DISCLAIMER: Same as the first chapter.
Author's Notes: This chapter is slightly longer than the first one. Thanks to all that have reviewed so far, it really inspires me to write so keep reviewing! Enjoy.
Malice smiled to herself at the perfect choice of the third judge. She now raised her arm up, pointing it behind her towards the figure which now was fully recognisable by everyone.
"Ledah!" exclaimed Ein.
"Quiet wingless angel! I was supposed to say that." Malice quickly interjected as Ein was shedding a tear of joy to finally be able to see Ledah again.
"And now, I present to you, the final judge. Ledah!" she announced.
"...Where am I?" Ledah questioned.
"You're a judge for this fine competition, Ledah. A contest of cookery. You will eat and describe each meal and then decide on which chef deserves the title of the Iron Chef of Riviera!" Malice told Ledah.
"Tch, such petty things. I refuse to part take in this." Ledah said folding his arms and turning to the side.
"Time to use my ace." Malice thought, "But Ledah, since you are here, surely it was the will of the gods!"
Ledah paused for a second. He knew she had a point there. He was supposed to be dead, but now he was given life. As he turned around, he saw Ein jumping towards him.
"Ledah!" he exclaimed, holding out his arms in front of him. Ledah just stared at him with his red eyes as Ein was stopped cold by the fist of Malice, which he cleverly blocked using his face.
"Sigh, that Ein. I swear he has issues." Rose thought to herself, as she now looked at a dazed Ein lying on the ground. Malice now walked down towards the group. The chefs gulped as she got closer, the moment of silence, broken by each footstep she took. She stopped as she was now standing behind a table with a large, red cloth hiding the contents on the table.
"It is now time to reveal today's theme! Some people say that this is the symbol of the fruits of labour in which the sprites work hard to pick. In fact, it is a fruit. The crunchiness of this fruit is undeniably the crunchiest of all and just the sound signifies the time of Spring. This fruit I now present to you is..." Malice reached down to grab the cloth. As she swiftly pulled it away, everyone was in a state of shock. "Apple...cots?"
Everyone looked down at the now empty basket which was by the cause of Lina. She had eaten all but one of the applecots. Malice put her hand to her face and just shook her head. She bent down towards Lina, staring her down with her cold eyes. Lina absolutely terrified felt a cold chill down her spine. Quaking in fear, she threw the applecot in her hand upwards and hid behind Ein. Malice swiftly caught the airbourne applecot in her hand. She looked at the big, round fruit and sighed.
"Why must I do this..." She thought to herself. She closed her eyes and took a large bite out of the applecot and started chewing very slowly. Many seconds have passed before Malice finally swallowed what she bit off. Almost immediately she started coughing and expeled the contents. She paused for a bit, looking at the five chefs.
"...Since there are no applecots left to use, I guess there is no theme for today's competition." She flicked her hair back with one hand, "Chefs, you may now start cooking!" A bell had chimed off as she said this and all five chefs rushed to their benches.
Cierra placed her meat on the chopping board and looked towards the stove. Gripping her magic staff in both hands, she pointed it towards the stove. The other four looked at her and realised what was going to happen. They ducked for cover behind their benches and waited for the chaos to strike.
"I'll show you the power of magic...Cinder Squall!"
Flames emanated from the staff and a large fire erupted. As the flames hit the stove, it subsided into a small fire. Everyone was shocked and relieved at how Cierra managed to control the fire.
"I'm not a witch for nothing." Cierra said, proudly.
Suddenly, the fire burst and expanded. Everyone quickly ducked behind the safety of their benches again as the flames grew. The flames were spreading at a rapid rate before finally exploding. Black soot and ash surrounded the area as everyone was coughing from the smoke in the air. The black screen finally subsided as Cierra's stove was now covered in a black coating of soot.
"Heh, and now I wonder how these four survived with her; blowing things up left, right and centre." Malice commented. She quickly took a few steps to the right to avoid an oncoming fireball sent by Cierra before continuing on.
"Well, well, it seems we have some rivalry going on between Lina and Fia!"
Fia was chopping her vegetables with speed and grace thanks to her skills with the sword. She thought to herself that Lina wouldn't be cut out for this competition as she had never helped when it came to preparing meals. As she was thinking of this, she looked at Lina who was in front of her. She was slicing a head of lettuce with accurate precision and speed. Fia never knew that Lina could be so dexterous with a knife so she picked up her speed as well, slicing away at a red onion. Lina picked up a tomato and threw it up into the air. Drawing her bow and arrows, she readied herself to let the arrows fly.
"I'll never miss...Barrage!"
She let fly a number of arrows at the airbourne tomato. Each arrow cut through the tomato as if it were paper. The tomato was now cut up into little tiny stars which floated down. Lina held out her bowl and caught each one. Everyone was about to applaud when the arrows which were fired were still in the air. Malice quickly stepped out of the way as a few arrows passed by. Ein was working quietly at his bench when an arrow was heading straight for him.
"Watch out Ein!" Lina yelled.
Ein then saw before him the arrow, its hunger to feast on him. Taken back by surprise, he fell backwards and now his back was against the cupboard. Ein closed his eyes out of fear as the arrow struck its target. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see that the arrow had pierced his soot covered hat. The arrow was intergrated well into the cupboard and he was forced to break off the arrow head before finally being able to get up off the floor. Fia glared at Lina and decided it was time to show off her cooking prowess. Fia drew her sword with one hand and held up a tomato in the other.
"Fly like a raven in the night!"
She threw the tomato into the air and proceeded to slice it skillfully and gracefully from all angles. It was now snowing as the tomato broke apart into shapes of snowflakes. As they fluttered down, she caught them in her salad bowl and looked at Lina with a superior look.
"Lina thinks you're good Fia, but Lina can do better!"
"I doubt that, you nearly shot Ein with your arrows!" Fia replied.
The two of them glared at each other for some time before resuming their preparations of their meals. Malice turned to the judges and decided to have some fun. Malice approached Ledah who was still sitting in the chair with his arms folded. Grinning, Malice held the microphone in front of Ledah's face.
"Ledah, who do you think will win this?"
"No comment."
"...Then, what kinds of food do you like?"
"I do not have any." Ledah quickly replied, "Malice. I have one question."
"Shoot."
"Why must you embarrass yourself wearing that ridiculous clothing?"
Everyone had heard this remark and everyone started laughing, Serene particularly. She pointed her index finger at Malice and was laughing rather loudly. Malice quickly turned around and threw her microphone at the direction she heard the source of the laughter. Serene's eyes widened as the microphone headed straight for her and she barely ducked out of the way. The microphone continued traveling through the air and was heading straight for Ein's head.
"I'll save you Ein! Magic Burst!" yelled Cierra.
A ball of fire intercepted the microphone and it caught on fire, however, the microphone's trajectory was still straight and true. The microphone hit its target and now, not only he had a bruise on his forehead, his chef hat and clothes were set a light from Cierra's attempted save.
"Aaah! OhMyGodsI'mOnFire! Put it out!" yelled Ein.
Ein was running around in a circle now, yelling and screaming from the agony and pain. Serene calmly walked up towards the angelic fireball and poured a bucket of water over him. A hissing sound was heard as the water doused the fire.
"Gods...why...me..."
Ein looked at himself to inspect the damages. His clothes were covered in soot, burns and were drenched. His hat was now almost covered entirely in black from soot, fire damages were abundant, and an arrow shaft stuck in it still. It had only been five minutes into the cookery contest and Ein looked like he had survived years of hardships on the battlefield. Ein thanked Serene and was about to make his way to his bench when he slipped on the watery surface.
As he landed on the ground, the impact created forced a nearby knife block to tip over onto the ground, which was filled with knives. Ein screamed in fear as the knives fell. He quickly rolled to the right to dodge the first knife which landed pointing upright where his head was. As he rolled, he saw that the knives were still coming as he rolled away even further. 2..3...4...the knives kept coming until finally he hit Serene's bench. Ein managed to dodge all the knives but the impact on the bench knocked one of the fish off and it came sailing down. As Ein looked up, he saw the fish coming right at him, but there was no where to run. His eyes widened even more when the fish's lips met Ein's as they shared a passionate, yet disgusting moment.
"Oh my!" Fia said out loud.
"Ein's weird! He kissed a fish!" Lina stared.
"Ein's...first kiss, stolen by a fish..." sighed a disappointed Cierra.
"...My fish! I can't possibly use that now!" cried out an angered Serene as she swiftly gave Ein a good kick in the shins which he yelled indiscriminatly before flying towards the ingredients table for another fish.
Ein was in such a mess now. He was covered in stains, escaped death several times, pain was written all over his body and to top it all off, kissing a fish. He wondered if he'll actually make it through this contest alive as he already lost his dignity. Staggering up slowly and in pain, he got up and tossed the fish aside onto the ground. He glared at Malice who was now literally rolling on the floor laughing.
"Oh man! You don't get to see something like this everyday! Oh wait, you four do since you're with him all the time!"
She laughed even harder now that tears of laughter were seeping out of her eyes. Ein just stared at Malice and brushed himself off before returning back to his bench. Malice finally managed to get back up wiping a tear from her eye and fixed her hair.
"What a marvelous piece of work this technology is. We have an instant replay. Check this out!"
A large screen came down from above Malice and a still picture of Ein from a side-on while he was on the ground was displayed. Malice pointed the remote control at the screen and pushed a few buttons. Frame by frame, the fish was visible on the screen and at the point of contact, Malice paused the frame.
"Ah, love at first sight. It truly is a remarkable thing." she said in a devilish tone whilst trying to hold back the laughter.
"Malice, I think you've proven your point now." Ledah interjected.
"Oh come on Ledah, I swear you were the only one who didn't laugh at that." Malice replied.
"Such childish games, just let them be Malice!"
"Oh ho, it seems you've regained one of your emotions."
"…"
"Score one for me." Malice thought
"Now now, let's not fight." Soala interjected.
"Tch…Fine." Malice replied.
As she turned around to face the kitchen, she saw the kitchen was now anything but it. Black smoke pouring everywhere, food flying in the air, screams of pain from Ein, it wasn't a kitchen anymore, it was a battlefield. Only one will win, and whoever that may be, they must truly be strong in order to overcome this chaos.
The battle has just begun and there have already been casualties! I mean, one casualty. Find out what happens in the next chapter, coming to a cinema theatre near you!
