Some things are left unshown for the sake of letting the imagination run wild.

("You lot, why're you making that stuff out here?" asked Lanz, looking quietly at Mio, Sena, and Manana. "Colony's got a perfectly good kitchen.")

Others...well, a simple change is all it would take to fill in the gap...

(With a nervous chuckle, Mio added, "Out of commission, apparently." Without even looking at Sena, she added, "Somebody made a real mess of the place.")

...so why not?

("Wha? Hold on a sec!" protested Sena. "I...if we hadn't done what we did, chances are we would've all been dead by now!")

xxxx

/Time: Chapter 3, during the battle between Lambda's Ferronis and Ouroboros/

/Colony Lambda, Great Cotte Falls, Pentelas Region/

Within the innards of Lambda's tortoiselike Ferronis, two Nopon winced at the constant sounds of ether cannons going off. "Meh meh," murmured a Nopon with lime-colored fur. "Who is Colony going bashy bashy on?" he asked, in the midst of looking through a pantry full of military rations and other foodstuffs.

"Yukiki," whined a Nopon with purple fur, "why we hiding in Ferronis? Colony Rules say-"

"Visiting Consul give me upset stomach," Yukiki retorted. "Little guypon, but give off nasty feeling! Course of action called for emergency snack!"

"Meh...you know how Tonya get frowny-frowny when leave post!"

"Post not left! Simply away for little while." As Yukiki emerged from the pantry with ingredients to make a pastry, he asked, "And if worry so much, why Erieri follow?"

Erieri huffed, resting her wing-hands on her hips. "Because Yukiki get told off too much for going crazy in the canteen! Erieri simply on lookout. And like snarling Gogol," she said, gesturing at the rumbling walls around them, "you got us in right big mess!"

Yukiki huffed. "Mess not my fault! Who was to know that Big Turters would turn on and trap innocent Nopon inside?"

"And that another thing, Tonya's told you to stop calling Ferronis 'Big Turters'-"

"It nickname of legendary yet heroic monsterpon! Ferronis should be proud to have such a name-" Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to tilt. "Meh?!"

(Outside, Sena's newly unlocked Ouroboros form lifted the Ferronis upward by its foot...only to suddenly thrust it upward...)

"World go turvy-topsy!" shrieked Erieri as the entirety of the kitchen went at a sharp angle; numerous cabins opened up, as food, utensils, and cookware fell out.

(...and then, with the swing of her hammer, Sena knocked the Ferronis further off balance...)

The two Nopon were temporarily suspended in the air as the entire kitchen seemed to shake and rattle around them, leaving a right mess of things.

(...until, with a thunderous thud, it landed on its back.)

Yukiki and Erieri both landed hard on the ceiling, which was now the ground; with a sharp and mighty clatter, pots and pans crashed onto the ground, while canisters containing flour, grains, herbs, spices, sauces, and food prep materials burst open.

"...Yukiki lie down now," murmured the weary Nopon, his eyes looking like swirls.

"Erieri agree," she moaned.

Clearly, the proper response to unexpected chaos was to take an emergency nap.

xxxx

It wasn't until an hour later — after the dramatic revelation that Consul J was in fact Joran — that Ouroboros began looking into the unconscious denizens of Colony Lambda.

Mio had volunteered to look into the overturned Ferronis, because it was not impossible that some soldiers would have been inside at the time Joran had seemingly knocked the entire Colony out of commission.

She didn't find any knocked out soldiers, thankfully.

What she did find, however, was a right mess. "Ooh," muttered Mio, gently looking into the upside-down canteen. "This is going to be a right mess to clean up..." As if in response to her voice, two voices stirred. "Hello? Is someone in there?!" she called out.

From behind a pile of fallen cookware, Nopon with lime and purple fur respectively waddled out. "...this not Yukiki's fault," immediately said the former.

"Nor Erieri's! No passing of rotten mushrooms here, we swear!" exclaimed the latter.

"...uh, okay...you're not hurt, are you?" asked Mio.

"Yukiki is unfazed!"

Erieri didn't answer, instead looking at her with curiosity. "Oh. Who kittypon? You not from around Colony."

"Ah. You could call me...a visitor, I guess?"

Yukiki immediately yelled, "Then as new visitor, be sure to tell Commander that this whole mess was fault of Big Turters!"

"Would not be in middle of mess if you not sneak out!" protested Erieri.

As the two Nopon began bickering in front of her, Mio merely tilted her head with confusion. Well, I guessthey're all right...makes me glad that Riku and Manana are so calm and level-headed by comparison. In the back of her mind, she chalked up the Colony's canteen as a lost cause, and made a mental note to get out the big stew pot later that evening...

xxxx

Needless to say, it would eventually be deemed a more efficient use of resources to fabricate a whole new canteen instead of trying to salvage the mess that was the Ferronis's internal kitchens.

xxxx

Author's Note: So this one is a bit of an odd duck, I'll admit. My original idea was to depict Ouroboros!Sena get hit by a laser after toppling Lambda's Ferronis; that impact would have knocked Sena through the waterfall, wherein she would crush the former canteen when landing. Naturally, she returns to the battle posthaste.

Then, after looking back over the quest text for "Lambda's Problem", I noticed that it read as follows: "Colony Lambda's Ferronis is out of commission, which inconveniently puts its canteen out of use too. Suggest a plan to the head of manufacturing." This implies that that old canteen is actually inside the Ferronis, so that idea had to be junked in favor of what you've just read. Fortunately, there are two nameless Nopon wandering around Lambda that weren't among the Nopon lying unconscious after the J battle, so I just gave them two names.

As for why I wanted to make a scene for this unseen bit, of all things? I don't know why it got under my skin so much that we never saw the original canteen get wrecked. I just knew it needed to be shown, somehow.

As for why Yukiki calls the Ferronis 'Big Turters'?

It's Nopon shenanigans, I ain't gotta explain jack. :V