Iron Chef Symphonia: Michiba vs. Sage

Summary: Honorary Iron Chef Michiba, after doing some soul-searching of his own, decides to challenge a recent victor in Kitchen Stadium himself.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Iron Chef, or any of the characters involved. Please read "ICS: Sage vs. Sakai" first if you haven't already, because this is a direct sequel to that story.

Author's Note: All characters are assumed to be speaking Japanese unless otherwise noted.


Chapter 1: The Spirit of Challenge

It was an early morning in the village of Mizuho. Inside a hut just a stone's throw from the Chief's residence, a brush dipped in ink met a dry sheet of paper in a small hut. Each kana took form from the brush in the old man's hand onto the paper he laid out.

タマシイ*.

Spirit, the old man thought. That is exactly what I saw last month. The young man's creations were pure genius, but why? Innovative, unusual, and unique, yes, but they had soul. Each creation had a spirit of its own.

The old man set his brush down and held the piece of paper in front of him, waiting for the ink to dry. The one word he had written on it gleamed black against the bright Tethe'alla sun, which shone through the window of his Mizuhoan hut. He tacked the paper to a wall and reached for the bottle of sake and his masu* near the window, the black lines on the paper now reminding him constantly of the one thing that cooking should never lack.

Spirit, he thought once again, drives quality…and I fear I am losing the very thing that I could once capture so well…

He took a long sip of sake as he meditated in the hut some more. He then found yet another paper, letter-sized, and wrote what appeared to be a message.

Yes…this is what I shall do.

He sealed the message inside the envelope and, parcel in hand, rose from the floor of his hut, went outside, and stretched. It was a brisk morning, a perfect day to walk about the village. He saw his vegetable garden nearby, noting how well the tomatoes were doing this year. And I haven't gotten good tomatoes in years, he thought, or good anything for the last month…

But the old man had more important business to tend to than harvesting his good tomatoes. Removing his shoes, he stepped up to the raised platform and knocked on the door of the Chief's residence.

"Fujibayashi-sama?"

"Hai," a young voice called from inside. "Oh! Ohayo gozaimasu…"

The old man returned the bow, handing the girl an envelope. "A message for one of your friends. I, regrettably, cannot make the trek to deliver this in person to him, but I hope you will be able to deliver it on my behalf? It is rather important…"

The raven-haired kunoichi caught the smell of the sake on the man's breath, realizing why he enlisted her help. She eyed the man's calligraphy on the envelope, recognizing the addressee's name immediately.

"Of course, I'll be seeing him later today. I'll make sure he gets this."

"Thank you, Fujibayashi-sama."

"My pleasure. And I've told you before, Shihna-chan will do just fine."

The old man just smiled at her as he turned on his heel to make his way back to his hut, leaving the kunoichi staring at the mysterious envelope.

"He seemed unusually serious about it…" she muttered. "Although he's been behaving rather…strange lately."

Shrugging it off, she made for the gate of the village and pulled out her Rheiard pack.

"Right…where did that kid say he'd be this week?"

~料理の鉄シンフォニア~

"Wow, look at these over here!"

The young mage, beckoning the little woodcutter over to him, pointed out the selection of winter melons he was eyeing with much attention. They were considerably bigger and healthier-looking than any melon he had seen before in Iselia, or anywhere else for that matter. Genis picked one up and gave it a knock.

"Oooh. You hear that?" he asked, holding the melon up to Presea's ear and giving it another tap. "Must be really ripe…"

Presea smiled at him. She had seen Genis before as the know-it-all about pretty much anything. At times he could be really arrogant about it, too. But around food, he carried a much different air about him—enthusiastic as always, but wise, perhaps even endearing. And, she was convinced, it wasn't just the perpetual Flanoir snow whizzing about their heads that did it to him.

タマシイ, she thought, it courses through him like mana…

She wrapped her arm around his as he continued showing her different produce specimens, enthralled by the mini-lecture he gave on the perfect conditions for optimum flavor for each one.

"Now what did I need again?" she heard him ask himself. Her free hand dug around in her pocket and found the small paper he had given her that morning.

"Here, Genis," she said, handing it to him. "Three sweet potatoes, two artichokes, five pears, and a winter melon," she read.

"That's it?" he replied. "We were going to stock up in Flanoir and that's all I put? Well, let's see, the avocados were good, so let's get a few of those. Oooh! Bok choy, we never get that back in Iselia…"

Oh, Genis… she thought, it's a good thing you won that money last week, else you'd be burning a hole in everybody's wallet with your compulsive ingredient shopping…five thousand gald for all this?

The woodcutter sighed as she grabbed the overflowing bags of produce, praying to Martel that they wouldn't lose anything during the Rheiard journey back to Altamira.

~料理の鉄シンフォニア~

"I think…this is the place…never knew Genis scored it big here…and it's only been a month?" Sheena muttered, lifting her gaze from the envelope she held to the gigantic building she had come to know over the course of the journey. It was the Grand Hotel Altamira, where Regal had set them up on occasion to stay if they ever needed a night—and where Lloyd let his stomach take over for his brain several more times than was necessary, draining his wallet faster than her Pyre Seal could knock him down. The kunoichi lightly giggled at the thought of the red-clad swordsman. Sheesh, Lloyd…

"But something still doesn't seem right to me…so quickly after he won on Iron Chef and he's here?"

She entered the massive establishment, which was oddly deserted for the day. Finding her way to the restaurant, she smelled something very familiar as she opened the door. It was the odd hour of the day in between lunch and dinner, when business slowed to a crawl. Sheena took in the pungent, biting scent and choked.

Niflheim Noodles? she thought as she glanced toward the open kitchen. The small shrub of silver hair poking over the top of the counter confirmed her suspicions.

Damn, Genis…you're practically a master chef now. And you wanted to pursue magic?

"Hi, table for one?" the receptionist asked.

"Erm—um, well, actually…" Sheena stammered, lowering her glance to the envelope in her hand. "…I had a message for Chef Sage, if he has a minute…it's rather important."

The receptionist nodded. "Yes, please, go right ahead," and she waved Sheena through to the kitchen.

The shrub of silver hair she eyed stood still as she approached the counter to ruffle it.

"Well, I see our little tetsujin* hit the big time here in Altamira, eh?"

The young mage jumped. "What the—oh! Hey there, Sheena. Hang on a sec, I'll be right out…" he said as he scurried to the back of the kitchen and disappeared behind a door. It wasn't long before he reappeared right in front of his ninja companion, embracing her.

"I just stocked the kitchen with a bunch of ingredients from Flanoir…you know, see if the winter aura agrees with the summery feel here. So what's up?"

"Oh, not much, just in the area. Where's Presea?"

"In the back, taking inventory. I'm here in case an order comes in, but I don't think we'll get one for a while."

"I see…" Sheena said as she remembered why her sleeve bothered her. "This, my friend, is for you," she added, procuring the envelope. "The old man would've come here himself to deliver it to you, but something came up, so I came instead."

"Hmm…" Genis voiced, perplexed. He tore open the envelope and read the message:

Dear Chef Sage,

I wholeheartedly congratulate you on your victory last month against Iron Chef Sakai. You are a very talented young man, and your recent appointment to the Grand Hotel Altamira's restaurant is a testament to your impressive culinary prowess. I was most impressed by your techniques that brought out the essence of each ingredient in each dish.

Having said that, I wish to challenge you in Kitchen Stadium myself three weeks from this Friday. You possess the spirit of cooking that has largely gone missing from my dishes, and I hope that you will help me rediscover what that spirit is.

I look forward to hearing from you.

--Rokusaburo Michiba

"Michiba-san…losing his spirit?" Genis muttered to himself, quizzically. "I don't believe that for a minute…"

"That could probably explain why he was acting so weird lately. His calligraphy is usually very neat, very elegant, and powerful looking, but recently it's gotten rather uncharacteristically messy…" Sheena sighed, "…and I never see him walking around town anymore. I mean, the sake can only do so much for one's soul…"

"And it sounds like he's suffering a kind of Toxicosis like Colette was during the journey…"

"Hmm…would that be 'Iron Toxicosis', then?"

"Suppose so. But I figure, he gave me the advice that led me to win last month, so the least I can do is help him rediscover his spirit."

"Well then…looks like it's game time for you again, kiddo," Sheena said, patting him on the back.

"And allez cuisine," the mage joked.


Whew! That was pretty long. This one will probably be a bit more angsty than the previous one (largely thanks to Michiba-san's period of soul-searching and worrying over the Iron Toxicosis), though I hope the humor will surface come the opening gong. I don't typically write angst (though when I do, it's not very good), so…take that as you will.

*Author's Notes: タマシイ: pronounced "tamashii"—spirit.

Masu: a square, wooden box-like cup typically used to serve sake.

Tetsujin: Iron Chef. (Though it literally translates to "iron man", but whatever…)