They were in luck, hearing Pekora was in danger had lit a fire (definitely metaphorical, maybe also literal) under Kiara. She had told Watame she was just "two minutes" away from their location. Those were a very nail-biting two minutes.
Two minutes of such delaying and skirmishing where Botan backed off from Gourmand's attacks while keeping close enough that the chef could not move away to kill one of her friends without leaving himself open to attack. Both had the physical stamina to keep it up for hours but with every move there was the slight chance of a slip up that would end in tragedy. But before bad luck could strike Botan down their salvation arrived. A loud thud and a cry announced a new arrival on the side of the patio. "KIKKERIKI! STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!"
At that call Botan and Gourmand halted their actions, and together with Watame pivoted their heads towards the enthusiastic orange-clad newcomer. "Alright who is it now?" asked the frustrated gourmand.
"It's the part-time warror/idol, majestic phoenix Takanashi Kiara! When I heard Pekora-Senpai and Watame-Senpai were in trouble I rushed here. Whoever you are, we do not appreciate you trying to turn us into food so I dem-OOF!" Kiara was cut off as several doughballs slammed into her, sticking her limbs to the railing.
A smug Gourmand lowered the blaster again. "You don't need to ramble about yourself, clucky. I've heard of you, the bird-brained boss of Kiara Fried Phoenix. Stand aside miss fast-food, and I'll show you how a real chef creates a masterpiece. Perhaps I'll show you roasted Lion!" At that Gourmand turned to pursue Botan once again, but as Botan readied to dodge another blow the phoenix continued.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Kiara yelled, the bold defiance pausing Gourmand's tracks. "For starters, I am NOT a chicken. But more importantly, how dare you suggest that fast food is not a respectable art of cookery? You will PAY for that!" Gourmand was about to laugh when Kiara surrounded herself in a red glow. Gourmand and Botan both had to back away from the waves of heat as the dough pinning Kiara sizzled and fell to the ground. Now freed, the phoenix manifested her sword and shield along with her brilliant pair of fiery wings. For the first time a look of genuine fear showed on Gourmand's face as Kiara walked forwards. "Do you still want to fight?"
"Oh, umm, wait, one moment!" Gourmand dropped his cleaver and doughball blaster, then ran behind the counter before squeezing through the hatch to the truck-turned-restaurant's cab.
"You come back here!" Kiara shouted. Flapping her wings, she flew across to the back of the restaurant. Despite her declaration of pursuit, she stopped there and turned to where her dear Senpai Pekora was trapped. With care she used her heated sword to cut away the dough pinning the rabbit down.
"Thank you, Kiara-Chan! But you need to go after that guy before he gets away! For Hololive and Usada Kensetsu!"
"On it!"
On Pekora's encouragement Kiara too went through the hatch. With her wings and large weapons out plus the unfamiliarity, she didn't have an easier time than Gourmand squeezing through despite her smaller size. The cab was empty though, Kiara just catching sight of Gourmand jumping out the door with whatever he'd grabbed. She pursued.
Back in the kitchen, Pekora, Watame, Botan, and a badly injured Polka wondered how to best proceed next, when they began hearing roars, yells, and a strange whooshing sound outside.
"Do the rest of you hear that noise?" Botan asked.
It sounds like fighting peko! I'll check peko." Pekora ran to one of the small windows at the back of the restaurant. She saw Kiara fly by majestically, and behind her, was… "No way peko! He can fly too?" At those words Botan and Pekora ran outside to get a better look, while Watame stayed behind to tend to Polka's wounds. Outside, the two got a nasty start as a large figure flew by with a roar, trailing smoke and flames. Turning to track it, they saw Kiara in hot pursuit, weapons drawn and wings flaming but clearly not responsible for the thick smoke. As the fighters turned, Botan and Pekora got a clear view on the other figure and saw that Gourmand too had taken flight- a large jetpack hung at his back, rockets burning fiercely .
Kiara caught up to gourmand and swung her sword at him. The chef raised a cast iron skittle to guard and successfully deflected it, Kiara not having enough relative momentum to crash through Gourmand's defense. The sword created a small burst of flame as it scraped along, but Gourmand's rugged kitchen outfit prevented it from doing real harm. He returned with a fierce blow from the meat tenderizer in his other hand. Kiara easily caught it on the center of her shield, however the sheer power from the chef's muscle mass knocked her back, reopening the distance between the two combatants.
It was in such manner the fight continued for a while, gourmand trying to keep distance between him and Kiara and rarely moving for a decisive blow that would leave him vulnerable when it failed to land- if it failed to land, Botan mentally corrected herself as she observed. Kiara was certainly the better fighter and had the advantage in the battle, but in combat there was always the risk of something going wrong. Perhaps that was what Gourmand was banking on, since it seemed natural that in such skirmishing the chef would run out of energy well before the phoenix did. Still that would take a while, and every second the fight dragged on was a chance of something bad happening. If only there was some way to guarantee a quick conclusion, but she and Pekora were sadly ground bound…
Botan looked around her surroundings trying to calm her nerves, when she spotted it on the restaurant patio: Gourmand's discarded dough blaster, not entirely out of ammo. She bounded over to grab it, then rushed back to where she could clearly view the battle. With Kiara and Gourmand swooping here and there openings to shoot were few, but Botan could identify them with ease. Even for the FPS Lion, the weapon was an awkward one, lacking proper sights and doughballs having unusual ballistics. Her first two shots narrowly missed but the third landed true, striking Gourmand's jetpack just as he pulled away from Kiara once more. Immediately one of the two smoky jets began sputtering and the chef's flight path grew erratic.
Gourmand realized he was in trouble and resolved to land immediately before his propulsion gave out completely. He managed to turn towards his restaurant but the damage he'd taken left him unable to control his approach. He dove far too fast for comfort. Botan and Polka looked on, then ducked out of fear that a sudden swerve would see him crash into them. Mercifully this didn't happen. Gourmand instead crashed through the awnings covering the patio, taking some of the canvas with him and blocking his eyesight. He still managed to aim himself towards the kitchen but could not tell that Watame happened to be standing in the way at that moment. Gourmand slammed into the unlucky sheep and both tumbled backwards, crashing to a halt at the back of the restaurant.
Botan and Pekora ran back inside to the sight of a cloud of dust. Kiara flew to a stop nearby and entered too. As the dust settled they could see Gourmand getting up, crumpled remains of a jetpack at his feet and a many bruises visible on his body. Watame was behind him, rather dazed. Mercifully, Polka had escaped being struck by anything in the chaos. The injured fennec was sitting up against the wall, a bandage tied across her stomach by Watame earlier.
"Watame! Are you alright? Oh no…" The fennec spoke nervously, then stopping as she realized the battered-but-still-standing murderous chef was now looking towards her.
"alrighty then critters," Gourmand addressed everyone around him, "if you care about each other so much, then nobody move or the little fox gets it!" His shaky voice showed a lack of confidence about his prospects, but as he walked over to a knife set they could well guess what he was aiming for and their eyes widened.
"Stop that right now (peko)!" Botan and Pekora ran at Gourmand, but the chef responded by throwing several of the wickedly sharp knives at them. The two dove out of harm's way and ducked next to the counter, but their charge was broken. Kiara ran towards Gourmand herself with her shield positioned to protect her from projectiles, but she realized she wouldn't make contact before Gourmand was standing over Polka. Fearing the chef would follow though on his threat and kill the fennec before going down, the phoenix halted next to the lion and rabbit.
"bloody hostage takers," Botan hissed, "as if those terrorists that tried to kidnap Yagoo weren't bad enough!"
"Heh, looks like I come out on top in the end." Gourmand tried to laugh, but the tone betrayed how nervous he was. Still, he now held a knife over Polka, poised to stab.
The fennec, who had never been so frightened in her life, began to cry. "Please, help me!"
Botan poked her head back up and looked about the scene "What exactly are you playing at, you villain? We'll never let you have Polka, and waiting won't give you any better chances of fighting us off."
"And if you dare lay a hand on Polka-chan anyway peko, the rest of us will do worse than rip you to shreds peko!" Pekora added.
"why you, I'll, I'll I'll…"
"Just recognize you're defeated and give it up already!" Kiara demanded. "Damnit," the phoenix muttered, "if I had just one small opening…"
The now very nervous Gourmand may not have sensed the phoenix's plea. However Watame, hurt and frightened but back on her feet, did. "Mister Gourmand!"
"Oh what do YOU want, fluffy? HEY stop that OW!" Watame grabbed the unsuspecting chef's knife arm and pulled it to the side. Before the chef could retaliate she jumped at his face and rammed it with her horn. It happened to hit an existing bruise for extra pain.
"Now, Kiara!"
"Take this! Ultimate Phoenix Fire Charge GO!" Kiara sword was enveloped in fire as she wound up, then launched herself at Gourmand. The chef had managed to grab Watame with his free hand, but could make no further moves before the phoenix's attack connected.
The others in the restaurant shut their eyes as a bright flash accompanied the massive burst of flame that erupted from where Gourmand had been and shook the building. As the main fireball subsided clouds of smoke, steam, and embers replaced it. Something large ran out of the restaurant.
"Hot, hot hot! Stop drop and roll! Stop drop and roll!" Everyone on their feet looked outside to see the shape of Gaston Gourmand, alternating between rolling on the ground trying to put out smoldering clothing and trying to run as far away from the members of Hololive as possible, all while clutching the bleeding side of his torso. He'd clearly been burnt badly.
"Should we go after him?" Kiara asked her fellows.
"No, he's not going to be getting far like that peko. I'm sure the Oozora Police can handle this now peko.
"Then, that means we won?" After a moment of nobody correcting Kiara, she began jumping in celebration. "WE WON! Oh yeah, we are so awesome! Botan, Pekora-Senpai, Polka, Watame! …Eh? Watame?"
Kiara's elation halted as she failed to find the fifth member of Hololive that had fought the vile chef. Polka had been where she'd been before, though with a few minor additional burns. Watame was nowhere to be seen in the wreckage. "Where could she be? he couldn't have run out with her, right?"
Botan sniffed at the air, then pointed. "There she is, I think." Kiara followed her direction, confused.
"What do you mean? All I see is- oh." Near where Gourmand had been standing, Kiara, Polka, and Pekora saw a large pile of rare mutton lying on the charred floor.
"I think you created too big of a fireball, peko."
Kiara laughed nervously and scratched her head. "Ehehe, I guess I got a little too eager to show my phoenix warrior powers. Well, Watame does respawn… It should be eight seconds any time soon, right? RIGHT?"
"Watame respawns 8 seconds after being eaten, Kiara," Botan corrected her.
"Wait, only after- so you mean-" Kiara realized. "Ew, no way! That ain't right, we can't just eat our senpai casually like that!"
"Kiara, please," Polka spoke hoarsely while looking at the pile of Watameat, "It is OK. And I could use some nourishing food right now, when I am like this."
"Polka is right. Watame's flesh does have impressive restorative and healing properties," Botan added.
This finally convinced Kiara who stood back, though still nervous. Pekora had her own concerns though, on top of preferring not to think about how Botan and Polka knew that. "Erm, I know you can think of many ways that Watame can be made delicious peko. But that there doesn't look tasty at all peko. Or sanitary." Indeed, a pile of unseasoned and possibly undercooked meat sitting on the ground was nobody's idea of a refreshing post-battle feast.
"This place is quite a mess, but it isn't totally smashed. I'm sure I can make Watame into something quite appetizing with what we can find here." With that, Botan walked to some undamaged cupboards and began sifting through them for ingredients.
After a few moments, Kiara nervously smiled. "Well if we're really doing this, I might as well help out. At least that'll give me a reason to check out all the equipment around here. You think I can keep this guy's truck? I want to try reverse-engineering it to make mobile KFP restaurants!"
And so began a cooking montage. At the end of it all Watame was reunited with her friends, Polka was healed enough to walk again, Kiara had done a thorough examination of Gourmand's deployment systems, and they all returned home happy and (save Watame) well-fed. As for Gourmand, others among the Kratts' perennial enemies saved him from confinement or a trip to the Usual Room. But after seeing the power of Hololive's bond he never again dared mess with any anthropomorphized animals.
The end.