"There it is!" Orihime said. They all hurried as they could see their destination just ahead. "It's Jacklot City!"
"Amazing!" Ichigo said as they all could see Jacklot City and it looked incredible.
"Where's Rena? I thought she was going to meet us just outside the city?" Rukia questioned.
"Hey! Hey, guys!" They looked down the road and could see Rena come running out to greet them. "I'm glad you guys could make it."
"I'm so glad we're here. I can't wait to see the town you're from." Orihime said.
"That's right. Welcome to Jacklot City." Rena said.
You're just a kid on a quest
To be the best of the best
Someday your destined for power and glory
You know you're up to the test
There's only one way to tell this story
Be a hero
Be a hero
All the power is at your command
Face your fears and show you're a hero
The future of the world is in your hands
Pokémon
(Ichigo's voice) Hot and Spicy Flavor
Our heroes have arrived in Jacklot City and met with Rena again. Since this is where Rena's from, she's showing them the sights.
"What do you think so far?" Rena said as they walked through the streets.
"It certainly does look like a great city." Orihime said.
"And the first place I'm going to take you is my family restaurant." Rena said. "We have some of the best food around."
"That sounds great, but I want to check out the gym." Ichigo said as he was getting ready for his fourth gym battle.
"Sorry, Ichigo." Rena said. "I stopped by the gym earlier. The gym is closed for now." That was disappointing to Ichigo since he was hoping to get that gym battle. "It's probably closed for the upcoming Jacklot Tournament."
"Jacklot Tournament?" Rukia questioned.
"Jacklot City holds an annual tournament every year." Rena said. "It happens to be coming with in the next few days, just after the talent star competition. What makes it fun is that they do something different in the tournament every year. You never know what they're going to do next."
"Sounds like it could be interesting. I say we enter ourselves and give it a try." Rukia said.
"If the gym is really closed because of that, we should compete and check it out." Ichigo said with the others thinking it was a great idea.
"Between the tournament, Pokemon Talent Star, and your gym battle, Ichigo, we're going to have a lot of fun here." Orihime said.
"I'll give you the talent star competition." Rena said. "I even got a new pokemon to help me win it. Anyway, let's check out my family restaurant. You guys are probably hungry." It all did sound good.
...
Rena's Family Restaurant
Rena took them to her family restaurant, a Chinese-themed restaurant. Rena was glad to be home and see her parents again. As soon as she saw the restaurant, she ran straight to it and went right through the door.
"Hello!" Rena called as she entered with the others following.
"Welcome to... Rena?! You're back!" A waitress said as the staff looked around and was glad to see she was back.
"That's right! I'm back! Who is happy to see me?!" Rena said.
"Boy, she really knows how to make an entrance." Ichigo said.
"Is my dad here?" Rena asked as she was happy to see her father again.
"Yeah. He's right in the kitchen." Rena hurried over to the kitchen with the rest of them following. Rena went inside and spotted the man in charge, a man dressed like a chef with short dark hair. As soon as he spotted her, he put such on a big smile on his face.
"Rena!"
"Daddy!" Rena called as the two of them hugged each other.
"I'm so glad you're back home." Rena's father said.
"Dad, I want to introduce you to my friends." Rena said as she showed Ichigo and the others. "That's Ichigo with his Absol, Orihime, Rukia, and Chad."
"Hello. It's nice to meet you." Orihime said.
"It's nice to meet my daughter's friends. You may call me Wong. I'm also aware of who you are, Orihime. I saw you compete against my daughter in Coumaroo Town."
"Hey, Dad, is it okay if you make us some lunch?" Rena said. "I would love my friends for you try some your cooking."
"Well, we're in the middle of something important, but I suppose I could use the practice." Wong said. When he said that, it confused Rena and the others a little on what he meant. Wong got to cooking as he reached for a pokeball. "Come out, Magmar."
"Magmar!"
"Come on, Magmar. We've got work to do. All of you take a seat outside and I'll bring your food out when I can." Wong said. All of them stepped out of the kitchen and found an open table for all of them.
"So, your father cooks the same way you do? He uses his fire-type pokemon?" Ichigo asked.
"Who do you think taught me to do it?" Rena said.
"So, have you won any star medals since the last time we met?" Orihime asked.
"I managed to earn myself one medal." Rena said. "Once I win the competition here, I'm going to earn two of them and get ahead you, Orihime."
"Well, I'm sure we'll both do our best." Orihime said. Not exactly the reaction that Rena was going for.
"Rena, what did your father meant back there?" Rukia asked. "He said he was in the middle of something important and needed the practice. What did he mean by that?"
"I'm not exactly sure." Rena said. She was wondering about what her father meant by that. She didn't get much to think about it as someone came in and spotted her.
"Rena!" Rena knew that voice and it caused her face to turn red. She turned around and was met with someone in a white dressed shirt and black pants with black hair.
"Ivan!" Rena said.
"I heard you were back in town." Ivan said. "When I heard you were back, I knew I would find you here. Why didn't you call and tell me you were back?"
"Uh... Why should I tell you anything?" Rena said as she turned away from him like she was mad.
"What's this about?" Ivan asked as he was confused by Rena's strange behavior. It was then that he noticed her friends. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. My name is Ivan. I'm an old childhood friend of Rena."
"It's nice to meet you." Orihime said as she made room for him.
"Rena, you should have called or something. I would have expected you to show up at the school." Ivan said.
"I wanted to see my dad!" Rena said as her face was turning red. Orihime could see what was going on with her.
"Did you say school? What school?" Ichigo asked.
"There's a school in this city for those who are old enough to be trainers." Ivan said. "We study everything trainers need to know until we feel confident enough to go on a journey. Rena and I went there, but she felt more confident that she was able to go out on her own than I do. So, is your father ready, Rena?"
"Ready? Ready for what?" Rena asked.
"You mean he didn't tell you yet?" Ivan said. This all sounded very strange to them.
"Here we go." Wong said as he came back with their food and placed ramen and such on the table. "Ivan! I'm glad to see you could make it."
"Dad, what's going on?" Rena asked. "Ivan says that you're suppose to be ready for something. Ready for what?" Wong sighed and decided to tell her.
"I suppose you should know." Wong said. "There's another business that wants to prove they're the better restaurant. They challenged me to a cook off. This restaurant is owned by Bolton, a well-known chef. If I don't win, people might start going to them instead of here."
"I see..." Chad said. "He needs to prove his food is just as good. Otherwise, customers are going to go there instead."
"Dad, why didn't you say something?" Rena said. "We need to get out there and really turn up the heat."
"The competition is in a few hours." Wong said. "Just leave everything to me and Magmar, honey." Wong is pretty confident that he can win, but that doesn't mean this is going to be easy.
...
The Cook-Off
The challenge soon began. Some people gathered to see it. Ichigo and his friends got a look at this Bolton. He's all big, bald, and muscular with him dressed like a chef. He also had a male Sneasel at his side.
"That's Bolton? He might look scary, but I bet his cooking isn't that great." Ichigo said.
"It looks like he has pokemon help in his cooking as well. That's a Sneasel with him." Rukia said. "I guess he uses Sneasel's claws to help with chopping and such."
"No worries. Magmar's fire can't be topped. Right?" Wong asked Magmar to get it excited and Magmar was ready. "Bolton, let's both do our best."
"There's only one that's going to walk out of here as the winner. That's going to be me." Bolton claimed.
"Sneasel!"
"What an ego." Rena said. "Come on, Dad! Show that jerk that you're the best!"
"I'm on it." Wong said as he was going on stage as it was about to begin. Just then, a powerful blast of water came out of nowhere and hit Magmar. "Magmar! Magmar was blasted down and was soaked. All of them looked and saw that blast came from a Blastoise.
"Blastoise!" Blastoise did what it needed to do and just ran off.
"What was that?!" Ichigo said.
"That Blastoise used Hydro Cannon, a powerful water-type move." Rukia said. "Poor Magmar took a lot of damage from that attack."
"But why would Blastoise do that?" Chad questioned. All of it seemed rather strange, but Rena spotted something unusual. She looked back stage and saw that Blastoise came to Bolton with Bolton putting it in a pokeball. Rena saw what happened.
"That creep! He used Blastoise to take out Magmar to sabotage Dad!" Rena whispered. She wasn't going to let him just have his way.
"Tough luck, Wong." Bolton said as he came over and acted innocent. "You never cooked without Magmar. Sure hope your food stays good." He laughed as it already seemed like he won.
"This is bad. We're suppose to start in a few minutes." Wong said. "Not only does Magmar's fire come in handy, but Magmar is great at cooking itself. I never made a dish without Magmar. I can't do this alone."
"Yes, you can." Rena said as she pulled out her pokeball and let out Ninetales.
"Ninetales!"
"Ninetales, Dad needs help. You've got to take Magmar's place." Rena said.
"Ninetales? I'm not sure. That's nice of you to offer, Rena, but do you really think Ninetales can take Magmar's place?"
"What's the big deal?" Ichigo asked. "Ninetales is a fire-type just like Magmar."
"It's not just that. Making even the smallest difference in your cooking can make it better or worse." Wong said.
"Dad, you taught me everything I know." Rena said. "Ninetales and I have made great food just like you and Magmar. You saw me when I competed in the Coumaroo Town talent star competition. Ninetales is more than capable of the task. Besides, there's no time for anything else."
"Your daughter is right, sir." Orihime said. "There's no way Magmar can cook now. You've got to use Ninetales. At least it will feel like your daughter is cooking with you, right?" Orihime saying that put a nice spin on it and that is what convinced Wong.
"You're right. Let's do it, Ninetales." Wong said.
"Nine!" With Ninetales filling in for Magmar, the small contest was back on. Both cooks had only one hour to prepare a nice meal, but that was really all they needed.
"Sneasel, start chopping with Fury Swipes!" Bolton said as he tossed some peppers at Sneasel. Sneasel used his claws and chopped all the peppers very quickly and very easily.
"Ninetales, heat this up with Flamethrower." Wong said. Ninetales breathed out the flames and helped boil the water much quicker. The two of them seem to be doing well and it looks like it would have been hard to tell who was going to win it. All the others watched and they were hoping for Wong to win it.
"Hey, how are they going to decide who wins?" Ichigo asked.
"That man there." Rena said as she pointed to someone sitting up front with a table. "That man is going to act as the judge. He's a food connoisseur. He'll know for sure who made the better dish." As the hour was coming down to mere minutes. They both added their finishing touches and they both finished right when the timer went off. "Time's up. Now, they'll present their dishes to see who made the better one."
"So, which ever one tastes better is the one who will win?" Orihime asked.
"It's not that simple." Rena said. "There's presentation, texture, flavor, and more. It's not just taste."
"This is more complicated than I thought." Rukia said.
"Shush. They're about to be judged." Chad said. Bolton and Wong brought their dishes over to the judge. Both of them made bowls of ramen and they both looked like works of art. They both appeared to have passed the presentation. The judge pulled out a pair of chopsticks and took several bites out of each dish to get a good taste out of them. When he was ready to make his decision, everyone was getting anxious.
"Very nicely done, both of you." The judge said. "However, we can only have one winner. Bolton... Your dish is classic as well as rich in flavor. You used the right balance of ingredients and brought out the taste to it's full potential." Bolton and Sneasel were feeling good as they felt like they won. "However, it's not very original."
"Huh?!" Bolton claimed.
"Sneasel?!"
"Anyone of your skill can easily make this. There's nothing that makes it stand out." The judge said. "Wong, yours is quite the opposite. Not only have you brought out the flavor, but it's traditionally delicious at the same time. It's hot like a comforting fire with the right mix of spices inside to add to the flavor. On top of that, it's almost as if I can feel the comfort of a pokemon. I declare Wong the winner!" Everyone cheered with Wong and Ninetales feeling great and Rena proud of her father.
"What?! After I got his Magmar knocked out, he still won?!" Bolton said, but noticed people were looking at him suspiciously. "I mean...congratulations."
"I couldn't have done it without my daughter's pokemon." Wong said as he petted Ninetales.
"Yeah! That's my dad!" Rena cheered.
"Rena's Dad really is an amazing chef." Rukia said.
"Better watch out, Ichigo. Rena learned a lot from her father and she's using it in her performances." Ichigo said.
"I guess that means we'll have one tasty battle when the competition rolls around." Orihime joked as she couldn't wait.
It seems that our heroes visit to Jacklot City is quite the tasty one. They still have some time before the competition. Who knows what else they'll get to witness in a city as entertaining as this appears to be. You'll just have to stay tune to find out.
To Be Continued...
Pokemon Question: Hey there, future trainers. The answer to the last question was...Piloswine! Piloswine usually has it's fur covering it's eyes, so it uses its nose to get familiar with it's area. Here's the next question. What pokemon cloaks itself in bubbles when it senses danger?
