Pokémon Padea Adventure: The Journey Continues

After finishing the gym challenge of "Baking Gym" last night, the next morning we had Paipa's cooking competition with the theme of "Spicy Flavor".

I saw Xiaozhi and his group rushing towards the competition venue. Along the way, Xiaoqing didn't forget to scold Xiaozhi.

"Really, Xiaozhi! You knew that Piper would have the competition early this morning, but you still dared to oversleep and procrastinate..."

Xiaozhi felt embarrassed and apologized to Xiaoqing and Papa repeatedly.

"Sorry, Xiaoqing, Papa! It's all my fault for the gym battle yesterday. It was too late and I was too tired... That's why I couldn't wake up."

As Xiaozhi and his team hurriedly ran towards the entrance of the venue, they ran into Lip, who was also rushing towards them. Lip and Xiaozhi, who was in front of the team, both braked suddenly to avoid colliding with each other.

Xiaozhi stopped in a hurry and found that the person coming from the opposite side was Lip, so he immediately spoke to her.

"Ms. Lip! Are you heading to the cooking competition? Why are you in such a hurry?"

After catching her breath, Lip answered Xiaozhi.

"So... So it's you, Xiaozhi! I was invited to be the special judge of this cooking competition. Since I played against you last night, I was late this morning. That's why I was in a hurry!"

As Lip was speaking, Xiaoqing and Piper arrived behind Xiaozhi. After looking at Xiaoqing and the others, Lip continued.

"You guys came all the way here to participate in this cooking competition themed "Spicy Flavor"."

Xiaoqing nodded in response.

"Yes, it is Papa who will participate in this competition. Before this, Papa has already obtained two "Taste Badges". He only needs the last one to participate in the final "Cooking Competition"!"

Lip gave Piper a thumbs up and praised her.

"Well done, everyone has their own goals and works hard. You are worthy of being students of Orange & Grape Academy!"

Piper scratched his head sheepishly, then asked.

"By the way, where is Teacher Huang Bo? Has she also been invited to be a special judge for this cooking competition?"

Lip replied.

"Are you talking about Huang Bo? She was originally one of the candidates for the special judges, but she said that she missed the "midterm meeting" of the college and did not attend it. She had to go back as soon as possible to report on her work, so she declined the invitation to be a judge and went back first..."

Xiaozhi and his group said.

"I see!"

At this time, Lip asked to go ahead.

"Alright, everyone! I have to report to the competition's organizing committee as soon as possible..., Papa, you guys should go earlier too!"

After saying that, Lip ran towards the venue without looking back. Xiaozhi and his group followed closely behind her and also went to the venue to report.

At the registration counter, Dunzi had been waiting there for a long time. Looking at Xiaozhi and the others who had arrived late, Dunzi waved in the direction they were coming from.

"Everyone, over here! Hurry up... the reporting deadline is almost here!"

Without even bothering to greet each other, Papper had already stepped forward and came to the front desk to report in. Xiaozhi and Xiaoqing behind him greeted Dunzi on behalf of Papper.

"Hello again, Dunzi! You and Papa will compete again in a cooking competition themed "Spicy" in Baking Town!"

"Yeah! I'm also looking forward to fighting with Piper. I will definitely defeat him..."

While Dunzi was chatting with Xiaozhi and the others, Papper had already successfully reported in from the front desk and came to the direction of Xiaozhi and the others.

"Phew, that's great! I almost made it... But I heard from the front desk staff that I'm not the last contestant to register, and there's still one contestant who hasn't..."

Before Papper could finish his words, the glass sensor door in front of the conference hall opened, and a galloping and flashy figure passed by the crowd, raising a strong wind that blew towards Xiaozhi and the others, making them unable to open their eyes.

After rubbing their eyes, everyone spoke in confusion.

"Did something just run past us?"

"It seems like someone is passing by..."

Everyone was looking in the direction of the front desk registration where the "object" was going, only to find that a lady with red twin ponytails and wearing a fancy dress passed by. She came to the front desk and was panting as she reported to the front desk staff.

Xiaoqing said curiously.

"That person is also going to participate in the cooking competition! He is the last person to report that Papa mentioned just now..."

Papa curiously looked at the contestant, only to see that it was none other than Musashi in disguise. This fancy outfit was the attire she wore every day to hide her "Team Rocket" identity.

At this time, Musashi was reporting while muttering to himself with great confidence.

"Huh..., huh...! Fortunately I made it in time. I almost thought I was too late..., the huge ups and downs and differences in the ground in that "Baked Hollow" are something I really don't want to experience a second time!"

Just as Musashi finished his report, the voices of Papa and the others came from behind him.

"Excuse me, are you... Ms. Maria Musashi?"

When Musashi heard someone calling his name directly, he turned around and looked behind him, answering unconsciously.

"I am Maria Musashi! Who called me by my name?..."

Musashi turned around and couldn't help but blurt out what he said when he saw Paper, Dunzi, and Xiaozhi behind him, but she stopped him in time.

"It's the little devil...! No, it's you guys, what a coincidence."

Looking at Musashi and Xiaozhi chatting with the others, Kojiro and Meowth, who were not far away, poked their heads out from behind the pillars in the hall and said.

"It turned out to be Imp and Pikachu!"

"It seems that this cooking competition will have the big brat and the little girl from the dessert shop participating. It looks like Musashi won't have an easy time this time, meow."

Dunzi continued speaking to Musashi.

"Ms. Musashi Maria, let's compete in the next game!"

"Okay, Xiaoya...! I have something urgent to do, so I have to leave first!"

After a brief exchange with Satoshi and the others, Musashi made an excuse to leave in a hurry. When Satoshi and the others were not paying attention, he quickly hid behind the pillar where Kojiro, Meowth and the others were.

"Damn little brats, little girl! It's them again. I won't let any of them win this "Taste Badge"..."

"Xiaojiro, meow! Listen to my orders..."

Kojiro and Meowth leaned over and followed Musashi's orders.

At this moment, a notification sounded from the broadcast above the hall.

"Beep, beep, beep... The cooking competition themed "Spicy Flavor" held in "Bagu Town" is about to begin! All registered contestants, please go to the preparation waiting room in an orderly manner, and spectators, please go to the audience seats to watch the competition."

"The competition is about to start, Papa, Dunzi, hurry up and wait backstage!"

After that, Xiaozhi and Xiaoqing went to the audience seats from the left side of the front desk, while Papa and Dunzi went to the contestants' waiting room on the right.

Papa looked around the hall in confusion.

"Where's Ms. Musashi Maria? The game is about to start..."

Dunzi also helped in the search and looked around.

"That's right. He was at the front desk just now. He said he had something urgent to deal with. It's only been more than ten minutes. Where is he?"

Suddenly, Dunzi discovered that behind the pillar where Team Rocket was hiding, Musashi's exaggerated skirt could not be hidden, and he shouted at Musashi behind the pillar.

"Ms. Musashi Maria, come quickly! The contestants are waiting in line..."

"Come on, come on!"

When Musashi heard Dunzi's call, he hurriedly recovered himself and pretended nothing had happened as he followed Papa and Dunzi into the venue. Meowth and the mice who were hiding under Musashi's skirt also entered the waiting room with them.

The contestants who entered the waiting room did not enter the venue immediately. They had to wait until more audience members were seated before the host could open the show and the contestants could enter.

While the contestants were chatting, Papa and Dunzi were chatting nearby. Musashi could only respond sporadically to them, after all, her mind was on Meow Meow and the Mouse.

All the players were focusing on the players who were about to compete, talking to people around them, or watching the electronic screen above the waiting room, which showed the real-time images of the competition venue being ready and many spectators entering and taking their seats.

None of the contestants lowered their eyes to their luggage placed beside the seats. Meow Meow and the family of mice started their plan. They crawled on the ground and were quietly searching through the contestants' luggage one by one, trying to carry out their conspiracy.

Meow Meow said to herself while searching.

"Musashi, what a fool! You came up with such a stupid idea, meow... Let's steal all the chefs' tools, so that we can discourage all the contestants from competing in the absence of proper cooking tools, meow."

According to the competition rules, contestants participating in the cooking competition are not allowed to bring any ingredients or seasonings privately, and all ingredients must be cooked using the ones provided on site. There are no strict requirements on bringing other items into the venue.

Of course, the on-site regulations allow each contestant to bring a Pokémon to assist in cooking. In addition, each cooking table is equipped with various cooking tools provided by the venue, such as pots, stoves and other large kitchen utensils that require heating, as well as other utensils such as kitchen knives and spatulas.

There is no hard and fast rule that the contestants must use the utensils provided by the organizers. After all, for chefs, the utensils they use are their "weapons", which can greatly maintain their usual cooking skills.

The plan that Musashi and his team made was to steal all the contestants' cooking utensils in order to mess with the contestants' mentality and prevent them from performing at their previous level in the following games.

After collecting the kitchen utensils of a dozen contestants, Meow Meow wiped the sweat from her forehead and said.

"There are only three or two contestants' kitchen utensils left to be confiscated, meow! Now Musashi should be able to secure the last "Taste Badge" and successfully enter the final "Cooking Contest", meow!"

After finishing his work, Miaomiao looked at the other two rats who were also stealing nearby. He saw two big rats raising their hands and feet to carry the small rat to a huge travel backpack.

After entering the backpack, the small family of mice seemed to have discovered something and made a commotion, which made Meow Meow very confused. He approached and whispered.

"What's wrong, mice! Keep your voice down, meow. Don't let others find out that we are stealing things, meow..."

After Miaomiao reached out and took the little mouse out of the backpack, he saw that it was holding a sealed seasoning box and was trying to open it in a hurry, with its mouth drooling.

After taking the seasoning box with one hand, Miaomiao handed the small family of rats back to the two big family of rats below with the other hand, and said in confusion.

"What is this? A seasoning jar, meow..."

Meow Meow was speechless as he looked at his family of mice, drooling all over the floor and opening his mouth wide. He then looked at the seasoning box in his hand, put it close to his nose and sniffed it, which made him so amazed that he shouted loudly.

"What's that smell, meow!"

Meow Meow's sudden yell startled the contestants in the waiting room, who were seen looking around and saying.

"What's that sound? Where on earth is it coming from..."

Seeing that the bad things that Meow Meow and the others had done were about to be exposed, Musashi immediately stood up and changed the subject, shouting.

"Ah! Why hasn't the entrance started yet? I can't wait to show off my skills!"

After saying this, Musashi punched the air and made boxing-like movements in order to attract the attention of the other contestants.

"Yes, we can't wait any longer. The deadline for the Cooking Contest is approaching..."

"The final victory will definitely be mine..."

Musashi's words to change the subject unexpectedly ignited the fighting spirit of the contestants present, and they all showed their high morale. Papa and Dunzi who were standing nearby whispered.

"I didn't expect Ms. Maria Musashi to be so motivated!"

Musashi glanced at the side and saw Meow Meow and the family of mice completing their task, hiding to the side. They made an "OK" gesture to Musashi, indicating that their action was over. Then Musashi sat back in his seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Dunzi next to him also spoke.

"Ms. Musashi Maria, we won't give up! Let's put on a great show and make our own amazing dishes!"

Musashi was speechless when Dunzi and the others spoke, and could only agree with them.

"Okay, okay..."

At this time, the broadcast in the waiting room sounded, and the broadcast said that Musashi and the others were saved.

"The competition is about to begin. Please come out in an orderly manner, twenty contestants in the waiting room..."

Just as the contestants were getting dressed and preparing to set off with their partner Pokémon, one contestant shouted.

"Hey, where's my processor? Why is it gone..."

"Oh no! My frying pan is missing too..."

The scene instantly became chaotic.