Disclaimer: No Ownership to Pokémon or Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma
TotsukiMon Convention
Chapter 1: An Island Getaway
An illustrious sign stood on a tall dormitory building while the sun's rays reflected of the emblem. It was morning at, according to the sign, Polar Star. An elderly woman with quill-like spiky gray hair began making breakfast. Wearing a yellow shirt and orange long skirt, she cracked eggs and removed the yolks from their shells. After scrambling eggs, she added some vegetable slices into the mix before grilling them. The cooked eggs were rolled into egg logs with the slices made inside. A teapot steamed to which the woman smiled. "Ah, the morning with egg rolls and Oolong tea to start the morning," she smiled. Just then, a fuchsia-haired young woman emerged wearing a loose yellow shirt with a part of cleavage showing as well as some white shorts. The woman turned to see the fuchsia-haired. "Ryoko, nice to see you first thing in the morning." Ryoko poured some Oolong tea into a clay-based cup.
"Well, I just couldn't sleep, Fumio," she confessed.
"Why? The announcement that we're expecting today?"
"No, not that… I mean, what Soma has next to make. In a sense, whoever ends up with him has to know that he was raised by an alum… even Erina." The reminder made Fumio snicker.
"That moment in front of the dormitory and Erina goes to speak to her father… I've never seen her so speechless in my life."
"Hey, ease off! I mean, even if we did tell her about Joichiro being Soma's dad, she wouldn't believe it unless it was mentioned before."
"Yes… she's always stubborn to a fault." Minutes later, students emerged from their beds to the dining hall or the kitchen to make and eat breakfast.
"So, did you hear?" an amber-haired girl voiced. She wore a lime green sweatshirt and denim shorts with her hair in pigtails. "We're suppose to be getting an announcement soon."
"Yeah, something about a cooking convention in a new location," a light brunette young man voiced. All he wore was a pink apron. "I wonder if we're going overseas. I can imagine having it in America, maybe in Los Angeles or perhaps Las Vegas…" Some other girls, including a young blue-haired woman wearing a pink pajama suit, gave the brunette hard glares.
"What you need to do is make sure you're dressed for the occasion, Isshiki," another young brunette woman scolded. Isshiki scoffed, dismissing the brunette wearing a white t-shirt stretched from her bust with "spice" printed and track shorts. She also wore square glasses.
"I only do it within the dorms, Shiomi," he murmured. He leaned back, pushing the chair onto the back legs and his eyes closed. "It will be nice to try something new." He sighed with an open mouth where a grilled tentacle dressed in jelly dangled overhead held up by chopsticks. In a flash, the tentacle entered Isshiki's mouth and touched the tongue, forcing Isshiki to taste the awkward snack. He jumped out of his to turn to a spiky dark crimson-haired young man in a blue shirt and gray slacks with his left arm wrapped in a cloth who laughed at Isshiki's reaction. "Dammit, Soma!" The crimson-haired grinned as Isshiki regained his composure.
"I didn't get you until now, Satoshi," he recalled. The amber-haired shook her head with a smile.
"I knew one of these days," she snickered. "He'd find stragglers to his squid tentacle prank."
"Shut it, Yuuki," moaned Satoshi. "And why grape jelly, Soma?"
"A nice little switch," Soma shrugged. "I would've tried teriyaki but that wouldn't work for the prank." The blue-haired giggled to how it would play out. A little while later, Fumio had an announcement to make.
"Here's what's going on," she started after people were together in a large room. "Totsuki Culinary Academy is going to provide a week-long convention at a new resort that organizers have scheduled on Seafoam Island." Everyone seemed baffled to the name.
"Seafoam Island?" the blue-haired girl wondered. "Where is that? I don't think any of us have heard of this island." Other students nodded.
"I'm afraid I'm not well informed in that as well, Megumi," Fumio denied. "And don't get started about New York City." Groans from the teenagers filled the room. "The news about the convention was held under secrecy for a long time until Totsuki had all of the arrangements settled. Polar Star isn't the only dormitory that will attend. Those around the Academy will be involved."
"That sounds great!" voiced Soma. Yuuki and Satoshi groaned to Soma's remark.
"Only you'd say that," they mulled. Fumio snickered as she approached Soma.
"Only you'd have this positive demeanor, Soma," she teased. "We'll be leaving this afternoon. Make sure you have plenty of clothes, as well as your cook uniforms."
"Yes, ma'am!" the students obeyed. After getting their stuff together, the students found a lot of white buses around.
"Just how many are going!?" gawked Yuuki.
"Well, Fumio did say Polar Star isn't the only dorm to go," Satoshi reminded as a blond and moderately tanned young woman in a white shirt over her voluptuous body and a bikini print of the USA flag. Turning, Soma recognized the blond.
"So, you're joining us, Mi-Meat?" he named. The blond groaned, her cheeks slightly blushing at seeing Soma.
"For an Elite Ten member, you need to show some compassion!" she complained.
"Can you really blame Soma for how he behaves around girls, Ikumi?" another young man voiced. Soma and Ikumi turned to a reddish-brunette young man with a pompadour hairstyle and pencil-thin mustache. Ikumi groaned to the sight.
"You're one to talk, Konishi," she snorted.
"Is that so, Mito?"
"Oh, now you're a poet? It's not the same kind of power I hear from an American radio host that I listen to while alone in my room." The confession made Konishi concerned.
"What else do you do in your room alone-" started Soma before Ikumi clocked him in the jaw with a left hook.
"None of your damn business!" she warned. Soma stood but he wobbled a little to the strike. "Anyway, plenty of alums will attend as well, including former Elite Ten members." To the boys, there were a lot of people to impress.
"We can't forget that some of them could overtake your chair, Soma," Konishi warned.
"Hey, I'd welcome any Food War to try to take my seat," Soma offered. Ikumi groaned to Soma's nonchalant reaction.
"It's as if you don't care about the chair you're in," she thought. "Erina would definitely beat your ass in with that lackluster behavior."
"Hey, leave Erina to me," Soma eased. "We do need to get going. I bet Takumi will sit with me like last time."
"Why, so you could play some cards while on our way to the resort?" guessed Konishi.
"Yeah…" shrugged Soma.
"Then don't expect me to fold in Hanafuda!" another young man proclaimed. Soma and Konishi turned to a blond young man in a blue school uniform and necktie. Girls cooed to the blond, hearts becoming their eyes.
"Don't worry about folding, Takumi," Soma scoffed. "I expect you to collapse." Takumi scowled at Soma for the remark. A dark-brunette wild-hair young man nearly collapsed to his knees while also wearing the uniform.
"We're playing Hanafuda, not Jenga!" he snapped. With instructions by bus drivers, all of the many buses were ready to move out. Many of the students wore the blue school uniforms with the young women wearing plaid skirts leggings and loafers. Takumi and Soma had cards in their hands as the buses entered a tunnel with lights so few and so far between. A strange noise caught Megumi's ears.
"Do you guys hear waves?" she asked. Other Totsuki students began to hear splashes from the tunnel walls.
"Weird…" muttered Yuuki. After an hour, the buses exited the tunnel and the students saw water to the side of the road.
"Did we wind up in New Zealand?" guessed Ikumi. Suddenly, large reddish goldfish splashed out of the water. The students gawked before seeing blue eels with jagged teeth swimming with pink eels with seashells attached to the underbellies and having spear-like noses, manta rays with cute faces and a giant blue whale out in the water. The teen girls gasped before cooing at some of the creatures like white horned sea lions with lower-jawed tusks and tongues sticking out, moving coral reefs with stubby feet and small pink hippos with white tips on their tails.
"Did we journey to a zoo!?" asked Megumi.
"I don't know, but I don't care!" laughed Ryoko. They began to pass more creatures on land like purple monkeys with puffy palms on their tails, moving bulky trees with faces on seemingly skinned coconuts and weeded pods flying about: pink with some weeds, blue with cotton balls and pink with yellow flowers acting like propellers.
"Wherever the hell we're in, I wanna call it heaven!" chuckled Ikumi. The boys seemed perplexed with the creatures they're seeing.
"Coral reefs that are sentient?" gulped Takumi.
"Moving palm trees?" wondered Satoshi, now wearing a pink polo t-shirt and white dress pants. Soma blinked to the thought of their current location.
"Something doesn't feel right about the resort we're going," he pointed out.
"I was about to ask you about that," Takumi agreed. "All sorts of unusual creatures and in a place we just learned about…"
"Yeah, and something tells me the place isn't even on Earth?"
"Of all the times I had to listen to you, this is one I can't help but agree. It just begs that question…" With a deep breath, Soma and Takumi let out their frustrations.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE WE!?" they shouted. Everyone on the bus stopped and turned to the shouting pair that seemed to have let out some anger. However, commotions restarted as the students were now questioning themselves the same thing. Before long, a large building entered their views. The skyscraper-like structure towered over several buildings as the buses entered a massive parking lot. As the buses parked, the students gathered their belongings before stepping out. It had been two hours since their departure from the campus grounds of Totsuki. The students began to stretch, finding themselves in new lands. Some arched their backs, bending their spines as others flexed their arms and legs. An orange puppy that looked like a tiger-mix came to Ikumi and barked up to her. She looked and awed the puppy, kneeling down.
"Does someone want some attention?" she teased. "Does someone want some attention?" The puppy barked and licked Ikumi's face. Yuuki giggled at Ikumi's play with the pup.
"Not a minute in and already you've got a friend, Ikumi," she teased. Shiomi emerged from one of the buses and found Takumi and Soma looking around.
"Seems Miss Mito has a friend," she nodded. The boys blinked as they turned to Shiomi.
"What the heck is going on?" demanded Takumi. "First, we're told us about this convention in this place no one but apparently the head honchos know about, then we all go through a tunnel apparently underwater and then we find creatures that-" Takumi's frustration caused him to lose focus of his argument and growled out of frustration. "They're still hard to believe and we're forced to see them, and now we're here for a week!?"
"Believe me, Aldini," Ikumi silenced. "If anyone told us what to expect, would you still be joining?" Takumi bit his tongue, not sure how to respond.
"Obvious, I would still go," Soma said. "It would catch my interest as well." Takumi gawked to Soma's oblivious statement.
"This is what I've liked from Yukihira," Satoshi smiled. "Never a moment to find new methods should you take over Joichiro's place." Megumi came to Shiomi and the boys, an urge of wanting to know the situation.
"So, this is the Seafoam Resort in a world of these cute creatures?" she asked. Shiomi looked at a brochure that she removed from a folder.
"Apparently, it is," she confirmed as she looked at another brochure. "We are here for the TotsukiMon Convention: the mix if Totsuki and Pokémon for a spectacle of tips and tricks and battles aplenty. At least, that's what the staff gave me to read." One word stuck out.
"BATTLES!?" the chorus of students repeated in unison.
"Lets step in and get you the rooms assigned," Shiomi sighed. The students began heading inside as Ikumi knelt to the puppy.
"I wish I could play with you, but…" she started to apologize. The puppy moaned and ran off. The sight of letting the creature go was sad to view as a teary-eyed Ikumi entered after the others. As the students checked in with Shiomi's papers, Yuuki found a flier on a bulletin board.
POKÉMON STREET BATTLE TOURNAMENT
She studied the flier a little more before gasping. "Oh, it's tomorrow!" she realized. "I wonder how one works?" As the students found their rooms, back at the school, a young blond woman in the school uniform seemed to be finishing some paperwork. Her bangs reached around her cheeks while her long honey blond hair nearly reached the handles from the back of the chair she sat on. Suddenly, there's a knock.
"Miss Erina?" a young woman called.
"Come in," the blond ordered. In came a pink-haired young woman in the same school uniform as Erina. "So, the others have departed for Seafoam Island, Hisako?"
"They have," Hisako confirmed. "It's about time we joined up." Erina nodded to the claim.
"I guess so… Hopefully, Soma doesn't do anything stupid that would turn this convention into a catastrophe." The two girls began to depart, ready to join the rest. What awaits on Seafoam Island?
TO BE CONTINUED...