For a while Botan ate in silence, enjoying the taste of the sheep. It was a shame that this Gourmand seemed to be criminally minded, he was quite talented and she wouldn't have minded chatting with him about cooking skills. As it was though he seemed a man best not associated with, and reclaiming Watame took priority.

As the meat dwindled, Gourmand unexpectedly spoke up. "You know Miss Shishiro, I've been wondering lately. What sort of animals might a person find at somewhere called a 'hololive'? do most of them look human like you do?"

Botan stopped in between a couple of the final few bites of meat and turned to stare at Gourmand. She hadn't mentioned Hololive when talking to him, so what prompted the question? Perhaps he had extracted some information from Watame before he cooked her. Well, no time to formulate a lie and perhaps the truth might cow him a little. "Hololive is an entertainment company. We don't mean to specialize in animal girls like myself and Watame, there are several humans among us. But our CEO is somehow really good at attracting them, along with many other supernatural beings."

Gourmand put his hand to his chin and gave a few audible 'hmmm's. Botan couldn't entirely pin down his emotions, but shock or fear was not among them. "Interesting. I would like to know more about this company of yours. For now though, I wonder if you and your two friends would like a quick tour of my kitchen? Thought I'd show you what equipment someone like me works with."

The chef was trying to put on a friendly smile, but what he said had made Botan freeze just as she finished the last of Watame. "Friends-! How did you know?" Surprise had made Botan speak without thinking, and all too late she realized how carelessly she had confirmed the chef's suspicions.

"My nose always knows!" Gourmand boasted. "Rabbit and fox can't hide from me easily." He moved to the side of the counter and leaned down to pick up something. "You three are planning something, just like those Wild Rats always do! And it is not going to work!"

"Polka! Pekora! Now!"

Botan had barely finished shouting and she already had to roll to the side to dodge a thrown weighted net just as her fellow talents jumped the railing onto the patio. Pekora immediately jumped at Gourmand to tackle him but the large chef proved surprisingly nimble, dodging to the side. Polka seemingly moved to do the same but instead stopped abruptly in front of the chef and jumped up into the air. Gourmand thought she was getting away, only for the fennec acrobat to turn upside-down in midair and kick off one of the beams holding up the restaurant's awnings. Gourmand realized she was coming back towards him too late and failed to dodge a kick to the shoulder. He avoided getting knocked over but it sent him stumbling backwards, flailing his massive arms to prevent any of the animals from a follow up.

When Gourmand regained his footing he was next to the counter, which he jumped over. Now with a small barrier between the chef and the animals he aimed to capture, the fight paused. By then Watame had respawned and Botan moved to make sure the sheep would be OK during the disorientation that typically followed a respawn, while Polka and Pekora moved to guard both ends of the counter. The latter was the first to speak at the chef.

"We have you surrounded peko! It's four of us against you, surrender and face your tribunal!"

"Never! Animals don't get to boss me around! I'm a master chef, and you are all ingredients. One way or another you're going in the oven!" The cruel words Gourmand roared stuck the Hololive idols, but before they could make a move Gourmand Lifted a strange red machine from behind the counter: His doughball blaster. Some among the idols could recognize it as a weapon, but there was little time to react before the chef opened fire in a storm of sticky spheres.

"Get down!"

"nice try!"

"Why you-!"

"ORA!"

Polka, ever the acrobat, nimbly dodged around the projectiles while Pekora jumped high into the air as they came her way. Botan's FPS instincts had her take dive behind some furniture, but that was not stable cover and she found herself in a sticky tangle of chairs, table, and dough. Watame, still dazed, was in no position to dodge but also was not a priority target. A single doughball hit her, knocking her to her back and sticking her right arm to her chest.

As the fusillade ended and the fighters planned their next move, Watame still managed to sit up and plead. "Please, mister Gourmand, stop it! My friends don't respawn like me, they won't come back if you cook them!"

Gourmand paused a second, thinking over what the sheep had said. "Oh, that just makes them even better!" His smile was enthusiastic and predatory.

Though now Gourmand was shown himself a cruel man and none among his opponents had expected Watame's plea to evoke a sympathetic response, the depth of sociopathy and callousness his response implied was such that they could not immediately process it.

"Eh? How does that work?" Polka asked.

"Simple supply and demand," Gourmand said as he fired off another volley the fennec had to dodge around, "rare animals make the best food, and a meal that can only be cooked once is the most special and valuable of them all!"

"You're a monster peko! You cannot be allowed to remain alive." Whether the war criminal CEO of Usada Kensetsu realized her mild hypocrisy or not, her rage was genuine as she charged the chef. "Eat this peko, BETA-CAROTENE POWER!" Pekora manifested a gigantic carrot apparently from thin air and swung it at Gourmand with all her might- only to freeze in confusion as the vegetable bludgeon met far less resistance than expected, She refocused her eyes on where the weapon should have been, only to see several neat slices of carrot falling to the floor. "Eh?"

"Did you seriously think vegetables could have more power than a master chef?" Gourmand laughed as he fired several blasts of dough at point blank range, sticking Pekora's limbs to the counter.

"Oh. I maybe didn't quite think that through peko?" She laughed nervously. "You don't want me. I taste bad peko! And if you eat Pekora anyway, your body will slowly become Pekora."

Gourmand scowled at the rabbit, before shrugging. "Eh, make up what excuses you want bunny. Besides even if you're right, I'm sure there's some customer somewhere who's into that."

As Pekora tried to process the chef's dismissive response, Polka made her own move. "Pekora-Senpai! I'll save you!"

"Polka, wait!"

Botan had just about disentangled herself from the wreckage when a vengeful Polka began her charge. Similarly to the beginning of the fight, she jumped seemingly to dodge a punch. Gourmand however remembered her previous trick. As Polka was pushing off the ceiling Gormand was winding up his other arm for a punch. The chef's massive fist connected with the fennec's abdomen in midflight, sending Polka flying backwards screaming in pain. She slammed into a back wall and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Well darn, I prefer tenderizing meat with more finesse. But Gourmand isn't fooled with simple tricks! Time to finish this one." Gourmand frowned, then smirked as he turned towards where the fennec lay almost unmoving.

"You will not touch her again!" Botan ran forwards and leapt across the counter swinging a chair leg. Gourmand picked up a nearby cutting board as a crude shield which deflected the weapon partially but still saw it hit the side of Gourmand's torso with enough force to make him wince and stumble backwards. His other arm then lashed out with a meat cleaver, forcing Botan to back off from the barrier. Both stood, uncertain of their next move.

"Botan!" Pekora cried out. "This is getting bad, you gotta get help somehow peko!"

The lion in turn spoke to the sheep. "Watame. Pekora is right. Take my phone and call the others. I'll keep this bastard busy."

"Oh no," Gourmand growled, "I am finishing this now!" He jumped the counter himself wielding the meat cleaver, and Botan barely had passed her phone to Watame before she backed off to avoid the full mass of the giant chef's charge. The lioness then readied to pounce at Gourmand, only to back off from the attack as the chef raised his arms to a defensive position. Meanwhile Watame fumbled with the phone figuring who best to call when she remembered that Pekora's loyal kouhai Kiara was on a visit to Japan. That phoenix was sure to take this threat seriously, and as a bird she would be able to fly over quickly.

AN: This was my first time writing a fight scene, so I welcome criticism on how I could do better. I worry I made Pekora and Polka seem too ineffectual in combat, but I am not sure how to make them more active without drawing out the scene too much.