Chapter Three – The Iron Adepts, Part 2
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Golden Sun or any of its characters!
Author's Note: Part 2 of The Iron Adepts! Enjoy!
Chairman Kora rose and walked over to a microphone on the stage. "Time is up, and now I will randomly select the judges for the tasting of the food. The judges are…"
Up in the spectator's stands, Felix rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Let me guess - the judges are Jenna, Ivan, Sheba, and me. How obvious is it?"
"…Jenna, Ivan, Sheba, and Felix! Please come up to the stage, so we may commence with the food tasting!"
Felix sighed. "See? What did I tell you? I knew it… let the torture begin."
"Wow! You got it right, and you didn't even need to use Mind Read, Felix!" Ivan cried.
Sheba and Jenna reluctantly left the stands and walked down to the stage. Felix followed, and Ivan had to be dragged to the stage, as he did not want to be one of the judges.
"No! Leave me alone! I DON'T WANT TO DIIIIEEEEE!" The repairmen from earlier had to pry Ivan off a door to the room where the tasting table was.
A few minutes later, everyone was seated at the table, which was covered in an elegant red tablecloth embroidered with intricate little flowers. Chairman Kora was seated at the head of the table, while Felix, Sheba, Jenna, and Ivan (who was twitching rather nervously) were sitting along one side. The Chairman got up, and spoke. "Now that we have our judges, we will begin the sampling of the dishes of these two chefs. Remember, points are given out of 20 for each dish for originality, taste, plating, and use of the secret ingredient, spinach, for a combined total of 60 points."
A waitress dashed out from behind a curtain and whispered something to the Chairman. "Ok," he said. She quickly departed, leaving no trace of her appearance.
"I will be pleased to announce the Iron Adepts, who are now preparing their grand entrance, or rather, presenting their food to you. Presenting, Isaac, the first Iron Adept!"
Isaac ambled in, carting a large cart laden with the dishes he prepared. An air of nervousness surrounded him as he placed each separate dish in front of his friends, the judges.
"Um, I think I'll start with the spinach salad," Isaac said quietly. "Err, hope you guys like it…"
"Hey, this isn't half bad," mumbled Ivan, his mouth full of salad.
Sheba nodded. "Well, it could use a little more salt."
"Umm… Isaac? What are these little hard things in the salad? Stale croutons?"
"Uh, those are rocks, Jenna. Don't ask why I put them in there. It's a long story."
Crunch. Everybody looks curiously at Felix, who suddenly stops eating. "What?" he asked. "I just happen to like rocks, ok? I'm an Earth Adept, remember? I can eat them… geez…"
In turn, Isaac brought out his second dish, spinach casserole. Everyone stared at it strangely as he gave them all a portion of the dish.
"I don't suppose there are rocks in this one too, Isaac?" Sheba remarked wryly.
"Well-"
"Hey, this is really good!" Jenna exclaimed.
"You… really think so?"
"Honest!"
"Oh…" Isaac blushed. "Thanks."
Suddenly Jenna's chair crashed to the floor as she threw herself on top of Isaac, hugging him with affection. "Wha…? W-what are you doin-" Isaac was cut off as Jenna's lips locked with his. He sighed and drew her closer until-
"Jenna! What are you doing?" Felix roared. "This is a cook-off, not a kiss-off! Let's get back to the judging…" He hauled Isaac off Jenna rather roughly and turned away, taking his seat at the table as he did so.
Jenna flushed lightly, embarrassed at what she had done. "Sorry, Isaac. I don't know what came over me…"
Isaac looked away sheepishly. "Uh, that's okay Jenna. I guess I should get back to the food before it gets cold…" Oh… I didn't know she felt that way! What a surprise! It was… nice.
Sheba looked over at Ivan, who was chuckling to himself. Using her mind reading powers, she asked, What are you laughing about, Ivan?
Ivan smiled at her. Oh, nothing. I just read Isaac's mind, I found out he likes Jenna… a lot!
Well, you should have known that by now! Wasn't it obvious? Maybe to you it wasn't…
He scowled. I am not stupid! But maybe you are!
Sheba's face lit up, an evil look in her eye. You want to try saying that out loud, punk?
"Bring it on!"
"Have some of this! SHINE PLASMA! TEMPEST! I SUMMON THOR, THE THUNDER GOD!" Sheba's hair crackled with electricity and her eyes glowed a deep red, which were dripping with malevolence. She laughed cruelly, shrieking words like "MUAHAHAHAHA!" and "Prepare to DIE, Ivan!"
Lightning, tornadoes, and hurricanes appeared out of nowhere and ripped right through the dining table. Ivan's eyes bugged out at the sight, and he ran out the door screaming at the to of his lungs.
"OMGHELPMEIT'SGOINGTOKILLMEFORSUREAHHHHHHHHHELPHELPHELPHELP!"
Chairman Kora stood up. He backed away from the destroyed table, took a deep breath, and said, "I think… that I shall have to get another dining table. Isaac, please carry on with the serving of your fabulous dishes while I fetch another one." He quickly raced to the door, summoned ten of his many servants and told them to grab the extra table that was down in the basement.
After that little fiasco (unfortunately for Ivan he would fail to return for the next part of the tasting due to the numerous injuries he had suffered from Sheba's very vicious attack), Felix, Jenna, and Sheba continued trying Isaac's cuisine, and commented on them all. Soon it was Garet's turn to serve, and that was the part everyone dreaded. When Isaac went backstage, Garet confronted him eagerly.
"So, Isaac! How was it? What did everyone else think? Did you need an ambulance after they ate your food? Were you nervous? Huh? Huh!"
Isaac exhaled and sat down in a nearby chair. "Garet, old friend, good luck. You're going to need it. Sheba totally toasted Ivan while I was out there, you might need to watch out for her. The Chairman isn't too happy about the dining table being destroyed and all, he had to bring another one up to replace the one Sheba smashed. Oh, and be careful about Felix, he's not in a very good mood, as Jenna… wait, nevermind."
Garet drew back, curious. "Oh? And what about Jenna? What did she do?"
Blushing a bit, Isaac replied, "Um, she didn't do anything…"
"Come on, Isaac! I can tell something's bothering you! You can tell me, I'm your best friend!"
"Uh, well… she…"
"Come on, spit it out, spit it out!"
"Well, you see… she… kissed me on the spot as I was serving my dishes."
For the second time that night, Garet was left speechless, his mouth hanging wide open. He blinked a few times, and said, "Wow. Must've been nice… she must really like you."
The corner of Isaac's mouth lifted a little. "Yeah… I guess so. There couldn't have been any other reason for her jumping on me like that."
A maid popped out from behind the curtains, beckoning Garet to come into the judging room. "It's now your turn, Mister Garet. Please bring all of your prepared dishes to serve to the judges for tasting."
"Oops! It's my turn! Gotta run, Isaac, see you after the show!" Garet grabbed a cart, which carried his cuisine, and accidentally tipped one of his spare dishes onto the floor. It fell with a tremendous crash and splintered into a thousand pieces. "Crap! That's the 1057th one today!" Hurriedly, he followed the maid into the next room.
Meanwhile, Chairman Kora and his servants had finally managed to drag up another dining table from the basement, which was ironically five floors below Kitchen Stadium. Blowing hard from the effort, the Chairman flopped down into his throne-like chair, exhausted. He dismissed the servants and awaited patiently for the second half of the tasting.
Felix glanced at Sheba. Her hands were covering her mouth as she sniggered silently to herself at what she had done to Ivan. As he stared at her, Felix began to think about Sheba. She has the looks of an angel, but the mind of a demon. A killer combination… poor Ivan. Well, at least he doesn't have to try any of Garet's 'cooking'. Let the torture begin…
Jenna was staring into space, tapping her fingers in a familiar rhythm. Tick, thrum tick tick… A song she and Isaac had made up one day when they were younger played itself out in her thoughts. It went sort of like this:
Oh, come seek me out when the water flows high
I'll be sure to keep you warm and dry
In my arms no harm will come to you
If your love for me stays strong and true,
And if one day we are torn apart
Remember this, in your heart
That I will always be thinking of the other
My friend, like a sister or brother…
Her thoughts were interrupted as a thunderous din entered her mind. Not surprisingly, it was Garet who was creating all that noise, dragging his cart behind him, struggling to get the food to the table.
"Okay… whew! There, now I have everything I need! Are you ready, guys?" Garet grinned. "Hey, where's Ivan? I thought he was one of the judges."
"Fortunat- I mean, unfortunately for Ivan, he suffered quite a few injuries caused by Sheba and won't be joining us in the tasting," Felix said wryly.
"Well, that's just too bad for him now, isn't it? Wait'll you taste this!" Garet exclaimed as he plopped a plate of burnt spinach salad in front of Felix, Jenna, and Sheba.
Felix gawked at his plate. "This looks like ashes, not a salad…"
"Yeah, what the hell, Garet? I can't eat this!" Jenna fumed.
Sheba tried a bit of the salad. "Yuck! Pwtooey! It tastes like crap! Why'd you have to burn it?"
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I can't help it if I burn salads."
Flicking some of the salad ashes onto the table, Felix blew them into Garet's face. "Huh, you could try NOT using an oven to cook it then, eh?" Man, what a dimwit…
"Ok, moving on…" said Chairman Kora. "Garet, please bring out your next dish."
"Sure thing!" With great effort, Garet heaved a huge platter of something onto the table. He lifted the lid, and underneath was…
"A Mars Djinni!" Sheba cried.
"Yeah, about that… I wanted to make one for each of the judges, but seeing as the Djinn wouldn't cooperate, I settled for cooking just one," said Garet. "It's stuffed with spinach, shrimp, and a whole whack of random things! Hope you like it!"
A shrill scream pierced the air. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Garet, what the hell did you do to Cannon! You are the cruelest, sick-minded person in all of Weyard! I never want to speak to you again! My poor, poor Cannon… Why, Garet, why?" Jenna broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. She ran into the bathroom, Sheba following in quick pursuit to help try and calm her down.
Felix glared daggers at Garet. "Yes, Garet, why did you do that? Pretty senseless of you, isn't it?" He cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Now you're going to face the wrath of a Venus Adept… thanks to you, my sister feels as if a part of her soul was ripped out at the sight of her poor, fried little Djinni."
Garet darted to the other side of the table, as far away from Felix as possible. "Sorry, F-Felix, I didn't think that was going to-"
"Yes, that's right, you didn't think. It's payback time."
"Uh, here! Have some soup!" Garet threw his last dish, burnt spinach soup, at Felix's face, hoping to stun him momentarily so he could make his getaway. Unfortunately for him Felix could see it coming and stopped it with a blast of psynergy. Rocks began to rise out of the ground and surround Felix's sword hand, which was clenched in a tight fist.
"GRAND GAIA!"
A golden light showered Felix, and a huge surge of energy forced its way up through the ground. A wayward rock smacked Chairman Kora in the back of the head, killing him instantly. He crumpled to the ground, his body making a soft pwuf sound as he hit the ash-covered floor. Meanwhile, Garet was running for his life as a huge explosion rocked Kitchen Stadium. He was knocked unconscious; Felix stood over his fallen form with a grave look on his face.
"And that's for what you did to me in the first episode." He turned and walked away from what was left of Kitchen Stadium, which was a pile of rubble.
"Cough, cough… ooh, where am I?"
Jenna had just awoken from her unconscious state looking confused. She tried to recollect what had just happened for what seemed like quite a while ago, but had actually just been a few minutes. Suddenly remembering what had happened, she went through it in her mind.
The last thing I remember is a huge booming sound and everything starting to crumble. Sheba was in the bathroom with me, trying to calm me down. Damn that Garet! He cooked my little Djinni! I'll kill him for that… But still, after the ceiling came down and just before I blacked out I felt something fall on top of me. It wasn't hard, like a rock, but rather… kind of soft and fuzzy. And warm. I think it may have saved my life. Wait! What was it? I have to look for it…
Jenna sat up and began to look for her savior. After three seconds of searching she looked down and realized it was still on top of her.
"Oh my… Isaac! You saved me?" Jenna's face turned a bright shade of red. That's twice now we've fallen onto each other…
Isaac groaned. Slowly opening his eyes and found himself staring into a pair of concerned brown-colored ones. Blushing slightly, he whispered, "Ugh… Jenna? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me. Are you all right?"
He nodded slightly, cringing at the sudden pain in his back. "I'm ok… how about you? I'm guessing I got there in time." Isaac winced, falling back against Jenna's chest. A large bruise appeared on his back where a piece of the ceiling had hit him. Noticing this, Jenna grew anxious.
"No, I don't think you're ok, Isaac." She cradled his head, stroking his hair soothingly. "I'll help you…I could heal you a bit. Cool Aura."
A soft, glowing red aura surrounded both Isaac and Jenna. It healed Isaac's wound, and now he could move without flinching with pain.
"Thanks, Jenna. I feel much better now."
She flushed at the compliment. "Oh… it… was nothing."
"Now, how should I repay you…?" Isaac's face moved closer to Jenna's until his was only inches away from hers. His sparkling blue eyes glittered, full of untold joy and a desire, a lust for something.
"Err, you don't have to repay me Isaac, I- mmph!"
Jenna was cut off as Isaac's lips pressed against hers. Kissing back, she held him tighter as a warm, happy feeling passed through her body in a wave of emotion. Together they reached for the other, trying to grasp each other's spirits, trying to bind them as one. And as soon as it had started, it ended, but leaving the each of them lusting for more.
Isaac gazed fondly at Jenna. "I've paid you back, and maybe even given you a bit more."
"Yes, maybe you have… I should give it back then, hmm?" She returned the kiss, and they remained that way for what seemed like a lifetime.
FallenZephyr: Now that was a great ending, wasn't it?
Garet: Hey, wait a sec! What about the cook-off between Isaac and me?
FallenZephyr: Oh, since you were blown into oblivion, Isaac won by default.
Garet: WHAT! I want a rematch!
Sheba: Shut up! Isaac won, so there!
FallenZephyr: Plus, Isaac's cooking was much better than yours.
Garet: I don't care! I want a rematch!
Sheba: Ok, you're asking for it, big mouth! FELIX! Would you come here, please?
Garet: Argh, no, not him, please not him! I'll do anything, anything for you! (grovels pathetically on the ground)
Sheba: Heh, heh… anything, you say? Well… you can start by washing all of my clothes and everybody else's, scrubbing Piers' ship from top to bottom, shining up my room for the next ten hours, massaging my aching feet and everyone else's, and blah blah blah…
Garet: (sobs)
Jenna: (hiding in the shadows) Heh heh heh… I'll get back at you for implying such a thing about Isaac, Sheba… I'll have my revenge… I know your weakness! Muahahahahahahaha…
FallenZephyr: And that's that. Problem solved! Well, maybe except for the fact that Isaac killed the Chairman, but that's ok. No one really liked him anyway. So, stay tuned for the next installment of 'The Adventures of Felix and Co.!'