Iron Chef Symphonia: Continental Divide

Summary: Requested by Moonlight M3lody. Iron Chefs Kobe and Morimoto duke it out in a clash of intercontinental cuisine. But what happens when they are each forced to enlist the help of the two worst cooks in Aselia?

Author's Note: While we're waiting for the votes to come in for the first semifinal of the Aselia Cup, I present you with a new battle: a tag match! This may be one of the hardest battles to stomach (for the panel, I mean, hopefully not for you). The matchup will be announced later, but you'll see why I say it'll be hard to stomach.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Iron Chef, or any of the characters involved.

Chapter 1: Kaga's Devious Plan

"Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto!"

"It's the Iron Chef! Morimoto does it again and avoids becoming the first Iron Chef to drop three in a row…"

The man in silver raised his arms in triumph, having sent yet another challenger packing. The challengers here in Aselia, he discovered, were about on par with the nefarious Ohta faction—tough, but beatable. At least they didn't come marching into the Stadium with their banners and uniforms, or even a taiko drum on one occasion, beating on his door to persuade him to go back to the traditional Japanese cuisine. At least here they were respectful of his willingness to throw away the book when it comes to tradition—Martel knows after the Regeneration efforts there was no such thing as tradition anymore. That didn't change the fact that these challengers were increasingly difficult to beat—the Iron Chefs had been facing a bit of a slump lately. Iron Chef Chen had recently had his 7-win streak snapped by a challenger from Asgard, who had seen two of his friends lose against Kobe. "Fish" Sakai, who almost never lost a seafood battle, lost a grouper battle the previous week. Even the Honorary Iron Chefs, who were occasionally called in to battle, were losing to talented chefs. Nakamura dropped two in a row, and Ishinabe suffered only his second loss ever (which wasn't saying much, considering he only battled eight times prior). Even the seemingly invincible Michiba suffered a rare loss last month. This was Morimoto's first win after two straight losses, which helped stop the bleeding a bit.

"You did it again!" Iron Chef Kobe shouted after the cameras stopped rolling, clapping his Iron Chef brother-in-arms on the shoulder. "That looked like a tough one today."

"Jeez, I thought I lost for a minute," Morimoto replied, shaking the younger man's hand. "I mean, come on, cucumbers? What was I supposed to do with that?" The two men laughed.

"Well done, Morimoto-san, on another excellent match," Chairman Kaga said as he approached the two, extending his hand. "I would like to have a word with you in my office in a few minutes. And you too, Kobe-san. Can you spare the time?"

The Iron Chefs nodded, saying nothing more than a simple "hai" in response. Kobe and Morimoto looked at each other, confused.

What the…what could this be about?

~料理の鉄シンフォニア~

"Take a seat, gentlemen," the Chairman gestured as he sat down behind his desk. "Rest assured, this has nothing to do with the recent slump of victories we have been facing lately."

The Iron Chefs still looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Now then…if memory serves me right," the Chairman began, "there are two members of the World Regeneration party that are generally assumed to be terrible cooks—you probably know them, Raine Sage and Zelos Wilder. I have an idea in mind, if you would both like to be a part of it."

The two men remained silent, still confused.

"I think it's about time the group stopped suffering from their cooking. So I would like for them to battle in Kitchen Stadium—"

"WHAT?!" Kobe shouted.

"—not against you two…" the Chairman continued, holding up a finger, "…but WITH you two."

Morimoto made to speak, but no sound left his mouth. Kobe still looked outraged.

"You mean you're going to make them cook alongside US? Kaga-shusai, have you lost your mind?"

"Oh no, just using it to…ahem, experiment a little bit," he replied, grinning.

"So when are we planning on doing this?" Morimoto asked.

"Ah, next week. I hoped you would be able to surprise them in two days, when my sources tell me that all members of the group will be at the Wilder Mansion for their annual summer gathering."

Kobe looked at Morimoto in surprise. "Mo, you're crazy! If they're terrible cooks, we're not going to finish anything in that hour! And the panel will DIE from what Raine and Zelos offer them!"

Morimoto smirked. "Hey, if Kaga-shusai can call one of my dishes the worst he's ever tasted and live to tell the tale, I think I can survive wrangling terrible cooks for an hour. YOUR record as Iron Chef isn't that stellar either, Kobe-kun…"

Kobe sighed, knowing he was right—his winning percentage hovered around 67 percent, or so said the Kitchen Stadium statisticians.

"OK, I'll do it," he said begrudgingly.

"Excellent!" the Chairman exclaimed as he ushered the two men outside the studio. "Then I shall put you, Morimoto-san, with Raine, and you, Kobe-san, with Zelos. I shall see you next week."

The two chefs looked on as Kaga disappeared into the streets of Meltokio. Kobe broke the silence, still wondering why Kaga's mind was working like it was.

"What the hell did we just get ourselves into?"

Madness, Kobe-san, madness, I say! We'll hear from the Symphonia cast in the next chapter, but for now, consider it done. The match-up:

SYLVARANT/ASIA vs. TETHE'ALLA/EUROPE
Raine Sage/Masaharu Morimoto vs. Zelos Wilder/Masahiko Kobe

Ryori no Tetsu-Shinfonia kono ato.