NOTES:
Minako: Thx! I've been stuck on this (supposed to be Christmas) chapter, I'm 2 months late... -_- " hope it's still ok
This story is an Omake so this chapter doesn't really have much significance in the plot line, but it does follow the story line
Chapter 3: Battle of the Chefs, Christmas Dinner!
Ok, everything's going great so far. Zhao Yun's free and went to save and recruit everyone just like from the storyline, I fought quite a few battles and managed to get Wen Yang and Lu Lingqi to the highest by helping peasants defend themselves against the Orochi army. And man, what simple missions those were and I repeated it like... 7 times in 7 different places. Tian Shui, Wujun, Chibi, Anegawa, Osaka, Luo Yang and Teritorigawa.
Saving them really didn't need a lot of effort too, and I'm pretty famous as the "Savior of the World" now that people started calling me that. Who! The Black Parade is famous for fighting for the people and helping them out! Anyway, lets count how high Lingqi is... She was 44, I have 791 so I added... 791-256 = 534. Yay! She reached her highest! Ok Taigong Wang
192... So 534-192=426! Hah! He's finally level 300! Oh, I still have the BPs for Wen Yang! So he's also level 44, that means if I used 256... I'm broke again! Oh well, at least I got them higher at least. So 426-256= 170. Hm, I still have enough for Shennong. He's level 178, so I used up 122 of 170... 48 BPs. Ok, I think it's best if I save up for now. But I don't think it's fair for Nobuyuki, ok. Since he's 44, he's now 92! 'm gonna fight my new and real battle! But I dunno which...
I'm a bit hungry, ugh. My stomach began growl much louder as all of my warriors could hear me, "Hungry?" Asked Nobuyuki, I nodded. Ugh, I want good goddammit! I can't cook though, only desserts but I want meat, MEAT! "Want us to cook you something?" The fishing mystic asked me, I perked my ears up.
My warriors cooking for me? Hm, I think the idea. Just imagine your favorite character cooking your lunch for you especially... Kya! Ooh, why don't we make a cooking contest to see which chief is superior to one another! That would be really fun, considering their warriors and not cooks! But still, it would be fun to watch them... Hehehe
"Why not make a contest out of it? It'll be fun! Not to mention we need to celebrate on a job well done!" They looked at me as if I was crazy, "Cooking contest?" They all repeated, I nodded happily, "And you guys aren't getting out of this alive, hehehe..." Deep down, I could sense them trembling in fear as I continued my evil laugh that was even creepier than any villain I heard
"That does sound fun, so how do we do this?" Asked Ina, I felt some people's aura has been decreasing while others were rising. I chuckled as I explained the rules, "It's almost Christmas so the theme of the cooking contest will be Christmas Food! Any kind like main courses or desserts, the cooking books I have had all of the greatest and most delicious Christmas Food! We'll group you into your respective games, so DW characters will be together, SW, WO and Collaboration together! Gather around your own group! I'll make a base of your operations!" I said
Orochi twitched, "I get you wanting to celebrate Christmas, but there one thing I don't like-" he said pointing to a woman in a red robe with a long, dark brown, tail-like scarf, "Her" he bluntly said. I could tell why he was upset with her, Tamamo no Mae. She was the one who tricked him into believing that the Jade Emperor was controlling demons with a magical mirror
"She's a clone of Tama-chan, Orochan. Don't worry, just this once! Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaassssseeeeee" I put on my puppy face as my eyes grew bigger and tear drops ran down my cheeks, hey it's the only way! I always got what I wanted with this face, "Even if you had that face, I won't agree to it!" He said, before pausing and said, "And don't call me Orochan!" , "Tsuchinoko!" , "Shut the hell up!"
10 minutes later
"Ok then, rules are simple! Think of Christmas Food within 10 minutes then a one minute break. You have 5 hours to find the ingredients out of the house in nearby villages or at my garden. I have tons, I dunno where for the villages so I gave you a really long time, then an hour break and continue with the cooking within 5 hours! After you guys know what your cooking just go straight to the garden and villages to look for stuff. Group DW will be stationed here!" The guest room was a rather simple room, complete with a small bathroom consisting of a toilet, sink and bathtub.
The room itself had a cream colored bed, a wooden drawer near the window, a cupboard near the door and a green lamp. Orochi was brooding on how he fell for my puppy face, I always win for that, hehehe... "Other groups follow me!" I led them, minutes the DW characters to another room.
"Living room will station Collaboration!" I said. TheY nodded and stayed there before the other 2 groups followed me to the dining room which consist a big brown and circular table, 5 brown chairs, white walls and ceiling, and a dark red carpet al over the floor, "Group WO stay here! Last Group SW in my room! You guys go ahead, I'll look for cooking books!" I skipped away to the kitchen and collected a couple of different books but the same cover. Dark red with green stripes and a small mistletoe on top, "Right then, time to distribute the books" I said to myself as I each gave one to them. I gave Part 1 of "Christmas Luxury" to the nearest group, which is the WO.
"Here you go, good luck to all!" I said as I headed back to the living room to give the Collab team. I heard a small grunt which was easily identified as Orochi's, "And Part 2 to you" Sophitia smiled before saying, "Thank you" and grabbed the book. I heard Sterk sighed quietly while Rachel was playing with her massive axe, 'How the hell could she lift that thing up!?'
I went up to the guest room and handed Zhao Yun Part 3, "Cloud, can you cook?" I asked him, using his new nickname I made. Yun in Mandarin means cloud so I called him Cloud, that name reminded me about Cloud Strife though... Oh well, "Yes, I can. I'm more worried about Cao Pi, since he's kind of... Spoiled, y'know?" I could only nod before we heard a yell, "I heard that!" We could only laugh at him, what? The cold, cruel, calculating Prince of Wei couldn't cook at all! Of course we would laugh!
I headed to my room to give the last of the books to the SW book, "Yuki! Here's the- wah! Don't look at them!" I yelled after I saw him read one of my favorite books, dounjins actually. My secret pleasure is no longer a secret! The rest of the SW gang was either surprised or doing their own stuff until I grabbed the book from him. Yukimura could only stare in shock at me, before saying, "... At least, it's not about me..." , "What about you?" Asked Nobuyuki, before he could respond he shuts his mouth again, "To put it bluntly... She's a yaoi-fangirl..."
Motochika's string snapped, Ginchiyo coughed, Ina's bow snapped too and Nobuyuki's eyes widened. Yep... My secret pleasure has been exposed, "Thankfully, there's only one shipping here" Yukimura tried to lighten the mood, oh poor Yuki. His brother could only stare at him, "Really, Yuki-chan? Really?" He looked at me with his eyes
"There are more aren't they? These are you favorite couple..." He looked at the books I hid under my bed, man this guy's dangerous. There's on other way around it, "The only reason why you gave the DW group the guest room was so that Zhao Yun wont find out about this little secret. If Ma Chao was here, then they would chase you at the ends of the earth" Yukimura stated. I nodded, man the Sanada brothers are sharp!
"I'm also guessing you have more ships? Narusasu as the fans like to say it?" Ina asked. Well, it was originally Sasunaru but some fans are tired of it so they changed the... "Positions" as they like to say it so yeah, "Yep, there's also one ship in the SW franchise I like" the girls rose their eyebrows while the males were hoping it was not them, but I couldn't read Motochika's expression
"It's me and Mitsuhide" he stated bluntly. I could only cringe while nodding at the same time, I heard Yukimura whispered something to his brother's ear, "It's kinda true though, Lord Motochika spoke in a very... Sexual voice, using poetic words and such to Mitsuhide. Not to mention he even said, 'I will not let go of this hand' to-" , "Ok! That's enough gossiping!" I said before giving them the cook book and said, "Get to work!"
With Orochi's group
"Oi, Orochi? Why don't make yourself useful and help us search up a good meal?" The storm god said to his arch-rial who was brooding in a corner, obviously staying away from a certain fox e hates. He sighed, he had always hated the fox but for now he has no choice but to accept
"Fine, just this once" he said before taking away the cook book from Taigong Wang' hands, "I would personally choose the Porchetta as it is easy to make. Shennong's been arguing for Lemon Squares, Lord Susano'o the Chocolate Cherry Truffle while Tamamo's the Rosemary Foraccia" he had informed the snake of the chosing
Orochi had looked all of their chosing while taking his own opinion about them. Susano'o's choice seemed promising, it was very easy to make until he saw the total cooking time, "Do you even know how long it will take to freeze this thing?" He asked to the god who shrugged, "You guys... Didn't exactly read it, didn't you?" Some of their heads were nodding while others said, "We've read", they were only looking for the easiest level and with a very good picture
"Oh god... You guys are useless" he sighed before reading more. The fox's was just too plain, but the cooking time was within limit. It was also easy to make an it's almost as simple as bread , they only thing he was worrying about was the ingredients. Do they have an all-purpose-flour to make it? Or even active dry yeast? He didn't think so
"The Kitsune's ingredients are just too hard for my taste, I doubt we have the flour to make it" he said to Tamamo who looks disappointed, "Aw... I was really liking forward to making it" she sighed
Orochi continued reading. The fisherman's choice was also promising, but there was 1 ingredient they were missing, "Does the girl have kosher salt in the kitchen?" He wondered, he didn't think it was possible though. She wasn't a cook, she was a gamer so it's impossible to have kosher salt unless you like cooking
He then read the substitutes for the ingredients, most of the cuisine in the cook book used kosher salt. It said it's ok to use normal salt but the amount would be very different from the original. Lastly he read Lemon Squares. It was also easy to make the only thing he was worrying about was, "What the hell's 'lemon zest'?" He asked the chooser. Shennong shrugged
'These idiots weren't very useful...' He thought as he decided to pick his own. He flipped a few pages until he saw the title Roasted Celery Roots and Carrots. He read the ingredients and the instructions, they were findable. He saw a bottle of extra-virgin oil in the kitchen too, the girl was also a gardener.
Her backyard as garden was filled with vegetables, herbs and fruits, she sold or give them to neighbors or family alike. He showed then the recipe, "We'll be making this dish, all of the ingredients could be found in the garden"
With Zhao Yun's Group
"So in short, Cao Pi is picking the Pistachio/Cherry/Chocolate Tart, Lu Lingqi the Garlic/Rosemary Mashed Potatoes, Zhao Yun the Gingerbread Man, Wen Yang the same with Zhao Yun while I choose the same dish as Lu Lingqi. We got a tie for the mashed potatoes and the gingerbread man. Your's are over the time limit I'm afraid" Lu Xun looked at Cao Pi who just shrugged
"I only chose that because of the picture, I don't give a damn about anything else" he said to them. Lu Xun sighed before discussing, "Hm... I think were missing a few items if we were to make the gingerbread cookie. Dark molasses, royal icing and all-purpose flour sadly" he said as he pointed the missing ingredient
"Ah, what a shame. That's what you get when you're stuck in a video game with characters that doesn't know how to cook" Wen Yang said before being interrupted by Zhao Yun, "Hey, not all characters can't cook y'know" he said to his supposed to be reincarnation.
"Mashed potatoes are easier to make and probably the fastest to, the steps are easy, so are the ingredients. It may said Yukon Gold potatoes here but the substitute said you can use any type, even sweet potatoes" Lu Lingqi said as she pointed out the substitute
Zhao Yun looked at it, "Oh right, then I guess were making mashed potatoes then. Right then lets go to the garden to collect the ingredients" he said while wondering, 'How are the other teams are holding up?'
With Samurai in Garden...
"So... What do we need for making the Ice Cream Pudding again?" Yukimura asked to Motochika who was gathering raisins as sultanas near the grape bush, "Lets see... Nobuyuki's gathering dried cherries near the cherry tree, Ina's freezing the cranberries, brown sugar in the kitchen an hat we need now is... Yukimura, can you cut 2 cinnamon sticks about 10 cm long?" He asked to Yukimura who was on the way to the cinnamon tree and used his spear to cut what Motochika ordered
He grabbed the fallen sticks and head towards him, "What else?" Motochika thought about first before saying, "2 gingers, and a nutmeg. Ask Ina to grate the nut" Yukimura nodded before going to the ginger patch an pulled out some ginger, he went to the nutmeg tree and used his spear again to reach a nut which fell on the ground
He went to the kitchen next, "Sister! Can you grate this nut please?" He asked to Ina who was about to leave, "Oh sure" , "Ina, Motochika and I bought the rest of the ingredients from the garden!" Nobuyuki said as he and Motochika carried a bundle of stuff in their hands
"Oh good, the other teams were just about to set their own ingredients. Good timing!" , 'Now all we need to do now is to gather the ingredients from the kitchen'
With Collaboration somewhere near a river...
"Go Sterk! Go Nemea! Go Sterk! Go Nemea!" Cheered the girls as the boys were having trouble reeling their catch, 'Easier said than done!' Thought both of them as they're tried to pull in their. Sterk, who got sick of waiting, used his entire might to pull out the fish. It splashed around before giving up, it's the wrong fish, "Oh great, another wrong one. Where's the salmon for gods sake!? It's another cat fish! Nemea, you better bath the salmon or I might go-" before Sterk could finish his sentence, Nemea finally pulled out a big salmon!
"Finally! We got a salmon! I was getting tired of cheering" said Rachel, "Now lets go back to the garden, we still need some coriander, limes, and baby corn. While on the way, we should look for shiitake mushroom and ask for reduced-salt soy sauce in the village we just passed by for our Salmon Noodle Soup" Sophitia said as they began to walk back. Sterk released his catch in the river before catching up to them, but sensed someone was watching
"Sterk! What's wrong?" Asked Joan from afar, he shook the feeling before catching up to them, 'I'm sure it's nothing, but my instinct said its something else... What is it? The Demon Army perhaps?' , "No, it's nothing. Lets just go back and see what we can find"
Back in the house
I hummed a Christmas song as a search the attic, it was... Messy to be exact. It shouldn't be that hard to find a Christmas tree, right? Haha, WRONG! If your attic wasn't as messy as mine. Finally, I found the tree! Ironically it was behind me, standing high and mighty... Agh! I was always like that! When I tried to find my phone, it turns out to be in my bag (and I worked so hard for it too!)
Ahem... A-anyway, as the warriors were cooking right now I set up the tree. I grabbed onto it and carefully stepped on the stairs to go down, I went to the living room soon after. I took a peek in the kitchen to find chaos was on its way, especially Orochan's group. Some groups were doing really ok like the DW and Collaboration groups the SW group were doing not as bad and not as good so they're pretty ok
Kitchen
"Hey! This doesn't go- Wait, don't use that! It's not in the- Oi! Don't skip the steps, morons! Follow the freaking cookbook!" The Taigong Wang yelled as Susano'o, Shennong and Orochi facepalmed, 'Wow... Never thought cooking could be so destructive...' Thought the fallen dragon
Meanwhile with the DW group...
"So how to we mash the potatoes?" Cao Pi asked as he stared at the hot and peeled potatoes, Lu Lingqi then suggested, "We should cut them first before smashing them with this thing, we have to be fast though. Cooled potatoes are harder than hot potatoes" she said as she took out the smashing utensil
"Yes that would suffice, Wen Yang, help me cut them and Lu Xun can smash them" Wen Yang nodded as he helped Zhao Yun cuts the potatoes. Lu Xun took the sliced vegetable and smashed it using the utensil
Collaboration...
"Nemea, darling. Could you skin the fish please? And Sterk, my boy. Chop these vegetable please?" both males nodded as they did what they were told. Rachel and Joan were cooking the noodles as Sophitia herself was helping the boys like a true mother she was, 'Might be easier said than done...' thought Nemea as he stared at the fish
Living room
"All done!" I said out loud as everyone finally carried their dishes out. They were in HUGE quantities, almost more than enough to feed all of us! The only good that looked disgusting was Orochan's group, DW and Collaboration was like straight out of the cookbook and the SW? Homemade, which caused me to be a little sad. I'm perry much stuck here until the game is finished, I think... Or at least that's what they said, but did they know a way to contact the real world?
They set up the table with plates, drinks, glasses, wines (I only collected them, but never drank them. They're still new like a couple of months ago so still safe to drink). Someone's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "Is something wrong?" Asked Sophitia to me, I shook my head
"Not really. I'm just wondering how the people back at home are doing. I kinda miss my friends and family back in Earth, but life here's also fun! I'm glad I can spend Christmas with you all!" I said with a smile. They all returned my smile with their own. They really are kind people, they're like a second family to me even if I'm stuck in a foreign world
"Wow! Everyone made their foods, and they looks good!" I said. I took a spoonful of it as placed it on my plate. I then took a bite at the mashed potatoes. It tasted... So soft! Not just soft, it tasted perfect! Just like the the one I had in Paris! "Wow! So tasty!" I said as I took a piece of everyone's cooking to one plate, even Orochan's group.
My hand kinda shook as I tried to took a bite at their cooking. It kinda looked like dried celery and carrots, like they're over cooked. They even emitted this weird aura that I can see. Some of them looked worried as I took a bite of it, "Holy shit! It taste-" , "Horrible?" , "Disgusting?" , "Tasteless?" Some characters said as the WO group glared at them, "Delicious!" I said as I took some more.
Most characters looked at me weirdly before picking up a plate and took the foo of team WO's, "No way..." , "Wow!" , "You have got to be kidding me!" I heard some them talked. Orochi just "hmphed", "Of course, they're good. Orochi's been correcting it over and over again until it's doesn't taste as bad" Taigong Wang explained as Shennong continued
"Not to mention poisoned by Tamamo" the snake and fox glared at them as they silently are their own food, "Everyone's cooking really is good!" Sophitia happily said as she took a bite of team SW food, "But who's your favorite? Isn't this supposed to be a contest to test our cooking skills?" Sterk asked as he drank a glass of water
I looked at the food on my plate, the mashed potatoes were really good but the noodles that the Collab team made was really delicious. Orochan's group was also good, the SW pudding was really sweet for my taste buds. I was really having a hard time picking
"Hm... It's a hard decision. Everyone's food was really delicious, but I think I'll pick the SW's Cream Pudding! The texture is really soft just like a the pudding I can find in Harvest, it's also sweet by terra also this creamy taste in it so team SW wins!" I declared as Team SW cheered
"Way to go, SW team!" Zhao Yun said as we all clapped for them, "Never though we would win, but that was fun. We should do this more often" Nobuyuki said as some of the warriors nodded in agreement, "Yeah! Now that that's done-" I looked at the Christmas tree before looking back at them, "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!" For the rest of the day, we played and sang Christmas songs over and over again
I maybe far away from my family and friends, but spending time with my warriors (or more precisely, Koei's wariors but they're mine in this world) was really fun and I actually wished I can be stuck inside here for the rest of my life. I know that's impossible as after the real Orochi is defeated, I would return back to my world alongside the others... But I'll keep the memories close to my heart
The End
Yeah, I wanted to do a Christmas special but somehow I'm 2 months late... -_-" anyway here's chapter 3, enjoy :)