"Psst," Ari whipped around and saw the Fern kids sitting in the nearby stands, Sara gestures for her to come over, as she takes a seat next to David, Mikan starts to question her.
"Ariel what on earth are you and Aunt Cass doing here?" there's a flash of concern in her eyes, "Good Luck Alley no place for a sweetheart like you."
"This is all Cass's fault," Ari tilts her head back from the glare Mikan is giving. "Why are you guys here?!"
"I like this competition," David answers, "I enjoy hearing the competitors cook, smells nice too."
"I don't buy it."
"David should I explain to Ari why we're really here?" Sara asks him, he nods.
"Only a little bit, like a watered down explanation." David gestures a small amount with his fingers, "I mean I already told her a little bit about my blood mother so you're good."
"What?" Ari raises an eyebrow.
Sara takes a deep breath, "The real reason we're here is because David's blood mother is one of the fighters here, Mika and I tag along so David isn't attacked by any enemies of his mom."
"Ohh…" Ari realized, "Is she competing tonight?" I hope Cass doesn't have to fight her.
"No," Mikan shook her head, "We're just watching some of the rookies get destroyed," Ari glares at Mikan for implying Cass was a rookie, "But uh I'm sure Aunt Cass is gonna win."
"I still don't get why you guys call her Aunt Cass," Ari rolls her eyes, bringing her attention back to the arena.
"She lets all of us call her that, it's only a matter of time before you start to as well Ariel." Mikan tells her, "It's inevitable."
"Yeah yeah whatever."
"Who are you and do you have what it takes to vanquish your enemy?" Yum points the microphone to Cass.
She looked nervous in the spotlight, "Well Yum, I'm Cass, hi everyone." she gives a wave as a flame with her face appears next to her, "And we're just cooking right?"
Everyone in the audience laughs, including Mikan who just cackles at her obliviousness "Just cooking, Ha!" Sara punches her in the shoulder, "Ow!" they both glare at each other.
"This is no ordinary cooking competition, cheating is not only allowed? Ha! It's encouraged!" Yum explains to Cass, "Are you prepared to cook dirty?"
"That does not sound sanitary at all," Cass replies.
"Spoke like someone who's about to lose!" he then points to the other end of the arena, "And now, your opponent, a man who needs no introductions," the podium brings up a familiar turtleneck wearing blonde haired man with a red bandanna on his head, "Bolton Gramercy!"
The crowd cheers as Ari goes, "What?"
"Bolton Gramercy?" Cass has a similar reaction, her jaw drops in shock.
Gramercy recognises Cass and frowns, "Wait, you're that little bird from the cafe today," he turns to Yum, "Is this a joke?"
"Umm.." Cass stammers, "I didn't actually mean to enter, I'm just here to look for my nephew so I'm just gonna.." she gestures to the back exit door, "Y'know.."
"Give up, good move, leave the cooking to the real chefs," Yum places a hand to his mouth, surprised at what Gramercy said, the audience chuckles at the taunt.
Cass glares, she puts the yellow bandanna she was given on, "Oh..we'll see who's the real chef, you're about to get stir fried!"
"Ooooh," Sara and Mikan are on the edge of their seats.
"Yeah! Tell that smug chef who's the real cook!" Ari cheers.
"Feisty," Yum smirks, "Time to cook!" both chefs head to the kitchen counters on the opposite sides of the arena, the crowd cheers as the competition is about to begin.
"I have faith in Cass, she's gonna win." Ari gives her two thumbs up.
"Gramercy is a real good cook, I'm not sure." Mikan frowns.
"Wow Mika, wow, have faith in her!" David shakes his head, "You got this Cass!"
Both chefs place their knife sets on the counter, "Tonight's challenge, the perfect creme brulee!" Yum announces.
"Oh, I can do that!" Cass exclaims, she does make most of the pastries in the Lucky Cat after all.
"But!" Yum points to the ingredients table, which reveals a..unique selection of ingredients, "You must use gummy iguanas, cilantro, and an ostrich egg."
"Whaa?" Cass is puzzled.
"Fred would not like this creme brulee," Ari notes, whispering to David she added, "He hates cilantro."
"Let the food fight, begin!" Yum points to the 30 minute timer, which then sets off.
And thus began the most exciting half-hour cooking contest Ari has ever watched.
"You said it was state-of-the-art Fred,"
"Well it was in 1972, Wasabi!"
Back at Fred's house the "state-of-the-art" database was just an old machine.
"Don't worry guys, my dad keeps the data totally up to date!" he points it.
"Punch cards," Gogo and Hiro were by the boxes of punchards, she had one in her hand as she turned to Fred, "Really?"
"Yes hello," Fred walks up to her, "But look! They're up-to-date punch cards!"
"Okay then," Hiro picks up one of the cards, "Let's get started!"
"Woah! Woah, woah woah!" Fred swipes the card from Hiro and walks to the machine, "First, we have to let the tubes warm up," he flips a switch on the database which also causes the lights in his house to dim.
"Is this going to take awhile?" Hiro questions, raising an eyebrow, he wanted to get home so Aunt Cass didn't start stress eating in the cafe wondering where he was.
"It usually takes five to ten minutes," Fred answers, he places the punch card in his pocket with care, "While we wait I wanted to bring up this, that sushi chef lady looked a little familiar, does she remind you of anyone or is it just me?"
"I've never seen her before in my life but she kind of reminds me of someone," now that Hiro thought about it, "I just don't know who.."
"Probably just a coincidence," Gogo shrugs it off.
"Might just be your imagination guys," Wasabi also shrugs it off.
"You might be right," Hiro sighs, after a few minutes, the tubes were warmed up.
"Guess what guys, it's punch card time!" Fred lists the punch card from his pocket and into the air, the other sitting down by the rest of the punch cards and walking. Fred blows the dust off the punch card and puts it into the machine, "This one isn't a match, onto the next one!"
And the next one, and the next one, and the next…To the point everyone but Fred fell asleep, except Baymax who had Wasabi and Honey Lemon using him as a pillow.
The tubes on the database lit up, "And just like that, we have a match!" Fred exclaims, all of his friends yawn and start to wake up.
"Finally," Gogo rubs her eyes, Wasabi notices that Honey Lemon was drooling on him and yelps.
"I believe that's yours," he points to the slobber on his shoulder, Honey Lemon lifts herself up.
"Sorry Wasabi," she wipes her mouth.
Fred takes the paper the database produced and reads it aloud, "Okay so the sushi chef's name is Momakase, she's the best thief and sushi chef in San Fransokyo, considered extremely dangerous," he shows them picture, which has Momakase in a mercenary outfit.
"So she's definitely coming back for the rest of the-," Hiro yawns, "Gravity disruptor,"
Baymax brings up a clock, "Hiro, you are scheduled to wake up in five hours, you will not the recommended level of-"
"Oh no, I didn't realize it was so late," Hiro starts to drag Baymax away, "I've gotta go, Aunt Cass is gonna kill me!" He rushes out of the Boss Awesome superhero lair.
"I keep forgetting Hiro doesn't live in a dorm or apartment like the rest of us," Honey Lemon notes, "It's gotta be hard keeping his superhero identity from Aunt Cass."
"And Ari too now that she lives at their house," Wasabi adds, "Though I'll admit it's a lot easier keeping it a secret around her."
"Like I said, people see what they want to see," Fred goes back to looking at the information the database brought up on Momakase. He'd have to do more research later, they had to worry about keeping the rest of the gravity disruptor safe, good thing he found where the secret safe was so they'd know where to guard.
Elsewhere, the cooking competition between Cass and Bolton Gramercy was going like a roaring fire. As both chefs went to grab their ingredients, Gramercy knocked one of the ostrich eggs out of Cass's hands, then grabbed two. Cass huffed as she picked up the remaining egg, both chefs gave each other looks as they poured the egg into the bowl. The staring contest continued as they mixed the bowl and cut the cilantro, as they made the creme brulee Gramercy tried to sabotage Cass by throwing the other ostrich egg at her. However the fire extinguisher when he used it to save his burning dish ruined it and he had no time to fix it as there was half a minute left. Both chefs rushed their dishes to the judges and watched them eat their respective foods, then discuss in hushed whispers among themselves who would be the winners.
"Cass has got this in the bag," Ari tells David, he doesn't make any response. Right next to them, Sara's phone beeps as she reads a message from her phone.
"Oh we gotta go," Sara and her siblings get up from their seats.
"Where are you going?" Ari narrows her eyes.
"No time to tell you gotta run!" Mikan grabs both Sara and David then runs to the exit.
"At least wait for the match to be over!" she calls after them, then turns her attention back as Yum announces the winner.
"Tonight's chef supreme is…" he lifts the arm of the person on the right side of him, "Cass!" the crowd cheers.
"She won without cheating," Ari heard Felony Carl speak to his bodyguard friend from behind her, "I didn't think that was within the realm of possibility."
"Present your knives to the victor," Yum gestures to Gramercy, "You hack!"
Gramercy hesitates, "But..these knives were a gift from my Nana.."
"To the victor.."
"Throw the knives!" the audience screams, Ari hums, So that's the prize? Ehh no wonder Mikan and the others left early. Gramercy kneels, presenting the knives to Cass.
"Oh..no that's not really necessary," Cass tells Yum.
"I don't make the rules, I just enforce them, take the knives." Yum glares, Cass gives up and takes the knives from Gramercy.
"Sorry about this," Cass apologizes as she takes the knives from Gramercy.
"Cass! Cass! Cass!" the audience cheers, Cass smiles at the applause, as the spotlight is shining on her and her only.
"Oh god she's going to compete again I just know it.." Ari groans, even from here she could see the excitement in Cass's eyes.
Above the cooking competition, is Yama, he enters a room where Momakase is sharpening her graphene blades.
"Do you have the gravitational disruptor?" Yama questioned.
"I have acquired it," Momakase opens the briefcase, containing what she stole from Alistair Krei, Yama looks at the device, then back at the blueprints he has of the device.
"This is only half of the device! You expect me to pay you for stealing only half!?" He demands.
"You hired me to get the device in Krei's safe, this is what was in his safe." She smirks, "So, yes, I expect my payment."
"This is useless to me without the other half!" Yama clenches the blueprint in his hand, glaring at Momakase, he didn't pay her a fortune just to get one half of a device.
"Then I guess you need to hire me to steal the other half." Momakase holds her graphene knife on the table, the tip of the knife grazing the wood.
Yama growls, "Fine..when you have the whole device, let me know." he stomps out of the room.
Momakase smirks when he leaves, "I will, maybe I'll let some other buyers know as well," she grins with glee at the prospect of a much higher earnings than the cut Yama gave her.
A knock on her door interrupts her thoughts, she recognized who'd knock that light, "You can come in children." She speaks loud enough for the people on the other side to hear.
The door opens with three pairs of eyes staring back at her, a big smile on the face of the yellow-eyed one.
As Cass and Ari return to the Lucky Cat Cafe, Ari sees the gleam in Cass's eyes.
"So, Ari." Cass asks her, "Did you think that was fun?"
"A bit.." Ari mumbles, "Not gonna go back, but I ran into the Fern kids."
"Really?" Cass raises an eyebrow, "David, Sara, and Mikan?"
"Yep," Ari nods, "Sara knew you were gonna win the whole time."
Cass hums, "At least I have two fans." As they enter the cafe they run into Hiro, who looks surprised to run into them.
"Oh, Hiro!" Cass is surprised as well, "Hi.."
"Hi.." Hiro waves, then his eyes widen, "Wait you two were out?!"
"Ummm, yes? Doesn't seem like a big deal," Cass shrugs it off, Ari rolls her eyes.
"Do you guys have any idea what time it is?!" he exclaims, "You scared me half to death!"
"Sorry Hiro." Ari frowns, however she didn't feel too bad, he was late out due to his "study group" thing.
Baymax scans him, "You are in good physical condition, your approximation of a fifty percent proximity to death is inaccurate."
"Yeah, so don't be so dramatic, alright?" Cass starts to walk away, but Hiro isn't done with the conversation.
"You didn't even leave a note! Where were you!? And why do you smell like gummy fish?!"
"I don't, I smell like gummy iguanas, now it's late so I am going to bed."
"No! We're going to talk now!"
Ari sees Mochi glance back and forth between the bickering, she didn't need to be a mind reader to know he had seen this sort of banter before.
Cass sighed, "Fine, tell me all about your robot-building study group."
Hiro is the one that tries to end the conversation this time, he yawns then looks at the clock. "You know it's pretty late, let's pick this up tomorrow."
"Works for me, night guys." Cass and Hiro begin to head upstairs.
"Shall I set an alarm for 'picking this up tomorrow?'" Baymax asks them.
"No." Both Cass and Hiro reply.
Ari chuckles to herself, then picks up Mochi, "Does this happen a lot pal?" Mochi meows, she smiles, but then frowns, placing a hand to her head.
"Are you alright?" Baymax asks her.
"Yeah, fine pal, just..remembering something." Ari mumbles, flashes of something smelling sweet, a smile, and bright lights clouded her head, "Really vague too..I think it was a birthday party."
"Can you recall what the birthday party was for?" Baymax tilts his head, Ari shakes her head at the robot.
"No, no I can't." Ari sighs, "But I know that it wasn't for me, but I was still happy..at least I got something," she yawns, "I'll remember more stuff in the morning."
Ari got out of bed when Hiro had left for school, she was exhausted after yesterday's events. After several minutes just lying in bed awake, Ari got up, yawned, got dressed and went downstairs to the cafe. She saw Cass was using the knives she won from Gramercy to prepare the food for today.
"Hey Cass?" she looks up, "Are you going again to that er.." Ari lowers her voice so the other customers won't hear, "Food Fight?"
"Why? It's not a bad thing?" Cass raises an eyebrow.
"No it's just, don't bring me along next time," Ari yawned, "I don't want to hang around Good Lucky Alley..I'm scared of Yama," she clamps her mouth, Ari didn't mean to say that last line, her eyes widened.
"Yama?" Cass frowns, "You mean that bot fighter guy? Why are you afraid of him?"
Ari is sweating into a puddle, she and Hiro never told Cass that Yama kidnapped her, less Cass connect the dots that Hiro only found out because he was kidnapped as well.
"It's a..long story.." Ari mumbles, glancing away from Cass's narrowed stare.
"Don't tell me you're an ex-bot fighter as well!" Cass frowned, putting her hands on her hips.
"Wait? No! I don't even know what 'bot fighting' is!" Ari gestures with finger quotes, "I just don't want to get snatched up by Yama!" again Ari shuts her mouth, why was she so slippery with secrets today?!
Cass drops the kitchen knife in shock, "Ari that's awful," she pulls the girl into a hug. "Sweetie, you don't have to go with me back to that food fight then..was that what happened before Hiro found you?" Ari nods, she just hugs Cass back.
"Th-thanks Aunt Cass." Ari sniffles, at a later moment she'd realize the third slip she made, but Cass didn't react at all.
"You're very welcome," Cass smiles, they end the hug, "Now you should go get some rest if you're so tired, I can run the cafe by myself today."
"Okay," Ari yawns, then heads upstairs, when she's out of sight Cass continues preparing food with the knives.
"Hmm, I wonder if I can get a better pair than these tonight.." she hums.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: Dudes...I ate SO much sushi last night I felt like one when I woke up
TheLittleMermaid: lol
Wasabi: Why sushi?
Mikan Ferns: Because it was for dinner?
TheLittleMermaid: Weren't you guys out super late last night? I thought it would be too late for dinner!
Sara Ferns: "We had a late dinner stop asking questions" -David
TheLittleMermaid: *Squinty eyes*
Mikan Ferns: *Squinty eyes back*
Gogo: Can you not
Fredilicous24: Methinks something suspicious is afoot Fern kids
Sara Ferns: "Just your imagination" -David
Later at night, the sushi chef by day turned mercenary at night, Momakase. Her black and blue dyed hair no longer tied down by a bun spikes up. Instead of a chef outfit she is wearing a black and blue outfit making her look like a ninja, a blue mask was over her eyes. She stares down at the city upon the roofs, she leaps to another rooftop. When she gets to the edge of a rooftop close to Krei Tech, she tosses one of her knives that has a line sticking to it at the building, it sticks to the side. Momakase uses two other knives to zipline over, when she reaches the other side, she cuts a perfect circle into the window, and steps into the pitch-black room.
Then, the lights go on, "Hey there," it's Hiro, Baymax, and Wasabi who turned on the lights, the three of them surrounding the mercenary, "Looking for something?"
Momakase smirks, "Well, this is cute." she turns to face Wasabi, "You really think you can stop me?"
"Yes, and we will!" Wasabi charges at her, he throws a punch but she dodges, leaping overhead and kicking him to the side. She then throws several of her knives at him, Wasabi yelps, managing to dodge by a hair.
"Knives can be dangerous, especially when thrown." Baymax states.
"Aww, see? He gets me." Momakase launches at Baymax, slashing his right arm and left left with her graphene katana.
"Oh no.." Baymax's armor falls clean off, knocking him off his balance as he falls. As Momakase points her katana at him, it's pulled right out of her hands.
"Huh?" she sees Hiro using his glove magnet to pull the katana, "What?" she exclaims as Hiro manages to pull it from her hands and into his.
Hiro smirks as he's stolen her weapon, but she pulls out a knife, "Uh oh.." Momakase charges at him, knocking the katana out of his grasp, he yelps as Hiro leaps under Krei's table for cover. As Momakase swipes he manages to duck out of the way, "Ha! Missed!"
"Did I?" she grins, a piece of Hiro's helmet falls off.
"Lady, you're going down!" Wasabi summons his plasma blades, Momakase swipes her knife at him, blade against blade as Wasabi is back into a corner.
"So the knives..graphene right? You can tell me, it's kind of my thing." He asks as Momakase has him up against the wall.
"Yes, want a closer look?" She holds the knife at an angle that makes it look invisible, Wasabi gives a nervous chuckle as she breaks his plasma blades.
"Ha, you boys lasted three seconds longer than I would've thought, impressive." She tosses a smoke bomb on the ground, when it clears, Krei's secret safe has been opened.
"Oh great." Hiro groans, "Now she can mess with gravity!"
"Yeah that's not good." Wasabi shakes his head.
"We've got to get it back before someone gets hurt!" Hiro points to the secret safe.
"But also, that was so cool amiright?" Wasabi grins as he managed to get a close look at her graphene knives, as he says this, the entire desk the safe was on breaks, courtesy of Momakase's signature robbery sign.
"Why..just..why," Hiro facepalms, the sooner they got the device back the better.
He hoped Aunt Cass wasn't questioning why his "study group" was so late, who knows what would happen if she was by herself in the cafe for too long?
AN: Such a tasty, but making-me-hungry chapter! Surprise Wednesday chapter!
And the Fern kids make a cameo! Hmm...I wonder who texted Sara? : )
Stay turned for Saturday for the thrilling conclusion for "Food Fight" and if Big Hero 6 will get the grav device back!
Of course they will XD..but what'll happen next?