SHUFFLE(Rei and Magna mission)

Job details:

Magna had been cooking with his clay oven a lot recently. It was a tricky technique to master, but one that was really useful. He was trying to perfect a spicy, juicy, meat dish known as hujiao bing or black pepper cake. A really tasty dish if you got it right and almost addicting. He'd tried it on his travels in Midi, but hadn't quite perfected it yet. He got a lot of his recipes from there as their culture just inspired so many great dishes.

It was as he was standing there that a messenger ran towards his open door and spoke out to him. "Mr. Victus. We have an urgent request from a restaurant in oak town." he said placing the job flyer down. "They need help with their annual banquet where they test our all their new dishes. They've request you personally." Magna was surprised at this. The guild had many skilled members and some, like Jin, were skilled at cooking and were more famous then him. Perhaps his cooking skills were becoming famous. Then he snapped his fingers as he realised why. It had to be THAT restaurant. He'd helped them out once before when he'd been in oak town and been dining there when one of the chefs fell ill. In fact, if he remembered rightly it had been on their banquet two years ago. He had stepped up and helped out and been told his help might be asked of in the future.

"Thanks. I'll go get ready and be on my way." he said and hurried off. He had an idea who to bring on this job. She was a bit young, but he knew she had an interest in wanting to be a cook and this banquet would provide a good learning experience. Shuffle did some excellent food and their banquets always caused them to bring out the big buns. So many new recipes to taste. So many things to learn.

He skidded to a halt outside Rei's apartment in town and knocked on the door. He hoped she was in as this job would surely be something she would enjoy even if she found it hard.

It had been a lovely early morning, the sun was barely up and Rei had decided to go for a walk before the sunlight became too bright. She had been a free person for a little over two weeks now, sshe had done a few solo jobs and a job or two with a couple other people in her new "family" guild. One such person was Magna, a cheerful cook who always seemed to spoil Rei with treats as he cooked: of course she couldnt turn down such delightful treats from a big brother. To her, she had two big brothers, Magna and Jin- both of them went out of their way to help her with jobs and take care of her, yet neither one of them had touched the topic of her magic or why she was in the guild. Any mentions or indirect references had put up a wall between Rei and them. She was not yet ready to face her past or accept her newfound magical power.

Her thoughts were taken from their inward inspection as she heard knocking as she walked, she looked up from under her black umbrella and saw Magna knocking on her apartment's door. She smiled cheerfully and walked up quickly, What is it Onee-chan? Is it Rei's turn to cook for you? she asked somewhat teasingly: she may be small, but she had been watching Magna cook and had a good dunderstanding of how to cook.

Magna actually jumped in surprise. Normally he could smell people coming, but the strong smell of the black pepper he had been using had weakened his nose for a little while. "Ah Rei-chan. I thought you'd be at home." he said rubbing the back of his head in embarassment at being scared by an eight year old child. Not very dignified for anyone let alone a 15 year old. "And sort of, but not just for me." He handed her the job notice. "A restaurant I once helped out are holding a big banquet to show off new recipes and attract some more clientele. They've asked me to help out and I thought as you like cooking that you'd like to tag along." He grinned broadly and then decided to speak some more.

"I've got a few recipes I want to try and out and it will be good experience for you to work in a proper restaurant kitchen." he explained in case she didn't understand exactly why he would want Rei to come with him or why he was going himself. Hopefully she would come. If she didn't it would be far less fun. It was great cooking for people, but even more so when his friends could enjoy it. Especially Rin. He'd taken quite a shine to her and did see her as a little sister much like she saw him as a big brother. He didn't know much about her, but he liked her and that was all that mattered.

Rei giggled at the surprised Magna, it wasn't often that she could catch him so unaware. His reply to her question confused her at first, she tilted her head to the side, her long black hair falling down her shoulder. She straightened up as he held out the job paper to her. She took it and read it, some cooking business was in need of useful cooks to help in their important event. The Shuffle, or so it was called. Sounded interesting. She wanted to go, but she hesitated. Would a fancy and fast-paced restaurant like that really allow a child to work in the kitchen with sharp objects and the bustle of busy fanatical cooks with open flames? She handed the paper back to him and looked down a bit at his feet to avoid his gaze, It sounds fun Onee-chan.. but, will they allow Rei to cook?

Her gaze went to her own feet, she was half the size of others even if she did possess an unusual level of maturity and eye-to-hand coordination. There were limits though, such as her height that was difficult to accommodate for. If you think they'll let m, then I'll go grab a couple of things! she said in a somewhat excited tone, she was trying hard to hide her excitement at the thought of cooking! She dashed inside the apartment and changed into more casual clothing. She appeared moments later dressed in a pink half-length skirt, a white blouse and a pink rose brooch in her raven black hair. She didn't want to get her favorite dress dirty: she left her black umbrella inside as she met Magna on the steps, she shielded her eyes from the rising sun's intense light. Normally that light wouldn't affect other people who were accustomed to it, but it hurt her eyes, that was a significant sign that Rei had been deprived of the warm rays of the sun for a long time. Let's go! she said as she took a few steps forward, hopping into a skip towards their destination.

"Well I was only 12 when they let me cook there and they trust me...so it should be fine." he said with a grin. He hadn't actually considered the fact they might turn her down. However, it seemed unlikely. "Besides at this time of the year they need all the hands they can get and young mind's often come up with the most creative dishes." He said this just before she ran off to gather some things.

When she eventually returned, which was quite quick, she had changed into more comfortable clothing and was practically skipping along towards their destination. In this case their first destination, as usual for members of Black Rose going out a job, was the docks. It was one of the few disadvantages of being on an island in that without the ships you weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Once they had boarded the ship he decided to talk to Rei a bit.

"Shuffle is a pretty big restaurant, not the biggest, but I reckon they want to use this year to expand a bit or at least get another star." he explained. From what he remembered they were a four star restaurant, but they easily had the potential to get to 6 or even 7 star. The location probably wouldn't let them get much higher than that, but maybe if they expanded it enough they might. "Each year they hold a banquet to show off new recipes. All the chefs put their heart and souls into creating new dishes, but only the best get to be added to the menu. In a way its a big cooking contest. Each chef is partnered with another and they work together. The winning pair are named Iron Chefs and can generally get a join in any kitchen in Fiore really easily. I came fourth when I was there last time. Got named the zinc saucier" He thrust a hand up into the air as if to catch the sun and then clenched his fist closed. "But this year I plan to win. After all i've got you as my partner how could I possibly lose?"

Magna didn't seem to think it would be much of an issue at all and he had been there somewhat recently to help in the prior year's event- that helped Rei be at ease with the situation. No longer did she worry about being turned down: though that wasn't really a bad thing, if she had been- she would have just had to wait for the event to be over. Of course she would be waiting for Magna and eating all of the yummy food he made. Well, she was going to be doing that anyways but this way she could work beside him and help him get the title he was working so hard for. His confidence boosted her confidence.

We'll for sure get it this year! Rei will make the yummiest desserts & then eat the- erh, share them! she corrected herself and laughed a bit out loud as they boarded the ship. The ship set sail for Oak Town. Upon arrival, they left the dock and immediately headed to the shop's location- Rei wasn't too sure where it was, so she followed Magna's lead. She walked close beside him, the streets were very crowded with excited people rushing everywhere. Apparantly this cooking contest was a big thing: Rei grabbed ahold of Magna's shirt to keep close to him and not get trampled by the bigger people.

The ship slowly sailed them towards the nearest town to oak town that had port access. This was a small village called the river village. It wasn't exactly the most ideal location as the sailing took a very long time. Still it was better, and more comfortable than the carriages. The gentle rock of the sea was very pleasent. Eventually after a long amount of travel, probably around two days, they arrived at the port at river village. Once there they hired a stage coach to help them travel the last bit of the journey all the way to oak town.

Magna lead the way through the town towards the restaurant known simply as Shuffle. It hadn't yet opened, which was good, he'd timed the journey well. Or wheoever had asked him to come along had time the journey well. Either way they were here in good time and had time to begin preparing. There was a lot of hustle and bustle outside so Rei wisely held onto his side. He walked through the crowd donning his chef hat as he did so. This had been collapsed down to a small size inside his pocket, but now it sprung up to its full height. To his surprise immediately the crowd parted with calls of 'CHEF COMING THROUGH'. To think it would be this easy to get through the crowd.

The door opened just as he was about to knock and immediately the two were ushered in. "Magna. Long time no see. You ready to lose to me and Bob again?" one of the chefs inside called out to him. Magna just grinned and his eyes flickered red for a moment.

"No chance Geoffery. This year i've got a secret weapon." he ruffled the hair of Rei, hoping she wouldn't mind. "With this one by my side there is no way I can lose. Rei meet Geoferry. Him and his partner Bob won third place last year. Reckon we can beat them?"

Rei was surprised how the sea of people seemed to part for the chef walking through- it was strange, but what did she know, she was just a little girl. A bit more at ease now, she walked comfortably beside Magna as they finally approached the shop. She took in a sharp breathe to mentally prepare for the hard and fast work, magan almost knocked on the door when he was met by two other chefs who seemed to know Magna. Rei's first reaction was to be friendly towards them and smile- her smile stopped halfway though and turned into a hard expression, one no one had ever seen the cheerful girl make before. It was a very serious expression that could unnerve even the hardiest of sailors.

Rei may have been a little girl in body and heart, but her mind was that of a full grown adult with a supernatural sense of awareness and observation. Unbeknownst to her, she came from a lineage of beast clan which gave her an extreme insight to observation and insight. Whenever Geoffrey ushered them inside, Rei could tell that the man had recognized Magna. His body language had changed and the chef seemed to immediately pick up an air of somewhat friendly hostility... was this a competitive spirit? So... He is one of Onee-chan's opponents.. she said to herself as she looked at the man and studied him.

At the mention of Magna's "secret weapon" and the patting of her head, Rei was brought back to the situation from their perspective- she dropped her serious expression after puffing up her bottom lip and looked defiant in a cute way and then changed into a friendly smile and gave a small curtsy like a little lady even though she was wearing a skirt instead of her black dress. Rei will help Onee-chan beat you this year. Pleasure to meet you. she said as she smiled and then looked around- it was still early and they had some time to prepare.

First thing is first Onee-chan, we need to find our cooking station, set up utensils and a stool for me to stand on & then decide what it is we will be preparing as a team for the event. she explained in a calm and logical fashion as she walked passed Geoffrey and towards the kitchen. She paused momentarily and turned to Geoffrey in a cute but demanding way that left no room for debate like a little tsundere. I will need a small black apron and chef hat to go inside the kitchen.

To Magna's expectation Geoffery laughed at the fact he had brought what to him appeared to be a child to help him with this. Magna could tell that Geoffery was thinking that Magna had only brought Rei along to fill the numbers and was so confident with his cooking that his skill alone would be enough. Magna was confident in his skill, but not that confident. A good sous chef would be key in this event. True, Rei had only helped him in his own kitchen which wasn't a rush like this would be nor was it quite the same. However, she had proved helpful and he could see her skill had the potential to flourish. He wanted to win this year and felt that she would help. However, as long as the could beat Geoffery and Bob he would be happy. Those two were incredibly arrogant and needed to be knocked down a peg. It seemed that Geoffery was willing to humour the young girl as he quickly fetched her a black chef hat and apron.

"Good luck Magna. You're gonna need it." he called out after them as Magna walked through into the kitchen area to find their work station. It didn't have all of the items that his own kitchen did back at the guild. Nor did it have as much work space. However, it would be sufficient. He exhaled deeply as he considered what to make. At the front of the kitchen area was a special lacrima-powered machine that would be used to provide the ingredients they desired. However, they couldn't just buy all top grade ingredients as every chef was provided a budget.

"This is a banquet and a seven course one at that. That means fourteen dishes" he explained as he stood there thinking about what they should make. "Starter, soup, fish, meat, main, salad and dessert. Plus a vegetarian friendly option for each. On top of that we need to select the right drinks to go with it." He paused and thought what else might need to be said. They had about four hours before the competition began properly and this time was to make sure that Rei understood what they were in for. It was also the time to experiment. The problem was they couldn't experiment TOO much as that would mean they used too much of the budget preparing. It was a fine balance. A knife edge almost. "The starter is perhaps one of the most important parts. Rather than filling one up and satiating the appetite it instead needs to make the person hungrier so they are able to eat all the rest of the courses. However, the most important is the main as that is where most of the scoring comes from and also where a chef's talents truly need to be put through." He paused again and tapped the edge of the counter as thoughts came into his head. Things that needed to be explained "These dishes need to compliment one another. A rainbow of dishes with the drink being the rain that holds them together and the customer's delight being the sun." He looked at Rei and then an idea came into his head. He remembered the Black Velvet cake she had helped him work on. Appearence was important. The tastes needed to be linked and a theme needed to be established.

"Rei...what do you think about us making the dishes into a literal rainbow. A red starter, orange soup, golden salad, green fish, blue meat, indigo main and violet dessert. That way we link the appearence. Then all we need to do is find a way to link the tastes so that each dish is complimented both by the one before it and the one after it."

Despite the feelings of competitiveness, Rei was glad that Geoffrey had found her the appropriate chef hat and apron, now she looked like a cute little professional cook! She checked her manners and tried to get into the mindset of a serious cook: she tightened the straps on the apron and turned to Magna, doing a little twirl as she smiled and followed him into the kitchen. It was time for them to begin the process of understanding their work station and a plan of "attack" for the event. Seven courses, fourteen dishes. Then each course has two dishes? she asked to seek confirmation, she wanted to understand it properly.

Magna began to discuss with her the ideas they were going to go over, she listened while someone brought a stool for her to stand on. She stood on it and stood at average height with Magna, she looked down at the workspace and their cooking utensils- there was plenty here to work with, but it was far less than what she was used to seeing at magna's place. Rei thinks we should start with green though, Rei's mommy always told Rei that salad was important to eat first. she said while imitating her deceased mother's insight. Maybe a very small decorated and perfectly seasoned salad to wet the customer's appetite while providing them with the healthy and vegetarian friendly dish? Maybe we can make a multicolored drink that changed to the color of food that we serve them? she offered, thinking it a cool idea to have a drink that changed colored with each course of food.

"Each course has two dishes yes. One for those who aren't vegetarian and one for those that are. Its a difficult task to prepare just that many dishes what with different cooking times, but you also have to consider that you will be making more than one of each dish." he paused for a moment looking through his memories to find the exact details. His memory was eidetic so he didn't forget things ever. Sometimes though it took a little while for him to process some of the older memories. "We need to be able to make a lot of the dish as we don't know how many people will order it. We can't keep the customers waiting for too long so we need to have the starter at least prepared to go as soon as they walk in."

He considered her point about the salad. Salad was important as part of the banquet. It was a key part, particularly for cleansing one's palate. "Salad is important, but a banquet like this it is a rule that we must start with the Hors d'Oeuvre or starter. Now this could contain salad as well. There is no stopping that and a healthy start could be good." he said considering it. Her point about a colour changing drink was certainly interesting. He thought for a while and the only colour changing item he could think of was items based on the rainbow fruit. However, the colour change was a constant effect. Could he perhaps find a way to control it? [color=darked]"A colour changing drink sounds interesting. I don't know if we will be able to trigger it for each meal...but a rainbow drink is certainly possible." He even had a few ideas for how to improve on the rainbow fruit based drinks. They were overly sweet and worked as an almost taste explosion that could overwhelm the senses. He couldn't have people's sense of taste being overwhelmed. As such he would tone down the flavour with a techniques he had learned and give it a different taste to help complement the food.

"Rei, as the dessert master I'd like you to focus on the end dishes." he paused again and tapped his head. "The starter, main and dessert are probably the three most important. They are used ever day whilst the others might not be. As such they are where judging is most heavy and where the most points can be received so we need to hit hardest there. A good starter to whet the appetite, a good main to satiate most of it and then a good dessert to finish it off." He looked upwards as if seeking divine inspiration. "I forgot to mention that whilst we are serving customers there are also five judges who will sample every dish before we can begin serving the customers. If its not good enough then we don't get to use that dish. So its got to be good."

He walked over to the machine and began scrolling through the ingredients. The restaurant must be doing even better than he thought because there were a lot higher quality ingredients this year. The rainbow fruit was there which was key. It was expensive, but needed for the theme so he purchased one. The amazing thing about rainbow fruit is you only needed a drop of its juice to turn a swimming pool into a rich fruity drink. He placed this on the table. "This is one of our key ingredients. The rainbow fruit. It is incredibly sweet, incredibly tasty and the flavour in its juice is high. It could be useful in the dessert I think." He then leant over and whispered in her ear. "Keep an eye out for the other chefs. Sabotage is not against the rules though I won't stoop as low as to sabotage them. It would be an insult to the food"

This was going to be a lot tougher than Rei thought initially. It was one thing to just cook food, especially to eat- but when it came to someone judging the quality of your food by both appearance and taste, it was a whole new battle. Rei lifted her hand to her chin as she thought it over with Magna's words. So, Onee-chan wants Rei to focus on the dessert, Rei can do that. Depending on what he wants to cook, Rei might go with a thick and even tasty fruit pie with whip cream. she needed to know what the main dish might be though, otherwise she risked making something completely opposite.

Then Onee-chan, what are you going to do for the main dish? Rei thinks a meat dish would be most filling. she explained as she watched him go over to the machine and order a rainbow fruit. She had never seen one, not that she had really seen much of food- confinement food was very bland and one could never tell what it was made of. She got an idea for the fruit drink, Onee-chan, for the drink. Maybe we can change the color of the drink by layers? If we make the drink into several tastes with a different thickness, the colors should automatically separate into stacked layers. she offered.

Then Magna mentioned sabotage. Rei looked around defensively, none of the people around looked like they were capable of doing something so evil, but looks could be very decieving. She nodded to his whispered warning and took a more protective stance at the corner of their work station. She pumped her right fist into her left palm and was ready. It was just about time to begin cooking.

Rei's idea for a drink was one he hadn't considered. The tequila sunrise had a graduating flow of colours due to the different specific gravities of the liquids involved. The rainbow fruit could be prepared to have seven different coloured parts. Normally it flucated between colours, but he'd seen it and even prepared it that way before. So if he could seperate it into the seven colours and then make different thicknesses of syrup and juice he should be able to create a drink whose flavour and colour changed the further you got down the glass. It would be tricky, but not impossible. What's more it was valid for both vegetarian and main. Furthermore, by seperating it he could likely tone down the overpowering sweetness. "Great idea Rei. I think I know how to do that as well." he said with a smile and then considered the main. This was the most important dish in the entire competition.

"The main will be quail stuffed with rissoto and eggs served with a rainbow fruit sugar madeira sauce." he whispered to her, but didn't announce it out loud incase the others tried to steal the idea or got ideas for sabotaging. [color=darked]"I'm going to do a seafood ravioli for the fish dish. Its light and should be good. For the soup, although its tricky to get right i'm going to try and make Midnight Soup but with a twist." he paused considering what else needed to be made. "I think i'm going to do something simple, but surprising for the starter. Eggs are important in most of the dishes so i'm going to try my Transforming Furikage Gohan." That just left the meat dish and the salad dish. Something light for the meat dish would be ideal. "I think for the meat dish i'll do my Faux Pork Rosti. The salad will be a Recovery Salad with a rainbow fruit dressing" He nodded to himself. Those would do nicely and he didn't need to practise with most of them so he didn't need to waste time or budget on ingredients. Using a consistent ingredient throughout the dish would work well.

He could make a gelatin from the rainbow fruit to use for the secret to the Transforming Furikage Gohan. In fact it would make a new version of the dish which was good. People had seen this dish before from him, but with this twist it would seem like a whole new dish. The twist to the midnight soup which he named in his head for the time being Twilight Soup would be the sweetness of a miniscule amount, far less than a drop, of the rainbow fruit's juice. The seafood dish would be made with a sauce that utilised the rainbow fruit. Rainbow fruit wine would be used in the Faux Pork Rosti and should bring out an amazing sweetness. The main would use the rainbow fruit sugar in its sauce. The salad would use it in its dressing. He wanted to try and make a vinaigrette from it. That would be one experiment that was for certain. The drink would be tricky, but would be a rainbow fruit juice that using specific gravities would be divided into a gradual flow of its seven colours.

"Try to use a bit of the rainbow fruit and some eggs, doesn't matter what kind, in the dessert." he said and then paused. What could he do for the vegetarian meat dish and main. Those were the tricky bits. "I think for the vegetarians i'm going to make a rainbow terrine as their 'meat dish'. That way I can use the gelatin I need for the Gohan twice. For the main i'm going to try an altered version of my Tempehral Ramen. Not sure how i'll use the rainbow fruit yet, but i'll find a way."

Rei and Magna had spent a considerable amount of time in preparation, in both team strategy, food choices, work space division and cooperation, as well as a solid defense against sabotage. It was nearly time for the event by the time Rei and Magna had finally decided on a thorough course of action. They were confident and ready to cook! Rei took up her position on the stool to be at average height of the counter, tightened the ribbons that tied the apron around her waist and make sure that her chef hat was properly on her head. let's win this Onee-chan! she exclaimed quietly with a very childish smile and innocent blush from excitement.

With their mixed idea for the drink- if Magna could pull it off, it would be quite the feat. Rei would do something similar for the dessert: until then though, she would assist magna in preparation of the first dishes. This would involve cutting, washing, decorating and testing specific ingredients. Smell and sight were also important. Each dish needed to be equally appealing.

Most of the dishes Magna planned to prepare were relatively simple compared to the complexity of the drink and his twilight soup. He would of made century soup as that was sure to be an almost instant win on the soup however it took time and was incredibly complex. The name century soup was twofold. It took 100 minutes to prepare and required 100 ingredients to be prepared and utilised. So it was not viable to use it because of the expense.

The drink was a key a difficult one. He needed to somehow seperate the rainbow fruit juice into its seven component colours. Doing so with the equipment they had would be difficult. However, he did have an idea. He went over to the food dispensing machine and looked through the ingredients. A grin came over to his face when he found the few he was looking for. He quickly grabbed them and headed back over to their table.

With those ingredients he began to prepare what appeared to be a complex layer. Each of these was heated for a different amount of time using a cooking torch. Once the juice was added to this it began to slowly drip through. However, at each layer it also pooled but only as one colour. These ingredients were perhaps more expensive than the rainbow fruit, but due to the simplicity of most of their dishes they could afford it. Once he had the seven different colours he began to consider how he was going to change their density so that they worked in the same way as the tequila sunrise. This would take time. He decided he was going to add a differing amount of another ingredient which would slowly solidify the liquid varying amounts. Hopefully this would work, but it wold take time. "How is the preparation going Rei-chan?"

Rei had a great idea for the dessert she was in charge of making, the only real limit she had to work with was the eggs and the rainbow color- all feasible to the little girl and her creativity. She glanced over at Magna, he was hard at working- half thinking and half cooking and preparing for each individual step in the cooing process. This encouraged Rei to work harder on her dish, but something caught her eye. SHe didn't turn her head, but she looked from the corner of her eye as she saw another group of cooks not too far away, Geoffrey included. One of those cooks thought he was pretty sneaky, instead of turning to directly face Magna and Rei's cooking station, he grabbed a full clover of garlic and tossed it in the direction of their ingredients.

Rei watched the direction of the garlic clover and timed it as she reached up and grabbed the clover and then set it back down on the counter right beside her. She turned her face in the direction of the dumb-struck cook while Magna's head was turned- she smiled at the cook, but in a way that could be read as "Do it again and I'll kill you" The cook turned his head back to his work station and shuttered, Rei turned her head back to her station and cracked some eggs and whipped them with a fork and poured chocolate powder into the eggs. Rei is going to make a rainbow chocolate custard dessert and toast sticks. she told Magna as she planned. The custard would be thick but not super sweet, coupled with the thick and sweet deep fried bread sticks, it would be fairly balanced and easily be enough to fill a person up for the finisher.

Magna smiled as he saw her catch a clove of garlic someone at Geoffery's table, Bob probably, had tried to sabotage them with. The idea she had for her dessert also sounded ideal and if it could incorporate the two key ingredients then that would be ideal.

The drink was going to take a while so whilst that was preparing he decided to prepare the starter. It should be ready a few minutes before the guests arrived so that he could work on presentation. The Transforming Furikage Gohan variant was an interesting dish. Normally a gelatin like aspic was made using chicken wing tips, which was poured over at the end and melted into the rice giving it a lot of flavour. In this case though he was going to be making a rainbow fruit variant of the aspic. So he began the cooking process of turning the rainbow fruit into a gelatin that would melt on the rice.

In truth that was the only trick part of the dish and once the gelatin was prepared he set the rice to cook and began to prepare the rest of the dish. It was a rather simple dish, but had a lot of impact. The original was very tasty, but with the power of the rainbow fruit instead of chicken wings it should really flood the mouth with flavours and have them almost begging for more.

The recovery salad was very easy to prepare and in fact wasn't even cooked. It was more just the preparation of the various ingredients. It was tricky because some of them had to be prepared in a special way, but it wasn't super hard for Magna. He had done it a lot of times as the recovery salad was part of his chateau victoria. The truly difficult bit of it was the vinaigerette dressing he wanted to make. He had a few drops of rainbow fruit juice which he prepared with various items normally used in a salad dressing to make one that had the faint shimmer of a rainbow, but also sparkled beautifully. This was placed into a special prism bottle which he'd purchased which would glisten with rainbow colours further enhanced by the colours within the bottle.

Starter and salad were basically done. The next step was the meat dish. This took time to prepare so he began to prepare it now. The dish is comprised of lightly mashed potatoes, mixed with onions and mushrooms, all wrapped in thick-cut bacon, then all covered in a red wine/soy sauce/sake sauce. What apparently makes the dish so good, according to people he had served it to, is the fact that the bacon juices are soaked up by the potatoes during baking. This gives the illusion that you’re eating pork when you’re only eating mere potatoes. This made it a lot lighter and less likely to fill up the eater. However, it was one of those dishes that made you want to eat more thus preparing you for the main.

In this case he'd be substituting the sweet red wine sauce with an even sweeter rainbow fruit wine sauce. However, he wouldn't be using true rainbow fruit wine as it would overpower everything else. Instead he'd developed, after an encounter with Romulus, to make a far less sweet one so as not to overpower a person's taste buds. In this case he'd make it even less sweet, but a bit thicker to make a true cooking wine.

Once that was prepared and in the oven it was time to move onto the next few dishes, but at that moment he suddenly turned and thrust a pot lid in a seemingly random direction. This cause an incoming durian fruit projectile to be launched back towards the thrower and into their face. "Be careful. Don't want to make a mess now do we?" Magna said before returning to his cooking.

It wasn't long after this that they had the full set of dishes prepared and cooking. They would be ready at just the right time he felt to serve to the customers. Now all they had to do was wait on the judging and defend their dishes at all cost.

Rei had began to make the base for the custard dessert, after having cracked the eggs and adding the chocolate- she made a drop or two of the rainbow fruit and stirred it in. This specific recipe would require a lot of heating and cooling while adding some starch to thicken it during the process. This would take some time, so she started working on the fried bread sticks. She accessed the machine and got the ingredients to make fresh bread dough. While Magna prepared the other dishes, she made the dough and heated it until the dough was somewhat firm. Once in a somewhat firm state, she removed them from the oven: they were still very sticky, she took the sticks bread sticks and rolled them lightly in a bowl of brown sugar. After rolling them, she placed them on a cutting board and took a knife: with the knife, she sliced the center out of the dough and folded the two ends inward and then pulled them the opposite directions and twisted them to give them a fancy appearance. After that was done, she took them one by one and began to dip them into a deep fryer. The brown sugar on them would melt and soak into the bread and give it a somewhat soft glaze appearance.

While Rei was doing this, it was nearly time to start serving- hopefully Magna had finished with his preparations. She had assisted him in some of the preparations. Four judges appeared in the kitchen area, they wore special chef hats to signify their purposes. They walked around and looked, smelling as much as they looked. Alright, let's see these dishes you noobs are planning to serve the customers. said on tall and gruff chef. They had to taste everything before it was served. Luckily, Rei had prepared a small dish first for the chefs while her main batch of custard was nearly complete.

Magna had just finished the rest of the demo dishes for the judges when they walked in. He did not even acknowledge them though and instead did what any good chef would do and focused on the cooking. Other group's had spent time stopping to await the judges approval. After all, what was the point of continuing to cook if they didn't think your dish was worth of the table? Or that was the philosophy going through the other chef's heads. However, what would set apart the chef's that would do well was their own confidence in their cooking. That was why Magna had not stopped his cooking. If he had no confidence that his dishes would be served to the table then there was no point in being here.

When the judges eventually came over they spoke to Magna. "It is good to see you again Chef Victus. What are you cooking for the customers today?" the judge said looking over the dishes.

"Today my sous chef Rei and I have made a Rainbow Banquet with the main ingredients being the rainbow fruit and eggs." Magna said whilst continuing to cook. "To start we have Transforming Rainbow Furikage Gohan. Suitable for vegetarians as well. Then for the soup we have a variant on the famous midnight soup which I am calling Twilight Soup. The salad is a recovery salad with a rainbow fruit vinaigrette." he paused briefly and looked at the judges. They were not showing much reaction so far, but that was to be expected. "For the fish dish we have a seafood ravioli followed by a rainbow terrine for the vegetarians and a faux pork rosti for others. The main will be quail stuffed with risotto and eggs and served with a rainbow fruit maderia sugar sauce. For the vegetarians I have Tempehral Rainbow Ramen. For the drink we have two cocktails: rainbow cocktail and virgin rainbow cocktail. Finally, we have the dessert which I will let my sous chef explain because it was her dish."

With that he began to continue with his cooking, but indicated the set out dishes in front of him. There was a tray for each of them containing all of the dishes they would be tasting. He had even given them both versions of the cocktail for sampling.

As a beginner chef, Rei also had stopped her cooking momentarily as the judges began to walk around- Magna's continued perseverance inspired Rei however and made her think of something an inexperienced chef might not consider. These chefs are waiting for judgment, Onee-chan is awaiting to serve a meal... Rei thought to herself in a quick assessment. She got back to work, finishing up her custard dish and neatly preparing them in small bowls with a side of fried bread sticks. 

When the judges came around to Magna and Rei's work space, the two of them continued to work while being very observant of the judges impressions as well as their facial expressions. Rei was especially observant, due to her Eagle Vision, she could easily read the judges's feelings on their dishes based on their individual body language. Out of the four, three of them liked the color of the food but were at first unimpressed. As they recognized Magna and listened to him talk in a sweet and fluid manner that wet their appetites, their body posture changed somewhat into a more positive aura as they eyes danced over the prepared food. As offered, they partook of the samples Magna had prepared- Rei noticed at least two of them eagerly reached for the samples, a little more eager than they probably thought even though they had already sampled enough good to cause them to be full already.

Rei smiled inwardly, Magna had set up the presentation quite well- appealing to both their visual creative expertise and invoking a primal hunger within them for something unique and bold. Now Rei only had to follow through and raise their expectations to obtain the marks they desired for a solid presentation. To their credit, the judges contained their thoughts for the most part from the talented eight year old girl: they were cooks through and through who had tasted many foods. They sampled Magna's dishes with a most neutral expression and manner and then turned to Rei as Magna handed her the "spot-light" She smiled at them with a cute innocent blush as she presented a trey of small bowls filled with a healthy amount of rainbow colored chocolate custard and a pile of fried bread sticks. The judges looked at the food, somewhat unsure of what it was but it was their duty to ensure the customers ate quality food. One by one, they grabbed a breadstick and dipped them into their individual bowls of custard and took a bite. Their questionable expressions instantly turned to one of delight. That told Rei all she needed to know. They finished the samples she had prepared and then the judges took up the multicolored drinks, A fine presentation was all they said and took the drink samples with them as they went to the next station. Soon, everyone would hear about who were the top three participant teams.

It seemed that the dishes had worked well. Magna, as a chef for many years, could hear the ever so slight changes in their chewing from eating for the sake of eating to true enjoyment. True they did not show it outwardly at least not at first. However, when the final dish was eaten they did show a bit of delight. This was partially because of the exquisite dessert, but also because they could no longer contain themselves. The rainbow fruit had been a good choice of ingredient and with their dishes they had made it truly shine. Well, more than a rainbow fruit normally did anyway which was pretty hard to do.

"Even if we do not win Rei I am proud of what we created today and all of these dishes will go on my personal menu, even if they do not get selected to go onto Shuffle's menu." he said with a smile. He had still yet to create his ultimate full course meal. The rainbow fruit though he was now certain would be a key ingredient. Perhaps prepared in the right way it may be one of the dishes all of its own. The drink perhaps or the dessert. He wondered if he could prepare a sweet and sour sauce using the rainbow fruit. It would be tricky, but quite interesting to see. Just imagine the colours.

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It was about twenty minutes to half an hour later once the judges had left that they got into position at the front of the stage. The dishes were rated on how they appealed to each of the senses. Each was rated seperately and it was possible that even if you scored top on a majority of them that you may not win overall. The only guarantee was if you won on all of them.

"First we will rate the sound of the dishes." one of the judges stated. This was possibly the trickiest one to rate. After all, most dishes were silent were they not? However, that was not true. As you chewed them there was a distinct sound with each dish. "This goes to Bob and Geoffery for their splendid Zebura Special Menu. Followed closely by Siegfried and Houdini for their Buranchi Thunder Menu. In third place for this is Magna and Rei for their symphonic Rainbow Medley menu."

So they had come third for sound. It was the lowest rated of the five, but it would of been nice to get top on all of them. His dish was still not enough to win on all levels and once more he had been beaten by Geoffery and Bob.

"Next we will rate the sight of the dish. This without a doubt goes to the Rainbow Medley, followed in second place by the Sani Day Surprise menu from David and Martha. In third place is the Zebura special not due to beauty but due to its raw aggression."

Two rating down three to go. Geoffery had won the sound, but they had won the sight which was worth slightly more points.

"Thirdly we must rate the smell of the dish. This was hard to decide and in the end it was a tie between Zebura Special and Rainbow Medley for 2nd place and the Coco de Poisson gained first place." A tie. That was incredibly rare. It seemed that whilst Magna and Rei had gone for sweetness in taste and smell it seemed that Geoffery had gone for spice.

"Fourthly we rate the texture of the dish upon the tongue and in the mouth. This goes to the Zebura Special, with the Rainbow Medley just behind and the Ichiryu Midora in third." That wasn't good. They had lost in the second most important category and that put Geoffery ahead. However, even if Geoffery had won all four of the awards so far it could all change on the final and most important category. This one was worth more than all four put together. Almost. In order to win with just this as first place you would need second on the other four.

"Finally the most important criteria of any dish. It might stink, it might be hard to chew, it might look like a pile of shit, but if it tastes delicious all of that can be overwhelmed....just" the man said and smiled as he saw the reaction of some to his use of the word shit.

"In third place Setsuno Zaus. In second place Zebura Special." so they hadn't won overall on taste. This could be their chance. "And in first place...." the man paused here for dramatic effect and raised an empty glass. Immediately Magna's eyes were drawn towards it. That was one of his cocktail glasses. "...the Rainbow Medley." Magna did a quick mathematical calculation in his head. It had been close, but... "So the winners of today's contest is Magna Victus and his sous chef Rei Miyako. Congratulations. We name Magna the Iron Chef and his sous chef the Zinc Saucier. Come and get your prize." Magna walked forward slowly. He couldn't quite believe it. He looked over at Geoffery and winked before heading up and takin the reward including the medal that named him the iron chef.

Once the two had received their rewards the tasting judges once more raised their voices. "All chefs who received at least third in any of the five categories are cleared for serving. The rest of you can stay and aid them or leave and prepare for next year."

It was a long time, or at least it felt that way for Rei. About half an hour had passed since the judges had left the cooking floor. She had spent a lot longer waiting before, but this was sort of different. This was anticipation, not dread. Rei was impatient but she tried not to show it and continued to cook with Magna. Oh, here comes the judges... she thought as she saw the judges come back, ready for their decisions. Had it really taken that long to come to a decision? Rei stood beside Magna, this would be a nervous ordeal, but both her and Magna had confident faces on.

It didn't start out well, third place, then second place- and then a tie? Rei had taken basic math, but she wasn't too sure how the points scored on this event. All she could do is wait and see, she counted the events one by one, at least they were in the running-up! They didn't score well in the fourth event and that made Rei worry, then the judges dragged out the last event names and Rei smirked, the face of the judge told her all that she needed to know. The judge announced their team name again and Rei hugged Magna's side and clapped in happiness. Her and Magna went up to collect their rewards and then went back to their cooking place and began to prepare to start serving.