Disclaimer: Same old same old.
Author's Notes: School has been driving me up the wall lately, not doing as well as I had hoped in a few subjects, I forced myself to study harder. The result being I had not been able to devote much time to continue this fanfic. I assure you however, the ending will go off with a bang, so just hang in there everyone.
"The battle is halfway done and we've seen plenty of fireworks go off. Now, how will this end?" Malice said. "I guess now is a good time to get a closer look at how they're doing."
She clutched her microphone in one hand and headed towards Cierra. The witch was adding some beef stock to her pot when Malice had peered over her shoulder, wondering what she was doing.
"What do we have here?" she asked.
"Beef stock." Cierra replied.
"And what's that you have in your pot?"
"Numerous vegetables which will be slowly cooked, adding to the flavour." she said. "Why are you so nice all of a sudden?"
"...I was forced to do this, and it doesn't take a genius to realise that being this close to you would be a suicide mission."
Cierra shrugged off Malice's comment and turned to her large portion of meat, rotating it once again. She reached into her bag to pull out some chillies and began to slice them.
"And what are these for?" Malice said, pointing at the chillies.
"They're going into the pot." she replied, as she added them to the pot before putting the lid on top. Cierra grabbed more chillies from her bag and continued slicing them.
"...How many are you going to put in there?" Malice questioned with a puzzled look.
"I'd say another twenty will do." Cierra said, smiling.
Everyone cringed at Cierra's statement. They looked towards the judge's table and they saw Rose and Soala also cringing at the thought of eating something with that many chillies.
"We are so going to die a horrible, horrible death." Rose thought.
"She must know I've told Ein her real age..." Soala thought.
Ledah however, was calm as usual. Malice was eager to see the results when Ledah would get a taste of this concoction Cierra had made.
"...Anyway, what's this in your bowl?" Malice said, peering into the bowl on the table.
"That's my chocolate pudding...shame I don't have an oven to put it in..."
"That's because you blew up yours right?" Malice asked rhetorically. She chortled, making her way to Serene's area.
"Oh, and by the way, if you wanted to know, Ein's favourite flower is the hibiscus." Cierra said to Malice, hiding a devilish grin.
"Shut up! I didn't need to know that!" she said quickly, making her way to Serene's area. "And what do we have here?"
"I refuse to answer that question." Serene snapped.
"...I meant food wise." Malice replied.
"Oh, well. For starters I have finished my sushi rolls here." she said, pointing at the plate of cut up sushi rolls. Malice tilted her head at the same level as the table, looking at what was inside.
"What's this green stuff in the middle?"
"That's wasabi. I made it myself and I have to admit, this one gives you quite a kick." Serene answered with a grin.
"I don't like the sound of that..." Rose thought with a grim look on her face.
"Maybe Serene knows about the time I told Ein her weight too..." Soala thought.
"And over here we have some beautiful fish which is being steamed with lemons and herbs to give it that extra flavour." Serene continued.
"And what's this big pot of boiling water for?" Malice asked, turning her back on Serene towards the stove.
"That's for this!" Serene said, holding up a large lobster near Malice's face as she turned around.
Taken back by surprise at the creature Serene was holding in front of her face, Malice fell backwards towards the stove. Her black clothes immediately caught on fire and she quickly batted out the flames her hand. Black smoke slowly sifted into the air where the flame once was as Serene was roaring with laughter.
"Too hot to handle Malice?" She sneered at Malice, "Don't worry, I'm sure you and Ein will be fine together."
"That was joke was even more lamer than mine, and I do not like Ein at all!" She exclaimed, storming off towards Lina.
"Oh? You admit your jokes are lame? I'm glad we agree on something!" Serene said, winking at Malice with a wry smile.
Malice was absolutely furious. Serene just scored a blow and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no way some kid like Lina will score on her too. She'll make sure of that. Lina was happily minding her own business, adding the ramen noodles to the simmering broth when the dark cloud approached. Slapping her hand down onto the table, Malice glared at Lina.
"Well well, the little squirt can cook."
"I am not a squirt!" Lina argued.
"I don't care!" Malice exclaimed back.
Lina's eyes welled up with tears and the noise which followed was deafening. Everyone had looked at Malice and the murmurs spread across the room.
"That was definitely uncalled for." Rose whispered to Soala.
"I agree." She replied.
"How could she say something like that to a child? Disgraceful." Ladie said.
Murmurs of agreement filled the room and Malice was put on the spotlight. She looked down at her shaking fist. The amount of tension Malice faced was astronomical. Her conscience overcame her as she slowly opened her mouth to say the words.
"Heh, this will be priceless." Ledah thought.
"...Lina, I...I...I'm..." Malice struggled to get the words out, "I'm...sorry."
Lina was still bawling her eyes out, ignoring what Malice just said.
"I'm sorry damnit!" Malice screamed, but Lina was still crying. She quickly dug her hands into the various pockets her black, flamboyant clothing had and somehow managed to find a lollipop.
"Will you stop it if I give you this?" She said, hold out the lollipop in front of Lina's face.
"Yep!" She replied as she quickly snatched the lollipop from Malice's cold grip.
"Hey! Wait a minute! Oh you little..."
"Nyah! I got you good! Not only I made you say sorry, I got a lollipop from you too!" Lina said, sticking her tongue out at her.
"That's it! My patience has just exploded into an unfathomable number of microscopic pieces! Come here you!" Malice said with an outstretched arm but Lina was too quick for her.
"Malice sure does use a lot of unnecessary words at times." Cierra said.
Lina was running around the room, lollipop in tow with an angry Malice close behind. The chase continued as Lina's lithe and small body weaved through the obstacles while Malice burst right through them. Finally, Malice met her match. As she was chasing Lina, she passed by Ein's area, which still had water on the floor. Unaware of the lack of traction, she slid right into Ein who was tasting his tomato sauce. The impact Malice caused forced Ein right off his feet and landed onto the floor, with Malice on top.
"Ugh, damn that brat. I'll get my...eh?" Malice said, looking down.
"Malice...wait! Before you do anything rash, you crashed into me!" Ein stuttered.
Serene wondered what all the commotion was about so she peered around the bench Ein was working at. Her eyes bulged out at the scene she was witnessing. Malice was on top of Ein, and his hands, grasping her chest area.
"Ein...you...you lecher! First me, and now Malice? You've sunken to a new low..."
"Wait! Didn't you see what happened? It...and...Malice...and then..." Ein tried to explain. The others were now also watching the strange situation and shook their head in disgust.
"...It might help...if you...stop...grabbing me there!" Malice yelled.
She swiftly gave Ein a punch in the face before brushing herself off. She got onto her feet and headed towards Fia's area. The faint yells of pain of Ein filled Malice's ears as Serene was giving him the beating of his life.
"So, what are these funny looking things in your soup?" Malice questioned.
"These are bamboo shoots." Fia replied.
"Bamboo shoots huh? Well, I can't exactly say I would enjoy eating those..."
"You don't eat them, it's to flavour the soup." Fia interupted.
"...I knew that." Malice said quickly, "At least there's noodles in there. Honestly, I don't see how someone could prepare a menu composed entirely of non-meat products. What's in the oven anyway? Some sort of magical vegetable which needs cooking?"
Malice bent down, peering into the window of the oven. She raised left eyebrow at what she saw in the oven and quickly looked at Fia.
"What the hell is that?" She asked with a puzzled look.
"That would be the chicken." Fia replied.
"No. Way. I thought you were a vegetarian."
"I am. You see, the chicken is made entirely out of tofu." Fia said with a smile.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, including Serene giving the beat down on Ein and the eerie silence filled the room. The chirping noises of crickets filled the air...
"Rose! Stop playing with the soundboard!" yelled Malice.
"There goes my fun..." Rose said to herself before taking her place back at the table.
"It doesn't hurt to try something different you know." Fia growled.
"We all know that's a lie. Anyway, moving on, we come to the last contestant..." Malice's words trailed off. The audience ooh'ed in unison which Malice tried to ignore. "Ein...what are you cooking?"
Ein had slowly got up after the beating he received from Serene but the grim angel suddenly sprung back into action, surprising Malice.
"Well, my pasta sauce is simmering now and I've just finished making my actual pasta noodles." he replied holding up the long strands of pasta.
"That's nice, I guess..." Malice commented in a softer voice than her usual self. This got another ooh from the audience which was quickly stopped when Malice had stared them down. "Any plans for the main course?"
"Actually, I do. It's..."
"Hey! Fia! Remember that movie we watched about those two dogs?" Lina butted in.
"Lady and the Tramp?"
"Yeah! That's the one!"
"What about it?...Oh, I see what you are talking about. That would be so romantic." Fia said.
"Yeah! Ein and Malice could do that pasta scene!"
As soon as Lina said this, not only did the audience ooh in unison, there were also high pitched whistling sounds coming from Rose and Serene. Malice and Ein glanced at each other quickly, then looked away.
"Wait a minute, if I win maybe Ein and I could..." The four girls daydreamed. Ein stared blankly at them, unaware of what they were thinking. The thought of it made them blush slightly before Malice finally spoke out.
"I would never do such a thing!" The sudden outburst snapped the girls out of their daydream.
"Wait a minute, you mean you actually watched that movie? I never knew you were into such things." Serene questioned with a wry smile.
"I...I mean...you see...damnit! I hate you all!" Malice yelled, storming away from the kitchen. As she stormed past Ledah towards the dressing room, he gave a wry smile which annoyed her even more.
Ein, completely stumped at the situation, sprung into action and added the noodles into a pot of boiling water. After adding salt to the water, he started to clean his knife, preparing for his main course.
"Sometimes I wonder..." Soala thought to herself out loud.
"What's wrong, Soala?" Rose asked.
"Sometimes, I wonder what's going on in Ein's mind. You know, after everything that happened so far, all of the craziness, one can not possibly imagine what he's thinking right now."
"Sometimes I wonder myself as well." she replied. As Rose said this, she saw an image pop into her head, from Ein's thoughts, and what she saw shocked her.
"Ein! How are you able to think of a thing at a time like this?" She thought to herself.
