Iron Chef Symphonia: Friendly Fire
Summary: Nothing says friendship than the times that try men's souls. Especially if a 60-minute culinary battle is involved.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Iron Chef, or any of the characters involved.
Author's Note: All characters are assumed to be speaking Japanese unless otherwise noted.
Chapter 1: Forging the Battle Plans
==BROTHERS==
If memory serves me right, there is a bond that some of my Iron Chefs share that cannot be put into mere words.
These friendships have transcended the kitchen in ways that even I struggle to understand.
"It's fun to be with him. He's the older brother."
"Not by many years. … At first, Chen had a bad image of me."
"'Bad' isn't right. He looked stuck-up to me, with all sorts of airs. He's a French chef. I thought he must be a snob. But that changed as we worked together. Although I'm junior to him, he accepts me with a big heart. So it's fun to be with him. That's made our friendship last so long after the show ended in Japan."
"Even before we set out on the journey to rejuvenate the world, he and I were best friends."
"We seem like the most unlikely best friends in the world, but I think it's our cooking that brings us together. Even if I had to show him some of the finer points."
==FIGHTING 17TH==
It's always been my dream to do another Iron Chef vs. Iron Chef tag match. I couldn't resist planning a special tag-team battle to test just how good of friends these four actually are. So let's start finding out.
Let me introduce the two teams that will clash in this confrontation of different worlds…first, the Japanese team, the two longest serving of my Iron Chefs, Chen Kenichi and Hiroyuki Sakai…
…versus the Sylvaranti team, my two newest Iron Chefs, Lloyd Irving and Genis Sage.
Both teams met to plan their strategy last week…
~料理の鉄シンフォニア~
Genis sat in the open kitchen of the Grand Hotel Altamira, notebook open and pen in hand. The pages were filled with sketches of potential dish designs that paid no mind to a particular theme ingredient.
I never realized how quiet this restaurant is until I sat in it when it's completely empty, he thought to himself. Indeed, Genis had picked a day the restaurant was closed to discuss battle strategies with Lloyd. The young mage had become one of the show's strongest Iron Chefs, having only lost two battles out of the twenty-four he had fought.
Lloyd, too, wasn't too shabby himself as an Iron Chef. Although Genis's win percentage was better than his (out of 14 battles, Lloyd had lost four of them), Lloyd's battles typically generated higher ratings.
"Now where is that confounded twin swordsman?" Genis muttered aloud to himself. "He was supposed to show up half an hour ago…"
"Hey, Genis, sorry I'm late!"
"Oh, about time you showed up!"
"Hey, I had a good reason, the fishermen were giving me a hard time with what I was trying to buy, and I ran into some bell pepper heads on my way here. These could come in handy though…" Lloyd said, dropping some green bell peppers on the countertop.
"Well, we'll see if we can use them later. Meantime, check out this plan I have. It'll be perfect against Chen and Sakai…"
~料理の鉄シンフォニア~
The veteran Iron Chefs were consulting with each other in Sakai's Meltokio restaurant, writing up a menu that rivaled Michiba's famous calligraphy. As Sakai was writing it out, Chen decided to poke a little fun at him.
"You know, if Michiba-san was here, I wonder what he'd say about your handwriting."
"Well, he wouldn't be able to read this, I can guarantee that!" Sakai replied, pointing out the French on his menu.
La Saveur Originalle, it read.
"Heh, neither can I," Chen said, a little deflated. "How am I supposed to go off a plan that I can't read?"
"Chen-san, have you heard of a movement called 'nouvelle Chinois'?" Sakai asked.
"Oh yes of course, how could I not?" he replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm thinking we each do two dishes of our own, then collaborate on the last one. It'll be a nouvelle Chinois masterpiece!"
Chen lit up immediately at the thought. "Excellent!"
"We'll teach those young whippersnappers who's boss in the Kitchen Stadium!" Sakai said cheerfully.
"Indeed, with this new strategy we've whipped up, there's no way we're going to lose," Chen replied, equally as cheerfully.
"Here's to a painful summer for Lloyd and Genis!" Sakai added with a smile.
~料理の鉄シンフォニア~
"I'm excited for this," Lloyd later said to Genis.
"I think we'll win as long as you don't screw up the sauces," Genis shot back.
"Hey, that was an accident and you know it!" Lloyd shouted defensively, alluding to his mistake of using coconut milk instead of regular milk for one of the sauces they were testing
Genis seemed to pay him no mind. "Just you wait, Sakai-san!" he said. "You might be the King of Iron Chefs, but we're staging a coup!"
"…erm, what he said!" Lloyd replied. "What's a coup?" he later whispered.
Genis only shook his head and laughed.
~料理の鉄シンフォニア~
Now, you four Iron Chefs! Show us the power of friendship and use all your abilities to fight the greatest battle we have ever seen!