And now, the moment of truth…tasting and judgment for the Aselia Cup Final Battle. Whose cuisine will reign supreme? It'll only be a matter of time before we find out.

Chapter 13: The Last Supper

==FAHRENHEIT 451== (FUKUI NARRATING)

Chef Combatir is offering four dishes.

First, Lobster Bisque. The succulent flavor of the Japanese lobsters complements the smooth bisque. Carrots and other vegetables flavor the creamy soup that also holds a radish flower she carved—putting her own stamp on a classic dish.

Second, Lobster Handroll. A Japanese tradition comes together with the Ozettian evangelist's own touch. Lightly boiled lobster fillets are held by a delicate balance of Aselian seaweed and vinegared rice.

Third, White Truffle and Lobster Gyoza. Lobster pieces cured with kelp have been combined with white truffle pieces and deep-fried, adding a luxurious flavor to an otherwise simple dish.

Last is Lobsters in Chili Sauce. A delicate balance of fruits and vegetables accompany the fire in her special chili sauce that coats generous chunks of lobster. It's a fiery way to end her tournament competition.

Chef Irving is offering three dishes.

First, Dwarven Pot Luck Surprise, Chef Irving's equivalent of throw-whatever-he-can-find-on-a-plate. An eclectic, if a bit bizarre, combination of ingredients attempt to harmonize with the delectable Japanese lobster.

Second, Iselian Drunken Lobster. He soaked these lobsters alive in Iselian sake for the majority of the battle before grilling them near the end. The sake treatment gives each lobster a more refreshing, clean taste.

Last, Lobster Hot Pot, another one of Lloyd's more unorthodox tactics during the battle. Live lobsters cured in kelp were soaked in hot kelp broth, aided by hot stones, and boiled in this long pot—which Chef Irving has sealed and will open just before the dish is to be enjoyed.

==FIGHTING 17TH== (FUKUI NARRATING)

Chairman Kaga's dream begins to come true with the coming of the final battle of the Aselia Cup Tournament.

And the crowd of nearly five thousand people were in for a treat as they saw the Ozettian evangelist compete for the title herself—the winner of the Tethe'alla semifinal, Presea Combatir.

She crosses knives with the World Regeneration party leader, the Sylvarant semifinal winner, Lloyd Irving.

For the final battle, Chairman Kaga unveils the theme—the king of seafood for the end-all, be-all of all cooking contests…Japanese lobster!

Chef Combatir, calm and collected to the very end, whips up a luxurious set of four dishes.

Chef Irving, slightly panicked but fighting valiantly all the way through, counters with a set of three.

~料理の鉄シンフォニア~

Presea stood to the Chairman's left at the judges' table, bearing a stone faced expression as the panel began to take their seats. Genis insisted on taking the seat closest to the Chairman upon seeing Presea. He sat down and winked at her.

Presea's expression did not change, but inside she felt her heart skip a beat.

The Professor took her seat next to her brother, followed by Yuan and Dirk, both of whom Presea was expecting. She was not, however, expecting the next face who took his seat at the very end of the table.

Kratos? she thought upon seeing him. I thought angels couldn't taste anything, though…

"I know what you're thinking, Presea," the seraph interrupted her thoughts as she stared at him rather dumbfounded. "I have my ways, don't worry."

The little woodcutter shrugged and turned her attention to the Chairman, who had just taken his seat at the head of the table. The Kitchen Stadium staff was bringing her first dish, her bisque, to the table.

"Shall we begin?" Kaga asked, gesturing to the soup.

"Ah, yes," Presea responded, snapping out of her reverie. "This, as you can see, is a lobster bisque. I've flavored it with a lot of different vegetables you might typically see around Ozette. You'll hear me say that a lot, as it's my inspiration for this course—taking native Ozettian ingredients and incorporating them with this top-class food item."

"I've heard legends about this dish being the prime item at ceremonies at the Temple of Water," Raine stated. "You've done a wonderful job of combining all the ingredients together. I feel as though I'm taking part in the legend myself!"

Genis shook his head. Just don't go into Ruin Mode over a soup, sis…

"Ah, there's a good soup," Dirk sighed as he lowered his spoon. "So smooth. And I love the little flower carving in the middle. Just too pretty to eat! Looks like it could go on a necklace or something."

Presea bowed, not really knowing what to say. She turned away to fetch her next course, the lobster handroll.

"Who would've thought we would be getting sushi?" Kaga wondered aloud.

"It's such a simple dish, yet so complex in style," Genis replied as he took a bite.

Presea felt her heart flutter a little bit as Genis chewed. She could already tell he loved it.

Well, maybe he IS a little bit biased…

He held up his thumb as he swallowed. "Love it! The textures are to die for."

"I apologize in advance for being so critical," Kratos added, "but this dish wouldn't exactly prompt me to think 'Iron Chef'. It's quite delicious, don't get me wrong, but I feel that you could've been a little more creative in your approach."

"Yeah, I'm with Kratos on this one," Yuan followed. "Tastes great, but I feel you could've done a little more to this."

Presea shrugged, a little confused by the panel's reaction.

It made sense to me at the time…they don't usually make sushi out of lobster, right…?

"Gyoza, is this?" Kaga asked as Presea's third course was brought to the table.

"Yes, with white truffles mixed in with the lobster," she replied. "I know white truffles aren't a common ingredient anywhere you go, but I figured I'd try something different, something I haven't used before."

"It's an odd combination on paper," Yuan began, "but here it actually works, in its strange little way. Very nice job on this one."

"And the lobsters were cured in kelp before you combined them with the truffles, right?" Genis asked.

"Yes, that's correct."

"No wonder they taste so good! I often view kelp as the 'miracle' ingredient because it can used with basically anything, but you've combined it with an unfamiliar ingredient to make a great combination. Can't really say I know what this taste is, but I like it."

Presea flashed a small grin at the young Iron Chef before dashing off to retrieve her last course.

I pulled out all the stops for this one…hopefully my gamble will pay off…

"This looks a bit like Chen Kenichi's Ebi-Chili Sauce, doesn't it?" Kaga asked.

"Yes, it does—I drew inspiration from that dish to create this one. This one's sweet and spicy. I couldn't resist putting in a few of my favorite fruits and vegetables from my hometown."

"You know, I absolutely love spicy dishes," Raine began.

"Maybe a little TOO much," Genis grumbled, to the amusement of the panel.

"Dare I say, I think the sweetness actually intensifies the spiciness of the sauce. It's quite good, though I question a few of your vegetable choices. Particularly the red onion."

"You know, normally when Raine offers cooking advice I tend to shy away from it, for obvious reasons," Kratos added. "But I have to say, I actually agree with her for once. The red onion throws off the balance of flavors in this dish, but since I've ignored many of the onion chunks in my portion I've actually come to enjoy this quite a bit."

"And might I add," Dirk cut in, "no one beats you in the presentation department. I'm surely going to give you full marks for that—these carvings are absolutely beautiful. Using the shell of the lobster was a really creative idea."

"But the dish itself is quite good, save for that onion bit," Yuan replied. "Were you going to add a cream sauce over this, is that what I heard?"

"Yes, but I abandoned the idea once I had the idea for the gyoza."

"I see. It's a good thing you didn't, I think, because that probably would've—and again, here I go with that phrase—thrown off the balance of flavors. It's perfectly fine as-is."

Presea bowed lightly, and thanked the Chairman and panel.

My work here is done…it is out of my hands now.

~料理の鉄シンフォニア~

As Lloyd was brought out of the holding room and to the judges' table, he noticed his heart rate dramatically rise.

Am I getting nervous? I mean, let's be real here, if I win, great, if not, no big deal…right?

He took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. He took his place next to the head of the table and bowed to the panel as his first course was brought out.

"So how was the hour?" Kaga asked him as soon as the plates were down.

"Well…you know," the twin swordsman sighed. "But don't make me do it again, is all I have to say. I was never that fond of fighting my closest friends."

Genis laughed a little inside. A typical 'Lloyd' response…

"I see…" the Chairman said as he glanced at the strange-looking, pancake-like substance on the plate in front of him.

"Pardon me for being blunt, but what exactly is this?"

"Dwarven Pot Luck Surprise! It's my specialty," Lloyd stated rather matter-of-factly. "I take whatever I can grab in the kitchen, combine them altogether in a sort of frittata-looking thing, and voila!"

"But do you ever know how it tastes?" the Chairman asked.

"Well…no, but that's part of the fun!" Lloyd replied. "And it never tastes the same way twice!"

The Chairman shrugged and took a bite of the frittata, maintaining a look of pure confusion on his face all the while.

"You have to understand, Mr. Chairman," Raine began, "that the probability of success—and by this I mean the dish tasting good—is highly variable. With the kind of ingredients Lloyd used this time around, who knows how it'll taste. Not even Lloyd knows!" And with that, she took a bite.

"Well, I'm still alive, at least," Genis replied rather sardonically. "At least it's not a total failure."

Lloyd and Genis both laughed. Lloyd's highly variable success factor, as Raine put it, became a bit of an inside joke between the two. Genis smirked as he remembered one particular time Lloyd made Dwarven Pot Luck Surprise—upon tasting it, Genis claimed he was within an inch of his life.

"I actually…kinda like it," Yuan added. "Maybe I'm just a little biased because I love cheese and that there's a good helping of it in here, but all the ingredients actually work really well with the lobster, oddly enough."

"I disagree," Kratos replied. "I wouldn't voluntarily eat this, and Yuan…what on Aselia are you talking about?"

Lloyd gave a nervous chuckle before he hurried out of the room to fetch the drunken lobsters.

"Wow, these look really good," Dirk remarked as he received his plate.

"But how do they taste?" Genis challenged as he dug into his.

"Very, very good," Dirk replied. "It's a refreshing flavor—I suppose the only thing that would've made it better is if, Lloyd, you had soaked it in dwarven ale instead of sake."

"That's only because you like it so much, Dad…" Lloyd muttered under his breath.

"We've had, what, six lobster plates up to this point?" Kratos asked. "And without having tasted the last one yet, I can safely say that this is my favorite one. No, it's not just because you made it, Lloyd, but rather that the smokiness of the grill you used combined with the strong sake flavor matches almost perfectly. And you've let the natural essence of these lobsters shine in this dish."

"How poetic you've become, Kratos," Raine remarked. The panel laughed the remark off as Lloyd went to fetch the mysterious long pot.

"Ah, yes, the one we've all been waiting for," Kaga remarked. The panel applauded as the lid came off the pot, revealing four steaming lobsters surrounded by kelp, hot soup, and hot stones. Lloyd gave a generous hunk of lobster and kelp to each panel member, accompanied by a little sea salt and pepper on the plate.

"I think this dish is the culmination of your creative genius," Raine said. "Having taught you for many years and being disappointed one too many times, I think this is the first time in recent memory—saving the world notwithstanding, of course—that I'm actually able to say with certainty: Lloyd, I'm proud of you."

"I echo Raine's sentiments, might I add," Kratos chimed in. "You've served these lobsters without any sort of accompaniment aside from the simple things—kelp, salt, and pepper. This is the ultimate form of cuisine. You should add this to the menu at your restaurant. If you don't, I may never come by again."

Duly noted, Lloyd thought.

"It was such an elaborate presentation, with the soup bubbling out of the pot when the rocks went in," Genis added. "Even I'm impressed, Lloyd. I want to know where you got this idea, because the people in Altamira would love it."

"Thank you, Chef Irving. We will call you when we are ready," the Chairman said, showing him out of the room.

Lloyd beamed.

Score!

And with that, the final battle draws to a close. The only thing left to see is whose cuisine reigns supreme, and who will get to fight the bonus battle that Kaga has set up for the winner! Please review! Thank you for reading!