Pokémon Padea Adventure: The Journey Continues

In the waiting room, as more and more chefs were preparing to leave for the venue with their favorite kitchen utensils and Pokémon, they discovered that their backpacks had been rummaged through, and their beloved kitchen utensils had disappeared.

This also includes the "fine-toothed knife" used by Papa to cut sandwiches and the "spatula" used by Dunzi to decorate desserts.

"Oh no! My spatula is missing..."

"My Wave Blade is missing too! What on earth is going on?"

Faced with the chaos, Musashi, as the instigator, could only pretend and say nothing in order not to arouse suspicion from the people around him.

"My..., my rolling pin is missing too!"

Dunzi asked Musashi.

"Ms. Musashi Maria, are your kitchen utensils missing as well? Did all the contestants collectively suffer a theft in the waiting room of the venue?"

Feeling guilty, Musashi's heart suddenly rose to his throat, fearing that what he had done would be discovered by others. At this time, Meow Meow and a family of mice were also waiting in the room and had not escaped yet.

The only exit was surrounded by the contestants who were about to leave the venue, and just as one of the contestants raised the question.

"I hope everyone will look carefully in every corner of the waiting room. I don't believe that everyone's kitchen utensils would disappear in this small waiting room."

Faced with the other contestants present expressing their dissatisfaction and being unable to leave the venue for a long time, Papa and Dunzi were also very embarrassed.

Just as the other contestants echoed and began to move the tables and chairs around them, the radio sounded again.

“Beep, beep, beep… Judges and audience, please wait for a moment. The waiting room is some distance away from the competition venue. Let us once again welcome the contestants with warm applause!”

Musashi suddenly had an idea, and immediately slammed the table and said with a stiff upper lip.

"All you losers without real skills, now that you have lost your cooking utensils, you are no longer excellent cooks? The audience outside is still waiting for our performance, can you bear to keep them waiting? Facing contestants like you, I don't even bother to be my opponent!"

As soon as Musashi finished speaking, the originally noisy waiting room suddenly became silent. Just when Musashi thought something was wrong and was thinking about how to break out of the room.

After a long silence, the contestants suddenly burst into warm applause.

"That's right! If we lack kitchen utensils, do we not become professional cooks?"

"Teachers and judges at the venue, the audience is still waiting for us, we can't let the 'diners go hungry'!"

Musashi gritted his teeth and changed the subject, which miraculously distracted all the contestants. Musashi then breathed a sigh of relief.

Papa and Dunzi, who were standing nearby, hurried over to Musashi and spoke with admiration.

"As expected of Ms. Musashi Maria, you said it very well!"

"Yes! With just a few words, I was able to pacify the rioting crowd, and the competition can finally proceed smoothly... The theft incident can only be dealt with after the competition is over. We can't keep the audience waiting for too long."

Seeing that everyone around him was praising him without exception, Musashi instantly became complacent again and said proudly.

"Wahaha! After all, I am a dazzling female star. Everyone must submit to me when I say something..."

While Musashi was immersed in his own fantasy, most of the contestants in the waiting room had already started walking towards the venue. Papa and Dunzi, who were about to leave the door, shouted to Musashi.

"Ms. Musashi Maria, we're leaving! We're heading to the venue now!"

This interrupted Musashi's fantasy and said.

"Okay..., okay!"

When Musashi was about to follow the team and walk towards the door, Meowth, who was squatting under the table, whispered to Musashi.

"Beep, beep! Wait, Musashi..."

After hearing Meowth's call, Musashi immediately understood what he meant and spoke to Papa and Dunzi who were waiting for him at the door.

"You go ahead! I'll be there soon..."

Papa and the others had no choice but to leave first.

Meowth stuck half of his body out from under the table, handed the seasoning box that the mouse had found earlier to Musashi, and said.

"Musashi, I found this in someone's backpack. It has five amazing flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty. It will help you in the game, meow!"

"Amazing! A spice box?"

Musashi didn't understand what was going on, so he could only take the seasoning box from Meow Meow and run towards the venue.

At the venue, people in the audience were talking about the fact that a contestant had been unable to appear on stage due to a previous theft.

Xiaozhi and Xiaoqing who were sitting in the audience also said this.

"Why haven't you appeared in such a long time? Did something happen to Papa and Dunzi in the waiting room?"

"I don't think so. After all, it's one of the three major events of the Padiya League. Don't worry."

At this moment, several dark shadows were moving in the corridor leading to the venue. The host Sweet knew that the contestants were coming. After heaving a deep sigh of relief, he continued the hosting.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, now let's welcome the contestants of this "cooking competition"!"

After the scene got dark, spotlights were shone from the direction of the entrance. Twenty contestants entered the door one after another, and the audience applauded and cheered for them.

"Please take your seats, twenty contestants..."

Paipa, Dunzi and Musashi were arranged in the order of their reporting. Since Dunzi reported earlier, he was ranked first in the front row. Paipa and Musashi reported later, so they were ranked second to last and first in the last row respectively.

Papa didn't care, but Musashi was a little dissatisfied and muttered to himself.

"I, a female star, was not put in the center position, but in such a remote position. After I win the game, you will know how unreasonable this is to me!"

The host Siwei Te continued.

"Let me introduce the three judges of this competition. From left to right, they are still the familiar president of the Pokémon Cooking Club, Mr. Kukinpo, and the director of the Conference Affairs Bureau, Mr. Stefley."

"And the last special guest is Ms. Lip, a top makeup artist, top model, and gym leader of the "Baking Gym" who just returned from a global fashion show for her personal clothing brand!"

When the audience saw Lip appear, they immediately burst into warm applause. Xiaozhi and Xiaoqing were surrounded by the loud noise and covered their ears and exclaimed.

"So..., Ms. Lip is such a famous superstar?"

The applause lasted for more than two minutes before it slowly stopped. During this time, there were still a few prolonged and sparse bursts of applause.

This made Musashi, who was originally dissatisfied, even more jealous and disgusted with Lipdao, who had nothing in common with him.

"Damn this woman, she's actually more famous than a female star like me! Then I have to win this match..."

Just as Musashi was secretly swearing to himself, he suddenly remembered that he was still holding the box of seasonings that Meow Meow had just handed to him. Just as Musashi raised his hand in indignation, he realized it.

After Musashi's eyes lit up, he immediately squatted down, leaned over and hid behind the cooking table, and opened the seasoning box with disdain.

"What's so special about this cooking box Meow Meow gave me? They said it can help me win the game, but isn't this just ordinary seasoning? What's so special about it..."

Musashi had no doubts until she opened the seasoning box in her hand and an amazing aroma burst out of it. Musashi looked at the spices that sparkled like gems. The five-colored seasonings were truly fascinating.

"The aroma was trapped by the seal of the seasoning box, so the taste couldn't get out. After I opened it, I realized that what Meow Meow said was true. As long as I add a little bit to the dish, I will definitely win the competition!"

Looking at Musashi with a smirk on his face, Kojiro, who had mixed in as a staff member, said, "Meow meow, as expected, Ong and the others were wearing their work uniforms and standing at the edge of the venue."

"Meow meow, Musashi, what is she grinning at?"

Miaomiao also pretended to be profound.

"Nothing, meow! I just found a secret weapon that will allow Musashi to win the game without any effort, meow!"

In the darkness, when Musashi opened the seasoning box, Papa, who was sitting next to him, sniffed and seemed to smell a familiar smell. He raised his hand and rubbed his nose in confusion, thinking that he had smelled it wrongly.

Turning his head, he looked towards Musashi's position, only to see him squatting on the ground in the dark with his back to Papa.

Papa didn't think much about it, just thinking that contestant Musashi Maria was unwell. When he was about to approach her to talk, the lights in the venue swept across the cooking tables of each contestant, and Musashi stood up at this time. Before that, Musashi had already closed the lid of the seasoning box and sealed it well, so the aroma of the mysterious seasoning was no longer emanating.

When Papa saw Maria Musashi standing upright in front of her cooking table and the familiar aroma of the seasoning disappeared, he thought it was just his imagination and didn't take it seriously.

As the host Siwei Te announced.

"...Please ask the 30 contestants to go to the food racks on the left and right in an orderly manner, collect the ingredients they need, and then cook with their Pokémon partners. The theme of the cooking competition is "Spicy Flavor". The cooking time is minutes, and it officially begins now!"

At the command of the host Siweite, the twenty contestants and their twenty Pokémon partners all headed towards the food racks on their left and right.

Fruits with spicy taste, such as "Wuhua Fruit" and "Laotang Fruit", are the first choice of all contestants and are in short supply for a while.

Dunzi and her partner Mahuaquan, however, went against the other contestants and came to a special food area where few people gathered. Their eyes lit up when they saw the ingredients on the shelves.

"Woof, woof!"

With the help of the Mahua dog with a keen sense of smell, Dunzi found different ingredients in an inconspicuous place. He reached out for them as if they were treasures and placed them on the tray.

"Isn't this the 'thick scallions' that the Onion Duck likes the most? And the 'spice combination' made up of more than fifty spices. I didn't expect there is such an ingredient here..., and then paired with a few auxiliary base flavors, my soufflé dish will be done!"

Different from Dunzi’s selection, Paipa is located in the fresh vegetable section and selects fresh ingredients for its sandwich dishes.

Piper directs his partner, Insect Armor Seidou.

"Sage of Insect Armor, help me take down the red onions, green peppers, spicy sausages... from the top shelf!"

With the help of the Insect Armor Saint's telekinetic properties, the ingredients that Papa needed were easily floated down and dropped onto the tray in Papa's hand.

Papa then said to the Insect Armor Saint beside him.

"Chongjia Saint, this is our first time fighting side by side. We must perform well and win this "Spicy Badge"!"

"Gu Sheng!"

As most of the contestants finished selecting the ingredients they needed and returned to their respective cooking stations, Musashi, who had a "killer move", was neither hurried nor slow, and he and Tu Biaoke strolled leisurely, randomly selecting ingredients with different flavors such as "sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty" on the food shelf. As for what kind of dish he was going to make, the audience was very puzzled.

"It took five minutes to select the ingredients, and there are still twenty-five minutes left before the cooking competition ends!"

After the host Siwei Te announced the remaining time, the contestants began to cook intensively.

After picking up the cooking knife provided at the venue, Papa sliced ​​the collected ingredients, turning red onions, green peppers and other ingredients into red onion slices and green pepper rings.

The ingredients that were originally handled with great skill, but with the sharpness of his "fine-toothed wave knife" that Papa was used to, he lightly scratched the surface of the ingredients. The ingredients that were originally cut with a single blow, but with the ordinary cooking knife provided at the venue, Papa was not used to the feel of it, so the ingredients could not be completely cut, and they were broken into pieces and scattered.

At this moment, Papa had an idea and gave an order to the Insect Armor Saint.

"Chongjia Saint, help me separate the ingredients, use your "supernatural power"!"

The Insect Armor Saint, who was floating on the cooking table, was emitting a purple-red light all over his body, and then that light was reflected on the ingredients. With the help of the Insect Armor Saint's superpowers, the uncut fibers of the ingredients were torn apart by him.

Dunzi and Mahua Dog also encountered difficulties. Dunzi did not have his own "scraper spatula", and even with the spatula tools provided by the venue, he could not create the carved decorations he had imagined. He had to overturn and reshape them many times, which made Mahua Dog standing next to him look very nervous.

Most of the contestants present encountered more or less stagnation in cooking due to the lack of suitable kitchen utensils, but fortunately they had the support of their own strong cooking skills and the help of their partner Pokémon, so they were able to proceed in an orderly manner.