DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 8.

Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Anyway, read on and enjoy. Remember to review if you want. It helps if I know people are still reading this!



"And welcome back to the exciting Iron Chef Riviera! If you just joined us, we found out that Lina had used instant ramen, what a sudden turn of events!" announced Malice.

"Get on with it!" Serene yelled in the background.

"Now, can Lina redeem herself with her last course? Let's find out." Malice continued.

Lina had presented a large platter which consisted of many applecot treats. Setting the plate down, the three judges each grabbed a different treat and proceeded to taste it. Rose had taken the toffee applecot, Soala had the applecot muffin and Ledah held the applecot cookie.

"I love muffins!" Soala said with glee. "And this is no exception."

Rose had stuffed her face full of the toffee applecot and only muffled words and sounds escaped her mouth as she finished off the sweet covered fruit. Meanwhile, Ledah had only taken one small bite before placing the cookie back onto the plate.

"I am not fond of sweet food, however, it is edible." Ledah commented.

"Remarkable! After the ramen noodle scandal, Lina has recovered with her array of applecot dishes!" announced Malice.

"What is wrong with you, Malice?" Ledah asked in an annoyed tone.

"Nothing, it's just that I feel like I finally have a purpose. The people, the drama. I feel alive." Malice stated.

"You fool!" Ledah snapped and promptly slapped Malice with the back of his hand. "Get a hold of yourself!"

With the palm of her hand, Malice held the spot where Ledah had made contact with her face.

"Thanks, Ledah. I don't know what got into me." Malice said quietly. "Right, next up! Fia and her magical chicken made of tofu!"

"Now, as you have seen, this entire meal is made from non-meat products. I hope you enjoy it." Fia said, bowing. "For starters we have a light salad."

Finishing serving the salad, the trio of judges picked up their forks and started to eat. A loud crunch was heard as this happened.

"What's this crunchy stuff, Fia?" Rose asked.

"Those are fried vermicelli noodles. It doesn't add much flavour wise, but it's there for the texture." Fia replied.

"Ah, always thinking of every aspect. Amazing, Fia." Rose replied.

"And this dressing gives the salad quite a bite." Soala added. "I like it!"

"I have to agree with these two." Ledah said. "The acidity of the dressing coupled with a mild chilli flavour gives a great combination."

Fia waited for them to finish up before serving the next course. The bamboo shoot soup was ladled into bowls with vermicelli noodles present. Steam slowly wafted into the air and disappeared as the gentle aromas filled the room. With chopsticks in hand, Ledah looked at Rose and Soala who managed to make use of the chopsticks.

"Another wonderful meal, Fia." Soala said, finishing off the soup.

"I agree. The taste was rather new to me. It had a...woody...taste..." Rose's voice trailed off before noticing Malice about to open her mouth. "Don't say anything Malice! We don't want to hear another one of your lame insults!"

"I wouldn't dream of insulting you." Malice replied with a sinister tone.

"Stop it you two." Ledah said in a commanding voice. "The meal itself was simple, and yet, it has many complexities in it. The right balance of seasonings, the addition of bamboo shoots, it was splendid to say the least."

"Oh, thank you Ledah..." Fia said quietly, blushing a little.

"Honestly, I don't think he himself doesn't realise that he's attractive and...wait a minute! What am I saying! Snap out of it Malice!" Malice promptly realised it was time for the final course and proceeded to mock Fia. "Well well, I've been waiting for this moment. Hail the queen of all vegetarians!"

"No one cares, Malice." Fia said in a slightly annoyed tone.

The plate which had on it the tofu shaped chicken was quite a sight. The details were very similar to the real thing aside from the slight variation in colour. Picking up a large carving knife, Fia had sliced the large bird with ease. The sight of the insides made Rose and Soala shudder. It was purely white, with steam emitting from the pours and it jiggled as the knife hit the plate, almost jelly like. Finishing serving, the three judges picked up a knife and fork, taking their time in cutting a small piece to eat. Simultaneously, they placed the tofu into their mouths and chewed. A few moments passed before they stopped chewing. Suddenly, they all started coughing and exhaled the contents all over the table.

"Ew! Not only does it look weird, it tastes weird too!" Soala announced.

"I second that statement!" Rose whole heartingly agreeing.

"There have been few instances in which I was defeated...and this is one of them." Ledah said, grabbing a glass of water.

"It's not that bad is it?" Fia said, grabbing a fork. "Let's see here..."

Fia ate a mouthful and started chewing. Everyone stared at her, waiting for any signs of how horrible the taste was but were denied of their prize. "This tastes fine. I'm not sure why you three didn't like it."

"Heh. That's because this tofu is made from baby seals." Malice interupted.

"What! No! That's a lie! You're lying right?" Fia cried out, astounded and horrified by the information.

"Nope, it says right here. One hundred percent baby seals." Malice said, showing Fia the package details of the tofu. Promptly, Fia fainted upon seeing this and Ein had managed to catch her.

"That was downright evil, Malice!" Serene exclaimed."How could you do such a thing?"

"Relax, tofu isn't made from baby seals, I'd hope you weren't that guillible. Besides, I figured she'd use tofu for something so I stole this idea of tofu being made from baby seals. Ingenious really." Malice said, flicking her hair back. "And of course, I did the editing on the package myself."

"Someone needs to deflate that large ego of hers." Serene thought, almost half saying it out loud.

"Anyway, we have one more chef to go. Ein, the long mile awaits." Malice announced. "Let's go!"

"Fine, fine..." He replied as he started laying out his dishes.

Ein picked up some tongs and was about to serve the entrée when Soala had cried out.

"Ein! Don't ruin the lovely salad! It looks too beautiful to destroy!" Rose gave a quick look at Soala before responding.

"Soala, it's just a salad. It doesn't matter if it's beautiful or not, food is food, right Ledah?"A few moments passed with no response. "Ledah?"

"...I have to agree with Soala this time. Ein's salad is a magnificent work of art and it would be a shame to destroy it." Ledah replied.

"Not this time!" Malice yelled. "You're all eating that thing whether you want to or not. Also, the salad will wilt and go rotten over time anyway."

"Tch. Such a mouth you have Malice. Hopefully you'll find a use for it someday." Ledah said.

"I already have." Malice replied.

After finishing off the entrée, Ein served up the next course. The aroma filled the room as Ein lifted up the lid of the pot. Ein skillfully wrapped the pasta into a neat mound on a plate before smothered it with the fresh sauce. Lastly, he grated a bit of parmesan cheese to top it off. After settling down onto the hot pasta, the cheese slowly melted.

"You'll be fine eating this then, Soala?" Rose asked.

"Yep." Soala replied, picking up her fork.

Rose picked up the fork but it slipped between her fingers and dropped onto the floor. Soala and Ledah had begun twirling the pasta around their fork whilst Rose was on her hands and knees, under the table, looking for the fork she had dropped. She spotted a round object on the floor and she picked it up in her hand. The light was mostly blocked by the table cloth but upon closer inspection, it was a ball of wool. It was coloured with green, red and blue. Rose noticed a piece of paper attached to the end of the string. Curiousity overcoming her, Rose flipped the little piece of paper around.

"Cierra..." Rose said to herself.

The paper had on it written 'Gateau.' It was the supposed "favourite ball of wool" as dubbed by Cierra. What struck Rose was that Cierra still kept it. Rose figured that it must've rolled under the table when Cierra's bag had spilled its contents onto the floor. Rose thought back to the time when Cierra had treated her like a regular house cat. Dangling a piece of string just out of Rose's reach, stroking her fur and even attempted to feed her fish. Now Rose realised Cierra wasn't treated her as a regular house cat, she was treating her like as if she was a part of the family.

"Maybe I should tell her the truth..." Rose thought when suddenly, she saw a round silhouette emerge from behind the table cloth. She squinted her eyes to try and make out what it was.

"Hey! Watch where you point that thing, Cierra!" Serene exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I have it all under...whoops!" Cierra said.

The silhouette became larger and Rose had only a split second to realise what it was, but it was too late. A fireball had emerged from behind the table cloth and had engulfed Rose in flames. Rose was now covered in soot and the ball of wool she held in her hand had disintegrated into ashes.

"Now I remember why I didn't tell her." Rose thought, reassuring herself.

"Are you ok, Rose?" Ein asked, lending out his hand to help her up. At this point, Fia regained consciousness and slowly stood up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rose said, taking Ein's hand. When Rose got to her feet, she shook herself, getting rid of most of the soot which covered her clothes.

"Rose looks like a cat doing that!" Lina said playfully.

"I am not a cat!" Rose said quickly. "Er...I mean, of course I'm not a cat..."

Rose quickly took her seat and picked up another fork. Rose was twirling the pasta around her fork with one hand, lazily. As she looked up, Cierra was talking to Fia, who was still slightly pale.

"She gave me that potion which made me unable to speak for a long while, and yet, because of her magic, I now have a human form. Sometimes I wonder if she really is happy...and myself for that matter." Rose thought to herself as the pasta around her fork grew.

"This is wonderful Ein! I just love how the sauce is so thick and doesn't drop off of the pasta when you try to eat it!" Soala announced after finishing her plate. "You've gotta teach me how to make this later."

"Now now, Soala. Don't flatter me like this..." Ein said, blushing slightly.

"The different flavours infused in the sauce is very complex, Ein. There are many flavours hitting you all at once. It feels like each flavour depends on one another and build itself up." Ledah said, putting his fork down.

"Way to be a melodramatic, Ledah." Malice snorted. "How about you, Rose?"

Rose had obviously not heard her as she continued twirling the pasta around her fork, with her hand in a half open fist under her chin, using her elbow on the table as support.

"Oi! I'm talking to you!" Malice yelled.

"Oh...who, what, where?" Rose replied with a weakened, confused tone.

"What do you think of Ein's pasta?" Malice asked, in an annoyed tone.

"Oh...it's great." Rose said monotonous tone.

"Right...that's, very interesting." Malice said raising an eyebrow. "Last up, Ein's special course! What is it? We'll find out right now!"

Ein presented a silver platter covered with a matching lid. Everyone except Rose took interest at what was concealed inside.

"I present to you...my specialty!" Ein announced as he lifted the lid in a dramatic way.

"...That's your specialty?" Malice sneered.

"Well, I have to agree with Malice on this one. For such a great build up, the result isn't as great as it sounded." Serene said.

"Well, I think it's nice, Ein. It's something very simple, and it matters all about taste right?" Fia asked.

"Right!" Cierra replied.

"What is it, Ein?" Lina asked. "Lina likes the colour though!"

"It's rice and eggs. That's all." Ein replied, picking up small bowls. "And everyone can taste it if they want, I've made more than enough."

"Oh, that's swell." Malice said in a sarcastic tone. "I guess I'll try it as well. It can't be as bad as tofu chicken, am I right?"

Fia remained quiet as Ein started to pile the bowls with the rice. Everyone on stage had grabbed a bowl and even some of the audience members decided to try it as well. Ladie, Graham, Molan and Meute to name a few. The moment of truth came as everyone held a spoon in their hand. Scooping up the rice, everyone opened their mouth to taste it, aside from Malice who decided to wait and see if the the others survived the first taste. Suddenly, a loud sound boomed, like lightning and for a split second, the lights flickered on and off.

"Damnit Rose, I thought I told you that...that...what the hell? Where is she?" Malice yelled in confusion.

"She's right here." Ledah said, motioning his head to where Rose was sitting at the table.

"If she's there, and no one is at the soundboard, then who did those effects?" Malice asked.

"Exactly, Malice. Now you see why it's Ein's specialty." Ledah replied, smirking. "The golden rice. It is said to be so great, that the taste could send you higher than any mountain could ever reach."

"...That's stupid." Malice said, finally taking a spoonful of rice. A few moments passed before Malice swallowed the contents in her mouth. "...God damnit."

"As I said, Malice. Ein knows what he's doing." Ledah said. "Isn't that right?"

All of the girls nodded with agreement as they ate more of the rice.

"Now that's settled, I do believe it's time to choose a winner." Ledah said.

"That's my line! I'll do it how you're supposed to!" Malice exclaimed. "And so, the five chefs have displayed their talents and skills through their cookery. Now the judges will vote according to the system on their scoring sheets."

Several minutes have passed as Soala, Rose and Ledah started writing down on a sheet of paper which was protected by a menu-like cover. Finally, Malice was given an envelope and stood in front of the stage. Fia, Lina, Serene, Cierra and Ein stood in front of her on the stage floor in a line. The battle scars clearly showing what they went through in order to make it out of this competition alive. Finally, Malice spoke out.

"These five chefs, have been through a lot, and yet, here they are, risking their lives again in the kitchen to produce many dishes which have been exquisite, but also catastrophic at times. Now, judgement has been passed. This envelope contains the winner of this contest! This envelope that I hold in my hand, will crown someone, the Iron Chef of Riviera! This very piece of paper I wield, is the ticket to a date with Ein! Unless of course Ein wins and..."

"Get on with it already!" Serene yelled.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm doing my speeches, batgirl! Anyway, maestro, drum roll please." A few moments passed before Malice looked around the room. "Damnit Rose! That was your cue to play the soundboard!"

"Oh, I thought that If I touched it again that you would..." Rose started

"Never you mind, just play the drum roll!" Malice yelled.

"Fine fine, don't have a hissy fit on me now." Rose taunted as she walked towards the soundboard and pushed a button. The drum roll played through the speakers.

"That's better. And now, the person that will be crowned the Iron Chef of Riviera is..." Malice stopped for a few seconds.

"Don't you dare!" Serene yelled. "If you do that, I don't know what I'll do, but it'll involve a lot of pain!"

"Do what?" Malice asked, smirking.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Serene yelled, once again.

"Oh, you mean this?" Malice said, laughing to herself. "We'll find out after this commercial break!"

"Aaah! I must know now! I demand you to tell me right now!" Serene exclaimed, wielding her scythe. "Or else!"

"Or else what?" Malice sneered.

"This!" Serene drew another scythe, holding one in each hand. Serene was chasing after Malice, swinging wildly.

"Cut to the commercial breaks damnit!" Malice yelled, running away from Serene. At this point, Rose pulled out a little green notebook and started writing in it.


Ah, don't you just hate it when it stops right there? I know I do.