Total Pokémon: Maelstrom

by Dark Arcanine 33

Anticipating the backlash from his 'reboot' trilogy, Victini decides that the franchise needs a few seasons that will cushion the blow. And who better to host them than some the most respectable and responsible Legendary Pokémon in Hall of Origins? Who will be the last male standing and win the 1 million Poke? Tune in to find out.

5. We're Cooked

000

With Travis out of the game, Stain was completely alone. Well, not that it would have been any different if the Electivire had stayed, but he had been his closest ally up to that point.

"Stupid, lousy faggot brigade," Stain grumbled to himself. "That's what he gets, though… Betray an alpha, and you get dealt with accordingly."

The Muk thought over his current situation. He was on a team composed of people he completely despised, and the feeling was definitely mutual. The only thing that could save him, if push came to shove, was finding the immunity idol. It was his free ticket further into the game.

He had managed to steal the clue from Steve after bumping into him, trying to get back to the cabin first. He'd been going over the clue for the past couple of days, trying to figure it out, but had no luck.

"This stupid rhyme makes no sense…" he groused. "Sitting on a royal throne, although it makes you want to groan, the treasure you seek, the havoc it'll reek, or maybe you'll be left alone," he read once again.

What throne? Why did they spell 'wreak' wrong? Why would he want to groan if he found it? None of this made a lick of sense to him.

So, as much as he hated it, he felt like he was going to need help. Was he actually going to ask for it, though? Of course not. He was the ultimate alpha male there, after all. He didn't need to ask for help.

He huffed, mumbling to himself, "These pathetic bozos wouldn't help me even if their lives depended on it, anyway…"

And he was correct. The guys hadn't really engaged with him at all since Travis' elimination. Why would they want to? Even though a few of them correctly assumed that he had stolen the immunity clue, hearing his mouth was not something that they wanted to deal with. So, he didn't really have any opposition currently, which was both beneficial, and pathetic.

Despite having the clue for the past couple of days, the Sludge Pokémon hadn't made any kind of attempt to actively search for it. It was mainly due to general laziness, but also because he didn't want to just wander around aimlessly, not knowing what the clues meant.

However, with a challenge due either that day or tomorrow, he decided to bite the bullet and actually leave his room in order to look for it. With a groan, he slid off of his bed, "So stupid…"

000

"This clue is fucking idiotic. It probably was written by that uppity bimbo…" he grumbled. "Knowing how predictable all these shitty shows are, though, I'll probably just have to look at the 'main buildings' or whatever."

"There's nothing else of value on this stupid island of betas…"

000

In the living room, all of the other guys, aside from Rane and Steve, were actually watching a different competition show. Roy had suggested that maybe they should watch them in order to see what other possible challenges they would be in for. Not only that, but it would actually give him more knowledge of how these shows can go.

At the moment, they were watching a show hosted by an Armarouge and a Bidoof.

"Wait, wait… I think that's Travis' cousin," Roy pointed out, seeing a Rhydon appear on the screen.

"His cousin?" Lee scoffed, unenthused. While he accepted Travis' apology, he was still relatively bitter over the Electivire's general attitude towards him. And knowing how families like his were, he couldn't help but feel irritated. "Probably where he got it from…" he mumbled.

Nick pointed out, "Wait, a lot of these shows take place in different universes. How do we know that's his cousin?"

"I dunno. He just told me had a second cousin who was a Rhydon that worked on one of these shows," Roy explained with a shrug, his eyes focused on the television. "It's kinda cool."

"Well, given multiverse theory, or… confirmation, that probably is Travis' cousin, but just from that universe," Simen explained. "There's likely versions of us in all of these different shows' universes doing stuff. It's really interesting to think about, and why this kinda technology is so cool."

KG, who was still playing on a handheld, spoke up with a chuckle, "Amigo, the fact that you know so much about this kinda stuff is both cool and scary…"

"Well, when you don't have too many friends and spend most of your time in the library… That's what happens," he chuckled awkwardly. He honestly felt a bit insecure about that fact, having felt like an outcast for a good chunk of his life.

"Hey dude, we're all misfits here," Nick chirped, rubbing his icy head. "Ain't nothing wrong with you chilling in your own little spot."

"Yeah. It can be lonely, sometimes, though," Simen sighed, looking at the floor.

"Well, now you don't have to worry about that," Lee assured him with a friendly nudge. He could understand the feeling of loneliness, as that was how he felt up until middle school.

"Y'know… I kinda wish we didn't have to compete on these kinds of shows," Roy expressed. "Like, imagine if we could all just chill together and not really worry about possible injury or anything…"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that'd just be a vacation at that point, amigo…" KG pointed out, still focused on his game.

"Fair…" Roy replied with a shrug.

Lee huffed, "At least vacations are enjoyable. Meanwhile, we're all still stuck with you-know-what until we can do something about it."

"You mean him?" Nick inquired, knowing who he was referring to.

"I know what I said," Lee defended, not caring to acknowledge Stain as an actual being. "With everything that comes out of his mouth, I just liken him to a septic tank. Disgusting and full of shit…"

Just then, the Muk in question slinked past the group of guys in the living room. There was no acknowledgement from either party, as to be expected. Though, seeing that he was leaving the building, a few red flags were raised.

Once he was gone, KG placed his handheld in his lap, asking, "So… We all know that he stole the immunity idol clue, right? Should we follow him?"

"I don't know…" Roy replied with a sigh. "I mean, he's barely left this place aside for food the past few days. And I doubt he'd be lucky enough to find it considering how lazy he can be."

"Little dude says that that kind of thinking is why guys like him make it far in these kinds of games," Nick chimed in. "We can't underestimate him."

Lexico wore a defeated expression. Something seemed to be bothering him, but with Nick being his translator, he couldn't express it.

"So, you think we do need to follow him?" Lee inquired. He knew that Nick had a point, especially given how far Captain, or Dhelmise, got in Alola. However, he just didn't think that Stain had it in him.

"I mean, it's up to you dudes," Nick replied, scooting back on the couch. "He barely acknowledges my existence, so I don't feel too threatened."

"I… don't think anyone is really threatened by Stain," Simen clarified, with Lee nodding in agreement. "It's moreso… We all acknowledge that his presence is a blight on our experience here, so we want him gone as soon as possible."

"Bad," Tate spoke up.

"Yeah, that's the simple way of putting it," Simen replied.

"So… are we doing something or not?" KG inquired. Despite spending the past couple of days with the others on his new team, he still didn't fully trust them. Something just felt… off about Nick and Lexico, Roy was still Roy, Stain was Stain, and he barely engaged with Steve. So, with Stain having a possibility of getting immunity, he was ready to get active! He just… needed someone else with him…

"I… say we hold off for the time being," Roy suggested, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, sure there's a chance that he could find it, but at the same time… this is Stain we're talking about."

Nick shrugged his shoulders, while Lexico gained an exasperated look. Hearing this, KG let out a sigh before begrudgingly getting back to his game. He should've expected that, though. After all, aside from maybe Lexico, he was the weakest one on the team. And if Stain did find immunity, Roy wouldn't have anything to really worry about since he worked with Stain earlier on.

Noticing their friend's demeanor, Simen and Lee exchanged looks. Despite agreeing with Roy that Stain had no shot at finding the immunity idol, Lee got up, "Well… I guess we could just try to look for the idol ourselves."

KG perked up a bit, as Simen chimed in, "I mean, the possible locations that it could be are kinda limited, so… I guess doing a check around the island wouldn't hurt…"

"Alright then, amigos!" KG beamed, hopping off of the couch. "Let's go look for that immunity!"

The Fuecoco started making his way out of the building, with Lee and Simen following suit.

"Okay, well… You guys have fun with that," Roy replied, focusing his attention back on the television. "Hopefully you get it."

Truth be told, he didn't really care about the immunity idol. As long as his team managed to win challenges, he was safe. And even then, as much as he liked them, KG, Nick, and Lexico were much weaker than him, and nobody liked Stain, so he felt that he had a pretty good cushion going forward with this new team.

Tate, watching them go, hummed to himself. He was tempted to join them on their search, but he was very slow, so he would just end up getting left behind.

Nick glanced at Lexico before saying, "Yeah, I think you're right little dude. Them looking for the immunity is just gonna make them look more threatening."

"Pretty much," Roy concurred. "I mean, as long as we win challenges, we won't need some immunity idol."

Tate blinked upon hearing this, surprised and confused by the notion. He understood that Roy was still relatively new to these games, but he should've known by now that having any kind of immunity would be a net positive, regardless of how others felt about it. It wasn't feasible to win every challenge.

000

Tate sighed, "Not a good thought. Dangerous. Never know what the challenge will be."

000

Rane was swimming back and forth across the pond, training himself. He had decided to take a break from the lifting and work on his swimming speed. His team had lost the last challenge, though through no fault of his own, and he wanted to make sure that it didn't happen again.

As he tore through the water, Steve, who had decided to join him, watched him intently. The more things the Golisopod did, the more he reminded the Cannon Pokémon of his own spouse.

Some people claim a 'work husband' or 'work wife' at their jobs. In Steve's case, he would consider Rane his 'game husband'. As much as Rane reminded him of his actual partner, though, Steve would never act or intentionally try anything with the large bug. He was very loyal.

This was causing the Toucannon to feel very… homesick. Being able to just nuzzle up to his husband, feel his large wings around him, and just sit at home and relax with him… He was missing it.

He let out a sigh, just as Rane emerged from the pond. As water dripped from the husky bug's physique, Steve had to catch himself, turning away grumbling.

Noticing that the Toucannon hadn't been giving the same vibe that he usually does, Rane waved a hand in front of Steve's face to get his attention again. Following this, he pointed at his own head before pointing at the Toucannon and nodding questioningly.

Steve had spent enough time with Rane by that point to know what he was trying to say, so he responded, "I'm… I'm alright. Just missing home a bit."

Rane nodded in understanding. He then made a 'big' motion and chortled to himself. Despite his initial annoyance with the sergeant, he'd actually come around to enjoying his company. It felt like he was softening up a bit.

Steve rolled his eyes with a smirk, "Look, Cinder's a big boy, and I take care of him just fine." He took a soft breath, "He… He means a lot to me and… I just wish I could see him for a bit."

Rane pat the Toucannon's back in an attempt to comfort him. He wasn't always the type to show support in this way, but he felt that this was an exception. With another sigh, Steve replied, "I uh… I think I'm gonna head to the Mess Hall for a bit."

Rane nodded in understanding before taking a step back. Steve glanced back at the Golisopod before exhaling softly and taking flight.

With him out of the vicinity, Rane dove back into the water. He felt slightly concerned about Steve, but knew that at the end of the day, he would be fine.

000

Steve took a breath, "Things will be fine. Just gotta think for a bit…"

000

Landing in front of the Mess Hall, the Toucannon slowly entered with a downcast expression.

Taking a seat at the closest table, he sighed as he began thinking about his husband and what he could possibly be doing at that moment. Cinder was definitely a stay-at-home type, so most of the cleaning and cooking was handled by him, while Steve worked as a foreman of a paper mill. Steve chortled to himself, muttering, "Probably on the couch watching that damn Galarian Baking Show he loves so much…"

He took a deep breath, only to cough a bit. A foul odor had begun wafting around the vicinity. Looking around, he noticed that the door to the bathroom was slightly cracked open. Retching, he flew open, kicking the door closed before flying back to his own table.

No sooner than he sat back down, he found himself being accompanied by KG, Lee, and Simen, who were entering the building. Seeing that the Toucannon was there, Lee greeted, "Oh, hey Steve. Didn't expect to see you here…"

"Yeah, usually you're with Rane," Simen added.

Hearing that, Steve exhaled softly, responding, "I just needed some time to myself for a bit. Shit's been… eating at me a bit."

Curious, Lee decided to take a seat across from him, asking, "What's been eating at you?"

Steve grumbled to himself for a moment before answering, "Just… missing home. I'm fine and everything, physically. I'm just… missing my husband."

A small smile formed on Lee's face. Noticing this, Simen bumped KG, getting his attention before gesturing to the exit. The Fire Croc Pokémon was initially confused, but quickly understood as Lee started talking again.

"So, are you… thinking about quitting?" Lee inquired, his smile slowly turning into a frown. Whenever he watched other competition shows, mentions of missing one's spouse usually led to a player quitting.

"Of course not," Steve scoffed, as if offended by the question. "I'm no quitter. I just consider this a… a hiccup."

Relieved, Lee chuckled, "Sure… But, I understand you. I miss my boyfriend every day. I'm so used to waking up with him holding me, making me feel safe." He exhaled softly, "Don't really have that here…"

Steve nodded in understanding, "Yeah, well… I think we'll both be alright. Neither of us are quitters, so whatever they throw at us will be child's play…"

Lee nodded in agreement, a small smile creeping onto his face. He still felt relatively worried as a whole, as nothing was guaranteed in these kinds of competitions, but Steve's encouragement did help him feel better.

000

"As much as I miss Rexy and hate having Stain here, I'm not gonna give up," Lee said with a smile.

000

Returning to the beach, Nick, Lexico, and Tate were immediately greeted by Dale. Given that, as usual, he was the one left out of the social situations, he was interested in what was happening. "Hey guys. Did I miss anything?"

Nick hummed, rubbing his head, "Not entirely… KG convinced Lee and Simen to go after Stain to find the idol since he stole the clue from Steve…"

Dale blinked, confused by the Eiscue's nonchalance. "Uh… That sounds pretty important, if you ask me!" the Wailord responded.

"Well, I don't think anyone's gonna find it, so… I don't think it's that important," Nick responded, steadily approaching the Wailord.

"Nick, if Stain has the clue, then there's always a chance that he could find it," Dale retorted. "As much as we don't like Stain or think he's worth anything, he's still capable. And if Lee, Simen or KG end up getting the clue and finding it, that could be trouble for us!"

Nick took a seat against the Float Whale Pokémon's side, tilting his head sideways to allow Tate to slide off. The Pincurchin concurred, "Agree. Trouble."

Nick looked at Lexico, who simply wore a look of annoyance. Letting out a sigh, he replied, "Well, I don't know, then. All I know is that now that you guys have the numbers, you can vote out either Lee or Simen if you lose again."

"Yeah, that's true, I guess," Dale replied. "We still have to worry about the possibility of them having the idol if they're out looking. Not to mention we'd have to try and talk to Rane, and who knows what he's thinking most of the time?"

"Speaking of that…" Nick began, standing back up. "Little dude had an idea regarding him and Steve…"

Lexico blinked in confusion as Dale inquired, "Uh… what idea?"

"Well, Steve and Rane are really close, right?" Nick asked rhetorically. "Steve is like the brains and has strength behind him, while Rane is just all strength."

"Um… Okay…?" Dale responded, blind to the relevance.

Nick continued, "We could be in trouble if they're together again in the merge. So, maybe, if we lose, we can try to vote out Steve instead of Stain."

Lexico's eye widened in pure bewilderment. What was he doing?!

"WHAT!?" Dale exclaimed, while Tate remained unfazed. "That sounds like a terrible idea!"

"No, no, listen," Nick replied. "I understand where little dude's coming from. So far, we've lost two bigger guys and Martin, and things have slowly been getting better. Nobody cares about Stain, so we can vote him out at any time. This is the chance to try to actually do things that'll benefit us!"

Dale was completely gobsmacked by this idea. He understood it, but at the same time, why would they want to focus on taking down their own numbers instead of the other team's? However, as he truly thought about it, realization struck.

000

"If Lexico and Nick want to take out Steve, who's their strongest guy over there… That means that there's a chance that they'll lose more challenges," Dale began. "And if they keep losing, it'll keep whittling them down, which means that I'll last even longer."

"Ugh… But it still just feels wrong…"

000

Despite it possibly being a good thing for him, Dale sighed, "Uh… I think I'd prefer it if you guys actually went after Stain instead of Steve. I think it'd be better for everyone."

"But Stain's the easy-out," Nick reminded him. "If we get rid of Steve now, we could lose again and then vote out Stain. What'd be wrong with that?"

Hearing that, Dale sighed once again, "Well, nothing but-"

"Alright then," Nick replied. "The plan's in action, little dude!"

Lexico initially had no reaction, but a look of wariness soon formed. Meanwhile, Tate simply shook his head.

000

"Bad idea. Very bad idea," Tate stated. "Danger for them. Does Nick not remember that Steve doesn't like him?"

000

After another half-hour, the players were all called to the Mess Hall. They hadn't been called down for breakfast earlier, so most of them had just eaten whatever they could find in the Sausage Link. This led them to believe that they weren't having a challenge that day.

Boy, were they wrong.

The hosts entered the building, with Reshiram greeting, "Good morning, everyone. We hope all is well…"

"Well, mami, aside from being kinda hungry, I think all is good enough," KG sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head.

Zekrom chuckled, wrapping an arm around Reshiram's back, "Well, that hunger is definitely going to dissipate soon, because today's challenge… is a cooking challenge!"

"Oh, well… Looks like food poisoning's on the menu today, boys," Roy joked, chuckling to himself, even though no one else laughed.

"Pathetic…" Stain mumbled to himself.

Ignoring the joke from Roy, Reshiram explained, "Each team will be required to create a three-course meal that will be judged by myself and Zekrom. The team with the best meals will win immunity."

"Oh, so instead of you feeding us like you're supposed to, you're making us feed you," Stain deadpanned. "So stupid…" he grumbled.

Ignoring the sludge monster's comments, Simen spoke up, "Um… What if some of us can't cook?"

"Well, considering that it's a common idea that most males don't know how to really cook anything, it may very well be a difficult challenge," Zekrom stated. "However, we implore you to just do your best and make use of what you have."

"Ahku will be arriving soon with a food supply truck, and you will be able to grab whatever supplies you need from there," Reshiram added.

"In addition, one team will be using the Mess Hall kitchen, while the other team will cook inside of the Sausage Link," Zekrom expounded. "Both kitchens function the same, but it all comes down to scenery…"

"And since the Mighty Machamps won the last challenge, they will get to pick first," Reshiram stated.

Expressions of annoyance spread across the Conkeldurrs' faces. The opposing team got first pick between a warm, cozy cabin to cook in… or a dingy, smelly wood cabin. Was it even a question which one was being chosen?

"Nice!" Roy fistpumped. "Well, it's ob-"

"We're staying here," Steve stated matter-of-factly.

This answer surprised most of the others, barring Rane, who simply chortled to himself.

"Uh… What, dude?" Nick queried in bewilderment. "We have the chance to be in a warmer, homier place to throw down in the kitchen… and you want us to stay in here where it's just… kinda depressing?"

"Given who all we have on this team, I think it'd be in our best interest if some people-" he began, glaring at Stain. "-didn't get to just sit back comfortably while the rest of us actually work."

Stain rolled his eyes at the Toucannon's statement, finding it pointless, yet predictable.

000

"...The dumb bastard knows that I can still just leave, doesn't he?" Stain stated. "That's a problem with some of these beta boomers, too. They'll gleefully sacrifice their own comfort as long as someone they don't like gets fucked over, too."

"Fucking pathetic…"

000

"But, that's not really fair to the rest of us," Roy chimed in. "It should be a group vote, not just-"

Steve gave the Judo Pokémon a death glare, as if daring him to say another word. Receiving the look, the Throh shrunk in his seat and piped down, folding his arms. Getting this reaction, Steve turned back to the hosts, "As I said, we'll be staying in here…"

000

"I just cannot trust these people," Steve stated. "Stain will just end up fucking something up or abandon us so we do all of the cooking. Roy's comment about food poisoning didn't help his case. Lexico still contributes nothing, KG is still too small, and Nick… Ugh…"

"So yes, I had to take charge and make them get that we're taking this serious. We need to considering what we're up against…"

000

"So, I guess we get the Sausage Link kitchen," Simen chuckled, still in slight disbelief over the other team's choice. Or, well, Steve's choice.

"It'll at least be a bit more cozy…" Lee opined.

Rane silently looked at each of his individual teammates before letting out a long, stress-filled internal sigh. He had a quadruped, a whale on a monitor, a ball, and an urchin. What were they going to do?

The familiar sound of a vehicle horn got everyone's attention, accompanied by the sound of moving tires across the gravelly ground outside.

"Sounds like Ahku has arrived, so we'll leave you all to it," Reshiram declared.

"You guys will have four hours, so use your time wisely and be as efficient as you can," Zekrom added.

With that, the hosting couple exited the Mess Hall, cueing for the guys to begin.

000

All of the males exited the Mess Hall and approached the truck outside. Moving towards the back, Rane threw open the rear doors. A rush of cold air escaped from the doors, revealing an array of different frozen meats, as well as crates and bags full of produce.

"Whoa! That's a lotta food, here," Simen acknowledged, admiring the amount of resources they were given. "This could make choosing what to cook a bit more difficult…"

"We should probably plan out our courses first," Dale suggested, rolling up on his screen. "That way, we'll know exactly what to get and we don't waste too much time out here."

"Hmm… What do you think, Rane?" Lee inquired, turning to the Golisopod, who was simply leaning against the truck with his arms folded.

As he waited for an answer, Steve, Roy and Nick hopped onto the truck and simply started grabbing crates and frozen meat to carry into the Mess Hall. As Nick and Roy hopped off with slabs of meat and crates of assorted fruit, Steve hopped onto a crate filled with an assortment of grain products. Lifting it with his claws as he flew out, he teased, "Might need to get a move on, big boy~. You don't wanna waste time."

Rane rolled his eyes as he watched the Toucannon fly back into the Mess Hall. Simen let out a sigh, "Well, he's right about that… We can't waste time…"

Immediately growing tired of hearing about time, and looking at the other four on his team, Rane let out an internal groan. He hopped into the truck, picking up his own crate of grain products, as well as a crate of vegetables and fruit, which he stacked on top of each other to carry out easily. He hopped out of the truck and adjusted his grip on the crates. He proceeded to head back to the Sausage Link, but stopped and paused for a moment.

Letting out another sigh, he gently put the crates down before walking over and picking up Tate, confusing the others momentarily. He placed the Pincurchin inside of the top crate, which was full of fruits, before hoisting the stack up once again and carrying on to the cabin.

"I guess he knew that Tate would probably be the slowest one back," Dale reasoned. "But I thought we wanted to plan first?"

"At this point, I think we should just plan once we just have some basic supplies in general," Lee stated, climbing onto the truck. "Why don't you guys head back, too, and start figuring some things out?"

"Aye aye, captain," Simen replied, which Lee responded to with a somewhat bashful smile.

The Hisuian Voltorb and Wailord monitor started heading back toward the cabin, leaving Lee to scope out what else the truck had to offer.

000

"I have a bit of experience with cooking thanks to my mom," Lee explained. "She'd usually let me help her cook dinner… even though at times I may have made some mistakes."

"But, that's something at least," the Boltund defended.

000

Having as much food as they were willing to carry off of the truck, the Mighty Machamps began brainstorming what their courses could be.

"Alright, does anyone have any kinda culinary experience?" Steve inquired. He felt like he knew the answer already, but maybe he would be surprised.

The other males exchanged looks before KG spoke up, "Um… does heating up frozen dinners count?"

"...No," Steve responded flatly.

"Oh… Then no," KG sheepishly replied.

The Toucannon let out a soft sigh. "Anyone else?" he asked, looking at the others.

Nobody said anything, much to his chagrin. He had a feeling that would be the case, but he'd still had a bit of hope.

Stain huffed, "What? Does the big bad boomer not have any experience, himself?"

In response, Steve glared at the Muk. The Sludge Pokémon really had no room to talk at all, given he didn't respond when the Toucannon asked in the first place. Eventually, Steve replied, "I use my beak to heat up quick meals when my partner doesn't feel like cooking. So, I-"

"Oh…" Stain interrupted, knowingly. "So you're on the same level as everyone else here, how shocking."

"I know how to cook simple things, ya pile of shit," Steve shot back. "That's better than what you have to offer, which is nothing."

Stain smirked. He retorted, "I mean, I have the same amount of experience as these guys… Are you saying that they offer nothing, too?"

The others were just listening at that point. Steve was the unofficial leader, and none of them had any real cooking experience, so all they could do was wait until the insult flinging stopped.

An unimpressed visage formed on Steve's face as he replied, "You're not slick. You have nothing of value to offer, no matter what. You're a pathetic, petulant blob who'd have been better off if your mother swallowed you."

There was deafening silence as Stain simply tightened his glare at the bird. Taking his silence as a victory, Steve decided to move on, walking towards the oven. "Now, we have three courses to do, and no professional experience," he began. "So, does anyone have any suggestions for dishes?"

Once again, he got no real response. They all simply exchanged glances, leading to Steve sighing again. "Anything? Come on, now. I know we all like eating something non-frozen that doesn't take much effort."

"Um… Is there a cookbook around or something?" Nick inquired, looking around. "I mean, I'm sure we all know how to follow instructions, right?"

Steve gave him a look. As much as he hated to admit it, the Eiscue had a good idea. If they had a cookbook, they likely wouldn't struggle as much. "Well, if we can find one, then that'd be great. For now, though, we need to have some sort of starting point. We only have four hours…"

"Uh… How about grilled cheese?" Roy suggested, picking up a loaf of bread. "I mean, it seems simple enough. It's just bread, cheese, and heat…"

"Oh, and you can do like a spicy marinara sauce to go with it, like an appetizer!" KG beamed.

Steve cocked a brow in intrigue. "Okay… Okay, that's a start," he replied. "We'd probably have to do something more so that it's not just a regular sandwich, though. It can be simple, but not too simple…"

"Little dude says, 'What if we like deep fry them like mozzarella sticks'?" Nick relayed, with Lexico nodding. "That way, it can be our appetizer."

"Alright, so there are some ideas here," Steve commented. He didn't know why it took so long for any of them to make a simple suggestion, but as long as some progress was made, he was happy. "Roy and KG, you two can get started on that."

"On it," Roy replied with a salute, as KG climbed onto the kitchen counter.

"Okay, that's the appetizer handled… Now for the entrée and dessert…" Steve stated, approaching the crates that they'd brought in.

Stain huffed, still glaring at the Toucannon. He already hated this challenge, as he believed that this was where women and 'beta males' belonged, but he also despised Steve and his attitude.

000

"That loser boomer is just a beta fuck masquerading as an alpha," Stain stated. "This cooking shit is only for females and betas, but given my position… I'm stuck here, and I have to be 'good' or else these sensitive pansies will vote me out…"

000

Pulling out a drawer, Lee pulled out a cookbook with his mouth before placing it on the kitchen island. He stood up on his hind legs, placing his paws on the island counter to keep himself stable. Tate and Simen were already on the island as well, while Dale's monitor was on the other side of the island, and Rane was leaning against the fridge.

"Okay, so… Obviously Rane will have to handle majority of the cooking," the Boltund began, glancing at the Golisopod. The Hard Scale Pokémon rolled his eyes with a sigh as Lee continued, "So, I think we should try to find some dishes that will be easy enough so that we don't just overwhelm him with work."

Dale nodded in agreement, "Yeah. It wouldn't be fair to have him do too much. It's not his fault the rest of us can't really offer any physical help."

"Wait a sec…" Simen began, realizing something. He rolled toward the edge of the island before inquiring, "Rane… Do you even know how to cook?"

The Golisopod froze momentarily, not offering a concrete answer.

Lee cocked a brow, "I mean, Simen… We all could cook, we'd just need-"

Simen cut him off, elaborating, "No, no… I mean, does he already know how to cook some things? Like without a cookbook?"

The Boltund blinked before turning to the Golisopod. Given that he never spoke to any of them, none of them had really bothered to ask him anything regarding the challenge. They were just delegating him as the cook based on necessity.

Rane sighed to himself as he rose to his feet, walking toward the island. He slid the cookbook towards himself and, after eyeing the table of contents, started to flip through the pages. He stopped on a picture of potstickers, pointing to it.

"So, you know how to make potstickers?" Lee reasoned.

The Hard Scale Pokémon nodded in response.

"Oh, okay… That's good," Dale replied. "Uh… Anything else?"

Rane walked toward the crates that they brought in and began going through them. Eventually, he picked up a package of steak from one crate, as well as a sack of potatoes from another. One in each hand, he turned around to present them to the rest of his team.

"Potstickers… steak and potatoes…" Simen began listing. He hummed, "Well, it's not like we have many options given our circumstances."

He didn't mind the meal choices thus far, he just thought that having a more cohesive theme around their food would be better. However, given that Rane was the only one with experience, he held in his thoughts.

"Dessert?" Tate inquired.

Hearing that, Rane sighed to himself as he returned to the island and started flipping through the cookbook again. Eventually, he stopped on a pretty average vanilla cake, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey, you're the one in charge for this part," Lee reminded him. "Just let us know what you may need help with, and we'll try to do something."

Rane looked over the other four guys around him before simply nodding in agreement. They may not have the best setup, but he was glad that they were still willing to help. Maybe he'd underestimated them.

Turning back to the potsticker page, Rane pointed to the ingredients and gestured for Lee to head toward their supplies. Understanding him, Lee went over to their crates as Simen rolled up to the book.

"What ingredients do we need?" the Boltund inquired.

Knowing that Rane wasn't going to say anything, Simen looked over the page. "Uh… flour… salt… pork… chives… cabbage… mushrooms…" he listed.

Lee, immediately feeling overwhelmed, turned back toward him, "Can you slow down?"

"Oh, sorry," Simen apologized as Rane started walking toward their supplies as well. He realized that Lee being the only one looking for ingredients wouldn't help them, so he decided to lend a hand.

"Want me to start over?" Simen inquired as Tate crawled toward the book as well.

"Well, I remember you said flour and salt…" Lee responded, nudging a few bags of pasta and bread out of the way.

Dale, watching the others, let out a sigh of disappointment. He wanted to help so badly, but just didn't have the ability to.

000

"This shouldn't be eating at me as much as it does, but… I just wanna be useful," Dale expressed. "I don't want to be just another useless guy who gets dragged along just to be beaten easily…"

"I wish these challenges were more open… Though my size would be a problem, then…" he realized. He sighed once again.

000

The Mighty Machamps managed to find a cookbook in one of the kitchen drawers, so Steve was now trying his feathers at a Hearty Cheeseburger Curry. He was using eight cases of Bean Sausage, and eight bottles of MooMoo Milk.

The rice had already been prepared, so he was doing his best at the stove while simultaneously keeping an eye on his teammates. He was the only one on his side of the kitchen, while everyone else was on the other side. It wasn't his choice, but it was just how things turned out.

As he flipped the sausage patties he had in the pan, he couldn't help but feel paranoid. He kept glancing over at the other five who were all together, and it really seemed like he was a dead bird walking if they lost.

He and Stain had a mutual disdain for each other, and his opinion of Nick was fairly obvious, so those two would probably vote against him. Lexico was connected to Nick, which wasn't good for him, and Roy probably didn't think too positively of him given how abrasive he was towards him regarding how his old team treated Lee, so that was also a potential problem. The only one he had any faith in was KG, but he was only one extra vote.

The Toucannon's thoughts were interrupted by KG shouting, "Uh… Steve! Is it supposed to be smoking like that?!"

Looking down at the pan, the Cannon Pokémon gasped as he saw that he was burning the patties that he had in the pan. He swiftly moved it off of the stove eye, cursing, "Damn it!"

"Ha!" Stain laughed. "Maybe focus on your own shitty task instead of trying to parent us, bozo!" The Muk had felt the Toucannon's eyes on him the entire time, even though he wasn't even doing anything wrong.

"And why don't you try to make yourself useful instead of sitting there and doing nothing!?" Steve shot back, flapping his wings to fan away the smoke.

"What the hell do you want from me?!" Stain exclaimed as he slinked toward the Toucannon, another argument ensuing.

"And… Here we go again…" Roy grumbled, placing a piece of bread on top of a pile of shredded cheese.

"Este argumento no está ayudando…" KG mumbled as he sprinkled parmesan cheese on the top of the ten sandwiches that they'd managed to prepare.

Nick and Lexico, well primarily Nick, were working on the spicy marinara using Tamato Berries and random herbs. "Best to just let them sort it out themselves, dudes…" Nick opined.

KG began spewing flames on each sandwich. He hit the first one, but wound up burning it. He paled for a moment, looking to Roy. The Throh picked up the now charred sandwich and knocked it on the kitchen counter a few times. "Yep… That's donezo…"

He tossed the sandwich to the side, which caused it to land next to Stain, who was coming back over. The Muk devoured the fallen sandwich, complaining, "That tasted like shit…"

"No, duh… It was burnt," Roy deadpanned. He turned back to KG, "Alright, let's try again. Not that intense this time."

KG nodded back before gently blasting the next sandwich with heat, slowly oscillating his head to make sure that it was toasted evenly.

After a few seconds, he stopped, allowing Roy to inspect the top of the sandwich. The top bread was crisp, with a golden brown cover. The cheese was decently melted, but it was still obvious that it needed more time. "Okay… It's a start," Roy opined, flipping the sandwich over. "Now this side…"

While they continued working on their sandwiches, Steve grumbled to himself as he dumped his burnt patties into the trash. He let out a disgruntled sigh, annoyed that his own actions lead to this failure. Despite being as worried as he was, he knew that if he wanted to be successful with his own dish, he would have to trust that his teammates would do well without him watching them.

Taking a deep breath, he muttered, "Okay… That's two patties dead. Luckily, I still have six left…"

He glanced over at his bowl of rice, grumbling, "The rice is probably gonna get cold by the time I actually get this meat done…"

He picked up the bowl and approached the microwave, shoving it inside to keep it somewhat warm in the meantime. Letting out another sigh, he turned his attention back to the pan, which still had burnt residue inside of it. He let out a soft groan, "Mother of Arceus…"

000

"Cinder always cleans the pots and pans when he accidentally burns something so that the burnt taste doesn't end up in the food when he tries again," Steve explained. "It always takes him a while though… Ugh…"

000

As Steve tossed the pan into the sink to try and wash and scrub the burnt residue off of it, Stain rolled his eyes. He glanced at Roy and KG, who were still making progress with the sandwiches; and Nick and Lexico, who were essentially doing nothing now since they'd finished the marinara sauce.

Annoyed and bored, the Muk declared, "Well, if you lot of betas don't want to actually get shit done… I'm just gonna go."

"It's not like we really expected you to stick around in the first place," Steve deadpanned, his eyes focused on the wire scrubber in his claws.

None of the other guys really said anything, actually agreeing with Steve's statement. The Muk never showed any real willingness to try and help anyone in the first place, so their expectations of him were non-existent. With this in mind, Stain grumbled to himself before exiting the kitchen.

000

"Okay, fuck this. Those sensitive betas are gonna try to vote me out regardless, so fine… I'm just gonna do what I want," Stain stated.

000

Rane was currently stirring a bowl of flour, water, and salt with a wooden spoon in order to create the dough for the potstickers. There were a few canisters of pre-made dough inside of the cases already, but the Golisopod seemingly wanted to make it fresh. Rane was stirring as if he'd already had experience, as his eyes were locked on the bowl before him. Dale and Tate were watching him prepare the dough, as there wasn't much they could currently do.

While the Hard Scale Pokémon did this, the other guys worked on the filling. Lee, being the second-most useful, was stirring a bowl full of cooked pork with a steel spoon. He was doing his best, using his paws awkwardly, as Simen pushed the small bowls of seasoning and vegetables towards him.

The Sphere Pokémon glanced over at Rane, who was still very focused on creating the dough that they needed. He leaned closer to Lee, whispering, "So… What are we gonna do about him?"

Lee glanced over at Rane while continuing to stir their filling. "What do you mean?" he questioned.

"He's the strongest guy here," Simen clarified. "We don't want him to make merge do we?"

The Dog Pokémon let out a soft sigh, knowing that his friend had a point. However, given their current standing, he didn't think that it mattered. "Yeah, but we're in the minority here… There's three of them and two of us. Plus, there's no guarantee that he'll be good at every challenge. No one who's ever been on this show has been like that…"

Simen hummed to himself, as Lee made a valid point. There's never been a time where a strong player did well at every challenge. However, there was always a chance that if he won some, one of them would end up in the crosshairs and wind up getting eliminated. "Well, while that is true-"

Lee interrupted, "Plus, with him on our team, we actually stand a chance in these challenges. I mean, neither of us will make the merge if we try to get rid of him early and we end up getting steamrolled."

"...Also true," Simen sighed. He glanced over to Rane and the others, where Rane was placing the dough into a plastic bag. "So… We just leave it alone?"

Lee nodded back. As big of a threat as Rane was, they needed him… for now.

000

"Could we vote for Rane? Yeah, we could. He's a big threat," Lee explained. "But, at the same time, we need to win challenges."

000

Suddenly, the door to the Sausage Link opened, and Stain slinked inside, a look of irritation plastered on his face. "Buncha stupid betas… I'll show them," he grumbled to himself.

"Stain… What the hell are you doing here?" Lee growled. The mere sight of the purple sludge monster made his blood boil at that point.

All eyes went to the Sludge Pokémon, who didn't offer them a response or explanation. He couldn't care less about his own team actually doing well in the challenge. All that mattered to him was that they won, in general, so that he remained safe.

Not knowing how his own team would do, the Muk decided that his best course of action would be to sabotage the opposition. So, without a word, the Sludge Pokémon glanced around their kitchen area before his eyes settled upon their crates of produce.

He slinked towards them and completely covered them with his poisonous body, causing Lee to gasp. "HEY!" Simen exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

Rane wore a blank expression as he watched the Muk contaminate their remaining ingredients. Taking a deep breath, the Golisopod grabbed a salt shaker before sprinkling some of it into one of his hands.

"Uh… Rane, what are you-" Dale began before the Hard Scale Pokémon held up a finger, telling him to hush.

Walking over to Stain, Rane started sprinkling salt into the blob's eyes, causing him to scream out. "Ow! OW! What the hell?!"

With his eyes now irritated, the Golisopod picked up the crates, with Stain still covering them, and tossed him and the crates out of the door. There was no salvaging any of them as far as he was concerned.

Closing the door and locking it, the Golisopod went right back to preparing the dough as if nothing happened. There was a bit of silence following those actions.

Blinking, Lee cleared his throat. "Um… What are we supposed to do now? Stain just ruined our ingredients and you threw them out!"

Rane cocked a brow before opening the fridge, where he'd stored the steaks and potatoes so that they wouldn't just be out and exposed. Aside from them, the fridge also already had eggs and milk, which they could use for their cake. As the Golisopod gestured to this, Lee blew out a breath, "Well, nevermind then."

"Do you think they sent Stain over here to sabotage us?" Simen inquired. He didn't fully believe that the others would, but it was always a possibility.

"No," Tate replied flatly.

"Yeah, I'm with Tate," Dale spoke up. "I doubt any of them would sick Stain on us, and even if they did, would he actually agree to it?"

"So, what? He just decided to come and sabotage us on his own?" Lee inquired, going back to stirring the filling. He then paused momentarily before sighing, "Y'know what… I can believe it…"

"Yeah," Dale replied. "I mean, he hates everyone, so he probably came back to avoid doing the challenge, and just saw an easy way to screw with us."

"Yeah, well now he's locked out," Simen replied, "so, he can try to avoid the challenge somewhere else. Now, let's get these potstickers started and get on to the steak. It's probably gonna take a while."

000

"...I respect it," Stain groaned while rubbing his eyes.

000

With his eyes still irritated from the salt, the Muk slinked his way towards the beach. He didn't feel like dealing with his own team, and the opposing team had a brick wall protecting them, so for him, his best course of action was to be alone.

It's not like he wasn't used to it, anyway. The blob of filth hardly had any friends growing up. This was back before he even had all his current 'opinions'. No matter what he did, he always found himself isolated. Whether it be because of his stench, his overzealousness, or just general unpopularity, friends were a rarity for him.

"Who needs these weak, pathetic bozos anyway?" Stain muttered as he approached the water. He splashed his face with the water, attempting to ease the painful sensation he still felt in his eyes.

He could feel the water taking the edge off, allowing him to take a breath. "Fuck's sake, these guys are losers…" he muttered. "I'm winning this stupid show, whether they like it or not…"

Despite how poorly he treated his fellow contestants, resulting in their immense hatred of him, the Muk still believed that he had a legitimate chance to win. Shocking, but not surprising.

As he lay on the beach, soaking up the Sun's rays as the water crashed into him, he began thinking about his current placement. Of course, he was the lowest on the totem pole. However… He could easily use that to his advantage. It was proven with the first vote that if the others are riled up enough, they'll just keep him around because he'd be an 'easy vote'.

Splashing himself with water again, he muttered, "Those lame betas shoulda got rid of me the first day, but they were too intimidated by my alpha status. Now, they're gonna regret it… I'm gonna make sure of it."

000

Dale, who had been nearby in the water, blinked. "Um… Okay, that doesn't sound too good for them."

000

"Okay… That seems good enough," Steve commented, looking over the finely scrubbed pan in his claws. He'd spent the past twenty minutes scrubbing the pan in order to get all of the burnt residue out of it, even thought it wasn't needed.

By that time, Roy and KG had finished up all of their sandwiches, with Roy slicing each of them in half. In the meantime, Nick and Lexico had been creating the batter for them to dip the sandwich halves into before deep frying them.

"Did you really have to spend that long cleaning the pan?" Nick inquired.

Steve countered with a glare, "Do you want the damn food to taste burnt despite being fine?"

"I mean, no, but… I just don't think chefs clean every pan they have completely while cooking multiple orders," Nick explained.

"Well, I'm following my partner's example, so focus on your own dish," Steve snapped back. The Toucannon was already stressed about this challenge, so having Nick try and question his methods really rubbed him the wrong way. As if he needed another reason to despise the Eiscue.

As Steve started working on the meat once again, Nick gestured to him accusingly. "We really can't say or do anything, can we?" he asked in a whisper.

KG shrugged as he fiddled with a miniature deep-fryer, trying to prep it for the grilled cheesesticks. Steve's attitude didn't really bother him, as he felt that he was a genuinely cool guy. He just had that military background that made him a lot more brash.

000

"I have a couple of family members like Steve, where they're strict, they yell, and they have an aggressive tone, but are still good Pokémon," KG explained. "So, Steve doesn't really bother me much."

"Plus, he's chill with Lee, so he's likely to be chill with me," the Fuecoco chortled.

000

"I don't think the team will be able to function like this if we decide to keep him around, dudes," Nick whispered. "I mean, sure, Stain is a pain in the butt, but at least we know what to expect from him."

KG eyed the Eiscue skeptically upon hearing that. Surely, he wasn't proposing what he thought he was proposing. "Amigo, have you gone loco? Steve is probably the strongest one on the team. Why would we want to eliminate him?"

"I mean, Nick does have a bit of a point," Roy chimed in, glancing over at Steve, who was still trying to get the sausage patties correct. "Steve is kinda hot-headed, and his attitude towards Nick doesn't really help anything, either," he commented. He hadn't completely forgotten how the Cannon Pokémon treated him before, either.

"And Stain's does?" KG countered flatly. "He's not even here trying to help us, nor was he really going to!"

"Yes… but we expect that, bro," Nick replied. He then glanced at Lexico for a few seconds before adding, "And yeah, like little dude says: at least Stain hates us all equally. I don't even know what I did to get on that guy's bad side."

Lexico gave Nick a look once again, but rolled his eye.

"Yeah, having a teammate that just hates everyone equally is better than having one that has a hate boner specifically for someone else," Roy agreed.

KG couldn't believe what he was hearing. Were they all being serious about this? Steve was literally helping them and putting forth effort in the challenges, while Stain just went rogue and belittled them at any given opportunity. And they were saying that they prefer Stain?

"DAMN IT!" they suddenly heard, startling them. They looked over and saw that Steve was once again dumping his patties into the trash.

"Wait, what happened?" KG inquired. "Nothing was smoking and the patties actually smelled nice."

"They got stuck to the pan and got burnt on the bottom," Steve explained with an exasperated sigh. "I forgot to grease the damn pan, again…" he mumbled to himself.

"Well… Maybe you should try something else instead, then?" Roy suggested. "If you've burnt the patties for the curry twice, then-"

"I'm not a quitter!" Steve shot back with a glare. It was always instilled in him to never give up until he had absolutely nothing left in the tank. This was cooking, something that wasn't even that physical! "Why the hell is this so damn difficult?" he asked himself, "I never have this much trouble at home, even without Cinder's help!"

"No one's saying that you are, dude," Nick defended. "We're just saying that if we waste all of our time on something that's obviously not working out, we'll run out of time! Heck, we're lucky that we're getting the cheesesticks done."

While he said this, Roy dropped the now batter-covered sandwich strips into the oil in the deep-fryer. They had no idea how long they needed to cook them for, but they had multiple sandwiches for a reason. Trial-and-error would be their judge.

Grabbing the cookbook, Nick flipped through the pages until he settled on something he thought would be simple, "So how about we try to do some Cheeseburger Macaroni instead? It's just macaroni with ground beef. Simple. We can still use the bean sausage and milk."

Steve initially didn't respond, choosing instead to just glare at the Penguin Pokémon. The fact that Nick was suggesting that he quit trying to cook the curry was one thing, but it felt downright insulting that he was essentially saying that he was better off just melting cheese and boiling noodles instead. He wanted to curse him out; to yell at him; to tell him to stop talking.

At that point, though, it was pointless. As he looked around and saw the looks on the others' faces, it was obvious that nobody else saw the Eiscue the same way that the Toucannon did. To him, Nick just wore a calm, chill, and goofy ice mask so that people wouldn't feel threatened by him. So, any kind of outburst or disagreement he had with him would just paint a bigger target on his own back.

Plus, despite his hatred of him… the Penguin Pokémon had a decent point. They had a little over two hours remaining, and who knew how long it would take for him to prepare the Hearty Cheeseburger Curry in a state that he, and the hosts, would be satisfied with? He had two more chances, and there was a possibility that they'd have to redo the rice as well so that it's truly fresh.

He took a deep breath, calming himself down before he said something he would regret.

000

"You know what…? Fine," Steve stated, sounding defeated.

000

"So, you were adopted?" Dale inquired. "Huh, that's nice. Glad that somebody decided to take care of you."

The guys on the Conkeldurrs had decided to spend their remaining time getting to know each other while preparing their dishes. While on the discussion of their upbringings, Lee'd mentioned that he was adopted, but didn't disclose anything specific about his family.

While watching over the potstickers, which were now being steamed in a skillet, the Boltund let out a sigh. "Yeah… and I'm not gonna lie, I've been tempted to try to find my birth parents just so I can ask why they decided to give me up," he explained. "But… actually thinking about it, now…. I think I'm better off not knowing."

"I'd say so, too," Simen concurred. "If they didn't want you then, there's a chance that them seeing that you're living a pretty decent life without them may cause them to be annoyed. Especially if their lives aren't all that better."

Lee's ears flattened upon hearing that. The idea that his birth parents not only decided that they didn't want him, but also would hate the fact that he's doing better without them, was a pretty sour one.

Seeing the Boltund's expression, Dale immediately offered another perspective. "I mean, I think there's a higher chance that they'll be happy for you, too," the Wailord stated. "Sometimes parents who put their kids up for adoption know that they'll be better off without them."

Lee didn't respond, turning his attention back to the potstickers. Simen sweatdropped, having not meant to upset the Boltund. "Sorry Lee, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Lee interrupted. "Can we just… move on to something else?"

He didn't really feel like conversing about the topic further. He knew that Simen didn't mean any harm, but he just wanted to drop it. Soon enough, Dale piped up with a new question.

"Okay, well… Uh… Why did you guys decide to sign up for the show?" the Wailord inquired. "I kinda grew up with low self-esteem, but I always liked watching these kinds of shows. Well, mainly the ones that didn't give Martin wet dreams. I said that one day I was gonna apply, even though my family kept saying that it was pointless and that I wouldn't last long because of my size. But, I did anyway, and then after a while… Here I am."

"Wow… Wait, so your parents didn't support you?" Simen inquired.

"Not really, no," Dale answered with a sigh. "We're Wailord, and my folks are pretty older, so they have it made up in their minds that there's no point in us trying to do anything 'fancy' since we're too big to do anything besides act like boats for these shows."

"Negative," Tate opined.

"Yeah, that's a really pessimistic way to view life," Lee chimed in. "Just because you guys are big doesn't mean you can't do anything. I mean, I'm pretty sure there's all kinds of accommodating places and activities that you all can experience these days."

"I know that, but like I said, my folks are older, so they're pretty set in their beliefs…" Dale replied with a sigh, "...but, I've managed to prove them wrong so far. I got on a show and I wasn't the first one voted out. That's a win in my book."

"Well, I mainly signed up because I wanted to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone," Simen explained. "I've watched these shows and seen how often people somehow end up forming lifelong relationships and bonds, and I thought… Well, I need some friends, so maybe I should try."

Suddenly, Rane, who'd been silently listening while sitting in front of the fridge, rose up and started heading toward the stove. He removed the pot lid from the top of the potstickers, allowing the smell to waft through the air.

"Whoa… That smells amazing," Lee commented as he watched the Golisopod turn off the eye that was under the skillet. He then turned his attention to the still-boiling potatoes, stirring the pot with a wooden spoon for a bit before sticking one of his claws into the boiling pot.

He left it inside for a bit, swirling it around before pulling it back out with no reaction. He reached into the cabinets to grab a plate.

As he did this, everyone watched him in astonishment and slight fear.

000

"Uh… Alright, sorta reconsidering keeping him, but…" Lee sighed. "We still need to win…"

000

"Uh, so how about you, Lee? What made you wanna sign up?" Dale asked, getting back on track with their conversation.

"Hey, Tate hasn't spoken that much," Lee deflected, gesturing to the Pincurchin. "I think we should let him answer before I do. We at least know that he can talk."

Hearing that, Rane glanced over to the group momentarily before going back to plating the potstickers. He huffed to himself.

"So, how about it Tate?" Simen prodded. "What made you join?"

Tate blinked. "Yes," he answered.

A few seconds of silence ensued following his answer. They had expected him to elaborate a bit more like they had been doing. Eventually, Dale chuckled, "Now you see why I went to you, Lee."

The Wailord knew that Tate only ever spoke a few words at any given time around them, so he didn't really expect much out of him. However, he still found Lee's gesture courteous.

Lee chuckled to himself before turning around to Rane, who was back at the pot of potatoes, stirring them again. He was tempted to ask if Rane had anything to say, but he felt like it would be better to just leave the Golisopod alone. He didn't want to force him to talk if he wasn't comfortable. Plus, he was close to Steve, so he didn't want to unintentionally upset him.

"Well," the Boltund began. "One of my best friends, Randall, was on that Alola season with Solgaleo and Lunala. So, after he managed to get on, he did really well, so the rest of our friend group decided to apply to other shows to see who could do the best. I was the only one who had heard back, so… Here I am."

"Oh, so it's like a competition within a competition for you," Simen chuckled. "If I remember correctly… In Alola, Randall was the Incineroar, and he got… 5th place, right?"

Lee nodded affirmatively, "Yep… So I've got my work cut out for me if I wanna get that far."

"Yeah. Hopefully we end up winning this challenge, so that your odds are better," Dale chuckled.

000

Nick had decided to take over doing the Cheeseburger Macaroni, despite Steve's insistence of being able to handle it himself. The Eiscue chortled to himself as he stirred the pasta, hearing the sounds that were coming from it. He turned to Lexico, joking, "Hey… Hey, little dude… That's what good pussy sounds like…"

Steve gave the Penguin Pokémon a look of disgust. He wasn't offended by the joke; moreso, it was the fact that he'd grown tired of hearing those kinds of overdone jokes.

Nick glanced over and, upon seeing the look he was getting from Steve, awkwardly looked back at the pot he was stirring, "Uh… right. That's what good… bussy… sounds like?"

Steve's right eye twitched as his beak slowly began to heat up.

000

Lexico wore a look of irritation.

000

Before anything could escalate, Roy announced, "Alright, I think the test cheesesticks are done, guys!"

KG dumped a couple of cheesesticks out of the fry basket and onto a plate covered by a paper towel. Steve let out a breath as he approached, with Nick turning off the eye on the stove so that their macaroni didn't get ruined.

"Well, go ahead and see how they are," Steve urged, unwilling to subject his own taste buds to the double-fried cheesesticks. "We don't have much time left, and we still have to make a dessert."

Roy picked up one of the cheesesticks, dipping it into the sauce made by Lexico and Nick, before taking a bite. A very audible crunch filled the moment of silence as the Throh chewed it up. His unibrow perked up as he tilted his head in interest. "Not bad. Kinda more bready than cheesy, but… It's alright."

KG decided to taste one of the cheesesticks for himself and, like the Throh had said, the breading was definity overpowering the cheese. "Hmm… Yeah, the cheesiness is there, but it's not as… uh… forward," he opined.

"Well… These are just the test ones, right?" Nick inquired. "We can just wrap cheese around them and have KG toast them."

"Also, the sauce you guys made is pretty good. Kinda watery, but has good spice and everything…" Roy added.

"Oh, okay, so we can just add a bit more tomato paste to it," Nick replied. When he tasted the sauce himself, he thought it was fine. However, if Roy thought that it needed something more, he would have to oblige. Everyone's taste is different.

000

"It's like my Uncle Sammie once told me. 'These picky customers get on my last goddamn nerve! They get what they ask for, but then bitch about it, and no matter what, you just have to do what they say or else you're fired'," Nick recited.

He patted his ice block, "I've never had a job, but I know that I don't wanna be fired."

000

As the others proceeded to fix the cheesesticks and sauce, Steve let out a sigh. He was prepared to turn back and go check on the macaroni, but the door to the kitchen suddenly opened, getting his attention. It was none other than Stain, still wearing an irritated visage. "You betas still aren't done with your shitty food, yet?"

The Toucannon glared at the Sludge Pokémon. He had been absent for over half-an-hour, yet he was complaining that nothing was done yet? "Don't you start that shit," Steve seethed. "You weren't helping, and you aren't gonna help, anyway. You don't get to complain…"

"Freedom of speech says otherwise, you crusty bunghole bandit," Stain countered. "Plus, all you losers are doing is making bootleg mozzarella sticks and rice with meat. How hard is that?"

"If it's so easy, cabron, then why weren't you here helping?" KG shot back. "We coulda got done quicker and you could've gone back to doing your favorite thing, nothing."

"Yeah, yeah, taco taco burrito to you, too," Stain mocked dismissively. KG gaped, clenching his fists with a glare. This was the second time that someone was taking a dig at him for being Paldean, and even though it was Stain, it was still infuriating to deal with.

Steve's glare at the Muk never wavered, while Nick, Lexico, and Roy simply decided to stay out of it.

000

Roy groaned, holding his head, "How does he just get worse?"

000

"Just hurry it up. I just tried to sabotage those other beta cucks to try and help your sorry asses, so something good needs to come outta that…"

"Wait… You what?!" Steve exclaimed. What made the Muk think that sabotaging the other team was tolerable, let alone smart?

"Calm your panties, I said tried," Stain defended. "The only other alpha on this damn island actually put up a fight and threw me out. But, I also made him throw out all of their ingredients, so it probably worked, sorta."

"Did you see what they what they were making?" Nick asked curiously. While he didn't completely support Stain's actions, having any kind of information regarding the other team would be beneficial.

"It smelled like something from a sushi restaurant or whatever…" Stain answered. "Not like it really matters since most of their stuff's poisoned. They'll probably have to come back to the truck to grab more."

"Why did you even try to sabotage them?" KG questioned. "That's not-"

"Hush," Stain cut him off. As far as he was concerned, his team needed as much help as they could get. "Their alpha threw me out and they lost some ingredients. And you bozos still aren't even done with one food. You idiots obviously needed the help. You oughta be thanking me."

Shaking his head, Steve responded, "So… You think we should thank you… for not helping us here, for leaving, and for trying to sabotage the other team? You're outta your goddamn mind…"

The Toucannon walked back toward the pot of macaroni, moving it back onto the stove eye to heat it back up.

Seeing this, it was Stain's turn to ask something. Seeing the look of frustration on Steve's face as he inspected the contents, the Muk's face twisted into a smug smirk. "Oh? What happened to the crappy patties you were making for the curry? You finally decided to give up like the old saggy bitch you are? Your dumbass husband must be- "

In an instant, Steve was in the Sludge Pokémon's face, his eyes brimming with contempt and hatred. "Keep… My husband… out of your shitty… fucking… mouth… or I will make you wish that you were never born," the Toucannon threatened, his tone deathly serious.

Truth be told, Stain did feel a bit intimidated by Steve at that moment. The Toucannon had had enough.

"Okay, guys. Let's calm down a bit, huh?" Roy cut in, getting between the two. "This isn't helping anything. We still have dishes to finish."

"Yet this bastard hasn't done anything but prove time and time again that he's a pathetic waste of space with no redeemable qualities," Steve spat. "Constantly trying to put everyone else down because he knows that he's worth absolutely nothing in this life…"

Stain's glare tightened. While Steve did scare him briefly, now he was over it. "Says the old fucker who'd probably end himself if he didn't have a pathetic bitch of a husband to make him feel like his faggot life is worth anything," Stain shot back, venomously.

Steve's eyes widened in utter shock, as did a few of the others. What had he just said? Why would he-?

000

KG held his head, "Ay caramba…"

000

Steve's eyes shut tight in anger as his beak began to heat up.

Stain continued, "You're not a real male, you'll never be a real male, and you're a fucking disgrace to the so-called 'military' you were in. So you can shove one of those bootleg mozzarella sticks up your ass and-"

Steve shoved Roy to the side before blasting Stain point-blank in his face, knocking him out immediately. The others looked on as Steve panted heavily, visibly shaking with utter rage. He'd done nothing but try to help the team, but felt like it didn't matter. No more. The Muk had been pushing it more and more with each interaction, and he finally crossed the line.

The Toucannon turned to the others, and he could see the fear in Lexico, Roy, and KG's eyes. He couldn't see Nick's true reaction due to his ice block, but he wouldn't care about his feelings either way. He looked back at the unconscious Muk, who let out a faint groan. Shaking his head, Steve flew out of the kitchen, fighting back tears.

"Steve, wait!" KG called, hopping off of the counter. He turned back to the others with a frown, shaking his head. "Still think it's better to keep him?" KG asked, pointing to the still unconscious Muk.

The others exchanged looks of discomfort.

000

Roy rubbed his head with a sigh, "Fuck me…"

000

The Conkeldurrs' potstickers were completed. Now, their primary focus was cooking the steak, which was sizzling in a pan. Their potatoes had finished boiling and were properly mashed and seasoned by Rane, as expected. Now, the guys were passing the time chatting about their relationship escapades, if they had any.

"Wait, wait… So your parents really thought your boyfriend was like… beating you because of how you were walking?" Dale laughed. "That's… Oh Arceus, the implications…"

Lee blushed, "Yeah, and it didn't make it any better when I had to kinda explain why. My dad was ready to ban him from coming over anymore, but my mom talked him down, luckily."

"I wish I had a girlfriend…" Simen sighed. "Most I ever get is people pretending to flirt with me just to make me feel good…"

"No interest," Tate said flatly.

"Oh. So, have you never found anyone you connect with, or are you ace?" Lee curiously inquired. Typically, whenever he met people who claimed to have no interest in dating, it was one of those two options; usually, the former.

"Yes," the Pincurchin replied. That response didn't offer them a clear answer, but they decided to just leave it be.

"Well, I've had some interesting dates before," Dale sighed. "Mainly other Wailord, but I've dated a Dondozo that had a clingy ex, a Lanturn who was into horror and dark stuff-"

The Wailord's thoughts were interrupted by the locked door swinging open suddenly. Steve entered, still shaking with anger. Seeing this, Lee quickly approached, while Rane slowly made his way around the island. "Whoa, Steve! Are you okay? What happened?" Lee questioned with concern.

The Toucannon couldn't meet the Boltund's gaze. He just couldn't. Instead, he flew upstairs, not uttering a word to anyone.

Rane just knew that something serious had happened. He'd never seen Steve act that way. As Lee started approaching the stairs, the Golisopod stopped him, placing a hand on his back. He pointed to himself, signalling that he would go and talk to Steve. He then pointed at Lee, then back at the stove. The Dog Pokémon was the only other one on his team truly capable of doing something impactful in this challenge, so he needed him there.

"But…" Lee attempted to argue, but Rane closed his eyes and raised his hand to stop him. He simply pointed at the stove once again.

Lee sighed, shaking his head as he went back toward the kitchen. As Rane ascended the stairs, Lee mumbled, "He doesn't even talk…"

"Lee, those two are really close," Dale explained. "I get that you care, too, but I think in this case, it's better to let Rane handle it."

Lee's ears flattened as he went to handle their steak. Simen, who had been silent, cleared his throat. "Not to ruin the mood, but… Are we gonna ignore the fact that he broke through a locked door without banging on it?"

000

Steve just sat on his bed, facing the wall like a child in timeout. He couldn't believe that he'd let himself be punked like that. He was above that. How did he let a guy like Stain get under his skin? He shouldn't have escalated it. But… He brought up Cinder. The main Pokémon in his life that kept him sane. The love of his life. The one who… saved his life. Just thinking about the Muk again made the Toucannon furious, with him headbutting the wall in frustration.

Not only that, but he'd scared the others on his team. Normally, he would take pride in being able to intimidate others, especially when they were acting recklessly and disrespectfully. However, Lexico and KG hadn't done anything to him, and Roy, even with his faults, didn't deserve to deal with that. He let out a shaky, disappointed sigh.

Soon enough, he heard a knock at his door. He didn't answer, as he just needed to be alone. However, the door opened anyway, with Rane entering the room.

Seeing him, Steve swore to himself. "Forgot to lock the damn door…" he grumbled.

The Golisopod approached Steve's bed, taking a seat next to his friend. Steve didn't react to him at first once he said down. However, what he saw from the corner of his eyes caused them to widen.

-000-

Rane and Steve were at the pond. After swimming a couple of laps, Rane approached the part of the shore where Steve was. Once he was there, he looked up at the Toucannon expectantly.

A stopwatch in his talons, Steve reported, "Five seconds slower than your previous time."

Rane slammed an arm against the land before climbing out, seemingly giving up for the day. Steve chortled at this behavior, "Calm down, big boy. You still did better than you did yesterday."

Rane gave the Toucannon a look before taking a breath and stretching. Rane left his arms behind his head for a few more seconds before letting them drop to his sides.

Steve chuckled, "Y'know something Cinder does to calm me down is that he just doesn't say anything. When he senses that something's wrong, he just gets close to me and opens his wings. Once he does that, it's all over…"

-000-

Rane… had his arms open. Steve could actually feel himself tearing up before he embraced the Golisopod, who hugged him back with a soft breath.

"Today's just been a shitty fucking day," Steve sniffled. "I kept fucking up our meat, then that bastard Nick decided to put me on macaroni duty only to take over that, too. Stain fucking left and then came back, bitching and complaining and just…"

Rane just listened on, rubbing his friend's back as his frustrations spilled out of his beak.

"...that fucking prick was insulting Cinder and I just… I fucking knocked him out. Beak Blasted him right in his sorry mug…" Steve seethed. "I ended up fucking scaring the others and I just… It feels like they don't like me. I'm practically on an island of my own with them!"

Rane patted his back before moving him away. He made a small 'height' gesture before moving two of his fingers together.

Steve wiped his eyes, "Even if I do work with KG at this point, that's just two votes. You know why I don't trust Nick, and Lexico's connected to him outta necessity. Roy's borderline clueless, and I'm not even gonna mention the blob…"

Rane pointed to the Toucannon before pointing to his head and doing a shooing motion, following by a 'closing book' motion. Steve sighed in return, "I… Ugh…"

000

"He really wants me to apologize to Nick…" Steve groaned. "I understand why, but I just can't trust that bastard. The only one I can trust on my team is KG…"

"So… maybe he can do something," the Toucannon thought aloud.

000

"Well… thanks for that," Steve replied, feeling embarrassed. Not only had he just cried, but he also vented to who he considered his 'game husband' on national television. He felt a bit awkward after that.

However, Rane pat his back and gave him a thumbs up, which brought a smile to the Toucannon's face. Just then, a familiar smell filled his nostrils, "Is something burning?"

Rane's eyes widened.

000

"Flip it! Quick!" Simen called as Lee was at the stove, a spatula in his muzzle as smoke emanated from the pan.

"I'm trying!" Lee whined, trying to scrape the bottom of the steak.

Coming downstairs, Rane immediately rushed toward the kitchen. He approached the stove and turned off the eye that the pan was currently on. As he watched smoke billow from the burnt steak, he let out a soft sigh. He couldn't be upset. It was his own fault for leaving four non-bipeds alone with something on the stove.

"S-Sorry," Lee apologized. "I was trying to flip it, but it just-"

Rane raised one of his claws, signalling for him to stop. He went back toward the fridge, pulling out the package that the steak came in. There were still three other steaks left, so they had three more opportunities.

"Oh, right… The steaks aren't individually packed," Simen realized. "We still have a shot!"

"Definitely a better shot than we do…" Steve said, approaching them.

"You doing okay, Steve?" Lee asked once again.

The Toucannon inhaled softly before breathing out. "Yeah, I'm fine. No need to worry, son…"

Lee smiled in relief before looking back at Rane, who was putting another steak in the pan. How did he do it?

Steve approached the kitchen island curiously, eyeing the potstickers and the bowl of mashed potatoes, as well as all of the seasonings that were strewn about. He chuckled, "Using that chef experience to your advantage I see."

Rane froze momentarily before turning back to the Toucannon slowly, a scowl on his face. Steve smirked back in response.

"Oh… Chef experience, huh?" Lee teased. "Interesting~"

The Golisopod groaned to himself. With the way that he had been acting, it should have been obvious that he had some cooking experience, but a chef? That was surprising.

"Hey, so if you two are so close that he'll talk to you, can you tell us why he won't talk to the rest of us?" Simen queried.

Steve chuckled before offering an explanation. "He hasn't spoken a word to me, either. We just have a mutual respect and I've managed to piece together what he means when he does certain things. Give it some time. He'll open up more eventually," the Toucannon replied.

He looked back at the Golisopod, who was focusing on the steak sizzling in the pan, and shook his head playfully. "Well, I should get back to my own team…" he groaned. "Hopefully something got done in my absence…"

With that, Steve exited the Sausage Link, leaving the Conkeldurrs to continue with the challenge. However, with this revelation about Rane, new questions began to emerge.

Dale inquired, "So, how long have you been a chef?"

Rane closed his eyes in irritation. He really didn't want to talk about it, but he also didn't want to come off as a jerk. He shook his head.

With this answer, Lee cocked a brow, "But… Steve just said that you have chef experience…"

To that, Rane nodded, which confused Lee a bit more, "So, why-."

"I think he's saying that he's been a chef before, but he's not a chef now," Simen assumed. To that, Rane nodded in confirmation.

"Okay, so how long were you a chef, then?" Dale adjusted.

Rane held up a peace sign in response, with Dale humming in interest. "Just two years? That's still impressive," he commented.

Rane shrugged in response. To him, it didn't really mean too much. It was just cooking. Sure, not too many people knew how to do it, but it never was a big deal to him. He just learned and figured some things out on his own.

"So…" Lee began, his confidence in talking to the behemoth now slightly higher. "You're a big, strong guy who knows how to cook. Have you had any luck in the dating market?"

000

Rane stared at the camera with a blank expression before letting out a sigh.

000

Back in the Mess Hall kitchen, the guys had managed to get their cheesesticks to taste how they wanted. Roy gave a thumbs up with chewing, commending, "Nice call on the extra cheese on the outside, Nick. Now we're ready to rock and roll."

Nick was back over at the pot of macaroni, stirring it once again as Lexico sprinkled pepper and breadcrumbs into it. "Thanks. And the mac n' cheese is pretty much done, too. We've just gotta figure out what our dessert's gonna be."

-000-

KG was sitting out in the dining area, trying to think about his options. He still couldn't believe that before all of that even occurred, they were thinking about sacking Steve instead of Stain. Stain had done nothing but push everyone's buttons and treat them all like dirt, but because he was an 'easy vote', they were willing to keep him around? It just didn't sit right with him.

Hopefully, after what had transpired, they came to their senses. Stain's personal attacks on Steve were uncalled for, and while Steve was no better for what he said, Stain had been asking for it since he got there. None of them really even checked on him after Steve left, so he was still just lying in the back, still unconscious.

Just then, the Fuecoco watched as Steve landed in front of the Mess Hall. Immediately, he went up to him, asking, "Steve, amigo… Are you okay?"

The Toucannon was glad that someone from his team was there to greet him, at least. He still felt a bit disappointed in himself for snapping, but it didn't seem like KG cared that he did. Why would he, really?

He sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just… Just needed some time. Thanks…"

KG nodded, "No problem. Ese hijo de puta deserved it…"

Steve chuckled in response before looking at the kitchen door. He let out a breath, asking, "Is the bastard back up?"

The Fire Croc Pokémon looked back at the door before shrugging, "I doubt it. I haven't heard anything from him, and you know he'd love to complain."

KG was tempted to fill Steve in on the conversation that had been had regarding him and Stain, but wasn't sure if it would be a good idea. If he told Steve, then the Cannon Pokemon could possibly blow up again, which while understandable, he didn't want to happen again. Not only that, but with the idol potentially still out there, there was a chance that Steve could find it, which would put an even bigger target on his back.

Steve let out a sigh. As awkward as he felt, he knew that he would needed to just suck it up and return to the kitchen to see how things were going. "Well, we should go check and see if there's been any other progress back there," Steve reasoned. "I don't think we have a lotta time left…"

"Oh, yeah… Right…" KG replied.

-000-

"So, I think what we can do to make things easy for ourselves is bread pudding," Nick explained, looking through the cookbook. "It's simple and doesn't really have a lotta-"

The door to the kitchen was slowly pushed open. There was a bit of resistance, since Stain was still knocked out, but eventually Steve and KG managed to make it back inside. There was a bit of awkward silence that followed before Roy cleared his throat, "So… Is everything alright with you?"

"I just needed to decompress," Steve replied, downplaying the situation a bit. "Sorry for uh… spooking ya earlier."

The Throh was surprised to hear an apology from him, but accepted it. "It's fine. I mean, we all blow up at some point. Let's just… try to not have it happen as often."

Steve glanced back at Stain, "No promises, but we'll see…"

"Well, we're already done with our appetizer and entrée," Nick reported, seemingly brushing past the conversation. "Now we need to worry about our dessert, and I'm thinking that we can do bread pudding since it'll be easy."

Lexico rolled his eye at this, glancing over to see what the others thought.

Of course, Steve wore a look of apathy. He still didn't care for Nick or his opinions, but he wasn't going to show his irritation. Instead, he just remained quiet. KG hummed to himself, "I mean, I guess? Just kinda feels like we're pretty much overusing bread, y'know?"

"Yeah," Roy concurred. "I mean, we made cheese sticks out of sandwiches, and there's breadcrumbs in the macaroni, so… maybe we should try something else."

"Well, most pastries are just sweet breads," Nick pointed out. "So, unless we do something like ice cream or yogurt or-"

"A milkshake!" Roy thought aloud. "They're just as easy. We have a blender and I think there's ice cream in the truck. We already have milk, so it'll just take a few minutes, tops..."

Steve chuckled, "That could work. Plus, our hosts are married, so maybe we can just make one and have them share it. Maybe it'll get us extra points for a romantic aspect."

Nick hummed, "Well, little dude seems to think it's a decent idea, so… I guess I'll agree."

Lexico glared at the Eiscue, shaking his body to signify a 'no'. However, it went ignored as the others proceeded with the idea. Roy grabbed the blender, while Steve and KG exited the kitchen once again, presumably to check the truck.

000

Lexico looked down dejectedly.

000

"PLAYERS, YOU HAVE TWENTY MINUTES REMAINING!" Zekrom's voice echoed from the flagpole.

Back in the Sausage Link, the others watched as Rane filled two mugs with flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. The Golisopod knew that they'd lost time due to the potatoes taking a while and their first steak burning, so he was trying to do something quick. He was lucky that they still had normal ingredients in the kitchen already, so he was able to work quickly.

"Uh… Rane, what are you doing? What happened to making a cake?" Simen inquired.

"I don't think we'll be able to make an actual cake in under twenty minutes," Dale chimed in. "So, I think he's improvising."

"Mug cake?" Tate said, inquisitively.

Rane pointed to the Pincurchin and nodded, confirming his assumption as he started adding water, milk, and vanilla extract into the mugs as well and stirring vigorously. The others exchanged looks of confusion.

"Uh… What's a mug cake?" Lee inquired.

Rane paused momentarily to shoot the Boltund a deadpan expression. Reading the look, the Boltund blinked as he slowly thought about it, "Nevermind…"

"I didn't even know that you could make cake in a mug," Simen said, intrigued.

"I didn't either," Dale added. "Hopefully, it doesn't take too long…"

"And it tastes good enough for Reshiram and Zekrom…" Lee added.

Rane finished stirring all of the ingredients in the mugs and went over to the microwave, placing one of them inside.

"Wait, in the microwave?" Lee questioned. He'd never seen anyone use a microwave to create a full-on dessert. "Are you sure-"

Rane raised a hand, signallng for him to hush for a bit. The Boltund piped down. Rane was the one with experience, so he had to know what he was doing… Right?

000

Lee groaned, "Why can't he just talk to us normally? I think Steve woulda told us if he was mute or something, but he didn't!"

"Hopefully his microwave cakes are actually fully-cooked…"

000

The twenty minutes went by relatively quickly, as each team's dessert took the least amount of time. With the challenge now over, Reshiram and Zekrom returned to the island, meeting at the Mess Hall. All of the players reported back to building, with Rane carrying his team's dishes there.

Sitting at a large table, set up by Ahku, Zekrom began, "Alright, time is up, so it's time to see which team has the best dishes. First course: appetizers…"

Rane picked up his team's plate of potstickers, while Roy brought over his team's bowl of cheese sticks and marinara sauce.

Seeing the two dishes, Reshiram giggled, "How charming; two classics."

Zekrom nodded in agreement, picking up one of the cheese sticks, first. "Well, let's see how well these came out," he stated.

He and Reshiram tapped their cheese sticks together before taking small bites, wanting to avoid accidentally swallowing them whole. The dishes were still quite small in comparison to the couple, so they would need to take things slow.

"Hm, not bad," Zekrom commented. "The sauce is nice, and while the cheesesticks themselves are good, it tastes kinda like there's more breading than actual cheese."

Reshiram concurred, adding, "Adding more cheese on the outside was a good idea, but the interior still kinda lacks flavor. So, I'll probably give it a… 5 out of 10."

Zekrom shrugged. "I'd say about a 5.5," he followed. "So, about an average of 5.25…"

The Mighty Machamps exchanged looks of uncertainty, with Roy letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"Now, for the Conkeldurrs' dish," Reshiram announced. She and Zekrom once again toasted their foods before taking their first bites.

Rane took a breath, holding it. This entire challenge was on his shoulders. If he wound up losing this for his team, he'd be extremely disappointed in himself.

Reshiram hummed, "Very nice… And super moist, even without a sauce."

"The filling's tangy somehow, and it actually works," Zekrom commented. "I'd say it could probably use a bit more salt, but… aside from that, I like that. 8 out of 10."

Reshiram nodded in agreement, "I'll give it an 8, too. So, the first round goes to the Conkeldurrs."

Rane let out a sigh of relief as the other guys on his team cheered. It was honestly to be expected, especially by Steve.

"Alright, time for the entrees," Reshiram called.

Roy brought forth a plate of macaroni, which resembled yellow vomit, with black and brown flakes covering it. Rane, meanwhile, brought over a plate of steak with mashed potatoes.

Seeing their plate in comparison to theirs, Roy let out a sigh.

000

"We're cooked…" Roy deadpanned.

000

"Okay, uh… Interesting presentations, here," Reshiram commented, eyeing the yellow plate cautiously. "And this is macaroni and cheese?"

"Uh… Yes, ma'am," Roy awkwardly answered.

Nick corrected, "Well, it's supposed to be Cheeseburger Mac, but uh… the meat didn't exactly… work out."

000

"...I forgot it," Nick awkwardly explained.

000

"Well, either way, it looks more like cheese and macaroni, instead of the other way around…" Zekrom opined, sticking a fork into the mush. After digging around for a while, the Deep Black Pokémon managed to find a couple of noodles underneath the glob of cheese.

Taking a bite, the couple immediately exchanged looks before slowly swallowing it. It tasted… spoiled almost. The noodles were very tender, and ignoring the possibility of the cheese being spoiled, the pasta lacked a lot of flavor. The only thing saving it was the pepper.

"Uh… Well, it uh… It's not great," Reshiram stated honestly. "I feel like you all overdid it with the cheese, and the pasta was kinda tender. 3 out of 10."

"Sorry, but 2 out of 10," Zekrom stated, shaking his head. "I usually like pasta, but this really isn't great."

Steve gave Nick a look. If he hadn't insisted on doing macaroni instead of just letting him continue to try the curry, maybe their results would've been different.

"So, that means for this round, you guys have an average of 2.5," Reshiram relayed. "So, if the Conkeldurrs' dish is better, then they automatically win."

"Then just go ahead and give them the win," a voice said from behind the hosts' table.

Stain had finally woken up from his involuntary slumber and slinked forward. He'd overheard the Vast White Pokémon, statement, and was already annoyed.

"Stain, now's not the time," Roy retorted, folding his arms.

"You guys made shitty meals! What? Suddenly, telling the truth is wrong?" the Muk argued.

"Taste is subjective," KG argued.

"Says the beta," Stain scoffed. "He turned to the hosts. Just go ahead and give those dumb bastards the win. You were going to, anyway."

"Stain, hush," Zekrom replied, slicing the steak in half so that both he and Reshiram could share it. Each taking a bite, the couple smirked at each other.

"It's like it melts in your mouth…" Reshiram opined before scooping up a bit of the potatoes.

Zekrom nodded in agreement, commenting, "Yeah, I usually like my steaks cooked a little more, but this was pretty damn good."

"WELL?!" Stain pressed.

The couple glared at the blob before Zekrom stated, "The Conkeldurrs win the challenge!"

The members of the Conkeldurrs cheered once again, with Rane sitting at one of the tables with a sigh of relief. He glanced over to the other team, with Steve nodding at him with a smile.

"Mighty Machamps, we'll be seeing you at elimination tonight…" Reshiram followed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever broad…" Stain muttered, slinking out of the Mess Hall.

000

Stain huffed, "I'll admit. I can respect the old butt bandit for the attack. Doesn't change the fact that's never gonna be considered a real alpha male in this lifetime…"

He sighed, "And well, these beta cucks pretty much lost the challenge for us. And the can't technically blame me since I didn't have shit to do with the pansy cooking shit. We'll see how this goes, though…"

000

Back at the beach, Nick blew out a breath, "Well… This'll be a tough choice."

Lexico gave him a look, while Dale and Tate exchanged looks. "I mean, will it really be tough?" Dale inquired. "Given all that Stain's said and done… I don't think you guys should vote out Steve…"

"Unfair," Tate added.

"Well, not entirely," Nick argued. "I mean, Steve is still a bigger threat than Stain. He KO'd the guy in one hit for crying out loud! Plus, we can't really blame Stain for us losing the challenge because he was either gone or knocked out for most of it. It's on the rest of us. And really, the only other one who kept messing up was Steve…"

"I mean, sure, but Nick… Do you really want to have another day of Stain?" Dale prodded. "The guy's just… the worst. And earlier when he left, he came down here and said that he was gonna win whether we liked it or not!"

Lexico gained a quizzical look. Certainly Stain didn't truly believe that. After all he's said and done, he still felt that- Wait. Oh no…

Nick glanced at Lexico, "Wait… You think he actually found the idol?"

"I'm not saying that he did or didn't," Dale defended. "I just don't think I can agree with Steve being you guys' target, when we literally have a guy who's done nothing but talk down to everyone here."

"Well, if Stain ends up having the idol, it won't matter either way," Nick argued. "Steve's the only one that Stain would go for…"

"Ugh… I hate that that's probably true," Dale groaned.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Nick replied, patting his ice block.

000

"For some reason, Steve doesn't like me," Nick stated. "I still don't know what I did, but it doesn't help us. And he has a problem with Stain, too."

The Eiscue continued, "I mean… granted, the dude needs to learn to stop disrespecting people, but still. Not to mention Roy said that he kinda talked down to him for not checking on Lee a few days ago. So, I don't think him being like… aggro towards a lot of folks on the team will be good."

"Then again, Stain does go too far…"

000

Roy groaned to himself as he sat in the living room. With everything that transpired today, he was having a tough time deciding who he should vote for. On one hand, there was Steve. While he was strong, he was also temperamental, brash, and would pick fights. Not to mention he was stronger than him, which made him a major threat. Getting rid of a guy like that would definitely increase his own odds at winning this game.

On the other hand, Stain was a nuisance who had nothing better to do than belittle everyone around him. He was also strong, but they could realistically vote him out at any time since nobody cared about him.

"Man, this game sucks…" Roy sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, especially when it filled with worthless betas who're terrible at the game," the Throh suddenly heard.

Annoyed, Roy glanced over and saw Stain slinking by. "Y'know, maybe you should be acting a bit nicer so that we don't just vote you out," the Judo Pokémon suggested, folding his arms.

Stain rolled his eyes, "Vote for me all you want, cuck. I'm not going anywhere…"

With that, Stain slinked off, causing Roy's eyes to widen. "There's no way…"

000

"If he found that… immunity thingy, then… If we all vote him out, they won't count, right?" he asked to no one in particular. "Then, whoever he votes for will end up getting eliminated… Oh no…"

"WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO HARD?!"

000

Night fell on the island as the Mighty Machamps made their way to the elimination ceremony. Of course, they were all mostly irritated, especially Stain.

Zekrom stood at the sandstone podium, folding his arms, "Alright, Mighty Machamps, welcome back to the ceremony. I'm sure you all were hoping that you wouldn't have to return here, but… That's how the cookie crumbles."

"You bozos could have given us the win if you wanted to, and you know it," Stain huffed.

KG scoffed, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Wha- You were the one telling them to give the win to the other team!" he argued.

"Doesn't change the fact that they still coulda given us the win, now does it?" Stain retorted.

"You see, that attitude is why I'm actually glad that Steve blasted you en el rostro!" the Fuecoco shot back. "You don't ever do anything but bring the mood down."

"Cry about it, taco," Stain shot back.

"Watch yourself," Steve threatened.

"And this is why this team is just gonna go nowhere," Nick sighed. "We keep arguing over dumb things when we could just leave each other alone and stop getting personal."

"Well, you know the easiest way to deal with that, now don't you?" Steve replied.

Stain huffed, "If you mean by trying to vote me out, you've got another thing coming."

Steve and KG turned to the Muk in surprise. Was he implying what they thought he was implying? "What the hell does that mean?" Steve questioned.

"You'll find out soon enough…" Stain replied. "That clue really did come in handy once I figured it out…"

"There's no way you have the idol," KG huffed, refusing to believe it. "Let's see it."

"Now why would I do that?" The Sludge Pokémon teased. "The only thing you losers need to know is that I'm not going anywhere, and that I would happily vote out any of you betas. So, try me. I won't hesitate."

KG huffed, "He's bluffing, amigos. There's no way he has it…"

"I mean, Dale did say that he was at the water earlier saying that he was gonna win no matter what…" Nick chimed in. "I don't know if that really means anything or-"

Stain chuckled, "Who knows?"

"Well, uh…" Reshiram suddenly cut in. "Seeing as there's a ton of hostility in this group, maybe we should bypass all of the questions and just get to the vote…"

"Oh, no, we're sorry mami," KG apologized. "Uh, you can still ask. Stain is just… Stain."

"Simp," Stain insulted. "She's getting BBC'd like the whore she is. She'd never settle for a shrimp like you…"

"Okay! We're getting to the damn vote," Zekrom cursed, glaring daggers at the Muk.

000

"I refuse to believe that that pendejo found the idol," KG stated.

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"Ugh… I DON'T KNOW!" Roy exclaimed.

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"Hopefully, this is the best move," Nick stated, with Lexico giving him an annoyed look.

000

"Alright, the votes have been tallied," Zekrom stated, returning to the podium with Reshiram and Ahku, who once again held a tray of Alolan Rolls.

"If we call your name, you're safe," Reshiram reminded.

A few eyes went toward Stain, who wore a smug expression. There was just no way that he had the idol, right?

"KG…"

The Fuecoco caught his roll, but refrained from eating it just yet.

"Nick…"

The Eiscue caught his roll with a sigh of relief.

"Roy…"

The Throh allowed his role to hit him,as he was propping his head on one of his hands, looking down.

"Lexico… Steve… Stain… You each received votes," Zekrom relayed.

Lexico's eye widened. Who voted for him? And why? Meanwhile, both Steve and Stain expected to receive votes.

Noticing this, Reshiram stated, "No worries for you, Lexico. You only got one…"

The Unown was hit by his roll. While he was relieved, he still couldn't believe that he got a vote when he hadn't done anything wrong!

"Steve… Stain… one of you will be heading home tonight, and it may either be a celebration, or a disappointment," Zekrom commented. "Steve, your brash personality has been rubbing your teammates the wrong way."

The Toucannon took a breath. While that was true, he was really hoping that the others didn't buy what Stain was selling.

"And Stain… The less we say about you, the better…" Zekrom muttered.

Stain rolled his eyes. The host couldn't be serious. "Get over yourself," he replied.

Zekrom sighed, not wanting to draw out the results, "With great disappointment… the one going home is… Steve."

"WHAT?!" KG exclaimed, jumping from his seat. "Are you guys serious?!"

Stain burst into laughter. "You losers are so damn gullible, it's pathetic!" he chided with a smile.

"W-Wait, you don't have it?" Roy inquired, confused.

Steve took a breath, "No, he doesn't have it. He was just saying all of that to get you all to vote for me…"

"Steve… I'm sorry! I just… I didn't know what to do and I panic voted for Lex!" Roy admitted.

Lexico glared at the Throh. So it was him.

"It's… It's fine," Steve replied. "All I have to say is… make sure you send this waste of space home as soon as possible."

"Yadda yadda yadda, get outta here asshole explorer," Stain insulted, waving the Toucannon along.

In response, Steve turned to the Muk, allowing his beak to heat up before once again blasting the Sludge Pokémon in the face.

"Well, Steve… It's about time for you to go," Reshiram stated with a sigh.

With a nod, Steve turned to his team, saluting to them. "And uh… Be sure to tell Rane and Lee that… I'll miss 'em," he stated before turning back around and heading down to the dock.

KG turned back to the others on his team, a look of disappointment on his face. He looked at the unconscious Muk before shaking his head. "Well, congrats. You guys got what you wanted…"

With that, the Fuecoco started heading back toward the campgrounds. After a few moments, Nick, Lexico, and Roy followed after him, leaving Stain at the ceremony.

000

Steve sighed, "Figures… I don't think it was even that hard for Nick to vote for me, and he pretty much gets two votes since he votes for Lexico, too."

"I'm just hoping that one of my boys takes it," he sighed. "This has been… an experience, that's for sure…"

000

Ignoring Stain's unconscious form still being at the ceremony, Reshiram and Zekrom turned towards one of the cameras. "And sadly, one of our fan favorite players is gone too soon," Zekrom commented.

"As much as I don't want to say this… Fair play to Stain for managing to spook them into voting for Steve instead," Reshiram commended.

"If only Roy had just voted for Stain, things would have been completely different…" the Deep Black Pokémon sighed, wrapping his arms around her.

Reshiram giggled, "Well, now we'll just have to see how Rane and Lee take it. For now, though… That's it for us. Tune in next time to see who gets eliminated on Total… Pokémon… Maelstrom!"

000

Votes:

Steve - 3 votes (Lexico, Nick, Stain)

Stain - 2 votes (KG, Steve)

Lexico - 1 vote (Roy)

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Mighty Machamps - (KG, Lexico, Nick, Roy, Stain)

Candid Conkeldurrs - (Dale, Lee, Rane, Simen, Tate)

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And we're down to the final ten. Steve sadly leaving because of paranoia… and Nick and Lexico. Sad times, especially since Stain is still there…

Standard cooking challenge, but of course took this chance to plant a few more seeds of development here and there.

With Steve gone now, though… what's gonna happen? It'll be interesting, that's for sure. Anyways, see ya guys, BYE!

000

Elimination Order:

14th - Morris Cirria (The Southern Boy)

13th - Jekyll Martin (The Victini Fanboy)

12th - Travis Rashad (The Frat Boy)

11th - Steven "Steve" Landerson (The Sergeant)