir.
She had not thought that the men would cook as a bad as that evil Akane. She
might be immune to a lot of poisons, but she wasn't immune to pain.
Ryouga gave an evil 'I've just outsmarted you bungling lot' grin and slid
his dish of was originally Sukiyaki out of the way, grinning some more
he pulled a second dish of untouched Sukiyaki from underneath a box - where
he had hidden it before anyone messed with it - and carefully prepared it
for tasting. Then he thought for a second and smiled, yep, after living in
the Tendo Dojo for a while you tended to be able to guess if sabotage was
likely...
Keisuke noticed Ryouga pull out an extra dish of sukiyaki from underneath a
cardboard box at his station. "What the...? Hey!" Keisuke exclaimed,
accusingly. "That's cheating!" The look on Ryouga's face told Keisuke that
the sukiyaki was very good. "Dammit..." he muttered under his breath. He
tasted his own sukiyaki again, to remind him that his was still, unlike
everyone else's, save Ryouga, very good.
(Judges' Room)
The numbered bowls were delivered to the judge's room, where Moria, Silk,
Perfume, Brush, Kodachi, and Akane were waiting. Several times during the
wait Akane's stomach had made itself heard, inciting them all to a fit of
giggles. There were seven bowls of Food, a few that smelled enticing, two
that smelled like they'd been sabotaged, one containing wood chips (fiber?)
and a tablecloth, and another that appeared to be Beef stew... though the
stew smelled delicious, it was nothing like Sukiyaki. Akimo set them down in
order, and they gathered round to sample dish number one. It was the Beef
stew.
Perfume was the quietest member of the judging party, she was a little
apprehensive about the entire judging thing. She was hoping that she would
be able to choose Konatsu's dish.
Stepping forward she sampled the beef stew. "Very Good.. But why does it
look different from the others?"
"That's because it's not Sukiyaki, Perfume dearie." Kodachi interrupted. She
decided to skip the beef stew since it didn't qualify to win.
She took a big spoonful of the second dish and tried it out. She quickly
turned three shades of red and purple. She had to struggle to swallow the
vile concoction.
"By all that's holy!" She barely managed to struggle out. "That is the worst
dish I have ever tasted."
Brush tasted dish number four, and as soon as she got a taste, she was
looking for a glass of water. "Whoa!!! Not too bad, but WAY too spicy!"
Ryuu muttered under his breath when he heard the remark by Kodachi. Not
only was he sabotaged but now the others would think that he was a terrible
cook... "Just wait old man..." he said under his breath, "When I get my
hands on you...."
Hesitating momentarily over 4th bowl after hearing Brush's reaction after
eating from that bowl, Moria quickly pushes it away and looks over the
remaining bowls of sukiyaki, ignoring the first 3 bowls, that everyone else
had sampled. After a moment, she reaches out a pulls the 3rd bowl off the
tray and places it on the table in between all of them.
"They can't be all bad, can they?" she muttered as she took up a big
spoonful of the Sukiyaki, and puts it tries it out. As she chews, her mouth
widens into a big smile as she savored the taste. "Hey this one's pretty
good."
Perfume made sure she skipped the one that Kodachi tasted and the one that
Brush tasted, she didn't want to experience that. She also skipped the one
that appeared to be table cloth a woodchips.
Taking a taste of the last one she smiled brightly. "Now this one is VERY
good. "
Silk looked at the other judges like they must be nuts. "As vile as they may
be, you ALL need to taste all of them. For fairness' sake, or aren't we all
honorable martial artists?" she said, as she went quickly down the line.
"Beef stew?" she shook her head and went on.
"Vinegar and oil." she gagged, pouring herself a little
poison
antidote just in case
"Good" she smiled on the third dish.
Her eyes widened on the next sample, "Spicy" she
Breathed
"Excellent." was the fifth dish.
The next bowl drew a dubious look and a very small sip
before the
questioning "Cotton and cottonwood?"
"Another good one." she pronounced number seven.
She pulled bowls three, five, and seven out of the
lineup. "I
would
call these the finalists, not you need to taste each of them and choose
which you like."
Perfume looked apprehensively at the remaining dishes and back to Silk. She
really didn't want to taste those nasty looking ones. They probably tasted
like some of her dishes.
Taking a few more breaths to calm her nerves and prepare her tummy. She
smiled dryly at Silk and tried the other dishes.
She took a sip of Dish#2, and almost gagged. "Ewwww That one is rough." She
smiled upon tasting dish #3, "That one is pretty good." She continued down
the line. She tried #4 and quickly had to take a water break. "Pretty good,
I Like it spicy." She was sweating as she went for the next bowl. "Pretty
good." She still skipped bowl #6. "There's no way I'm eating wood!"
Ukyou took a deep breath before she grabbed hold of a spoon and started the
hard task of tasting the dishes.
"Stew? Beef stew?" she asked as she eyed the second bowl warily. It smelled
like... "Smells odd? Tastes worse. Horrible."
She then took one more deep breath and tasted the remaining dishes in a
quick succession. "Number three, good. Four, hot. Hothothot. Number five,
good. Number six... wood? I'm not gonna ask... and finally number seven.
Tastes decent, I guess. I'd have to go with three or five."
Keisuke tried to peer into the judges room, creeping up to a window. There
on the table, he saw his bowl of sukiyaki, along with Ryouga's and
Konatsu's. "Alright!" he said, pumping his fist. "This contest is mine!" He
turned around to face Ryouga. "Sorry." he said to the bandanna wearing boy,
with a large grin across his face. "But you're as good as done in this
contest."
Hearing this statement, Mousse looked up in the general direction of
Keisuke. "What are you saying, Saotome?" he yelled and stood up. "Explain
yourself before I am forced to strike you! No-one can defeat my superior
cooking!"
As he spoke, he shook Keisuke violently. Well, that was he thought. In
reality, he was shaking a mop that the cleaner had left behind.
Keisuke turned around at whoever responded to him, only he had said
'Saotome' instead of Keisuke. "Uh..." Keisuke stared at the robed man
shaking a mop, he obviously had an eyesight problem. Deciding to have a
little fun, Keisuke drew his sword, and cut off the mop head.
Mousse peered at the mop. "S-Saotome? Are you sick? Your neck is really thin,
and *blink blink* I think that your hair just fell off..." About now Mousse saw
the error of his ways. "AH! When did this happen?"
He turned around so that he now was facing the other blurs (i.e. Keisuke,
Ryouga, Ryuu and the others) peering at them. Not seeing a Saotome-blur, he
relaxed his breath.
Konatsu sighed girlishly and waited for the judges to make their call.
Ryouga performed the glare of death(TM) at Keisuke.
"And just why are you so sure of winning?"
Keisuke grinned at Ryouga. "Let's just call it...instinct."
Ryuu sighed to himself. The fight about to start was good and all, but the
judges were taking a bit to long in doing their job. He walked over the
judge's rooms and knocked on the window saying, "Hey, can you hurry it up in
there?? The rest of us out here are getting restless..."
Ryuu peered in the room and noticed the numbered bowls. Thinking back to the
time spent cooking, Ryuu realized that the cooking stations had numbers as
well... (How else are the judges going to know who cooked what?) Slyly going
over to Keisuke's booth, Ryuu quickly tore off the number and switched it with
his, and set to protect himself and his booth at all costs.
In the judges room the votes had been collected and tallied, and though it was
close, it looked like bowl five had won out. The judges walked out of their room
in time to see Ryuu attempting to switch his number with Keisuke's.
"Hold it right there." Silk's voice carried over the crowd noise.
"Put that number back where it was. the decision has been made and your sabotage
attempts are pointless." the judges continued their walk to the microphone,
Moria carrying the winning bowl, Perfume holding the number. No one knew who had
won until Moria announced it over the microphone. "The winner of today's Men's
Cooking Contest is Number five..." she paused for a moment, "Keisuke... Yamada!"
Keisuke grinned. "Yep, definitely instinct." He looked at Ryuu who was in the
process of switching the numbers. "Huh? What are you doing?" Ryuu groaned in
defeat. "Darn," he said looking at Keisuke. "So, who're you going to pick as
your date?" Keisuke stopped grinning. "D..date?" All eyes were on him, waiting
for his decision.
Ukyou leaned back against the wall, a slight smile on her lips.
"Uh-huh, a date, hopefully uninterrupted, with any girl of your choice. By
Neriman standards, a pretty decent prize. You did know of this prize when you
entered the contest, no?"
Kodachi took a huge swig from a pepto bismol bottle and smiled at the winner.
"Congratulations, Keisuke, I know your going to choose the most beautiful woman
to take out, no?"
"W...well," said Keisuke, clearing his throat in an effort to regain his
composure. He turned toward Kodachi, "Well, if I did then I'd certainly be
choosing you, eh?" he said to her, flashing her a smile. He turned towards
Ukyou. "Well, if I wasn't aware before, I am now. Thanks." Keisuke stepped to
the front of the gym, gathering everyone's attention. "Well, I have made my
decision. I choose her." he said pointing at...Silk.
Ukyou pulled a small piece of paper out of her pocket and looked at it quickly.
She then pocketed the note again and walked over to silk and put her hand on her
shoulder.
"Thanks, Silk-Chan," she smiled, "you just made me some extra cash, you know.
The odds were low, but still. No off you go."
And with those words, she gave Silk a mock shove in Keisuke's direction.
Perfume smiled at the antics of her best friend and the new boy. She smiled
jokingly at the duo. "Yeah, it seems that everyone loves Silk-Chan."
Happosai chuckled softly to himself. He may have lost, but playing with these
kids was just so much fun sometimes. He'd already figured that the winner would
choose Silk, don't they always?
"Ahem, As My student Soun would say, All's well that ends well!"
Silk sweatdropped at Ukyou's comment, and blushed a deep red at Perfume's. She'd
said all of ten words to the guy, but he chose her over the many much better
looking girls in the gym? And everyone acting like it was a given that she would
be the one selected. She wondered if she'd accidentally altered her pheromones
with one of her chi experiments, but it seemed unlikely. In any case, she had a
date pending. She bowed slightly to Keisuke, "My name is Silk, Yamada Keisuke.
I'm at your disposal for the afternoon and evening. What do you want to do?"
Keisuke glanced around, wondering why this girl was perceived as some kind of
guy magnet. "Geez," he thought to himself. "She isn't THAT hot. Hell, that
spatula chick is much prettier than her." Keisuke turned his attention back to
Silk. "Hi. Thanks for spotting that little switch of the numbers over there. I
guess choosing you is my way of saying thanks. Well, I'm new here. How about a
tour?"