As the rebel group continued to make their way north towards Rebun Island, the first thing they had to do was get more student chefs on their side. As good as they were, and as much confidence as Joichiro, Gin, and Senzaemon had in them, facing the Council of Ten with just the five of them was certainly not going to be enough. As the terms of the regimental food war stated that each team could gather as many team members as they wanted, it was almost a certainty that they would come in with more than the six members they confronted at the train station.

The first few recruits were relatively easy. Soma contacted both Isshiki and Kuga first, with Isshiki agreeing immediately, as he had been in on the plan from the beginning. Kuga had been given the rundown on everything from Isshiki, and he was raring to get some payback against Central, so he was in, too. Daniel, meanwhile, got in contact with Mimasaka, who also agreed to join the rebel team, saying that he still owed Daniel for everything he had done for him. Although Daniel really felt he hadn't done that much, he was nonetheless grateful to Mimasaka for agreeing to join them.

Feeling even better about their chances, Soma wanted to recruit one more big gun for the team – the biggest one they could get, as it turned out – Tosuke Megishima, a third year and former third seat of the Council of Ten, who had been kicked off the council for not going along with Azami's plans. While everyone else agreed that this would be a huge get for them, Erina tried to warn them about how difficult recruiting him would be. However, Soma, in his usual impulsiveness, immediately tried to call Tosuke while ignoring Erina's plea to handle the situation delicately. When Soma asked Tosuke to join them, he got an immediate, "No way," from Tosuke as he hung up.

Undeterred and determined to get Tosuke on their team, Soma decided to have the train make a pit stop near Tosuke's hometown, where he was currently rallying the various ramen restaurant owners together to fight off Azami's demands that they make their ramen a certain way or face ruin. When Soma arrived at Tosuke's family restaurant, along with Daniel and Megumi, they were met at first with great hostility from the other ramen shop owners, who were there in solidarity with the one they called, "The Young Master." Daniel immediately put his hands up and exclaimed loudly, "Whoa, there! Easy does it, everyone – we come in peace!"

Tosuke then emerged and convinced his followers to stand down as he discussed the matter with the visitors. Soma immediately went into bravado mode and tried to sell him on the regimental food war by offering his seat on the council back, as well as a sense of payback against the Azami administration. Tosuke wasn't interested. He then revealed that he actually hated food wars. In fact, he despised the entire food war system at Totsuki. When the trio then asked why he came to Totsuki in the first place, if that was the case, Tosuke explained that Totsuki was the best culinary school in Japan. However, it had been nothing but food wars and challenges day after day. Pretty soon, he had won enough of these challenges to earn the third seat on the council. The seat and prestige meant nothing to him. All he wanted to do was to protect his ramen. Megumi and Daniel then tried to plead with him, saying that this was to save what they loved most – their friends and the ability to cook the way they wanted.

When Tosuke still refused, Soma then issued a challenge to him – if Soma could best Tosuke in a ramen cookoff, then Tosuke would join their team. Tosuke accepted the challenge, but only, as he said it, "To put this cocky fool in his place." As each of them made a bowl of ramen to present to a panel consisting of the other shop owners, all of them, including Tosuke, were impressed with what Soma created, "But the difference in our skill level is clear," Tosuke commented, as he was awarded a unanimous victory. Despite this, Soma still wouldn't give up and asked for a rematch. This went on for some time, as Soma continued to lose match after match to Tosuke's overpowering ramen. At one point, one of the other shop owners asked Daniel and Megumi, "What is he, crazy?" Daniel sweat dropped as he replied, "He means well, but yeah, he kinda is crazy."

As Soma began to tire out, though he still wouldn't give up, he commented about how there were so many different cuisines and dishes he wanted to try and to recreate in his own way – and that this was the world of cooking he was seeking to protect. This seemed to resonate with Tosuke, as it appeared that Soma had completely lost the challenge a few minutes later when he collapsed, causing Megumi and Daniel to rush to his side to see if he was okay. Tosuke then took off his bandana and conceded defeat, stating that Soma had never given up on the challenge and had greatly impressed him. He did make one request of them – that they would promise to protect the ramen industry and allow them to operate like they had been if they won – something that the trio immediately agreed to. "In that case," Tosuke said, "I will give everything I have towards victory in this regimental food war."

As the rebels continued to make their way north, the other big thing they had to do was to train themselves and improve their cooking skills so that they would be able to match up against the members of the Council. For that, each rebel chef on the train was provided a cooking mentor to pair up with. Soma would, of course, be paired up with Joichiro, and Erina would be paired with Senzaemon, while Takumi would be paired with Gin. As for Daniel and Megumi, Senzaemon was able to bring in two high-level Totsuki alums to work with each of them, having picked them up while Soma, Daniel, and Megumi were out on their mission to recruit Tosuke.

The first chef who came through the door was chef Fuyumi Mizuhara, who would be mentoring Daniel. Daniel pumped his fists, excited to be working with chef Mizuhara, until she grinned and stated, "Don't get too excited – I'm going to push you harder than you ever thought possible." The second chef, however, was a less reassuring presence. For Megumi, Senzaemon had decided (with Gin's encouragement) to bring in chef Kojiro Shinomiya, who greeted Megumi by once again calling her a dunce. At this, Daniel's eyes widened in great concern, as he turned to chef Mizuhara and whispered, "What is master Senzaemon thinking? He's the absolute worst person to pair with Megumi – she's terrified of him. I mean, wouldn't chef Inui had been a better person to pick for Megumi?" Mizuhara shrugged as she replied, "It's best not to question master Senzaemon's special wisdom about these things." Daniel was still wary, but decided to let it go for the time being.

As the chefs went off with their mentors to begin training, Daniel was still able to hear what was going on between Megumi and chef Kojiro through the walls of the train cars, cringing every time Kojiro yelled at Megumi. As he did so, Mizuhara said to him, "Just concentrate on your own cooking. Your friend will be just fine – trust me." As Mizuhara continued to instruct Daniel, he did his best to pay attention to what she was saying and what he was doing, but he couldn't help but worry about Megumi's mental state. Some time later, he heard a different sound from the adjacent kitchen – one that surprised Daniel and provided a small sense of relief at the same time. What he heard was Megumi shout something enthusiastically – something along the lines of, "Give me another chance, coach Kojiro! I can do it!" As Daniel's eyes widened in surprise at the turn of events, Mizuhara grinned and stated, "I told you it would be alright. Now, back to it!"

As they were traveling, the rebels also contacted the rest of their friends who had been expelled after the third exam. They, too, were traveling north to see the regimental food war at Rebun Island. The normal procedure would have taken all of them back to Totsuki to gather their things and process the paperwork for their expulsion. However, Alice had thrown such a tantrum at the Totsuki officials after her loss that she was able to convince them to at least allow them to travel by bus and ferry to Rebun Island to witness the regimental battle take place. As he chuckled and shook his head at hearing the story, Daniel couldn't help but think, 'That's Alice in a nutshell.' The rest of their friends were very despondent, but otherwise alright. They were also grateful to the remaining rebels for getting past the third exam and setting up the food war – giving them at least a little bit of hope that their Totsuki tenures could be saved.

Over the next few weeks, the remaining rebels continued to train hard with their mentors. They were right – it was harder and more grueling than anything they had ever previously experienced. It was even harder than Erina's lessons back at Polar Star dorm. However, by the time they reached the northwest coast of Hokkaido, their cooking skills and knowledge had been sharpened considerably, and they felt more confident than ever that they could take on everything Central was sure to throw at them in this food war. At the end of the train line, they met up with their remaining teammates, who asked how the intense training went, knowing exactly what the other five were going through on their train trip.

As they traveled by ferry on the last leg of their journey to Rebun Island, they reflected on all of their hard work, and everything they had been through to get to that point. They all expressed confidence that they were as prepared as possible, plus the fact that they had some very reliable allies on their side. When they arrived, they were led to an annex kitchen with a couple of attached dressing rooms (one for boys and one for girls), where they all changed into their chosen chef's outfits. When they came out, Erina had yellow armbands ready for all of them to represent their solidarity with each other during the regimental food war.

As they were led to the entrance to the main arena, they could hear Urara (who was once again serving as the emcee) introduce the team representing Central as they came out of the hallway first, leading the crowd in a rousing, "Central!" cheer. Before the rebels were introduced, Daniel asked Erina if he could say a few words of encouragement, despite the fact that Erina was supposed to be the team captain. Erina nodded and Daniel began to speak, "Alright everyone, this is it. Now most everyone out there may think that the members of the Ten are cooking gods and invincible, but we know better. We know that they're human like us, and can be beaten on any given day. We've worked too hard and come too far to give in to the hype. Now, let's show them what real cooking is about!" This fired everyone up as Urara announced the entrance of the rebel team.

As the rebels came into view of the spectators, the crowd gasped as they saw who was on the team – not just former Ten members Isshiki, Kuga, and Megishima, but also Mimasaka. The biggest surprise to the crowd (outside the rebels' supporters) was that Erina was leading them – going against the Council and her own father. As Daniel looked around, he saw that their friends, while at stage level on their sideline, had all been locked in a giant cage. He turned to the Central team and asked as he pointed to it, "Seriously!? Was that really necessary!?" Rindo just shrugged and said it was by order of director Azami. Daniel sighed as he thought, 'Of course he would do something like this. He really is an a-hole.'

As he took a closer look at Central's team, Daniel noticed not only that he was right in that they would have more members for their team for the competition, but also that the two teams had the same number of team members as each other. Both teams had nine members each, with Central being represented by not only the six long-term members they had confronted at the train station, but two new members of the Council – the new fifth seat, Shoko Kaburagi, and the new eighth seat, Julio Shiratsu – both of whom were second years. In addition, they had brought in Rentaro Kusunoki as an extra team member, with the promise of a Council seat if he performed well.

Erina and Azami then met at center stage to determine the exact format – which they negotiated to three-on-three for each round. With this part settled, Erina went back to her team while Azami went off to the VIP area of the stands to watch. A few minutes later, the combatants for the first session were chosen. Shoko, Julio, and Nene were chosen to represent Central, and would face off against Tosuke, Isshiki, and Takumi, respectively for their individual cards. With the different matchups now set, the last thing that needed to be decided was the theme for each matchup.

To determine the themes, Urara unveiled a machine with dozens of slips of paper flying around in it, each with an ingredient or general dish written on it. One person from each matchup would reach their hand inside the machine and grab a slip of paper at random, with the theme being whatever they drew. Nene insisted on Takumi being the one to draw for their matchup to show that she was being absolutely fair, which Takumi accepted with a bow and a "Grazie." When he reached in and took a slip of paper, what Takumi drew was Noodles. This was met with a mixed reaction from the audience, as this tied directly to Nene's ultimate specialty of soba noodles, but also played to Takumi's Italian roots very well. Isshiki was next to draw, and he ended up choosing Eel as the theme for his matchup with Julio, which also played to both of their strengths – Julio for Italian cuisine and Isshiki for Japanese. Once Tosuke drew the theme for his matchup with Shoko, the regimental food war was set to get underway.

So now we're about to begin the Regimental Food War Arc. I know that I've changed the rebel lineup a bit by having Takumi go in the first session instead of Soma, but I've done the math, and this is the best way for the sequence to work out for the last round as I plan to write it – trust me, it will turn out great! Also, since there are now nine rebels, I needed nine Central members for their team, and Rentaro was the best Central character I could think of to bring in (even though he lost to Ryo in the earlier food war). I hope you have enjoyed the story so far and that you continue to read as I post more chapters!